Todd was waiting at their usual table when he arrived back at the diner.
“Hey, bro,” he said, looking up.
“Hi, did you know Marissa was looking to date?”
“Sure. And why wouldn’t she be? She’s a pretty girl, in case you haven’t noticed.”
“Of course I’ve noticed. I just, I mean, does she really need to be set up with a friend of Chase’s?”
“I guess she hasn’t met anyone here who is interested.”
“That’s what she just said.” He tapped his fingers on the table.
Mike knew Todd meant him. Back in the day, he’d had quite a thing for Marissa; well, it had been a mutual thing. In fact, they’d even made out one night before they went off to college but that hadn’t meant anything. They were just kids. He knew she’d had other boyfriends since, and he himself had eloped at college. It was a short and disastrous marriage that had taught him one thing: he was not marriage material.
“So, naturally, she needs to broaden her horizons.”
“Do you ever plan to settle down, Todd?”
His brother gave his head a firm shake. “It’s not for me.”
“The Kowalski men are not meant to marry.”
“I don’t know. I think our Dad was a pretty good husband,” Todd said.
“Well, perhaps we take after our mother then.”
“Shit, I hope not. Lovely woman, lousy taste in husbands.”
“You got that right.”
Mike and Todd had endured two stepfathers since their own father passed away. The first a former marine, part-time fire-fighter, and full-time jerk. The second a cheap and controlling bastard. His mother was married again, but they didn’t really know this guy. He had moved their mother down to Florida, and she didn’t seem too keen to have her sons visit.
“Of course, as Marissa is a lovely girl and our friend,” Todd added, “she deserves to be happy. You are supposed to want that for her, brother.”
Mike nodded. He wanted her to be happy of course, but he sure didn’t want her to marry some guy from out of town and move away. “Can’t she be happy here?”
“I’m sure she could, Mike, but she wants a partner. Know anyone up to the task?”
Myrna came and took their orders. Mike had the usual, which was a cheeseburger. Todd’s order varied and he had chili today. They were the same but different.
“No one springs to mind for Marissa,” he said.
“Well then, we’ll have to let Chase take a chance.”
Todd was giving him that look, that “I know what you’re thinking and you’re an idiot” look. Todd could think what he liked. Once bitten, twice shy.
By the end of the week, Marissa was ready to put her mother on a plane two weeks early and send her off right now. She’d taken her to three doctors to get her medical records sent to North Carolina, she’d made five dinners for her mother, which she had sniffed at, she’d managed to get the house listed and arranged a truck to take the items her parents did want shipped down to their new home, and she’d kept up a full-time job.
She knew her mother was excited, and she also knew she should probably be relieved that she was no longer going to be catering to her mother’s many demands, but she was still kind of hurt about the way the whole thing had been handled and more than a little terrified of being left alone in New Hampshire.
She was out taking the trash cans to the yard when her father followed her out to the back porch.
“Dad, it’s cold out. You don’t have a jacket on.”
“I’m sure I’ll be fine.” He rubbed his hands together and blew on them.
“If you get sick, we’ll never hear the end of it.”
“Well, you will because we’ll be in North Carolina.” She grinned.
“Oh yeah.” She sighed. She was doing way too much of that lately.
“Listen, pumpkin, I just want to say that I know that this has been a pretty quick decision, and we didn’t really talk it through with you.”
“Oh really, Dad, I hardly noticed.”
“Okay, fair enough.” His grin stayed in place. “I know it seems a bit like we’re jumping ship, but I wouldn’t have gone along with it if I didn’t honestly believe it was the best thing for you.”
“For me?”
“Honey, it has not escaped my notice that your world has gotten very small as you’ve spent your nights taking care of us. I know we’ve been sick and your mother is rather demanding . . .”
“Again, I hadn’t noticed.” She was grinning now, too.
“My point is I know this is sudden and I know we should have both discussed it with you and planned better, but I think it’s going to be good for you to be set free.”
“I never felt trapped, Dad.” Did he think that?
“I know, pumpkin, but the truth is you have been and I’ve watched you change and lose confidence, and I don’t want that for you. Whether you stay in this town or go elsewhere to live, you need freedom to find your path without us.”
“What if I don’t find it?” That was what was terrifying her. Maybe it had been too easy to fall into the habit of looking after her parents and putting other things on hold. Now that she had the option to find her own way, what if she couldn’t?
“You will. Embrace change, take risks, try new things, do things you used to love . . . what have you got to lose?”
He was right. She had nothing much left to lose. He gave her a big hug. “Okay, Dad, I’ll try.”
“Not try, do,” he said, shuffling back into the warm house.
He was right. Look at her. It was Friday night and she was spending it taking the trash cans out in order to avoid her mother. Not exactly living the high life, was she? Well, all that was about to change.
She raced up to her room, the room of her childhood, and called Lucy.
“Hey, Lucy, I’m ready to make some changes.”
Half an hour later she had a whole action plan of things to do to shake up her life, and for the first time in a long time, the plans she’d made didn’t involve her family or Mike Kowalski, who was no longer on her to-do list at all.
