Steeling My Haart

by Lizzy Roberts

  “Hey there, darlin’, pleased to meet you. And please call me Lou. I’ve heard a lot about you, but he never told me how gorgeous you were,” he said in a deep, throaty drawl, before releasing her from his arms. She blushed slightly and watched him take a step back towards Bruce. She had to admit they made a stunning couple. Bruce was tall and lean, but Lou dwarfed him with his added height and sheer bulk.

  “It’s a pleasure, Lou. I’m so glad to meet you, too.” She smiled warmly at Lou and turning to Bruce she whispered, “You forgot to tell me just how gorgeous he is.” She winked at him as she did.

  “Hey there, stop eyeing up my man, I might start to get jealous if you keep looking at him like you want to eat him for dessert!” Bruce teased back as they all burst into laughter. Her heart burst for them as she observed their silent exchange and she knew that Bruce had definitely made the right decision to fight for him.

  “Well, guys, I hope you don’t think me rude, but I think you may have some catching up to do and I’m absolutely exhausted after the last couple of days so if you don’t mind, I’m going to order a snack from the room service and then soak for at least an hour in that amazing looking tub in my bathroom.” She stifled a yawn and as she turned toward her room she caught Bruce’s grateful expression.

  He approached her and hugged her hard, whispering, “Thanks for everything, Emma, and I’m so glad you got to meet him.”

  “Me, too, now go get him back and don’t let him go again.” She scolded quietly, smiling at Lou over Bruce’s shoulder. As a wave of exhaustion washed over her, she was actually glad of a free evening to simply relax and sleep. As she headed to the desk in the corner of her room to order the room service, she noticed the message button flashing in her cell phone. It was Jennie with some last minute issues she was having on a big project that Emma was dealing with. After absorbing herself in work matters for a while, her food was finally delivered to the suite. She took the salad and fruit she had ordered into her room and ate at the desk by the window. As she was finishing the food, her cell rang again and as she picked it up, she assumed it was Jennie again when she saw the number was blocked.

  “Hello, Emma speaking,” she answered.

  “Em it’s me. Lily.” came the whispered reply.

  “Lil? Is everything alright, hun?” She replied, a small wave of panic slowly rising at the urgent tone she heard in Lily’s voice.

  “Yes and no. Listen, I can’t talk long, but I might need your help again. I know you’re away and I’m so sorry to disturb you, but with everything that’s going on here I’m trying to get my stuff sorted. I popped into work today and I have had some papers drawn up, you know, dealing with everything in the event that something happens to me. I need to know if you are okay if we nominate you as the kids’ guardian?” She continued to whisper and spoke pretty rapidly as if she needed to get everything out as quickly as possible

  “Lil, you are worrying me, but yes of course you know I’m here for you and would do anything you need me to for those gorgeous kids. But why are you doing all this now, and what about Gary? What’s going on? Are you safe?” she demanded.

  “I don’t want to say, and trust me it’s safer that way for now. I just need to know that if anything were to happen that you get the kids, okay, its important right now that I know that.” The cagey reply did nothing to reassure her at all

  “Okay, yes, you know I will, but we need to talk, Lil, you can’t ask this of me out of the blue and not tell me what’s happening. You know if there is a problem you have a key to my apartment where you and the kids can be safe, right?” she delved.

  “I know, Em, and I don’t need it. You’ll find it all out soon enough. Thanks for agreeing, you really don’t know what this all means to me to know you are there, especially when I don’t have my parents or any back up. Look, I’ve got to run and I know its asking a lot but please don’t worry about me. I love you, Em, and am so grateful for everything. You’ll hear from me when you are back over the weekend and we can try and get together to catch up properly, okay?” The emotion now unmistakable in her voice was even more unsettling.

  “Okay, hun,” Emma replied and before she could say anything else, the line went dead. She threw the phone onto the desk in front of her. She was stunned and she sat back in her chair staring down at her cell, looking at it as if it could give her a clue as to what that conversation was all about. She picked it up and scrolled through her contacts and dialed the number she had stored for Lily. The line disconnected immediately and switched to the answer machine, as if the cell was switched off. She didn’t want to leave a voice message so she flicked to her messages and fired a text off to Lily,

  EMMA: Text me to let me know you’re okay. I’m worried. M

  Within minutes, a text pinged back and Emma dove for the phone.

  LILY: I’m fine, hun. No need to worry. Roll on the weekend.

  Somewhat pacified with the brief response, she threw down the phone and headed to the bathroom and ran a hot bath. She would get to the bottom of this when she saw Lily over the weekend. As she sank deep into the hot bubbles, the remaining tension of the last few days left her body and within an hour she was exhausted and leaving the now cold bath, the wrapped herself in the fluffy bath towel and fell into bed just minutes before she was falling into a deep and restful sleep.

