by Tara Brent
What I do know is that she used to care about her career. That's why she studied so hard and it gave some justification for our break up. I thought she was also focused on her ambition too. She was going to become a doctor, or something similar, so how did she end up becoming a nurse? I’m not devaluing nurses but Tiffany’s ambition was much bigger than that. We weren’t together long enough for me to know much about her personal life outside of college. To be honest we spent most of our time together in bed!
Returning to my car, I sit in the driver’s seat awhile, contemplating my situation. Should I continue with this and end up making a fool of myself. Maybe it’s time to leave San Francisco and forget we ever bumped into each other.
Turning on the engine, I set off to visit my brother and his wife. He usually has good advice, and besides, Mia will want an update on today's events.
“How long are you staying in San Francisco then?” I ask my brother as we’re seated out on their huge balcony.
“What do you mean, we just bought this apartment,” he replies.
“Yeah, I know, but I thought it was for when Mia visits her restaurants?” I ask. "You’re not staying here, are you? I mean, where do you want to bring Lilly up? You going to live at the mansion in Palo Alto?”
“We haven’t decided yet. We’ve got family to visit. Mom’s giving us grief because we haven’t been there yet. I want to go to Italy and visit the vineyards with our uncles. I’m thinking of investing in a few more, what do you think?”
“Sure. We could move further south or even extend into France,” I suggest.
I never got too involved in our vineyards. We own quite a few but it’s mostly run by family who is still there.
“I like the idea of producing a bottle of wine and naming it after Lilly,” he tells me with a big grin.
“Sounds cool, I’d buy a bottle of that.”
“Oh, speaking of visiting relatives, we have to go to Hong Kong and visit Mia’s family too. So, we’re going to have a busy year traveling. For me, I’d like to settle in Italy at one of the vineyards, but Mia doesn’t agree. She doesn’t want our children brought up in Italy. She thinks they’ll have more opportunities here in the states,” he finishes.
“She’s right bro. You could try touring Europe then she might change her mind once she sees what it has to offer. We’ve got some amazing hotels in London and Paris,” I suggest. “Anyway, I’m leaving soon. I could meet up with you in Italy. Whenever I go there, I sort of feel like I’m home. I know what you mean about Italy. It’s our roots. Dad would move there tomorrow if mom would agree.”
“You’re leaving early, Calvin. I thought you wanted to keep your blind date going?” Mia says as she joins us. “Finally, Lilly's fast asleep. I'm like a zombie, if I knew what a zombie felt like.”
“Nah, Tiffany's not interested in me,” I admit to her. “Every time I see her, she runs away. I thought of using my charismatic charms on her or even telling her how rich I am now, but...”
“You need to give her time,” Mia says. “No way should you tell her about your wealth. For this girl, you might frighten her off. She’s like a little rare bird.”
“She was never delicate when we were together. Something's happened since then?” I muse over the thought, yet again. “I’m here a few more days to sign off that deal, so I’ll try texting but keep my distance. It seems that Cinderella doesn’t want the prince after all.”
Chapter 7
Texting
“Have you responded to his text yet?” Ali asks as soon as she comes through the door.
“Crap, Ali, you don’t waste any time,” I reply, on the hope that we can change the subject.
“Well?” She stands in front of me, eyes wide and hands raised as she awaits my reply.
“No, I haven’t,” I sigh and slip onto a kitchen chair because I know she’s about to give me a lecture.
“I’m not going to say anything to you, Tiffy,” she tells me. “I promised you a fun day out and that’s what we’ll have. Now, where’s my little man?”
No sooner had she asked, Callum came running into the kitchen to greet her. He loves his "Auntie Ali" and I’m glad because I want people to love my son, just not his father. Oh, my god, that sounds so mean.
We all pile into Ali’s car, which isn’t much bigger than mine, and set off for a day at the zoo. When I was younger I refused to go to zoos, I hated seeing all those wild animals in cages. But things have changed since then. These days they’re more about conservation, so I accept they’re doing their bit for the world. If my son knew I marched in big events trying to close zoos down, he’d be mighty cross with me. He absolutely loves a day at the zoo, so much so that we adopted an elephant, which he'll visit today.
A day out with my son and best friend will be so good for me right now. I need to switch off from the emotional rollercoaster I've been through since Calvin and I made love. I knew it was a big mistake at the time but I was so entranced with him. He’s always had that effect on me but things have changed since then. Life is so very different when you have children, and I must think about Callum. How would he feel about a strange man turning up in his life? Even worse, how will he feel when he finds out that strange man is his father?
Once at the zoo, Ali and Callum run on ahead towards the meerkats when my cell phone vibrates in my purse. I know who it's from without having to look. I’ve had a steady stream of text messages from Calvin all morning. For one mad moment, I'm almost tempted to reply and tell him how much I love him and want to be with him. Instead, I ignore it.
“I’m not a stalker," his message reads. "Why can't we meet up again?”
I smile at the reference to a stalker. Not that it’s funny, but I know it’s not in his nature to be a bad person in any way. Okay, he’s a little selfish, or at least he used to be, but that’s about it. Then again, I don’t really know him that well, do I?
