by Lauren Wood
“I didn't say that I was going anywhere.”
“Good. Come out and I'll show you around.”
I took her hand, because what the hell else was I supposed to do? I had started this, and I was already out here, so I might as well see where it ended.
The house looked just as bad on the inside as it did on the outside. It was more than just a fixer upper. It looked like the people had actually tried to take it down, but it had been too hard-headed to listen. The building stood tall and defiant, even though chunks of it was missing. It was dark and I had to say that if I were to believe in haunted houses, this would be the first one.
Madeline told me the story that I'm sure she had heard a million times in her youth. There was a family that lived there long ago. The husband went crazy and killed his wife and children. Then he killed himself, so the family of five apparently haunted the place every night.
“You can hear the husband screaming from time to time.”
I looked over at her and I couldn't help but laugh. “You don't really believe that, do you?”
She looked so serious for a moment, I was afraid that she actually did believe it. Then she would think that I was making fun of her, but how could I be serious about this? There was no way.
“Of course not, but this is better than a limo, isn't it?”
Madeline pulled me down for a kiss and I had to agree that it was. There was also a bed in the room we were in. It wasn't the best, but it certainly would do the job.
3
Madeline
The next morning was kind of a blur. I had gotten a ride home and I was without my car. I had to walk to the bar and pick it up. It gave me time to think about Chris and the magical night that we spent together. It also gave me a little bit of time to realize that I had left my phone in his car. It of course had his number, so now I would never be able to call him again.
I can't say how much that aggravated me. Chris had been exciting and new and something that I wanted to try again. We hadn't spent much time talking or getting to know each other, but our bodies had done enough. That conversation left me wanting more, trying to figure out what I was supposed to do now. Why was I so bummed out about it?
After picking up my car, I went to see Eve. She was the last to leave me at the bar and of course, the first thing she asked me was about the hot hunk of a man that she had left me with.
“His name was Chris.”
“Chris? I can't believe that you actually know his name. I figured that you would still be in bed. You looked like you were on your way to being wasted last night.”
I really didn't drink that much. She had drunk more than me and I think that it was hard for her to count, when so many were going down so quickly.
“No, it wasn't like that at all.”
“Oh. So, what happened?”
“I took him to the old Cunningham house.”
She looked at me strangely and then shook her head in disbelief. “Why would you take him there?”
I shrugged. I really didn't know, if I was honest with myself. It just came to me. It had always been an interesting place for me to go when we were younger and as crazy as it sounded, it was probably the one place that I was going to miss the most in Hartville. I don't know why, but I wanted to share it with him, but maybe it was just the idea that he would remember me if I took him there. I don’t know why that was so important to me. I guess I didn’t have much experience with one-night stands.
“I don't know. I guess it felt like the thing to do.”
“You know you are so freaking weird, don't you?”
I wasn't going to agree or disagree, because it was certainly something that I had heard before. I'm not even sure what exactly I got out of it. I'm not sure why I brought him to the Cunningham house, but I know that I was never going to think about that place the same way again. It was a place that I used to find solitude in and was now a place that I had found indescribable pleasure.
“So, when are you going to see him again?”
“I'm not.”
“Why wouldn't you? You're going to be moving into the city soon. Then you guys can hook up when you get there anytime you want. It’s kind of a good thing that you found a man that already lives there.”
It sounded good, because that was exactly what I was thinking when I first woke up this morning. I had put his number in my phone, and I would probably have called him as soon as I woke up. But I couldn't call him, because I didn't have his number. I didn't have my phone, and I doubted that I'd ever see him again.
When I explained it all to her, she just kind of shook her head.
“I swear sometimes you have the worst luck.”
“Tell me about it, you know that I will never run into him again. There's like two million people in the city and there's no way that we will just bump into each other again.”
“If it's meant to be...”
I cut her off, because I didn't believe in all that hippy-dippy, cosmic stuff and she knew it. I didn’t believe in fate and cosmic forces that pushed people into what was supposed to happen to them. I liked to believe that we had choices in life and for some reason, I had not checked to see if I had my phone when I got out of his car. I always kept my phone with me, but the one time that I didn't, really changed everything.
Now, I was going to have to go through life wondering what could have been. It was strange to have all these feelings in such a short amount of time. I was probably just being wistful was all, realizing that I would never have an orgasm like that again. Now that was downright heartbreaking.
“Well, apparently, it's not meant to be. I won't see him again, but at least I will remember him.”
Eve just shook her head. “At least you used a condom, right? I mean, I know you're responsible, so thank goodness for that. Could you imagine if you got pregnant by him? You wouldn’t even be able to contact him. That would suck so bad…”
I smiled and nodded my head in agreement. Condoms. Crap. I knew we had forgotten something.
