“That’s okay. You won’t see much of me anyway. Have fun at work.”
He swings the door shut, and I stare it down for a good few seconds before I turn on my heels, a little shell-shocked, and head off to work.
On the way, I can’t stop thinking about how off he is. Alec seemed fairly normal at first, but the more time I spent with him, the more I saw how distant he is from… well, reality. It wasn’t creepy, or in a way that I would insist on not living with him, just out of the ordinary. I suppose I shouldn’t care since like he said, I won’t see him often.
Except, I already have seen him, looked into his eyes, and I want to know what hides behind them.
3
Alec
My small office at the city power grid keeps people out and my thoughts in. Working off the Bridgeport Harbor isn’t my only option, but it’s the best one. I finished my degree years ago and worked for a huge corporation that didn’t even know my name. Until I left home in a rush four months ago, I hadn’t cared much. Now, the small setting and break room work for me.
I don’t usually work in the field, but every once in a while, I get called out to inspect the grid if my computer calculations didn’t work, or it hadn’t been set up right to begin with. I blame it on the field engineers most of the time, though.
“Hey, Mr. Wilde, I was hoping you could take a look at this today.”
“Just Alec. What do we have?”
I listen to Jerry, the site manager and field engineer, go over some irregularities in the circuit board. I know the longer he goes on, that it has nothing to do with the design I sent, but I still do what I can.
“Let me know if you have any issues on the next run.” I straighten up my tie I loosened earlier. I think it’s ridiculous I still have to dress nice, so I at least dialed it down to khakis and a button-up, so my boss would stop hounding me about it.
I’ve only been here three weeks, and I’d like to stop bouncing around cities like a vagrant. I don’t suspect anyone will find me here, even my high and mighty brother, Holden.
“Will do, thanks.” Jerry smiles. I can only tell because his beard crawls up his face a little higher, and his eyes crinkle. I don’t know how old he is, but he is on the older side with a cheery gut and outdated clothing to match.
I head back to my mediocre office and work on the projects sent to me for the rest of the day. It’s my first day here since I’ve moved in with Mia…
Mia.
My fingers freeze on the keyboard. I take the break I apparently need and study the callouses on my fingers like they hold the answer to what I’m feeling. I didn’t want to be so rude to her yesterday morning, but I wasn’t prepared to get friendly with her either. It’s unfortunate we have to live together, definitely unplanned, but it isn’t going to deter my plans of being alone where I know I can trust myself. Even still, knowing all that, she is just so… I met her all of one time, and I can’t get her out of my head.
I chalk it up to not being around anyone for so long that I’ve forgotten how things go.
I stop at the grocery store on the way back to the condo to get respectable food instead of frozen meals. Everyone in this town is nice and friendly, and I haven’t gotten used to it. What I am used to is the looks women give me, but it’s not like I’m going to do anything about them. Everything works, I’m just not interested and haven’t been in almost five months. Maybe it has to do with my dad dying or from what I found out before he died.
“You know, if you get two of these, you save more money.” The cashier pulls me from my reverie. She is on the young side, definitely cheery and has way too much energy for six in the evening.
“That’s okay,” I say, and she scans the packet of ground beef and moves along. After a few more lingering glances, I’m out of there and almost get lost on the way back to the condo.
I see Mia’s blue, compact car parked, and I pull in behind her. Taking my bags, I go inside in one trip and head straight for the kitchen. It’s quiet inside, and only one light is on in the hallway leading to it.
Once I put everything away, I realize I don’t even feel like cooking anything and order Chinese takeout instead. I feel weird watching her television or even sitting on her couch in the living room. I’ll have to talk to her eventually, work out some things about this living together situation, but I don’t want to.
What I do want to do is kick back with a beer and destress from the day. My Shiner does the trick while I sit at the kitchen counter waiting for my food. I notice something peeking from one of the many flower pots sitting around this place. I unfold the card stock to find something written by Mia.
Rules for Living with Mia
-Please don’t eat my food.
-Please clean up after yourself.
-Please don’t leave personal articles in the common areas, i.e., the kitchen, living room, etc.
-Lock all doors when leaving and entering.
-Cleaning rotation will be every other week. (this week is your turn).
-Don’t mess with my plants.
-Don’t bring strangers here without telling me.
-Be nice.
~Mia
I read it twice and laugh by the time I read it a third time. It isn’t until I finish eating and get ready to retreat to my room that I take the letter and make some of my own revisions. I don’t blame her for writing it down because I wasn’t the nicest when she did try talking to me in person. It doesn’t mean I can’t have a little fun as much as I’ll allow myself.
I write next to her first line.
I don’t live with you, we live here together. P.S. I don’t want you sugar-free, taste-free food anyway.
~Alec.
My food comes just in time and I practically inhale it before I leave the letter on the counter and head for a hot, relaxing shower. At least there are two separate bathrooms, one in each of our rooms. I couldn’t imagine sharing a bathroom. I never even had to do it growing up with my brothers.
