The Winter Affair

by Alicia LaFontaine

  “What about it? Is it one of your favorites?” Garrett asked, opening a couple of the alcohol bottles.

  “Uh, yeah,” she responded. For whatever reason, she suddenly felt worried that explaining this movie’s current significance would be the pinprick to burst the bubble of this fortuitous yet serendipitous reunion. It was all too meta not to be tiptoed around.

  Trish knew it wasn’t superstition which made the rest of the night proceed so well. Rather, it was the natural chemistry and affinity the two had always had for each other which made this evening feel as if they’d never been apart.

  They watched through the end of the movie and then through another as they ate their coconut shrimp and drank semi-warm alcoholic drinks out of flimsy, individually-wrapped hotel cups. They laughed about past relationships, each offering up another story to outdo the whopper of a tale the other had just finished telling until they were both crying from mirth.

  Their laugh-fest eventually left them rolling back onto the bed where their giggling was soon muffled by passionate kisses and groans of desire. Nearly empty take-out boxes were kicked carelessly onto the floor in the new lovers’ haste to reconnect once again, as if the tether of their newfound romance could suddenly break if they did not reinforce it just that moment.

  In fact, they made sure to reinforce that line, this sensual reunion, a handful more times throughout the night.

  Just to be on the safe side.

  16

  Trish did end up spending the weekend in bed with a man…just not the one with whom she’d started the weekend.

  And, she couldn’t have been happier about that.

  Never could she have imagined how a few hours could change the course of her life. She knew Jordan would tell her she was being a bit too dramatic claiming the sex with Garrett was “life-changing,” but Trish honestly couldn’t come up with a better word for it.

  And, she’d specify to her dirty-minded assistant, it wasn’t just the sex. Every moment with Garrett was so different than with any other man. Perhaps it could be attributed to the fact they knew each other, at least in some small way yet. She could still see the playful, energetic, sweet young man she’d fallen in love with in high school in this older, more mature version now swimming the length of the tiny hotel pool.

  It was Sunday afternoon and the couple was taking a break from their room to get in a little exercise of a different kind.

  “I never knew you were so into working out,” Trish commented as Garrett glided effortlessly past her in the shallow end. “You were always so naturally fit when we were teenagers. You never had to work out. And, you could eat whatever you wanted.”

  “Yeah, well,” he started, standing up in the water and slicking his hair back with his hands. Trish was about to shake the mental picture of Garrett starring in one of those Armani perfume commercials out of her mind but then stopped herself and smiled when she realized she didn’t have to. She didn’t have to hide her feelings, didn’t have to worry about developing feelings for this man because she was involved with another or him with some other woman.

  “What?” he asked as the corner of his mouth quirked up in a curious smirk.

  “Oh, I think you know exactly what you’re doing.”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he responded nonchalantly, lifting his hands to his head again and noticeably flexing his biceps and his abdominals.

  Trish nearly pounced right then. As he was still several feet from her, however, she knew the water would hinder her upward momentum just enough to make her leap into his arms into more of a belly flop. And that just wasn’t the kind of sexy she was going for.

  Instead she just swirled her arms through the water in front of her. “You were saying something about working out.”

  “Oh, yeah,” he remembered, dropping his hands and beginning to walk slowly to her. “What I was going to say is, unfortunately, that never-satiated metabolism slowed down a bit in my late twenties. I didn’t like not feeling like the same person when I looked at myself in the mirror, so I started hitting the gym and I picked up running and swimming regularly.”

  Trish could not imagine Garrett as anything other than the magnificent specimen standing before her. She could, however, imagine him glistening with sweat and breathing heavy, walking in the door from his morning run.

  “Well, you could’ve fooled me,” she replied. She put out a hand to touch the hard muscles of his chest. He closed his eyes for just a moment to the sensation of her touch and her stomach did a backflip. Her mouth sought his in a fiery kiss. Thankfully, his arms reached down to pick her up and hold her against him, effortlessly, else she surely would’ve drowned for all the ability her legs had in standing just then.

  Her body seemed fully intent on thwarting any escape from Garrett’s passion.

  It was several heated minutes later before the reality of their surroundings finally dawned on her.

  “Garrett, we’re still in the pool!”

  “Mmhmm.”

  “We can’t mess around in the pool!”

  “Why not?”

  “Because they probably have cameras and are watching us right now.”

  Garrett stopped peppering her neck with kisses and swiveled his head around to check out the corners of the room. “I don’t see any cameras, Cara Mia.”

  “Don’t you try to seduce me with that sweet talk. Come on, let’s go back to the room.”

  She turned to try to wriggle out of his arms. “Would it really be so bad if someone saw us?” he asked, though she knew he wasn’t upset as he was already walking them through the water towards the stairs.

  “Maybe not. But, maybe I just want you all to myself. Ever think about that?”

  He stopped walking for a second and got quiet. She turned to face him but, by then, he had a knowing grin on his face. “You never could resist me, huh?”