I didn’t have to worry about that though. It was only a couple of times, one night. It wasn’t enough to do anything. I don’t think anyway…
* * *
Two Months Later
Turns out, I was wrong. Again.
Waiting for the little stick to turn colors was probably one of the hardest things I’d done in a long time. I was focused so hard on the stick that it took me a minute to realize that it had turned pink. Crap. What the hell was I supposed to do now?
My apartment was one that I shared with four other people. I didn’t even have a room to myself. How was I supposed to bring a baby home to this? There was no way that I could and at the moment, it was all too much. The crushing feeling was coming back, and I had no idea what I was going to do next.
I had a great job in the city, but things had gotten weird. I’d been getting sick at work, and it was only after talking to Eve that I went to get a test. It hadn’t even crossed my mind, the few moments in a haunted house with Chris. Now… I couldn’t even think about it. I knew deep down that whatever I thought was going to happen, wasn’t. There was nothing I could do about it either.
As soon as I got the news, I called Eve. I had met a few friends in the city, but none like her. We’d known each other since freshman year in college. I needed to talk to her. She was going to be the one that would shoot it all to me straight. I would know how to look at things better in just a few minutes. That’s how long it took for her to get it all out there.
“What, are you serious?”
The voice on the other line was higher now. She was incredulous and I can’t say that I blamed her. I was pretty weirded out by it as well. I was trying to figure out the logistics of it all. It was going to be a nightmare. That was all I knew. It was all going to be a nightmare.
“Yeah, I am.”
“It’s that guy from graduation night, huh?”
I didn’t want to admit that it was, but it had to be. I wasn’t with anyone
else in months and considering the stream of bad luck that was my life, it made perfect sense to me. I was just going to have to figure it out. I could do it. It wasn’t like I hadn’t gone through tough times before…
I never thought that I would find myself in this sort of position, but I knew that I would find a way. I had to.
Chris
Two Years Later
“I don’t know if that is the look for you, Chris. I want us to match, but not completely match, you know?”
I shook my head like I knew what the hell Cynthia was talking about, but really, I had no idea. This was her show and I was just here to stand around, waiting for it to be over with. Weddings weren’t for the groom; they were for the bride. Everyone knew that, and I was just here to make her happy.
Cynthia wrinkled her pretty little nose that was freckled and tossed her auburn hair back behind her shoulders. “It doesn’t look right. Maybe a shade darker.”
“Maybe.”
She scoffed and then wrinkled her nose at me, squinting her eyes like she saw something that she didn’t like.
“You don’t even care, do you?”
Her blue eyes were big, and I could hear the stress in her voice. She hadn’t become a bridezilla, but some kind of emotional version that I had to reassure all the time. It was exhausting, and I was debating again if being pushed into this marriage was going to be one of the things I regretted for the rest of my life.
“I do care, honey; I just know that you’re going to pick just the right color of pink.”
“It’s mauve!!”
She stormed off, and I was left looking like an idiot in front of the seamstress. She didn’t say anything and neither did I. Cynthia had bought dresses here before, so I would imagine that they knew her quite well. Cynthia was one of those people that was hard to forget. She wouldn’t let you forget her.
Work called and I told Steven that I would be in soon. My assistant was the only reason that I wasn’t late for everything, and I had forgotten all about a meeting I had later. I needed to ditch this activity altogether and get back to work. I really didn’t care what color any of it was. I had jokingly said that we could make it a jail-themed wedding with stripes and she’d just deadpanned looked at me like I’d lost my mind.
I wasn’t going to be stupid like that again. I knew better. I was pushed into marriage with Cynthia because her family was loaded. It was more for a deal with her father to buy his business. Marriage was part of the deal and after three months of dating Cynthia, I was ready to end it all. How much longer was this going to last?
“I think I am going to go with this color. You’re right, we should match.”
I wasn’t going to say a word. If she was going to make up her mind, I was certainly going to go along with it. I was sick of being dragged into every boutique in the city. We could be married in rags for all I cared. I just had to get her down the aisle. We had three weeks left until the wedding and then the next stage would begin.
“Whatever you want, Cynthia. I just want you to be happy and have your perfect day.”
She melted with my words and I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes. It was going on thick, even for me.
“It will be perfect, as long as you’re next to me.”
That was just about as fake as what I had said, but I gave her a kiss and a smile anyway. When my father had first brought it up that he wanted me to marry Cynthia, I had thought it was a joke. Now, I knew that the joke was on me. Cynthia was a woman that was hard to deal with. She was definitely helping me work on my patience if nothing else.
“I know that it will be exactly what you want it to be. I wish I could stay a little longer and go through all of this with you, but I really need to get back to the office. I have a couple of meetings that I can't miss this afternoon. Not even for you.”
