The Not So Bad Boy: Give up EVERYTHING for a bad-boy charm?

by Raquel Belle

  “Jesus, are flights to Minnesota always this cheap?” he asked. Hayley nodded. “Oddly enough, no one seems to want to visit a state that’s covered in snow until early May.”

  “How do you run when it’s that cold there?” he asked once they’d booked the flight and had serendipitously gotten him a seat right next to Hayley.

  She shrugged. “Eh, I’m used to it. I have Yak Traks at my parents’ house and plenty of cold weather gear, and I just wrap up warm and hit the paved trail near the woods. It’s not so bad, really.”

  “Well, then maybe I’ll pack some of my running gear, so I can join you.”

  Hayley smiled at the image of James all sweaty and pink from exertion in cold weather, but of course then her mind thought of what he might look like after other kinds of exertion, and she had to quash those thoughts, because she was surrounded by children and colleagues and they might wonder why she was blushing at the waterfall scene of The Emperor’s New Clothes.

  The day before break was always an early release day at Brightside, so once the movie was over and the kids had been filled to the brim with snacks and juice, their parents came and it was time for pick-up. Kerry had asked Hayley if she wanted to grab lunch after work, but Hayley declined. She really needed a nap before the weekend started, because she knew it would be one activity after another, and she’d need the extra energy.

  “So I’ll come to your place and we can grab a taxi to O’Hare?” James asked as he grabbed his leather jacket from the hook inside the closet of their classroom.

  “Perfect. If you come around 6:00, that’s fine. And definitely bring plenty of warm socks and sweaters. The guest room can get a bit cold at night.”

  James nodded, then surprised Hayley by leaning in and giving her a warm hug. “Thanks, Hayley. I’m really looking forward to this.”

  Hayley smiled. “Me too.” She watched James leave the classroom, then did the happy dance she’d been holding in for the last two hours.

  ***

  Hayley called her mom on the walk back to her apartment after work to let her know that James would be joining them for Easter. “Oh, that’s so wonderful!” her mom squealed over the phone. “I’ll go get the guest room ready. Does he have any food allergies? Any dietary restrictions? Anything he can’t eat?”

  Hayley realized she had no idea what the answers were to those questions. She’d only ever seen him eat muffins, donuts, coffee and the occasional snack left over from the kids. She’d never seen him eat a full meal. “Um, let me text him and check, and I’ll let you know.”

  “Sure, sure, dear. I’ll go get your dad to wash the sheets for the guest bed. Oh, Hayley, I’m so excited you’re bringing him home! He sounds like such a nice man.”

  Hayley couldn’t fight her mother on that, so she told her she’d talk to her soon and hung up. Hayley then texted James about his food preferences. Her text buzzed with his response just as she was unlocking the door to her apartment. I’ll eat anything. You’ve been raving about your mom’s cooking for months. Can’t wait.

  ***

  Six o’clock couldn’t come soon enough. Hayley tried to nap, but only managed twenty minutes of sleep before she was up again, repacking her suitcase for the third time to make sure she’d packed enough layers. She also switched out the pajamas she was bringing from the old Northwestern shirt and sweatpants she’d originally packed to the blue silk camisole and sleep shorts set she’d treated herself to last year on her birthday. She rarely got the chance to wear them—they weren’t cozy enough for every day and she had almost always slept naked with Eric because he was such a human furnace, but she wanted to look nice in case she and James bumped into each other in the middle of the night. For a glass of water, obviously. No way was she going to try and seduce James in her parents’ house.

  A knock on her apartment door sounded just as she was zipping her suitcase back up and throwing her iPad into her purse. “Coming!” she yelled, walking quickly from the bedroom to the door and swinging it open.

  James hadn’t changed, still wearing the same outfit he’d had on earlier that day. A small backpack was slung over his shoulder and he was holding a small black leather weekender in his left hand. He’d packed light, much lighter than Hayley had, but then, he was a guy and probably wasn’t as averse to wearing the same outfit twice as Hayley was.

