by CJ Hawk
I let all of that sink in. I spit out my hair that I was chewing on at the same time I was knocking a number two pencil against a filing cabinet. I looked up at the fluorescent light in the supply cabinet and bit the side of my lip, and then I smiled. "Thanks." It was a soft-spoken sincere word, and I knew what she said had some merit.
"The babies are hungry and I am coming to get you for lunch. I need a cheeseburger or pizza; I don't care which. These babies do not agree on cravings, and my prenatal yoga class left me hungry. You need a lunch break, and babies need to eat."
I laughed out loud, which caused an older female coworker that was happening by to open the supply closet door quickly, perhaps thinking something else was going on in here. I waved innocently, and held up my cell phone and mouthed the words, 'personal call'. She closed the door and walked away.
By the time Marion made it to my office cubicle, I was feeling a whole lot better. As soon as she stood before me, I stood up and hugged her. When I pulled back, I smiled with a twinkle in my eye. "Let me log off." I turned to my computer, clicked a few keys, I grabbed my purse, and we walked out of my work to a fresh summer's day. It was in the moment that I took a deep breath in that I felt so much better now that I had decided to share my sorrow with my best friend. I needed to enjoy our lunch talking about the babies and new summer fashion. I wasn't going to let work woes or Mason crowd my brain with worry. Whatever happens will happen. I just needed a break from all of that for now.
Chapter Thirteen
It's too bad that when things start to look better, a black billowy cloud rushes in looking like a bull with horns and breathing steam. Just when I was ok with life going back to how it was before Steve, before Mason, and knowing that I had a lot to look forward to, with or without my sexy man, things got a little dicey.
Turning back into the parking lot at work, as I was cruising at a slow speed looking for an empty spot up close, I witnessed something I never thought I would ever witness. Conversely, maybe I did, but I kind of forgot about HER!
There on the front walk of my work, right in front of the doors that opened into the office, and the entire row of cubicle offices that house my fellow employees, was Steve's wife. Standing next to her was Mason. Standing between her and our receptionist was our male security officer with the big belly. There seemed to be shouting between the two women, Steve's wife and the company receptionist. The security guard was breaking a sweat in the hot summer day, and Mason looked confused. Then as I watched Steve's wife push Mason with her hands to his chest, her mouth screaming something, that is when I did something really... stupid. I hit the gas instead of the brakes as I had been coasting through the parking lot watching all this, and I hit the president's brand new Silver Range Rover.
The sound of the smack of my tiny red two-door used car against the Presidents Range Rover was loud. The dent in his car was minimal. Although, I might be fired over ramming a brand-new car. Nobody with a new car wants to deal with this. Better to just fire the imp who did it. My red used-car lot special deal of a car had its front end bashed up and a jacked up hood with steam coming out of the front of my car. I was sure I would not need to worry about repairing the leaky radiator that had just decided to start leaking on me this morning. I was going to need to replace the whole car and most likely without a job or a possible let's make up boyfriend. Mason obviously now knew the real story behind Steve, not the skirted view that I gave him.
Just as I was trying to focus on the look of Mason's face, I realized that something wet was oozing down my forehead, and my vision was fading out as if the unfocused button was being hit repeatedly, causing everything in front of me to get fuzzier by the second.
I heard voices. I was sure of it. One of them was Masons, but I was not too sure what he was saying. I felt hands touch me, but my head pounded. Then the next thing I remembered thinking was, thank God Marion decided to drive her own car to the restaurant.
Coming to, was eventful. Some strange man's face was in mine asking me if I could hear him. He knew my name, but I did not remember getting flat on my back and meeting this guy. I would have done a head slap to my head if I could but my arm did not want to go up. Then I remembered; I pulled an Amber Jones stupid stunt. It was all coming back to me. The vision of my coworkers battling Steve's wife, mixed with Mason hearing all about his girlfriend, well on hold girlfriend, dating a married man. That was the one main fact I left out when I told him about Steve. I had mentioned he had a girlfriend, but not a wife. That had been too embarrassing of a fact.
Just a minute after the ER staff claimed me to be stabilized and that a young gentleman was waiting to see me, I was ecstatic because perhaps Mason was not so mad at me after all.
I watched a very worried Mason slowly move my ER curtain aside and a weak smile crawl across his face. It was in his eyes, those beautiful sultry eyes, that I saw the care and concern that wrapped me up in happiness. If he didn't care or was mad, he wouldn't be here. "Hey." He spoke out with a hoarse voice than he cleared it. "Mind if I come in."
I let a smile creep onto my face. "Please." I got out with a very groggy voice. I went to reach for my water, and he rushed over to where it was at, held it up, and put the straw in my mouth. I took a sip as I let my hands wrap around his. It felt nice to touch him, even if it was just a small gesture.
As soon as I stopped drinking my water, he set the cup back off to the side, pulled a small chair up next to the bed and held my hand while staring at me. Finally, he got off his chest what had him so worried.
"Hey. That was scary today. I'm glad they said it was only a slight concussion. You ok?" His eyes held the look of a man who was not sure where he stood.