  Chapter Fifteen

  The rest of the trip to Las Vegas went by in a blur of networking and meetings with the industry players. Emma had made so many new contacts and had an encouraging promise of a boost to her work portfolio over the coming months. She was particularly pleased to have been personally sought out by several key people in the business and had secured meetings back in New York with two large franchising firms and another large advertising agency. She had to admit, she was good at her job, even though she wasn’t fully happy.

  By Thursday morning, after two hectic days and two blissful nights of restful sleep, Emma was ready to head home and face reality. Last night she had been treated to another night out with guys and even shown a thing or two about Las Vegas by her new found gambling buddy, Lou. Last night had been the release they all needed, and despite none of them drinking much, they had managed to have a brilliant evening. She had already bonded with both of the guys over the last couple of days but last night was the icing on the cake. She hadn’t had so much fun and laughter in one evening as she had last night since the night Charlie had walked away. Because it had been so much fun, she was pretty sad to be returning to New York and her self-inflicted solitary life there.

  It had been nice to have the guys around and although they had needed to work through a lot of issues themselves, they also respected her space. They had been entertaining and watching them bouncing off each other had been a welcome distraction for her. She was already missing their calm demeanors and laid-back banter and they hadn’t even left the hotel. They were truly in love, she could see it in the way they were together and it broke her heart that they had felt the need to hide something so beautiful for so long. After a deep discussion the prior evening, they had decided to come clean to Bruce’s father, even if it meant him losing everything but Lou. He had told her that he realized just how lucky he was, and even if it had been Emma’s sad story that reaffirmed that, it made her thankful she had been part of what had helped.

  As they packed up and headed to the airport together, a gloomy mood suddenly descended over the trio. The guys appeared caught up in their own thoughts and had been busy all morning planning what would happen when they returned. Lou had his own apartment around the corner from hers, and it turned out that M’s Place has been their secret meeting place for a long while. Lou was a successful musical composer and had a lot of his work appearing in a few hit movies and he made a more than comfortable living from television work. She had been impressed with some of the films he had worked on, and also discovered his team was responsible for bringing some of the most annoying commercial jingles to taunt her from the small screen.
She knew Bruce would be okay either way. He had Lou to fall back on and seeing them sitting together in the town car limo that had collected them, holding hands and smiling, she knew everything would work out for them. Whether Arnauld approved of his son’s choices or not, they had each other. And she had gained two good friends out of all of the mess.

  Emma now needed to plan ahead and decide what she was going to do with her life. The incident with Bruce on Tuesday evening had really brought home to her that she needed closure and to move on. Their drunken tête-à-tête had helped her to offload a lot of the heartache she was carrying and she vowed with herself to make the first few steps to creating a new outlook on life during the next few months. The fact she had torn and thrown away Charlie’s letter, the one small thing that she had been clinging to for so long, marked a huge step in the right direction. As they drove nearer to the airport, the distance between her and that part of her past was increasing, not just physically, but in a metaphoric sense, too.

  When they arrived at the airport, they all boarded a similar chartered jet to the one she has flown down on with Bruce. The loved up couple took the large leather couch to the right hand side of the jet, whilst Emma settled herself at the table opposite, hoping to get a chance to do some work on the flight back. The captain spoke over the internal speakers to give a brief safety announcement and weather update as the plane commenced taxiing for takeoff.

  As the plane lifted from the runway, she startled slightly as she was drawn from her thoughts when Lou said, “Emma, I hope you don’t mind me saying this, but I want you to know just how grateful I am that you have brought this amazing guy here out of his own ass and made him realize how special he is to me.” He paused, a serious expression crossing his handsome face as he turned to Bruce, who beamed at him. “What we have is somethin’ real special, and you’ve helped us to get back on track. I will forever be grateful to you for that, darlin’. I just want you to know if is there anything, and I mean anything, we can do to help you out we’re here for you, anytime.”

  “Thanks, guys, I really appreciate it. I’m going to take each day as it comes for now. No promises, but I want to find the love you two have one day. That’s my new ambition.” She sighed as she regarded them both fondly and felt blessed to be here with them, to witness just how good life could be with the right someone by your side. “I hope there is someone special out there just for me. I promise I will try my best to find him.”

  “Bruce told me a little of what you’ve been through, darlin’, and no one can blame you for being guarded, but life doesn’t have to be that way.”

  “No! Lou is right, Emma. Life can feel good. You opened my eyes to the fact that living my life the way others want me to, doesn’t bring happiness. It’s damned lonely and depressing. If you don’t mind me saying so, from where I’m sitting right now it looks like you’re right there where I was only a few days ago. Tell me honestly, are you doing everything you have been doing for yourself? I mean your career was your choice wasn’t it? And living in New York alone has to be your plan, right? Or are you living the life you think you should because of Charlie? Because he told you to go out there and do it?” he challenged her.

