Jar of Hearts (Glow sequel) (11 page)

“Marc, hi!” he had text me a few times after our date, but was so caught up in Ethan that I avoided him.

“What brings you here?” he eyed me closely.

“My apartment flooded,” I frowned. He didn't need to know about this whole weeks occurrences.

“Yikes!” his eyes wide. “That's awful,”

I nodded. “Yeah...” I stared at him for a moment. His dimples, his smile, his messy hair that I had longed to run my fingers through at one point. Hell, I still want to. “What are you doing here?”

“I just dropped my aunt off,” he pointed towards the elevator at a brunette older woman dressed in a white pant suit. She was holding a tea cup chihuahua in her arm as she waited for the elevator to open.

“Ah,” I nodded.

“Yeah, she is a piece of work,” he laughed. “We all put our names in a bowl to see who had to pick her up and well... I got the crap end of the stick,”

I giggled. “I am sure she isn't that bad,”

“Yeah, well...”

“Excuse me, Miss. Anderson?” the young man from behind the counter said.

“Would you give me just a minute?” I asked Marc.

“I'll give you all the time you need, gorgeous,” he smiled, placing his hands in his tan slacks pockets.

“Here you go,” I handed the guy my card and stood there as he ran it.

“Thank you, Miss. Anderson,” he smiled kindly. “Enjoy your stay,”

“Yeah,” I pursed my lips as I put the card back in my wallet and tossed it in my purse. My phone dinged. I dug it out of my purse to see a text from Ethan.

I still would have paid for the hotel, beautiful.

“Ugh, stupid text alerts,” I mumbled, tossing my phone back into my purse.

“Do you have any plans tonight?” I asked Marc with a smile, slinging my purse straps on my shoulder. 

“Nope,” he smiled back, baring his sexy dimples.

“You do now,” I placed my arm through Marc's. “I just need to go change first,”

“Of course,”  we headed towards the elevator. If Ethan could move on, so could I.

Chapter Eight

Ethan

             
I waited at the table for Tiffany to show as I sipped on my wine. I was a little anxious to see how everything turned out since it was extremely last minute. She asked me to meet her here this evening to show me the final print before the magazine hits the racks in the morning.

I watched her walk in the front door in a black strapless dress, her hair was pinned up and she wore a bright smile. She was a beautiful, happily married woman with two children. She is a nice person, with a lot of talent and love for her job at Glow.

“Thank you for meeting me here on such short notice, Ethan,” she smiled as she took her seat next to me, displaying her black portfolio case on top of the table. “My husband is meeting me here for our monthly date night, so I figured I could meet you here an hour early,” she shrugged.

“Hey, that's perfect,” I smiled. “I just hope this works,” I sighed.

Tiffany placed her hand on my arm. “It will, I know it. Every female that reads this issue will be putty in your hands, especially Maria,” she winked at me, giving my arm a pat before opening her portfolio to the first page of the photo shoot.

“That's the plan,” I smiled, rubbing my sweaty hands together.

Not only was I nervous about my body being on display for the entire world to see, I was also nervous as so were my feelings. My feelings for Maria. Originally, Ellen had the idea to give me an interview with the shoot, talking about my relationship tragedy with Jackie and what makes me unique in my own way. What I am looking for in life and in woman etc. Just an interview about me in general as she thinks it will make the ladies go crazy. During the interview, I caught myself talking about what a beautiful person Maria is and how she is what I want in my life. Tiffany listened intently then finally asked me who this mystery woman was. I told her Maria Anderson and she melted, crying telling me how it is such a sweet story with a missing page that she could help me write with this interview.

One of the last questions were: 'Have you ever been in love, Ethan?'

My answer was simple. 'Until I truly fell in love for the first time, I thought I had been at several points in my life then I realized that it was my own hype of wanting to be in love. True love feels incredibly different than what we make it in our own minds. We think of it as this elaborate emotion when it is so much more than that. It's the way her touch sets my skin on fire, the way she makes my heart race, and the way that I could never live without her. One day it just happens to you when you least expect it.'

'You say her as thought you are in love with one special lady.'

I answered truthfully. 'I am.'

'I am taking a shot in the dark at this question but we all have to know, who is she?'

I remember my hands were shaking in my lap and my heart was beating erratically as I stared through the glass window at Maria playing Solitaire at her desk. She brushed her hair away from her face, then looked at me with a sullen expression. I knew she missed me, she didn't have to even say it.

'Maria Anderson.' I answered. When I smiled at her she looked away.

I snapped out of my thoughts and realized I was staring down at myself smiling in a way that I have never seen myself smile in a photograph. It was the first day on the shoot when things between Maria and I were good even though still a little complicated. Tiffany turned the page and I frowned to see  a huge difference in my smile, something was missing. That day, Maria was missing. To anyone that saw these photos they wouldn't notice a difference, but I did.

“So, we thought that starting the interview on the first page was best and then to have it kind of flow through the next few pages. What do you think?” she flipped back and forth through the pages.

I opened my mouth to answer but was immediately distracted when a familiar laugh rang through my ears making a shiver run down my spine. I looked to the left, past Tiffany setting my eyes on the most beautiful female in a tight red dress with her long brunette curls draped over her shoulders. I was looking at Maria. She was sitting at a table across the restaurant with a guy in tan khakis and a black button up dress shirt. She was still laughing as he reached across the table and wiped the corner of her red lips with his thumb. He let his finger linger longer than what I would consider a friendly gesture. I felt my heart drop to my sick stomach.

“I'm sorry, Ethan,” Tiffany's hand was once again upon my arm.

I looked at her sullen expression. She felt bad for me and I didn't want her to. I forced a smile. “It's okay, Tiffany. It is,”

“It will be when she sees this interview,” she smiled widely trying to reassure me.

