Beautiful Mistakes

by Sam Mariano

  She didn't want that to be the truth, because it seemed that she actually wanted his affection—although the situation they were currently in made it seem even more imperative that she put errant thoughts and desires like that in the "Do Not Open" box.

  But he was right.

  Even though she would like to believe she wasn't so weak-minded, she had already proven that if Matt tried to plant seeds of doubt, she was prone to watering them with her overactive imagination.

  Aaron just wasn't going to give her any water.

  Sighing, she rolled over with her back to him as well, not out of spite or sullenness or anything, but just because there was no point in hoping that he would roll over that night and wrap his arms around her.

  Aaron's logic did have one hole that she could find, however—Julie really didn't think that Matt cared enough to go out of his way to get her to doubt Aaron. After all, when she had left Jack and he had spitefully told Matt that he had slept with Julie the night before, Matt had barely blinked an eye. He had been completely unconcerned with whether or not she had been sleeping with someone else. In fact, he had even been willing to let her go back to the apartment and sleep with someone else every night if she wouldn't have agreed to moving into the guest room.

  So Matt wasn't going to care enough about that to try with any real effort to sabotage it.

  Even if Aaron did want to settle a debt, he would have been choosing the wrong way. Aaron had loved Shannon—a meaningless mistress wouldn't compare. He would have to go after someone Matt actually loved or at least valued enough to not toss her out on her ass at his wife's request…

  His wife.

  Suddenly it occurred to her—Emma would have been the perfect way for Aaron to get back at Matt. Not Julie.

  Aaron wasn't thinking about it the right way at all. Sex for sex wasn't evening a score, not one like that. The betrayal would have to be equal to or worse in order for it to really be considered getting even.

  As Julie listened to her own dramatic thoughts, she smiled a little and rolled her eyes self-deprecatingly.

  She needed to stop watching so much TV.

  Chapter Seventeen-

  As the rest of the week drifted by, Aaron and Julie got more comfortable with each other, but she noticed he was still gone a lot.

  She really didn't understand. She had assumed that he was always gone because he was avoiding her, but he didn't avoid her anymore and he was still leaving more than she thought he was at work. He did start taking his afternoon break and coming home though, it was just that half the time Julie was at the restaurant when it was Aaron's break time.

  It was weekend before Matt finally contacted her again. She was peeling off her pirate uniform and getting ready to pull her jeans back on when her cell phone started vibrating.

  "How are you doing?" was the simple text message.

  Rolling her eyes, she shoved it in her pocket and didn't even dignify it with a response…

  Until she got in her car, and then the temptation of sating her curiosity was too great, and she texted him back. "Fine," was all she wrote though, so that was how she soothed her conscience when it came down on her for even texting the enemy camp back.

  Although Aaron was a very subtle, hands-off kind of guy, she had come to the conclusion that he had wordlessly chosen Julie's side. She probably shouldn't have been surprised, considering the relationship that Aaron and Matt had and the history they shared, but it still felt good knowing someone was on her side—especially since it was someone who should probably be on the other side.

  Matt texted her back a few minutes later, asking, "What are you doing?"

  She frowned at the conversational tone and texted back, "I just got off work."

  There was no sound from her phone until she was back home, walking up the hall toward the apartment, then it chimed again.

  The text read, "Are you doing anything tonight?"

  Her heart dropped, although she couldn't properly identify why. She wasn't doing anything, but there was no good reason she could think of that he would ask that.

  "Why?" she texted back.

  She had just enough time to take her shoes off and hang up her coat, then he texted back, "I wanted to see if you wanted to go out to dinner."

  Unbelievable. She didn't know why it still surprised her, but the gall of him never ceased to amaze her.

  "Are you out of your mind? No."

  "Why? Aaron won't let you?" he responded almost instantly.

  Grinding her teeth, she texted back, "It has nothing to do with Aaron, I just see no reason why we should go to dinner together."

  The response didn't come immediately, so she assumed maybe he wasn't going to text back. Unconcerned, she sat her phone down on the counter and rummaged through the cupboards for something to eat.

  She still hadn't gained a single pound, but it was a mystery to her, because she was still as hungry as ever. She was forcing herself to control it by eating foods that were good for her, drinking more milk—she wasn't a fan of milk at all, but apparently the baby needed it—but she was still surprised that she hadn't gained weight at all. When she realized she wasn't gaining any weight she immediately went online to make sure it was normal, but she found that it was—in fact, in the very beginning some women actually lost weight because of the morning sickness. Apparently her morning sickness and abnormal appetite were cancelling each other out.

  She had all but forgotten about Matt texting her, but then she heard her phone go off and she was reminded.

  Sighing, she picked it up to read his response. "I can't believe you're with my brother."

  Rolling her eyes in irritation, she texted back, "I never said that, you assumed. And you're married, so it doesn't matter. Bye."

  She didn't expect a response after that one, so she sat her phone down on the counter again and fished a bag of nearly-flavorless rice cake snacks out of the cupboard, then she went in and sat down on the couch, turning the television on and munching for a little while.

  Aaron decided to come home for his afternoon break that day, and as soon as she saw him walk in she smiled. "Hello."

