by Cee, DW
“I don’t know if you remember, but Noah was part of my college friends. When he first met you, you were my boyfriend. The second time you two briefly met, he was in Rome with me.”
“Why do I not have a clue what you’re talking about?”
“Because you can never remember anyone you meet. I always told you to…”
“‘Keep a notebook so you can jot down everyone’s names and their descriptions.’” I pulled out my smart phone and opened the Notes app. “You see. I listened.” Mar giggled, scrolling through my notes of everyone I’d met the past years and all their detailed descriptions.
“Fat bald man with a bad toupee? Seriously? What if someone sees this list?”
“What, you think someone’s going to hack into my iCloud and publish these descriptions?” I snorted. “Those kinds of things only happen to famous people.”
“You’re a famous person, kind of.” Mar’s giggle turned into a chuckle. “People sing your songs, though they have no clue it wasn’t a boy band who wrote the lyrics and tunes.”
“Whatever.” I brought Mar back to our conversation. “Tell me what else happened with Noah.”
“I tried to convince him that you and I were not setting up house, I reaffirmed that I loved him, he apologized for the miscreant deed of his youth, and he accused me of leaving him hanging.”
“What did he do to you?” I asked. Forget everything else, I wanted to know how this guy had wronged Marni.
“It was nothing.” Stupid me thought if I stared at Marni long enough, she’d divulge more information. She didn’t.
“Damn you, Marni Montgomery. Spill the beans. You’re so not like your sister.”
By no means was I trying to offend or hurt Marni, but by the wounded look, I’d done both.
“There were times growing up when I wanted to be Melody. She was beautiful and gentle, sweet and vivacious—the apple of everyone’s eyes. Wherever we went, people were wowed by her looks initially, then fell in love with her personality. She had very few flaws. I miss her.”
Ah damn. Now we were back to melancholy. I gave my sister-in-law a great big hug. “I miss her too, every day, every hour of the day. But you’ve helped me tremendously, Mar.”
“How so?”
“When I think of my wife now, I think of her with a smile. I don’t dread tomorrow anymore. You’ve given me hope.”
“So is this my eviction notice?” Huh? “My job is done here now that you’ve cracked a smile?”
“Hell NO! You’re here until Ali gets married—at least.” Mar’s laugh told me she thought I was kidding—I wasn’t. “You’re not getting out of telling me the rest of the story. What did Noah do to you? I thought you two had dated all this time. I wondered why you never married.”
“The long and short of the story is, Noah and I broke up because he was getting married.”
“What the fuck?” I was damn shocked. “Asshole! Real men don’t behave like that.”
“Oh yeah? How would a real man behave?” she challenged.
“He’d come up with some, ‘it’s me, not you,’ excuse and break up with the woman, first. Then he’d get married in secret and hope the ex doesn’t find out and chop off his balls.”
I finally heard a genuine laugh from the beautiful woman sitting next to me. It made me feel as if I’d done something right today.
“That was funny, Ben. I knew living with you wouldn’t be boring.”
“After knowing me for as long as you have, and after having had the pleasure of dating a stud like me, how could you think I’d be boring to live with?”
Marni shrugged. “You’ve always had that moody, PMS side to you.” I glared at her for her unkind remark. “I think you called it ‘being an artist,’ I called it bullshit, my sister called it dreamy. Now you see why you married my sister instead of me?”
“OK. Let’s get back to more important matters.” I shied away from anything that made me look negative—not that this woman didn’t already know everything bad about me. “So how did you leave Noah hanging?”
“The day you and Mel asked me to be your surrogate, Noah asked me to marry him. I was in such a daze by both proposals; I kinda went into shock. Rather than greeting a proposal of marriage with tears and joy, I told Noah I needed some time to think. Then, I ran away for a few days.”
“Shit, Mar. You did tell him it was more the surrogacy that was bothering you than his proposal?”
