The Write Escape

by Charish Reid

  “I did,” she said. “Hold on just a second, someone’s trying to call me.” When she found her phone and read the contact, it was an unknown Chicago number. One of the many wedding vendors come to collect? “Hello?”

  “Toni!”

  She drew in a sharp hiss and glanced at Aiden. A frown deepened in the wrinkle of his brow as he regarded her. With her heart in her chest and her stomach making a steep dive to her ankles, her jaw fell open to choke out the word: “Derek?”

  Realization dawned on Aiden’s face as she hung on to his arm for support. She was having a nice time. For the first time in a long time, Antonia was enjoying herself with a man. Of course it was a perfect time for Derek to rain on her parade. “Toni, this has gone on long enough, we need to talk.”

  “He wants to talk,” she whispered to Aiden. “Could you give me a minute?”

  He nodded though his mouth was set in a thin line of irritation. “If you don’t mind, could you put him on speaker? I wanna hear this jack-arse.”

  That wasn’t what she wanted to hear, since dirty laundry was meant to be hidden from the general public. But because she had a supportive person at her side, Antonia did what was asked of her and held the phone up to both of their faces. “What do you want?” she asked in a shaky voice.

  “Are you still in Ireland?”

  “I am.”

  Derek scoffed. “How? I canceled your hotel. I thought you would have gotten the picture, Toni. You belong back here so we can plan this wedding.”

  Aiden met her gaze and shook his head. Fuck. Him. He mouthed.

  “We already discussed this,” she said. “The wedding is off. My sister is in the process of canceling things. You know this.”

  “Those are just things, Toni. You and me? We can make this work.” Derek’s voice began to climb. “Come back here and we can talk about Naomi, we can talk about all of them. Just don’t leave me. I need you.”

  Tears stung Antonia’s eyes just as Aiden’s hand settled on her back. He had clearly heard what Derek let slip. “All of them?”

  “Huh?”

  “Derek, you said all of them...” She trailed off into the abyss. The emotions she had experienced in his apartment, that night, came flooding back, filling the vacuum with rage. As her heart rate sped up, sweat prickled her scalp and an icy chill ran down her back. She no longer wanted to have this phone conversation with Derek. No, she would much rather be back in his apartment, on that night, with her fingers wrapped around his throat.

  “Is that what you need to hear?” he asked, speaking in a frantic speed. “Yes, there were a couple of other women, but I wasn’t thinking. I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to settle down yet. I don’t know, Toni, I think I might have an addiction? That’s why I need you. You’re so stable and...and organized. You know how to take care of me.”

  “Christ, would you listen to him?” She’d almost forgot where she was and that Aiden was standing beside her. His face was a mask of anger that he couldn’t hide.

  “And when I make partner,” Derek continued, “you can have a baby. We’ll be fine then, Toni. Please just consider it. None of us are perfect, right? We’ve all got something to work on. I’ve got demons like any other man. Hell, you’ve got things to work on. It’s called compromise and I do it all the time at work. A marriage is just like any agreement, if you think about it. Compromises and negotiations all over the place.”

  Much like his rambling.

  Antonia had never heard him sound this desperate, but then she’d never heard him sound so cold as when she’d uncovered his lies. Who the hell is this man?

  “Antonia.” Aiden’s eyes read: Stop this man’s word vomit before I fly to Chicago, in America, and beat him into the pavement. He held his hand out as if to take control of the phone.

  She shook her head and moved away. “I have to do it.”

  “Who’s there?” Derek demanded. “Is someone else there?”

  “I’m here with my friend, Aiden, and we’re listening to you lose your ever-loving mind,” Antonia said with an eerie calmness.

  “Hello, Derek,” Aiden said.

  “Who the fuck is Aiden?”

  “He’s a lovely professor who’s showing me a good time in Ireland,” she said. “Whatever you think that means, multiply it by ten, and that’s how good a time I’m having. I’m tired of listening to your inane bullshit, the excuses, and your ‘solution-based’ lectures. You can do that to your financial firm clients, but that shit won’t fly with me.”

