Unstuck

by Liliana Camarena

  “She does come up with very interesting ideas,” Patrick smiled “Have you considered a career in finance, logistics or administration, Lucinda?”Stuart asked me and I know I was blushing.

  “She was head of Administration and Little Black Book,” said Patrick and I blush increased in 3 shades of red.

  “Why the sudden change?” Stuart looked at me. I was expecting for Patrick to say something but he didn’t.

  “I needed a change in my life. Working for Patrick has definitely changed my life,” I smiled and Stuart nodded. He wasn’t the nosey type.

  “Why aren’t you in charge of the project? You could easily handle it,” asked Stuart again.

  “She doesn’t want the project,” said Patrick getting up from his chair and going to the library. He left me alone with Stuart. Stuart is intimidating.

  “You don’t want it?”Stuart asked me and I shook my head.

  “I kind of love my job,” I smiled and Stuart frowned.

  “I’ve never met an assistant that enjoyed working for my brother,” I just shrugged and smiled.

  “Here,” Patrick came back from the library with a couple of glasses with what I assumed was scotch “I need to tell you something,” he said placing it in front of Stuart. I was about to get up but Patrick spoke “Lucinda, I want you here,” I nodded. I was scared.

  “Regina has a boyfriend,” Patrick said really quickly.

  “She always does,” said Stuart rolling his eyes. Stuart was rolling his eyes! “He is 28,” said Patrick and Stuart stood up as the chair he was sitting in fell backwards.

  “What?” he asked. He didn’t raise his voice he was a bit red.

  “Sit down,” said Patrick and Stuart sat down. “I’ve met the guy already,” “When did you meet him?” he asked giving big sips of scotch “A couple of weeks ago Regina asked us to go to a gala he was hosting and meet the guy,” Patrick shrugged “it seems that he is a good guy. I’m still running a background check on him,” he said looking at me “I’m still doing that,” he said to me and I nodded.

  “Good,” said Stuart. I got up grabbing both of their glasses and re-filling them with scotch.

  “Mom and Dad don’t know yet, they are meeting him tonight as well,” I placed the glasses in front of them and they immediately reached for them. Patrick brushed my hand quickly in the process and then I went to sit next to Stuart in front of the desk.

  “They won’t make a scene,” said Stuart and Patrick agreed. There was a knock on the door and I jumped a little in my seat.

  “Everyone is here,” said Regina coming in.

  “Stuart,” she said running towards him. Stuart swallowed and got up. When he saw her he couldn’t help but smile at her and hug her saying happy birthday.

  When we went out I wanted to run to the kitchen for several reasons but they very real and important one was that I didn’t want to be in the middle of all the awkward. However, Patrick had other plans and grabbed me by the arm and dragged me with him to the living room.

  “There’s no way you are leaving me alone in this,” he said in my ear and I tried to contain my laugh.

  “Mom, Dad,” said Patrick saying hi to them as well as Patrick.

  “Elaine,” I said hugging her and she hugged back.

  “Mr. Maynard,” I said hello to Patrick’s father as I looked around for Regina and Sam.

  “What were you doing, kids?” asked Elaine looking at Patrick and Stuart “Were you talking business?”She said with a warning look.

  “No,” said Patrick and Stuart at the same time. It was funny how both of them lied without even looking at each other.

  “Mother, have you met Samuel?” said Patrick.

  “Of course,” Elaine nodded. I tried to look for some kind of discontent “he is the son of Richard and Patricia Henderson,” she said smiling at Samuel who gave a kind nod. Elaine was on Team Sam.

  “Dad?” asked Patrick.

  “Yes, yes of course, we’ve met him before, right Elaine?” he asked and Elaine nodded. Mr. Maynard was Team Sam as well. I left all them to talk and walked towards Sam.

  “Hello, Sam,” I said to him while I prepared a glass with Scotch for Patrick.

  “Lucy,” he said nodding. He was so serious all the time.

  “Where’s your girl?” I asked him.

