Sweet Hearts

by Melissa Brayden

  “I’ll have to get a recap of that conversation later, but right now I just wanted to know if Marty’s flight took off this morning.”

  Lisa’s heart did a disturbing little flutter. “How would I know?”

  “She didn’t answer her phone when I called and I thought maybe…?”

  “You thought maybe she was with me?” Lisa didn’t want to dwell on the missed opportunity Elaine hinted at. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m flattered you think I could work that fast, but a little disappointed you underestimated my gentlemanly qualities.”

  “I didn’t mean to imply anything of the sort.”

  Liar. The abundance of relief in Elaine’s voice gave her away.

  “I just thought if she got stuck in Buffalo she might’ve called you, since I’m out of town and you two hit it off last night.”

  Elaine didn’t even know the half of it. She and Joey left before the best part of the night. She could still feel Marty’s lips on hers.

  “So?” Elaine asked.

  “What?”

  “Did she call you?”

  “That’s a big negative,” Lisa said, then before she thought it over, added, “Do you really think she’s still in town?”

  “You haven’t turned on the news today?”

  “No.” She wondered again why Elaine had seen the news on her honeymoon, but let that go in order to get to the real point of this little conversation. “Why?”

  “A big nor’easter just clipped the East Coast. They shut down JFK and LaGuardia.”

  “Seems like they should’ve seen that coming.”

  “You know weather forecasters. Their work seems about as reliable as life coaching, right?”

  Lisa snorted. “Admitting it is the first step…or so your counseling colleagues say.”

  “Well while the meteorologists and I work through our shortcomings, would you check on Marty for me?”

  “Um…” Lisa drew out the sound while she tried to ignore the wash of emotions swirling inside her. The thought of spending more time with Marty was both a dream come true and a dream killer. Sure, if she could’ve extended last night into eternity she would’ve likely suspended time indefinitely, but in the harsh light of a new day, would the perfection they’d shared prove itself an illusion? They’d left things in a really good place, possibly the highest of heights the two of them would ever experience. Why risk a wonderful memory?

  Then again, what if they really could steal a few more hours in paradise?

  “What’d she say?” Joey asked in the background.

  “Lisa?” Elaine asked. “You still there?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  Silence stretched across the airwaves again. Maybe she and Marty could get along like they had last night for a bit longer. Still, what if they didn’t? What if Marty didn’t want to see her without the music and the wine and the tux? There was no way she’d be able to keep up the smooth charade long-term. She’d only spoil everything.

  “Hey.” Elaine’s voice was soft, caring, knowing. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to ask you to do something that might hurt you.”

  “What?” The tone, those words snapped her back to the present. “I’m not hurt. I’ve just got a lot going on.”

  “Of course you do. You’ve worked so hard on the wedding.”

  “Did she say she was too busy?” Joey asked.

  “No, I didn’t say that,” Lisa said, trying to be heard through the receiver. “It’s just—”

  “Don’t worry. This is a big transition time for you. You can take all the time you need. I just didn’t know—”

  “There’s nothing to know. Don’t coach me. I don’t need to be handled.”

  “Of course not.”

  She hated how calm Elaine sounded compared to the defensiveness in her own voice. “Just text me her number. I’ll call her.”

  “Lisa,” Elaine said her name both with warning and sympathy.

  “I told you this was a bad idea,” Joey said.

  “Oh, for fuck’s sake, stop overanalyzing everything. I won’t be able to strut around in my skivvies if she comes over. That’s all. It’s fine, though. What the hell else do I have going on right now?”

  The last part of the statement revealed more truth than she cared to admit. She literally had nothing going on in her life now. A little awkward company would probably be better than no company at all, but she didn’t have to like that realization.

  “You sure?” Elaine asked one more time.

  “Yeah. Sure. Just text me, then get back to doing things I don’t want to think about, okay?”

