by S. E. Rose
He’s frowning. “Well, that’s quite the tale.”
I shrug.
“Can I be honest with you?”
I glare at him not bothering to answer.
Sam smirks. “You love her. I think you’ve secretly crushed on her for years, but a little over a month of hanging out with her, and she’s sucked you into her gravitational pull. And I think she likes you too. I think she loves you and that scared the shit out of her because you’ve been running around preaching this ‘love is bullshit’ philosophy for how many years now. Man up. Love isn’t a farce. Hell, look at Ethan and me. We’ve been together for so many years that I don’t even remember how long anymore, but I can tell you I love him, most of the time, the other ten percent I want to murder him in his sleep.”
I chuckle at his last statement. “But…most love doesn’t last.”
Sam leans forward. “But is she worth the chance that maybe your love will be one of the ones that last?”
I know the answer, but I don’t verbalize it. Yes. Yes, she’s totally fucking worth it. She’s everything. She’s funny, smart, kind, silly, and most importantly, she’s an awesome partner who I trust.
“Well, I guess you have your answer, then,” he states as he gets up and starts back toward his house.
“Sam, how do I…fix things?”
“Well, Di is…based on what I know about her, you’re gonna have to do something pretty major to snap her out of it and prove you can handle her obsession with romance.”
I nod. “I think you’re right.”
“Take your time. Maybe do some little things, build up to it, and then, bam! Make a grand gesture.”
“God, she’s not gonna make this easy, is she?”
Sam grins and gives me a wink. “The best ones never do.”
I watch him walk back inside. I remain on my porch for a long time after he leaves, devising a plan. By the time my coffee is ice cold, I think I have an idea formulated. It’s going to take a lot of planning, but Sam’s right, Diana is worth it.
Di
The cats are meowing. I pull the covers over my head. I can’t handle them right now. I can’t handle anything. What the fuck did I do last night?
The memories of the prior evening flood my brain, one painful moment after the next. I’d cry again, but my eyes are swollen from all the tears I cried last night once I made it to my bed. As soon as he was gone, I immediately regretted my words. They came out of a place of fear and I know that, but at the moment, those feelings were just too much. I couldn’t handle another breakup, another “almost the one” relationship.
But, why did I completely snap after some of the best sex that I’ve ever had? What the hell is wrong with me?
My phone buzzes and I look down, groaning when I see it’s my sibling chat.
Lanie: Di, are you OK?
C-Dog: What’s wrong with Di?
Kent: She left my party in tears and won’t tell us what happened.
Tabby: If Garrett hurt you in any way, I will track his ass down and kill him.
Kent: Tabs, stop saying shit like that on text messages, we live near the NSA!!
Tabby: Dearest NSA/Spies, please disregard my previous statement.
Kylie: NOOOO! You can’t break up! You two are perfect for each other!
Brixton: What did I miss?
I sigh and lay my phone down, not even wanting to read anymore. I slowly peel myself out of bed and force myself to shower.
By the time I get back to my bed, my phone has another thirty-seven missed texts and two missed calls. I’m about to throw the phone down again when it rings.
I sigh and answer it because I know my siblings will not let this go.
“What?” I answer.
“Fuck, nice to talk to you too, sunshine,” Kent says.
“I’m not really in the talking mood, OK?”
He’s quiet for a moment, and I know he’s running his hand through his hair in exasperation.
“Listen, we’re all worried. Just…the cleaning staff is almost done here; the party guests are all gone. Why don’t you just come over? We’ll sit in the hot tub, and you can tell us all about it.”
“Fine, but I’m only telling the story once and then I’m done.”
“OK, fair enough. I’ll relay it to Clark if he’s a no-show. He’s studying. So, it’s fifty-fifty if he’s gonna video chat with us.”
“Whatever.” I hang up and grab my bikini and head back to my brother’s house…to the scene of the crime. I know I’m being dramatic, but I don’t care.