“I think I did. Honestly, that day is a big blur to me. Once I wrapped my head around the surrogacy and talked to Noah about his proposal, I told him I couldn’t decide anything until after the baby was born.”
“What did Noah say?”
“God…what didn’t he say? Once I convinced him to see things my way, I promised I’d answer his proposal after the surrogacy was done.” There was tons more to that story than this woman was willing to tell.
“Have you answered him?” She shook her head no. “Why the hell not? Why are you stringing him along? Put the poor man out of his misery. No wonder he was pissed thinking that our needs superseded his own. No wonder he was an asshole to my little girl and me this morning. He must think I am one needy bastard.” I took Mar’s silence as an admission of his accusation. “So? What will you do? What’s the verdict?”
“After spending an entire day ‘talking it out,’ we came to no verdict. He doesn’t want us to end, but he also doesn’t want me here.”
“What the hell are you going to do?”
“We are going on a road trip to see my mom. That’s what we’re going to do.”
“Huh?”
“She called while I was with Noah to tell me she fell off a two-step ladder. She says the only thing that would help her back heal is to see Ali.”
“Is that how you got rid of Noah? You told him you’d finish the conversation in San Diego?”
“Damn, you’re good. Have we known each other that long?” The grin was back. “I don’t need you reading my mind.”
“San Diego it is! Let’s leave as soon as my baby girl is ready.”
I didn’t get any promises from Marni that she was staying. But, I knew she couldn’t part from Ali. For now, we were safe. Our needs, once again, superseded Noah’s—not that I gave a damn.
Chapter 6 Marni (Past)
Complicated ~Avril Lavigne
“Thank God you chose to come back!”
I didn’t know how to respond to Noah’s remark. “Uh…” was the best I could say until Sylvia interrupted us.
“It’s dinner time. You’ve been gone an awful long time, Missy.” My roommate waggled her eyebrows. I laughed. Noah didn’t find the funny in Sylvia’s humor.
“Have you had dinner?” he asked.
“I had an early one. Let’s go see what the cafeteria ladies have for us, tonight.”
It was during dessert when Noah went to get himself more gelato that Sylvia explained his reason for “thanking God I chose to come back.”
“While you were out, doing the nasty with the soon-to-be brother-in-law, poor Noah was walking around the hall, lost without you.”
I whispered, “Can you keep your voice down? I did not do anything nasty with my sister’s fiancé.” My warning failed miserably as we both couldn’t keep our laughter in.
“Then what did you do with the ex all day, if you weren’t doing the dirty?”
I rolled my eyes at this crazy conversation. “We toured Rome. Ben has never been here and today was the only day he was free.”
“So he came here looking for a cheap tour guide?”
Sylvia was too much. None of her innuendos and double entendres went unnoticed.
“We started at the Colosseum, participated in a grueling gladiator training workshop, had lunch, saw the Pantheon, toured Vatican City, and marveled at the Sistine Chapel. Is that a sufficient enough play-by-play for you?”
“No feeling each other up, make out sessions, or even holding hands in between?”
“He is totally in love
with my sister. My position has been relegated to a sister-in-law. There will be no touching outside of a familial hug.”
“So he really came to you looking for a tour guide?”
“A tour guide/friend—he said he missed our friendship. He wants us to go back to the way we were before we started dating.”
“Is that possible when you’ve done everything under the sun with this man? How can you see Ben as your ‘friend,’ when you’ve seen him naked?”
“Seriously, Syl? Did you need to give me that visual?” I retorted.
“I’d like that visual myself. Give me some details on this man that reminds me of Brad Pitt from Legends of the Fall.”
“He so does not look like Brad Pitt from Legends of the Fall. His hair is darker than Brad’s.”
“Honey, all he needs is that scruffy beard and I’d ask him for his autograph. Does he always wear his hair long?” It was comical how my roommate was salivating.
“No. He was always clean cut, but I think this songwriting gig has gotten to him. He looks like he should have an IMDB page, now. Maybe my sister wants him to look more rugged. Who the hell knows?”
