Mid Life Love (36 page)

“Okay...” I braced myself for the rest.

“We were kissing and touching and stuff but then he
started getting really rough and tried to take my pants off...I told him no, but
he kept trying so I threatened to scream...Then he got really angry and started
cursing at me, calling me a tease...He told me he didn’t really like me anyway.
He’d just heard that I was....I was
easy
! But that’s not true! I’ve never
been with anyone!” She cried. “So I ran out of the room, but when I got
downstairs all his teammates were in the lobby laughing at me and calling me
all these names...They said he only invited me there so he could—so he could
prove how
easy
I was...I rushed out to the parking lot and drove off as
fast as I could...I was fine at first, but then I couldn’t really see where I was
going and the road started to get blurry and...Well...” She waved her hand toward
the wreck.

“I take it that you didn’t ask your mom if you could
use her car?”

“Are you kidding me? She would’ve said no! She
always says no! She expects us to stick together all the time! I mean, Caroline
is my best friend and we do a lot of stuff together, but we do have our own
lives. She acts like she doesn’t see that! How can she expect us to
share
a car? It’s not fair...” She shook her head and leaned on me, not saying anything
for a long time.

Once I felt like she’d completely calmed down, I
cleared my throat. “So, you called me because you want me to fix this before
your mom gets back?”

“Well...
yeah
.” She sat up and smiled. “I think
you can afford it...”

“And you’re going to beg me not to tell her what
happened?”

“Yes...”

I smiled and tried not to laugh. “Tell you what, I’m
not going to tell her.”

“Really? You’d do that for me?”

“
You are
.”

“What?”

“I’ll have it replaced by tomorrow morning, but you
have to tell her that you took her car without permission and you were out
drinking as soon as she gets back from her trip.”

“
What
! What type of sense does that make?”

“It makes perfect sense to me.”

She crossed her arms. “She’ll ground me! I’ll miss
Charity Lane’s party next weekend! Not to mention autumn jam!”

“Probably so.”

“And she’ll take away my cell phone! And not just
take it away—she’ll
destroy
it!”

“It could be ten times worse.”

“But the car won’t be wrecked! She won’t even be able
to tell that I drove it once you replace it! I’ll be telling on myself for
nothing! I’ll be—”

“You could’ve
killed someone
tonight,
Ashley.” My voice was stern. “You’re lucky nothing happened to
you
or
that you weren’t pulled over. Why were you drinking anyway? You’re only
sixteen.”

She frowned. “I did it because I didn’t want to seem
lame in front of him...I’ve never done it before today and I
promise
I’ll
never do it again...Do I really have to tell her that part?”

“Do you want me to replace the car?”

“Fine...” She sighed. “I’ll kiss my social life
goodbye.”

“It’s only temporary. Who knows, maybe she’ll see
you as being responsible for telling her and get you and Caroline separate cars
for your birthday.”

“Could you
please
talk her into that? That
would be so awesome!”

“We’ll see...” I pulled out my phone. “Greg? I need a
tow truck. Yeah, for the Audi Q7. We also need to buy another one in the next
few hours—same model and we’ll need to get the custom upgrades that we got
before. See if you can work out something with the VIN number...I’m in the
parking lot at Haven Foods on Tim Street. Could you also bring something to eat
for Ashley? Yes...McDonald’s will be fine.” I hung up.

“Thank you for helping me with this...” Ashley looked
down at the ground.

“You’re very welcome.”

“You know, I really like you, Jonathan. I think my
mom still likes you too, but she’d probably like you even more if I told her
that me and Caroline are kind of missing you since you two broke up. I mean, we
are
missing you. Not many people understand our Physics jokes and I like
your pasta
a lot
better than my mom’s... So, I’m thinking...If you want me
to put in a good word for you, I think you should reconsider—”

“You’re going to tell her about the car, Ashley.”

She laughed. “It was worth a try.”

