Finding Mr. Right (15 page)

“I took the liberty of getting some champagne for us to celebrate.” Stephen took a gulp as I sat down.

“Celebrate?”

“Our new partnership. Here’s to our show, your book, and our new relationship.”

“Relationship?” Huh?

“You are my new main girl, Maggie Lane.”

Oh shit. “Oh.”

And with that, we both took huge gulps of our champagne, but for very different reasons.

Dear Diary,

I am an idiot. A real idiot. Blake isn’t in a relationship. He never was. Bridget is not his girlfriend. Turns out he wasn’t using the term ‘partner’ to refer to Bridget using some modern-day dating terminology, but just referring to them as working professionals. Turns out they are just partners in the law firm together. I wish I could tell you how happy I was when I found out that information. But my happiness turned to despair and frustration when I thought of the new relationship I now found myself in and the fact that I had been boasting to Blake about it just days before I realized he was single. It seems to me I am just doomed to have a crappy love life forever.

I was able to go home by myself after my dinner date with Stephen. He was so drunk that I was able to put him in a cab and give him a quick kiss on the cheek without him trying to ask for more. I knew when I got home that evening that I was going to have to have a talk with him. No matter how bad I wanted a relationship, and no matter how attractive he was, I knew I couldn’t be with him. Not just because I loved Blake, but because he was the most annoying, pretentious, and stupid man I had ever met. I was proud of myself for owning up to the fact that he was not good dating material and actually acknowledging the fact that I shouldn’t just date him anyways. It was unfortunate that Blake had called me right before I went to bed to ask me how the dinner had gone.

“Moo-moo, I’m surprised you’re at home. Date didn’t go well?” Blake drawled in my ear. I was instantly antagonized by his words.

“How did you know I was on a date?”

“Stephen asked me what kind of food you liked.”

“Oh, I see. Well, the date went fine actually.”

“Really?”

“Yes, he asked me to be his girlfriend.” Well kinda.

“His girlfriend? Already? I assume you said no.”

“You assume wrong,” I didn’t get a chance to say no as he just assumed I would want to date him. I didn’t tell Blake that though.

“Maggie, have you thought this through properly?” Blake sounded like my father, lecturing me as a child.

“Yes, Blake. I know what I’m doing, and Stephen and I are fine. In fact, he is planning on taking me to Italy to shop.”

“What!” Indeed what! I hoped that Blake didn’t mention it to Stephen. Not because I thought that Stephen would be appalled, but because he might just actually plan something like that.

“He really likes me. He thinks I’m great, and he wants to spoil me.” That wasn’t really what he’d said exactly but wasn’t necessarily a lie.

“Maggie. I don’t want to sound like your brother again, but I do not think this is a good idea.”

“What do you know, Blake?”

“I just don’t think you know Stephen well enough to be in any sort of relationship with him. I mean you just met him a few weeks ago, and as far as I know, you’ve been on what, one date with him?”

“Like you said, Blake, you really don’t know. Anyways, I have to go. I have a book to write if you didn’t remember.” I hung up the phone, exasperated and confused. I didn’t know why I had reacted the way I had, and somehow cemented myself in a relationship that I didn’t want to be in in the first place.

****

Gayle had me going to the gym every day again. It was sort of nice to get back into the routine, and it was especially nice when Perky Tina came up to me and asked me if I wanted to be included in the makeover stories section on the gym’s website. I turned them down of course (who wants to be immortalized as a fat-ass?) but it was nice to have been asked.

The marathon was coming up in a month, and I was nowhere close to being able to run 26 miles. But I was able to do a solid 5K and possibly even a 10K.

“I think I’m going to switch my race to a 5K,” I told Gayle as we walked to our cars the day I was going to have lunch with Bridget. “I just think it’s more feasible.” I glanced over at Gayle’s face, surprised to see that she was smiling and not frowning.

“I hope you aren’t disappointed with me.”

“Of course not, Mags!” Gayle laughed.

“What’s so funny?”

“I have been waiting for this day for ages, Mags. I signed us up for a 5K, not a marathon. I can’t even run a marathon.”

“What? What? Of course you can run a marathon. You are in great shape,” I said while pointedly staring at her taut body.

“I may be in shape, Mags, but I certainly can’t run a marathon.”

“But, but you always go on about running.”

“Mags, I don’t know if you ever really listened to me properly. You were always so defensive, but when I was telling you about running, I was talking about running a mile.”

“A mile?”

