Follow the Signs

by Michele Imiola

  “When you stop playing this game about your sun sign, call me. I’ll leave my number on the kitchen counter.” He turned and walked out. Paige saw his ass, an ass she’d clutched to several times during the night as he fucked her. He’d given her a moment of pleasure and now she was letting him leave.

  Was she the fool to think she could live her life by her horoscope or was she just stupid enough to let a gorgeous man leave her bed and not set the next appointment? Probably both.

  * * * *

  “She’s beautiful,” Paige said as she got her first glimpse of Kayla. Marlene was breast feeding her and looked sublimely serene, the after-glow of giving birth.

  “Should have been here ten minutes ago. She was screaming to be fed and this girl’s got a set of lungs on her,” Marlene said as she kissed her daughter suckling at her breast.

  “She must get that from you,” Paige said as she sat and watched. She thought it was the most amazing thing. She must have looked mesmerized by the whole event because she didn’t hear Marlene’s question.

  “What?” she asked as she broke her gaze from the baby who looked like she was sleeping, Marlene’s nipple her pacifier.

  “I said you look different today.” Paige pulled back a bit surprised.

  “How?” She thought she was the same. She’d changed nothing about her looks.

  “You aren’t running around like a mad woman, that’s how. To be honest, I’m surprised to see you so early.” It was after nine in the morning and she couldn’t wait to get to the hospital to see the baby and Marlene.

  “I thought you were dying last night,” Paige said honestly.

  “Hell, I thought I was dying last night,” Marlene said as she kissed Kayla’s head again. Kayla’s mouth broke the suction she’d been holding. She was asleep.

  “She’s simply beautiful,” Paige said as Marlene moved Kayla to her shoulder and slowly burped her.

  “Robert told me you were here last night,” Marlene said.

  “I tried to get in but they wouldn’t let me. Thank god he showed up when he did.”

  “Trust me, he got an earful as I was poked with every kind of needle in every place. I couldn’t move my body. I was numb from the chest down and all I could feel was pushing and pulling. I saw people rushing around talking all medical and I’m cussing my husband out because I thought the baby’s too early and something’s wrong and well, here she is.”

  Paige moved forward, sitting on the side of the bed. She ran her finger over the soft downy hair of Kayla which was the same blond color as Marlene’s.

  “It was a good surprise.”

  “How did the thing go at USC?” Marlene asked. Paige looked up at her, surprised Marlene was talking about work.

  “Mike said it went fine.”

  “Who’s Mike?”

  “That guy,” Paige said. “The one I met at the wedding and then at the Mia’s going away party.”

  “That Mike,” Marlene said with a smile. “Don’t tell me he works there?”

  “He’s apparently the one who got us the job.”

  “So, did you get together with Mike?” Paige kept quiet for a second and that was all Marlene needed. “You did, didn’t you?”

  Paige nodded.

  “Was it good?”

  Another nod.

  “Great even?”

  Paige couldn’t help herself; she nodded and smiled.

  “When are you seeing him again?”

  Paige didn’t need to say anything as her smile fell.

  “Oh, shit, Paige, you didn’t give him the boot, did you?”

  Paige nodded.

  “Why the hell did you do that? Business is great; you said so yourself the other day that we are making money hand over fist.” Kayla started to fuss as Marlene’s voice rose. She got quiet again but her look was hard and angry.

  “We are doing well,” Paige admitted. “It’s just…I don’t know. I’ve followed this plan and I know you think I’m stupid for doing it but it’s worked.”

  “It’s worked because you worked your ass off. We all have. It had nothing to do with your sun sign. How many times are we going to go through this? You can’t live your life in a vacuum, making decisions only when the Sagittarius Gods says it’s a good time to do so.”

  “But you can’t argue that once I got the reading, things began to pick up.”

  “Yes I can and I will. Things picked up because we were getting smarter on how we advertised, how we drummed up business. It wasn’t because some guru sitting in some funky dress saying ‘now’s the time’.” Paige kept quiet. “It happened because you are who you are, doing what you do best. You’re a good caterer, Paige. Success was bound to happen, one way or another and it had nothing to do with being a Sagittarius or reading your daily horoscope. It happened because of you.”

