From Now Until Infinity

by Layne Harper

  It occurs to me that we aren’t alone. As I look around, I notice that the hostess has graciously closed the door and left, keeping the prying eyes of the other restaurant patrons from witnessing our reunion. I turn to Brad. “I guess I should introduce you two.”

  Brad laughs. “Oh Doctor Collins, we’ve talked plenty on the phone.”

  Brad sticks out his hand and shakes Colin’s. Colin confirms what Brad said. “Yeah, Brad and I’ve become good friends the last couple of days. In fact, I believe his exact words were, ‘Not THE Colin McKinney? The one we’ve been avoiding for all these years?’” He says with humor in his voice and gives me a very sexy wink.

  I blush and grab Colin’s hand stepping closer to his side. “Well, WE aren’t avoiding you anymore, are we?”

  He wraps his arm around me and pulls me closer to him. “Brad, thank you for all of your help. But right now, I want to spend some alone time with my girl.”

  Brad replies, “Don’t do anything that I wouldn’t do.” He turns and sashays out of our private dining room.

  The table is large enough to accommodate twelve people, but there’re only two place settings. I let Colin lead me around the table to our chairs right next to each other. He pulls out my chair for me and I sit down as graciously as possible. Colin waits until I’m settled and pushes my chair in for me. He’s always such a southern gentleman.

  This feels very much like a first date which is so bizarre. We did the whole dating, getting to know each other thing when we were in college (even though I didn’t know that was exactly what we were doing). Last weekend, we did dirty, kinky things to each other. The man fingered me under a tablecloth during the Clay South retirement dinner while we watched highlights of Clay’s career flash by during a slideshow for God’s sake. Our reconciliation’s way past the first date stage. Yet! Here the two of us are, awkwardly dancing around each other. I decide to quit thinking and just be. Colin and I wouldn’t know a conventional relationship if it kicked us in the shins. It’s not us. We have to find our own rhythm that works for us.

  It’s then that I’m distracted by his appearance. He has on a black leather sports coat over a light green T-shirt. His shirt is tucked into black slacks. The man is devastatingly handsome. It’s hard to believe that he just spent four hours in the car driving to see me. I guess he can even command his clothes to not wrinkle.

  I turn to Colin so I can look him in his beautiful green eyes. “So tell me how this happened. I thought I was taking Brad out for a thank you lunch.”

  Colin gets a knowing glint in his eye. Apparently, my question has relaxed him because he’s the Colin that I’m the most familiar with again. “Well, you see Doctor Collins, Brad and I started conspiring two days ago to make this lunch happen. You’re not an easy woman to surprise. Thank goodness your assistant is a clever one,” Colin says while tapping his finger to his forehead, “And helped me pull this off.”

  “So when I was talking to you this morning, you weren’t really in Los Angeles?” I ask.

  “Nope. I was at my McMansion in Dallas with Jenny frantically rushing around trying to get me packed to come and see you. By the way, she wants you to know that she generally doesn’t do early mornings so you owe her one.” I love Colin’s voice. It’s jovial and melodic. I swear, the man could read me the phone book, and I’d hang on every number.

  I smile. “Well, you tell Jenny that she and I’ll have some girl time when I visit Dallas, and I’ll take her for a spa day as a thank you.”

  The waiter enters the room and takes our drink order. Shock of all shocks! Colin orders a sparkling water and I get a glass of white wine.

  Colin turns to me and nervously says, “I hope you don’t mind, but I had Brad set the menu for us.” I assume that he had Brad choose the menu because Colin’s not sure what I like to eat which is another reminder that we’ve got a lot to learn about each other.

  “Of course not.” I’m still stunned to be sitting here with Colin. I reach over and grab his mammoth hand, which dwarfs mine, because I need a physical reassurance that he’s really here.

  I decide to bring up the subject of the private dining room. “Look, I know why you reserved the private dining room, and I appreciate you thinking of my feelings. However, we can’t dine out only when we can be hidden away. I get that you’re a celebrity of sorts. I know that you’re trying to protect me from the media and from constant attention during meals, but that’s your life and I’ve accepted it. What I told you in Los Angeles is still how I feel. I can deal with all the ancillary stuff that surrounds you as long as I get to sleep next to you at night.”