  The smile was back in Elaine’s voice as she offered her thanks, but Lisa disconnected the phone quickly. Maybe she should go change her clothes. Maybe Marty wouldn’t even answer her phone. Maybe she was already back in New York. Maybe she’d be thrilled to hear from her and they’d fall into bed for days at a time, then she’d leave feeling sated and indebted to her. Yeah, and maybe pigs would fly by the window.

  Her phone buzzed in her hand, causing her to jump.

  She needed to chill out. She was known for being chill, for being crass, for having no shits to give about what other people thought. She could handle a simple phone call.

  Yes, yes, she could.

  Right after she took a shower.

  *

  Marty stared at the hotel app on her phone. All the airport hotels were booked, presumably by travelers in a predicament similar to hers. All the East Coast airline hubs had closed. New York, Boston, Philadephia, DC. No one getting in meant none of the planes needed to get people anywhere else could get out. Both the arrival and departure boards had flashed a glaring red for hours. Flights were no longer delayed, but canceled outright. At least she’d been one of the lucky ones. Her flight had been called so early she’d been among the first wave to rebook for tomorrow. Others around her had a two- to three-day wait. The energy in the airport was wretchedly negative, and she didn’t want to sit there soaking it up anymore.

  If only she could find an open room nearby, she’d gladly pay any reasonable amount to have some quiet time to collect herself. A little time and space to meditate and reflect would be a gift from the universe right now, but she couldn’t find any such thing in the vicinity. She widened her search again to include downtown Buffalo as well but found no vacancies. Who knew Buffalo was such a happening place in the dead of winter?

  Lisa. Her face floating across Marty’s memory again caused her to shiver. Lisa knew Buffalo was a hip place. She knew every part of this city. She’d surely be able to find a place to stay, but at what cost? Would hearing her voice so close and low in her ear weaken her resolve to walk away, or compound her regrets for having done so the first time around? No, she didn’t have any regrets so much as a wish that things could’ve been different, but either way, the result was the same. She felt unsettled about something she couldn’t change. She needed to move on, to center herself, and she couldn’t do so in an airport filled with frustrated strangers.

  She started widening her search parameters to encompass the nearby suburbs when the phone in her hand vibrated with an incoming call. She didn’t recognize the number on the screen, which generally meant one of two things—either a telemarketer, or a client calling from a new phone. While she really didn’t want to engage the former, the prospect of the call being from the latter made her answer.

  “Hello,” she said hesitantly.

  “Hi.” Such a simple word, a syllable really, said so much. Her frustration melted and she smiled in spite of the turmoil around her. “This is, uh, Lisa. Lisa Knapp, from, um, the wedding.”

  Like she wouldn’t recognize the voice of the woman who’d filled her dreams all night. “Hello, Lisa.”

  “Hi,” she said again, her nervousness palpable even across the airwaves. “I just talked to Elaine, and she said you might be stuck in Buffalo.”

  “I am, actually. It looks like I’m not going home today.”

  “Oh,” Lisa said as though she
hadn’t planned on that answer. “Do you, I don’t know, need some help or something, like a place to stay?”

  “I do. Do you know of a hotel with open rooms? The ones close to the airport are all jammed with stranded travelers, and downtown is full for some reason I can’t comprehend.”

  “The World Junior Hockey Championships.”

  “Is that so?”

  “Hockey’s kind of a thing around here.”

  “Interesting.”

  The small talk punctuated by silence was painful compared to the easy camaraderie they’d shared the night before. Maybe they should’ve left well enough alone.

  “So, it’s not a hotel, but it’s better than the airport,” Lisa said.

  “What is?”

  “Oh”—she laughed nervously—“my house. I mean, our house. Not yours and mine, but mine and Joey’s and Elaine’s. We have room, and a fireplace. And food. Well actually, no food right now, but we could get some.”

  Marty’s smile stretched her face until her cheek pressed against the phone at her ear. Never had such a bumbling offer sounded so appealing. Suddenly all the proof she’d seen about the need to let go vanished. Her head might have whispered that allowing things with Lisa to continue unchecked would have serious consequences, but her heart said she’d been granted a gift and the only acceptable response was to accept.

