by Beth Rinyu
“Yes, Margo?”
“Hello, darling. I need you to put on your best dress, get prettied up, and be at the Ritz Carlton at eight o’clock sharp.”
“I can’t.”
“What do you mean you can’t?”
“I already have plans for tonight.”
“Well, break them.”
She was unbelievable. “Margo, I’m sorry, but I can’t break them.” Why was I even apologizing to her?
“Bree, Senator Stevens needs an escort to a fundraising gala this evening. This is a huge event.”
“Okay, and I just told you, I have plans that I cannot break.” I remained stern.
“This is putting me in a very tough spot. Do you know how important he is?”
“Why can’t someone else do it? He’s Kylee’s regular client, isn’t he?
“Yes, but she’s sick, Regina and Lauren are with other clients, and we all know that Jess isn’t around anymore,” she huffed.
“I really don’t know what to say, but I know I can’t do it.”
“And since when did you have a life outside of work?” she snapped.
In the past I had always felt compelled to explain myself to Margo, but lately not so much. That guy wasn’t one of my clients; therefore, I had no obligation to be his escort for the night, and it was none of Margo’s business why. “Margo, I really need to go.”
“Bree, what if I didn’t take any of the cut?” Her voice was riddled with a rare tone of desperation.
I let out a deep sigh. Thoughts of Simon and Jack waiting for me at the park raced through my mind. I knew Margo would hold it against me forever if I refused. My head was telling me to just give in and avoid any unnecessary friction with her, but my heart uttered the words before I could stop them. “I’m sorry, Margo, I just can’t.”
“Okay, that’s fine. I’ll remember this the next time you need a favor.”
I’m sure you will.
“Enjoy your plans,” she sneered before hanging up the phone.
Guilt washed over me for a split second before I came to my senses. I needed to stand up to her. I had let her take advantage of me for far too long, and now with Jess being gone, she needed me more than I needed her.
By the time I arrived at the park, all thoughts of Margo’s demands were put to rest. I scanned the beach area at the handful of people, with no sign of Simon or Jack.
“Great, I just pissed Margo off for nothing,” I whispered to myself. I stood on the peaceful urban beach and stared out at the river, taking in the picturesque Manhattan skyline. The wind whipped off the water, clearing my mind of any old thoughts and making way for new ones. The cold, shrill sense of loneliness that had overcome me once again was harsher than any of the elements coming from the water. I was no stranger to solitude, but I couldn’t help but wonder if anyone would even notice if I just disappeared. Snap out of it, Bree, I demanded of myself. I reached for my phone, not believing what I was about to do after the little pep talk I had given to myself in the cab about standing up to Margo. But caving in to Margo’s request and making a little extra money seemed better than the sinking feeling of aloneness. At least I knew I’d exist to someone tonight. I pulled up Margo’s name in my contacts and was just about to hit the call button when something brushed against my pant leg.
“Macy!” I exclaimed, doing a double take at the golden ball of fur at my feet. “It really is you, pretty girl!” I bent down, wrapping my arms around her and nuzzling into her fur.
“What can I say? Jack is an even pushier salesperson than you,” Simon said as I stared up at him, standing in front of me with hands in his pockets.
“Bree!” Jack shouted. “We got Macy, and she sleeps in my bed with me.” Jack’s smile was contagious. Macy ran over to him, immediately taking a seat at his feet. The bond those two had formed was already evident.
“I can’t believe it was you who adopted her.” I stood up, taking a step closer to Simon.
He sighed heavily. “I guess I had a weak moment.”
“I knew you’d cave.” I grinned. “I promise you won’t regret it.”
“Come on!” Jack grabbed Macy’s leash and waved his hand for us to get moving.
Simon and I walked together while Jack and Macy strode a few feet in front of us. “I thought you guys had left already.”
“Nope, Jack had to use the bathroom. Then you looked so deep in thought, I almost didn’t want to disturb you.”
“Yeah, sometimes that’s a very dangerous thing,” I muttered.
“What is?”
