by Kailin Gow
“That’s called a crush, Lina, and it isn’t the same as true love,” I said.
She started to raise another donut to my mouth and I put my hand up. I would go into sugar shock if I had another. They were good, but not my addiction of choice.
“Perhaps, but the crush turned to love,” she said.
“When you found out that he had some serious perverse sexual desires, or when you realized that he wasn’t faithful to you?” I spat. I realized how horrible that sounded and immediately regretted it. “I’m so sorry, Lina, I didn’t mean to…”
She interrupted. “Yes, you did. Look, Simon, I didn’t mean to hurt you at all. I’m sorry if I did. I love Ralph and we’re getting married.”
“Then why did you break your engagement to him in the first place, Lina?”
“Because I was confused. He was my first real boyfriend and fiancé, and then I met you.”
I froze. If I confused her, then she must have felt something for me. I let her keep talking, wanting to hear more. What did I mean to her?
“I saw him through your eyes for a while and he seemed like a ruthless man. Then there was that whole Gloria thing…he was cheating behind my back with her, although he says it’s just sex to him. But…”
My silence was short lived. “Is he going to stop seeing her? Did he? He should be committed fully to you if he is marrying you. You should accept nothing less from your future husband.” Lina looked at me and her eyes widened and then narrowed. I could tell that she was thinking about how to answer.
“He said that he ended it when I got back together with him and confirmed the engagement was still on. He’s serious about me, Simon. I know you’re worried about me, that Ralph may not be sincere about his motives in marrying me, but he told me he will prove his love and commitment to me. So, Simon, please don’t worry about me. Things will be fine for all of us. You’ll see.”
“And you feel like you can just take him at his word?” I asked.
“If I can’t take the word of the man I love, than whose word can I take?” she replied. I had no answer for that. “Well, I’ve got to get going. I have a lot to do…getting married in just two weeks.”
Lina jumped up and slid over the box of donuts to me, kissed me on the forehead, and then left. I’m glad she did because I was rendered speechless. What could I say to get through to this woman? Did it mean so little to her that I had fallen in love with her?
She was gone and there I was at The Daily Dozen, alone with a box of donuts and a large cup of coffee. Oh how the mighty could fall. I lifted up the lid and put one more into my mouth and chewed it down, followed by a sip of the hot coffee. Then I got up to leave, walking back to my office at about half the speed that I’d used to go and meet Lina. She was really going through with this thing.
Twenty minutes later, I came in and said, “I’m back, Pamela. How’s it going?”
“Good, it was pretty easy to weed out about twenty people since you’ve been gone. I created a new file with their names for future cross-reference titled One Track.” She smiled at me slyly.
I started laughing. “Like one track mind? I love it.” I was so thankful for the laugh, too. “Oh, and Tina called. Said she was returning your call.”
“Excellent, thanks. If you want, you can take lunch. Just lock the door before you go,” I said.
“Thanks, Simon….you okay?”
“I’m good, just a crazy day. Did you know they have maple bacon mini donuts?”
“Yes, my kids love those, but they’re a bit too much for me.”
“I feel like I should do a sugar detox from eating them,” I said jokingly.
“It’s a good thing you have those in your supplement line then,” she replied with a gentle smile.
I walked into my office and shut the door and went over to my phone to call Tina.
“Hey, thanks for calling me back, Tina. I have an idea to run by you,” I said.
“Okay, what is it?” she asked.
“It has to do with my image. This entire thing has gotten really crazy and I need some ways to turn my image around just a bit. What do you think?”
“It’s hard to want to tweak with a masterpiece, you’re an agent’s dream,” Tina said honestly.
“I understand that, but what about when I’m not this age anymore and I do have to get more serious. Shouldn’t I have some credibility now that goes beyond all the rumors circulating about?”
“I suppose,” Tina replied. I heard her reluctance. “Are they just rumors?”
Bold question. “What do you think?” I countered.
She laughed and I could imagine the way she blushed when I talked that way. “Oh Simon, you’re just so good the way you are.”
We hung up and I thought about what she said. I hoped I was good for more than flirtatious double talk and making people respond to me because I happened to be blessed with some good looks. The body, that was my doing, but the looks were gifts that I had just happened to be given.
Chapter 6
I was aware that my situation with Lina didn’t just involve me. Others were affected by it too, oddly enough, including Matt. It had been only three days since his world had quickly been kicked out from underneath him and his credibility had taken a huge blow…all because of Ralph Bixby. So yeah, I was eager to expose him for the asshole he was, and he was one, whether Lina loved him or not.
“Hey, want to go out for a drink tonight?” I asked Matt.
“That would be great. Oliver’s Lounge, 7 tonight?” he asked.
“Are things better?” I asked.
