Anchor Line (60 page)

 
           “Your bachelor ways are always going to get in the way aren't they? Strange women in your bed, women phoning you...stuff like that.”  She couldn't look at him as she spoke, so she concentrated on the milk mixing in with the black coffee as she turned the spoon. 

 
           “What do you mean Addie?  What bachelor ways?  What are you getting at?”  His eyebrows crossed as he stared at her. “Do you think I'll regret being with you?  Do you think I’m having second thoughts about moving in with you? You think, I staged that whole debacle?”

 
           “I'm talking about...” Addie turned her head to look at him. “…the stripper. In your bed. But hey, I get it, you're virile.  And while we are on the topic of moving in.  You were the one that wanted to wait until Nathan’s buddy got stationed here in three months. Then, you said you'd move out. Whatever.”

 
           “Addie, you are so infuriating. What is it going to take for you to realize that nothing happened with her?  Do you remember me saying that I’d never sleep with a stripper? Because I distinctly remember telling you that.”  He stood up straight from the doorjamb and crossed his arms over his chest.  “And just to prove to you that I’m not afraid of moving in with you, I’ll go get my shit right now. I'll fucking move in right now.”

 
           “Oh really?  Do I look fucking retarded to you?”

 
           “Addie, if I had fucked that girl, trust me...she'd have been naked. Just like you are every time I fuck you. You know I’m not a quick one. And trust me, with as much as I drank last night, there was no way I was fucking anyone. Including you.” He pointed at her. “If I was worried about fucking anyone else in my bed I wouldn't have given you a key to my apartment.”  He was being a dick, but he had to get through to her.

 
           “Oh I know just what you are capable of doing and for how long.  I know I enjoy it, I don't have to ask her if she did.”  

 
          “And I didn't fuck her!”  He yelled frustrated as he slapped a palm against the wall in frustration.

 
           Addie's mouth opened to say something, but when nothing came out, Conrad just stared at her. 

 
          Waiting. 

 
          Stalemate. 

 
          Minutes just ticked by with them staring at each other.

 
           Not knowing what else to do, she turned to take a sip of her coffee.  How do you dismiss an almost naked girl in your boyfriend's bed?  Maybe he was right and nothing happened.  But she wasn't going to get hurt again. 

 
           Conrad turned away from her and walked to her bedroom to pick up the box from the dresser.  He walked back to the kitchen to find that she hadn't moved.

 
           “Here you go sugar.”  He said harshly on purpose and tossed her the little box. She caught it with one hand. He just stood in the doorway as before. “Go ahead and open it.”

 
           When Addie didn't, he continued from the kitchen doorway. “There is your night out that was planned for last night ironically before I had to change it to tonight because Nathan called in his marker. There is your romantic dinner and bubble bath and hours of making love. And just when we are both at the peak of exhaustion from loving each other’s bodies...this is where I pull that out and tell you that I love you and we make love all over again. You're a smart girl. You can figure out the rest.”  He turned away from her, grabbing his keys and phone off the bar where he left them and walked toward the door slowly.

 
           Addie opened the box and saw the biggest, most beautiful round blue topaz ring surrounded in diamonds set in a platinum setting. Easily five carats, the topaz sparkled at her from the box. In the slot above it was a matching band, a little thicker with little diamonds all over it. Above that was a very masculine platinum band for him. Her legs suddenly felt wobbly.  She felt dizzy. He loved her. He meant to ask her to marry him. Holy shit!  She looked up at him with total surprise on her face.

 
           He turned around in the hallway and met her gaze. “It reminded of a parachute of sorts. The engagement ring a parachute, the band it’s anchor. I was going to tell you last night that I wanted to move in here with you.”

 
           She looked back down at the opened box when he continued.           

 
           “Is that real enough for you? That's my commitment to you Addie.  If I wanted any other woman, I wouldn't have gotten that for you. It's engraved, so you can't return it and I won't give it to anyone else. But I don't want to hold onto it any more. I bought it before I left Italy.” 

 
           When she still didn't say anything, he shook his head. 

 
           “Yeah. So fuck you Addie Marshall. You wreck me woman. I'm like a drunk man behind the controls of a 747 when it comes to you. And the only way it'll end without you beside me is catastrophic.  When you're ready to forgive me for something I didn't do...you know where I’m at. And by all means...take all the time you need. But I'm not waiting forever.”

 
           He turned and walked the five feet down the hallway to the front door and pulled it open and walked out pulling it closed with a soft click.

Chapter Forty-Two

 
           She still couldn't move from where she stood in the kitchen. It seemed like forever since Conrad had left when a knock on the door pulled her out of her stupor. She walked over to it, still holding the open ring box in her hand.  She pulled the door open and saw the girl that had fallen out of Conrad's bed earlier, at her doorstep. She snapped the box shut and stared at the girl with an uninterested look on her face.        

 
           “I ah...nobody asked me to...” Amy stammered out, clearly nervous. “Nobody asked me to come over. I asked...where you lived.”

 
           “And?” Addie crossed her arms over her chest.

 
           “Well, I ah...just wanted to say that when a guy follows you down the hallway naked to tell you that...nothing happened, then nothing happened.”  Amy shifted her feet looking down and then back up at Addie. 

 
           Addie just stood there. Waiting. Saying nothing.