  He flashes me the Colin McKinney half smile that I love so much. “I love you Charlie, and I love hearing those words from you. I’ll do my best to keep you from the fans and the media, but you’re right. We can’t live like hermits avoiding the attention, but just give us one more meal of peace.”

  “I can do that,” I confirm with a big goofy grin. I secretly love that he’s so considerate of my feelings and dread when the day comes for us to eat in public and be mobbed again.

  Our food arrives and Colin and I both dig in with reckless abandon. I know how much he enjoys watching me eat. He keeps smiling at me as I make soft noises of pleasure as I sample all the delicious flavors. Brad did an excellent job with the menu, and he managed to choose foods without grains to accommodate Colin’s weird diet while not making me feel that I was being punished.

  Our conversation during lunch is kept light and flirty. I still haven’t asked what happened with Sasha Stone, the entertainment report and (maybe?) ex-girlfriend of Colin. I’m hoping that Colin will volunteer the information without me having to pry it out of him. But, I’ve vowed that I have to trust him. He’s a gorgeous man who travels frequently and is surrounded by beautiful women throwing themselves at him. I’ll drive myself crazy if I don’t trust him. This’s exactly what I tell myself, but I know that if he doesn’t share with me soon what happened after I left, I’ll have to ask for my own sanity. I can’t live with the doubt that I might be the other woman for much longer.

  The waiter clears our plates and brings us one piece of Italian cream cake to share. Colin doesn’t eat flour, but he’s more than happy to feed the cake to me. I lean into the fork savoring each bite as he offers them. It’s so sensual being fed, and Colin’s eyes fill with lust as he watches me slide each bite of cake off the fork using my lips, tongue, and teeth. “Watching you eat cake is making me hard,” he confirms while feeding me another bite.

  “Baby, the wind blowing makes you hard,” I teasingly reply. Then, I make sure and moan a little bit louder after each bite that I take.

  I do a quick out-of-body and evaluate the two of us together. If you’d have told me a week ago that I’d let some guy feed me cake, I would’ve accused you of being mental. Yet! Here I am letting Colin McKinney shove cake in my mouth, and I’m enjoying every second of it. Oh the things that we do for love!

  Hating to break the mood, but needing to get back to work, I inform Colin, “I’ve got some patient notes that I need to get in the computer. You’re welcome to come with me to the office, or you can wait for me at my home.”

  “Brad said for you to call him after lunch,” Colin says flashing me his half smile and a twinkle in his green eyes. The boy has something up his sleeve.

  I grab my phone and hit Brad’s name. Brad quickly answers. “I’m done with lunch, and Colin said that I’m supposed to call you,” I ask questioningly.

  “How much do you love me?” he asks in his best “you know you can’t live without me” tone.

  “I love you a ton. Why?” I reply feeding his ego.

  “I took care of your patient notes for you. There’s nothing pressing at the office that needs your attention. Go get reacquainted with ‘he who we’ve avoided for years,”’ he teases.

  I smile at Colin and give him a wink. “Thank you Brad. I’ll give you one gigantic thank you lunch on Monday if you get appointments to give me some
time.”

  “Don’t worry, Doctor Collins. I’ve gotten that taken care of also. Have a great weekend,” he says with such sincerity that it surprises me. Could Brad actually be happy for me and not think that I’m crazy for jumping in so quickly to this relationship? I make a note to ponder that idea at a later time.

  I hang up with Brad and look at Colin who has a huge smile plastered on his face.

  “What?” I giggle at how ridiculously cute he looks.

  He stands up and takes my hand. “Are you ready for the next part of the surprise?”

  I look at him and wonder what else he has in store for me. Just having him here six hours early is a big enough treat.