“I have my publicist working on it, but as for everything else, it’s still gone to shit…as of this moment, anyway,” he said.
“Sorry about that, man, I’m working on it. Well, we’ll diffuse a bit tonight. See you later.”
“Later,” Matt said.
With that settled, I got back to work and had a sit down with Pamela, who was extraordinary. I was already attached to her and her ability to sort through the disaster that had become my practice. I had every assurance that with her insight and commitment, I could be back on track in no time at all.
“You’ve gotten through the first round of eliminations?” I asked incredulously.
“Yes, I have the notes for you, Simon, and want you to double check them, as you are the professional in this area, but I feel confident in my findings, plus my instincts.”
“Instincts are half the battle and when they go, things get complicated. Thankfully mine are coming back, and I owe it a great deal to you,” I said.
“I can’t disagree there. Once you veer from them, though, you realize how valuable they are,” she replied casually.
I could tell she was referencing something personal but didn’t feel it was the time to ask her about it. I did care, though, but we had to stay focused. Time was precious and every minute needed to count.
“From what I see, there are about twenty legitimate leads, people who may be clients,” Pamela said.
“Great, let’s schedule them in, starting for two days out. I have an intern coming over that’s a Psychology graduate student with an emphasis in Human Sexuality—thanks to your great idea. I think it’ll make a huge difference for this next round of evaluations.”
“Sounds good, standard business hours for the appointments?” she asked.
“Yeah, six per day, that’s a good limit,” I said. “Well, I think that’s about it.”
“Great, I’ll get right on this, Simon,” Pamela said. She stood up and walked toward the door and I was already looking down at my laptop, lost in thought.
Before I knew it, 7:00 p.m. had arrived and I was walking into Oliver’s Lounge, ready to meet Matt and have a drink. I liked the place because it was kind of low key, not our usual hang-out, which was something I believe we both welcomed after the week we’d each had.
I walked up to Matt, who was sitting at a small table in front of one of the large two story picture windows that looked at t
he buildings of downtown Seattle. It was like a private window to the world in a way, a place to people watch and have a conversation that was fairly private.
“Hey,” I said.
“Hi,” Matt said, smiling brightly at me.
“You’re in a good mood. Can I take that as good news?”
Matt shook his head. “Finally got a break. Got a call this afternoon and the accounts are restored, the partner’s back in, and all seems to be well. It’s like magic.”
“The magic of one of the biggest pricks I’ve ever met,” I said casually, “but I’m really glad Matt. And how about the PR campaign for Gloria’s smearing?”
“That is going well, too. It’s a bit crazy because women have become a bit more bold in telling me what they’d like, but man, I’m not interested. I never thought I’d say it, but I’m set to take a break from women. They’ve caused me a hell of a lot of problems the past week.”
“I agree, to taking a break,” I said.
The waitress came over and took our order. Despite Oliver’s being known for its martinis, we both went for a tumbler of Glenfiddich scotch on the rocks. It was a night to celebrate—at least a bit.
With drinks in hands, we gently clanked glasses, toasting Matt’s good news and how my fortune had started to turn around.
“So, are you over Lina now that you know she’s absolutely getting married and loves the guy?” Matt asked me.
“The logical answer is yes and I can say that with confidence right now, but damn, every time that woman calls to see me a ‘yes’ comes out of my mouth despite my inner common sense screaming ‘no.’ It’s crazy, unchartered territory, Matt.”
“Who would have thought that you’d fall for a woman with such an impossible situation,” he said calmly.
“Not me, but leave it to me to continue everything with a non-conventional approach,” I said.
“Maybe that’s why you like her, you can’t have her. It shows you’re willing, but you’re intentionally self-sabotaging the idea, Simon.”
“Whoa…don’t turn psychologist on me,” I said quickly.
“The rapid fire response leads me to believe that I touched a nerve, my friend. Don’t worry, I’m hardly the one to judge you. Just months ago I was the one saying that I’d like to settle down some day so I’m not opposed to the idea, you know.”
“I still have a hard time seeing the happiness in the Lina and Bixby relationship,” I confessed.
“Well, to be blunt, it has to be there. She’s surely not marrying him just so I’d get my club back. I’m grateful, don’t get me wrong, but there’s more to it,” Matt said.
Before I could respond, two beautiful women walked over, strutting their bodies and making sure their cleavage got its fair share of attention. “Hey, mind if we join you?” the one asked.
Like we were reading each other’s minds, Matt and I both said, “No thanks,” at the same time.
Their faces were dejected and they walked away, but with considerably less sex swag than what they’d walked up with.
Matt leaned in. “It’s crazy, I have no clue who might be a Bixby plant or who’s really hitting on me right now. I can’t stand that.”