  “With her brothers,” he said and I turned to look at them. Patrick and Stuart had the same look on their faces. I was sure if Regina asked them to jump out the window they would do it without even thinking about it.

  “Is it like this always?” he asked me and I turned to look at him confused “Family dinners?” he said looking at them.

  “I guess. I don’t know. You are new and 10 years older than the baby of the family. They want to make sure how everyone is feeling about you,” I said smiling at him and he laughed “It’s a bit tough but the Maynard’s are kind people. Even Stuart. You’ll get the hang of it,” I said patting his shoulder.

  “You seem to have everything under control,” he told me giving a sip of his drink “I’m just Maynard’s assistant,” I shrugged.

  “Do you fool a lot of people with that one?” he said smiling. Wow, where was serious Sam? “What?” I turned to look at him.

  “I don’t know about you but to Patrick you are way more than his assistant,” he said looking at Patrick. In that moment he looked at me and smiled.

  “I need to take this to my boss,” I said showing the glass I had in my hands and Sam just nodded. I gave it to Patrick and saw Regina leave to be at Sam’s side. Sam raised his glass to me and smiled. This thing with Patrick wasn’t a secret anymore. Everyone knew and I had to decide if I wanted it to be public or end it completely because really, there was no way we could go on the way we had if everyone knew what was going on. I shook my head.

  “What is it?” Patrick asked in my ear.

  “Nothing,” I smiled up at him. He raised an eyebrow. “We need to talk later, ok?” he looked confused.

  “It’s ok, really,” I assured him and he nodded. I had the feeling that things were going to change.

  Twenty two

  The night went perfectly. We had an amazing dinner cooked by Miranda with Regina’s favorite recipes of the year. From what I heard every year they had the same dinner at Patrick’s place but Regina changed of favorite food from year to year. The only thing that stayed the same was Miranda’s key lime pie. Every year Regina requested it for dessert. I had to agree with her, it was superb.

  After eating we went to the living room where Regina opened all her gifts. Lots of jewelry coming from her parents and Samuel (I was sure that I could pay my mortgage AND a new car with whatever their gifts cost), Stuart gave her the new white Range Rover with everything designed especially for Regina (I didn’t get to see the car because it would be delivered to her house) and Patrick, oh Patrick, he gave her an apartment. An apartment! Regina was going to the University of Pennsylvania in the fall to major in International Relations; I was quite shocked when she told me about it because I really thought she was going to major in fashion design but she said that fashion was fun but not for a career. The Maynard kids were all quite ambitious and impressive. Patrick wanted her to be independent and live somewhere that wasn’t their parents’ home but he didn’t want her to be independent on the campus dorms so he got her an apartment. Everyone seemed delighted with the gift and Stuart nodded a lot so that meant he agreed with the gift.

  It wasn’t until everyone was leaving that the adjustments lady came down with both our dresses finished and with her hair looking like she had pulled at it at least 10 times in the last hour. Regina seemed happy and I didn’t acknowledge the dress that was handed to me, I didn’t want questions about it and I was thankful that I wasn’t asked about it. I took the dress to the living room while everyone said their goodbyes.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow, Lucy,” I heard Regina’s voice and I turned to give her one last birthday hug.

  “Did you have a good birthday, Reg
ina?” I asked with my hands in her shoulders “I did, thank you, Lucy. The fact that Sam was here and my parents like him and that Stuart didn’t freak out meant so much to me,” she gushed. I nodded in agreement.

  “Your brother talked to him before he met him,” I said, and Regina smiled “You are good for Patrick,” she said and I just nodded. What was I supposed to say? I had no idea what was going to happen to us after tonight.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow,” I said and she waved as she went up the steps that led to the foyer. I sighed and plopped in one of the couches in the living room.

  “You are frowning,” said Patrick sitting next to me.

  “I guess I am,” I said with my eyes glued to the ceiling.

  “Is that the dress?” he asked looking at the bag I’d placed in the couch. I nodded. “Can I see it?” “No, you can’t,” I said grinning.