I hear a shout of warning from Ali, and as I look up I see her waving frantically at me. What’s wrong with her? As I'm squinting back at her, a dark shadow looms over me and my sunhat is lifted clean off my head. I'd become so engrossed in my dilemma that I hadn’t realized I'd gotten too close to one of the animal enclosures. Looking up, I see a huge giraffe towering over me and munching on my sunhat in its mouth.
“Oh my!” I cry out and burst into laughter.
“Mommy, mommy, he’s got your hat!” Callum comes running at me in hysterical giggles.
I take his hand and move us both away. “Let’s go before we get into trouble. Pretend it’s not my hat and run.”
Callum and I run back over to Ali, who’s holding three ice cream tubs. We look back and see the giraffe has dropped my hat onto the grass around the outside of the enclosure. No way am I going to retrieve it, so I look away, laughing.
“Mommy can always buy a new hat, honey, don’t worry,” I tell Callum as he looks somewhat worried. “It was my own fault so don’t blame the giraffe. I wasn’t looking where I was going.”
“No, you were too engrossed in your phone. I saw you,” Ali accuses as she hands over my chocolate ice cream tub.
“Come on, let’s find somewhere to sit while we eat these,” I say, quick to change the subject.
“We haven’t seen the gorillas yet and I think they’re the next enclosure along,” I say, watching Callum eat his strawberry delight.
“Yes, and can we go see the anteaters, and let's not forget Freda my elephant, mommy.” Callum gets excited again and the hat incident is soon forgotten.
We spend the next three hours touring the zoo. Callum becomes more and more excited at every animal we see. By the time we finish, the poor little soul is shattered and rests in my arms as we return to the car.
“How many?” Ali asks me as I'm strapping him into his child seat at the back.
Of course, I know what she’s asking about, so I tell her the truth.
“About a half-a-dozen times," I tell her. "For some reason, he wants to talk to me. I'm not reply
ing so you’d think he’d have got the hint by now.”
“Have you ever thought that he might like you as much as you like him?” She asks, joining the long line of traffic to get out of this place.
“Did everyone leave at once?” I say with surprise at how busy the road is.
“They all followed us, mommy,” Callum's sleepy voice pipes up from the back.
I turn around to see his head lolling to one side in his seat. His heavy tired eyes are soon closed. I have a sudden and almost overwhelming sense of love for my son. Never could I do anything that would risk me losing him.
“I can’t take that risk, Ali,” I tell her, putting on my serious face. “Under no circumstances can I take the chance that he might want his son.
“I don’t think he would do that, Tiffy, not after what you’ve told me about him. He doesn't sound like a family man,” Ali says. “Anyway, what does he do for a living? He most likely doesn’t have time to look after a kid. Or, he could be outta work, then the courts wouldn’t look favorably on a custody request, would they?”
“I don’t know what he does because I avoided talking about us,” I realize that I know nothing of his life these days. “He wears classy clothes and the hotel he was at is one of the best in San Francisco, so I doubt he’s a lazy layabout.”
“Why not reply the next time he sends you a message? Find out more about his life over the phone. Even better, let me contact him and I’ll give him the third degree." Ali offers, and she means it too. "After all, isn’t that what friends are for?”
I smile at a vision of Ali interrogating Calvin. Looming over him and shining a light into his face as she questions him. Out of nowhere, a naughty thought appears in my mind, and instead of Ali interrogating him, it's me, and he’s naked!
“What're you grinning at, girl?” Ali asks, flicking her eyes between me and the slow moving traffic.
“Nothing,” I say, hiding my wicked smile. No way am I telling her about my randy thoughts. “We’d better be quiet now, Callum’s asleep.”
That does the trick and we’re soon home and safely tucked up in bed. Before settling down myself, I peek over Calvin's texts and wistfully recall my sexy thoughts from earlier.
Tale of Woe
It’s been two weeks since I last saw Tiffany, and despite my dilemma life must continue. I owe it to my brothers and the shareholders of our companies to get my mind back on track. So, I accept an invitation to a cocktail party. It's only a business one but there will be many financiers and captains of industry attending.
Once there, I do my best to socialize. That even stretched to picking up a date and we spent the night together. There I was with a beautiful woman. Her darkened skin was like a creamy coffee and she had big brown eyes that lit up her whole face when she laughed. Her high cheekbones gave her a sophisticated appearance and she was indeed a young, educated woman. We were keen on each other and spent the entire night enjoying one another’s company. I’m very good at playing the role of a charming gentleman. Women are a weakness of mine and I love them all. We made love and as soon as we’d finished, I did the stupidest thing on earth. I checked my phone to see if Tiffany had messaged me. She asked me what was so important and it all came out. Would you believe, I told her my tale of woe. Needless to say, she felt very sorry for me but she left before breakfast. To make matters worse, while we were making love I had imagined she was Tiffany, of course, I didn’t tell her that! I believed that if I got back to my normal life, surrounded myself with attractive women and business deals, I’d be able to put Tiffany behind me.
I’m like a lovesick teenager. Tiffany haunts my every thought and I have no idea why. That’s it, I have to see her. I’m going to confront her and if she rejects me, I’ll put her behind and move on. Maybe... hopefully...
