by Tamara Black
When the words fell from his lips, I was pushed over the edge. Lightning flashed in my mind as waves of pleasure washed over me. My body was shaking, but he continued moving in and out of me. Sweat had formed on his forehead. I leaned over and kissed his muscled arm sweetly.
With a final thrust, he grunted. I felt him throb inside me as his face contorted. He collapsed a little, his body pressed against mine. I enjoyed the sensation. After a moment, he slowly pulled out of me. He laid on his back next to me. I put my head on his chest and traced lines on his stomach.
“I missed you,” I said.
“I missed you too.”
I wanted to say more, but I didn't want to ruin the moment. We fell asleep cuddled together on the bed. Part of me couldn't believe what was happening, but the rest of me was happy I'd run into my ex-husband. If nothing else, we'd had a night of passion together.
EIGHT
Ethan
When I woke up in the morning, Dani was still asleep. She looked so angelic that I didn't want to wake her. I realized in that moment how much I'd missed her over the last two years. I tried to put as much into a note that also included my room number two floors down.
After I slipped out of her room, I headed toward mine. When I got back, I took a shower and changed my clothes. I looked in the mirror as I brushed my teeth. In my mind, all I could think about was her. The sex had been good, but it was so much more than just sex.
I could bust a nut with any woman, but I felt I wanted to spend the rest of my life with Danielle. Our first marriage had been very volatile, but I was a different man. She seemed to be a new person as well. It was like we had both matured during the two years we were apart. We were ready for each other.
As I waited for her to show up, I laid on the bed and stared at the mirror on the ceiling. Looking up to look down on myself felt a little odd, but it wasn't a big deal. My thoughts were centered on Danielle. Would she come to my room?
The note I had left had asked her to come see me in my room if she thought the last night had been special and she wanted to give us another chance. Minutes added up, and I wondered if I should have stayed with her and asked her in person.
Part of me was just afraid that she was going to say no, and I didn't really want to have to deal with her rejection yet again. She had broken my heart as much as she said I broke hers. When the first hour passed without her showing up, I began to have my doubts.
I thought about rushing to her room, but I knew I had to stay and wait for her. After the night of passion we'd had together the night before, I was sure that she was going to rush up to my room. Was it just a dream? Wishful thinking on my part? Did she still love me?
NINE
Danielle
When I found his note, I felt a wave of emotion rock my body. The answer was yes. I wanted to give us another chance. It would have been better if he asked me in person, but I was okay with the note. I got dressed quickly then rushed to the room number he'd given me.
I knocked twice, quickly, then peered down the hallway as I waited. A moment later, the door opened and an Asian man in a robe looked at me in confusion. My head cocked to the side as I looked him over. Was he another friend of Ethan's?
“Can help you?” he asked.
“Is Ethan here?”
“No Ethan here,” he said firmly then slammed the door shut.
I looked down at the note and saw that I had the right room number, or at least the one Ethan had written down. Had he made a mistake? He had never been really good with numbers when I knew him. Or maybe he was staying in another hotel?
The room number was 1007, which was on the tenth floor. Had he maybe meant 107? Was there such a room number? I headed down to the lobby, but I couldn't find any rooms on the first floor. Next, I went from floor to floor and checked all rooms ending in 07.
After eight of them, I still had no luck. I began to wonder if he had intentionally written down the wrong room number so that he could slink away. The more I thought about it, the more it made sense that he would leave a note if he was going to sneak off.
Out of ideas, I gave up and went to my room to pack. I still had another day or two at the hotel, but I just wanted to get home and process what had happened. The sooner I did that, the quicker I'd be able to get my life on track and forget about him once and for all.
When my suitcase was packed, I glanced around the room to make sure I hadn't forgotten anything. I walked out and went to the elevator to go check out. The ride down to the lobby was sad, almost the exact opposite of riding up to my room with Ethan.
The door slid open and I rolled my suitcase out into the lobby. As I headed toward the receptionist counter to check myself out, I wondered how long it would take me to drive from Vegas to Seattle in a rental car. I'd lose money on the plane ticket, but I wanted to get home.
“Dani?”
I stopped and twirled around. Only one person called me Dani. Ethan walked over.
“Sneaking out, are you?”
“What? You're the one that wrote down the wrong room number.”
“What? Room 1001.”
“One thousand and one? You wrote one thousand and seven.”
“Oh, shit. I thought...”
He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close.
“I thought you intentionally gave me the wrong room number,” I said as I pulled back a little.
“We're both so crazy.”
We headed back to my room.
TEN
Ethan
“I'm so glad I ran into you in the lobby,” I said, sitting on the edge of her bed.
I had really thought she was trying to sneak out on me after one last night of pleasure. What concerned me most was that she had caused such a reaction in me. Was I still in love with her after two years?