  “Are you fucking him?”

  Since they were starting to draw looks from passing tourists. Antonia turned the speaker function off. “If you’ll excuse me,” she told Aiden.

  He grinned. “That’s my girl. Have at it.”

  Her heart bloomed at the sight of his beautiful smile. Confidence was the key. That, and properly placed rage. Aiden’s gift to her was the space to cuss out her ex-fiancé in the middle of a tourist town without hesitation or judgement. When she returned to her conversation, her smile was ear to ear as she proceeded to tell Derek about himself. “If I choose to fuck any man, that’s my prerogative, isn’t it? I’ll tell you whose business it isn’t: Derek M. Rogers. You lost that business when you stuck it to every unsuspecting woman on Miracle Mile. For all of your grand negotiation skills, you’ve fucked up the biggest deal in your life. A marriage contract will not happen between us because your terms are bullshit. If you think that I’ll come crawling back to your triflin’ ass in the hopes of having your baby, you’re sicker than I thought. You of all people should know that a baby solves nothing. Look. At. Your. Parents.”

  Aiden gave her a thoughtful nod. “Oh, that’s good.”

  She winked at him and continued. “Between the father who doesn’t talk to you and the neurotic mother who’s trying to act out some Oedipal fantasy, you were fucked from the jump. How I couldn’t see it is disturbing, and admittedly something I should work on. But you don’t need me, Derek. You need a therapist. You need Jesus. You need to get popped in the mouth. But you can’t have me anymore.”

  Antonia finished with a heaving chest while Aiden pumped a fist in the air. A random woman, who couldn’t mind her own business, gave a low whistle. “Goddamn,” she said in a Southern drawl.

  Aiden gave a throaty laugh. “I know,” he said. “It was beautiful.”

  The pause on Derek’s end was plenty of time for her to catch her breath. Antonia had never told anyone off with that kind of conviction. She usually shrank from conflict, took the high road, or refused to rock the boat. But this boat was officially rocking and she was ready to sink it. “So this is it?” Derek said. “You just want to throw it away?”

  Antonia took a deep breath. “You threw it away.”

  “Mom was right about you.” His voice was a defeated and tired. “Book smart but no real breeding.”

  Any other time, Vivian Rogers’s sentiments would have crushed her. Today they made her burst into laughter. “Yeah, your stuck up mom is probably right about that. I’m smart enough to know this about our relationship: you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear, you dick.”

  And with that, she hung up.

  The random tourist woman, who had hung on to the conversation, applauded with vigor. “You go, girl!” she said before moving on.

  Antonia blushed. “Holy shit, that felt good,” she breathed.

  “Yeah?” Aiden said as he grabbed her by the arms and shook the nerves from them. “You wanna go for round two? I’m sure Clifden has a boxing club around here.”

  Actually, she felt shaken by the amount of adrenaline flowing through her. She hadn’t realized how tense her shoulders were until Aiden massaged the space between her neck and shoulders. “I’ll pass,” she said with a chuckle. “I’d like to sit somewhere.”

  He quickly led her to the nearest sidewalk bench and sat he
r down. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m good,” she said, and truly believed it. “I needed that.”

  Aiden took her chin in his hand and pulled her gaze to his. “I know,” he said with a smile. “Where did that come from?”

  “My mother,” she said in a daze. “I hate to say it, but I think I channeled my mother for some of that.”

  “I can’t wait to meet her...”

  “I feel so...light,” she murmured, shaking out her arms. “Like some huge weight is off my shoulders and I can just live.” Antonia blinked, as if she were seeing him for the first time. His eyes were brimming with the pride and amazement that she was slowly beginning to feel. “Thank you for being there.”

  Aiden gathered her into his arms and hugged her tight. “Of course, darling. But you were the one who stood up for yourself.”