I wear my boxers as I finish unpacking and write some stuff down I need to get. For the first time, I actually feel like settling in. My cell rings, and I have half a mind to ignore it before I relent and answer it without looking at the caller ID. Big mistake.
“So, you aren’t dead. That’s good news.” Holden, my hard-ass brother, gets under my skin in record time.
I sit on the end of the bed clutching the back of my heated neck.
“Yeah. Not dead.”
“You haven’t emailed me back or signed your part of Dad’s will.”
I grind my teeth through my inhale of air. There is no way I can sign that will, and neither is there a way I can tell them the truth.
“I’ve been busy.”
He laughs his snorty, annoying… “Doing what? Did you run off for a burlesque show or something? Have you been keeping something from us?” There goes that snort again.
“No, Holden. I’m not… look, I’ve moved away to take up a new job.”
“You’re an electrical engineer, you could work anywhere.”
“Not really. Look, I’m busy, I have to go.”
“I don’t believe you, but whatever. I’ll keep calling you until you sign that will and stop playing your little disappearing act. You know, none of us get anything if you don’t sign it. Dad put that clause in there for a reason.”
I can’t help but roll my eyes at that. He was all for being a family and sticking together. But he and Mom never practiced that themselves, at least not with me. We’re all set to get equal shares of his company among other assets, but I don’t want any of them. They’re reminders of his lies, the betrayal of him and Mom. So I don’t want any part of it, and no one gets anything unless I sign—being in a bind is the easiest way to describe it.
“I know it is. I’ll get back to you later this week. As I said, I’m busy.”
“Alec, I know you better than anyone, and I know that isn’t true. What I do want to know is why you feel like you can’t tell me whatever it is th
at’s going on. I mean, I’m your brother.”
Don’t I know?
Holden and I were the closest during my teenage years. Being seven years older than me, he just always knew better and got me into parties and got me alcohol as an older brother should. We never grew apart, not even when he went off to college and got older. If there was anyone I could talk to about anything, it was him.
But things did a complete one-eighty when Dad died and the week just before that. I kept wondering if Holden knew and how I would ask him if he did. I had to trust he would have told me if he did. But all this, the distance… it’s been hardest on him, and I hear it in his voice now. I hear it in the silence that ensues our phone call, and neither of us wants to break it.
“Holden, I can’t sign the will right now, and that’s all I can tell you. If you trust me, you’ll just leave it at that until I figure something out.” I sigh and tense up as I wait for his response.
“Of course, I trust you. I don’t understand you, but I trust you. Just answer the damned phone when I call, and I’ll feel a lot better about your spy-like behavior.” He cackles, and I almost smile too.
“Yeah,” I nod to myself, “I’ll answer.”
“Good. You can hang up now. But I’ll be—” I hang up and smile because it’s almost like how things used to be between us.
I’m still going to evade the family, and I’m still not signing the will. I didn’t even stick around the funeral long enough to watch them throw the dirt. I lay back on my bed rubbing my tired eyes and wishing there was just an easy way out of this.
Honestly, the only thing in my life not giving me a headache is Mia when she isn’t writing me letters about her rules. I nearly smile at the thought, though.
The last thing I see on my phone is a reminder from Monica to give her key back. I figure I’ll drop it off in the morning, but I have to get the key from Mia to copy it. I realize I don’t know where to find her during the day, and that I should try to know the woman. Hell, I don’t even know how old she is or if she is crazy or not. The plants leave that up to question.
Once everything is unpacked, I set out clothes for the next day and step down the hall to Mia’s room. I hear the buzz of a television behind the door before I knock and wait for her to answer. Finally, the door swings open and…
I almost forgot how beautiful she is. It truly doesn’t make sense nor is it fair. How am I to go about my normal day knowing she is just down the hall in her little button-down dresses, old-fashioned but somehow perfect on her?
“Yes?” Mia says to me.
I blink. “I need to copy your key. I figured I could pick it up tomorrow afternoon.”
“I’ll be at work.”
“Okay. Where do you work?” I cock my head to the side and watch her hard gaze falter slightly.
“The floral shop in the Square.”
“I’ll be there around noon.” I stop trying to peer into her room through the small slit of her door and focus on her instead.
Mia nods once, and I awkwardly shift on my feet as I contemplate saying more or just going back to hide in my room.
“Well, good night.” She answers for me by shutting the door, and I feel a little of what she must have felt when I did that to her yesterday.
I walk away considering just how hard this one-year lease will be.
4
Mia
I frown at his note on my rule sheet but end up smiling a bit instead. Sugar-free food isn’t all bad. Once I get to work, I can finally push all that out of my mind.
Buttercups are one of the more complicated plants and working with them makes me feel like a real botanist again. I graduated two years ago with a degree that had a better chance of falling from the sky than getting me a good job. I did everything right—my research project even went really well and was published in numerous journals and papers. I just got a strain of bad luck like this plant that hasn’t bloomed in weeks. They are year-round flowers because of their temperate behavior, but even in the late summer of August, they haven’t had much luck.