C
laire

“How was your trip, sweetheart?” Damien lifted my
hand and kissed it.

“It was
amazing
. I had a lot of fun.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to go to the awards
ceremony tonight? The organizers swear it won’t be as boring as the last one. ”

“I’m sure.” I placed my carryon bag in my lap and
buckled my seatbelt. “I just want to unpack with a glass of wine and slowly
readjust to the real world tonight.”

He laughed and leaned over to kiss me. As he ran his
fingers through my hair, he tugged at the strings of the sea shell headband I
was wearing and whispered, “I missed you.”

“I missed you too...”

He kissed me a few more times before moving away and
revving up his car. He sped through the airport terminals and entered the highway.
He looked over at me every few minutes, smiling whenever I looked at him.

He was definitely sexy as hell and my eyes couldn’t
get enough of him, but over the past couple weeks it seemed like “attraction”
was the only thing holding us together. Even though he was a few years older
than me—forty three, had experienced divorce just like I had, and seemed to be
a perfect match, there was something missing.

Our conversations weren’t that deep, our time
together was hardly memorable, and he seemed to be more into impressing me than
getting to know me.

Maybe if you actually gave him a fair
chance, you would think differently...You haven’t honestly done that yet...Maybe
you should open up about your past a bit—maybe even tell him about Jonathan...

I cleared my throat. “How was your week while I was
away?”

“Terrible. In addition to not being able to see the
most beautiful woman in the world every day, I got crushed by Statham
Industries for the year to date presales.”

“What do you mean?”

“They’ve outsold us by fifteen percent for the year
so far and they haven’t even opened up the pre-sales for their
s
Phone
red yet...I hate Jonathan Statham.”

What?!
“Why?” I tried
to sound indifferent.

He drove onto the exit ramp. “Okay, I don’t
necessarily
hate
him—No, I do hate him.” He laughed. “We’ve been at it
ever since he started his company. He’s our biggest competitor and he knows it.
I can’t deny the man’s a genius, but sometimes he makes moves just because he
can, just to be a showoff so he can say that his company is number one.”

“Like...”

“Like releasing a new product days before my company
does. We’ll have a marketing plan in place months in advance. We’ll have
commercials and billboards all over the country for a product that comes out on
Friday, and just to be an ass, he’ll release his competing product on
Thursday.”

I tried not to laugh. “So, it’s a friendly rivalry?”

“
No
.” He pulled in front of my house and
turned to face me. “We’re polite whenever we see each other, but we don’t get
along at all...Between you and me, I really respect him, but it always seems like
he has the upper-hand, like he always gets the best stuff first. I feel like no
matter what I do, I’m always getting his sloppy seconds.”

Shit...
“Umm...”

“I’m so sorry.” He kissed my cheek. “I shouldn’t be
talking about my competitor. I should be focusing on you.” He stepped out and
opened my door.

Once I was out of the car, he pulled my luggage from
his trunk and walked me up to my house.

“You sure you don’t want to come tonight?” He
stepped closer to me. “We wouldn’t have to stay the whole time. Actually, if
you want, we could go for five minutes and then we could go back to my place. ”

I felt butterflies fluttering in my stomach as he
smiled his pearly whites.

See? You can have feelings for someone
else...
“I’m sure...” I leaned forward to kiss him.

He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me
even closer, so close that I could feel the large bulge in his pants. Then I
felt my stomach’s butterflies fluttering harder, making sounds.

Ugh...These aren’t feelings...I’m just
hungry...

“Thank you for picking me up from the airport,
Damien.” I pulled away to catch my breath.

“You’re more than welcome.” He stepped back. “Can I
ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“Am I being friend-zoned?”

“What do you mean?”

“We’ve been dating for a while now and...You hold back
whenever we kiss and you never invite me in.” He looked concerned.

“If we were platonic friends, I wouldn’t be kissing
you at all.” I kissed his lips again to make a point. “You’re definitely not
being friend-zoned. I just like to wait a while before I invite someone in.”
Unless
it’s Jonathan Statham...

