Misadventures with a Book Boyfriend

by Blue, Victoria

  The whole mess seemed ridiculous when I thought about it outside of an argument or conversation, but when I got into it with her, it spun out of control so quickly because she was so emotionally charged about the topic. It seemed as though she was completely incapable of seeing reason.

  It would take Bailey at least twenty minutes to get to our condo, so I thought I’d give making peace with my best friend one more try. I knocked softly on her door, hoping she had calmed down.

  “Go away, Oliver,” she called from inside her room.

  “No, Skye, come on. I really want to talk this out. I don’t want you to be mad at me.”

  “I’m not mad. I’m hurt.” Damn, that was as bad as the famous “I’m not mad, I’m disappointed” line my mom used to throw at me to lay on the guilt. Good news! It still worked!

  “I don’t want to hurt you. Ever,” I said to the wood grain of her bedroom door.

  “I would’ve believed that four months ago. Shit, three months ago, even.”

  “Then why not now? What’s changed between us? Open up, Skye. This is silly talking through the door like this.” I tried the knob again, knowing damn well it was still locked.

  “No. I don’t want to look at you.” She sounded like a petulant child.

  “That’s not very nice,” I reprimanded. If she wanted to act like the child, I’d be the parent.

  “Well, I’m not a very nice person. Not anymore.”

  “Don’t say that.” Although it may be true.

  “Why not? It’s true. Nice guys finish last. You know that’s a saying for a reason, don’t you?” Still sassy words, but her volume had settled to a normal level at least.

  “But who are you in a race with? Who are you so worried about beating, Skye? Open the door so we can talk.”

  “Your girlfriend. Duh, Oliver. Are you really that dense?”

  “Don’t be rude on top of it. There is no race between the two of you. What are you talking about? You don’t have the same job. Her husband is dead, so he’s not in your way anymore. Seriously, what is all this about? Open the fucking door and talk to me!” My anger was getting the best of me, and I ended the sentence much louder than I intended.

  The door flew open, bouncing off the wall when it whipped past where she stood in the doorway. “She’s gunning for my job all of a sudden! Out of nowhere, she has a keen interest in city management.” She paused to gloat. “I see by the confused look on your face, it’s news to you too. Ask her about it.” She paused again, gaining more sass as she did. “Oh, wait, maybe she’ll lie to you too like she’s been lying to me all this time! She’s a lying bitch, Oliver! Telling me she was going to recommend me to the mayor, her old friend. Old friend, my ass! She’s probably been sucking his dick in the staff lounge on her lunch break! They seem awfully cozy for old friends.”

  My voice dropped an octave in warning. “Shut your fucking mouth right now. You’re so over the line it’s not even funny.”

  “Ooops. Sorry. Was she sucking your dick last night? Then his today? Too much to unsee in your mind right now? Sorry?” She shrugged impishly. “Not sorry! Bestie.”

  My temper snapped, and I fired back. “Holy fuck, you’ve become a raving-mad bitch! What has gotten into you? Is this all over a job? I don’t think I like you very much right now. You know what? I’m going to go wait outside. For my girlfriend, who’s picking me up to spend the night at her house. Where she’ll likely be sucking my dick! Again! Thank you very much.”

  When she went to speak, I stopped her. “Don’t say another fucking word. I love her.” When her mouth fell open in disbelief, I continued, “You heard me. I’ve fallen in love with her. If you want to salvage our friendship at all from this point, you need to think long and hard about whatever the fuck is going on in that crazy head of yours and get your shit together. And before you even consider speaking to me again, make sure you start with the words, ‘Oliver, I owe you an apology.’”

  Leaving her standing in the doorway of her room, I turned on my heel and walked out. I grabbed my backpack off the back of the sofa and went out the front door, slamming it so hard, the windows shook in our condo and the neighbors’. Bailey pulled up just as I got to the curb, and I was never happier to see someone in my life.

  “Drive. Just drive. I’d be happy to never come back here again,” I muttered in the darkened car as we sped off into the night.

  Chapter Twelve

  “Oh my God. No more. Seriously. What’s gotten into you? I mean, I’m not actually complaining, but I may not be able to walk tomorrow if you come near me one more time.” Bailey rolled over onto her back, sweat-matted hair stuck to her forehead in little ringlets.

  I lay back against the pillows and grinned. I’d felt possessed since we’d gotten back to her house. Literally not able to get my fill of her. My arms already felt empty without her in them, so I tugged her closer, and she willingly scooted to my side in the giant bed. She had told me that she and her deceased husband had never slept in that room together, and that he slept in the guest area of the house because he usually worked late or went to social functions and came in late, so it didn’t feel odd to be intimate with her here.

  “What happened tonight?” she asked.

  “Hmmm? I’d say we rocked the house down, wouldn’t you?” I looked down to where she toyed with the hills and valleys of my abs.

  “No, I mean with Skye. You were really angry when I picked you up. Told me to never take you back.”

  “Oh, that.”

  “Yeah. That.”

  “Can we not talk about it? I just want to be here with you. In this moment. So much better. Happier.” Thinking about that clusterfuck ruined my mellow mood instantly.