“Are you still staring down that soil?” Haley appears behind the swinging door, partially scaring me, but I am used to her grand entrances by now.
“Yeah.” I sigh, standing back up to crack my back from its bending position and greet her.
Haley always wears the same wild clothes to work, and today is no different with her bright yellow pants and matching top. Her auburn hair is the only normal thing about her, tied up on her head.
“It won’t bloom. I’d bet money on it.” She laughs and heads behind the check-out desk. “Any calls yet?”
“No.”
I set the pot of unbloomed buttercups down and take my watering can to start the morning watering schedule. The flower shop is more commercial than private, and the owner has started opening other locations in the state. We do everything a normal floral shop does, and I keep the science part of me sane with the planting and breeding of flowers. I’ve made three of my own strains so far, exclusive to the shop.
Haley handles all the clerical stuff. I work a lot because I would rather do that than have someone else ruin my work. Mindy, my boss, seems to understand.
“You want to close down the shop for lunch and eat out like fancy people?”
“No, I have to stay here. Someone is supposed to come by,” I tell Haley.
I hadn’t told her about my weird roommate situation, and I don’t want to only because I don’t know how I feel about it yet. Living with a man is normally done when you’re dating or married, but I’m sure lots of women live with men just as roommates. It is safer in a way, and I’m sure Alec could handle an intruder just fine.
“Hello… Mia?” Haley comes over to me touching my arm gently. I smile at her and realize she asked me something.
“Oh. Sorry. Just my roommate.”
“I thought you didn’t have one.” She sits on the edge of the wide bay window at the front of the shop. Her green eyes peak with curiosity.
“I didn’t. But I hadn’t realized the lease for the second bedroom was still open, so someone moved in.” I clear my throat and keep watering the deep floor pots. They each take one full watering can, so I have to keep refilling it.
“Oh shit. Well, what is she like?”
I laugh to myself, shaking my head at the reality of it. “Uh. ‘She’ is a like a ‘he’ so…”
Haley takes a second to get it. She isn’t slow or anything, she is actually a very smart mathematician. But in real life? A little ditsy.
“Oh. You mean it’s a guy? How?”
I shrug, moving around to the second row. She follows and helps me pull back the roots of the more fibrous plants.
“I don’t know how. I guess I didn’t mark any preferences on my lease. But yeah, he’s a guy. His name is Alec Wilde.” I shrug, thinking I haven’t given too much away but apparently not.
“Uh-huh. You’re totally blushing, Mia.”
“What? No, it’s just a little warm in here.”
Haley laughs, and hip bumps me. “Shut up. You are. He must be pretty.”
“Yeah. And rude. So, it evens out,” I huff.
I finish up and go to the supply room in the back where Haley dutifully follows with questions, all of which I dodge and give vague answers. I am interested in Alec but only out of curiosity. He has this sense about him, and I felt it as soon as he moved in. It isn’t something I can ignore. It would be like forgetting to water my flowers. Not possible.
“Well, when you have something exciting to tell me, I’m all ears.”
I pretend to glare at her as I rinse the can out. She only laughs as we head back to the front. Two customers have come in, so Haley keeps her voice down.
“You know I’m your only friend. You have no one else to talk to.”
Behind the counter, I smile at her softly. “Yeah, you’re right.” Haley and I started working together a year and a half ago, but after spending so much time together, it got easy to be around each
other, make jokes, and we became friends. I didn’t have many in college as I was always in the library. Much good it did me.
“I know.” She smiles with a slight shriek and hops off to help the customers.
I rarely ever have to talk to them unless they want specific information on a certain flower or plant. I like it that way. I spend my time until the afternoon jotting down possible strains I could come up with. The shop is nothing like the lab back at Connecticut College, but it does the job.
Like clockwork, the door opens just after noon hits, and I see Alec walk through. He is fully clothed this time wearing khakis and a blue button-up with a loosened gray tie. His dark brown hair hangs loosely, wisps falling over his left brow. He doesn’t see me for a few strides, and I appreciate the time to really look at him.
Outside of my condo, he is a normal, extremely handsome man I would trip over myself at the sight of him. It’s a wonder I have even slept through the night since he has arrived. His gaze does meet mine, and I smile timidly. Everything I do around him seems timid, and I start to rethink my girly, flower print button-down dress I decided to wear.
“Hi,” I finally say as he stands in front of the counter.
“Hi.” His voice is so deep and solid like icy cold water hitting sharp rocks on the shore. The cold gray of his eyes match, and I really look at them behind the light shining in through the shop, and he just looks so… sad.
“I just came by to pick up the key.” His urgency to move things along is apparent.
I want to think he just doesn’t like me, but I am more inclined to think he has some deeply-rooted emotional issues right now. I mean, he can barely give me any eye contact.
“Oh, right.” I get Haley’s attention, turn down her inquiring gaze, and point to the back room as I lead Alec there where I get my key ring out of my purse.
The room is so small it barely has room for the desk, but we somehow managed to shove a futon couch on the back wall. One tiny window lets in some light.
Wilde About Alec Page 2