Chapter 5
It was Saturday, and Mike was in the office. The truth was he didn’t have to be here but he didn’t have that much else to do. His apartment was neat enough, and he’d finished the thriller he was reading the night before. He was going to watch the game later with his brother and some of the guys, but in the meantime, he was at a loose end. So he was doing what he often did when he was at a loose end, he was archiving some old files.
He’d been running the paper for a year now, but the previous editor and his mentor, Frank, had been there for fifty years before that. To say there was a backlog of filing was an understatement. Frank never really had embraced the concept of a paperless office.
As if he knew his papers were being moved, Frank came in through the front door.
“Hey, son, I had a feeling I’d find you here.”
Frank was dressed in his plaid gold pants and a yellow sports shirt. To say he was in bright contrast to the brown paneling and old vinyl furniture was an understatement.
“Hey, Frank, how was bowling?” He knew Frank played golf every Saturday in the summer and bowled every Saturday in the winter.
“Excellent game, son. Excellent.”
Frank helped himself to a coffee and sat down on the sofa. “So, working on a weekend again I see.”
“Yes, thought I’d get some things ready to archive.”
Frank sipped his coffee and then peered over the rim at Mike. “You know why I never got to the filing, son?”
“You hated it?”
The old man chuckled. “Well, yeah, of course I hated it, everyone hates filing, so naturally it never was at the top of my to-do list, but there is another reason, too.”
“Oh yeah, what’s that?” He was busy putting some papers from 1995 in a box; he was listening to Frank but only halfheartedly.
“I was too busy having a life.”<
br />
That stopped Mike short. “I have a life.”
“No, son, you have a job. By your age I had a wife and a child. Then I had two more kids, a mortgage, a golf league, and then six grandkids and I was the Chairman of the Rotary Club. I did that and I had this job. This is all you have; it’s not enough.”
He didn’t like Frank coming in here and lecturing him. “I’m pretty happy with the way things are, Frank.”
“This is the advice, that other stuff was just the facts. I know you eloped with that girl in college and it was a disaster. I know you’ve seen some crazy relationships, but you’ve got to give yourself a chance. You’re way too young and too good of a guy to be shutting yourself off.”
“Frank . . .”
“You don’t have to marry the first girl you buy a cocktail for, but you need to get back in the game or you’re going to find yourself sad and alone and left behind.”
“That’s a pretty picture you paint, Frank.”
“Mike, you know I care about you like you’re one of my own kids. I’ve known you since you were a teenager. I want you to be happy.” The old man picked his coffee cup up and placed it on the desk. “Just think about what I said, okay?”
“Sure, Frank.” How could he not?
The thing was Mike knew a thing or two about himself that Frank didn’t. He never wanted to admit it, but when he was in love with Ebony, he’d been consumed by it. She’d been like a drug, and he didn’t want to be that guy again ever. More than that, though, he didn’t want to be that guy here in this town where people kind of respected him, even if they apparently also thought he was a shut-in. Better that than flaking out, running off to Vegas, and putting people’s livelihoods in jeopardy. This paper was the lifeblood of the town. It was how people advertised their stores, lots of them almost only got local business and they were already struggling to compete with big box stores in larger towns and online retailers. He took that seriously because he loved the town and all the things it represented, and he didn’t want to jeopardize it.
“Do you think I’m a sad, cutoff, lonely person?” Mike asked Todd the minute he walked through the back door of his brother’s house as he was still shucking his coat.
“Of course,” Todd answered, looking up from whatever he was doing on his laptop at the kitchen table. “Why do you ask?”
“Frank kind of came into the office and told me to get a life today.” He went to his brother’s fridge and grabbed two beers, tossing one across the room to his sibling.
“That was nice of him.” The beer popped open with a fizz.
“Well, he meant well, I guess. What do you think? I mean, I don’t see you settling down into marital bliss.”
“That’s true. I also don’t live like a monk.”
“I don’t live like a monk.”
“When did you last get laid?” his brother asked.
Well, come to think of it, that was probably months ago at a conference in Chicago. He’d hooked up with an old college friend.
“A while.”
“You?”
“Monday.”
“You got laid on Monday?” Seriously, how did he not know that?
“Sure. I was up in Portland, remember?”
“You have a girl in Portland?” More stuff he didn’t know.
“I have a few girls in a few places. I don’t want to get married, dude, but I like the ladies. I just try to get them from out of town, and then they know I’m not around much and that helps manage expectations. Not just of the ladies but of the whole town. Between Esme and Marissa, I get enough grief as it is.”
“How did I not know this?” he asked his brother.
“You never asked, and so I never told you.”
“It’s like I don’t even know you.” Mike sighed into his beer. “You’re making me question my journalistic instincts.”
“You know me, brother.” Todd laughed. “You just don’t know about my sex life, which is how I like it.”
“At least you have one.”
“We may be twins but we’re very different guys.” Mike looked at him and waved his hand for him to go on. He was going to chug down some beer while he waited. “I know what I want.”