  “I honestly don’t know,” Emma huffed, feeling defeated at Bruce’s challenge. “I feel like the happiness will come when I know the answer to that question, but I really don’t have a clue anymore. Maybe I need a break from it all. It’s been a long time since I’ve done anything remotely unrelated to work. The first day we were in Vegas felt like such a refreshing change and it did make me stop and think. But every time I seem to try and make up my mind to sort my life out, Charlie is always there. I swore I even saw him at the conference, I was sure it was him talking in a group at the conference center doors as we went into the Aquarium. He just seems to be everywhere I look. I wonder if it’s just my imagination or wishful thinking sometimes, but recently it feels like he has been there a lot. But enough is enough, I have to pick myself up and try move on.” She sighed wearily.

  “Well, I know I speak for both of us when I say we’re here for you every step of the way, darlin’,” Lou reassured her.

  “I agree, and yes, I feel like we owe you one at the very least. Here, Emma, hand me your phone and I’ll program our private numbers in, if that’s okay? You can get hold of us at anytime that way and trust me when I say you’re stuck with us now. There is no escape, in fact, Lou, I know where she lives as, well!” She giggled as she handed over her cell, and vowed tomorrow would be another day she moved further away from Charlie and towards the future she wanted.

  While she sat on the flight back to New York, her mind began to formulate a plan. With the contacts she had made at the conference and depending on Bruce’s resulting relationship with his father after he announced his big news, she wondered if she could simply pack up and leave New York and go home. She had been craving the serenity of a smaller town and the thought of finally moving back to the place where she grew up and being able to settle near her mom and dad was warming her heart suddenly. She missed them a lot and found herself getting more frustrated at the lack of time she had to visit them. They weren’t getting any younger, and their only daughter leaving for New York had left a gaping hole in their lives. She suddenly felt very homesick. She would be able to do the bulk of her work from home with support and would only need to visit New York from time to time to straighten out her bigger clients if needed. It would be easy to set up a home office, or even with the far more reasonable rates and space availability back home, find a small office space to rent initially. The huge positive was that she still had a few old friends who had settled back home after college that she would happily reconnect with. She made a note to speak to her boss sometime soon and she needed to look into the possibility of either renting her apartment or selling if she did decide leave New York. Things were looking up for her, but one thing stopped her from making that move back, and it was the very same reason that had driven her away. – Charlie Haart.

  Mulling things over, she realized that he was the one and only reason she had always stayed away. She was now vowing to move on without him, but it also meant she also had to be determined not to stop herself being happy and living her life the way she wanted to. Lou was right, to some extent, she had done everything because of him and that stupid letter, and now it was abundantly clear he had no intention of coming back to her. For all she knew, he had moved on himself and settled down years ago. She was stupid to be still holding on to any hope of a future for them but one thing was for sure, she wasn’t going to let him hold her back from moving home any longer.

  First thing tomorrow she was going to instruct a real estate agent to value her apartment and then she was going to make use of the contacts she had forged over the last few days and try and build up herself a decent portfolio of clients. She had to admit, she did enjoy her work and it was a part of her life that she needed to balance more. If her plans came to fruition, this would be easy to manage and she could feel the stirrings of restlessness increasing the nearer she got back to the big city. The only thing she would miss would be Lily and she made a mental note to talk to her about the week’s events and her decision when she met with her over the weekend.

  After frantically scribbling copious notes for much of the flight, they were nearing New York. The flight hostess made a final check of the cabin and roused the two sleeping figures on the opposite couch. She smiled when she thought to herself that they must have made the most of last night as they had slept, huddled in each other’s arms for most of the flight home. Her only hope for them was a good outcome with Arnauld when they finally revealed their relationship.

  After they had arrived safely back in New York, Lou and Bruce insisted on dropping her off on their way back to Lou’ apartment that happened to be on the block just over from Emma’s. They both hugged her tight as the driver unloaded her cases.

  “See you tomorrow. We’ll be in M’s Place at about eight,” Bruce said as he hug
ged Emma goodbye.

  “I’ll be there and I hope you both survive tomorrow. And remember, just be honest and be yourselves. I suspect that your father might have some idea of what’s coming. I don’t take the old man to be that much of a fool, and I hope he surprises you both,” she tried to reassure them.

  “I honestly don’t know what to expect, but thanks for being there for us. See you after work and I hope you have a good day tomorrow, too.” He released her to Lou’ embrace.

  “Thanks, darlin’. It’s been such a pleasure getting’ to know you. You take care now and I’ll see you for one of them amazin’ pumpkin lattes tomorrow.” He kissed her on the cheek and waved as she took her case and headed into her apartment building.

  It was quite late in the evening by the time she had unpacked and done a few chores. She had unpacked her dress and bagged it up with a couple of suits ready to drop at the dry cleaners tomorrow on her way to work, made a list of groceries she needed to collect and after taking a lovely long hot shower, she fired a text to Lily telling her she was home and that she would see her this weekend. She began to worry a bit when she didn’t respond immediately but to take her mind off things and to test the waters on her new plan she then picked up the phone and called her mom and dad.