She pouted for a minute, her lower lip stuck out and I just kind of sighed to myself. I knew that she was going to give me a hard time about it, but in the end, I got out of there and I could finally breathe again. This was going to really test all of my loyalties. Did we really need the company that badly? Didn’t we have enough money?
It was like my father knew exactly what was going through my mind. He called me moments later. I stopped in the street, about to get in the car, and answered. I knew better than to keep him waiting if I didn’t have to.
“Son, I was looking for you. Are you here to meet Wellington when he gets to the office? You know that he hates to be left waiting.”
“I will be there in a few minutes.”
“What the hell are you doing that has you running around with such a big meeting coming up?”
“Cynthia wanted to pick out a tie for our big day. She said it was urgent and wouldn’t let me put it off.”
Vince chuckled. “I can tell by the sound of your voice that you're having a good time. Do you want me to tell Wellington that you're going to be late?”
“No, I'm on my way now.”
There was silence on the other side, and I waited for him to say something. Maybe a thank you for marrying a woman that I couldn't even stand. Something, anything really, but nothing came forward. He just asked a few more questions about the meeting I had to go to and that was it. He hung up, and I was left cursing empty space on the other side of the phone.
When I got to the office, Wellington was already there, and he already had a beverage and was sitting in the conference room. Dad was just outside and waved me over. He always liked to go into a meeting together, because he always said that it showed force, as well as a united front. Me, I just thought that he was trying to drag me into another one.
He smiled at me and brushed some lipstick off my cheek. It was embarrassing because I had been walking around with it and hadn’t even known.
“Hope you had a good time with your fiancé. Moments like that are what you're going to remember the most.”
“I think you have this marriage confused with a real one. In a couple of months, we will quietly get divorced, and I will drink until I remember none of it.”
That comment got me a dirty look from my father, but he didn't say anything. We both knew what it was, so there was no point in pretending it was anything more than that.
I walked into the conference room and told the man that I was sorry for being late. He waved me off like it was no big deal. Father and Wellington talked for a while. While I was coming in to take over soon enough, it was clear who everyone would rather work with. My father had simply made a name for himself in business and I had a lot to learn if I was going to follow in his footsteps.
The first thing I learned was that sometimes I would have to do things that I didn't agree with to get what I needed. My marriage to Cynthia was the perfect example of that.
5
Madeline
I was starting to think that maybe coming back to the city was a big mistake. The job that I left a couple years ago, back when I was pregnant, was no longer there. I figured that it wouldn't be, but I didn't figure that no one was hiring in my field.
Before long, I started to think that I had wasted my time coming back and that maybe it was time for me to go back to Hartville. I missed Emily more than I could imagine. She was staying with my mom and I knew that she was safe, but I missed her something terrible. This idea that I was going to start a life for us in the city was quickly turning into only fantasy.
It wasn't like I wasn't looking. I had put out more applications than I cared to think about. I was getting desperate, too, because my money was running out quickly. I either had to find something, or I had to give up. I really hated to give up, but I was a realist and knew that I couldn't stay out here forever. If all I could find was a crummy job in a restaurant, then I was better off in Hartville where at least I had family and support.
My dreams of being in the big city where quickly being dashed. The idea that I was going to be able to use my degree was also becoming something that I couldn't depend on. Nothing was going the way I wan
ted it to.
At some point, I realized that I had about a week left that I could afford the ultra-high rent that I was paying and have nothing coming in. So that gave me a date at least. I had one week to find a job and if nothing came up, then I was going to go back home to my daughter.
Once I had come to that conclusion, I actually felt a little bit more at peace. Maybe it was just the unknown that bothered me so much. At least now I knew. It was either going to work or it wasn't. The deadline in place made it all seem more concrete. It also put a spur inside of me to find a job. I didn't want to go back home in defeat. I hated the small town of Hartford and had already had to go back once because I was pregnant. I didn't want to have to do it again because I couldn’t secure a proper job.
The last week-long push to get interviews worked pretty well. I already had two, though I had not gotten an offer yet. There were a couple more interviews throughout the week, and I was hopeful that something might come with them. I had to stay hopeful or missing my daughter would push me home even faster. I was doing this for her, to give us a better life. I wanted her to be raised with more culture than two thousand people could do in a city as small as Hartville.
I had an interview set up with Keaton Enterprises. It was a dream job position and I almost didn't go, because I was convinced that I would never get it. It was too good of a salary and the flexibility was something that I definitely needed.
When I got there, I realized how big of a company it was. They were huge, and the building itself was a little bit intimidating. It towered over me as I looked up to the top, counting the windows to see how many floors there were. Too many.
There was a lot of hustle and bustle on the streets, and twice I was bumped into by people trying to get in. I had never been in such a building and it was a little overwhelming to think that I could actually work there. I would just be another cog in the wheel of course, but for some reason I had a good feeling about this.