"If you call hitting the gas instead of the brake because you are wigging out that your boyfriend just found out that you accidentally dated a man who has a wife. Yup. That's scary alright." I joked.
I felt his hand tighten on mine as he looked down at it then his eyes came back to mine. "I'm glad to hear I am still your boyfriend."
"You are if you want to deal with the fun likes of me and my sometimes crazy life." I teased.
"Everybody has a crazy life from time to time. I guess maybe I should share in a little about mine later while I am taking care of you, so that you might understand why my family was so weird on Sunday. I'm just glad you'll let me be your boyfriend. And by the way, 6D got her eviction notice. That was why she was trying to break into my apartment, to pay her rent by, well... Any ways, I was very shocked to see her there. However, I guess since you did not see my face or my reaction you would not know. Just know this, I suck at communications sometimes. Looking back, if I had explained it all better than we would not have been in this mess that I feel partially to blame."
I let out an awkward laugh. It felt good to know naked boobs 6D was not in the picture any more or to begin with. I had to put a little more faith in people, but that is hard. Sometimes I would rather jump to a conclusion with a defensive anger instead of listening. It felt good to know that Mason could overlook that, so I teased to lighten the mood. "Well, you are a man and men don't ask for directions."
We both started to laugh.
Mason spoke up first to break the smiles and laughter between us. "Hey. I grabbed your purse before the tow truck took your car away. I called Marion, but that was it. She told me not to call anyone else. I think she was going to head straight here after her baby checkup. I guess she went there after her lunch. I did not tell her too much, only that your ex-boyfriends wife thought, you and him were back together, and taking off somewhere. So, what I have to say next would explain why I feel guilty."
I gave him a taken back look and frowned. "What could you possibly feel guilty about? You didn't know about her."
"Well. See. This woman was knocking on your door rapidly yelling for you that she needed to talk. I happened to be at Ms. Handly's; her sink was clogged. I think she does that on purpose." We both laughed at that because we both knew it was true.
He
started up again with a story that I would never have expected. "So I came out and asked her if I could help, and she told me that she had something she had to tell you. Any ways, the woman confused me into telling her that you worked at the Crawly plant. Then when she mumbled under her breath as she walked away about 'I'm going to kill that bitch for running off with my husband again', well I freaked. I yelled after her to stop, but she took off running. Then it was a race to your work, where I might add that, your receptionist is like a pit bull. She had security called and escorting the yelling lunatic out of the office building, just as I pulled up. Well, you probably just pulled into the lot as all the commotion went to a level higher. Crazy huh? Sorry I didn't know."
He pulled my hand to his lips and kissed it just as his eyes looked at me with sorrow.
I did not want him to feel guilty for something that had nothing to do with him. "I'm sorry. I should have told you the complete truth. My previous boyfriend, who ruined my family birthday party, was not dating another woman who came in chasing him down but a wife. I felt awful, and she has every right to be mad. However, believe me when I tell you that I have not, and let me emphasize not, gotten back with her husband. That goes against all my beliefs. I feel bad enough as it is that he is married. I wonder if Steve is up to his old bag of tricks but this time he left her?"
"Who cares? The cops gave her a ticket, and I got a few words in myself. Mad or not, she has no reason to threaten you or your receptionists for not telling her where you were. Maybe the cops convinced her to stay away; I know I made some kind of impact when I defended you. I told her the sooner she divorced the loser the better off she will be. I also added that you had no idea he was married when you were dating him, and it was as if a light bulb was going on in her head. By the time, she drove away at your work; she seemed to be in a better place." I had no doubts that Mason swooned her in his own way and made her see that the only person she needed to be mad at was her, hopefully soon to be, ex-husband.
"Thanks." I mumbled in awe.
"For what?" He seemed unsure.
"For defending me. It may not seem like much to you but to me, it means a lot. I thought when you didn't defend me at your family brunch that you were unsure of, there being an us."
He stood up to kiss me on the lips, and it caused a soft moan out of me. "Head hurts, huh?" He questioned.
"Throbs, is more like it. I think they skimped on the pain meds if you ask me." I smiled weakly.
"Well don't worry. I know a trick or two to relieve the pain." He said it in such a sultry voice that I was already thinking getting better could be half the fun. Then he added something that made my heart soar. "About my family, my father is going through a tough time right now. My mom jokes that it's manopause, like women get menopause, or that he is just becoming a grumpy old man. I just know the two of us are getting on each other's nerves, and I don't want that. There is a bit of history about me and my crazy mistakes that gets my dad to think I can't make any good decisions. So on Sunday, you caught the brunt of his anger towards me. He feels really bad and wants to make it up to you. I guess we were all shocked at his behavior and just felt you were doing good holding your own. I felt if I said anything it would ruin the whole day. If I could have gone back, I would have done a lot different that day. For one, I would not have sat silent in the car while you were obviously mad. Sometimes when I am mad, I just shut down." He let out an awkward laugh, so I joked.
"Again, you are a man, and you suck at communication." We both laughed.