  “Sure. But whatever it is, it doesn’t sound like it’s going to go away by ignoring it.”

  “No, you’re right. It’s not. So just putting it on the back burner until morning isn’t going to matter much. You know? It’s still going to be right there when we wake up.”

  “Okay. You have a point. And it’s already late. And there’s no way I can be late again tomorrow. We can talk in the morning.” She pulled the covers up over both of us and snuggled into my side.

  * * *

  The sun shone through the French doors much sooner than either of us would have preferred. We had both slept through the night, barely moving other than an occasional readjustment here or there.

  “You shower, I’ll get us some coffee,” I offered, knowing her routine would be much longer than mine. I grabbed my phone off the nightstand to check email while the coffee brewed. Several messages went straight into the trash folder unopened. No matter how often I unsubscribed from certain mailing lists, the messages continued to show up in my inbox each morning. The first legitimate email to catch my eye was from the property-management company of the condo complex where Skye and I rented our place. Our lease was coming up for renewal, and in addition to the rent going up slightly, they wanted us to sign a longer lease than we had previously. A quick scan of the addressees confirmed Skye had also received the email. It would be interesting to see if she would call me to discuss how we would handle the situation.

  With two steaming cups of Colombian perfection in hand, I returned to the master bathroom just in time to watch my glorious girlfriend step out of the shower, tiny beads of water running down her neck and chest to be absorbed by the bountiful white towel wrapped securely around her torso. All signs of my name had disappeared from her otherwise flawless skin, and a bit of sadness passed through my heart because of it. I really did enjoy seeing the outward sign of our evening’s activities.

  “See if this is the way you like it.” I handed her the mug, hoping I had her java preferences memorized properly.

  After taking a careful sip, she grinned. “How did you know how I like my coffee? I don’t think my husband would’ve known on the day he passed away. I’m not trying to be disrespectful to his memory. I’m just saying, I don’t think he ever took the time to learn the big
things about me, let alone the small things like cream and sugar.”

  “I care about you. I want to learn everything about you, Bailey. The big things, the little things, and everything in between. I want to know if you like rainstorms or snowstorms. If you have a nightmare, I want to hold you until you fall back to sleep. If you have a great day at work and have reason to celebrate, I want to pour the champagne. There’s so much to experience in life; I want to do it with you.”

  “You’re such a poet, Oliver. And so early in the morning.” She looked at me sideways, almost as though she didn’t trust my words.

  “I’m serious, Bailey.” I took her coffee from her hands and set it on the counter. When she stared at me, her giant emerald eyes getting wider with curiosity, I put her hands up to my lips and kissed her knuckles. I had to tell her how I felt, and right then was as good of a time as any.

  “I’m falling in love with you.”

  She stared up at me, eyes filling with tears. One fat drop spilled over and ran down her cheek.

  “I don’t think I expected you to cry. I’m not sure what to do with that.” I laughed, but it was nerves getting the better of me.

  “And I don’t think I expected you to say that you were falling in love with me this morning.”

  “Does it bother you? That I feel that way? That I said I love you?”

  “No.” Another tear trickled down her cheek while she shook her head.

  “Then why are you crying? Tell me what’s wrong.”

  “I don’t know what to say. I don’t know… I just don’t know. My life is so… I’m so… I’m not sure of the right word? Afraid? I feel like I don’t know myself right now. Maybe? I lived so long being William’s wife, and he and I were never really in love, you know? I mean, we loved one another. But we weren’t in love. What if I don’t know how to be in love?”

  “I don’t think it’s something you necessarily have to know how to do. I think you just follow your heart.”

  “I’m not sure mine works properly, though. It doesn’t seem to follow the conventional ideals. And…you,” she stammered. “I mean look at you.” She waved her hand up and down in front of my body before swiping another tear from her cheek.

  I looked down the length of my body to my toes and then up again, missing what she was pointing out. “I don’t understand.”

  “You’re so romantic—so charming and good at all this courting and thoughtfulness. I’m really worried I’ll just disappoint you. I’ll never measure up.”

  “Baby. You’re being ridiculous. The things I do for you? I do because I want to. I want to make you happy—bring a little smile to your face during the day—make you think of me and make your heart flutter. That’s all.” I shrugged. “It doesn’t take much more than a little thoughtfulness.”

  “Like I said, I think it just scares me. I’m out of my element here because it’s unfamiliar territory.”

  “I understand that. I can only hope that you think I’m worth giving love a try. Like a real shot at love. The way it’s supposed to be, not just a relationship of convenience for the sake of someone’s career.” After I’d said it, I hoped I hadn’t gone too far. But she’d admitted, in not so many words, that’s all her marriage to William had been.

  “Let’s take it one day at a time. The way life is meant to be lived. Instead of a grand plan and a well-laid-out scheme. That’s the way I lived my life before, and I would really like a break from that. I’m going to admit something to you that I never admitted to anyone else. When William died, I was relieved. I know that sounds horrible. And you may judge me for saying that on some level. But he and I had had our whole lives planned out since we were in college. We had the whole thing thought through, year by year, what we should be doing, where we should be career-wise, where we should be living, who we should be friends with, who we should know professionally. You name it, it was planned in advance.” She sat down on the bench in front of her vanity mirror.