“You had a fine piece of meat, there, Marni Montgomery.”
“I had. Key word—had! He’s found the ‘love of his life,’ ‘his muse,’ ‘his inspiration,’ and it isn’t me.”
“Bummer.”
“What’s a bummer?” Noah was back with gelato for all of us.
“You clean out the dessert section?”
“Is that the thanks I get for getting you dessert, Sylvia? Didn’t you say you had someone else to harass after dinner?”
“I get the hint, Noah. I’m gone.” Sylvia up and left us alone.
There was an awkward silence while we ate our dessert. Since Noah chased away our buffer, I didn’t know what to do.
“What did you do all day?” he finally asked.
I gave him the condensed version of my earlier conversation with Sylvia.
“What did you do?” I returned the polite conversation.
“I worried.”
Shit. Did I want to hear the rest of this? “About…?”
“You know that I followed you to Rome?”
“That sounds freaky and stalkerish, Noah. Can you rephrase that?”
“Are we friends?”
How come I had so many people asking me today if I was their friend? Is that all I was good for in a relationship?
“Um, yeah. We’ve known each other three years now. I consider us to be friends.”
“Could we possibly be more than friends? Let me rephrase that. I’d like for us to be more than friends. If you’re not getting back together with your ex, I’d like a chance to make you happy, possibly forever happy.”
“Noah…” My lips, along with my heart, twisted into a peculiar knot.
I knew Noah liked me, but I was clueless as to how much he liked me. I liked him too, but “forever happy” was not on my agenda with Noah Bergstrom.
“When you mentioned coming to study in Rome, I applied for the same program because I wanted to be with you. Since there are only three of us here from our school, I figured we could spend more time together, uninterrupted. My mom and stepdad thought I was nuts to come here for a semester to study art history when I was an engineering major.”
“So, Michelangelo and homemade pasta weren’t your reasons for spending four months here?”
“Hoping and praying that Marni Montgomery would finally notice me was the only reason for me spending four months in Italy.”
“You know about my relationship with Ben.”
“And I know he’s engaged to your sister. Why was he thousands of miles away from his bride and with his ex, today?”
“It’s not as nefarious as Sylvia made it out to be.” I shook my head at my roommate’s scheming mind. “Ben hit it big with a song called ‘Melody,’ and he’s here with Austin Jones to make a music video.”
“That’s all?”
“Pretty much.”
“What did you do all day with him?” My face must have made a not too welcoming expression because Noah added, “Sorry. I don’t mean to sound so stalkerish…” The way he emphasized that last word made us both laugh.
“I told you already what we did all day. Ben Howard wants us to rekindle our FRIENDSHIP—nothing more, nothing less.”
“Are you going to rekindle your friendship?”
“Do I have a choice in the matter? He’s marrying my sister. I’ll be an aunt to his children, he an uncle to mine. What else can we be but friends?”
“What about us?” Damn. Noah was persistent today.
“My feelings for you, for Ben, are…complicated.”
“Complicated?”
“For now, that’s all I can tell you, Noah. Can we leave it at complicated and see where it takes us?”
Noah nodded and left me sitting alone at the dinner table.
Chapter 6 Noah (Past)
Complicated ~Avril Lavigne
“Thank God you chose to come back!” I reenacted Noah’s statement.
“Are you making fun of me, Marni Montgomery?”
“Maybe.” Her grin was beautiful. It reminded me of a field of sunflowers along the Italian countryside. “I’m only repeating what you said to me when my ex showed up in Rome.”
“But I said that to you after your date. I haven’t gone on mine, yet.”
A red Fiat convertible pulled up as I finished my sentence. “Noah!” Siena popped out and ran to give me an effusive hug and a surprisingly amorous kiss on the lips.
“Enjoy your date.” Marni walked away before I could say anything more.
“It’s been so long since we’ve seen each other, Noah. I can’t believe you’ve been here for four months and you didn’t look me up,” Siena complained.
