“Hey…” His voice was soft as he locked eyes with me. Had he thought about me in the past six months? Had he missed me? Had he been dating around? Would we be able to make it work this time?
“Is this what you meant when you said you wanted to go for a ride?”
“I thought we’d ride up the coast for a while.?”
“OK, I guess…” What would happen today? Things had ended so abruptly between us. One day we were, then the next day we weren’t.
“I can’t wait to spend the day with you. I’ve been looking forward to it all week.”
Really?
He somehow heard the doubting Thomas question in my head.
“Hey.” He gently tugged my chin up with this thumb and forefinger. “I guess you haven’t missed me as much as I’ve missed you.? Can we try this again and see where it takes us?”
Twenty-plus words were all it took to melt away the bitterness of the past year and make me want to start again. I smiled. Pushover! Yeah…pushed-over and falling again. I was such a LOSER.
“Don’t let go of another good one!” my brother sarcastically yelled as Max tried to muffle his words with the roar of the bike.
“Hold on tight!”
Ominous and yet very promising words…
December 9, 2012 Well…that didn’t go so well
“You’re back!” My sister-in-law smiled with more enthusiasm than totally necessary. “You spent the night?”
“No,” I cut her off, “I mean yes, but no.”
“Explain, Sister.” The thing about Emily—as sweet as she is, she’s ruthless when she wants something from you. Whether it’s the dazzling smile she throws your way, or her sweet innocent pleading look, you can’t say no. Does this woman have any negatives in that beautiful frame of hers? I love her, but ugh!
“We rode up to Santa Barbara and were having brunch at the Four Seasons when everything went downhill.”
Emily didn’t need to know that the ride sucked. There was too much wind, the seat was uncomfortable, it was cold, and we didn’t say one word to each other for an hour and a half, but did I complain? No! I was accommodating—as accommodating as Jane Sydney Reid was ever going to be.
“And..?”
“Max’s cell phone kept ringing. After about the fifth ring, I kinda yelled at him to pick up the phone, and guess who was calling him?”
“Who?” Emily’s big brown eyes were bugging out. It was cute, in a freakishly bugging sort of way.
“Some GIRL! He was so uncomfortable talking to her and he couldn’t—no, he wouldn’t tell her that he was out with me. I was so pissed, I felt like walking out on him but I sat through his awkward conversation to get some answers.”
While I was pining away for him the last half of the year, apparently, this jerk was dating around.
“He explained that he had ‘group-dated’ this girl, another doctor at his hospital, briefly.” Emily’s mouth opened but I didn’t give her a chance to start. I had too many things to say. “And though it bothered me, all would have been OK except…his last date with her was just ‘a few days ago.’”
Those were the jerk’s words, verbatim! What kind of man tells one woman that he misses her and would like to try for a relationship with her one day, then goes out with a totally different woman the next day? Am I wrong to want someone to love me and me only? Forget love—way too soon for that concept. I just want someone to want me and me only. Maybe it’s an LA thing? Perhaps I should move back to New York and work a hundred hours a week and be on track to become the youngest partner at our firm.
“No!” Emily was horrified, then mad. She pulled out her cell phone and before she could call Max, I took it away from her. “Let me call him and yell at him. He can’t treat you like that! Oh, Jane…” Then, she hugged me. I think she was more hurt than I was. No matter what I thought or said about my sister, I loved her and she genuinely loved me. The rivalry was only on my part and solely in my head. “So where were you all yesterday?”
“I left Max, got myself a room, then a rental car. After calling around, I got a hold of my girlfriend, Hilary, and we hung out the whole day. The thought of sitting in the hotel room and gorging on ice cream was tempting, but I spent a boatload of money on clothes and shoes instead.”
“Oh, sweet Jane! Your knight in shining armor will come around. Max just needs to sort out his life and grow up some more.”
At this point, Max ≠ a knight in shining armor. Well…back to the drawing board!
December 13, 2013 Another date…and his initials aren’t MD
This was the text that greeted my morning.
Can we meet for a quick lunch? You need to give me a chance to explain.
I need to give you a chance?