  “Hey!” Hayley said as she held the door for him so he could walk in.

  “Hey, yourself. Nice place. I love this area. My dad used to live right around here,” James said as he set his bags down by the door.

  “Really? What street?” Hayley asked as she walked back to her room to turn off the lights and grab her bags.

  “South Carpenter Street.”

  Hayley looked up from where she was rummaging in her bag for her scarf. “No way! That was where my first apartment was when I graduated. I shared it with a few awful roommates, but I loved the area so much I decided to look nearby when I moved out a few years ago.”

  James nodded. “It is a really nice area. My dad lived here for like thirty years.”

  Hayley realized as they moved toward the door so she could lock up that James had never once mentioned his mother. Was she alive? Were she and James’ dad still married when he died? He’d never said anything about her, which indicated that it was a sore subject. Still, Hayley was curious. Maybe he’d tell her that weekend. After all, being around family, even other people’s family, often made people open up in ways they normally wouldn’t. Hayley had definitely seen it happen with Kerry and Sam on past holidays at her parents’ house. Kerry and her mom had once spent an hour crying after watching a Gilmore Girls episode that dealt with heart attacks, relating how their grandfathers had both suffered from them. It was only the second time Kerry had ever met Hayley’s mom, but from that point on, Kerry had been liked family to her mom, like another daughter. She even sent Kerry and Sam Christmas presents every year and they often joined Hayley and her parents for Thanksgiving.

  Hayley clicked on the Uber app on her phone while they took the elevator down to the first floor of her building, and they stood outside in the cold for a few minutes while their Uber made its way toward them in the blustery, windy night.

  “So, anything I should know for when we get there? Any weird uncles, awkward aunts, or insane cousins you need me to be wary of?” James asked, looking over at where Hayley was huddled by one of the poles supporting the awning that towered over the front of the building.

  “Ha, no. My family is actually pretty normal. My mom has one sister, Maria, who we’re all really close to. Her boyfriend Hank is really quiet but also has a really good sense of humor, and they don’t have any kids. My dad’s brother died a few years ago, so now he’s an only child, though we still see my cousin, my dad’s nephew, Billy, a lot. He’ll probably be there with his girlfriend Hania and their toddler Maxine, who is absolutely adorable and very precocious. Most of the people at Easter will actually be neighbors and my parents’ college friends. They all have their quirks but none of them need avoiding, though Helen, my mom’s old college roommate, does like singing jazz versions of Celine Dion songs if she has too much champagne, so watch out for that.”

  The cab pulled up just after Hayley finished, and they both loaded their bags into the trunk before settling themselves in the backseat for the half hour ride.

  “I think it’s nice that you have such a big, tight-knit family. It’s really just me, Dan, and Lucy now that my dad’s gone. My mom’s not really in the picture. She left when I was five. Said she wanted to see the world and my dad and me were tying her down. She came back for a few months when I was thirteen then left again, and it pretty much broke my dad’s heart. She’s visited a few more times over the years, but he never saw her again after that. Said it was too hard, and I don’t blame him. She’s a bit… volatile. Very happy and laughing one minute, sad and crying the next. It sounds shitty, but I’m glad she left. It would’ve been really tough dealing with such a mercurial person as
a kid, but my dad was so stable and loving and kind. I definitely lucked out.”

  And there was Hayley’s answer to her earlier question of who and where James’ mom was. She felt sad that he was now parentless; though Dan and Lucy looked after him like a son, that didn’t make up for his dad’s absence. Life was never the same after you lost a parent; Hayley had seen that first hand when Sam’s mom had died three years ago from breast cancer. Even though Sam was still her funny, sarcastic self, since her mom’s death she could also be a lot more closed off with her feelings, at least around Hayley. The first few months after her mom’s death, she’d also barely gone out, which was saying something about a dance club owner who was friends with nearly every bar and club owner in Chicago.