  His grip around her waist loosened just enough that she was able to fling her body back and, in the same moment, swooped an arm out in front of her, spraying him with water.

  She smirked back and shrugged as she backed up the shallow steps. “I always thought it was the other way around.” Then, she turned and took her time getting out of the water and strutting over to get a large, fluffy bath towel from a rack near the door.

  “You’ve got that right,” she heard him mutter before he sprang into action and chased after her.

  She squealed in surprise and delight, yelling over her shoulder, “Hey, no running by the pool! Now, we really will get in trouble.”

  “Then stop so I can catch you!”

  “Where’s the fun in that?” she grinned over her shoulder at him before finishing a full lap around the pool and heading out the pool room door.

  “If you think I’m not going to tackle you on the bed once we get to the room and make—”

  “Shh!” she protested and stopped to turn to face him in the hallway. “Everyone will hear you.”

  “So what if they hear how I plan to make sweet, sweet love to you over and over again tonight? What’s so wrong with that? Babe, they’ve probably already heard you cry out my na—”

  Trish lunged and planted her palm across his mouth. He promptly stuck his tongue out and licked it, so she instantly pulled her hand away. He took her moment off guard to scoop her up in his arms.

  “Is it really so bad to let people know how crazy I am about you?” he asked in a much quieter, lower voice only she could hear.

  She thought about it as he walked them the short distance left to the end of the hall and their suite.

  Was it really so awful? What was she frightened of?

  Her stomach dropped as a realization hit her. All those years ago when Garrett had rejected her by simply cutting her right out of his life. All of the pointless relationships with emotionally unavailable men over the years, relationships she knew were doomed to fail. She didn’t leave herself open to love because she didn’t really believe she would ever find it, didn’t belie
ve that any guy would sincerely care for her or that she could believe it when he would say he did.

  She didn’t even want Garrett right now to announce to a hotel full of strangers how much he “cared” for her because she still saw his words in her mind bookmarked with those weighty quotation marks. Even after he’d explicitly told her he was single and had explained away her worries over that misconstrued phone call Saturday morning, she realized now with horror that she didn’t truly believe him.

  Was she really that jaded? Couldn’t she let his actions when he was eighteen remain in the past?

  He wasn’t eighteen anymore and neither was she. That was a whole lifetime ago, it seemed. So, why should it still color her perception of him or his actions now?

  “You’re right,” she whispered back as he opened the door and carried her across the threshold.

  “Well, I could’ve told you that,” he nodded, setting her down on the bed and stretching himself out next to her. “Something tells me that you needed to come to that conclusion yourself, though.”

  She turned her head from where she was still sitting on the edge of the bed and regarded him in this new light.

  Could she forget everything from their past and get to know him all over again, as if for the first time?

  The prospect, to her surprise, didn’t frighten her, as she thought it would. In fact, it kind of thrilled her.

  “Yes,” she answered aloud her question to herself and reclined back next to him. He promptly rolled over to cover her body with his and began showing her just how thrilling getting to know him could be.

  17

  Monday dawned too early for Trish.

  Despite the tumultuous time they’d had in getting there, she lamented the necessity of getting out of the bed she shared with Garrett. And, more than a small part of her worried about how getting back to reality would affect this wondrous reconnection.

  Could their relationship survive regular, everyday life?

  They lived a little over an hour away from each other. That could work, right? she wondered as she rolled over to face the man she’d come to love again so soon.

  Was it love? She thought, for sure, it must be. Her feelings for Garrett had never really died, even after all these years. She hadn’t been the one to choose to end things the first time. And, from how he’d acted all weekend, Trish couldn’t understand why Garrett had, either.

  Could Trish have dealt with his admission of cheating then?

  Well, she would never know. All she knew now was she didn’t want to get out of this warm, comfy bed and have to start the day which would separate them.

  Least of all did she want to be the one to bring up the inevitable conversation of where do we go from here.

  Garrett seemed to catch her wavelength and was more than proficient at ignoring the day as he covered her body in kisses and soft caresses. For the time, Trish forced herself to forget about what came next and just focused on the now.

  And the now felt so damn good.

  “Couldn’t leave here without giving the integrity of this bed one last test,” he joked as they reluctantly pulled themselves upright.

  “Oh, was that all that was?” she joked back, throwing an errant pair of boxers at him which had been discarded near the wall at some point that weekend.

  “Not all, babe,” he amended, snatching her up in a bear hug and tickling her neck with the stubble on his chin. “Not even close.”

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  Eventually, Trish was able to convince Garrett they needed to get moving before the checkout time. He suggested he make the cold walk the few blocks over to the auto body shop where both her car and his truck were to see if Larry had everything ready to go. He surprised her by mentioning in passing as he walked away that he should be the one to check, just to make sure Larry didn’t give away his secret. He pulled something little and metal out of his jacket pocket.

  He laughed and walked out the door leaving Trish stunned. That sneak had deliberately pulled something out of his own vehicle so he’d be “stranded” all weekend, too!