This is a novel situation for me. Never before have I pursued a woman in this way. I know I’m making a fool of myself but I need to speak to her, I need to know what’s wrong. I'm fighting a daily battle to stop myself from going to her place of work again, but I know that it would be wrong. Despite my constant texting and pleading with her to answer me, so far I've received no response. Okay so she’s not answering but she hasn’t told me to stop either.
I’m trying to figure out in my head why I am doing this, potentially making a fool of myself? At first, I put it down to the challenge, but I’m only fooling myself. This woman has started a fire inside my soul. A fire that no one else has ever been able to kindle. I’ve had a busy morning; signing off a lucrative deal with a famous branded software company, and what do I do as soon as I finish...I text Tiffany. If she didn’t think I was mad before, she will now. I have to stop.
It was my intention to leave San Francisco as soon as the deal was finalized, and that idea appeals to me even more now. I need to get away, fill my mind with things other than Tiffany, but I know that’s not going to happen. This America-Scottish redhead has turned my world upside down. The strangest thing is, before she came back into my life, I was empty. Despite all my wealth and being surrounded by beautiful things, and stunning women, for some reason, I am not happy. I have no idea what was wrong.
Now though, there’s a strange excitement in life that I haven’t felt for years. I’m alive again, something I’ve not felt since the multi-million dollar sale of our first business. The cause of this newfound enthusiasm can only be Tiffany. That night, in the hotel room, despite the years since we separated, felt like we’d never been apart. We just kind of picked up where we left off, and for me at least, it seemed the most natural thing in the world.
Chapter 8
Ginger Giant
At the end of my shift the other day, I was carrying a beautiful bouquet of flowers that were delivered to my place of work. I didn’t need to read the note with them to know who they were from. Mom was shocked when I told her they were unwelcome. She thinks I’m crazy for not going out with a guy who wastes so much money on me. The trouble is, I haven’t built up the courage to tell her exactly who it is that’s sending me the flowers. She knows it’s my blind date, but not that my blind date was my son’s father. I should tell her but my head's in a mess over this whole thing.
It's at times like this when I miss my dad the most. He wouldn’t put any pressure on me but he would know what to do. If mom finds out, she’ll make me feel guilty over not inviting Callum’s father into his life. I miss my pa, he was my rock at all times. I get my Scottish genes from him and my red hair which he always called “ginger.” Even when he was old, he didn’t lose his hair and grew a big beard. That’s how Callum remembers him; the big man with a bushy ginger beard.
Callum actually takes after his father, he has jet black hair. Poor baby, he’s a mixture of Scottish, Italian and American. His Italian genes shine through the most. That's why I know that if Calvin ever sees him, he’ll know straight away that he’s his son
Work has been such a blessing lately as I can switch off when I’m there. It’s good to be doing a job I enjoy, otherwise, my life would be a misery right now. I’ll be glad to get back in a few days, but for now I’m spending some time with Callum. Not that I’m inclined to be miserable. Again, I have my pa to thank for that. He was always a jolly man and I’ve inherited his jolly genes. Whilst this whole thing has rocked my boat a little, I won’t allow it to take over my emotions. Callum is still my son, I have a wonderful mother, a fantastic best friend and a great job. That’s enough to keep my sanity intact.
So, I booked some time off work to be with my son and rid myself of the guilt trip from not telling him and mom the truth. Yesterday, we went to the zoo with Ali. Today, mom and I are going to take him to a play den. Callum can run around a huge adventure playground and wear himself out. Though I do have other motives too. This was the perfect opportunity to tell mum about Calvin, which I did before our food arrived at the table.
She says nothing about it as we eat our meal. As soon as Callum finishes, he's off like a rocket to return to his play. He’s made some new
buddies and was reluctant to leave them when I shouted him back to the table to eat. I can sense her waiting to burst out with her opinion on the sensitive matter that I confessed to her.
“I’m not going to lecture you, Tiffany,” she says in a calm voice. “Your father would tell me to mind my own business and that’s what I’ll do. You’re old enough to know what you’re doing. I’m assuming Alison knows and she’s supporting you through this. What I do want to add is that you loved your father, and Callum deserves to have that experience too.”
Her words hit me with a bang! How is it mothers always know the right things to say? She's right, of course, but she doesn’t understand the legalities of how this might play out.
Callum waves at us from a distance. He’s climbed a tower and he’s looking down with a huge grin on his face. Then he runs off with his new buddies. My heart aches at not giving him a daddy. What right have I to keep Calvin away from him?
“I’ll be back in a moment, mom,” I say to her as I leave the table.
Moving well away from where I know she can’t see me, I hit the button on my cell phone for Ali. As soon as she picks up, I burst into tears explaining to her what mom said to me. They say it’s good to cry and I have to admit, I always feel better when I do.
“Have you calmed down yet?” I hear Ali’s voice on the other end of my phone when I finally shut up.
“I suppose I have,” I say, rubbing my face dry with my long sleeve and hoping no one notices. “Those were the worse words she could have used, Ali. The thing is she’s right. My pa was so special to me and I’m denying Callum his daddy.”
