It's Got A Ring To It (30 page)

A lady at the table next to
us,
shot us a
disapproving squint as if she wanted to shoo us from the room. We might as well
have been school kids being reprimanded for passing notes or talking during the
teacher’s lesson. Suddenly, an ear-piercing screech reverberated through the
room like nails against a chalkboard. Everyone in the room turned as Elle
apologized profusely about her fear of public speaking and how much she hated
being on a microphone. Nervously she shuffled, fidgeting with the chord and
wishing someone else could speak for her.

“I know this is not traditional,” she began, “but I wanted to say a
few thank
you
’
s
before the night
is
over. Sam, my loving and
charming husband, I feel so lucky that I get to spend the rest of my life with
you. The fact that you chose
me,
makes me feel like I
must’ve done something right in the Lord’s eyes to be favored in this way. You
are my life and my love. To all my friends and second families, I love you and
I’m so happy that you could share this special day with us. Thank you to all
the vendors, who made this dream a reality. Thank you to Pastor Roberts for
officiating our ceremony. And last but not least, thank you to my brother,
Myles,” her voice cracked and I knew the waterworks weren’t far behind. “Myles,
I know that I’ve been a handful. Some might even go as far to say, bratty
—
”
T
he room roared with
laughter and a brief smile made it
s
way into her emotional speech. “But through
all my crazy phases and mixed up drama-filled years, you have been the one
constant in my life. The boy who turned into a man I’m so proud of. And when
Mom and Dad passed
—
”
W
ithout a second
thought, Myles ran to her side, where he’d been her whole life and took her
into his arms.

“No, let me finish. I’m sorry
,
everyone. I need to say this before I
can’t.” Still losing the fight to her streaming tears, she continued with her
arm in his. “When Mom and Dad passed, I thought my life was over and I wanted
to join them.
But you.
You were strong enough for
the
both of
us and you gave me a new outlook on life. I still don’t know how you did
it—do it. I’d been wishing they were here today, so Dad could’ve given me
away and
M
om could’ve
helped me pick out a dress, but with you by my side, everything was okay. I
love you more than you’ll ever know and more than I’ll ever be able to repay
you for giving me hope and love.”

On cue, I cried like the blubbering baby that I was. I couldn’t imagine
having the same strength.
They
m
ade me want to call Lena and my parents and tell them how much I loved
them
. Myles swiped at a
running stream of tears, and I bawled with him. With my dinner napkin, I dabbed
at my eyes, thinking about that first night Myles and I strolled through my
parents
’
neighborhood,
when he told me that he decided not to reenlist for another term, to be there
for Elle.

She was still gushing about Myles, but it finally sounded like she
was wrapping it up. I couldn’t take much more. “So for you, my dear saint of a
brother, I wish you the love that you’ve given me.” And then I heard it.
.
.“I can’t wait for you to
marry
Laila
, so that you’ll be as ecstatically happy
as I am today and I can have a sister and possibly a niece or a nephew, soon.”

The room erupted into applause and a full-on standing ovation as the
siblings hugged. Meanwhile, someone redirected the spotlight at me, as I
shielded my face from the light, wholly mortified.

twenty-four

Painstakingly
slow,
Myles twisted
and turned the gold-foiled box. A little shake here and a slight lift there to
test the weight. “What is it?”

“
Open it and you’ll see,” I
replied, taking full pleasure in his curiosity.

As
soon as he removed the lid, he paused for what seemed like hours, his
expression blank. Not a breath or a blink. He sat, cemented in place.
“What does the line mean?” he
questioned, as he delicately pulled the stick from the white tissue paper as if
it were fragile.

“
It’s my gift to you. You don’t
have to worry anymore.”

Myles
stared at it attentively, though uncertainty still lingered on his furrowed
brows and steady glare. It wasn
’t the reaction I’d hoped for. I thought, immediately he’d look at
it, know what it meant, and start the celebration. At that point, it wasn’t
evident whether he knew what it meant, or if he was just let down.

“
We’re not pregnant,” I said, a
little too excited. I watched him as recognition colored his face, waiting for
him to say something, anything. Not a peep. Myles sat there speechless,
expressionless. Apparently, I’d laid a bomb on him. Then, a tear trailed the
curves of his chiseled jawline.

When he
still said nothing, I filled
the void in the silence, “That’s what you
wanted, right?”

“I don’t
know what I wanted. Figured I would've been fine either way, but now I don’t
know. I think, deep down, I was hopeful. The idea of being a family again, it
just felt good.” A small forced smile crept across his face. “I don’t know if
I’ll even be any good at it. But, that’s that, I guess.”