“Me too. I still can't believe what happened.”
“You mean last night?”
“Yeah, but not just what we did. More that we ran into each other here. Like, what if that guy had never tried to steal my purse. We would've never run into each other probably.”
I patted the mattress next to me. “Come sit down.”
“I think we need to talk first.”
“That's what I meant.”
“Oh, I thought you wanted to...”
“Well, I do want to do that again, but I agree we should talk.”
We sat on the bed and talked like two adults. I listened to her and she let me say what was on my mind. The two years we'd been apart had changed us both for the better. We meshed and were able to communicate our feelings about splitting in the first place.
“Would you come back to Miami with me?” I asked.
She frowned. “No...”
My heart sunk.
ELEVEN
Danielle
As soon as the word came out of my mouth, I regretted saying it. The way his face changed when I uttered it let me know that he had changed, that maybe he was ready to start a new life together. We took the leap, and it was wonderful. I quit my job in Seattle and moved to Miami to live with him.
Instead of looking for a job with another company, he convinced me to start my own marketing company. I was hesitant at first, but he convinced me. He brought out my best constantly, which is why I loved him. The business was up and running successfully six months later, and I asked him to marry me.
Our second wedding was even better than the first. We had been nothing more than kids back then, but two years apart had changed us quite a bit, enough that we fit together perfectly. The honeymoon in Rome, Italy is when our first child, Maranda, was born.
I had thought about naming her Jessica, the young woman I had met on the plane ride to Vegas, but I decided that I wanted my daughter to have a name that didn't sound black or white. Maranda meant the world to Ethan and I.
We did everything we could to make her life better. All the while, we fell deeper and deeper in love with each other. He was my soul mate, and thanks to a trip to Vegas, I'd been given a seco
nd chance.
The odds of us staying together until we both grew old was very good.
White Drama
ONE
“I told you I don't want to go out,” I said, hands firmly crossed over my chest. “How many times I have to tell you that?”
Melissa frowned. “But I want you to go...”
I'd met her in college two years earlier. After we both graduated, we spent the entire summer looking for a job together and wondering how the hell we were going to pay off our student loans. We both had a man at the beginning of the summer. By the time Fall rolled around, I was single and she was getting married to a very rich man. Our lives were pulling us apart.
“I know you do.”
“We don't get to spend enough time together as it is.”
“I'm just not in the mood, okay?”
“Why you gonna let that ugly man still affect you?”
“I loved Deon.”
“Well, obviously he doesn't love you. If he did, he would've never did what he did.”
She was referring to the fact he'd cheated on me all summer then drained my bank account and left just before Halloween. I kept thinking he was going to come back, but two weeks later, he still hadn't arrived with an apology. I just couldn't imagine how he could treat me like he did without any remorse. Maybe I wasn't cut out for love in my life.
“I know...”
I wasn't sure what else to tell her. I was definitely not going out. Being around too many happy people made me even sadder. All I wanted to do was be alone and think about my life and try to avoid making even more poor choices.
“If you change your mind, call me, okay?”
“I will. Thanks, Lissa.”
“You my girl.”
She hugged me then left. After she closed my apartment door, I felt all the feelings I'd been pushing down suddenly appear again. Depression was something I'd had to deal with since high school. I was supposed to take “happy pills,” but they made me feel like a zombie.
It was bad enough that with my Political Science degree the only job I could get was at a call center downtown. I didn't want to legally drug myself into oblivion even more. After college, my life had gotten better rather than worse.
The student loan debts were bad enough, but the fact I couldn't really get a job with my degree was even more depressing. At twenty-three years old, I wasn't sure of the direction my life was headed in. And that scared me. And depressed me.
* * *
The next day, Melissa called. I thought about not answering, but I knew she would keep calling until she got through. We had been paired up in the dorms in college, but from the very first moment I put my eyes on her pale, white skin, I knew we were going to be friends.
“I'm not giving up on you,” she said.
“I told you I don't like parties.”
“This isn't a party. We're giving out food to people in need.”
“I don't know...”
“Come on, DeAndra. What else you have going on?”
I sighed. “Okay.”
“Great. I'll text you the address. See you soon.”
“Bye.”
I disconnected the call and set my phone on the kitchen table. If I went and spent some time with people less fortunate than me, I had a good chance of breaking out of my funk. While it was sad in a way, I'd always looked at other people to try to feel better about my life.
My phone buzzed, and I saw a text from Melissa with an address. I was dressed in my most comfortable clothes and they weren't really flattering, but I wasn't going out in public to impress anyone. I read the full message and saw that I had to get moving if I wanted to show up on time.
The drive across town in my ancient Toyota was dreary with all the snow. Michigan in the winter wasn't good for a person with depression, I noted as I drove past all the boarded up businesses in downtown Detroit. When I got close to the food pantry, I tried to prepare myself mentally to be around people.