“We'll see,” I winked at her. “If you don't mind, I am going to take off,”

“Absolutely, Ethan. Thank you,” she stood up, giving me a quick hug.

I stared over Tiffany's shoulder at a smiling Maria with her hand in douche bags. I was two seconds away from causing a scene in the restaurant, embarrassing Tiffany, myself, and Maria.

“You're welcome,” I quickly walked out of the restaurant and toward my car across the street. I got in my car and sat there, staring at Maria through the restaurant's window. She was still smiling brightly, making my heart crush even more. I text her.

Have a good night, beautiful.

I wanted to tell her she looked beautiful but then she would know I was at the same restaurant. There was no need for both of us to become uncomfortable.

I watched her take her phone out of her purse and lightly smile at my text before dropping it back in her purse and carrying on with her conversation. I took one more good look at her before taking off from the curbside.

On the drive to my sister's house, I felt angry as though it was last night all over again. Vanessa's reaction to Maria and I being together was way over the top, ruining everything I was working towards with Maria. I knew it was going to take some time, and I knew she wouldn't accept the feelings for me as easily as most would accept them. When Vanessa said the things she did and put her on the spot like that, it scared her and ruined everything.

I walked into the house, Ben was sitting on the couch and Vanessa was cleaning the kitchen from dinner.

Ben nodded at me with a smirk. “How did it go?”

“It went great,” I said sarcastically.

Vanessa walked out of the kitchen in her black sweats and a tank top drying her hands off with a dish towel and a groan. “Great, the article is a bomber,”

“No,” I shook my head. “No, not a bomber. It looks good, Tiffany did a great job,”

“Then what's up?” Ben asked, Vanessa sitting on the arm of the couch as she slung the dish towel onto her shoulder staring at me.

“Maria was there,” I loosened my tie feeling as though I was choking on my words. I then ran my fingers through my hair taking a deep breath. “With some guy,”

“Oh,” Vanessa said looking awfully guilty. She should feel guilty.

“Yeah,” I eyed her with my hands on my hips. I was trying incredibly hard not to take it out on her.

“Who was it?” Ben asked as though I should know.

I huffed. “Gee, I don't know,” I shrugged. “Maybe I should have walked up to her table and asked her for his name as they were holding hands,”

“I'm so sorry, Ethan,” Vanessa said quietly.

“No, you aren't,” I said, stalking toward my bag behind her couch. “You got what you wanted, Nessy,”

“I never wanted you to get hurt, Ethan,” she stood and turned around to face me. “You ended up hurt anyway,”

“You know what? Everything was just fine the way it was, Vanessa without you running your mouth scaring the hell out of her,” I grabbed my phone charger from the table and tossed it into my bag.

“You surely aren't blaming this on me, right?” she asked appalled.

“Actually, yeah I am,” I walked toward the door. “You should have minded your own business,”

“Where are you going?” Ben asked as he stood up.

“I'm going to stay at my parents house,” I looked over at Vanessa. “Don't worry, as always everything is working out in your favor. You got what you wanted. I'll see you both at the rehearsal dinner on Saturday.”

“Ethan,” she called after me as I walked out the door.

I threw my bag in the back seat and was about to get in the car when Ben came running down the driveway. “Ethan!”

I turned around. “I am sorry, Ben but I can't look at her right now. And to top it off she hasn't apologized to me or Maria and it pisses me off even more,”

“I totally understand,” he sighed, placing his hands on his hips staring at the concrete below him. “I don't know what is going on with her, she hasn't said a whole lot since last night,”

“If she would have minded her own business without saying the things that she did, things would be a lot different than they are now, you know?”

“She was trying to look out for you,”

“I get that, but she didn't have to attack Maria the way she did,”

“No she didn't,” he shook his head. “Just know that she is sorry. She is stubborn,” he laughed.

“Yup, she is,” I agreed with him. “I'll see you on Saturday at my parents house,”

“Alright,” Ben gave me a man-shake and headed toward the house.

I got to my parents place around ten and to my surprise, my mom was still awake and in the kitchen in her robe making a cup of tea.

“Son!” she jumped, holding her hand to her chest. “You scared me,” she walked around the counter and pulled me into a hug. “You aren't supposed to be here until Saturday, I thought you were staying with Vanessa?”

I hugged her tightly to me. “I was but we had a falling out, I guess you could say,”

She pulled away and placed her hand upon my cheek. “No, not three days before the wedding,” she groaned.

“It's her fault, mom,” I shook my head, taking a seat at the dining room table.

“She didn't try to get involved in the mess with Jackie did she?”

I ran my hands down my face with a frustrated sigh. The last thing I wanted was to talk to my mother in the dim kitchen about my love life. “No, it's about Maria,”

“Her pretty little friend that is also her secretary, Maria?” she handed me a cup of tea.

“Yeah,” I took one of the cups from her hand. “Thank you,”

“She is a cutie pie,” my mom smiled. “Why were you both fighting about her?”

“We weren't fighting,” I set my cup down. “Mom, it's seriously complicated,”

“I like complicated,” she chuckled. “Try your old momma out,” 

“Well,” here goes nothing. “Two years ago at dad's Birthday BBQ that you threw, I met Maria for the first time,”

“Before Jackie, then?”

“Yeah,” I took a drink of my tea as my mouth was already incredibly dry just starting to talk about it. “I met her and long story short, I have never been able to get her off of my mind. Even when I was with Jackie, I would catch myself thinking about her at least once a day,”

“Even after two years?” she asked.

“Even after two years...” I smirked. “Then, after I left Jackie and went to stay at Vanessa's, I wasn't told right away that she was also staying with them because her apartment flooded,”

“Ah, yes,” my mother laughed.

“Apparently, Vanessa told Maria to stay away from me and she didn't,”