It hurt
me to see him so depleted. All this time, I thought being pregnant would have
meant the end of us, but the way he’d reacted gave me a new resolve
. It gave me
an idea. Myles perched next to me on my barely
used couch that I only ever used for
company.

“
Myles, this couch is new, you
know. Never been fully broken in,” I patted at the firm cushion, scooting
closer to him. “Think maybe you could help me with that?”

His
demeanor loosely shifted, in feigned shock.
“
Laila
?”

“Yes, Mr.
Donovan?” I teased.

“
What’s going on in that head of
yours?”

“
You seemed so down, when I told
you we weren’t pregnant. I was thinking, maybe we could get started making one.
Have some fun while we’re doing it
.
” I reclined against the armrest, and
confidently, propped my arms behind my head.

“
Oh, is that what you were
thinking?” He crawled atop, and lowered the full length of his bodyweight down.
Gently, he kissed me, using his tongue to pry open my lips, then we savored the
taste of each other’s mouths.

When
I aw
oke, a loud
white-haired man on a television
infomercial
, with too much spunk, yelled
about the superior suction power on some new vacuum cleaner. Still dazed, I
watched it suck up marbles while cleaning a myriad of staining liquids. Lifting
my head slightly
off
Myles chest, I could see the clock above the pantry door in the kitchen. It was
only ten in the morning. Sunday morning. As I slowly sat up, a crook in my neck
cracked loudly. We never made it to the bedroom, and my body punished me for
it.

I stole a
quick peck on Myles sleeping lips and bee-lined for the kitchen to make
breakfast. Not a minute after I’d cracked the eggs
and
yolk spread all over my hands, did the
phone ring. Out of paper towels and not a clean
dishtowel
in sight, I resorted to wiping them
on my shirt since it was laundry day.

“
Hello,” I uttered in a muffled
tone, practically whispering.

“
Have I caught you at a bad time?”
murmured a deep throaty male voice.

“
Who is this?”

“
Laila
, it’s me. Stop playing around. I
know you don’t want to talk to me anymore, but we need to meet.”

“What do
you want, Ethan?”

“
The pearls.” He whispered
ineffectually, but it blared through the phone,
as if
he was covering the receiver with his
hand.

“
I’ll mail them to you,” I stated
abruptly, ready to click off.

“
Listen, I’ll be on your side of
town today around three at that little coffee shop next to the theater. Can you
just meet me there? I promise I won’t take up more than five minutes of your
time.”

“
I don’t owe you anything
.
”

“
I know.”

“
But, I’d do the unthinkable to
get rid of you for good. I’m really
—
What is it
?
Y
ou guys have radar, or something? Every time
I find happiness, you try to call or find some way of slivering back into my
life. Is that what you want, me to think about you? I’m so sure that you need a
set of pearls, like it’s a life or death emergency.” Before I knew it, anger
seethed in my voice, echoing throughout the room. He’d gotten the rise out of
me that he wanted. “Ethan, you need to get a life,” I yelled. I’d all but
forgotten that Myles was asleep on the couch. Was. Myles
stared
directly at me. A deer in headlights, I was too embarrassed to say anything.
Plus, I’d been ranting, and who knew how much he’d actually heard.

“
Just be there,
Laila
,” Ethan demanded, undeterred.

It
’s only natural to want to get
that last word in edgewise, but with Myles staring at me, seemingly bemused, I
couldn’t quite speak so freely. Still pissed, but mostly embarrassed, I pressed
the red end button and returned my attention to Sleeping Beauty, who beckoned
me over with outstretched
arms.

Trailing
sweet kisses along the nape of his inviting neck up to his supple lips, my
hands comb
ed
playfully through his mussed morning hair. Even after a long night of
blissfully tossing and turning, he was gorgeous—and mine.

***

Outside
, the raw light of day blinded my
eyes shut. I squinted as I pulled my sweater tighter against the chill of the
afternoon air. It was nearly a quarter to three and we hadn’t made it out of
the house. Save for food, we would have been
hold
up in the fort for the day. As luck, and
a fierce game of rock-paper-scissors, would have it, I was the chosen one to
grab pizza to replenish our famished bodies.

The
thought of Giovanni’s Pizzeria sent the wheels in my head turning. Ethan. The
pearls. I could get rid of him for good. Just drop off the pearls and wipe my
hands clean. It seemed simple enough. About ten minutes for our order to be
ready, and I could drop off the pearls and be back in no time. The pizzeria was
two doors down from the
café
w
here he would be.

Hastily,
I
ran back into the
house, past Myles, who was looking quite delectable in boxers, lying on the
couch. “Don’t shower without me,” I yelled with sexy innuendo dripping from my
words, ducking into the bedroom. The pearls were tucked in the bottom of my
underwear drawer, so I slyly nabbed them like some 007 secret agent and stuffed
them in the pocket of my sweater. When he looked at me expectantly, wondering
what I was doing back so fast, without the pizza, I answered his unasked
question, “
F
orgot my
phone,” I lied.