  He pulls me to him and kisses my head. Then, he leans back so he’s staring directly into my eyes. “I do believe that I won a bet last weekend. As the loser,” he says putting a little too much emphasis on the word loser for my taste. “You agreed to go anywhere I want to take you this weekend.”

  “Yeah, but Colin,” I interrupt. “We agreed to spend the weekend in Houston.” We had discussed it at length a few nights prior and thought it was a good idea to just have some normalcy this weekend.

  “Well, I changed my mind. As the winner of the bet, I’ve got the right to do so,” he laughs. God, he can be so cocky sometimes.

  I hit him playfully on the arm, “Okay. Where are we going then?”

  “New Orleans, Doctor Collins. I have a fun weekend planned.” He’s so pleased with himself that it’s almost nauseating. “Our plane leaves in two hours so we need to get moving.”

  I shake my head and follow him out of the private room. He pauses at the exit of the wine room and holds the door open for me. We walk through the restaurant as his hand is firmly on the small of my back and he gently directs me toward the exit. It’s a sweet and protective gesture. To my surprise, no one stops us to discuss football or shake his hand or pose for a picture. This is really nice!

  He hands the valet his ticket, and we wait for his car. When I see a maroon hybrid Cadillac Escalade pull up, I know what he’s done.

  “This is the car that I bought you, isn’t it?” He just smiles at me and opens the passenger door.

  This is the first time that I’ve seen the car except for on the Internet when I purchased it. I have great taste. It’s a very nice car even though it’s eight-years-old.

  He tips the valet and easily slides in the driver’s seat.

  Once we’re on the road and headed to the airport, Colin looks at me with a smug smile. “You know how I hate getting rid of cars. Big Bertha sends her regards and says she misses you.”

  “Your insurance agent must give you a very nice Christmas gift every year,” I tease. “So, what am I doing for clothes this weekend?”

  “Well, your wonderful assistant said that he packs for you all the time so I have an overnight bag ready in my trunk.” Colin informs me with great glee. He’s really obnoxiously proud of himself.

  “Colin, you know that you don’t have to do this. I don’t need trips and money to make me happy. I’d have been perfectly happy lying on the coach and watching movies with you all weekend,” knowing full well that this is the truth. I’ve lived through football off season before and I know this is the calm before the storm. When his mistress football calls, Colin will answer with as much devotion and determination that he shows me. We need to be spending as much time together as possible being normal because once football begins, I’ll see Colin long enough to say good morning, and he might get to kiss me goodnight. Look at me! I am preparing my mind for us to be together during the football season.

  “I know that, baby. But I want to share something with you.” His boyish excitement is contagious.

  I can’t help but sit there smiling like a fool. Colin’s happy, which makes me happy.

  * * *

  Once we are safely sitting in first class away from his fans with me sipping a glass of white wine and Colin drinking water, I lean over and whisper in his ear, “This is the most exciting thing that I’ve done in a long time. Thank you.”

  He pulls back and smirks, “Charlie, if going away for the weekend is the most exciting thing that you’ve done in a long time than you need to get out more. How do you normally spend your weekends?”

  Once again, I’m taken aback. How can I feel so comfortable with him, but not know how he spends his free time anymore, and he doesn’t know what I do for fun. “You go first. Tell me about your life during the off season,” I prompt.

  He stretches his long legs (as much as he can on an airplane) and begins, “Well, I guess I hang out a lot with some of the guys on the team. As you know, I’m very popular because I’m the designated driver.” Colin gets a rather guilty look on his face when he makes the comment about being the DD.

  I think, “Yeah. I remember you poisoning yourself last weekend. I bet that’s a big deterrent from getting shit faced.” Instead of saying that, I smile and wait for him to continue.

  “We usually eat dinner and go to clubs. Sometimes everyone comes over to my house and we play video games or watch movies. I don’t know. I guess I always have fun, but I’m not sure really what I do,” he confesses.

  And before I can stop myself, “When you guys are going to these clubs, is it to pick up girls?”

  He throws his head back and laughs. “Sometimes. Why? Are you jealous?”

