by DW Cee
This box, I did not expect to see again. I’d actually forgotten about my birthday present. Slowly, the ribbon and wrap came off and in my hand was a dainty black velvet box. Not one to be shy about birthday presents, I opened the box and found a diamond ring...of the ENGAGEMENT-kind!
“Imagine my surprise and disappointment when I saw you listening to another man enticing you to go away with him. The forever I imagined in my head was shot to hell.”
Shit! This was not what I was expecting.
“That’s why I couldn’t listen to, or accept any of your reasons at the airport. But, as soon as you came to me in the terminal and threw this box back at me, I knew I couldn’t live without you. You actually made me laugh so hard my teammates thought I was nuts. They pretty much saw us breaking up out front, then I was brooding the whole time inside, then I completely changed my demeanor and was laughing like a lunatic. After killing my heart, only you would be pissed at me and throw my gift back in my face. What may I ask, did I do to piss you off enough to come after me?”
My face was red from embarrassment. “You gave me hope. That’s what you did.”
“And how did I give you hope?”
“When you left with HANNAH, I thought I’d lost you forever. Then you came back out and I thought you’d changed your mind and were going to tell me I was forgiven. What a shocker—you handed me a gift only because you didn’t want to hold onto it any longer. That pissed me off!”
“Gem...” Max decided to carry me over to the bed at this point and we lay there laughing with one another. “What am I to do with you?”
“I don’t know...what do you want to do with me?” I asked as seductively as possibly. That made him laugh even harder.
What the hell? Had I lost my magic touch on this man?
“Babe. It’s been a long and shitty month. Let’s get some shut-eye and talk more tomorrow. As much as I’d like to make love to you from now till the end of August, we still have a lot to talk over and a shit load of decisions to make.”
Still in his travel clothes, Max fell asleep immediately. His worn-out spirit broke me in a way I couldn’t explain. I didn’t fully understand what I’d done to this man. I still don’t fully understand what I’ve done to him. We had so many issues, and one major unresolved absolution. While he was resting tonight, I’d think through what Max professed and what else might have made him so weary and wary.
August 1, 2013 Proposals
Max and I made plans to meet Donovan and Gimpy for an early dinner. After getting a decent night of sleep, we decided to walk down the street to the local brunch hangout. New Yorkers love to brunch. They live for the weekends so they can drink mimosas and Bloody Marys, and eat a meal large enough to give you sustenance for the rest of the day. When we arrived without a reservation, the wait was an hour long so we decided to take a walk and talk out more of our problems.
I started the conversation this time and told him about Gimpy’s proposal. “So, I’m not sure if you want to change your life to that degree since you just bought a house, and life would probably be simpler for you if you stayed at General Hospital.” This was not what I wanted, but it would be best for Max.
He didn’t even think twice about his answer. “I am willing to move with you if that’s what you want. As long as you pick a location and stay there for four years, I’m good with that. Here’s what I don’t want.” Did I want to hear his list? “I don’t want a long distance relationship.”
“Is that because you don’t trust me?”
It was uncomfortably silent for too long. “I trust you, but maybe I don’t trust us to be apart.”
“Isn’t that the same thing? That just means you can’t trust me to stay faithful. I told you this at the christening—I don’t want to be with you if you are going to throw Donovan in my face every time you’re unhappy with me.”
“I can’t say I’m comfortable with you and Donovan, but I know whatever was between you two is over. It really should never have been since neither of your hearts were in it. I won’t throw him back at you. In fact, I probably won’t ever refer to you and him in any conjunctive way.”
“If you knew our hearts weren’t into one another, then why’d it take you so long to reconcile with me? And how do you know what Donovan is feeling?”
“You’d have to have been blind not to see the attraction between Laney and Donovan.” Max answered with a bite and a sting. Ouch! “Seeing the five-ringed circus between me, you, Donovan, Laney, and Josh was more comedy than I can take for a lifetime.” This time, he oozed dark and heavy sarcasm. Obviously, he was still upset with me. “Because I thought Donovan was as into Laney as she was into him, I didn’t see his indecent proposal coming. I thought he’d go to London and bring Laney home.”
“You knew all this? Why didn’t you mention anything to me?”
“What was there to say?”
“Maybe if you had mentioned that Laney and Donovan liked each other, we wouldn’t have gotten to this point in our relationship.”