  “You’re right.”

  “The past is in the past,” he said intently searching her for gaze. “You don’t have to carry the baggage anymore.”

  Antonia shook her head. “No, I don’t.”

  “‘Can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear,’” Aiden said with a laugh. “I’ve never heard that before, but I’m liable to add that to my vernacular.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  “Finally getting the chance to tell someone off, is like...getting the chance to take off your bra after a really long day.”

  Dinner with Antonia was certainly entertaining.

  Aiden snuck a quick glance at her chest. “Is that so?”

  The Clifden seafood restaurant was busy that evening with tourists who were still milling around after the oyster festival. In the warm glow of the candles at their table for two, Aiden listened to Antonia chatter away with a new vigor in her voice. By the time their dessert had arrived, she was giddier than a school girl, giggling and waving her fork around. “I’ve never felt that powerful in my life.”

  “Who’s next on your list?” he asked, taking a bite of bread pudding. “An old boss, maybe?”

  Antonia ran her fingers through her curls and sat back in her seat. “Don’t tempt me,” she said. “But we’re not here to talk about Derek. The past is in the past.”

  “What would you like to talk about, darling?”

  “Something fun and potentially embarrassing.”

  He narrowed his eyes as he ran his tongue over his teeth. “This seems like a potential mistake, but I like being impulsive.”

  “Excellent. Tell me about your first girlfriend,” she said, licking the sticky toffee from her fingers. “What was she like?”

  Aiden could watch her lick sticky things off her fingers all night, but he was a little puzzled by her sudden interest in his past love life. He thought he had succeeded in keeping the conversation light and pleasant. “Why on earth do you need to know that?”

  “Pretend we’re playing truth or dare,” she said with a smirk.

  He nodded in recognition. “Okay then I should probably pretend to be a sixteen-year-old girl too?”

  “If it helps.” She was teasing him.

  “Well I can’t play truth or dare by myself, Antonia,” he reminded her. “I need a willing partner.”

  She sat back against her seat and regarded him suspiciously. “Fine, but...”

  “But what?” he asked. “A dessert game sounds like fun.”

  “But the dares should be within reason.”

  He shook his head as he helped himself to ice cream. “I’m not too old to remember the rules of truth or dare. I don’t think there’s anything that can be considered ‘unreasonable.’”

  She saw what kind of corner she’d walked herself into. “I think we’re old enough to know what reasonable is.”

  “I suppose that depends on how badly we want the truth from one another?”

  Her perfectly shaped brow arched under her curls. “Okay...”

  “Eat your ice cream before it melts from your indecision.”

  Antonia swiped at the bowl. “Well since the stakes have been raised and anything could be acceptable during this game... I’d like to change my question.”

  “No, no, no,” Aiden said waving his spoon. “You know that’s not how the game works. You have to ask me if I want truth or dare.”

  She heaved an exaggerated sigh. “Fine. Truth or dare?”

  “Truth.”

  “Alright.” She lowered her voice and leaned close to the table. “How old were you when you lost your virginity?”

  Aiden buried his head in his hands. “So, we’re playing the sex edition of Truth and Dare? This is authentic.”

  She giggled. “Not necessarily. When I was a kid, we prank called a lot of boys. We didn’t have any experiences to report on.”

  “I was seventeen,” Aiden said with a straight face. “She was a girl in my graduating class. We went to the same house party and managed to find ourselves in the same laundry room.”

  Antonia clapped her hand over her mouth. “Oh my god, that’s scandalous.”

  He shrugged. “It’s just the truth,” he said. “Now it’s my turn.”

  Before he could think of something, their waitress, Karen, stopped by their table to check up on them. “Is there anything I can get you two?” she asked sweetly, her blonde bob swayed as she looked from Aiden to Antonia, her hands clasped behind her apron in anticipation.

  “Oh, I think I’m still working on this delicious bread pudding,” Antonia said.