“Being alone with my thoughts.”
He raised his eyebrow and nodded.
“So, is Macy adjusting well?”
“Well, it’s only been two days, but surprisingly, yes. She and Jack are inseparable.”
“Nothing like a boy and his dog.” I smiled. “Except maybe a girl and her dog.”
“Did you have a dog when you were a child?”
“I did. I actually had a few, and two cats, a Guinea pig, several hamsters, and a rabbit.”
“Jeez, you had your own little zoo.”
I threw back my head and let out a simple laugh. “I love animals. They always understood me better than any human ever could. Plus I think people who don’t like dogs seriously have some deep-seated issues.”
He let out a lighthearted chuckle over my observation.
“Out of all of my dogs, Toby was my favorite. He was a little peculiar. He had one blue eye and one brown eye, and one ear that stood straight and the other flopped down.”
“Wow, poor thing. He sounds like he was a little confused in life.”
I shook my head and laughed. “Yeah, but he was the best. I didn’t have many friends growing up.”
His eyes widened in disbelief.
“I really didn’t. I grew up in a very small town. All the girls formed their cliques early on, and I wasn’t part of any.”
“Why not?” he asked.
I shrugged. “I’m not really sure. I think all of those little groups were established based on whose mother was friends with whose, and since I didn’t have a mom, I became an outcast.”
He stared at me questioningly.
“She passed away when I was born,” I clarified.
Sadness washed over his face before he looked away and stared straight ahead, deep in thought. “Do you have any brothers or sisters?”
“A brother. He’s five years older than me.”
“How old is he?”
“Thirty-three.” I gasped, realizing what I had just done and playfully smacking him on the arm as he roared with laughter.
“So you’re twenty-eight?” A triumphant grin was plastered across his face.
“Okay, you got me.” I admitted defeat.
“But I’m still finding it hard to believe that you didn’t have any friends. You’re so easy to—” He paused. “To talk to and get along with,” he finished.
“I had a friend—actually a best friend, who wasn’t of the four-legged variety.”
He let out a lighthearted chuckle. “Are you still friends with her?”
“Him,” I corrected, trying to swallow the baseball-sized lump forming in my throat. “And, no, I’m not.” My eyes glossed over and he gave me a sympathetic gaze. I was hoping he wouldn’t ask any more questions about him; I wasn’t sure if my heart would be able to handle it.
“Jack, that’s far enough,” he called, thankfully veering us off topic.
Jack stopped, allowing us to catch up to him. “Daddy, I’m hungry! Can we go get something to eat?”
“Okay, but Macy needs to go home.”
“Why?”
“Because she’s not allowed in the restaurant.”
“Why not?” Jack protested.
“Because she just isn’t.” Simon sighed heavily, his frustration mounting.
“Jack, why don’t you get a hot dog?” I asked, pointing to the hot dog stand.
His eyes lit up with excitement. “Daddy, can I, p
lease?”
“Umm…”
“I’m sorry, are you one of those people that detests eating from a hot dog stand?” I laughed.
“That, and I’m not too crazy of him eating all that disgusting stuff inside of a hot dog.”
“Simon. Really? This is right up there with your Scooby-Doo ban.”
He let out a loud laugh. “Correction: I never said I banned Scooby-Doo, we’ve just never watched it.”
“Daddy, please can I try a hot dog?” Jack begged.
I pulled in my bottom lip, trying to conceal my amusement over the turmoil that one little hot dog was causing Simon.
“Fine,” Simon finally uttered.
“Yay!” Jack exclaimed, handing over the leash and Macy to Simon, wasting no time rushing over to collect his food.
“I’m sorry,” I giggled. “And in an effort to not make it look like you’ve totally caved, it’s my treat.”
“Bree—really that’s not—”
I ignored his protests and walked over to the hot dog stand where Jack was eagerly waiting. “Can I have two please?” I asked the man behind the stand.
“But I only want one,” Jack spoke up.
“I know. This one is for your daddy.”