 
           “Nothing happened honest to God. I was cold. There was no blanket on the sofa. Your...your boyfriend was walking over here when I ah...I tripped and fell last night. I was drunk. Amanda's date asked him to help me.” 

 
           “So,” Addie curled her hand around the box and propped it on her hip. “That's it?”

 
           Amy looked at Addie with a dumbfounded look on her face.  Clearly, she had to spell it out. “We...we didn't do anything.  I have a boyfriend I’m crazy about. I may have been drunk, but I remember everything. He...he was out cold when I, when I slid under the sheet. He didn't touch me.”  There was a very long uncomfortable pause.

 
            “Anyway.  I thought you should...know.” 

 
           Amy brought up her hand as a halfhearted wave, then turned and walked down the stairs to her friend's waiting car barefoot.  Addie watched the beat up gold colored Corolla drive slowly away. 

 
           Closing the door, she leaned up against it, the cool metal on her back seemed to soothe her hot skin and opened the box again. It was engraved he'd said. She pulled out the topaz and looked at the band but didn't see anything so she put it back in the slot. Then she pulled out the diamond studded band and looked at it. 

 
           Anchor Line.

 
           That declaration glared at her from the small silver band.  The date was there too.  He’d told her that in Pittsburgh. She looked at it again. ‘ANCHOR LINE' it read. Her fingers wrapped around the ring and she clutched it to her chest as she slid down the door to sit on the floor as tears slid down her cheeks silently. 

 
          “Well?”  Nathan asked, turning around in the kitchen as Conrad came through the front door. “What did she say?”

 
           And damn it didn't he look hopeful as the front door opened. But as Conrad slid onto one of the bar stools and tossed his keys up on the bar, Nathan's smile dropped.  He watched as Conrad looked at his phone checking to see if anyone had called and then set it too on the bar top. 

 
           “I need a beer. No...I need rum.” Conrad said slowly rubbing his face with his hands.  He went to get up when Nathan started moving quickly.

 
           “You stay right there.  I got it. With or without DP?”

 
           “Without. I need to feel the burn.”

 
           “Fuck.” Was all Nathan could say as he pulled the Captain Morgan's Rum off the counter by the stove and pulled a squat glass from the cabinet and poured a couple fingers full and set it in front of his friend. Conrad downed it and slapped the counter again with his other hand as the rum burned down his throat, and held the glass out for another refill. So Nathan poured again and this time Conrad only downed half. 

 
           Conrad looked at the time on the microwave above the stove and sighed.  It was only ten twenty-three in the morning.  Ten twenty fucking three. This wasn't the start to the day he was planning on certainly.  But what the fuck right?  He'd laid it all out for Addie. He loved her, he wanted to marry her. And she just stood there saying nothing. Nothing at all.

 
           “More?” Nathan asked.

 
           “Nah, I think I'm going to go to the gym and maybe the batting cages. Beat the shit out of myself for a while. Or what's left anyway.”  Conrad downed the rest of the rum and set the glass down slowly. Then he got off the stool and went to change into his shorts and a muscle shirt. He came out of his bedroom and Nathan was dressed and ready to go to the gym as well. 

 
           “I'm driving.” Was all Nathan said as the two of them made their way to his car outside and off to the gym on post.

 
           The trip to the post gym was a quick one.  Once inside, Conrad went straight for the weights throwing the round wheels on the straight bar and started pumping trying to forget Addie and the hurt look on her face as she stood at the end of his bed. 

 
            Marry me.

 
            It's what he'd wanted to say to her while she stood there in the kitchen unmoving. But he had to give her time. After the free weights for a while, he went to do a legs set, then finally to run the track.  He guzzled the Gatorade that Nathan bought him and started running. After about mile four, Nathan fell out and stretched as Conrad continued to run. 

 
           Run to forget.

 
           Run to hope that she'll come back to him.

 
           Run so that 747 he was flying wouldn't crash if Addie didn't get over what didn't happen. 

 
           How did it all come to this?  How did these situations find him just when things with Addie were on the straight and narrow? The day he wanted to ask Addie to marry him, Nathan called in the 'anything you want for your birthday' marker. 

 
            Nathan wanted to go the strip club with Conrad and the other guys that they'd worked with.  And hell, after a three week field problem, they all really needed to go out.  The only difference was, the other guys that had wives or girlfriends went home to them. He got called out to help the girl that literally fell out of his bed in front of his girlfriend. But the gratitude he got for it was for Addie to find him sprawled out in his bed naked with her, even though she was clothed and said she was only cold.

 
           Finally realizing that he was toast, Conrad ran to where Nathan was sitting in the bleachers waiting for him. He stretched out, drank the rest of the Gatorade and decided it was time to go home. The ride back was a little longer as the afternoon weekend traffic was heavier, but they’d pulled into the apartment complex and Nathan said he was planning to visit the pool. Conrad said he’d go with.

 
           Pulling into a spot, Nathan and Conrad got out of the car and stopped when they saw Addie sitting on the bottom of the stairs leading up to their apartment. Nathan was the first to say anything as Addie stood and looked at Conrad, his clothes sweat soaked.

 
           “Hey Addie.” Nathan said. He walked up to her and kissed her cheek. “Go easy, he just ran his legs into muscle failure.”

 
           Addie gave a halfhearted smile and rubbed his hand with hers as he passed her to go upstairs. It was like a stare off for a few minutes. Addie looking remorseful. Conrad looking…expectant maybe.