The Commitment Test (The Marin Test Series Book 2)

by Aksel, Amanda

  “Okay, what if?”

  “He’s so wrong for her. They don’t make any sense. Literally, he barely speaks English. They don’t make verbal sense to each other.”

  “They don’t make any sense? Or they don’t make any sense to you?”

  “Both!” I took a gulp from my cosmopolitan.

  “What happened to love-conquers-all-romantic-Marin, huh?”

  “Holly should be with someone who’s handsome and tall, understands her work is everything to her, and preferably lives in the Bay area.”

  “But if she loves this guy, God forbid, then she needs your support. Geez, I sound like you now.”

  “Hey!” I said, and she rolled her eyes. “Does she have your support?”

  “Never,” Telly hissed with sarcasm. I laughed.

  Telly took another swig from her short glass and cleared her throat. “Okay, I want to talk to you about something too,” she started. My nerves jumbled again. I couldn’t take any more life changing news this week. “So, I’m thinking about doing something big. Like really, really big. Something I never thought was possible until now.”

  Oh, my God. If she was getting married, then I might just kill myself. Tonight. Yes, I’d be known as the girl no one would marry.

  “What is it?” I held her gaze for a moment, looking for the answer telepathically.

  “You know how I’ve been getting consistent referrals from Man Test the last nine months or so?”

  I nodded.

  Telly was so intrigued by the Man Test Company after Rachel and I had used them that she contacted the owner about creating a strategic alliance. Telly was a divorce attorney, after all. At the time, Man Test already had a referral attorney, so they turned down her offer. Telly didn’t take it lying down. She began to use all of her connections to link up with the owner, Serena. Shortly after, the two had become friends and Telly had become their go-to lawyer.

  “Anyway,” Telly said. “I’ve been bringing in so much business that I thought I’d be a shoo-in for senior partner. Nope. So I thought to myself, fuck ‘em. I’ll take my Man Test clients and start my own practice where I’m the boss.”

  A smile grew across my face and my stomach flipped. Was Telly really taking the leap of entrepreneurship? What an incredible declaration!

  “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

  Telly beamed and nodded her confirmation. A scream left my lips and echoed throughout the bar. I grabbed Telly and we jumped around in excitement.

  “Oh, my God. We have to celebrate.” I turned to the bartender. “We need another round.”

  “It’s crazy right. I mean, can I really do this?” Telly asked and gulped more of her whiskey.

  “It’s not crazy. It makes total sense. So what’s the plan?”

  “Well, I already spoke to a junior associate at another firm that interned with me a few years ago. She wants to come on with me. I’m scheduled to look at office spaces this week. All I need to do is hire an assistant and I’m good.”

  “What does Serena think?” I asked, knowing this was her biggest referral source.

  “She’s totally on board and wants to coordinate our branding.”

  Impressive. I wondered if they could use a couples therapist? Everything seemed to be coming together for Telly. I had just one more question. “Are you ready to work your ass off?”

  She raised her glass to mine. “I was born ready, baby.” We toasted to her new venture.

  Telly and I left the bar an hour later, fully celebrated and inebriated. I missed three calls from Holly, a little out of spite and a little because I didn’t want to take the spotlight off of Telly. There was no answer when I tried to call her back. Two could play that game. Oh well, we’d have to talk about it eventually.

  If Holly was, in fact, in love and Telly was really starting her own firm, then I was happy for them. The three of us had grown a little stagnant in our day-to-day lives. It was time for something new, for our lives to evolve. My relationship with James was definitely due for an evolution. Yes, we were apartment hunting. Yes, I was on a quest to make it official. But, nothing substantial had happened yet. I’d have to be patient, as usual.

  James hadn’t called me that evening as promised and I grew worried. He answered the phone just before it went to voicemail. What was he doing?

  “Hey, stranger. Everything okay?” I asked.

  “Mmhmm,” he mumbled. “I was asleep.”

  “Asleep? It’s not even seven o’clock. Do you want me to come over and wake you up?” I asked, hopeful since alcohol stimulated my libido.