  “That must be really hard. What did you and your dad used to do for holidays?” Hayley asked, hoping that giving Dan the opportunity to reminisce about his dad might make him feel a bit less melancholy. She also just really liked hearing him talk about his dad; his face lit up when he did and she could tell he relished what for him must have been a rare opportunity to gush.

  “We did Thanksgiving with Dan and Lucy at their house with a bunch of Dan’s squash buddies, my dad’s employees at the tattoo shop, and Lucy’s friends from her department. It sounds like a weird mix, a bunch of rich philanthropists, tattoo artists, and college professors at dinner together, but it totally worked. We always had a blast and my dad did the cooking, so the food was always phenomenal. He was the best cook. I really miss his food.”

  “That sounds pretty cool, bringing so many different kinds of people together.”

  “Yeah, it was. Christmas was a lot more low key. Usually just me and my dad, a movie and some takeout by the fire. We both normally worked New Year’s, since there were always loads of people craving new ink to commemorate a new year, and since neither of us is religious, Easter wasn’t really a thing for us. Sometimes we’d go camping that weekend if the weather was good enough, but mostly we just stayed home. This will actually be the first time I’ve really celebrated Easter,” James said, looking over at Hayley and smiling.

  “Well, I can’t claim that it’ll be remotely related to the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, but there will be good food, good people, and a lot of wine.”

  “My three favorite things,” James said.

  They were quiet for the rest of the cab ride, looking out the window at the darkening night sky. The cab pulled up to the curb outside of the American Airlines departures gate just after 6:30, and they were able to check their bags and make it through security with over an hour and a half to spare.

  “I forgot to bring a book with me. Want to come with me to the airport bookstore and then we can grab a drink before takeoff?” James asked, pointing to the book display across from where they were standing.

  Hayley could never say no to books, so she said “Yes!”

  She believed that you could learn a lot about a person from their taste in books. Eric had had mostly non-fiction books on finance and fishing on the bookshelves in his bachelor pad and her previous ex-boyfriends tended toward comics and Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. But Hayley had always thought that people who didn’t read fiction didn’t have the emotional fluency of those who did, which was why she was so delighted when she saw James pick up the latest book in the Cormoran Strike series from J.K. Rowling. Since there were plenty of unread paperbacks she could steal from her mom’s bookshelves, she just got a magazine and a copy of The Chicago Tribune so she could do the word puzzles. She loved a good word search.

  Hayley was just walking up to the till as James was reaching for his wallet, having already walked up to the checkout. When he saw her, he gestured at the magazine and paper in her hands. “Here, I’ll get those.”

  “No way! I can pay for them.”

  James leveled her with a joking glare. “You’re letting me crash your Easter festivities. The least I can do is pay for your plane entertainment.”

  Hayley shrugged. He had a point. She handed over the magazine and paper and the cashier rang them up and put them, along with the book James had bought, in the canvas bag he’d pulled out of his weekender.

  They then headed to the jazz bar in Terminal 1 and ordered two glasses of red wine. A duet by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong was playing on the speakers, and the lights were turned down low. If they couldn’t hear the occasional boarding announcements or see the screen displaying departure gates from across the bar, Hayley could almost pretend they were on a romantic date at some fancy wine bar in downtown Chicago.

  They sipped their wine quietly for a few minutes, Hayley occasionally swiveling her head too see who the other bar patrons were.

  James was just opening his mouth to ask Hayley something when an announcement came over the speakers. “Passengers of Flight A462 to Minneapolis, Minnesota. Your flight has been delayed due to inclement weather. Please see the nearest customer service representative for further information.”

  “What?!” Hayley said. She’d checked the weather at least ten times in the last week to make sure there wasn’t a freak snowstorm either in Chicago or heading Minnesota’s way. As of that morning, there had been nothing on the radar but grey skies and some light rain in Chicago and a bit of sleet in Minnesota. How the hell had it suddenly turned into a snowstorm big enough to warrant a flight cancellation?

