Charming: A Modern Day Sexy Cinderella Story (8 page)

“Oh my god, I don’t believe it!” Katie yells while staring at her phone.

“What?” The two of us decided to go outside the resort for lunch and walked in and out of various souvenir shops along the road to our destination. In front of a storefront Katie stopped to take selfie’s in a huge sombrero that had grabbed her attention and then pictures of us in various poses.

“That picture we took with Asher?” she asks as if I could forget. She teased me forever over the way I acted in front of him. I told her I hated her, but then she bought me another margarita so all was forgiven.

“What about it?”

“This.” She turns her phone toward me and I see that all of our heads have been chopped off. My mouth falls open, I look at Katie’s face and see how annoyed she looks and so I double over at the waist and start laughing. “It’s not funny! Who the hell doesn’t know how to take a picture?!”

“Apparently they didn’t believe you when you said you wouldn’t post it.”

“I’m totally going to hunt them down and demand another one.”

“I’m sure you will, I’d expect nothing less,” I tell her with a laugh. “What about this? Does this say, ‘you were supposed to get married and didn’t’,” I ask Katie while holding up a little trinket using it to distract her.

She rolls her eyes, “No. It screams, ‘I went to Mexico and instead of having fun shopping with my best friend, I had a pity party’.”

“Hey!” I react immediately in self-defense at her comment, but then sigh. “Actually you’re right. I don’t know why I said that.”

“Because you’re still angry, that’s why. I’m not saying you shouldn’t be, I’m sorry if I sounded inconsiderate of your feelings. I just hate you wasting any more time on that piece of shit.”

“Yeah, he really is a piece of shit, huh?”

“Totally. Which is why I actually sent him a flaming pile of poo in the mail.”

My words stutter on a laugh, “What?”

“Yep. Before we left, I ordered a pile of shit to be sent to his front door.”

“You’re kidding.”

“No, I’m not. There’s actually an online company that provides it. You get to choose the amount and even get to pick the kind of animal it’s ejected from too. And the inside packaging kind of disintegrates when it is removed from the outside container. I swear you can order anything on the internet.”

“Get. Out.” My mouth is hanging open and I’m staring at her in both awe and surprise.

“I’m serious,” she shrugs as if sending someone literal shit in the mail isn’t the tiniest big deal.

Rushing to her, I throw my arms around her while laughing. “I have the best friend in the whole world.”

“Hell yes you do,” Katie agrees squeezing me back in return. “The only thing better would be if they offered to somehow take his picture while he opens the extra large package, but unfortunately, we’ll just have to imagine that ourselves.”

I’m bent over at the waist laughing so hard tears are falling from my eyes. I can only imagine Jeremy’s horror. Here’s hoping he drops it and gets it all over himself, making a huge mess and carrying the smell for days. So gross yet so awesome.

“This is cute,” Katie says while pulling a very beautiful dress in gorgeous shades of blue from a rack. A woman hurries over and offers to take it off the hanger for her, so she can try it on. She shows her all the ways it can be worn. “How much?” Katie asks. She and the woman bargain for the best deal and then Katie says, “Sold,” when it reaches a price she’s willing to pay. Everything is a negotiation here. Several times we’ve picked up items to ask the price and put it down because we don’t want it that much, to be told a different, and lower, price. Katie gets a serious look on her face and will barter back and forth like nobody’s business. I’m a bit shyer about it, feeling like I’m taking advantage of the hard work they’ve put into making their wares. I’m afraid to offend them by suggesting too little.

With her purchase in tow, we head to the next store and browse. I have my eye on a blanket. I’d love to bring one home, but haven’t found the perfect one just yet. Although several places have been willing to offer me the ‘best deal’.

“How do I not feel like a complete loser?” I blurt out, finally giving voice to the thing that’s been bothering me.

Katie looks at me, her face showing her confusion, “What are you talking about?”

“Jeremy cheated on me, Katie. Hell, I told you myself that our relationship left a lot to be desired, but
he
cheated on
me
.
I
wasn’t enough for
him
. He had to go and get off with my
step
sister because he wasn’t getting what he wanted from me. How is that not humiliating?”

“I understand that it’s upsetting.”

“It’s more than upsetting,” I mutter.

She continues as if I hadn’t spoken, “But you knew that something wasn’t right in your relationship, so much so that you were ready to walk out even before you heard that little gem of news. Did you really think that he didn’t feel that there was a problem too?”

“Actually, no. I thought that he was getting everything he wanted out of our relationship. I didn’t see this coming at all.”

“Don’t beat yourself up over it, Ella. It doesn’t mean that something is wrong with you or that you aren’t good enough. It only means that you both weren’t right for each other. He’s a speed bump in the road to your greater destination. That’s all.”

“Yes, I suppose you’re right. It’s just bugging me.”

“I get it. You were blind-sided, but you know very well that your whole heart hasn’t been in this relationship for a while if it ever truly was and so it makes sense that something like this would get by you. On some level maybe you didn’t care enough to know.”

“I think I’m afraid this will happen to me again. God, can you imagine? I don’t want to be made a fool.”

“You have to let go of that, and you need to let go of him. He’s not worthy of your time, thought, fear, consideration, nothing. He deserves none of it. He wasn’t right for you. You know I love you, but I’ve seen that for a while. You know there’s a reason why he and I never totally hit it off. I just couldn’t see how he was right for you.”

“You’re right. The thing is I’ve had a chance to think a lot the last few days -obviously - and it has hit me hard - how much I didn’t really love him. How much I was settling. Why would I do that to myself? Why would I just hold onto something that wasn’t real so tightly, not willing to love myself enough to wait for something more? Something better?”