  “If you want, but I’m not feeling too well.”

  Oh, no!

  “Really, what’s the matter, baby?” I asked in a sweet, maternal tone.

  “I have no energy and my body’s achy. I probably need a good night of sleep.”

  “Yeah. I’ll let you sleep and check on you in the morning, okay,” I said.

  “Okay.” He made a kissy noise.

  First thing the next morning I called my tired boyfriend back.

  “Feeling better?” I asked.

  “No, I think I have a cold. I’m not going to work today.” His voice cracked and I bit my lower lip. A cold? James was healthy as a horse. I couldn’t ever recall him getting sick. There’d been a few times when he thought he was coming down with something, but then the next day, he was good as new. Interesting that a bug finally got him.

  “Aw, baby. I’ll be over as soon as I can.”

  “No, you don’t have to. Just go to work, and I’ll call you later.”

  “Forget it, James. You’re sick. I’ll be there as soon as I can. Go back to bed.”

  I hated that he wasn’t well, but I had to embrace the fact that this cold had given me a good opportunity to demonstrate my value as a caretaker.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Play House

  Luckily, I had a light day on the schedule at work, so I called Katie to move my patients back. Then I immediately headed over to the grocery store for supplies. As I walked the aisles of the store carrying my basket of get-well goodies, I was happy. Not happy that James was sick, but that the day had given me a purpose, to help him in his time of need. With no pets, children, or husband, I rarely had the opportunity to exercise my nurturing instincts.

  James was tough, the kinda guy who didn’t need help from anybody for anything. Taking care of himself for a decade probably had a lot to do with it. Then again, some other men weren’t nearly as self-sufficient as James. David was a good example, and Rachel babied the shit out of him. Hopefully, James would let me baby him a little today. He’d never been too good at it before.

  Armed with soup, cold meds, vapor rub, and vitamin C, I was ready for the next step.

  Step Three: Play House

  James was upstairs in bed, watching something on his laptop.

  “Hey, baby,” I said.

  “Hey, you.” He cracked a smile that quickly turned into a cough. Poor thing. I slipped off my shoes and slipped into bed next to him.

  “How are you feeling?” I placed the back of my hand against his forehead. He was really warm.

  “Like shit.” He frowned like a helpless little boy.

  So cute.

  My poor James. I pouted my lip and pushed his hair back. “Well, I’m here to take care of you.”

  “Marin, you don’t have to do that. I’ll be fine. You really should be at work.” As he talked, I pulled a thermometer from my purse.

  “Don’t you worry about that, now open your mouth,” I said holding the temperature gauge to his lips. He hesitated for a moment, but when I pursed my lips and raised my brows he relented. After almost a minute, the thermometer beeped.

  “See,” I said, holding the meter to his face. “A hundred and one point four.”

  “Well, that explains it. Man, this sucks,” he pouted. “So I guess I’m stuck in here for awhile.”

  “Afraid so. You’re watching Ace Ventura?” I asked pointing to t
he movie on the screen.

  “Yeah, I used to watch it on sick days as a kid,” he said.

  I relished the moments that I learned new things about James, like I was constantly discovering him, and he was ever fascinating. Even the silly facts about Ace Ventura on sick days enchanted me.

  “I haven’t seen this movie in almost fifteen years. Are you hungry?” I asked.

  “No, I had some oatmeal.”

  “Okay, I’m gonna go get some stuff from downstairs. I’ll be back in a minute, okay,” I said.

  He nodded and I went down stairs and returned with water, warm tea, honey drops, cold meds, and the other supplies from the store.

  “What’s all this?” he asked.

  “Just some stuff to make you feel better.”

  He smiled and pulled me over. “You’re the best, you know that?” he said.

  I smiled and blew him a kiss. I wanted to kiss his sweet face, but I wasn’t about to get sick too, because I was the biggest baby of all. James and I snuggled in his bed and watched the movie, and by the end, snot-filled tissues covered the bed.