“I understand. Would you like to be my date to the
Juniper conference next week? It’s a week-long event and it’s at a huge resort
in the suburbs...I can get you a separate suite if you don’t feel comfortable
sharing.”

Maybe it’ll help you move on if you
share...
“No need for a separate suite.” I stood on my toes
and kissed him again. “I’d love to go with you.”

“Okay. Well, I’ll set everything up and give you all
the details over dinner Thursday. Good night, Claire.”

“Goodnight Jon—” I cleared my throat. “Damien.
Goodnight, Damien.”

––––––––

Two
days later...

I
tossed Ashley’s cell phone into a bowl of water
and placed it in the freezer. I wasn’t one of those parents who trusted their
kids to
not
use their phone just because I said so. I made sure “no cell
phone” really meant “no cell phone.”

I saw tears streaming down her face as I continued
my lecture, but they weren’t having a sympathetic effect on me at all.

“What if you’d wrecked my car? What if something had
happened to you? And to top it off you’d been
drinking
? What would have
happened if the police pulled you over and you got a DUI—at
sixteen
? You
could’ve ruined your life before it even began! Did you think about that?” My
voice was louder than it’d ever been. “I’ve raised you so much better than
that, Ashley Marie Gracen. I can’t even...I can’t talk to you right now.” I shook
my head. “Go to your room. Get used to being in there for the next four
months.”

“I really am sorry...” She sniffled as she walked
away.

I leaned against the counter and shook my head,
exhaling over and over again. I was
beyond
furious with her and
extremely confused as to why she’d snitched on herself; I would’ve never known
about this past weekend if she didn’t mention it—and it wasn’t like her to
mention it. That wasn’t her personality at all.

Before I could get through a recap of my vacation,
she’d blurted everything out: Late night date. Hotel.
Beer
. Taking my
car without permission.

She’d sobbed as she told me what happened, and even
though she emphasized that she brought my car back “without a single scratch”
and promised to “never drink again,” I had to punish her to prevent this from
ever happening again.

Is four months long enough?

I grabbed a carton of mint chocolate chip ice cream
and walked into the living room. I plopped down on the sofa and sifted through
the channels, searching for something happy to watch. I needed to clear my
brain.

Unfortunately, there was nothing on but late
afternoon talk shows;
Dr. Phil
was a re-run, and I’d seen all the shows
on HGTV before. I started flipping through the premium channels and stopped
once I saw
Harry Potter
.

I sighed.

It wasn’t that long ago that Jonathan had come over
and watched that with me, Ashley, and Caroline. As a matter of fact, the day it
happened, it was like I wasn’t even there: The three of them talked through
most of the movie. They argued about what was true to the book and what wasn’t,
what parts they liked the best, and who was the biggest fan. It was so bad that
at one point, they started betting each other on film trivia—using chocolate
“shots” to punish whoever got the facts wrong.

When the film was over and Caroline emerged as the
winner, I thought he and I would finally get some alone time, but they decided
to watch the next film in the series.

I turned the TV off and went up to my room, crashing
face first onto my bed. It’d been three months since I’d broken up with
Jonathan and I’d once again failed to go a day without thinking about him.

I thought that more time away from him would make
him fade from my memory; that every day that passed would be another day that
he wouldn’t infiltrate my thoughts, and that dating someone else would help
erase him, but that was far from the truth.

He crossed my mind every time I went to sleep alone,
every time I woke up without him by my side, and every time I stepped into my
new office where no flowers were waiting for me.

I felt a lump rising up my throat and began to cry.
I didn’t attempt to wipe the tears away; I let them fall and rolled over on my
side, allowing our memories to play in my mind over and over.

I was remembering our first date, remembering when
he pushed me against the railing and slipped his arms around my waist. Just as
he was about to press his lips against mine, my phone rang and interrupted the
memory. Damien. 

