Finding Mr. Right (9 page)

“What’s up, Maggie Moo-moo?”

“Omg, Blake, I need your help!” I wailed. I filled him in on what was going on and all his laughing had me smiling myself at the ridiculousness of the date.

“Why don’t you just leave, Mags?”

“I would feel bad.”

“What do you want me to do, Mags, come rescue you?” I could hear the smile in Blake’s voice.

“Yes, think of something, please!”

“I guess I could show up and say there was an emergency?”

“But wouldn’t he wonder why you didn’t just call the restaurant?”

“I guess. Maybe I could say the phone was down?”

“Yeah, that could work.”

“Or that aliens dropped me off and told me to bring you with me to the spaceship.”

“Blake...”

“Or that I’m James Bond and I need my girl Friday back with me for a secret mission in the USSR,” he was laughing.

“Blake, please.” I pleaded with him.

“I don’t know how you always rope me into these situations and why you don’t just leave, but go back to the table, sit still, and I’ll be there soon.”

“Yay, thanks, Blake.” I got off the phone with a smile on my face.

I walked back to the table with that smile on my face, figuring I might as well enjoy the food and wine while I waited for Blake to show up. I was able to tune Will out while he talked about himself and his recent adventures in Vegas and a local strip club. I must have been on my third glass of wine and just finishing up the glass when Blake showed up.

“Maggie?”

I looked up in mock surprise and shock for the second time that night as I heard my name shouted out across the restaurant.

“Maggie?” Blake came running up to me at the table, almost unrecognizable in his getup of ripped jeans and a white wife-beater tee and an LA Dodgers baseball cap.

“I can’t believe you’re doing this to me! Who is this scum?” he pointed over to Will, who lurched back.

“Um, sorry, who are you?” Will’s loud boisterous voice had quieted down considerably at Blake’s approach.

“No, the question is, who are you? And what are you doing here with my wife?”

“Wife?” Will and I both gasped in shock and Blake winked at me as he leaned across the table and sneered at Will.

“Yes, my wife, punk. What are you doing with her?”

“But I didn’t know she was married, she...”

“Stop talking.”

And Will stopped. I wish I could have done that to him a couple of hours ago,

“Come on, Maggie, let’s go.”

“Uh, sure.” I grabbed my handbag and jumped up while downing the rest of the wine in my mouth and trying not to laugh.

Will just sat back in shock with his mouth agape. I could tell that nothing like this had ever happened to him, but before I could feel sorry for him, I thought about his completely false photos and profile.

“Uh, bye, Will. Nice meeting you,” I waved at him as Blake dragged me out of the restaurant by my other arm. I heard Will muttering something about “dogs being better than crazies” under his breath and burst out laughing as soon as we walked out the door.

“Oh, Blake, how could you?” I could barely speak, the laughter consumed me so much.

“Only you could make me do these crazy things, Maggie.” We started running towards the parking lot. “I can’t believe I’m a grown man in my 30s, and an attorney to boot. You have reverted me back to childhood, Maggie.”

I reached over and hugged him when we reached his car. “Thanks, Blake.”

“You should have just left, you know. That would have been the grown-up thing to do.”

“But then I never would have seen you in a wife-beater, husband.”

“Yeah, and I would never have seen that guy’s face.”

We both started laughing again, he with tears rolling down his face.

“Oh my gosh, did you see his face? It was priceless.”

“Let’s go back to my place and have a drink and you can tell me more about the date,” Blake suggested, and I was more than happy to say yes.

We ended up talking and watching a movie in his room. I’m not sure why we went there instead of the living room, but I must have fallen asleep at some point during the movie because I woke up the next morning with one of his arms across my stomach. I just lay there and listened to his light snoring. As I gazed at his face, so soft and natural in its dream state, I felt something stirring in me. And it made me panic.

Dear Diary,

Sometimes things just make sense. You know when you want something so bad and then you don’t get it and you are so upset, but then later you realize it was the best thing that could have happened? And if you could have just seen the future, you could have saved yourself so much heartache? Well, I can’t say that I would have saved myself much heartache, but I would have saved my energies and time on something else. In case you didn’t know what I was talking about, diary of mine, it’s all about Gayle and Ben and all the signs I should have seen.

Blake woke up about ten minutes after me, and of course he caught me staring at him, well his chest to be exact. What a perfect specimen he was, especially the chest: broad and firm with just a sprinkling mat of hair. He really was an Adonis.

“Something on my face?” Blake lifted his arm and rubbed his eyes.

“No.”

“How much did you drink last night, Mags? You were out within an hour.”

“I made sure to drink up at the restaurant,” I laughed.

“That you did. So you going to make me breakfast?” he stretched his arms and his long, lean torso stretched with him. Oh my goodness, was he gorgeous or what.

“Breakfast? Me?”

“I did save you last night. And you know all good wives serve their husbands breakfast in bed.”

“Chauvinist,” I grabbed my pillow from under me and hit him. He grabbed it from me and tried to hit me back, but I grabbed onto it like I was wrestling with it.