  Finally, he got the chills and his eyelids became heavy. I grabbed an extra blanket from his closet and tucked him under his covers as if swaddling a baby. He seemed to fall asleep quickly and he breathed heavily in and out of his mouth.

  I headed downstairs to check in at work and start some lunch for James. No special recipes this time, but instead, a reliable premade carton of tomato soup. Minutes later the soup was hot. I heard rustling around upstairs, so I went up to check on James. He had thrown his covers completely off, but he seemed to be sleeping still.

  “Hey, are you okay?” I asked and nudged him alert.

  He looked up at me and grimaced. “Oh, my God. It’s so hot.”

  “Here, drink,” I said, handing him a glass of water. He sipped it while I ran a washcloth under cool water and faced the fan toward him.

  “Better?” I asked, patting the washcloth on his forehead and neck.

  “Yeah, thanks,” he said and kissed my hand. I’d have to wash it in a second.

  “Are you hungry? I made tomato soup,” I sang in a way to tempt him. “Okay, I heated premade soup.”

  He rose sluggishly out of the bed and let out a chuckle.

  “Wait, I’ll bring it to you,” I said, trying to push him back in bed.

  “Don’t take this the wrong way, especially since you’re taking such great care of me, but you don’t have the best track record with carrying soup.”

  “Good thinking,” I said, helping him out of bed and downstairs.

  The soup was much tastier, and I was relieved I didn’t screw it up. Poor James was so stuffed up. He could barely keep his mouth closed to swallow.

  “Did you clean the apartment?” James studied the space from his seat.

  “Yep, and I took Marvin for a walk.”

  “Man, I must’ve slept hard.”

  “Well, you’re sick, sweetie,” I said, playing with his soft hair. “Oh, I have some interesting news, actually a couple items of news.”

  He gestured for me to continue.

  “Telly’s going to start her own firm.”

  “Really? Good for her,” he said. “I hope she’s ready to work her ass off.”

  “That’s what I said! Oh, my God, that’s not the shocking news.”

  “What’s the shocking news?”

  “So yesterday I went to Holly’s because I hadn’t heard from her in a while, and . . . I walked in on her having sex . . . with Noom.” I quickly covered my mouth with my hands like I’d let the words escape by mistake.

  James looked confused.

  “Who’s Noom?”

  “Noom! The guy Holly was seeing off and on from Thailand.”

  “Oh, is he visiting?”

  “I certainly hope so, but I haven’t talked to her since it happened. I knew they were communicating again, but she never said he was coming to California.”

  “Since when do you and Holly keep secrets from each other?” he asked. Probably since I started trying to prove James was a cheater a couple years ago.

  “Since now, I guess.” I ran my finger along his black kitchen table, catching a glimpse of myself in its shiny reflection. Why had Holly kept it a secret from me? Was there something more she wasn’t telling me?

  After lunch we started a movie, which turned into an afternoon nap. Well . . . at least for him it did. I let him sleep while I went downstairs to call Holly.

  “Hey,” she answered.

  “Hey, so . . . yesterday was weird, right?” I asked with hesitation.

  “Little bit.”

  “What happened? What’s he doing here? Is he moving in? Are you two a couple? Why didn’t you tell me he was coming?”

  “Marin! Calm down,” she told me, and I silenced. “I didn’t know he was coming. He just showed up.”

  “He did?”

  “Yes, it was completely unexpected and . . . totally romantic.”

  I grimaced. “How long is he staying?”

  “He’s here for good.”

  “I’m confused. I thought you two broke it off for good. Months ago.”

  “We did, but then he started calling and texting and emailing—‘Holly, I love youuuu,’” she said, impersonating him and it wasn’t sexy or romantic; it was whiny. “Then he showed up here a few days ago and said that it doesn’t matter where we are as long as we’re together, we’re home.”

  “I don’t know what to say,” I said.

  “Say, you’re happy for me. Happy that I found someone who’s willing to move halfway across the globe for me.”

  “Yeah, I’m happy if you’re happy. I just don’t understand why you’re happy—with him I mean.”