  “You don’t have to. I mean, if it’s weird for you. Because of me or…whatever.”

  “No,” she interjected quickly. “If it’s not weird for you.”

  “No,” Lisa said, just a bit too defensively. “I mean, it’s cool.”

  “I don’t want to be a burden. I’ll try not to get in your way.”

  Lisa snorted. “There’s nothing to get in the way of. It’s just…me.”

  Just her. The way Lisa said the phrase sounded almost apologetic, but Marty couldn’t think of anything she wanted to hear more in that moment. “I’d really like that.”

  *

  Marty was standing on the curb when she pulled up to the airport, and Lisa groaned. Why did she have to look so damn perfect in her jeans and calf-high snow boots, with her matching chocolate-brown coat and gloves? She was just so put together when Lisa felt like a train wreck on a caffeine buzz. She pulled to a stop, reminding herself to play cool, but as soon as she hopped out she realized she had no idea how to greet her. Just say hello? Hug her? Kiss her? She wanted all of the above, but what kind of tone did they need to set? She stopped a few feet away and kind of shrugged awkwardly.

  Marty seemed to do the same, though she might have leaned in for a hug, or maybe not. The silence plus awkward leaning-or-not-leaning went on for about ten seconds, which felt like ten seconds too long, before they both laughed nervously.

  “This all your luggage?” Lisa asked.

  “Yes, I only expected to be here one night.”

  “Right, well, I like a woman who packs light,” she said, feeling a little better to have made her first genuine, if completely inane, comment of the day. “Hop in.”

  She tossed Marty’s one carry-on suitcase into the back of her Subaru Forester and climbed back into the driver’s seat.

  “Great car,” Marty said.

  “Thanks, it’s good in the winter weather.”

  “I wasn’t sure if I should expect something more ostentatious, what with you being shockingly rich and all.”

  “You caught that, huh?”

  “You mentioned it last night.”

  Lisa smiled as she pulled out onto the Kensington Expressway. “Did I say that in my out-loud voice?”

  “Maybe a time or two.”

  “Well there’s something you should know then, and it’s probably best to just get it out there right away.”

  “What, you’re not rich?” Marty teased.

  “No, I actually am,” Lisa admitted a little bit uncomfortably. “It’s just the rest of it, the wine and the tuxedo and the dancing, it was a special occasion, you know?”

  “You mean you don’t just lounge around your house in a tie and tails all day?”

  “No.” Lisa gestured to her attire. “I’m more of a jeans and hoodie kind of person.”

  “What a relief, because if I had to put my little black heels back on this morning, I’m not sure the slipper would actually still fit after the ball.”

  Lisa relaxed a little bit. She glanced away from the road to see the corner of Marty’s mouth quirk up. “What?”

  “Nothing, I was just letting it sink in that I have an extra day here. In the airport that seemed like a burden, something to be managed, but now, with you, it seems more like a gift.”

  The hair on Lisa’s arms stood up in anticipation, and she quickly worked to tamp down expectations. “I’m not exactly a shiny-ribbon-and-bow kind of person.”

  “Hmm.”

  “What?” Her defenses rose. Was she being judged? Was Marty disappointed in her, or worse, was she overanalyzing the comment?

  “I wondered what I said to imply I wanted shiny ribbons and bows. Maybe I gave you the wrong impression.”

  “Just the thing about extra time together being a gift. I just don’t want you to regret that.”

  “Here’s the thing. I don’t really do regret. Not over things like extended vacations, especially ones out of my control,” Marty said evenly. “I try, though, not always with success, to accept there’s a reason for everything and try to take whatever that reason is for whatever it’s worth.”

  Lisa sighed. So there it was. The life-coach speech they’d avoided all last night had finally reared its insanely calm head. “Right, that’s Life Coach 101?”

