by Wood, Lauren
“Well that does not seem to be going according to plan, winning her back.”
That was a damn understatement.
“No.”
Clinton chuckled on the other end of the phone and then told me that he was inviting me over for dinner. This was the second invitation I had gotten in a very short amount of time. I don't know what I was supposed to think about all this. I really didn't.
“You want me to come over for dinner?”
“Yeah, I will make sure that Lisa is here. You just figure out a way to convince her to give you another chance.”
“I just don’t get why you’re getting involved.”
“I told you before, I only want to see her happy and knowing that she was only ever happy with you, I want my daughter back to her old self. You’re the one that’s going to do it. She’s going to be taking over the business one day soon, and I need her mind cleared and on task.”
I was a little surprised about the last part, but it made sense. Lisa was very good at her job and even knowing her father had skipped over her and hired me instead, she had showed up to work every day and gave it her all.
“I will be there. I don't know how it will work out.”
“We shall see, Frank. You do the right thing. I will do what I can on my end.”
When I got off the phone, there was a strange feeling that came over me. I had not expected to have someone like her father in my corner. It made me think that maybe, just maybe, this might actually work. It was the first time I had thought that way since it all started.
19
Lisa
“So are you going to tell me what is going on, or what?”
I looked over at Angie and I tried to explain to her that I did not want to talk about it. I'm pretty sure that she already knew it, but she still was going to ask. I also knew that she was going to ask until I answered her. She would drive me crazy if she had to. She really didn't care.
“I just didn't want to stay up there with Frank, that's all.”
“Didn’t you have another meeting that you were supposed to go to?”
“Yeah, but that's just not how it worked out.”
She sighed loudly and told me that she didn't know what to think.
“You spent all this time trying to get over him and now I can't even believe that you were going to meetings with him. He’s dangerous.”
“You think everything is dangerous.”
“When it comes to Frank, yeah I do. He has always had some kind of control over you and I never did get it. I just don't want you to get hurt again. I feel like you're setting yourself up for failure.”
“That very well may be, Angie. You would definitely be giving me hell if you knew what happened last night. And to answer your question, it was probably the sex. He’s really good at certain things.”
“I knew that you guys had gotten it on as soon as you got in the car.”
“Are you going to tell me that I smell like sex?”
She made a face.
“Of course not.”
“Then how do you know?”
“I don't know how, you just have this glimmering in your eyes. Used to have it when you two were together before and it’s been a while since I saw it. Once I saw you get into the car with that stupid on look on your face, I knew that you had been with Frank again. Good sex, huh? I hope it’s worth it.”
I sighed loudly because I couldn't believe that she’d said it out loud like that. She made it sound so dirty, even though that's exactly what happened and precisely how it was.
“So was it worth it?”
I looked at her like she was being silly.
“It was Frank, of course it was worth it. That man can do things to my body that I didn’t even know was possible. He really messes with my head.”
She just kind of shook her head at me, like I was the one being silly and maybe she was right. Truth be told, I don't think I was ever going to feel that good again. Never had I felt so good and I think that was why I ran. I was just scared.
“So what are you going to do?”
“I don't know. At the moment, I think running is a pretty good idea.”
Angie didn't have much else to help me out with. She was still under the impression that I had this basically under control, but I did not. This was a mess that I had nothing I could do with it. I had no idea what I was doing, or what I was supposed to be doing. All I know for certain, was I was more confused than ever.
The weekend was about me when I got back home and I was thankful for that. I tried to keep myself busy and spent the day with Angie. Come Saturday night, though, I needed to find something to do. Dina called. She and her sister-in-law Bella were going out. She wanted to know if I wanted to go as well. I agreed quickly, because a night of drinking with them, would help me forget what I was running from. Anything would do, as long as it got my mind off of Frank.
I was close to leaving, when I got a call. If I would've realized who it was, I probably wouldn't have answered. Nothing good was going to come from a conversation with my father. It hasn't happened thus far.
“Lisa.”
“Hey, dad. How are you?”
As soon as I heard his voice, I knew that he wanted me to do something. He would get this sound in his voice. I think it helped him to get people to agree to whatever it was that he wanted. My father was a hard person to say no to. I had found it difficult most of my life.
“I need to speak to you.”
“Sure, dad. What's up?”
“I was thinking that you could come over tonight and have dinner. I haven't seen you in a couple of weeks and then we didn’t have a chance to really have a conversation.”
It was on the tip of my tongue to turn him down and tell him that I didn’t think it was a good idea. There was a reason that he was calling.