A lot of cars were parked outside the plain, brick building. Were so many people really in need so close to the holidays? I wondered, but only briefly. I knew the answer. Everyone had forgotten about Detroit, but things were tough. I had thought about moving away many times, but I knew that was part of the reason the city was dying – young, college educated people leaving in droves.
I walked inside and was overwhelmed by all the people. Entire families were standing around and waiting for the free food to be handed out. As I made my way through them to the other side of the large room, I couldn't help but remember that even though I wasn't doing as good as I wanted, I hadn't fallen down completely.
“You made it,” Melissa called out as I approached one of the folding tables that had been set-up.
“I did. What do you need me to do?”
“Go in back and help get boxes and bags filled. You'll figure it out. I have my hands full.”
I smiled and nodded. Three older women were yelling at her at the same time. When I walked into the back room where the food was being prepared for fair and equal distribution, I saw a half dozen other volunteers. About half of them were also white, which I found odd. Were they getting extra credit for a college class? I wondered cynically.
“You here to help?” one of the white guys – a cute one – asked me.
“Yeah. What do you need me to do?”
“Can you help get the apples into those bags over there?”
He pointed across the room. “Yeah.”
“Three apples each bag, please. We don't have a lot to work with this year.”
“Things are tough out there,” I said.
“You're telling me. Nice meeting you.”
With that, he scurried away to help someone else. I made my way over to the baskets of apples. Next to them, I saw a long row of paper bags with other items in them. I started to toss a couple apples in each bag, trying to go as fast as I could. If I was lucky, I would be able to get the job done and leave out the back door or something. My emotions were getting the better of me, and I wanted to flee.
“Hey, three apples each bag, please. And don't just toss them in there so they don't bruise.”
I looked up and saw the man who'd talked to me when I entered the room. “I'm sorry.”
“Are you? Kinda seems to me like you don't even want to be here.”
My eyes widened. “Excuse me?”
“Look, I don't have time to argue. If you can't do the apples right, just go back up front and help Melissa deal with the people.”
He walked away without saying another word, which I thought was a bit rude. I glanced down at the baskets of apples then walked back to the larger room with all the people waiting. Melissa was still trying to deal with multiple people at a time, so I walked over to her.
“Can I help one of you ladies?” I asked.
Melissa glanced at me quickly, but she didn't stop talking to the middle aged mother she'd been trying to explain something to when I walked up.
“When we getting our food?” the woman in front of me demanded.
“We're working as fast as we can, ma'am, but we don't want to bruise the apples.”
“You getting sassy with me?” She turned to Melissa. “Who is this new girl? I don't like her.”
Three more women crowded up to the table to join the conversation. I snapped, unable to take all the noise and commotion any longer. Without even saying goodbye to Melissa, I made my way around the table and started wading through the people to get outside. I heard her call my name, but I just kept walking. I had to get away.
Snow fell down around me as I rushed outside to my car. After I got in and started it, I broke down and started crying. I knew it wasn't what had just happened at the food giveaway. The chemicals in my brain were all mixed up. Having Deon treat me so bad then leave me didn't help anything. My whole life felt like it was crashing down on me, and the tears flowed.
Then I heard a tap on my window. The man who had yelled at me about the apples was bouncing
his weight from one leg to another in an effort to warm himself. He motioned for me to roll the window down, which I did just a little bit.
“It's cold. Can I get in?” he asked.
“Sure...”
He walked around then got in the passenger side. I revved the engine a little. Hot air blew out of the vents as he rubbed his hands together.
“It got cold out there.”
“Yeah. Can I help you with something?”
“I just wanted to apologize. It's been a stressful day, and I don't think we got started off on the right foot.”
I nodded, intrigued. “Go on.”
“I'm Josh.”
“I'm DeAndra. Did Melissa send you out here?”
“What? No. Why?”
“Oh, I just figured she sent you out here to talk to me.”
“No, I really felt bad about our first encounter. Even if you leave now, I wanted to thank you for even showing up. Everyone says they're in the holiday spirit, but no one ever really does anything about it, you know?”
I knew exactly what he was talking about. Had I rushed to judgment on him?
“I can go back in. It's just been really stressful for me lately, and I suffer from depression sometimes.”
“Don't we all,” he said, smiling.
“No, I'm serious. If you're going to get to know me, you need to know the real me. I'm moody as hell and not easy to be around all the time.”
“Yeah? I like that honesty.”
“The truth is important to me. My guy broke up with my not too long ago. After he stole all the money I'd managed to save up over the last few years so I could pay off my student loans early.”
“Ouch. Did you go after him?”
“Go after him how?”
“I don't know. Go to the police or something.”
I laughed. “You're not from around here, are you?”
He smiled. “No, why?”
“Detroit is broke – literally and figuratively.”