“I thought you were in New York. Didn’t you transfer to Columbia?”
Years ago, Siena di Rossi and I had a crazy summer fling before our freshman year in college. Our fathers were colleagues—equal rank, equal stature, equal importance in two different divisions of the Navy. Though our fathers knew one another, we only met that summer and instantly hit it off.
My ex was wild in every facet of life. I had a hard time keeping up with her and her insatiable desire to be entertained. I couldn’t ever say no to her pouting lips or suggestive eyes. I loved every minute we were together.
“I graduated a semester early so I came home to Mama. My job doesn’t start until June.”
“Your mother is well?”
“She’s bellissimo!”
“How are your brother and father doing?”
“Papa is working on something secretive for the President, and Roman is doing his best to follow in Papa’s footsteps.”
“Those are some big footsteps to fill. I wouldn’t want to be him.”
“Is that why you won’t go into the Navy?”
“Yep. Competing with my father is a ludicrous thought. What do you want to do today, Siena?”
“You’re coming home with me. Mama says it’s been too long since she’s seen you. She wants to cook you a ten-course meal.”
“Good thing I didn’t eat anything today.”
Siena didn’t just live life. She enjoyed every moment of it and acted as if it was her last. I admired her spontaneity and zeal.
“Who was that girl you were with when I arrived?”
“Um…a friend…?” That wasn’t a convincing answer.
“What does, ‘um…a friend…?’ mean? Is she or is she not your friend?”
“She is.” I hesitated, not having a clue how to finish this thought. “Her name is Marni, and she, Sylvia, and I came here together.”
“She’s pretty,” Siena mentioned casually.
“That she is.”
“She kind of has an Audrey Hepburn look with the dark eyebrows, distinct nose, and high cheekbones, but with red hair.”
“I never thought of it that way, but you’re right.”
“
You remember that time we watched Roman Holiday on the beach and got busted by our dads for falling asleep there?”
“Shit. Do I ever. Your dad hazed me like a new recruit in the Navy. I thought he might have me scrub his battleship with a toothbrush.”
“Papa was pissed but that night was worth all the scolding in the world. That was the best night of my life.”
I didn’t know how to feel at this moment. Without a doubt, it felt good to know Siena didn’t regret our time together. We were each other’s first, and I, too, believed that night was truly special. Marni was the only woman in my heart now, but this exciting woman still made me feel that excitement of my boyhood crush. I felt guilty and peeved at the same time. Guilty that my feelings had resurfaced, and peeved that I felt guilty when Marni couldn’t even say she liked me. The hell with it. There was no ring on my finger and no promises were made. If Siena wanted to stroll down memory lane, I’d do it with enthusiasm.
“That night was special to me, too.” I agreed.
“Why did we break up, Noah? We were so good together.”
Her question gave me pause. We were damn good together. What made us separate? “I don’t know, Siena. Why did we go our separate ways?”
“I was mad you chose to go west when I was staying in New York.”
“Siena. That choice was made before you and I became inseparable.”
“But you could have stayed in New York had you decided I was worth the inconvenience.” Siena pouting was not a good sign for me. Saying no to her was always hard—whatever it was that I was saying no to.
“I was under the assumption that our summer was just fun to you. Many times you reiterated you weren’t looking for anything serious. ‘No boyfriend, no commitment, fun, fun, fun!’ was what you demanded.”
Siena’s smile was stunning, alluring. No man could resist this Italian bombshell who carried herself with the confidence of a queen. “Noah.” She draped her arms around me when we got out of the car and walked toward her mother’s house in the heart of Rome. I had to stop walking for fear of tumbling into the bushes with her. “I was eighteen at the time. An eighteen-year-old who lost her virginity to a boy I adored, a boy who told me he loved me, a boy who talked about getting married and having 2.5 kids. What eighteen-year-old wants to get married to the first boy she falls in love with?”