  “When he passed, I let all of that go. And it felt fabulous. The strain, the constant pressure, it was daunting. I mean, can you imagine that?” She looked sideways at me to get my input. “I wonder how much of that stress led to his heart attack. Well, that and the drugs and drinking. But the public will never know any of that either. Boy, I’m just spilling all kinds of secrets this morning, aren’t I?”

  I squatted down in front of her, gripping her knees to steady myself and have physical contact while I spoke. “You can trust me. You can count on me as well. I won’t let you down or betray you. Okay? The only thing I can do to prove that to you is give you my time. Time doing exactly what I say I will do.”

  “You’re a good man, Oliver Connely. I fear almost too good to be true.” She leaned forward and pressed her forehead to mine. “I don’t want to break up all of this bonding time, but I cannot be late for work this morning. Very important things are going on around the office, and I need to be sure I’m there on time or it will look bad. Very bad.”

  “I understand.” I stood up and started stripping on my way over to the shower stall. “But that brings us to another less pleasant subject. Skye. She was acting straight-up crazy last night. Saying ridiculous things about you wanting to be the city manager now. What is she going on about? And what exactly do you do now?” I figured the best way to get straight answers was to ask straight questions.

  “Well, she’s not being all that crazy, but she doesn’t understand the motive. I’m trying to do her a favor, and no matter what I say, she’s going to believe what she’s going to believe. I currently work as a clerk in the finance director’s office. It’s a dead-end position, but it keeps me busy, and it kept me in the mix when William was the city manager, so I always knew all the players in the game.”

  “Is there something I could tell her that would ease her suspicions? You should’ve heard her last night.” I shook my head, remembering. “She was downright vicious, and I fear she’s going to do something rash if she doesn’t have her fears laid to rest somehow.” I thought about our fight last night for a second. “The more I think about it, I don’t know if she’d even listen to me right now. We parted on a pretty sour note.”

  “Like I said, probably anything I tell you will fall on deaf ears with Skye now. She has her mind made up, and until all the pieces of the puzzle fall into place, neither you nor I will be able to tell her differently. I warned you before that she is her own worst enemy. She’s focused on the end goal and missing what’s going on in front of her. It happens to a lot of career-minded people. Especially in politics. And, unfortunately, many people who have been in the game for a long time know that it’s a common pitfall of the younger, hungry staffers and aides, so they use them to their advantage.”

  Bailey disappeared into her walk-in closet for several minutes to get dressed. I finished showering and was dried off and half-dressed when she emerged in a tailored navy suit, ivory blouse that had a loose tie at the keyhole neckline, and navy-and-ivory spectator pumps in her grip by the heels.

  “Are you almost ready? I can drop you off wherever you need to be on my way downtown,” she offered.

  “No, that’s okay. I can catch an Uber from here if you don’t mind me locking up.”

  “You know what? I don’t know why I didn’t think of this before. I have an SUV just sitting in the garage, not being used. Why don’t you take that? I’m sure it would do it some good to be driven.”

  “No, I don’t want to impose like that.”

  “You’re not imposing. You’d be doing me a favor. And look, if we’re going to be doing this whole love thing, then we share our stuff, right?”

  I grinned so big, my face felt like it would split in half. “Right.”

  She came closer, stood on her tiptoes, and kissed me. “I need to go. The keys are on the hook by the back door. It’s the BMW key ring. There’s a house key on there too. Just press ‘arm’ and then ‘away’ when you go out and lock the door. The garage is detached out back. By the gate you came
in the other night.” She kissed me again, but this time I wrapped my arms around her waist and really kissed her deeply. I was so happy she was signing on for an all-in relationship. I planned on doing everything in my power to make sure she wouldn’t regret it.

  “All right. I’ll talk to you later. Go. Play nice at recess.” I watched her walk out of the bedroom and listened as she clip-clopped across the hardwood floor downstairs after putting on her heels. I even waited to hear her go out the back door and heard the sound of her sexy little sports car start up in the garage out back and then finally finished getting ready when I heard her speed off down the quiet suburban block.

  Life was good. Life was really good, and I wanted it to stay that way. I needed to figure out how to deal with Skye and her irrational paranoia about Bailey. I didn’t want to have to choose between the two most important people in my life, but Skye was making it seem like that was the only way she would have it.

  Something struck me as I was backing the X5 out of the spotless garage behind the house. Bailey never outright denied Skye’s accusation. I’d told her that my best friend said she thought she was gunning for the city manager’s job, but Bailey never denied that she was. She only said until all the pieces came together, Skye wouldn’t believe that Bailey was trying to help her, not sabotage her. And I had to agree with Bailey… If I took any of that information to Skye, it would just enrage her more. When people were extremely driven, like Skye was, everyone else seemed like they were out to get them, hurt their cause, or stand in their way. They were convinced the world wanted to see them fail. I didn’t know what was making her feel that way specifically, but according to Bailey, if she wasn’t careful, it was going to be her undoing.