He frantically shook his head. “He’s not gonna eat it.”
I smiled. “I bet you I can make him.”
Jack sighed heavily. “You can try, but he only eats icky food like begetables.”
I fixed Jack’s hot dog with a little mustard the way he requested and handed it to him. “Ready?” I asked.
He took a bite and smiled before nodding. Simon stood with his hands in his pockets, Macy sitting by his side. He shook his head and grinned at Jack, who had mustard all over his face. I instinctively reached down and patted his cheek with the napkin in my hand.
“Here you go.” I shoved the hot dog under Simon’s nose.
“Thank you very much, but I don’t want that.”
“Simon? Really? I bought this for you, and you’re refusing to eat it now? My feelings are hurt,” I joked.
“You eat it,” he suggested.
“Nope, I have a bet going on with Jack that I’ll be able to get you to eat it.”
His grin deepened. “Okay, on one condition.”
I raised an eyebrow. Even I was a little surprised that he was willing to surrender so quickly. “And what would that condition be?”
“Let me cook you real food for dinner, tomorrow night?”
I was speechless, knowing how I wanted to respond and at the same time well aware of how I should respond. Once again, the words inside my heart reached my lips before the ones inside my head. “Okay. What time were you thinking?”
Chapter 16
“I’m sorry I’m late.” I was almost afraid to even look at Hannah as I sat down across from her at the coffee shop.
“No problem. Is everything okay?” she asked, seemingly picking up on my odd behavior.
“Yup! It’s fine, why wouldn’t it be?” I was hoping I was coming off as convincing.
She shrugged. “You just seem a bit hyper.”
“Nope. I’m good. So how’s the book coming along?”
“I’m on chapter seven, and right now the heroine is just coming to terms that she may be in love with the hero.”
“Oh…sounds like it’s starting to heat up? When can I start reading it?”
“Well, I’ve decided I’m going to finish it and let you read it in its entirety instead of giving it to you piecemeal. Then maybe you can fine-tune the love scenes.”
I laughed to myself over her inability to say the word sex. “Okay, sounds good, but can you tell me what it’s about?”
She shook her head and smiled. “It’s a surprise. But if you could just do me one favor?”
“What’s that?” I asked.
“Can you write a few paragraphs about what it’s like to be in love? I’ve never been, so it’s really hard for me to write.”
I looked down at the table and took a deep breath. “Oh, Hannah, I don’t think I’d be much help in that department either.”
“But you did say you were in love once.”
“That was a long time ago.” My voice faltered.
“Well, think about it. If you can come up with something, jot it down. I’m sure whatever it is, it will be a lot better than what I can do.”
“Okay, I’ll try,” I reluctantly replied.
“Oh, and also…” She paused and raised an eyebrow. “I’m changing my hero’s name.”
Just when I thought I was in the clear. “Oh really, and why is that?” I feigned naivety.
“Because I can’t write a romance novel and have my main character modeled after one of my student’s parents.”
I titled my head and feigned confusion.
“Oh, Bree, come on! I may be a nun. I may not have as much experience as you do in certain departments, but I’d have to be a complete idiot to not know that my Simon is your Simon.”
“My Simon?” I shouted.
She rifled through her notebook, stopping to read a page. “Businessman, gorgeous body, crystal green eyes, perfectly chiseled facial features, and a cleft in his chin? And isn’t it a coincidence that his name just happens to be Simon too?”
“Yeah, now that you say it, I guess he does seem a little similar, but your Simon doesn’t have a British accent.”
She shook her head and smiled. “Bree, don’t be ashamed about having a crush on your brother’s friend.”
A victorious smirk adorned my face. She really didn’t have a clue about my connection to Simon; she just thought I was trying to hide some secret crush. So who was I to tell her any different? “Guilty.” I shrugged, playing along perfectly.
“Have you ever told him how you’re feeling?”
“What? Umm...no! There would be no reason to even do such a thing. It’s not like we could ever be in a relationship anyway.”
“Why not?”
My eyes widened. Was she really that naïve to it all?