He looked into my eyes with sincerity, and then he continued on. "I guess what I am trying to say is I won't be as distant as I seemed. Next time, I will not let you go away mad. I will do my best to make you smile." He waggled his eyebrows and I knew what that meant, which to me, it meant a lot. Not that he wanted to please me in only a physical way, but also in a mental sense.
He looked at me with eyes that were begging for forgiveness. "Don't worry. I'll let you practice on your forgiving. It might take a lot of practice." Just as I teased, Marion walked through the curtain.
"There is an awful lot of giggling going on behind this curtain. Hey, I talked with the doctor. You've got a minor concussion. I talked with the Crawly receptionist and got the short version of which I am sure Mason filled you in on a bit." She winked at him and he smiled back, while squeezing my hand. She continued on. "So, you are one lucky little girl. Wally found out that the car you hit was actually a rental replacement from the dealership, because the president's Range Rover had some engine noise this morning. You hit the dealership car, which will probably be covered by their insurance. In any case, your rates might go up. That said, you two look cozy. Did you kiss and make up?"
Mason spoke up first. "Not fully but I will be her doctor for the next few days until she is better."
Marion chimed in with some good news. "As soon as the doctor can get in here to look you over and sign your release, one of us needs to drive you home for bed rest."
"That would be me." Mason chuckled as he nudged Marion.
"Good idea." She smiled at the two of us, and then she let out the news that made my bed rest time even easier. "Look. I think everything at work will be fine. It turns out the city auditor cannot make it in for two more weeks. So that will give you time. Take a few days off."
"That is all I felt like I have been doing." I frowned at my own behavior.
Mason answered so quickly that my heart did a pitter-patter. "Everybody has a little off time at work. This is your time. Things will get back on track, and I will help anyway I can."
"Me too." Marion chimed in. "And don't worry about pleasing everyone else. Take care of yourself first."
Mason burst out with an admittance I think he wanted to state all along and now felt like it was a good time. "I wasn't going to give up that easy, you know. I had plans to get you back. I just wanted you to cool down a bit." Then he reached up and kissed me on the lips but puckering my lips caused a little pain in my head, and I moaned.
"Sorry." Mason quickly apologized with sincerity.
"I guess there are other places you could kiss to make me feel better." I teased.
"And that is a sign that I need to go. Listen you two; enjoy your doctor-patient thing. Spoil her Mason. She deserves it. I'm going to run. Mums the word with the family I suppose?" Marion winked.
"Yes. Please. Let's keep this quiet if we can. I don't think I can deal with my mom on this one."
Marion patted my foot under the hospital issued blanket and smiled. "Mums the word. Call me if you need me." Then she was gone.
Mason and I sat there quietly for a second as I felt him squeeze my hand, and then he finally spoke up. "It's not a big deal you know. You dating a guy who lied about being married. I guess what I am trying to say, is we have all done some stupid things. I guess that is why my dad thinks I can't pick a good woman, but this time I think I did."
"If you are referring to me, then I guess you might be in for a surprise now and then. It just seems to happen to me that way. Luck is not always in my favor. However, I guess when it comes to meeting you, I would have to say it is, because if you are willing to overlook my, uhm, flaws, then I can try to look past those incredible eyes of yours and love you for your brain. It's kind of hard though. You know. Because you have a really nice body." I laughed.
"I think I am the one that should be saying that." Then he kissed my hand just as the doctor came in to release me. Alongside him was a nurse to take out my IV and send me along my way. At this point, nothing about today seemed less daunting because, I was back with Mason, he was going to take care of me, and things were looking much better.
Chapter Fourteen
A few months later, things were looking up. I had a good bit of management courses completed, which left me feeling satisfied. It might have helped that with each course completed; Mason promised me a romantic date.
My mom and I were talking almost weekly like a real mother and daughter should, no judgmental ha
rshness playing out, just a mom checking in on her daughter. If a disapproving comment slipped from her lips, Mason was right there to make it all better.
I finally got a chance to talk with Steve's wife. We met down at the bakery, my treat. It turns out Steve had finally left her for another woman, and we both needed to hear my apology to move on from this tragedy. I think the double chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese filling made the conversation a bit easier. Mix that delicious combination with an iced caramel Frappuccino and we both left feeling divinely sugarfied. She did mention one thing that left me with a smile as I walked away from the bakery, if things didn't work out with Mason she wanted his number. I told her not a chance, he was a keeper.
Mason's dad and I were able to have a long talk after everyone left for brunch one Sunday. It turns out; he felt bad about judging me and told me he could not think of anyone better to be with his favorite son. I joked in return that it was his only son, and then he spoke with soft eyes as he replied, 'exactly why I worry so much about him'.
Bethany was promoted, again. No surprise there. Somehow though, her pleas for advice on career dressing always made me feel better as I knew I had something to contribute to the sisterly bond communications. That, and she had no clue how to dress sexy professional and was in dire need of catching one particular executive's eye at her office.
Marion and Carl were knee-deep in baby preparations and baby room decorating. Baby's names had not been approved by Carl's mother, but he was working on it. Marion and I figured if we kept coming up with name choices far worse than what she and Carl wanted, eventually his mother would succumb.