“Oh yeah? What’s that?”
“I want to be left alone most of the time to design my apps. I want to make money. I want good friends, good sex, and to be in control of my life. I don’t want anyone else calling the shots ever again.”
“Yeah, sounds like me.” That was what Mike wanted, too.
His brother shook his head. “No, it really doesn’t. You’re not having sex, you love being with people, and the truth is you’re, by nature, a monogamous guy. You want the girl, but it terrifies you because you just might like someone up in your business every day.”
“No.”
Todd raised a hand. “Look, you picked Ebony because she was wrong for you, you picked the craziest woman you could and let her take you on her magic carpet ride. Then when you crashed, you said, ‘I’m done.’ That’s not me. I never picked a girl because I know I don’t want one.”
Maybe his brother was right. He didn’t know much of anything anymore.
“I can’t screw up again.”
“So don’t.”
“Really, you think it’s that easy?” He let out a hollow laugh.
“For you, with the right girl, I think it could be.”
“But not for you?”
“Now you have it.” Todd drained his beer. “Now prepare to be beaten in an epic Minecraft battle.”
“Bring. It. On.”
Chapter 6
The town Christmas tree lighting was one of Marissa’s favorite events in the whole calendar year. She had attended every year of her life and couldn’t imagine ever missing it. This was what life in a small town was all about. Community and tradition.
Her hands were wrapped around a delicious hot chocolate, and she let out a sigh.
It had been a long month, but the previous Monday she’d put her parents on a plane down to their new life in North Carolina. On Tuesday, a truck had come to take away their most treasured possessions. The house still had some furniture, but it felt like she was walking around the ghosts of family past.
She was still living in the house because nowhere suitable had come up in town, but she’d viewed a condo only a couple of blocks from the library that would be available in January. She didn’t like being in the house alone with all the memories lurking, but she was a big girl and she certainly could stay there another month.
As sad as she’d been to see her parents go, and she had cried the whole drive home from the airport, she was glad it was done. Now it was time to move forward with her life.
Of course you didn’t have to let go of the good stuff when you moved forward. Todd was standing next to her with a warm hard cider. He was the good stuff. Solid, kind, and reliable.
“The new decorations look good,” he said.
“They do. I hated when they were all purple for a couple of years, that wasn’t one of Patty’s better ideas. I’m glad that they’ve gone traditional again.”
“You are, if nothing else, a traditional girl,” he teased. He was right. She was a girl who liked snowmen and tinsel and hot chocolate. She cried at Christmas movies and Christmas carols.
“Nothing wrong with tradition,” she said, taking a sip of the hot chocolate that the diner had made to the same recipe her entire life. “Anyway, I don’t see you exactly breaking out of the mold.”
“True, although I did build a three-story tree house for an office. That’s a little bit untraditional.”
“Quiet rebellion from the boy who never grew up. You know you have a wicked Peter Pan complex, my friend.”
“So you keep telling me,” he said, shoving her with his shoulder.
It was a pity Todd was her most loyal friend and that they had zero physical attraction. They both loved their hometown, and they enjoyed a lot of the same things, such as poker and science fiction
movies, but they both knew they were not meant for each other.
The children’s choir from the elementary school began to sing “O Christmas Tree” as the mayor flipped the switch on the tree lights. It was a perfect night in small-town America. She didn’t need a man to be happy, she reminded herself. It was okay to want one, but she didn’t need one.
Of course, the man she had liked the most and for the longest was over by the tree, taking some pictures. He was a photographer as well as a journalist sometimes.
He was wearing a Christmas sweater. Just like everyone in the Square. It was tradition. He didn’t normally wear red, and the bright color did something to her insides. Maybe it was the contrast to his dark hair. He spotted them and gave a little wave.
“So, big party tomorrow night. Got a sexy little number to wear?” Todd asked.
“Sure, don’t you?”
“Maybe I’ll wear my silkiest tie. I think it’s great you’re getting out there and meeting new people, Marissa.”
“Yeah, well, I haven’t actually done anything yet. Maybe none of Chase’s friends will like me.”
He slung his arm around her shoulder and kissed her temple. “Honey, they will love you. You’re adorable.”
“I don’t want to be adorable. I want to be hot.”
She felt him smile against the side of her face. “Well, don’t wear this sweater then. It’s not exactly sexpot material.”
“Noted.” A glowing light-up reindeer didn’t exactly scream sex appeal.
“I think you’re going to be beating off the guys with a stick.”
She didn’t feel quite so confident, but she was certainly going to give it a go. She let her eyes glance back to Mike. Sorry, buddy, you’ve missed your chance, she thought. Time to move right on.
Chapter 7
Mike hardly recognized Marissa. Her darn curly hair was straightened, and she was wearing very tight red jeans and a small mohair Christmas sweater that slid off one shoulder. Her heels were high and her jewelry was big. Where was the real Marissa?
Any Way You Plan It: An Upper Crust Series Novel Page 3