“Maybe because you’ve spent so much of your life alone first losing your mother, then your father. Things have been a rollercoaster and I think part of you just wanted some damn stability - to not lose one more person in your life. And I don’t think you could be the one to allow that to happen. It’s one thing when life does it to you. It’s altogether something else when we do it to ourselves. But doing it for ourselves is healthy. It’s been a good lesson for you, Ella. One you are sure to grow from. So, please, stop beating yourself up over this. Let it go. Let him go. He doesn’t deserve you.”

“I’m not holding onto him. He doesn’t deserve to be held onto.”

“Are you sure about that? You’re asking questions of yourself that you know the answers to. I’m not saying that after only a few days you should be over a relationship that lasted three years, and please don’t get me wrong, but taking the blame for his actions isn’t right. That is totally on Jeremy. He should have manned up and talked to you and made the right decision. But he tried to have his cake and eat it too. He was a jerk. That’s on him.”

“A relationship is two people,” I remind her.

“Yes, yes it is, but even though you didn’t feel like things were where they should be or how you wished for them to be, you didn’t go and look for it somewhere else.
He
did that.”

“Maybe I should have spoken up and said something sooner.”

“Maybe you should have. And maybe it would have made a difference, but maybe it wouldn’t have. Personally, I don’t think it would have. Want to know why?”

“I already know why,” I tell her while picking up a cute salt and pepper shaker set of a man and woman wearing sombreros. “Because he never gave me that boom feeling.”

“That’s right. There was no boom.”

“I wonder if someone will ever make my heart go boom.” A brief flash of Asher crosses my mind and how I felt when I saw him for the first time. Feeling silly, I push the thought away with a shake of my head.

“I think so, but in the mean time, how about we find someone that can make your vagina go boom.”

“Katie!”

“What? You’re a single woman again. A single woman that’s had shitty sex at best for three years. Let’s get someone to rock your world, make you go boom, you deserve it.”

“I don’t even know how to be single again.”

“Oh please. Stop talking like you’re some old woman that’s been married for twenty-five years and just got divorced. It’s time to party again, live it up, have fun, make some memorable mistakes that you can learn from later.”

Laughing, I can’t help but find myself intrigued at the prospect. “I wonder if Asher Charming is single,” I ask jokingly. Okay, maybe not so jokingly.

“According to
Sexy Talk
magazine he’s one of the top ten sexiest bachelor’s in the world right now.”

“Oh god, I forgot if anyone would know it would be you. You’re such a celebrity gossip whore.”

“Yes, yes I am,” she says with no shame.

We walk into another store that has a ton of pottery pieces to choose from. I gravitate toward large chip and salsa bowls and look through the stack. “This would be a cool souvenir.”

“They’re cute, and practical,” Katie agrees and she helps me pick out a beautiful bowl that’s hand painted bright yellow, red and orange. It’s vibrant and fun. And the little shop gives it to me for only fifteen dollars.

“Anything you want to do for your last couple days here. I can’t believe time has already gone by and you’ll be leaving soon,” I tell Katie. Since Katie could only stay a week I fully intended on returning home when she did, but Katie talked me into reconsidering and taking some time for myself. I was hesitant, not wanting to be in a foreign country on my own, but the resort is safe and some time alone does sound nice.

“Let’s go out to dinner tomorrow night. That restaurant on the property looks like a good choice. All the windows facing the ocean, the water running around it and all the candles they have lit at night. It looks beautiful.”

“I like that idea,” I agree. “We can get all dolled up too, it will be fun. What about tonight?”

“I’m game for whatever. We can hit the pool or maybe hang out by the fire pits.”

Later that evening, with my brand new throw blanket in shades of ocean blue, teal and white, thrown over my lap, Katie and I sit on a couch next to a fire pit that’s only steps from the sand. With the breeze coming off the ocean, it’s a little chilly, but between the blanket and the fire, we’re comfortable. Each with a glass of merlot, we sip our wine happily while staring into the fire. I’m not sure if it was all of the walking earlier or the ambience, but we are quieter tonight. I’ve been a bit pensive, my thoughts straying from introspection, to reflection, to contemplation. The world is really my oyster, as the saying goes, if I choose. I stop all of my wandering thoughts and try to absorb the atmosphere around me and just live in the moment.

The resort is full of people, but it’s not at all crowded tonight. There are other people around the pit too, but it isn’t loud by any means. Rather people speak in low voices and quiet whispers. Husky laughter drifts on the air to my ears making my toes curl. My eyes roam looking for the source and rest on none other than Asher Charming across the lick of the flames. He’s sitting next to a guy and they’re talking and laughing about something. The sight of him makes a thrill run through me, and my heart skips a beat. He’s simply gorgeous. I feel like a stupid love struck fan, but who could blame me? It’s impossible to look away from how the wind is blowing his hair and how the light of the fire manages to both light up one side of his face, while casting the other side in shadow. It’s breathtaking. Or rather he is. He looks both approachable, and mysterious.

“You know…talk about the perfect way to jump back into singledom,” Katie tells me following my gaze to Asher.

“Oh yeah right. Because
The
Asher Charming, action actor extraordinaire, one of the sexiest men alive, would totally want to hang out with some random chick on vacation from New York.”

“Hey, stranger things have happened you know,” Katie says. “And hell, just think about the stories you would be able to tell your grandchildren some day.”

Her comment makes me laugh and I’m surprised when suddenly Asher’s eyes meet mine across the fire. I wonder if somehow my laugh managed to have the same effect on him. Don’t I wish. I can’t help but smile softly at the thought and I swear that his lips twitch with amusement back at me before I move my gaze away.

Not long afterwards, Katie and I decide to head back to our room and I swear I can feel his gaze burning into me as I walk away. Likely wishful thinking.