  Paige wanted to believe Marlene. Up until she had the reading, things were moving steady but slowly. After the reading, she felt like she had direction and that was the only push she needed to make her business thrive.

  “Listen, Paige,” Marlene said. “I love you to pieces but this has to stop. You just spent the night…you did spend the night with him?” Paige nodded. “You just spent the night with a dream guy and then you walked away. You need to go get him.”

  “How? He asked to see me again and I said no.”

  “Then tell him you made a mistake and you’re sorry. Guys eat that shit up.”

  “You’ve got to stop swearing in front of the baby,” Paige said as Kayla moved her head, snuggling closer to Marlene.

  “And you’ve got to listen to what I say. I’m the married one with a kid to show for it. Go after him.”

  “What if we aren’t right for each other?”

  Marlene stared at Paige as if she’d grown another head. “Paige, we never know if we’re suited for anyone. We just have to go with what feels right. When I met Robert, I thought he was a horse’s ass. He was drunk in the bar after a day of battling fires and I thought he was an idiot.” Paige laughed, remembering when those two had met. “But I got to know him and found out a few people hadn’t made it out of the fire. He was taking that really hard but I didn’t know that until I got to know him.”

  “I know,” Paige said.

  “He’s the sweetest man I know and look at what he’s given me,” Marlene said with a smile as she rubbed her baby’s back. “If I hadn’t taken a chance, followed my heart, I might have missed out on this.”

  “You would have met somebody else.”

  “But I met him first, Paige. I took a chance. I didn’t follow any document on how to do it. I followed my heart.”

  “I don’t know what my heart says,” Paige said honestly.

  “Then go find out. Until you do, you don’t get to be the godmother of Kayla. And you better move quickly or I won’t even let you baby-sit.”

  * * * *

  Mike moved his hand over John’s calf, feeling the knot under the skin.

  “This happened how?” Mike asked. When he saw John’s name on his patients list for today, he’d been worried, thinking he’d injured himself and wouldn’t be able to compete for the invitational next week. Feeling the muscle now, he wasn’t sure.

  “You’re gonna get mad, coach,” John said into his hands. He was lying prone on the padded table.

  “Try me,” Mike said as he slowly rubbed his thumbs into the tight muscle.

  “It was a dare,” John said and Mike stopped. Any normal coach would be up one side and down the other of one of their star athletes. John’s antic sounded so similar to Mike’s own in college he wanted to laugh.

  “What was the dare?” Mike asked curious.

  “Jump from the second story window at the frat house.”

  Mike cringed. He’d done some stupid things in his time but he never put his body in harms way, except with alcohol.

  “Did you win?”

  “Yeah,” John said with a laugh.

  “What was the prize?”

  “A
date with a girl. She wouldn’t go out with me so when the dare came up, I’d said I’d do it but only if she’d have dinner with me.”

  “How’d that work out?”

  “I don’t know, we’re going out tonight.”

  “I don’t think so,” Mike said. “You’ve torn the ligament here.”

  “But I don’t need that to eat, do I?” John asked.

  “No, but you need it to swim and basically walk.”

  “Coach, I can’t cancel this date. This girl is hot, you know and if I cancel...” Mike could see his predicament. He was in his own, wanting a woman so badly he’d do anything to get her…

  “Fine, you can go but no dancing and no crazy sex.”

  “It’s not like that,” John said. “I really like her. I just want her to get to know me, away from the guys and all.” Mike knew all too well what John was saying.

  “Okay, ice the leg up before you leave and put this ointment on. Stay off the foot as much as you can and don’t be taking any long strolls. I want to see you back here tomorrow so I can look at it again.”

  “Am I swimming next week?” John asked.

  “I don’t know,” Mike commented. “If you can’t, is she worth it?”

  John got quiet for a second and Mike could see he was thinking. “Yeah, I think so,” he said grinning.

  “I know what you mean.”

  Mike opened the door to his office so John could leave. John practically tripped himself on the crutches Mike gave him to use to keep off of his leg.

  “Karen, can you get John on the schedule for tomorrow?” he asked his secretary.

  “Sure and your three o’clock is here.”

  What three o’clock? He glanced around and saw Paige sitting off to his right, reading a sports magazine. She looked up and smiled. Her hair was flowing around her face and her eyes shined at him. He noticed she wore a dress, her feet in a pair of high pumps. He’d never seen her in anything other than work clothes. He was almost speechless.

