“Thank you.”
The girl had blonde hair and was thin, kind of willowy, she could have been a miniature version of Ella, except for the glasses. She was obviously smart. She spoke like an adult rather than a five-year-old. I imagined if Ella and I had a daughter, she might be something like this little girl.
“Page,” I heard a man’s voice approach from behind. “What are you doing all the way over here? I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”
The girl looked up at the man, who was now standing next to us. He was a few inches taller than me but he was much broader. He has sun-kissed blond hair and a big smile. He was dressed like he had just stepped off of a golf course.
“Dad,” the girl sighed. “I was just having a conversation about the meerkats.”
“That’s great,” her dad said dismissively. “But I’ve got to get you back to your mom’s house in less than an hour. She’ll kill me if we’re late again.”
Page heaved another dramatic sigh. “Unless we hit traffic, which would be unusual for a Sunday at this time, it should only take us thirty-six minutes to get there. We still have plenty of time.”
The man glanced in my direction and rolled his eyes as if to say that his daughter was already a handful.
“She’s very bright,” I remarked.
“Thanks,” Page said. “I want to be a zoologist one day. I want to have my own show on Animal Planet.”
“We really need to go,” the man remarked impatiently.
“It was nice meeting you,” Page said to me.
“Best of luck with your zoological studies,” I replied.
“Thanks,” Page said as her dad grabbed her hand and pulled her away.
When I looked over at Ella, she had a faraway look in her eyes. It was haunting. I realized it was the same look she had when the two of us were at the museum looking at Cheyenne Robison’s sculpture of the little girl. I wondered if there was some kind of connection.
“Ella,” I said as I placed a careful hand on her shoulder. I didn’t want to startle her.
When she looked up at me, her eyes looked wet.
“What’s wrong?” I was suddenly overcome with a horrible feeling of dread.
She shook her head as if she was trying to shake away her negative thoughts. “Nothing,” she sighed.
“Nothing? That didn’t look like nothing.”
“Can we get something to eat?” She was avoiding my question. “I’m starving.”
“You know you can’t just change the subject whenever there’s something you don’t want to talk about.”
She grabbed my hand. “Do you feel like getting sushi? We drove by a place on the way over here.”
I took in a deep breath. It was obvious the conversation about whatever was bothering her was over. “Sushi it is,” I agreed and I pulled her with me toward the exit of the zoo.
***
Ella still wasn’t quite herself at dinner. She put on a good act but I could see right through it.
“When I was in Japan,” she said. “The sushi was delicious. I still haven’t found a place that made it quite that good. This is close.” She grabbed a California roll and took a big bite.
“I envy the fact that you’ve gotten to travel so much. The furthest I’ve been from home is right here—Phoenix.”
“You shouldn’t envy anything about me or my life.” The harshness of her words surprised me.
I wasn’t sure what to say. Part of me wasn’t sure I wanted to know what was so terrible about her life that it was not to be envied but another part of me wanted to know because it was part of Ella and I wanted to know everything about her.
“What was it Ella? What was so bad about your life?”
She shook her head. “It’s not worth talking about.”
She started poking at the remains of a California roll that was still on her plate.
“Ella, look at me.”
She stopped messing with the food and glanced up at me.
“I want to know everything about you. It’s important to me.”
She wiped at a tear that had escaped down her cheek. “I’m broken, Lucas. Damaged goods. You should be with someone who is whole and worthy of your love.” When she looked into my eyes, her expression was somber. “You shouldn’t have to fix your girlfriend. You should be with someone who doesn’t need to be fixed.”
“So you’re my girlfriend?” I replied. I loved the sound of those words.
“I’m being serious.”
“I know.” I took her hands in mine and rubbed her fingers to try and relax her. “I can’t fix you, Ella. I can’t repair the cracks or the broken pieces but maybe I don’t want to. Maybe I love you just the way you are—broken pieces and all.”
A few more tears streamed down her cheek and she quickly wiped them away with the back of her hand. Then she started to nervously fiddle with the butterfly heart pendant around her neck.
“Whenever you touch that pendant, Ella, I want you to remember that our hearts are forever joined. You know my heart will always with you. Promise me you’ll always wear it.”
“I’ll always wear it,” she promised. “Can we go back to our room now? I’m getting really tired.”
“Sure,” I said as I glanced around the restaurant to find the server in order to get our check.
***
“Is it okay if we just cuddle tonight?” Ella asked as we got into bed. She yawned. “I’m so tired.”
As much as I wanted us to be intimate with each other, I knew we had both had an emotional evening. “Cuddling is good,” I assured her.
When the smile returned to her face, I breathed a small sigh of relief. Maybe things were going to be all right after all.
She placed her head on my chest and wrapped her body around mine and we spent the night entwined and sleeping in each other arms. It wasn’t quite as good as having sex but it was close. I liked holding my girlfriend in my arms.
Seven
It was so late when we got back to town that I stayed at Ella’s place. When we were back in her own space, she seemed much more relaxed and back to her normal self—well normal for Ella anyway.