  "Hey," he said, balancing a bag of groceries in his arms as he closed the door behind him and slipped his shoes off, walking into the kitchen.

  "Buy me anything good?" she asked jokingly.

  He surprised her by peeking around the corner and holding up a box on Lucky Charms.

  Gasping, she said, "I was just saying I wanted those the other day!"

  "I know," he said, giving her a little smile and walking back into the kitchen. "They'll be in with the other cereals that you don't like."

  Smiling, she folded up the bag of her tasteless treat and stood up, walking toward the kitchen and telling him, "You are the best."

  "Yeah, yeah, yeah. At the rate your appetite is growing, there better be two of them in there," he said, nodding toward her stomach.

  Eyes widening, she said, "That is not funny unless you're giving birth to one of them."

  He flashed her a smile, saying, "Sorry, I don't have a uterus."

  "Details, details. You shouldn't even joke like that—my grandmother was a twin, it's possible that I could have twins, and I'm not even sure I'm up for one poppy seed, let alone two."

  "Poppy seed?" he asked, giving her a funny look.

  Nodding, she located the cans of soup he had brought home and put them away. "It's kind of my nickname for the baby. When I found out I was pregnant and I looked it up online, I found out that at that time my baby was roughly the size of a poppy seed. It just kind of stuck."

  "You know they grow, right? Especially that one—it's always eating, it's probably the size of a bagel by now."

  Julie smiled. "That's not even possible. And I was thinking about it, I believe that the reason Poppy Seed is making me hungry all the time is because of the morning sickness—not to be gross, but the food doesn't usually stay down."

  Making a face, Aaron announced, "Overshare."

>   She smiled brightly. "Sorry."

  "No, you're not," he said, shooting her a playful look.

  Sighing audibly, she thought he was so damn adorable when he gave her looks like that.

  No.

  Bad thought.

  The look didn't last for long though; while she was reigning in her errant thoughts he balled up the grocery bag, and his gaze absently landed on the phone.

  "You have a new text," he stated, nodding toward the phone.

  Frowning a little, she picked the phone up and opened up the message.

  Sure enough, it was from Matt.

  "Look Julie, I know I've made a mess of things, but I really care about you & I don't want to see you get hurt."

  She pushed reply and texted back, "No you don't. And you're the one that was more likely to hurt me, not Aaron."

  After pushing send, she sighed and shoved the phone in her pocket.

  "Problems?" Aaron asked casually.

  "Nothing really," she said, forcing a half smile. "So, do you have to go back to the restaurant tonight to close up?"

  He nodded. "Yeah, but I'm not going back until later. I've got some other things to take care of first."

  "Mystery man," she said playfully.

  Smiling, he shook his head. "Just business, nothing that exciting."

  "Anything I can help with?" she offered. "I'm totally bored—Jim doesn't need me tomorrow and of course I'm not scheduled at the café. I have nothing to do whatsoever."

  "Not really," he said.

  Nodding, she resigned herself to going back in the living room and watching another damn rerun and resume the countdown for school to start.

  Aaron watched her as she slunk back in the living room and sat down, then he sighed and said, "How bored are you?"

  Brightening, she said, "Really bored. I'll probably start pulling my eyelashes out soon just for something to do."

  "Well, if you're that bored I suppose you could come to work with me tonight, I could show you how to close up."

  "Really?" she asked, totally surprised.

  The only person who knew how to close besides Aaron was Leigh. Unless he just meant do the employee part… that was probably what he meant, she realized. Leigh had keys—she could do anything there without Aaron.

  Still, it was better than sitting at home watching television and it was definitely better than becoming so bored that she started thinking about why Matt wanted to talk to her…

  Yep, a much more productive use of her time, she decided.

  "When do we go in to do that?" she asked.

  "We still have a couple hours. I probably won't go in until about 7, so you've got time."

  Her cell phone chimed again and she opened it up to see what he had to say this time.

  "You're wrong about him, Julie. I know you think he's the good guy but there are things you don't know."

  Frowning, Julie thought twice about even texting him back, but after a moment's hesitation—Aaron had walked into the bathroom—she texted back, "Like what?"

  After sending it, she assured herself that she was only asking because it was part of her new initiative to be cautious and watch her own back—she didn't think Aaron was a bad person, she just wanted to see if Matt came up with anything that might be believable.

  She sat there and waited for his response, then opened it as soon as her phone lit up, before it even had time to chime.

  "Meet me for dinner and we'll talk," he answered.

  Sighing in frustration, she texted back, "I can't, I have plans tonight."

  As she pushed the send button, she began to wonder what kind of things Matt was talking about—and if that was what Aaron was talking about when he told her Matt wouldn't give up, that he was going to try to plant doubt in her mind.

  That seemed to be what he was doing, but it really didn't make sense to Julie.

  Even if Aaron totally disappointed her and he was using her to get back at Matt—which she couldn't see, since he was the one that refused to cuddle at night when she was more than willing—she couldn't understand why he would use the meaningless mistress. It wouldn't pack the same punch as stealing someone you probably thought you were going to be with forever.

  None of the doubts even made sense, she decided.