  “You want to surprise me?” he asked passing his arm around me and going closer.

  “Yes,” I said and smiled.

  “I like that,” he said trying to kiss me. I turned my head “Really, Lucinda?” he asked as I shook my head.

  “No, no, wait,” I said straightening in the couch “There will be kissing. I just want to talk about something that I realized today,” I shrugged.

  “What’s that?” he said still with one of his hands on my neck and the other on my stomach.

  “Everyone thinks we are a couple,” I stated.

  “So?” he said shrugging.

  “Why do they have that impression?” I asked.

  “Because even though you’ve tried really hard to not be obvious about our arrangement, we are pretty obvious, Lucinda,” he said looking at me and I saw he was completely fine with that.

  “Have they asked anything?” I was trying to see what the best thing to do was.

  “Not really,” he shrugged again “they just make tiny comments,” “Yeah, I get those too,” I nodded and looked away for a bit remembering everything everyone had said to me.

  “What do you want to do about that?” I asked and he smiled.

  “Nothing, Lucinda.”

  “Nothing,” I whispered. What didn’thing mean? “Nothing means we go on like we have?” I asked confused.

  “What do you want to do, Lucinda? That’s what it always comes to, isn’t it?” ouch! What was he saying? “I don’t mean that in a bad way,” now he was reading my mind “It only means that I will do whatever you want to do to make this situation more comfortable for you,”

  “Ok,” I nodded. I rested my head on his shoulder.

  “Someone could see us,” he said mocking me and I laughed.

  “Yeah, they could,” I said nodding.

  “What does that mean?” he asked surprised.

  “It’s just…. Patrick, they already think we have a thing, and we DO have a thing so I was thinking that it’s kind of stupid to keep on hiding…,”

  “Wait…wait,” he said grabbing me by the shoulders and making me look at him “you are saying that you want the world to know that we have a thing?” he asked really slowly and looking at me in the eye.

  “I don’t know yet but… why keep on lying when, let’s be honest, this is a thing, not only sex,” I shrugged.

  “Wow,” Patrick was grinning. Yes, wow, I had thought about that all night and who was I kidding? What Patrick and I had wasn’t just sex, it was a thing, we slept together but we also had dinner together, we had lunch together, we laughed together, we watched movies together, we went to family things together; we definitely had a thing.

  “Are you ready to go public tomorrow night?” he asked hopeful.

  “I don’t know if I want to do it in such a public event. I want your family to know that we are officially a thing but I don’t want to be in a red carpet kissing,” I rolled my eyes but he couldn’t stop smiling.

  “So we have a thing,” he said going closer to me

  “Yes we do,” I smiled.

  “Does that mean that you can sleep over anytime I want?” he said kissing my neck.

  “Anytime I want,” I clarified.

  “Hmm,” he tried to say while still kissing my neck.

  “Yes, I can,” I smiled.

  “Do you want to start today?” he asked finally leaving my neck and looking at me.

  “Why not?” I shrugged and he carried me to the top of the stairs.

  “My dress,” I said when we were in the middle of the stairs.

  “No one’s going to move it,” he silenced me with a kiss in the lips and that’s how our first non-Saturday sleep over began. It was more than that really; it was me admitting that Patrick and I were in a thing. That was a lot coming from me because even though this was a thing it didn’t go near to what me and Brian had or to whatever I’d had when I was in high school. I was a thing so different and more important than anything I had ever experienced before. It was a thing that I was ready for the world to know about. It was our thing.

  “You are freaking out,” I heard next morning as I stared at the ceiling in Patrick’s room. I had been awake for a full hour now wondering how we were transitioning from being boss and assistant to a thing in front of everyone. I turned to look at him and he was face down with an arm under the pillow and the other one under his face. His eyes were still closed.

  “I’m not,” I almost whispered.

  “Yes you are,” he said opening his eyes and smiling “What are you thinking about?” “So many things,” I sighed.

  “Ok, let’s start from the beginning,” he said sitting down and looking down at me.

  “What are we going to tell Miranda?” I asked looking at him.