  Karen turned to Aiden, “And you, sir?”

  Aiden thought it over before replying, “The lady and I are playing a petty game from our youth; truth or dare. Do you know it?”

  The young woman grinned. “Yeah,” she said. “But I haven’t played in ages.”

  “Of course you haven’t,” Aiden said with a nod. “Because you’re a responsible adult. But we’re a little caught up in our own flight of fancy. What kind of whiskey would you recommend for a game of truth or dare?”

  Karen and Antonia stared at him.

  “Well that depends... Are you driving, sir?” the young blonde asked with a startled laugh.

  “That’s a good question,” Aiden said thoughtfully. “We’re both staying in Tully Cross, about 30 minutes away.” He glanced at his watch. “It’s already 7 p.m.”

  “Aiden,” Antonia said in a concerned voice.

  “Antonia, truth or dare.”

  Their waitress laughed. “Oh, this is fun,” she said, folding her arms across her chest.

  Antonia shot him a glare from across the table. “Dare.”

  “Oh no,” Karen said with a “tsk.” “You picked wrong. You don’t let a man like this one dare you.”

  Antonia cast a glance to their server. “What makes you say that, Karen?”

  “Look at him,” she said. “Doesn’t he look like the kind of man who likes to take the piss?”

  “She’s right, darling,” Aiden conceded. “That’s what kind of man I am.”

  “I’m well aware. I’ll stick with dare, thank you.”

  Aiden smiled broadly. “You heard her, Karen. We’ll take two double shots of Jameson.”

  “That’s not my dare, is it?” Antonia asked. “I can take a shot of Jameson.”

  “No, it’s not your dare, but we’ll take those shots,” he said to Karen. The young woman chuckled as she retreated from their table. He turned back to Antonia who was still very confused.

  “Well, spit it out,” Antonia said, leaning forward, forgetting about their dessert. “What is it?”

  “I dare you to book a hotel in Clifden.”

  Aiden wasn’t surprised by her shocked expression, but he was curious if she’d play along. If she was brave enough, their little outing that had started with a boat ride, could turn into a small getaway from Tully Cross. He hoped he had sized her up correctly.

  Her silence was
an opportunity for Aiden to playfully goad her. “Now if you’re unable to fulfill the obligations of truth or dare, that’s perfectly understandable.”

  “No, I’m not quitting,” she said quickly. “I’m just thinking.”

  Aiden held his breath.

  “What if they’re all full?” she asked.

  “The festival ended yesterday and some of these folks have to go back to work,” he said. “I’m sure something has been freed up.”

  Antonia sighed and rolled her eyes upward. She was thinking hard. The implications of what he asked were obviously not lost on her. “Sure,” she finally said. “I’ll look something up and...book it?”

  Aiden placed his phone on the table top and slid it toward her. “You can use my phone if that’s easier,” he said with a grin. She regarded the phone with disdain, keeping her hands in her lap.

  “You’re the devil,” she whispered.

  “Then you should know better than to accept my dares,” he said in a soft voice.

  Antonia eyed him with a renewed curiosity. A small smile played on her lips as she picked up the phone. “I suppose you’re right,” she murmured as she scrolled through his phone. “But this isn’t me signing Ole Scratch’s book.”

  “Oh, I’ve had your name for a while, m’dear.”

  When Karen returned with drinks in hand, she set them down and placed her hands on her hips. “So is it bad?” she asked Antonia.

  Antonia looked up from his phone and smiled. “I have to prank a man named Paddy O’Brien,” she said easily. “Ask him if his fridge is running.”

  Karen looked disappointed. “Aw, that’s kind of tame.”

  Aiden glanced at his date and shook his head. She was quick on her feet when she had to be. “But it’s a classic.”

  “You two let me know if you need anything else,” Karen said as she drifted to the next table.

  “While I book this,” Antonia said. “I’d like to take my turn.”

  Aiden lifted his drink and took a deep drink. “Do your worst.”