Happenstance (8 page)

“I’m sorry. I didn’t think you’d jump out of your skin! Are you
always this nervous?” He narrows his eyes, “Is this place not safe enough?”

His concerned tone sounds sincere and I’m touched that he cares,
softly I say, “I just didn’t expect you back.”

He wraps his arms around me and pulls me close. “Of course, I’m
back. I just went to get us lunch. I wasn’t going to leave you.”

I notice he took the time to also change clothes as he is now
wearing black running shorts and a black t-shirt that says:
Trust me, I’m a Doctor
.

“You sure love your funny t-shirts don’t you?”

He looks down and chuckles. “This was in my car, in my gym bag.
And
yes
, I do collect a certain
variety of t-shirts.” He kisses the top of my head. “Hungry?”

“
Starvin
’,” I respond and pull away so
we can walk into the kitchen.

“Good, cause I got us some good shit. But first you need to tell
me something.”

“What’s that?” I start.

“Who are the flowers from?”

Fuck.

I look down and I can feel the heat rise to my cheeks, I try to
turn my body away to focus on getting plates but he grabs my arm.

“Victoria, look at me.” And I do.
Right into
beautiful hazel eyes.

“They’re just flowers, Jared.” I turn around again and focus on
the plates.

“I noticed as much, but thank you for pointing that out. I’m
asking
who
are they
from?
”

I shrug.
“A friend.”

“A boyfriend?”
He presses.

I finally turn to face him and I can see the muscles in his jaw
tighten. His attitude aggravates me.

“No, there is no boyfriend. He’s just a friend. With all due
respect, Jared, we just had sex last night for the first time, these flowers
were obviously given to me before.”

It takes him awhile to answer me after that comment. The look he
is giving me makes me feel like a bug being scrutinized through a microscope. I
refrain from fidgeting, but damn if my fingers didn’t twitch. After what seems
like hours but is probably seconds, he lets out a heavy breath.

“Touché.”

He takes my hand in his and brings it up kissing my inner palm.

“You’re going to drive me insane, woman.” I don’t let him see me
roll my eyes.

Finally we sit down to eat our food, Chinese, which is pretty
damn good and I make a note to keep the menu. I learn that he alternates Saturdays
with his partner, Dr. Paxton, and was off today. He casually suggests a few places
we can go to hang out but after the morning’s stare down, I think it’s best to
put a little distance between us. Casual sexual relationships did not need to
hang out at the mall or go a movie. I lie and say I already made plans with
Maggie.

“Shopping for more shoes?” he asks. “I went to get a hand towel
from your closet and noticed quite a collection.”

“Shoes are life.” I smile. “When I’m rich, I will have a whole
closet
just
for shoes.”

“Is that your main goal on your bucket list?
A
closet of shoes?”
He teases.

“In part, I need at least one of those shoes to be Christian
Louboutin
.”

“Lu-
bu
-what?”
I
notice his hazel eyes flicker when he teases me and I find that I enjoy that.

I giggle.
“
Louboutin
.
He’s a famous shoe designer and very expensive. On my teacher’s salary I’m
thinking maybe I’ll get my pair in ten years.”

“You never know,” his expression is serious.

“Well, my grandma and brother got me
Manolo
Blanik’s
when I graduated. So all I need is my
Christian and my life is complete.”

“So you want
Manolo
and Christian, two
guys at once?
Kinky.”

I arch my eyebrow. “You just don’t know,” I say playfully.

“I can get an idea,” he answers huskily. “But I told you, I don’t
share.
Ever.”
He gets up to clear the table and kisses
me on the top of my head again. “Don’t forget it baby.”

I muse over his words. I was playing around about being kinky,
I’m a one man girl myself, but he seems to think I’m already ‘his’ and I’m not
sure what to respond to that. Do I call him out on it and tell him he’s full of
shit or do I play along and act like I’m delighted? I decide to be indifferent
and don’t say anything at all.