“Hello?” I answered softly.

“Hey, sweetheart. Are we still on for our date
tonight?”

Shit, I forgot all about that...
“Sure,
what time should I be ready?”

“Seven o’ clock. Are you okay? You sound a little
sick.”

“Oh, yeah.” I sniffled. “I’m fine. Allergies, you
know?”

“Do you want to stay in instead? We can—”

“No, no...I’ll take a Zyrtec or something. I really
need
—I
mean, I really
want
to go out tonight.”

“Okay, then. I can’t wait to see you.”

“Me either. See you soon.” I hung up and looked at
my watch—four o’clock.

I decided to take my time getting ready, thinking
that that would help me keep my memories of Jonathan at bay.

I rolled off the bed and ran a warm bath with extra
bubbles. I set my favorite scented candles all around the ledge and quickly
undressed, slipping my body underneath the suds.

“
Ahhhh
...” I lay back and let my shoulders
touch the cool ceramic. I reached for my waterproof radio and tuned it to the
classical music station, wincing once I heard a familiar refrain. It was the
song Jonathan and I danced to on his yacht.

“Step back...Step forward...Your dancing is
getting a lot better, Claire...I think we should finish this lesson downstairs...”

I changed the station. Talk radio.

“And in financial news this afternoon, Statham
Industries is set to reach yet another milestone as its presale orders have
practically toppled the—”

I shut it off. I slid completely under the water,
letting my head go underneath, holding myself there as I tried to fight the
onslaught of more memories:

We were sitting in the tub together,
watching each other—smiling at nothing at all, laughing without a care in the
world.

“Come here, Claire.” He reached out for
me to move across the Jacuzzi, rolling his eyes when I didn’t move. He slid
over to my side and put his arm around me. “Your difficulty never ceases to
amaze me...Is taking a bubble bath your favorite thing to do?”

“Yeah, but it’s ten times better when
I’m alone.”

“Stop lying to me.”

“Who said I was lying?” I reached up and
threaded my fingers through his hair, looking into his eyes as he gazed back
into mine. I leaned in and brought his head down lower for a kiss, but he moved
back.

“Stop.” He moved my hand away from him
and shook his head, sighing. He pulled me into his lap—holding me against his
chest, and then he kissed me. “I love you, Claire.”

My heart stopped, my body stilled. I
wasn’t sure what to say. “I—”

“You don’t have
to say it back.” He planted kisses along my throat. “I know you’re extremely
fragile and not sure about exactly what this is, but I want you to know that I
do love you and there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you...I’ll do whatever you ask
me to do if it’ll make you happy.”

He brought his
hand up and ran his fingers through my hair, softly kissing my lips—rendering
me completely speechless again. “And before you even attempt to ask the
obvious, I’ve never felt this way about anyone. Ever. Only you.”

I shot back up to the surface and gasped for air,
inhaling as much of it as I could. 

As I finished my bath, I wiped away tear after tear,
knowing that if Jonathan was here, he wouldn’t let me cry; he would find a way
to make me laugh.

I blew out the candles that surrounded me and
climbed out of the tub. Holding back the rest of my tears, I wrapped myself in
a robe, the same one he’d seen me in when he first came over.

I opened my closet and thumbed through my
dresses—stopping once I saw the ones he’d bought me for the IPO ball:

“I like this one...” I twirled around in a
one shoulder white gown that barely touched the floor. “It doesn’t make me look
like too much of a bride though, does it?”

He leaned back in his chair and shook
his head.

“Are you going to be like this all day?
You haven’t said anything about any of the dresses I’ve tried on. Do you not
care what I wear to the ball? Are you using your silence to tell me that
you don’t want me to go with you anymore?”

He raised his eyebrow.

“Miss Gracen? Are you ready for the next
dress?” the attendant asked. “Mr. Statham picked out another one while you were
trying on this one.”