Chapter Twenty-Five
I sink into the hot tub. Kent sits across from me and Tabby sits on the ledge with her feet dangling in, while Lanie and Brixton are in another corner next to Kylie.
“Spill it,” Lanie demands.
“Turn the camera, I can’t see her,” Clark yells from the phone that Tabby is holding.
Tabby turns the phone to her face. “Chill the fuck out, C-Dog.” She turns it around and props it up so Clark can see me. I stick my tongue out at him and he gives me a giant Clark smile. It’s hard to stay mad at my baby brother.
I sigh and slowly start to recount the events of yesterday. I sort of rush over the sexy-times part in Tabby’s studio as I’m slightly embarrassed about that.
When I finish, I look into each of their eyes and see a multitude of feelings, which only serves to confuse me even more.
“What?” I finally say when no one answers.
“Wow,” Kent remarks. “I mean…wow.”
“Wow, what?” I demand.
“Di, do you not see it?” Lanie asks me.
“I’m sorry, was there some big epiphany moment that I missed?” I ask them as I raise my hands in the air before letting them splash into the water.
“Well, uh, you sort of were afraid of a relationship for the first time ever. That’s big,” Kylie points out.
“So?”
“So, you like him. Hell, you’ve liked him for years. So what if you are opposites. Look around, there are two couples in front of you that logic would say would never work out, but here we are,” Lanie states in her most lawyerly voice. I hate it when she tries to play attorney with me.
“Lanie, it’s different.”
“How?”
I take a deep breath. “He’s against the actual thing we had together. How would that even work?”
“Did he tell you that he didn’t want to be with you?” Lanie asks.
All eyes look to me, and I suddenly feel like she’s cross-examining me.
“No.”
“Well, then maybe he’s changed.”
I roll my eyes. “He hasn’t changed.”
“How do you know that?” she asks.
“Because he would have said he’s changed,” I retort.
Kent starts laughing, and it only makes me angrier.
“Dude, you have two brothers. You ought to know by now that we would never openly admit to that. I mean, I haven’t gone around dissing romance, but it’s not like I’m gonna buy a billboard to tell Tabby that I love being all mushy with her.”
Tabby punches his arm. “Well, maybe you should,” she says scowling.
He winces. “Maybe I should.”
Kylie giggles. “I think you should go talk to him.”
“I second that,” Lanie says.
“All in favor?” Kent asks.
Everyone raises their hands including Clark.
“Guys, my love life is not up for a formal vote.”
“It should be,” Kylie interjects.
“We live in a Moorocracy!” Clark yells over the phone. My siblings all chuckle, and I groan.
“I love you all. And I know you want to help, but ‘this’ isn’t helping me,” I say with a sigh as I get up and grab a nearby towel.
“At least think about it,” Lanie urges.
“Fine, I’ll think about it, if that means you all will stay off my back about it. I mean it, no calls, no texting, no conversing amongst yoursel
ves,” I say to them as I wrap the towel around my waist and point a finger in their direction.
They all nod and mutter agreements under their breath.
“Good. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I really do need to go get some work done.”
And with that, I leave my siblings in the hot tub for the second time in ten weeks and head home to my apartment. I have no idea if I’m going to talk with Garrett, but I know that right now, I’m not ready.
Garrett
“What should I do?” I ask Sam. “She’s been avoiding me all week. Every conversation we have had to have about the charity race has been over text or email. I even suggested we meet up and talk about it and she made some lame excuse about having to help her grandmother with yard work.”
“Maybe she did.”
“It was raining out,” I reply. “It’s been seven days since we’ve spoken in person. Our race is a mere week away. And I’m not sure what to do.”
“I think you need to move on to Plan B, my friend.”
I look over at him. “What the hell is Plan B?”
He grins. “Plan B is where you try to be romantic.”
I run a hand through my hair. “How’s that going to happen?”
Sam pulls up his phone and starts clicking on some apps. “Let’s start with a secret admirer flower delivery.”