The next morning, I was surprised when she handed me a small box with a bow on it. “What’s this?”
She kissed my check. “You gave me a beautiful heart pendant. You accompanied me on my spontaneous trip to Phoenix. I wanted to give you something.”
“You didn’t have to give me anything, Ella. You’re the only thing I want.”
She smiled. “Then this gift it perfect.”
I carefully opened the small velvet box. Inside was a single silver key. “What is this the key to?”
“My house.”
My eyes widened. Giving me a key to her place was a huge step. Was it too soon? “I’m not sure what to say?”
Her face fell in disappointment. “You don’t have to take it. It was obviously a mistake.” She tried to take the key from me but I stopped her.
“You can’t have it back. I want it.”
When she looked up at me, her eyes held so much uncertainty. “Are you sure?”
I nodded and placed the key in my front pants pocket.
“I want you to be able to come and go as you please,” she said. “Hopefully there will be more coming than going.”
I put my arms around Ella and pulled her close. “Thank you. Opening up your home means a lot, more than you’ll probably ever know.”
“I can make us dinner. Six o’clock?”
I kissed Ella’s forehead. “Sounds great.”
***
Getting back into the swing of work after my long weekend with Ella was more difficult than I imagined it would be. I had never taken time off work before, so I didn’t realize how much work accumulated in just a few days out of the office.
It didn’t help that Moe, Larry and Curly were giving me grief at every possible moment.
“Did you get your fill,” Rick asked and his cronies laughed like goofballs.
Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore. “I think the three of you need to leave.”
“Aw,” Ron cried. “Come on. The only way we ever get any action at all is to hear about it from you.”
“I’m sorry that the three of you are so inept at anything even resembling dating but I’m really tired of the three of you living vicariously through me.”
The three gave each other knowing looks. As they trudged out of my office, I could hear Rusty remark half under his breath, “Lucas has turned into a real asshole ever since he started to get laid.”
“I know, right,” Ron agreed.
I made sure to slam the door shut behind them.
When I sat back down at my desk, I pulled Ella’s house key from my pocket and stared at it for a few minutes. Was everything happening between us happening too quickly? If it was, it was completely my fault. I was the guy. I was driving the train. I just hoped I wasn’t driving it straight over a cliff.
But everything with Ella felt so right. I didn’t have any hesitation about being with her or loving her with every bit of my heart. The only thing that worried me was the hesitancy I saw in her those two times when we were away. Both times there were kids around. And it bothered me that Ella wouldn’t talk about it. The only thing I could do was give her time. I knew I couldn’t push her. When Ella didn’t want to talk about something, she didn’t, she just changed the subject. Maybe if I gave her some space, she would eventually volunteer to tell me what the issue was.
***
When I got to her place after work night, I found Ella in the kitchen pulling lasagna out of the oven. “That smells wonderful,” I remarked as I inhaled the aroma circulating through the kitchen
“Wait until you taste it,” she grinned.
As we sat down to eat, she handed me an envelope. “I’m sure you have one at your place, too.”
When I opened it, I found an invitation to a housewarming party for Aaron and Rainy.
“I heard through the grapevine that Aaron’s parents bought them a house.”
“Really?” That surprised me. Rainy was worried that Aaron’s parents would never accept her as part of the family, even after they were married. I wondered what had changed.
“It’s supposed to be huge. Brand new. And Aaron’s parents are having it completely furnished. I guess Rainy is working with a decorator. Do you think Rainy would like it if we had one of Cheyenne Robison’s sculptures sent as a housewarming gift?”
“I think she’d love it but how much do they cost?” My engineering salary paid well but I had a feeling his work was probably very expensive.
Ella placed her warm hand on my cheek. “There’s something you’re going to have to get accustomed to if we’re going to be together. Aaron comes from an extremely wealthy family. They have billions of dollars. Buying a twenty or thirty thousand dollar sculpture isn’t a big deal to people that rich. My family is wealthy, too. My parents don’t care whether they ever see me again but they did give me a trust fund worth millions of dollars. Not only can I afford to buy a gift like that, it’s what’s expected.”
The two hundred dollars I spent on Rainy and Aaron’s wedding present, which seemed like a lot at the time, now seemed meager by Ella’s standards. Of course, Rainy and I were from similar middle class background, so I knew extravagant gifts were not what she expected. I wasn’t sure about Aaron, though.
“This is a lot to process,” I mumbled. I knew Ella’s family was well off and I assumed they must have given her money because she didn’t work and owned a house but I never really thought about exactly how wealthy she was and exactly what that meant. My mom and dad were professional people but they both had to work to pay the bills and support their family.
“Thinking about giving someone a housewarming gift that costs almost as much as my car is kind of mind-blowing. Especially when I’ve been making payments on my car for the last two years.” I tried to laugh but it wasn’t really funny. It was surreal.
“It’s just money,” she said dismissively. “There have been times that I’ve lived for months without using any of it. I backpacked through Europe staying with friends and doing odd jobs in exchange for food. I lived in an ashram in India for a while. Money is an exchange of energy. What you use it for is important.”