We agree that I can stop by Monday to pick up the dog and bring
him home.
My home.
It sounds nice to have someone to
come home to, even if he is a furry someone.

His phone rings while we are cleaning the dishes and he turns to
answer it.

“Hey beautiful,” he says into the receiver.
Beautiful?
I think.
Interesting.
My stomach tightens and I grip the edge of the
sink. He has moved away from me and is talking too low for me to hear. Is this
the part where I find out he’s married or has a girlfriend? I guess I don’t
need to pretend to be swooned.

“Yes, Ma, you’ll love her.”

He rounds the corner and leans against the wall, smiling at me. I
exhale a breath I didn’t know I was holding and smile back at him.

“Hopefully soon.
I’ll talk to you later,
ok?” He walks right behind me. “Love you too,” then he hangs up and places the
phone in his pocket.

“Mama’s boy?”
I tease him when he walks
toward me.

“You know it,” he winks.
“Although, it’s not a
severe case.”
I raise my eyebrow at him and he laughs and
raises
up his hands. “I promise!”

I giggle. “It’s ok, I was a Daddy’s little girl myself . . .” My
voice trails off as my father’s smiling face displays in my mind.

“Was?” he asks softly.

“He passed three years ago.”

Jared wraps his arms around my waist and pulls me close. “I’m
sorry.”

I shrug. “What about your dad? You guys close?”

His eyes harden for a second, but it’s gone so fast that I don’t
have enough time to question it.

“Nah.
He’s not in the picture.” Before I
can ask him anything further he leans toward me and puts his forehead against
my own.

“I love to see your smile.” My eyes trail down to his full lips
and then he whispers, “I also love to see that naked, beautiful body wrapped up
all around me.”

And that’s my cue. What am I thinking? The Mom card is probably
his plan to get me to trust him and I have to snap out of it. I quickly wipe my
hands and turn to walk away, nearly knocking his head back and say, “I had a
nice time too. I have to get ready though to meet up with
Mags
.”

He gives me a quizzical look.

“Do you regret last night?” he asks.

“No!” I blush.
“Of course not, I just don’t
want to do this right now.”

“Do what?”

“All
the
you
stuff.” Right, as if
that
is supposed
to explain it to him. He sighs, but doesn’t say anything. I walk him to the
door and that’s when it finally hits me that something’s been missing from my
dining table.

I turn to look at him, but he’s already walking out the door. “Jared,
where are the flowers?”

“Oh, I had to throw them away. They were wilted and smelled kind
of funky.”

Without another glance, he walks away leaving me with my mouth
hanging open. The flowers were given to me just three days ago and they had
just started to bloom. They were certainly
not
wilted.
Men.

Chapter Eight

September 2011

Victoria

“Hey, how’s grandma doing?” I ask Andres later on that
day.

“Hey sis, how are you?
Everything alright?
I am doing so good, thank you for asking about me.”

Leave it to him to turn this around and make me feel guilty. But
I laugh anyways.

“You are
sooo
funny. I was going to ask
about you next, of course,” I smile.

“Of
course,
you were,
always leaving me for second place. Abu is good, doing her thing. Watching her
soap operas during the day and playing bingo at night.”

When I think of my family enjoying themselves and going about
their life it tugs at my heart. Not because I expect them to stay home and do
nothing but because I am missing out on their lives. If only there could be a
happy medium.

“Hey, you there?”
My brother asks,
snapping me out of it.

“Yeah,” I clear my throat. “Sorry. So how are you big brother?”

“Oh you know, doing my thing. Watching sports during the day and
playing girls at night. I mean, uh, oops. What was the question again?”

“Oh you have jokes now do you?” I say laughing. I know he isn’t
doing anything but working all day and all night. Yeah, he picks up a girl here
and there but my brother is a workaholic and most of his free time is spent at
home with our grandmother or shooting the breeze with some friends. Mostly work
friends who talk about work. A boring outing if you ask me. The only real girl
in his life is Savannah, an old friend from high school that I secretly wish he
would hook up with already.