  I don’t like him laughing at me. I shouldn’t have asked the question because I knew the answer. Jealousy’s not an emotion that I’m familiar with. The only guy that I kinda/sorta dated since Colin and I broke up was Adam. He was a decent guy. We were at Harvard together, and he really liked me. I thought he was nice enough, gave me someone to hang out with on the weekends, and was a great study partner. During residency, I caught him having a heated make out session with a nurse. Instead of freaking out and feeling jealous, I simply told him, “Hope she’s worth it.” I turned around, left, and never spoke to him again. I heard through the years that Adam talks about that incident as the biggest regret of his life. It shocks me that something as traumatic as catching your boyfriend feeling up another woman should bother you. Yet, I really have never given it much of a thought.

  I decide to lie to Colin because I’ll never admit to being jealous. “I’m not jealous. It’s not like you were cheating on me.”

  That’s what comes out of my mouth, but it’s not what I feel. There’s a strong part of me that really believes that he was cheating on me. I shake my head to clear my thoughts and take a sip of my wine. I know that the flight attendant is going to be taking my glass from me any second for takeoff.

  Colin leans over and whispers in my ear. His warm breath sends chills down my spine. “I think it’s so hot that you’re jealous at the just the thought of me sleeping with other women when we weren’t together. It makes me hard.”

  I look down at his pants and sure enough, he is. Men! He reaches down and adjusts himself so it’s not so obvious.

  “Well, Mr. McKinney,” I say in an authoritative voice. “What doesn’t make you hard?” Before he can answer the question, “Let me tell you about my weekends. My exciting night life will definitely help your condition.” I dramatically drop my eyes southward.

  He laughs at my obvious acknowledgement of his erection. I love that I make him laugh. I go on to regale Colin with exciting stories of fund raisers, gay clubs with Brad, and going dancing with my sisters. It’s really so exciting that I’m sure that he’s going to fall asleep on me.

  When I’m finished, he replies with a slight shake of his head, “I just can’t get over the fact that you haven’t met anyone. You’re fuckin’ gorgeous, smart, and god, your tits are perfect.” He quickly adds, “Not that I’m complaining.”

  “I don’t understand why it’s so hard for you believe. You know me, Colin. I’m not the kind of girl who sat around and fantasized about being married or having kids. When I played Barbie’s as a little girl, Barbie was a doctor who lived in her dream house alone. The first floor w
as her practice. She treated Ken’s dumb ass when he hurt himself in a surfing mishap. Skipper needed stitches for falling off of her scooter.” I pause for a second to collect my thoughts and make sure that I say this correctly. “Falling in love with you at nineteen-years-old was a complete blindside for me. I thought that I’d think about love after medical school. I never expected for us to be more than a causal relationship. You didn’t fit into my plans, but I’m so thankful that your ankle didn’t heal correctly and you chose my dad to do your surgery.”

  I pause for a second reading his face because I can tell that I’m not communicating what I want to say properly. I don’t know how I can make him understand that he changed the course of my life in a very good way even though we ended up with broken hearts in the end.

  “Let me try this again,” I say as I grab his large hands in mine. “After we broke up, I spent a lot of time believing that our relationship had been a mistake - that you had essentially ruined me for anyone else. I worried that I’d never feel love or happiness again. In a way, I think that you did ruin me,” I stop what I’m saying and position one of his hands over my heart. I want for him to feel the emotion rolling off of my soul.

  “Colin, you ruined me in a good way. You set the bar so high for any other guys that no one had a chance of reaching it. Every man that I‘ve dated since you and has not measured up. So with that being said, you’re stuck with me,” I tease shrugging my shoulders trying to lighten the mood.

  He leans over and plants a soft, gentle kiss on the spot of my chest where I placed his large hand. “There’s no one that I’d rather be stuck with. My biggest regret’s that I didn’t talk to you after your medical school graduation ceremony. Maybe I’d saved myself a lot of shit years.”

  “Speaking of medical school graduation ceremonies… when do I get the story on that one?” I ask.

  At that moment, the flight attendant interrupts us to remove our glasses and inform us that we’re about to take off.