What I’d just said was stupid, and the sarcasm I put into this statement was even stupider. I wasn’t looking forward to Max’s rebuttal.
“You, Jane Sydney Reid, needed a wakeup call. Perhaps we all needed one.”
I thought about this statement while we sat and perused the menu. Max stopped talking and took some time to order his meal. What could I say next to make this all better? We were still nowhere near finished in our break-up/make-up session.
“Can you explain your last statement concerning us all needing a wakeup call?” I asked carefully and defensively.
“You needed to decide who you wanted in your life, once and for all. Donovan needed to understand that he couldn’t trifle with everyone’s feelings without consequences. He may be letting out a sigh of relief that you and I will eventually be okay, but he’s going to soon be in hell and he may never come back from hell when he realizes how much he hurt Laney. He may have lost her forever. Me,” Max finished his Bloody Mary in like three gulps and ordered another one, “I need to exercise my right to keep what’s mine, mine, and not let life be so predestined for me.”
“Huh???”
“For a lack of a better phrase, you will be on a short leash with me, Gem.”
“Whaaat?”
He cracked-up. “What I mean is, I am not going to take you for granted anymore. I’ve decided I am going to be clear on what I want, what I don’t want, and you, too, will be clear with me on what you like and do not like. We will be open, honest, and share all that’s in our hearts. We are going to live in each other’s pockets for the time being.”
“And we haven’t been doing this already?”
“If we had, I don’t think we would’ve had problems with Donovan. I should have let you and Donovan know whenever I was uncomfortable with your friendship, rather than bringing it up only when we got into a mess. And as for you, I hope you can be honest with me even if it’s a difficult subject. We can never grow as a couple if we can’t share everything—no matter how uncomfortable the topic.”
“So...you’ve forgiven me for what happened on my birthday?”
“Yes.”
“And you’ve forgiven and will forget what happened in Chicago?”
“I believe so.” Still it wasn’t a 100% affirmative. “That’s what’s kept me from coming to you right after Mexico. I was in agreement with you on the fact that I didn’t want us to get back together if I couldn’t let go of your...” Kiss? Infidelity? I didn’t know which word he was about to say, but the pain on his face expressed both. “I can’t say that I’ve forgiven or forgotten completely, but I’m working on it. Without a doubt, I know myself well enough to believe I won’t throw Donovan back at you, ever. There’s no part of me that’s crazy about him, but if we are to be close to one another—whether by mutual friendships, or as a family, I don’t think I have much of a choice but to forget.”
“Tell me what you’re thinking in terms of Laney. What makes you sure t
hat she likes Donovan? I always thought she found him annoying.”
“Gem,” he said in a what-am-I-to-do-with-you tone, “you like to see only what you want to see. You close yourself off to any possibility that doesn’t suit your plan. As far as I can tell, Donovan and Laney are in love with one another. Donovan either never understood what he wanted or he fooled himself to believe he wanted the wrong Reid. Laney understood her own feelings, and didn’t want to continually watch the man she fell in love with, look at every woman but her.”
“When the hell did you become Oprah Winfrey?”
Max finally laughed freely and comfortably. “All anyone had to do was open his or her eyes. I think this was a secret only to you, Josh, and Donovan.”
“You know for a fact Laney is in love with Donovan? If so, I need to let him know. She’s not talking to him at all.”
“I am not Laney’s keeper. As you can see, I haven’t done a good job being a keeper of one certain dark-haired, stunning blue-eyed Reid. You may not repeat my words to Donovan.”
We started walking back to the apartment and I thought we were finally headed in the right direction with one another. Our conversation flowed as usual, we were able to joke with one another and the chemistry appeared to be back.
“Are we good, now? Is this all we need to talk about? You have anything else on your mind?”
Max stood pensive. “For now, I think we’re good. I will support your decision to move to New York, but I need to know soon. I don’t know what we will do if you have to move this school year, but we’ll work something out. As long as I know we’re moving forward...”
Max never brought up the issue of the my birthday present—the engagement ring, again. And I let it go as well. As we headed into the bedroom to consummate our reconciliation, I knew for sure that we were headed in the right direction.
Fast forward many hours and an orgasm—or two, or three—later, we headed towards Columbus Circle to have dinner with Donovan and Gimpy at Milos.
“Dinner with Donovan going to be a quiet affair? Or shall I call and tell them we won’t make it?”
“Nothing is quiet when your Uncle Henry is around.”
“What?”