“Yeah, Mags, a mile. I can barely run 4 miles without stopping now.”

“What?” I burst out laughing. What a fool I had been. “Oh, Gayle, I’m sorry. I’ve been a right idiot.”

“You’re not an idiot, Maggie.”

“Maybe not an idiot, but I’ve been so self-absorbed.” I thought about everything I had missed that was going on with Gayle. “I’m really sorry, Gayle. Really.” I grabbed her hands. “I’ve been a bad friend, so caught up in my own life, my own daydreams.”

“It’s okay, Mags. We’ve all been there. And you’ve really changed in the last few months. Ever since Blake came back into your life, you’ve seemed to grow up a lot.”

“Yeah, he’s been a good influence in my life. I forgot how important he was to me. When he moved, I missed him so much. You know, Chad never really had much time for me and, well, Blake really made me feel special when I was a child. And he pushed me. You know. I’ve thought about him a lot recently.”

“He really cares about you, Mags.”

“Yeah, as a sister.”

“That’s not such a bad thing.” Gayle’s voice was gentle.

“Yeah. Oh, Gayle. I’m crazy. I’m horrible. I want Blake for myself, but here I am going to lunch with his girlfriend, or should I say ‘partner.’ And I’ve got a boyfriend who’s as dumb as rocks, as pretentious as a reality star, and annoys the bejesus out of me. What am I doing?”

“It’ll work out, Maggie. I promise.”

“I hope so.”

“It will.”

“Let’s hope it works out before I find myself married to Stephen, doing exposés on McDonald’s versus Burger King’s fries.”

“Huh?”

“Don’t ask.” I laughed. “I’d better get going. I’m sure Bridget is waiting on me.”

“Tell her I said hi.”

“Will do.”

And with that, I drove off to meet Bridget at Just Salads. No wonder she was in perfect shape. I might have lost weight and started exercising more, but I still enjoyed eating as many French fries as I could with as many meals as I could.

“Maggie, so good to see you. It’s been too long.” Bridget beamed at me. A twinge of guilt ran through me. I truly was a bad person.

“Bridget, good to see you too. You look wonderful.” And it was true. She looked great. How could Blake not love her? She was perfect, it seemed.

“As do you.”

We grabbed our salads and sat near the window. I was impressed by the wide array of vegetables that were available to me and tried to get excited by the broccoli and beets that were sitting alongside my spinach.

“So, Blake tells me you are seeing Stephen Evan, the producer?”

“Yes, yes. Kinda.” Blake was worse than a girl!

“I have to say I was surprised to hear that.”

“Really? Why?”

Did Bridget also not think I was good enough for a Hollywood big-wig like Stephen? Okay, who was I kidding? He was a Hollywood big-wig as much as I was a big TV star.

“Oh, I just didn’t think you would be interested in Stephen, and well, you know.”

“No, what?” I said irritated.

“I thought that you and Blake had a thing.”

“What?!”

Omg, did she know I had a thing for her boyfriend?

“I thought you and Blake had a thing for each other. And well he is a much better guy than Stephen, no offense,” she rushed the last bit out.

My head was spinning. Why would she think Blake and I had a thing for each other? Was this some sort of test?

“I’m not sure what you’re talking about, Bridget.”

“Oh, sorry. I just thought you had Blake had some sparks,” she said calmly, while eating her salad.

“Huh? Aren’t you dating Blake? I’m a bit confused.”

“Me dating Blake?” Bridget started laughing. “Where did you get that from?”

“He said you were partners. I mean, you guys meet up for breakfast and dinner, and...”

“We are partners, Maggie. In the firm. And we have breakfast and dinner meetings when we need to discuss cases.”

“Oh.”

“I’m not dating Blake, Maggie.”

“Oh.”

Was this still part of her test? Was she trying to check my reaction? I guess my confusion must have shown in my face.

“I’m gay, Maggie.”

“Oh.”

I looked up at Bridget, and she looked like she was telling the truth.

“So, let me get this straight. You aren’t dating Blake?”

“Nope.”

“So, he is single?”

“Yup”

“And you thought we had a spark?”

“Definitely. He talks about you all the time, Maggie.”

“He does?”

“Yup.”

“Oh.”

Was there a possibility that Blake liked me?

“So what’s going on with you and Stephen, Maggie?”

“I don’t like him at all. He’s awful, Bridget, but I kinda fell into dating him and decided to just see where it would go, because I didn’t want Blake to think he could boss me around, and because I was jealous that you guys were together. Or at least I thought you guys were together. Oh man, I’ve made such a mess of things.”