  “Sure, it’s like first week of classes material,” Marty said lightly. “And your tone clearly indicates you’re a big fan of basic life-coaching concepts.”

  “Does that offend you?”

  “It amuses me.” She did sound genuinely amused, which only added to Lisa’s frustration.

  “Because you know all about me and I know nothing about you?”

  Marty laughed outright. “I hate to break it to you, but Elaine and I don’t really spend our sessions talking about you.”

  Lisa snorted in appreciation of the dig. “Sure you don’t.”

  “I am amused because last night, when we actually were taking every moment as a gift, you were more open and quite frankly more fun, but today when I gave that way of being a name, or the concept behind it, you suddenly clammed up.”

  “I didn’t clam up.”

  Lisa looked over just in time to see Marty roll her eyes. “Hey, I thought life coaches weren’t supposed to roll their eyes at people.”

  “Okay, I think you need to pull over.”

  “Now?”

  “Yes.”

  Lisa edged the car over to the shoulder of the road and flipped on the hazard lights.

  “I am a life coach,” Marty said, matter-of-factly.

  “No shit.”

  “But, and this is a big but, I am not your life coach.”

  Lisa opened her mouth, but Marty cut her off. “I’m not looking to be your life coach. And even if I were, I cannot be your life coach because I’m not neutral toward you in any way.”

  “No?”

  “No. My regard for you isn’t abstract. I like you. A lot, actually. Or I did, before you started trying to make me not like you.” Marty shook her head. “No, even that’s not true. I still like you. I think you’re funny and interesting and a good dancer once you relax.”

  Lisa smiled in spite of the but she expected to come at the end of this conversation.

  “More than that, though, I cannot be your life coach, nor do I want to be your life coach, because I also think you’re a really good kisser.”

  “Well…okay,” Lisa said resolutely. Not a brilliant response to such a wonderful confession, but it was all she had.

  “Okay?”

  “Yeah. Okay.” She smiled both in relief and with the stirrings of real happiness she hadn’t let herself indulge until now. “So if
this isn’t going to turn into an extended life-coach session, what do you want to do today?”

  “Well the possibilities are endless now, aren’t they?” Marty’s smile was playful, coy, and damn tempting. “But I find that when facing the possibility of a big day, it’s good to start with the most important things first.”

  “So…lunch?” Lisa asked.

  Marty laughed. “If you continue to think with your stomach, you might actually be a woman after my own heart.”

  Lisa grinned as she pulled back out into traffic. She wasn’t sure she really believed she could come anywhere near Marty’s heart, but there wasn’t any harm in enjoying the idea a little bit longer.

  Chapter Four

  “So, I know you come from the big city and all,” Lisa said holding open the door to Saigon Café, “but I think this place will rival anything you eat at home.”

  Marty stopped and pursed her lips. “Because I’m Asian?”

  “What?” Lisa froze, all the blood draining from her face.

  “Saigon Café? Just like I eat at home? Do you think all Asian people eat pad Thai all day, every day?”

  “Oh God, no, I just thought…” Lisa stammered. “I meant New York City. Not home like your house, I didn’t mean to imply you were Asian. I mean clearly you are Asian, but I didn’t assume…shit.”

  Marty burst out laughing. She laughed so hard her sides ached.

  Lisa stared at her, slack-jawed.

  “I knew what you meant. I’m just messing with you.”

  “Holy shit.” Lisa sagged against the bar. “That was pretty awful of you…and awesome.”

  Marty smiled as the hostess led them to the table. Pride filled her chest at having been the one to punk Lisa. Maybe she wanted to prove she wasn’t serious all the time, the way Lisa seemed to expect from life coaches. Or maybe she’d wanted to throw her off her guard, take the wall she’d put up between them down a level or two. More likely, she’d just felt comfortable enough to let loose a little bit. Either way, Lisa’s reaction had been priceless.

  They sat down, and Lisa sipped her water, eyeing Marty suspiciously as she slipped off her coat. “You’re not supposed to joke about racism, you know.”