  “Won’t you come in?” he asked. Paige stood, brushing out the material of her dress and walked into the office. Mike shut the door as Paige looked around.

  “Therapist,” she said, taking in the diploma on the wall.

  “That’s what it says.”

  “Then I’ve come to the right place,” she said as she hopped upon onto the padded table. “I’ve got this pain.”

  “Look, Paige,” Mike started.

  “It starts right here,” Paige said, putting her hands on her breasts, “and then moves down to here.” Her hands slid over the flat plane of her stomach until her hands rested in her lap. “It started last night.” She smiled at Mike brightly.

  “Paige,” Mike said. He didn’t want to play games though what she was doing with her hands was rather intriguing.

  “And since sex is like a sport, isn’t it?” she asked slyly, “I thought you could help me work out the kinks.”

  “The kinks?” Mike asked, thinking all kinds of kinky things he wanted to do with her right now.

  “Yes. It’s been a long time since I’ve had sex.”

  “But you had sex last night.”

  “As you well know. I meant before that.”

  “Well,” he said as he moved forward and put his hands on the table next to her knees, “the only remedy I know for working out any sexual issues is to have more sex.” He was eye level with her now and he saw a sparkle in her eye.

  “Are you available later?” she asked.

  Mike stood up and crossed his arms. “Did you consult your sun sign today?” he asked sarcastically. “Did it say go find some guy and screw him and tell him to fuck off after that?”

  “No, it actually said I should ‘focus on my surroundings and not let opportunities get away from me’. And as for just finding some guy, well, why would I do that when I’ve got you.”

  “You’ve got me?” he asked.

  “Well, I hope to, if you’ll give me a chance.”

  “What about all that mumbo jumbo about your year-long plan and staying focused?”

  “The plan is still going but I’m looking for a new opportunity.”

  “Is this just about sex?” he asked.

  “If that was the case, I would have asked you to lock the door and jumped your bones on this table already.”

  Mike turned and walked over to the door, locking it.

  “That’s done. Come here,” Paige smiled.

  Mike walked over and Paige untied the sash at her hip, pulling her dress apart. “Would you please jump my bones?”

  “Only if we have a real date afterwards?”

  “Whatever you want.”

  Epilogue

  A year later…

  “Paige, stop fussing,” Mike said, pulling her out of the kitchen and towards the party. She took one glance back and noticed a tray of hors d’oeuvres that hadn’t been delivered.

  “Let me grab that,” she said. Mike grabbed her hands before she could pick up the tray and pulled her into him.

  “Listen to me,” he said when she looked up at him. “This is our party, okay. Marlene knows how to do her job, so let her. Your job tonight is to have fun. We’re getting engaged--hell, we already are and I want to show you off to everyone. I do not want to drag you out of the kitchen every five minutes. Everything is going to be perfect.”

  “I just want everyone to love the food.”

  “They do. Everyone in my family wanted to know why I didn’t get engaged and married to you the weekend I met you.” Paige smiled. “They want to see us out there dancing and mingling.”

  “But…?”

  “No buts,” Mike said. “You’re crew can handle this. The deal we made was that you could follow whatever sign you wanted when it came to the job but when it came to us, we’d follow our hearts and tonight is about us.”

  Paige stared at Mike, surprised.

  When she met him, she thought he was only a womanizing drunk. But once she opened herself up to the possibilities, life got pretty interesting. She’d followed her sign and it had made her successful, but Mike was right.

  She could harass Marlene in the morning. It was time to follow her heart.

  About the Author

  Michele Imiola is a former Army officer who has served and lived around the world. She uses her experiences for the plots and settings for her books and stories.

  The mother of two daughters, Michele and her family are still on the move going wherever the Army assigns her husband. When not writing or working, Michele reads voraciously. An avid biker, Michele can be seen riding through whatever town, city or country she lives in this year as she plots her next story.

  Also from Michele Imiola and Venus Press…

  Mystical Signs, Capricorn: Scavenger Hunt (Prequel to Follow the Signs)

  The Brotherhood #1: Marcus’ Magic

  The Brotherhood #2: Ian’s Inferno

  Blue Eyes