I bring him up to date with my last few days, with the exception
of the fabulous date with Dr. Owens of course. We are close but not
that
close. My brother sometimes thinks
he’s my father and will flip if he hears I’m quite possibly dating two guys and
both of them casually. Agreeing that I will drive down to visit soon and after
Andres gives me the third degree about living safely in a new city, we finally
hang up.

~

My first day of work starts off smoothly. I write my name
and date neatly on the whiteboard and then take a step back to look around.
Everything is set; my classroom couldn’t be more ready. Dr. Seuss posters adorn
one wall and a collection of
Whoville
characters face
the opposite wall. Each child has a different
Who
picture where they will be able to track their progress during the day and hang
special drawings. The back wall holds cubbies where they will place their book
bags and lunch boxes. I took my time to make sure my beige suit and heels look
perfect and my hair is ironed leaving not one strand out of place.

By the end of the day however, my hair is tied in a ponytail, my
face looks flush, and my brand new pants are decorated with not one or two, but
three
nice long blue and red marker
streaks.
What’s
worse is the raging blisters on both
my feet.
Never again.
Tomorrow I’m wearing jeans and
flats. Maggie, of course, laughed her ass off when I saw her after lunch.

“I hate to say I told you so!” She tells me while walking in the
opposite direction. It took all I had not to flip her off. Jared calls me right
when I get out.

“Ugh, my feet are on fire.” I pout.

He laughs.
Of course.
“If those shoes
are as high as what I’ve seen you wear then I can only imagine.”

I groan. “I’m never wearing high heels again.” I stop in my
tracks and look up at the sky as if God is smirking at me. “Ok, maybe just
never again at school.”

We both laugh at that.

“Good, because I happen to like those heels on your sexy feet,”
he says. “So I’ll see you today when I get out?”

“Yup.”

“Looking forward to it,” and we hang up. My heart swells.
This is ridiculous! He is just like any
other normal guy!
But I can’t help smiling all the way to my car.

~

After school, I decide to purchase some items for Lucky
at the pet store and I’m in and out faster than I thought I would be. There’s no
point of going home to then go back and pick up Lucky so I figure I should get
to the clinic earlier than what we planned. Walking in I just know something is
off; there is a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. There are only two people
inside; the receptionist woman that I recognize from before and a young blonde
woman who is speaking to her. I take a seat and decide to wait for the woman to
finish so I can just ask for Lucky myself. Just then, Jared walks out with a
small sheet of paper, scribbling on it.

“Alright just give her this for her stomach twice a day and watch
for any loose stool,” he says, looking up.

“Victoria? You’re here early,” he tells me, surprised. I smile at
him and that is when I get a good look at the woman. My first thought? She’s
beautiful. She looks to be about Jared’s age and she is tall with long blonde
hair in soft curls and blue eyes. She is wearing a tight fitting summer dress
with thin straps showing off tan lines and cute baby blue wedge sandals. I
silently curse myself for changing into shorts, a tank top, and sneakers.

I realize I don’t go unnoticed by her either when she gives me a
once over and smirks.

“Is this your new girlfriend, Jared?”

Well, she certainly doesn’t
know him as Dr. Owens.
I feel that pit in my stomach get tighter. Jared’s
hesitancy to respond does not make me feel any better.

I stand up and square my shoulders.

“We’re just friends.” I try to keep my voice neutral and glance over
at him, “I was done early,
is
Lucky ready?” Suddenly I
can’t wait to get out of there.

“Yeah, he is. Annette can you go get Lucky for her please?”
Annette seems disappointed that she will be missing whatever show she thinks
will happen between me and this woman but she gets up and walks to the back.

“Hi I’m Lisa,” says Blondie as she extends her freshly manicured
hand. Having Crayola markings on my manicure I make sure my handshake is at
least firm.

“Victoria,” I respond.