“He’s around your age, handsome, and may I add doing a great job at raising that little boy of his on his own.”
I nodded. “I’m aware of all that, but have you forgotten one important factor that you’re leaving out?”
“What?” She tilted her head in confusion.
“I get paid to have sex with men.”
“Shhh!” She placed her index finger over her lips, frantically looking around to make sure no one had heard me.
“Relax, Hannah, these people are too engrossed into their own little worlds to worry about mine. As much as it pains you to hear it, that’s the reality of it.”
“But why does that have to be a reality, Bree? You’re a smart, young, pretty girl. You can do so much with your life. Don’t you want to have a family someday?”
“Hannah, please. I don’t want to get into this right now.”
“But—”
I put up my hand to stop her, not because I disagreed with her, but because it hurt too much to listen to her go on about a life that I was yearning for more and more with each passing day.
“Look, Hannah, I could be asking the same thing of you. Why’d you choose to become a nun instead of falling in love and having children? You of all people should understand that some things just aren’t a right fit for some people.”
“But, Bree, my situation is different.”
“How? Just because you chose to devote your life to God, and I chose to devote mine to some of the wealthiest most powerful men in the city. It’s the same difference—we’re both labeled as outcasts either way you look at it.”
I could tell she wasn’t buying it; she saw right through my tough façade. “So, I put Sheila in her place yesterday.” I was trying desperately to switch topics.
“You went to the shelter yesterday?”
“Yeah. I needed some cheering up.”
“Did it work?”
I smiled as I thought back to the day before, and being at the an
imal shelter was only part of the reason why. “Yeah, it really did.” My smile faded and my stomach dropped as I snapped back to reality, thinking about the crazy invitation I had accepted for tonight.
“Anything you care to talk about? You know, like the reason why you needed cheering up.”
My eyes averted hers, choosing to stare into space instead while my right leg began to bounce up and down. “It was my best friend’s birthday.”
She gazed at me in confusion.
“He passed away, five years ago.”
“Oh, Bree, I’m so sorry.”
I nodded, blinking away the tears, unable to tell her any more.
“Yeah, it’s a tough day every year. His birthday—” I paused. “And the anniversary of his death,” I carried on.
“That’s understandable.’
Taking a deep, cleansing breath, I pulled it together. “So, did you have any more—” I leaned into the table to get closer to her and whispered, “S-E-X questions?”
She still turned a light shade of pink. Clearly spelling out the word instead of saying it didn’t halt her embarrassment much. “Umm…I think I’m good for right now.”
Lately each time Hannah and I had gotten together, we were talking less about her book and more about life. I was never good at expressing my feelings, always keeping them bottled up, but since Hannah had come into my life, I was slowly bringing those feelings to the surface. It was all so foreign to me. It had been so long since I had felt comfortable enough to do that with someone. We were complete opposites, but oddly enough the same, in more ways than we realized. Hannah didn’t judge me for my bad girl ways, and I didn’t judge her for her good girl ones, and maybe that was what true friendship was really all about.
Chapter 17
I stepped out of the cab and gaped at the Brooklyn brownstone that matched the address Simon had given me. The cab pulled away just as I was ready to give in to my nerves and hop back in.
What in the world am I doing? This is insane!
Taking a deep breath, I clutched the bottle of wine in my hand and whispered, “Here goes nothing.” My knees were wobbling as I made my way up the stairs. The bitter air burned my lungs with each deep breath I took as I tried to soothe my nerves. Since it was much too cold to stand outside and continue to debate my decision, I stretched out my gloved finger and pressed the doorbell. My stomach erupted in butterflies as I waited for the door to open. All of my doubts faded when I was greeted by that handsome face that I was growing so fond of. How on earth did he manage to have that effect on me? Whenever I was with him, I forgot about who I was, or who I was supposed to be. He brought out the girl that was deep inside my psyche—the girl I missed so desperately, even though I’d never be her again. I didn’t hate myself when she was around, and I was happy, however fleeting it may have been.