Ten minutes later, I have deliveries set up for the next few weeks. Flowers, chocolates, fruit, pajamas, yes pajamas, who knew that was a thing?
I even found a delivery service to bring her cats gifts.
Would she figure out it was me? Was I going to look like a total idiot? I was dreading Monday morning because if she found out the flowers that were arriving tomorrow were from me, she may turn me down for good. Wait, she had turned me down.
Jesus, I was losing my mind.
My phone pings as Sam heads back to his house, fully satisfied that I have Plan B under control. I was going to miss our daily chats at the front porch once winter arrived. While I know I can always knock on their door and be greeted with a cup of coffee, there was just something to be said about naturally running into each other while we sit on our porches.
Adam: Dude, drinks tonight?
I contemplate it. I haven’t hung out with him in almost two weeks which for our bromance is a long time.
Me: Sure.
Adam: How’s the whole “Di” situation?
Me: Working on it.
Adam: Whatever, you are so pussy-whipped.
Me: Better to be pussy-whipped than have no pussy.
Adam: Ouch. That hurts.
Me: Fuck off. I’ll see you at the pub at seven.
Adam: Later.
I sit on my porch a while longer, enjoying the unusually warm autumn day. I needed to prep myself for the marathon ahead. Falling in love with Diana was easy, winning her back was going to be hard.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Di
It’s been a long few days. I have successfully avoided Garrett for nearly two weeks now. But I’m dreading tomorrow. Tomorrow is race day, and we will have to work together in person. I have no idea how that’s going to go. I mean, we’ve been cordial over text and email, and everything is ready. The charity race is going to be great, but having to be around him for an entire day is going to suck donkey balls.
Meanwhile, someone keeps sending me gifts. At first, I thought it was Garrett, that would make sense, but not, because he doesn’t do romance. Bailey thinks maybe it’s one of the guys we talked to at Caris’s party. It’s legit been crazy. Every day this week, I’ve gotten something. Flowers, chocolates, fruit, cat toys, pajamas, I even got a “wine of the month club” membership. When the cat toys arrived, I wracked my brain for people who would know I have cats. That is until Bailey pointed out that my cats are all over my social media. So again, a dead end.
At the very least, the string of gifts has made for an interesting week. I won’t lie. Deep down, a very small part of me hopes it’s Garrett, but the logical part of me says it couldn’t possibly be him. And there’s no way I’m asking him and looking like a jackass if it’s not him.
I haven’t told my siblings anything about the gifts because the last thing I need is for all of them to get involved in solving the mystery. I need to keep my love life simple for the moment. Plus, they are already bugging me constantly about talking to Garrett. Little do they know that I’ve made up my mind to not talk to him until after Thanksgiving. It’s less than two weeks away, and it gives me time to think.
“So, any more gifts?” Bailey asks as we pass in the hallway in front of Frank’s closet. A small part of me feels a twinge of sadness at the memories in that closet.
I plaster a smile on my face and shake my head. “Nope. All the notes have been super unhelpful too. Like, ‘you deserve the best,’ ‘enjoy a day in bed,’ and stuff like that. I don’t know. It’s weird. Oh God, do you think one of my exes has gone stalker on me?” I ask her as the idea pops in my head.
She laughs. “No. I mean, I can’t think of one that would do that. That’s pretty intense.”
“I guess.”
“You ready for tomorrow? I think most of the staff will be there,” Bailey says. “I’ll make sure to get there an hour before the race to help with last-minute registrations.”
I nod. “Thanks. It’ll be nice to have someone else there, so it’s not just Garrett and me. His team is marking the route tonight, and we have everything set up just inside the high school, so it’s easy to pull it all out tomorrow. I plan on getting there at like four thirty or five o’clock.”
“Fuck”—Bailey looks around—“I mean, that’s really early.”
“Well, the 1k is at eight and then the 5k starts at eight thirty, so sort of have to be set up by six so that people can early register and get their race packets beforehand. That table opens at seven. Gah! This is crazy! I hope we have lots of people come last minute. I mean pre-registration was OK, but I want the charity to get a lot more money.”