“Oh no you don’t, you lil’ minx!” Blake released his hold on the pillow and started tickling me. I burst into laughter and curled up. I was extremely ticklish, as Blake knew from when we were kids.

“Okay, stop, stop,” I screeched. “I’ll make you breakfast. Egg whites and toast.”

Blake didn’t stop and instead tickled me some more. I started bucking my body back and forth to get away from him and his rambling fingers.

“Oh no you don’t,” Blake growled at me playfully, and all of a sudden we were rolling around on the bed and I could feel parts of his body that I hadn’t even dared think about before.

And then he stopped. He was on top of me now, with his legs around my waist and his hands holding my arms at the sides of my body. I squirmed underneath him, all of a sudden feeling very aware of the proximity of his body to mine and the minimal amount of clothes between us. I stopped.

“So are you going to make me a hearty breakfast, good wife of mine?” Blake laughed.

I wanted to lean up and kiss him on the lips. “Okay. Bacon, eggs, and toast?”

“Sounds good.” And with that, he leaned down, kissed me on the forehead, and got off of me. “And soon? I’m starving.”

My body felt cold and missed his presence so close to mine, but I dismissed trying to seduce him with some morning sex. 1) I didn’t think my breath was good enough to go in for a kiss. 2) I’d forgotten what morning sex was and wasn’t sure I could perform well. 3) I was pretty positive Blake saw me as his little sister. 4) He had a girlfriend.

I got out of bed and stretched. “Well, you better show me the kitchen if I’m to cook up this feast.” I all of a sudden felt very self-conscious because Blake was staring at me intently as I stretched. I looked down and could see that half my belly was showing, as the t-shirt he had lent me had ridden up. Oh well, there was my belly in all its glory. It had gone down considerably since we had been reacquainted at the gym a few months ago, but certainly wasn’t showing off any washboard abs. In fact, my fat was doing a pretty good job of hiding any abs that existed as if it were a bodyguard and didn’t want any prying eyes to even know they were there.

I tried sucking in my stomach to see if it would make much difference. It didn’t, or at least not the difference that I was hoping for. It still didn’t look flat. It looked good for someone who had just given birth to triplets. If I had just given birth, people would be astonished and envious of my stomach. They’d be saying things like, “How did she lose the weight so quickly?” and, “Maggie, what’s your secret?” Unfortunately for me, I didn’t have any kids and people around me knew that and thus no one was looking at my stomach in admiration. I did quickly think about the possibility of adopting a child and passing it off as mine but decided that just doing more abdominal workouts would be a cheaper and more feasible option.

I looked around Blake’s kitchen in admiration. It fit in with the rest of his house. It was perfect: bright and spacious with modern appliances and a homey feel. I wondered how often Bridget cooked in this kitchen and if she would be upset that I was in here right now. I didn’t even want to think about how she would feel if she knew that I had slept in the same bed as her boyfriend. No matter how nice and congenial she was, and no matter that I was no threat to her, I couldn’t imagine that she would be too happy to learn about either one. It made me feel slightly guilty. I knew that I wouldn’t want another woman in bed with my boyfriend, no matter if they were childhood friends or not. But I suppose we hadn’t done it on purpose and nothing had actually happened, so no harm done.

The fridge and pantry were both stocked with goodies that I could only dream about buying, due both to their cost and to my diet. I hesitate to really say ‘diet’ because I’m not doing too great on that front, cupcakes being my one true love, along with a handful (or two) of other just as healthy food options.

“Blake, breakfast is ready,” I called out to him after frying up the bacon and scrambling some eggs.

“About time,” Blake looked at the table set with plates and smiled. “You remembered the tomatoes and onions.”

“How could I forget?” I grinned. Every time Blake had slept over, he had made sure to get my mom to add tomatoes and onions to his plate. It was something his grandma used to do for him with his breakfast, and he never liked to eat his breakfast without them.

“Tastes good, Maggie. If the writing career doesn’t work out, you can always be my cook.”

“Is that an offer?” I grinned back at him. “I may very well need to take you up on that.”

“Uh oh, book not going well?” Blake looked at me in concern. I wasn’t sure if it was because he was really concerned about my book or if he was worried about looking like a fool in front of the publishing contact he had raved to about me.

“It’s going okay. I really got some good ideas flowing when I was with Bridget in the Hills, but it’s been going slowly since then.”

“Want to talk about it?”

“Not right now.” I didn’t want to ruin the mood
by bringing
up the book.

“Okay. So what are you plans for the day?”

I grimaced. “I told Gayle I’d meet her for lunch. She wants to talk to me about Ben.”

“Uh oh.”

“Yeah, she is going to explain to me what her text message was about last night. She says she likes him. I think they may have hooked up.”

“No way.”

“Crazy, right? I can’t believe she did this to me.”

“Oh, I was more in shock because I thought she was a lesbian.”

“What?” I dropped my fork on the plate in surprise. “You thought Gayle was a lesbian?”

“Yeah, she always seemed so serious and mean around me. I figured she didn’t like men.”

I started laughing. “Oh, that’s just Gayle. She’s intense about everything. You just have to get to know her.”