As soon
as the words came out, I felt like a complete fraud. One teensy break from our
time held up in the house, and already I’d deceived him. Guiltily, I rushed
back to the car in a hurry to redeem my innocence. One glimpse in the rearview
mirror spoke volumes about my state of mind. Frazzled and a hot mess. I tried
to convince myself that it was just a quick run and it didn’t matter what I
looked like, but the idea of seeing Ethan like this did give me pause.
Only
a brief pause.

Impatiently,
I shift
ed from one
foot to the other, fuming as I waited in line for my order to be taken. Only
one register was open and the stubby balding man at the front of the line
stared blankly at the menu while five or six of us behind him got an aerial
view of the light reflecting
off
his round head. Finally, the blowhard made a commitment to pepperoni,
pineapples, and anchovies, before I blew a gasket. Face to face with the snotty
kid at the counter, I ordered quickly while I took in the myriad of his
piercings and tattoos.

“
It’ll be about ten minutes for
the supreme
.
”
H
e sucked his crooked teeth,
regarding the growing line. In the back of my mind, I calculated the time to
get to the
ca
f
e and back—time would run
thin, but it would be enough.

Ethan
was already seated
at the bar facing the front windows when I rounded the corner to the entrance.
He didn’t turn to face me or rise from his seat. Just as well
.
We weren’t meeting to
catch up on old times. This was a farewell, severing of ties. I pulled the
pearls from my sweater pocket and placed them on the counter in front of him. “
Here
.
”
I turned to leave.

“That’s
it?”

“
Yes. That’s it. You have the
pearls, and I don’t have anything else of yours, so if there’s nothing else, I
have somewhere to be.”

“
I thought we could at least be
cordial to each other,
Laila
.”

“
Ethan, the fact that I showed up
here to bring you the pearls is cordial enough
.
” I continued toward the exit.

“
It’s because I’m moving on
without
you
. You’re
angry
.
”
H
is tone was accusatory and
everything in me told me to go through the door and never look back, but he
knew how to get under my skin.

I knew
I’d bitten the bait, but I couldn’t miss this moment. Like poetry, I hung the
carrot out in front of him. “The world does not revolve around you, Ethan.
Imagine that, other people finding happiness and love. And, it doesn’t involve
you. Honestly, the audacity.”

“
Love?”

Predictable.
Out of everything I said all Ethan heard was love. He couldn’t bear the thought
of me finding happiness without him. I could’ve rambled on for hours, but he
would pinpoint the one thing that challenged his manhood.
His
ability to get the girl.

“
What do you mean,
l
ove?” he asked again,
seeming increasingly more irritated.

Just to
drive it all the way home, I clarified for the sake of his mystified ego. “Yes,
Ethan. I’m in love with Myles and he’s in love with me.”
The
coup de gr
â
ce
.
Instantly my mood lightened. I was
his woman in a bottle. He’d kept me on the shelf to open in
case of
emergencies
when his ego needed boosting. His fallback plan with my consent
,
and I’d
snatched it back with something that resembled gumption.

Ethan
mumbled on in response, but I heard nothing. I drifted into the movement in the
background. Just beyond him, a sullen Myles surveyed the quarrelsome menagerie
on display behind the looking glass. In that moment, there was no one else but
the two of us. Ethan was a blurry silhouette shuffling at my peripheral. A
non-entity. Myles made no attempt to enter the
caf
é
or assess the situation and my feet cemented to the checkered
tiles. There was nothing more to say or do. It was about trust and I had
betrayed his. As he turned, I noticed my wallet in his hand.

I
should have left the moment I saw him. I should have
ran
until my breath was ragged and spent. Until, I found him and dispelled any
notion other than my unconditional love. But, I stood there. Void, in
disbelief. It couldn
’t
be real. I couldn’t lose Myles. The weight of the wall I built, released on my
heart. I was wounded from the inside out.

Slowly,
it registered that Myles was gone and an urgency to get him back overcame me. I
wasn
’t thinking
clearly. I was panicking. Running through the possible routes home. In a
tailspin, a leg behind and the race was already over. Without logic or reason,
I made it home. Frantically, I fiddled with the key and the door fluttered
ajar—a mocking welcome to deafening silence. Hurriedly, I made my way
through the house, calling out his name. Hoping against all hopes that he would
be there. The clean house answered me. His cell phone was gone from the kitchen
counter. The suit jacket that he’d strewn across the back of the sofa wasn’t
there either. In the bedroom, the neatly smoothed and arranged covers left no
signs that we had made love there only a few hours before.