  She got another text that read, "What about Wednesday night? Around 8 o'clock?"

  She thought about it for approximately a millisecond, then she texted back, "Just give up, Matt. I'm not having dinner with you."

  After that text there was a long delay, so she assumed he was pissed and wasn't going to text her back. She began watching reruns again, waiting for the time to pass.

  As Aaron came into the living room her phone chimed, which was less-than-convenient timing, and she reluctantly opened up the text message.

  All it said was, "I'm not giving up."

  Frowning at the message, she closed her phone, opting not to respond to that message.

  "Everything okay?" Aaron asked, frowning slightly as he watched her put the phone down next to her on the couch.

  Forcing a smile, she said, "Yep." Then she saw his keys in his hands, and she said, "You leaving again?"

  "Yeah, I have some stuff to do. I can just pick you up afterward if you want," he said. "I'll be here a little after 6:30."

  "Okay," she agreed, offering a faint smile.

  He nodded and started for the door, but he stopped midway and glanced back at her. "Are you sure you're okay? You look a little…preoccupied."

  She made herself produce a more convincing smile that time and she rolled her eyes a little, saying, "It's nothing, my little poppy seed is just acting up, that's all. I should've skipped the snack."

  "Ah," he said, nodding in understanding. "Say no more."

  "Oh, are you sure you don't want details?" she joked.

  "No, I'm good," he said, offering a smile. "I'll see you later."

  "Okay," she said, smiling and waving a little as he walked out the door.

  As soon as he was gone her smile vanished and she wondered to herself why she had lied to him, why she didn't just tell him that Matt was trying to tell her some stupid shit and take her out to dinner.

  But she just wouldn't. She had many different reasons for that, one of them being that she knew if Aaron was aware that he had been right—that Matt was trying to get her to doubt him— he would distance himself even more.

  She was tired of distance. Aaron was her only ally in the whole damn city, and regardless of whether she knew him well enough to trust him or not, she knew that she didn't want him to retreat.

  She liked when the distance between herself and Aaron began to close; she did not like when the gap widened.

  With that explanation satisfying her, she tuned back in to the mind-numbing sitcoms.

  ---

  When Julie walked into the café with Aaron that evening, the first thing she noticed was the look of confusion that passed across Leigh's face before she covered it with a half-smile and a little wave.

  "Hey," Leigh greeted, coming over to Aaron, glancing at him questioningly. "You brought an extra closer?"

  Nodding, Aaron put his keys in his pocket and said, "Yeah, I'm going to show Julie how to close up." Then, turning toward Julie he said, "You can go ahead and clock in. My labor's been pretty good all week."

  Nodding even though she didn't look like she quite understood, Leigh said, "Okay. Well… do you want me to show her the ropes?"

  Aaron shook his head. "No, I got it. If I need you to show her something I'll let you know."

  "Okay," Leigh said, glancing at Julie, then back at Aaron. She offered a smile. "Well, I'm going to go clean the windows. Just call if you need me."

  While Aaron went into the little office area, Julie went to clock in.

  "After you get clocked in come on in here and I'll give you something to do."

  "Yes, sir," she said, pushing in her code and clocking in, then following Aaron back to the office. "I've never worked past eight befo
re," she told him.

  "I know," he said. "Tonight I'm going to show you how to close up."

  "Is Leigh closing too?" she asked.

  "Yep," he said, taking a seat and opening up a window in the computer. Then he bent down to the safe and pushed in a code, opening up the door. "Go ahead and count this while I print out a new inventory sheet. It should be at a thousand."

  Raising her eyebrows, Julie took the calculator but didn't say anything. She knelt down to the ground wondering if closers were supposed to count safes. She had never had to count a safe as a closer anywhere she had worked before—the manager had done it.

  Oh well.

  She turned the calculator on and counted the safe while Aaron printed out whatever he was printing out.

  When she finished, she put the calculator back on his desk and said, "Yep, it's at a thousand."

  "Have you ever counted down a drawer?" he asked her.

  Feeling a little inept, she shook her head. "I can't say that I have."

  "Grab those little plastic bags in the bottom of the safe," he said, nodding toward the safe.

  "Okay," she said, grabbing the bags and holding them.

  "Those are drops. At the end of the day we're going to settle the drawer, but all of that is money that's been taken from the drawer. At this time of night I generally like to organize all my money into stacks of the same bill—makes it a little easier to count it when I close the register."

  She nodded, but she still felt a little confused as to why she was handling money. Didn’t managers usually handle money? Shouldn't she be cleaning windows or toilets or something along those lines? Wiping down tables, sweeping the floor… closing stuff.

  Julie was leaning over Aaron to place the dollar bills on the stack to his right when Leigh came walking back saying, "Hey, did you want me to show her…?" And then she halted abruptly, her eyebrows shooting upward as her jaw lowered in direct correlation.

  "What?" Aaron asked, glancing over his shoulder as Julie backed up, glancing back at Leigh for a second, then moving around Aaron to count out the stack of ones.

  "The… pie cabinet," she managed, shaking her head a little as if to clear it. "I was going to ask if you wanted me to show her how to clean it."