“Oh, Maggie.”

‘Oh, Maggie’ was right. What a mess I had made of things. What must Blake think of me? No wonder he thought I was a mess. He must think I just went from guy to guy to guy, that I was so desperate for a man that I would do anything with anyone. And really, did I even have a chance with him? If anything, I had made him think of me as the incorrigible little sister more than ever in the last few weeks.

Dear Diary,

I think I’m going to stop writing in you for a while. I need time to regroup. And I’m going to France. I know, I know. Shocker, right? Well, I may be going to France. A lot has happened in the last few weeks, and I feel like I am finally growing up and becoming an adult. Life’s not like the movies, and love isn’t a romance novel. At least not for most people. I think I may be one of the lucky ones. At least that is what I hope. We’ll see. I may finally get my French kiss. That is if I don’t become a household name first.

Blake was waiting at my doorstep when I got home that evening. I was worried that Bridget had told him about our conversation and he had come to let me down gently.

“Hey, Maggie.” He smiled at me. “Sorry to show up unannounced.”

“That’s okay, what’s up?” I spoke politely, dreading hearing the words ‘sister’ and ‘I just don’t feel that way.’

“I wanted to apologize for what I said to you about Stephen.”

“You could have done that over the phone.”

“I had something I needed to tell you.”

I looked up at him then. He was staring down at me, and my heart started beating very quickly. “Did you speak to Bridget today?”

“What? No. Why do you always ask me about Bridget?” Blake looked confused.

“No reason, no reason.” I laughed. I wasn’t about to tell him what I had thought.

We walked into my apartment, and I was happy to see that it didn’t look as messy as it usually did. Lucy was gnawing on her Kong and seemed intent on trying to dig out the peanut butter that I had stuffed it with earlier that morning.

“So what did you want to talk to me about?” I asked hesitantly.

“I needed to tell you something. It wasn’t just chance that I bumped into you that day at the gym.”

“What? You were stalking me?”

“No. No. I mean, it was chance that I saw you at the gym, but it wasn’t chance that we just found each other again. I’ve been looking for you for a while. I was going to contact you that week anyway. I just happened to bump into you at the gym first.”

“Oh.” Oh!

“So, at the restaurant when you asked me how I knew you were going to call me, I lied. I didn’t know if you would call, but it didn’t matter. I had your phone number and was going to call you anyways.”

“Why did you want to contact me?”

“I’ve been thinking about you and Chad a lot lately. You guys were the best part of my childhood and there was also something about you, so precocious, so funny...”

“You didn’t have a crush on me as a kid, did you?”

“Don’t be silly, Maggie. I’m not a creep. But you have always been a really important part of my life. I wanted to reconnect with you. Does that make sense?”

“Yes, yes, it does.” I could feel my hope fading. He didn’t love me. He just wanted to reconnect with his old childhood friends. He did see me as a sister.

“I’ve been so happy with you back in my life, and I realized today that I’ve been overbearing. If you really like Stephen and want to date him, that’s your business. I’ll support you no matter what happens.”

“Thanks.” I wanted to tell Blake that I didn’t want to be with Stephen, that I loved him, that I was so happy that he was back in my life. That I never wanted to lose him ever again. “Thanks, I appreciate it.” Blake pulled me towards him then, and we hugged. I breathed in his scent, and he rested his head on top of mine. Time seemed to stand still.

“So, do you want to go out to dinner tonight?” Blake asked me as he pulled away from me.

“Your treat?”

“My treat. I had an idea I was going to put past you.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah. I’m going to France to work on a case next month for 2 weeks. I was wondering if you wanted to come along. I thought it might be a good way for you to get some inspiration for your book.”

“Oh, Blake, that sounds amazing, but I don’t know if I can afford that.”

“I have millions of frequent flier miles. Don’t worry about the ticket. Plus, obviously you can stay in my chateau with me for free.”

“Wow, that would be awesome!” And a perfect way for me to try and get into Blake’s heart.
Beep-beep
. I looked down to a text from Stephen:

Call me! I just spoke to an NBC producer. He’s interested in running our McDonald’s exposé special on one of the top news shows when it’s done. We’ve hit the big time, baby
.

I walked down to Blake’s car very confused and contemplating what I should do. Go to France and see if there was a possibility for Blake and me, or should I stay here and finally put everything into my career? I’d have to think it over very carefully. After a big slice of cheesecake, of course.