“No worries, Di. You got this. Plus, I heard that lots of people were waiting to register because of the weather. But tomorrow’s forecast is really good. It’ll be great running weather.”
I nod and let out the breath I’ve been holding.
Bailey gives my arm a squeeze. “You got this. It’s gonna be great.”
“Thanks, Bai. I’m just nervous. You know me, I want it to be perfect.”
“And it will be,” she assures me.
“I hope so.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow morning before seven,” she says with a wink as she goes back into her classroom. I walk toward the gym to get my class and my phone vibrates in my pocket. I pull it out and see a text from Lanie.
Lanie: See you in the morning. Ash and his friends said they would get up and help. What time do you want them there?
Me: Six?
Lanie: You owe me all the coffee!
Me: Well, you’re in luck ’cause the coffee shop is going to have a tent there.
Lanie: Thank the caffeine gods!
Me: You can thank them at six tomorrow.
Lanie: The things I do…
Me: Don’t get me started…babysitting, housesitting, keeping secrets…
Lanie: OK, OK, calm your jets.
Me: Seriously though, thanks.
Lanie: Of course. What are twins for?
Me: Secrets?
Lanie: LOL
I start to walk again when Caris stops me.
“Hey, I have coffee for you,” she says, handing me a cup. I’m about to thank her when I see there’s a note taped to it.
“Coffee for the teacher. It’s like an apple, but better.”
I laugh.
“Secret admirer? The coffee shop just dropped it off,” she says.
I shrug. “I guess so.”
She grins. “Everything looks like it’s good to go for tomorrow. We’ll be there at six to help set up.”
“Great. Thank you,” I say to her.
“No, th
ank you…and Garrett. You guys have really been working hard on this. I just know it’s going to be a great success.”
“I hope so, fingers crossed,” I say as I start walking to the gym. The coffee is my favorite, a caramel latte. My wheels start spinning but stop because the coffee shop staff all know what I like, so whoever bought it probably just had to ask them. They would have to know I go to that coffee shop, so that weeds out some of my weirdo one-time dates from various dating apps, oh, except that one guy that I met there for a date and then never went out with again because he talked nonstop about sports for two hours. Two hours! Not a single question about me just rattled on about sports. Oh wait, he did ask me a question, what football team was my favorite. I mean, I like to watch a good game too, but it’s not my entire life.
I check my watch because if I don’t hurry to get my kids back to class, then we will most definitely pass Garrett’s class on their way to art class, and I don’t want any uncomfortable run-ins, specifically in front of Ash. Ash already asked Lanie why I haven’t brought Garrett to Saturday dinner twice now, and I can’t take much more of skirting around his questions.
“Come on, let’s get back,” I say to my students as they start walking single file down the hallway. They are all chatting about their push-up competition in gym class, and they keep asking me questions about tomorrow. The majority of my class is doing the 1k with their families, so I happily entertain their Spanish Inquisition because I know at least half of the questions are actually from their parents and not just concocted during gym class.
By the time school ends, I am wiped out and hoping caffeine will keep me alive tomorrow. I have no idea if we’ll raise the five thousand that we’re aiming for or not. So far, we have about thirty-five hundred. Kent offered to just make up the difference, but I declined his offer for now. I really want Garrett and me to succeed without a silent partner. Even though it’s over between us, I still want this event to go well. We both have worked hard over the past two months.
I grab a sandwich on my walk home and hunker down with the cats for the night after popping over to the high school to make sure that everything is set for tomorrow. Thankfully, I didn’t run into Garrett. I’m hoping that there will be enough people around tomorrow to be a buffer for us. The last thing I need is to be worried about us making a scene at the charity event we planned together. In a small town, something like that would be gossip for years. I cringe at that thought and then quickly turn on a holiday romance movie because if you can’t beat them, join them.