  “That we are a thing,” he said grinning. He was happy and it felt so good that I could make him that happy.

  “How?” I asked.

  “Do you want me to talk to her?” he asked putting one hand on my cheek “what are you going to say?” I was indeed freaking out.

  “That we are a thing,”

  “Patrick,” I whined.

  “Pepper,” he whined back.

  “I’m serious,” I said covering his hand that was still on my cheek with my own hand.

  “Me too, Lucinda. It’s not that difficult, I go and tell her that we are a thing, that nothing in the house should change but there will be a lot of making out and lots and lots of sexy noises around the house.”

  “You are impossible,” I said trying to get out of the bed “I’m kidding,” he said grabbing me by the waist “I will say everything but the making out and sexy noises part,” “Ok,” I nodded.

  “Ok?” he asked and I nodded again. “Good now, can we have morning sex?” he grinned and then kissed me. It felt quite good to be able to have a thing without the need of hiding I was just hoping that this thing didn’t get too serious because well that would be embarrassing. I wasn’t ready for anything serious. I wasn’t ready for him to be my official boyfriend, everyone would expect us to have some kind of commitment and I didn’t want that. My commitment to a thing was enough for me.

  “Are you ok with that, Miranda?” I heard Patrick in the kitchen when I walked down the stairs holding my clothes from the previous night.

  “Mr. Maynard, I’m more than ok with that,” I smiled. It was important for me that Miranda approved “may I tell you my opinion?” she asked and I paused. I assumed that Patrick nodded or something because Miranda went on “I think that you two are perfect for each other and I couldn’t be happier to see two people I care so much about together,” I wanted to cry but I hurried to take my dress from the couch and to run to the pool house. I was fine with Miranda knowing but I didn’t want her to see me coming down from Patrick’s room just yet. Although, I wonder if she knew something was up after all the times we had left a mess on his room.

  As soon I got to the pool house I called Stacy because I needed to give her an update on our thing.

  “I’ll put you on speaker,” of course, I knew Nick would be with her. He never stayed the weekend in any of the
places where he traveled for work anymore.

  “Hi, Nick,” I said and I heard him say hi.

  “So, what’s new?” she asked and threw myself on the bed.

  “A lot,” I said and I heard Stacy made a weird sound of what I assumed it was joy or excitement. Either that or Nick was trying to seduce her.

  “Well, last night everyone was here for Regina’s birthday,” “of course,” she said and I could picture her nodding.

  “And Regina’s boyfriend...”

  “Regina has a boyfriend?” she interrupted me and I wonder when was the last time we had talked.

  “Oh my god, how is it we haven’t talked about that?” I asked and went into every little detail about Sam during a long time.

  “Wow, Regina got an older dude,”

  “Are you sure he is not after sex?”I heard Nick asked.

  “I don’t think so... he seems really nice,” I shrugged and looked out of my window to Patrick’s office. There he was, on the phone as well. He had the goofiest grin ever.

  “Anyway, back to what I was trying to tell you from the beginning,” I said and sat on the bed with my back against the wall so I could see Patrick while I talked to Stacy “Last night Sam said something that made me realize that everyone, EVERYONE, thinks we have something going on,” I said.

  “Who? Sam and you?” asked Stacy and I laughed out loud.

  “No, stupid, Patrick and me,” I said shaking my head.

  “Oh, that,” she sighed “that’s obvious Lucy. Everyone assumes you two are a couple but are too shy or professional to show any PDA,” ugh! Not a couple.

  “Ok, well, everyone but me knew that,” I shook my head “anyway, talked to Patrick last night,” “Sugar?”

  “What did you do, Lucy?” I heard nick and Stacy said at the same time. I was sure they were sharing a look of panic.

  “Give me some credit guys,” I shook my head “I told him that I was ready for his family and close friends and stuff to know that we have a thing,”

  “A thing?” she asked and I could hear a huge smile on her face.

  “That’s what I am calling it: a thing,” I said and heard her screaming on the other side.