“There’s something else that’s bothering me, though.” I knew I had to choose my words carefully. “You said you didn’t think your parents cared whether they ever saw you again. Why would you say that?”
She gave me one of her classic looks, a look that said I just uttered something completely ridiculous. “Because they told me so,” she replied matter-of-factly.
I couldn’t help but let my jaw drop. What kind of parents would ever say something like that to their own child? I was struck speechless. More of the pieces of the Ella puzzle were starting to come together. I had a better idea why she felt so poorly about herself and why she allowed guys like Steel to treat her so badly.
“We’d better eat the lasagna before it gets cold.”
I knew Ella well enough to know that was my cue. She was changing the subject. The conversation about her parents was over—for now.
It was no surprise that the meal was amazing. Not only did Ella make the most delicious lasagna I’d ever eaten, she paired it with warm garlic bread and a crisp Caesar salad. “The meal is wonderful,” I commented as I stuffed my face.
Ella smiled. “I’m glad you like it. I enjoy making lasagna. The sauce is homemade. A secret recipe I learned from a friend in Italy. A female friend.” She added the last sentence as if she was reading my mind.
As I finished the last bites of my meal, I noticed Ella was tracing the lines of her heart pendant with her index finger as she watched me eat. After our earlier conversation, I suddenly felt the token of affection I’d given her was second-rate and seemed insufficient for a person of her economic stature.
“Do you really like the necklace?” I asked.
She furrowed her brow and tilted her head as if she was puzzled by the question. “Why would you ask that?”
I gulped. “I—um—I’m worried that my gift is inadequate. I really didn’t think about the fact that you’re a millionaire when I bought it.”
“I love it,” she said quickly. “It’s my most my treasured possession. I don’t care how much it cost. To me, it’s priceless because you gave it to me and because of what it symbolizes. You gave me a piece of your heart.”
I wanted to tell her she had already stolen my entire heart. “I’m glad it means that much to you,” I said instead.
“Just wait until you see what I made for dessert. I have a feeling you’re going to love it. Blueberry Cream Cheese tarts.”
I placed my hands over my already-full belly. “I’ve been the same weight since my senior year of high school but if you keep feeding me like this, I’ll be double this size in no time.”
“Don’t be silly,” she laughed. “I’ll make sure you get a great workout when we go to bed later.”
“My favorite kind of exercise,” I teased.
***
To say my sister was perturbed because she hadn’t heard from me in a while would have been an understatement. She was absolutely furious. We rarely went more than a day or two without speaking to each other.
“I thought you were dead,” she yelled into the phone.
“Let’s not get dramatic,” I replied calmly.
“Not get dramatic,” she scoffed. “It’s what I do. My middle name is Drama Queen. And you should know that because you’re the one who branded me with that particular moniker.”
“I’ve been busy.” As soon as I said the words, I knew they sounded completely lame.
“Just because you’re getting nookie on a regular basis is no reason to completely diss your one and only sibling.”
“You’re right. I’m sorry. Let me make it up to you. How about I take you out to lunch?�
�
“You’re forgiven if you’ll take Marney out to lunch, too.”
“Yeah, I know. The two of you are a package deal.”
“And I want you to remember, when Marney and I started dating, I never once dissed you.”
“You’re right. It’s just—well—this relationship is a little more complex.”
“More complex than having to come out to my family none of whom knew I was a lesbian?”
“Okay, you have a point.”
“I always do,” Olivia laughed. “Meet us at The Ridge at noon.”
“Seriously? It’s one of the most expensive restaurants in the city.”
“Yeah, well you’ve got a lot of making up to do, big brother.” And with that, she hung up on me.
***
The Ridge is the type of place that everyone, who is anyone, wants to be seen eating at. I had to practically promise the host my right arm just to get a lunch table in the back corner right next to the kitchen door. My sister and Marney arrived right at noon and the host took us back to our table.
The place was packed with business professionals, the wheelers and dealers of the city, and I felt a little out of place. I could only imagine what the dinner crowd was like.
We took our seats and when I opened the menu, I nearly fell off my chair. The appetizers alone were as much as a meal at a run-of-the-mill place. Luckily, my sister and Marney both ordered salads, which weren’t going to completely break the bank. I ordered a lunch special clam chowder, which sounded appealing, and with any luck, also reasonably priced.
“So,” my sister said after the waiter brought us our six dollar iced teas. “What’s the deal with you and your dream girl?”
“Well, it’s obvious she puts out,” Marney stated. “You’re wearing the satisfied glow of a guy who’s getting some.”
“You always get right to the point,” I replied.
Marney smiled. “I aim to please.”
“You’re never home anymore,” my sister said. “Did you move in with her?”
I pulled the key Ella gave me from my pocket. “She gave me a key to her place.”
My sister frowned. “It seems kind of fast, don’t you think?”
“Yes, very fast” I admitted. “But it also feels right.” I knew it would sound stupid to say I felt like we belonged together, so I kept that to myself.
Final Play (Matchplay Series) Page 12
