Indelible Love - Emily's Story (52 page)

“Are you going to disappear again without a
trace? Will you at least take my number and call me? I’ve missed
you. It’s been so long…too long.” He laid a heavy burden on my
heart. I wanted his number, his heart, his commitment to me and
Ollie. This could never be.

I took Ollie from his father and stepped
into the train.

“Wait!” He held my arm. He slipped his
business card into my purse and said, “Please call me. We need to
talk.” He sounded desperate now.

“You made yourself clear to me the last time
we spoke. I don’t want to be your ‘burden.’ Hope Melinda is
well.”

With perfect timing the door shut and I sat
with my back against Jamie’s face. I heard the banging on the
window but my crying eyes didn’t turn around. Hugging our son
tightly to my chest I cried all the way home.

Carrying Ollie from the station to my mom’s
house, I was lost in my own thoughts of what had transpired
today.

“Olivia!” My mother yelled. “Wait up.” I
turned to see her hastily walking toward us. “Have you been walking
with Oliver this whole time? Here, give him to me.”

My mom looked up at me in fright. “What
happened to you? Why have you been crying?”

“Ollie and I ran into Jamie at the park
today. What am I going to do, Mom?” The tears fell even
heavier.

I looked out my window as a loud roar of
pipes rolled up the driveway. Max pulled up on a sleek new
motorcycle. At least I thought it was new. I hadn’t seen Max in
about six months so I couldn’t be sure when he got the bike.

Max was
so
not the Harley type of guy.
He was the straight-laced, straight-A, straight-shooting type. The
boy next door, as my sister-in-law, Emily, described him. Those
monikers, as well as Max’s ex-girlfriend, and my new sister, Emily,
were the reasons why we took a break for a while.

I stared at the good-looking brown-haired,
brown-eyed guy. With more ease than I preferred, he gave Emily a
hug and a kiss.

“Max! What a wonderful surprise. What are you
doing here…and so early in the morning?” Emily greeted.

“Hi, Em. I see motherhood agrees with you.
You look beautiful even at this early hour.”
Really???
Did
he always need to find her so enchanting?

“Hey!” Of course, where Emily was, my brother
wasn’t far behind. “Get your hands and lips off my wife!” he
demanded.

“Lighten up, Dr. Reid. I was just saying
hello to my beautiful ex-girlfriend.”

“Must you always bring up the fact that you
and my wife once dated?”

“We didn’t just once date; we were together
twice the length of time you and she have been together.”

The irritation in Jake’s eyes was cracking me
up. He was so easily riled. Though, the conversation outside was
making me feel a little snarky, myself.
Relax…M
y new mantra
as we were going to try again. I needed to get over my “hang-ups,”
as Max called them.

“Cut it out, both of you,” Emily warned while
giving her husband a loving embrace. “Good Morning.” Now she was
only addressing Jake. “I brought the kids out so they wouldn’t wake
you. You got in so late last night from the hospital.”

“It was lonely in bed without you,” Jake
announced loudly, so the whole neighborhood could hear. “I wanted
to be out here with my family.” My brother’s voice got louder with
each word, but not as loud as his twin son and daughter—Elizabeth
and James.

“Da! Da! Da!” The twins screeched. The four
of them made a gorgeous family and the smile on Max’s face warmed
my heart. For a change, he didn’t look like he was still in love
with Emily, but instead, he looked like he was in love with the
idea of a happy family.

Time to make my grand entrance!

“Hey,” I greeted.

“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…

“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?

OK, sorry. Not the right thing to
say. A lunch for a chance to grovel?

That made me laugh. Since I
left without hearing the full explanation, I suppose I needed to
give him a chance. Ha! It was more like I was dying to know who
this Joyce girl was that he had been dating. From what my brother
Jake told me, she was this brilliant doctor from Stanford who had
been after Max for a while. When I asked what she looked like, he
shrugged, saying that he hasn’t paid attention to another woman’s
looks since he met Emily. Whatever…
Dork!

OK but you’ve gotta come my way
cuz I only have 30 min.

Perfect. See you soon.

The morning flew by between
meetings and prep work for a case I was assisting.

“Jane, you have a
moment?”

“Um, sure.”

Donovan, the head lawyer in
mergers and acquisitions, waited for me to get up from my seat and
practically held my hand into his office.

“What’s up?”

He handed me an envelope and
gestured for me to open it.

“I just got these tickets to a
Laker game and I was wondering if you wanted to go with
me?”

“Like…as in a date?” I sounded so
sophomoric, or better yet, so moronic asking this in a high-pitched
voice.

“Yes, as in a date. Dinner at the
Palm, floor seats to watch Kobe, Pau, and Howard in action?
Unfortunately your favorite player is still injured.”

Damn!

Double Damn!

Floor seats, Laker game, hot
successful lawyer…Why couldn’t he have asked me out just a few days
ago? Do I go? Do I need to explain about Max? What would I
say?
Um…I’m kinda re-seeing this guy who
had been dating around while I thought about him
constantly?

“Hello. Earth to Jane?”

“Wait, how’d you know Steve Nash
was my favorite player?”

“I heard you mention it the other
day and bought these tickets with you in mind.”

A man who listens to what I have
to say even when I wasn’t talking to him? Was he for real? Was I an
idiot for letting this one go?

“Sure. I’d like that.”

“Great! We’ll take the company
shuttle. I’ll pick you up at six?”

A goofy smile crossed my lips.
“See you at six.”

That high didn’t last long as the
speakerphone buzzed. “A Max Davis waiting for you in the
lobby…”

Triple Damn!