  Although she wished she could take her time getting ready, she knew she had to face reality soon. She found herself doubting whether she’d actually break herself out of this safe, comfy bubble they’d kept themselves in all weekend if she didn’t have to make it back to her shop that day. Jordan probably could handle a few more days on her own…

  “No!” Trish scolded herself aloud as she snatched up her hair products from the bathroom. This was just silly. She was a grown woman and capable of facing whatever lay ahead for them.

  She stopped on a dime just outside the bathroom door as the truth hit her.

  What was stopping Garrett from cutting her out of his life again once they went their separate ways today?

  Each of them driving off to their homes and jobs in different towns wasn’t so different from Garrett going off to college without her.

  “Ugh!” she grunted, mentally forcing herself to start moving her feet again. “You’re being ridiculous. The past is the past. And, he apologized for it.”

  The memory of that apology and the tender moments they’d shared soon afterwards flooded her mind and left her body flushed with a pleasant, warm tingling. Just as quickly as her anxiety had flared, it was now overcome by an even greater fire which burned deep inside her for Garrett.

  Somehow, she just knew, this time would be different.

  This time, it would stick.

  18

  “T

  rish!” a male voice called out to her from the front door of the hotel as Trish finished checking out in the lobby.

  Automatically, Trish’s head swiveled towards the doors, expecting to see Garrett striding through, holding both sets of their car keys.

  What she saw stopped her cold.

  “Devin?”

  “I was so worried about you! Are you okay?” the sleazeball asked as he made his way quickly over to her.

  Trish was so beside herself, she couldn’t get her limbs to move as he came up and wrapped his arms around her.

  “What…what are you doing here?” she asked. Her brain felt suddenly so foggy. Was this really happening?

  “My shop got a call this morning about some parts that needed to be delivered here. When I saw the invoice said one part was for a Jetta, I freaked out. So, I volunteered to be the one to make the delivery, and sure enough, it was your car at the shop, like I feared.” Devin did have a worried look on his face as he explained. But, the longer he talked, the less Trish believed his words.

  “What would you care if my car was in a shop somewhere?” she snapped back.

  “Trish, I was worried about you! I watched the snow storm all weekend. It killed me to know you might have gotten into an accident after you left.”

  “You didn’t make any big moves to stop me that day.”

  There seemed to be actual pain in the strained look on his face, but it did nothing to soften Trish’s feelings.

  “It’s not like I could’ve just run after you.”

  “Yeah, I suppose your wife wouldn’t have liked that too much.”

  “Trish, look, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, but I didn’t want to lose you.”

  “Ha!” Trish laughed aloud and turned away. It was only then she realized she still stood in front of the desk in the lobby, giving the confused-looking clerk quite the show. Oh well. May as well make it a good one. “What made you think you were in a place to ‘get’ me, anyways? Shouldn’t it have crossed your mind a little sooner not to get involved with someone when you’re already married?”

  She crossed her arms over her chest and waited for his reply.

  “I couldn’t help myself,” he said in a soft voice.

  Had Trish not been so rudely awakened to what a dastardly coward this man was just a few days ago, this line may have actually worked on her. Now, though, she just continued to stare daggers at him.

  “Trish, you’re beautiful and smart and you have everyth
ing going for you. Do you really think any man could meet you and then just walk away from you? You can’t blame me for wanting to get to know you better. And, then…well, I fell in love with you.”

  He reached out for her and his hand was just about to touch her arm—and she was just about to brush it roughly away—when Garrett’s voice called out from the doorway.

  “Hey, Trish.” He didn’t get out any more than that but walked slowly over to where she stood with Devin far too close, she now realized.

  “Who’s this?” Devin was the first to ask.

  “Uh, Devin, this is Garrett. Garrett, Devin,” she awkwardly introduced them.

  “Larry’s all finished up with our cars and I took care of the bill. If we’re all set here, we can hop in my truck and head over. But, I was thinking it would be nice to hit up Ma’s one more time before we head out.”

  “We?” Devin asked incredulously. “Hey, just who the hell do you think you are, man?” Trish noticed a look of realization dawn on his face. “Hey, you were that guy lurking around Trish’s car at the shop.”

  “He—” Trish began but was cut off.

  “I wasn’t lurking, man,” Garrett started, turning fully towards Devin. “I was checking on her car like I told her I would. Who the hell are you to give a rat’s ass, anyways?”

  Before Trish could get a word in, Devin blurted out, his face going a bit red, “She’s my girlfriend!”

  Fudge.

  Garrett’s eyes grew wide. “You’re wrong about that, dude. She’s my girlfriend. We’ve been together all weekend.”

  “Well,” Devin fired back, “we’ve been dating for months.”

  “Devin, stop it!” Trish commanded through gritted teeth.

  “Trish,” Devin turned his attention from Garrett back to her, “I don’t know who this dipshit is, but just listen to me. We’ll go somewhere quiet to get a bite to eat, and then we can talk about us. I love you, baby. I know we can make this work.”