“I was surprised you guys were friends actually...”

“Why?”

“It just didn’t seem as if your personalities would mesh well. You know, with her being so serious and you...”

“Me what?”

“You know.”

I looked at Blake, pouting and trying to hide a smile. I knew what he meant. “What do you mean, Blake?”

“Well, you know, you’re not as serious, and, ahem...”

I started laughing. “I know. I think that’s why we get on so well. I provide laughter in her life, and she tries to put some rigidity in mine. Well, at least she did,” I frowned.

“I can come with you if you want,” Blake offered.

“Actually, I would like that.” I didn’t want to go to lunch with Gayle alone. I had a feeling that if I did, I would be a bundle of emotions, and I frankly didn’t need that right now.

“So how is Bridget, by the way? She says she’s busy discovering stuff.” I changed the subject.

“Discovering stuff? Like what? Bones?”

“I don’t know. Something for a case.”

“Oh, you mean she’s doing discovery.” Blake laughed.

“I guess. I don’t know. I’m not a fancy-dancy lawyer.”

Blake couldn’t stop laughing. I didn’t to try and pry for more information.

“So, how long have you known her?” I tried to act casually, chewing on some toast.

“Who?”

“Bridget!” I exclaimed in exasperation. Blake really could be dense sometimes.

“Oh. Well, we’ve both been at the firm for about 9 years now. We were incoming first-year associates together.”

“Oh, wow.”

“I know. It’s been a long time.”

“And you guys, um, you’ve always gotten along well?” I tried to think of a way to ask how long they had been dating without making it seem I was too interested.

“Yes. She’s one of the few people I completely trust.”

I died a little inside at that. It didn’t seem as if they would be breaking up any time soon.

“So, you guys have a good, uh, relationship then?”

“I would hope so, we are partners after all!” Blake laughed. “Any more bacon left?”

I was glad for the excuse to get up and turn my face away from Blake. Something inside me crashed a little when he referred to her as his partner. It seemed to me that when a man referred to a woman as his partner, it meant a little more than just being boyfriend and girlfriend.

“How many rashers do you want?” I asked, while adding some more eggs to his plate.

“Three, if you have them. I’m a growing boy,” Blake beat his hands against his chest and roared like Tarzan.

“You are a goof, Blake,” I laughed. “I hope Bridget doesn’t mind me being here and cooking you breakfast and all,” I mumbled quickly.

“Why would she care?” Blake looked at me puzzled. “In fact, if she knew, she would likely wish she were here herself. She hates cooking.”

Well, that put me in my place. Blake and Bridget’s relationship was obviously very strong, and he must have already told her that she had nothing to fear by him and me being close. It stung a bit, and I felt my stomach churn, but did I really expect a guy like Blake to be interested in me?

“Here you go,” I plunked the plate in front of Blake. “I’m going to go shower, and you can do the dishes when you are done.”

“Oh, woman, didn’t you know you are meant to cook and do the dishes?” Blake laughed as I walked out of the room.

I called Gayle and told her that Blake was coming with me to lunch. I hadn’t really wanted to tell her beforehand. I’d wanted her to feel awkward telling me the story of betrayal in front of someone else, but I realized that I had to call her to tell her I would drive to the restaurant and didn’t need her to pick me up.

I realized that it had been a mistake for me to tell Gayle that Blake was joining us as soon as we got to the restaurant; for there sitting at the table with Gayle was Ben Bonkers. Blake grabbed my hand and gave it a squeeze.

“It’ll be okay. Just smile,” he whispered to me.

As we walked to the table, I kept my head held high and smiled brightly. I couldn’t help but notice that both Gayle and Ben looked happy. They had a glow about them and they were holding hands. Gayle looked softer than I had seen her in years, and her hair was down and flowing. She looked quite beautiful. A surge of warmth ran through me. It was happiness. I was happy for my friend. She looked like she was floating in the clouds. I realized as we approached the table that I had barely glanced at Ben; compared to Blake, he just didn’t even factor into the equation. I realized that my affections for him had faded considerably since I had met Jasmine. Anyone who could or would date Jasmine was not anyone I had any respect for.

“Hey, Maggie. Hey, Blake,” Gayle stood up and gave me a hug. I held my body back a little bit though, and the hug ended awkwardly.

“Gayle, good to see you,” Blake gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Ben, how you doing?”

“Good, Blake, how’s the legal world treating you?”

“Good, good.” Blake and I sat down.

I tried to make eye contact with Ben but he avoided my gaze.

“So, how’s your day going so far?” Gayle asked brightly. I could tell she was trying as hard as she could to make the mood lighter, but I decided that I wasn’t going to make it any easier for her. It wasn’t so much that I cared about Ben, more that she hadn’t shared with me that she had any feelings for him.

“Could have been better,” I shared after ordering a big juicy steak. So what if it was lunchtime? I was getting Gayle’s money’s worth at this meal.

“So, how long have you been dating?” I stared at Gayle. I couldn’t be bothered with the pleasantries. I wanted to know how this had happened and when.