“I completely understand. That Gloria is a real number, isn’t she? I think she really does have problems and have no doubts that Bixby is playing her, but she doesn’t seem to care.”
“You can’t help them all, Simon, although you give a noble effort.”
“And I’m adjusting that up as we speak,” I said. “My new receptionist is amazing and has really helped me sort this mess out.”
“That’s good. My PR person has helped me out a lot, too, and it’s made a huge difference. You know, when I worked my way up to the level of success I’ve reached, I really never gave a lot of thought to how my privacy would become so public. If I was not a one percenter, nobody would care who I was playing around with and why.”
“True, but there’s no going back so we just need to finesse our approach going forward,” I said. “I’ve gotten an intern from the university right now to help act as a buffer. I think it’ll help a lot and if Bixby is still up to something, it’ll be a great buffer for me.”
“Good plan,” Matt said. Then he sighed and put his eyes down for a brief second.
“What is it?” I asked.
“I don’t know, I guess that it would have been nice if you didn’t make such an enemy in Bixby. He’s a pain in the ass and the wrath he can unleash is insane, hard to process, really.”
“I didn’t seek him out to be an ass, but sure enough, he doesn’t like me. Never has much, according to him. Started out as jealously, went to my success, and now it’s back to jealousy, I guess.”
“Hopefully he’ll be done with it once he and Lina are married,” Matt said.
“I got an invitation,” I said.
“Me too. Are you going to go, Simon?”
“Maybe, not really sure yet,” I said. “It would be easier to send a gift and a card and be done with it.”
“I’m going.”
“To congratulate the happy couple or to try to be in better positioning with Bixby?” I asked.
“Definitely Bixby, I’ve got to play it smart with him now because I know firsthand how easy it is for him to take it all away. So, until my attorney can ensure that my business is Bixby proof, I’ll play nice. You’d be smart to do the same thing.”
“Nice is dull,” I said.
“And so is broke,” Matt said.
“Touché, man.” I raised my glass and finished down the amber liquid. I turned and signaled for the waitress to bring over another round. We talked for another hour or so, and then we went our separate ways—alone and without any temptation to enjoy the company of any woman, less it be a friendly chat with our mothers.
Chapter 7
Today was a good day. I was excited to start a new workout cycle with Matt, one that would push the limits even further than what they had been previously. Yeah, it was going to be good and any tension that may have been lingering in me would fade away. I’d even managed to put Lina into perspective, not calling her or expecting a call back from her. If she was happy and in love and planning for a wedding, she had no reason to call me.
Matt was doing a new set of snatches with seventy pound kettlebells, a crazy strong set and I was watching him, keeping count and making sure his form stayed strong as the set continued and I saw two sets of eyes on us from the distance, reflecting in the mirror. I quickly turned around and saw Lina and Ralph. They were standing there watching us. So much for my efforts to not call; I could control those but I couldn’t do a thing about running into them.
Matt finished and the two walked up. “Hi Simon, Hi Matt,” Lina said, smiling brightly.
“Hey, what are you doing here?” I asked.
“Ralph and I are just working out, getting set for the wedding, right Ralph?” she said, glancing at him and looping her arm through his protectively.
“Yeah, lots to do. I’m enjoying it quite a bit. Lina’s a great trainer,” he said, smiling at her.
I wanted to throw up.
“Well, glad you’re doing good,” Matt said, leaning over and shaking Ralph’s hand. “Do you need any help around the gym? I could get you a trainer if you like.”
“No, we’re good,” Lina answered, taking control.
Why was she doing that? I really couldn’t understand it and it was suspicious, to say the least. I saw her glance at Ralph and then look back to us. “Hey, I was wondering if you two had any plans this weekend?” she asked.
“No, not really,” Matt answered all too quickly.
“And you, Simon, how about you?” she asked.
“I’m not really sure right now, why?” I replied. I was not committing to anything that I didn’t know what was, especially with either of these two involved.
“Well, I’ve planned out Ralph’s entire bachelor party and it’s in Vegas this weekend. Lots of guys from your frat will be there and a few
others, most of them you know, or have at least heard of, I imagine, and I think you guys would have a blast,” she said.
“You planned his bachelor party?” I asked.
“She’s a hell of a fiancé,” Ralph said to me.
“Yes, I guess so,” I said, more to myself than anyone. I glanced up at Matt.
Matt looked at me and then turned to Ralph. “We’d love to go. Make sure you get us the details.”
“Great!” Lina answered. “Winning Wings will be the jet service and there’ll be about ten of you. I can promise you that it’s going to be a great time,” Lina said.
“Looking forward to it,” Matt answered.
“Well, hon, let’s get back to our exercise and leave these guys be,” Ralph replied, putting his hand around Lina’s waist.