“Are you sure we can’t do this another time? I had plans…”
I put it out there just to see what he would say, although I already knew the answer before I asked it. My father did not know how to the patient. He was used to everyone listening to him. That meant that basically everything he said was law. The problem was, that I did not want to go over to my parents’ house. Whatever they were going to want to say or do, was certainly not going to help my situation. What I wanted was to go out with the girls and forget about emotions and feelings that I’d had the last couple of days.
“I would not call and waste my time inviting you if I thought it wasn't important. You can go out and finish your plans later. Family comes first.”
I sighed inwardly and I knew that I wasn’t going anywhere. He’d brought up family, so now I knew that he had something up his sleeve. If I didn’t go, he was going to be mad, so of course, I wasn’t going to be able to say no.
It wouldn't have done me any good anyways. I knew then that I was going to have to cancel my plans with Dina. There was not much of anything else that I could do about it. My dad had something for me to do and I had to answer the call, even if I didn't want to.
I tried to get off of the phone with him pretty quickly because I wanted to call Dina and tell her that I wasn't going to be able to make it. I hated to cancel, but she seemed to be understanding enough about it. That was one thing that Dina and I had in common. We were used to all of the demands that were put on us by our family. She had gotten her prince and now there were a lot less demands on her, but it was not the same for me. My prince was nowhere to be found.
I was starting to think that maybe I didn't have one. Maybe it was all over-rated.
I was frustrated with everything going on. I was sure that there was still some conspiracy afoot. Why was my father asking me to come over again? Last time Frank was there and I really hoped that it wasn't the case again. I really couldn’t do with another awkward family meal like that.
20
Frank
If I had to be one hundred percent honest with myself, I wasn't sure if I felt very comfortable with my boss’ plans. He was con
vinced that all Lisa and I needed was a little bit of time to work things out. What he had told me was still running through my mind too. Was it true that Lisa loved me? I really wanted to believe that was true, but apparently I was afraid to believe such things.
It was hard, because I didn't know if I wanted to believe it. I certainly didn't want to get my hopes up, to have them dashed again. Since Lisa wasn't answering the phone anymore, I figured that this may be the only way I was going to be able to see her and talk to her outside of work. It wasn’t ideal, but if this was it, it was going to have to be enough.
When I got to my boss’ house, Lisa still wasn't there. I was waiting for her to get there when Eleanor, Lisa's mother, came into the room. She asked her husband to take care of something for her and I really didn't think much of it. It was actually kind of cute the way she needed his help. I thought about how one day I wanted Lisa and I to be that way. I know that it felt premature, considering that we hadn’t talked in days, but I was an optimist when it came to Lisa. Always had been and since getting her back into my life, I was going on hope, even when there wasn’t a cause for it.
“It is good to see you, Eleanor. You are looking lovely as always.”
“What are you doing?”
I do not remember Eleanor being so clear spoken. I was actually rather surprised by her question.
“I'm sorry?”
“What are you doing here?”
“Well, your husband invited me over for dinner.”
She looked at me like she didn't believe me, and Eleanor asked me again the same question. It was obvious that there was an answer she had in mind, however I wasn't really sure what it was.
“I know that this has something to do with my daughter and I want to know what.”
I could tell suddenly, that this was basically her way of trying to protect Lisa. Both of them knew what happened between the two of us, but Lisa's mother had been far more vocal about all of it. I had gotten a visit from her and it had not been a pleasant one. She also had her daughter’s absolute non-compunction to start an argument. She wanted to get her point across and had no problem doing it, no matter how difficult it was for anyone and everyone.
“I love your daughter.”
It just came out and, honestly, I'm kind of happy that it did, because it was the truth. The only way I was going to be able to convince Eleanor that I wasn’t going to mess with her daughter’s heart again was to have some humility. I don’t like to leave myself so exposed with the truth, but I was willing to do about anything to get Lisa back.
“Is that so?”
“It is.”
“And what did she say about it?”
“Well, she won't talk to me or answer my calls.”
Eleanor smiled for a moment and it looked like she was happy that her daughter was putting me off. Maybe she felt like I deserved it and it was one of those things that I couldn't really argue with. Things had ended badly between us and it was all because I had handled it so poorly. I wanted to tell her that it wouldn't happen again and I would not make the same mistake twice, but I don't think it would have done me any good.
Like with Lisa, I was going to have to spend a little bit more time proving myself. They were not so easily forgiving as I would've hoped.
“Whatever happens between the two of you, don't hurt her. If you don't want to be with her again, that's fine. But don't do her like you did before. I won’t stand for it. Be a man about it and do better, or you will have me to answer to this time. My husband isn’t the hard ball in the relationship.”
Damn if I didn’t believe her. She had this crazy, wild-eyed look that I would never forget. I could see where Lisa got her temper from.