  “I know, but you don’t have to understand.”

  True, I didn’t, but I wanted to.

  “One day you will.”

  “I’m sorry about walking in on you guys. I had no idea.”

  “I know, it’s okay. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner.”

  “So we’re good?” I asked.

  “Yep, we’re good.”

  I went back upstairs and crawled into bed next to a snoozing James, making sure to keep my distance so I didn’t catch his cold. He was so handsome, even with a hundred degree fever, chapped lips, and obnoxious, stuffy nose snoring. I spent the night with him, keeping an eye on his fever, and tending to his needs.

  Just before I fell asleep, James opened his heavy eyelids. “Thanks for taking care of me today.”

  “You’re welcome,” I said. “Go back to sleep.”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Fell Street

  A few days later, James was good as new and wanted to treat me to a cup of hot chocolate from my favorite chocolate shop. Marvin let out a loud bark when I unlocked the door to his place.

  “Hey there, beautiful,” James said. I rushed over and wrapped my arms around him, pressing my mouth against his in a heartfelt kiss. It was as if I hadn’t seen him in years, and I didn’t want to let him go, even though it had only been a day since he last held me.

  “I missed you,” I said.

  “Yeah, me too,” he replied. “It was nice having you here for a couple of days.”

  “Oh, yeah?”

  “Yeah, making food, keeping the house clean, hangin’ out with Marvin and takin’ him for walks.”

  “So you wish I was your stay-at-home girlfriend?” I asked with a tinge of feminist attitude.

  “No way! I’d never ask you to quit your job. All I’m saying is that it was nice having you here.”

  I pulled him in for another kiss. He was definitely my man.

  The three of us headed to the shop across from the park. The sweet smell of sugar and cinnamon swirled around me when I walked in. I wanted so badly to eat some of the little chocolates, or better yet, a fudge brownie.

  “What do you want?” he asked, waiting by the register.

  “Everything,” I said and he cracked a smile. “Just
a large chocolate coconut.” Mmm, coconut. Just saying it made me long for warm days on the beach, margaritas, and my bikini. Then I remembered that I’d have to plan a sexy getaway. I might be wearing that bikini sooner than expected. “Make that a small,” I said.

  I tightened my scarf as we left the shop. The cold wind prickled my face. Spring was supposedly around the corner, but for some reason it was taking forever. I lifted the cup to my nose and smelled the sweet aroma of chocolate and coconut. My mouth watered for it, but the steam shooting through the top warned me to wait.

  Marvin led us across to the park, walking ahead briskly as the little horse had been cooped up in James’ apartment all day.

  “This is nice, huh?” James said, and put his arm around my shoulder. “You, me, Marvin, hot chocolate, a walk. It doesn’t get any better than this.”

  I smiled for a moment. It was pretty great, but what if that was all he wanted? Maybe this was all he needed? Was it enough for him? Could it ever be enough for me?

  They say doctors make the worst patients, and that was true for me. I always admonished my patients for being indirect with their communication, and yet here I was about to pull out the old passive aggressive questions.

  “This is nice, but I think we can do better, don’t you? Like, where do you see yourself in five years?” I asked.

  “Hmm,” he said and rubbed his chin. He squinted as if really contemplating the question. Like he wanted to give me the best answer. “In five years I’ll be almost forty, wow. Hmm, I’d like us to have a house, not a big one, just big enough with a fireplace. A small backyard and a garage. In the city would be nice, but just outside in the suburbs would be cool too.”

  Okay, he wanted a house with a yard. Bigger houses meant family.

  “I want to have my own practice by then, or maybe partner with someone.” He’d always dreamed of working with professional athletes as a physical therapist in his own practice.

  I nodded, assessing all of his words.

  “Let’s see . . . Maybe by then, you and I will have a kid. A boy. He’ll play sports like me or a girl would be cool too. Maybe she’ll play sports.” There it was, the kid thing. We’d had this type of conversation before, and so I always thought that kids must’ve meant a marriage preceding it.