  “Don’t panic,” James said. He grabbed a ten-dollar bill from his wallet, slapped it on the counter to cover their drinks and grabbed his and Hayley’s bags. “Let’s find a customer service representative and see what’s going on. I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

  “Fine?! They’ve delayed our flight! What if we can’t make it back until tomorrow, or later? What if we’re snowed in for the whole weekend? What if we miss Easter all together?” Hayley was breathing heavily. She’d been looking forward to this for months. She hadn’t seen her parents since New Years and she’d been so excited for a weekend in her childhood home, back in the bosom of her extended family.

  James put down their bags and placed his hands on Hayley’s shoulders. “Look at me, Hayley,” he said, putting a hand under her chin so she’d meet his eyes. Hayley looked into them and saw safety, calm, and assurance.

  “Everything is going to be fine. We’re here together and we’ll figure it out, no matter what happens, okay?”

  Hayley nodded.

  “Okay. Now, before we leave this bar, I need you to take three deep breaths for me. Can you do that?” Hayley nodded again, mutely. She took three deep inhales and exhales, at the end of which she really did feel a bit calmer.

  Until she talked to the customer service representative, that is. “I’m so sorry, ma’am, but a huge snowstorm has hit Chicago and is heading toward Minneapolis, according to our in-port meteorologists. The last American Airlines flight that left O’Hare took over two hours landing because it was so hard to see in the blizzard. We don’t want to put our passengers or pilots in danger, and sending them out into a growing snowstorm just wouldn’t be safe. The flight is delayed until further notice.”

  Hayley looked ready to scream at the man sitting at the customer service desk, so James jumped in before she could open her mouth. “We understand completely, sir. Can you tell us when you expect the flight to leave Chicago?”

  “Not until at least tomorrow afternoon, I’m afraid. The snowstorm is supposed to last until tomorrow at noon, and the snow accumulation will be at least three feet, which means we’ll need to give our flight engineers time to clean the grounds here and then wait for word on the ground in Minneapolis regarding conditions there. We’re currently helping passengers on Midwestern flights to book into our airport hotel. Would you like to book a room?”

  James turned to Hayley, lowering his voice so the man at the desk was less likely to hear. “Okay, so the reality is that we’re snowed in for the night. It’s too dangerous to try hailing a cab and going back to our respective apartments, so I say we find some rooms in the hotel, get room service an
d settle in for the night. I’m sure they’ll have everything sorted out tomorrow and we’ll be able to get to your mom and dad’s.”

  Hayley nodded resignedly. “Yeah, sure. Fine. Let’s book some rooms. At least we can get room service.”

  The man at the desk turned to Hayley. “Oh, I’m so sorry ma’am, but our airport hotel doesn’t offer room service. However, I can give you some vouchers to visit one of the many fine dining establishments in the food court on Level 2.” The night just got worse and worse.

  “That’s absolutely fine. Can we book two double rooms for the night, please?” James asked, turning back to the man.

  “Of course, sir. Let me just check our availability.” James and Hayley waited while the man clicked through a few different windows on his desktop before turning back to them with an apologetic look on his face. “I’m so sorry, but it seems that my other colleagues have received quite an inundation of flyers looking for accommodation. All I have left is one room with a king-sized bed. Is that suitable?”

  While normally Hayley would relish the idea of sharing a bed with James, at the moment all she wanted was a mattress to herself where she could spread out, books and snacks littering the covers while she flicked through the hotel TV channels. But it appeared she didn’t have a choice.

  Hayley nodded at James and gave him her debit card. “Yes, we’ll take it. You can charge the room to this card.”

  “Thank you, ma’am. The card won’t be charged until you check out tomorrow morning. It’s just to save the reservation.”

  “We’re obviously splitting the cost of the room, Hayley,” James said as the man finished putting their details.

  “Sure.” She looked exhausted suddenly, like she was about to collapse from fatigue. When the man had handed over the card with the hotel information and James had thanked him, he gathered their bags and put an arm around Hayley’s shoulder.

  “Let’s go have a really nice dinner in the food court and then head to the hotel. Do you need to call your mom and let her know about our change of plans?”