Her husband came back in and Evelyn smiled at him like nothing had happened. For a moment, I wasn't even sure if something had happened. She was all of a sudden completely different. I was amazed at the change.
Evelyn's husband knew better though and asked her if she was being nice.
“Well of course I am, dear. What do you take me for, a woman with no manners?”
“I take you for my wife. I know how you are sometimes, especially when it comes to our daughter.”
“What, can you blame me?”
“No, I can't. You're just going to have to trust me on this one.”
The two of them went into the kitchen, while I stayed in the dining room and I knew that they had gone in there to talk about me and Lisa. It was a bit unnerving, especially considering that he was my boss as well. This was the situation that was kind of ridiculous, but I had done it to myself.
Lisa came in and she scoffed when she saw me. “I had a feeling that you were going to be here.”
“Well, I guess good things come to those that wait.”
I moved to give her a little bit of a kiss. I hadn't seen her in a couple of days and the night we stayed in Chicago and fooled around, was still very clear in my mind. I don't know what was holding her back, but I couldn’t let her pull away. I just refused.
When I started to give her a kiss because we were alone in the dining room, she shoved me away and asked me what I was doing.
“You know what I'm doing. I'm just giving you a little peck on the cheek.”
“We are at my parents’ house. I don't think that's wise.”
I didn't think that it had much of anything to do with her parents. It had far more to do with Lisa and her feelings. She was still trying to pretend like us being together was the end of the world. She still wasn't ready to be with me, but at this point I didn't care. All I cared about was getting her back in my arms. I knew that I would have all the time in the world, soon enough. This was just an evening set up by her parents, which was already weird enough.
I pulled her up to me and she didn't resist very much. It was pretty clear that as much as she wanted to fight what was going on between us, it was impossible. I just knew it.
Her parents came in and I pulled away from her, trying not to look as guilty as I most assuredly did. Her father gave me a look and kind of smiled my way. This was just too damn strange. It felt like I was in some alternate universe that didn’t make much sense at all.
“I'm glad to see that you could make it, Frank. I think we all have a lot to discuss.”
I wasn't sure what was going on, but it was clear by the way Lisa looked, she felt like she was being set-up. I think she was actually right on that front, because something was definitely going on here and it was a bit uncomfortable to be in the middle of it. I had no idea what her father had up his sleeve. It was something though.
21
Lisa
For one reason or another, my father was trying to set me up with my old flame. Here I was going to try to put some distance between the two of us and my dad kept making sure that we were in the same room all the time. Not only had he invited us for dinner several times to bring us together, but he also made sure that we had to go on several business trips together.
Even though I had caved to Frank, I regretted it and it scared me to be so vulnerable, especially to a man that had already broken my heart once. Second time, shame on me…
I decided that the best thing that I could do, was keep my distance from Frank. It was just too easy to lose everything because of him again. I didn't want to go back to that dark place. Just being with him for one night, opened my eyes to how quickly I could be pulled back in. If I was truly honest with myself, I had already been pulled back in already and I wanted out.
It had been almost three months since we were together and I did my best to make sure that nothing else happened. I had not been with him since, but I found out that it didn't matter if I tried to fight it or not. He was going to be in my life, whether I liked it or not.
When I started getting sick to my stomach in the morning, I didn't really think about it. It was just kind of a crazy feeling that came over me and it usually went away around noon. It wasn’t too bothersome, and I just blamed it on the fact that I didn't usually eat b
reakfast, but would have three cups of coffee in the morning on an empty stomach. I started having a piece of toast when I had my first cup of coffee and it seemed to help a little bit.
I was feeling very bad one day and I made a comment to Angie about it. Then she made a comment back about how I was probably pregnant. Angie had just been joking of course, but her words were like a little seed in my mind that I kept thinking about. What if she was right? What if I was pregnant? Frank and I did not use protection. We’d had other things on our minds then.
I took several tests that verified my greatest fear. I was pregnant and I still wasn't sure what I was supposed to do with that. I always wanted kids, eventually, but I had always seen that happening with my husband, not a man that I had not seen or been around in years. Certainly not Frank.
After I found out, I got a call from dad, asking me to come over for dinner. It was another thinly-veiled attempt to push us together. It was getting cumbersome, his plans, but I agreed. I had something to say to Frank and I knew that he was going to be there.
Not knowing how he was going to respond was nerve-wracking. I wasn't even thinking about the fact that my parents were going to be there. They always found time to leave in the middle of dinner or right afterwards. I knew that it was to give us time to talk and make-up. Today I knew that I had to use their schemes for a better reason.
When they were gone, I turned to Frank and told him that I needed to talk to him about something.
“What did you want to talk to me about?”
“I wanted to talk to you about something serious, but I don't really know how you're going to take it. It’s a lot.”