No question was necessary as we were the last to make it to the dinner for six. Everyone was already seated at a round table and they were having a serious conversation.
“You’re late...as usual...” Jake made his commentary. “I take it all is right in the world of Max and Jane, again?” He gave a smug grin.
Max shook my brother’s hand. “Yes. Thank you for the lie. Ellie’s done a good job teaching her dad the finer points of drama. You were right. I didn’t want to lose Jane.”
I didn’t know what to say. Maybe it should be stated now, and in front of everyone, that my brother will forever be throwing me lifelines to get me out of the mess I create, created, and will create. Thank God for families and thank God for my older brother who understands what it means to love someone.
“Emily and the kids here?”
“They are not.”
“Oh my gosh!!! You left Emily alone with three kids?” I couldn’t believe my brother would do this without a dire reason. “You’re actually going to sleep apart from her?”
“I know. It kills me, but I had to be here. I’m going home tomorrow.”
“Why are you here?”
“Sit down,” he pulled me into a chair next to him. I didn’t know why the hell I was standing the entire time. “Uncle Henry and I are attending a medical conference and I agreed to speak at one of the seminars, long before Emily got pregnant with JR.”
“I’m shocked you didn’t bring the whole family.”
“Well, I was going to at first, but we’ve got a major change happening in the Reid household.”
“Which Reid household?”
“It’ll start with us, but will have a ripple effect with everyone else.”
“What’s going on?”
“We’re moving.”
Whaaaat???
August 5, 2013 The European Invasion
“Where are you going with the kids? How can you take the kids away from all of us?”
Max and Jake both laughed at me. “I didn’t realize you liked the kids so much—seeing as how you almost caused brain damage to one of them.” Now the whole table was laughing.
One freakin’ near-accident and I’d have to live this one down the rest of my life. “Whatever! Explain yourself.”
“There are a lot of exciting heart procedures and experiments happening all over the world and our hospital is doing an ‘exchange’ program with other hospitals. I’ve been asked to teach and work at the college hospitals in Europe—mainly in the London area. In return, they will send one of their heart surgeons to our hospital and this makes for a great way to learn other hospital’s innovations.”
“Where will you be teaching and working?”
“A day at Cambridge, a day at Oxford, and two days at the University College London and their corresponding hospitals. And then there will be occasional trips to medical schools and hospitals in the neighboring countries.”
“With three kids, you’re going to uproot your family to do this? And for how long?”
“Technically it’s only for the winter term, going from September to December. We’ll be home by Christmas, unless we decide to stay another term.”
“Where will you stay?”
“At Gram’s. Her house is big enough to house all of us, plus a few more.” He said this and looked only at Donovan. “And Roland has homes all around the major cities in Europe, so we’ll stay there when we’re away from London.”
I kind of shook my head at this huge change. What kind of nut would move three kids under the age of eighteen-months to another country?
“Emily’s okay with this?”
“She’s the one that’s forcing me to go. I didn’t want to go because of the upheaval in her life, but she didn’t want me to miss out on this opportunity. It was only yesterday I made this decision. AND,” my brother stressed that last word and faced my boyfriend, “I’ve told UCL med school that I have a lovesick, soon-to-be-brother-in-law who needs to finish off his fourth year of med school apart from my equally lovesick sister who might be based in London, and they’ve offered you a spot in the school. Of course, that’s if you want to take it, and if you,” he was now facing me, “choose to transfer to the London office.”
How did my brother know all this about me and how in God’s creation did he pull off a medical school transfer for Max? Did I ever tell you that I LOVE my big brother?
“You know?” I asked Jake.
“I know everything little sister.”
“Let me remind you, Janey, that you will be in the New York office part time as well. There will be quite a bit of traversing the Atlantic Ocean.”
Donovan jumped into this conversation. “Why is Jane moving offices? I thought you hated the New York office.” He turned to me and I had no answer for him. I wasn’t allowed to tell him what Gimpy had proposed to me, but I also didn’t want to lie to my friend.
“Now that you’ve got your head out of your arse and have made a wise decision to go after my granddaughter, I’ll fill you in on my plans.”
No one could ever say that my grandfather ever minced words.
“I’m not getting any younger and now that I’m married to Estelle, I’d like to retire. And I can’t retire unless I know this firm is in good hands. Of course I have no issues with any of the partners, especially the senior partners, but I do need to make sure somebody will eventually fill my shoes.”
