Mid Life Love (14 page)

“Morning.” He
smiled.

“Morning. What
time is it?”

“Seven. Would
you like to get breakfast together or have some delivered before you leave?”

“No thank you.”
I slid out of his arms and sat up. “I have a bunch of errands to run so I’ll
get a head start on those.”

“Of course. Are
you going to Mr. Barnes’ Zen session tonight?”

“On a
Saturday
? Never. My mom claims that she has a surprise for me so we’re
probably going to the opera together. That’s what
all
her surprises are,
and I’m sure she’ll want to get there two hours early.”

“Why would she
want to do that? They don’t open the theatre until an hour before the show.”

“Don’t ask.
She’s the eccentric type.”

He smiled and
tilted his head to the side. “Should I give up on getting you to
willingly
go out with me?”

“Probably.” I
tried not to smile and headed for the bathroom.

––––––––

I
managed to get
out of the salon early, finish grocery shopping, balance my checkbook, sift
through a few campaign documents, and stop by my daughters’ cheerleading car
wash—all before six in the afternoon.

As soon as I was
home, I searched through my closet for an outfit to wear tonight. My mom always
suggested that I dress “for the Oscars” when we went to the opera, just in case
the city newspaper decided to run our photo the next day.

I decided to
wear my favorite black and silver evening dress. It was long, strapless and
perfectly hugged my hips. There was also a fairly deep slit on the left side, a
perfect complement to the open-toed shoes I planned to wear.

I carefully
brushed on my makeup and ran my fingers through my curls. I secured the
glittery diamond bracelet Jonathan had given to me for my birthday onto my
wrist, and rushed out of my house.

––––––––

“M
om! Mom! I’m
here!” I stepped inside her house and shouted up the steps. “We have to leave
in the next twenty minutes if you want to—” I noticed a blond-haired man
standing in the middle of the room. “Who are you?”

“
Wow
...” He
looked me over. “I’m Michael Clarkson. I’m—”

“He’s your date
for tonight!” My mom turned the corner. “
Remember
? Michael, you can wait
in the living room. I need to talk to Claire for a second.”

I didn’t bother
waiting for him to step away. I grabbed her by the hand and dragged her into
the kitchen. “Mom, what’s going on? I thought we were going to
the opera
.
I never agreed to—”

“Surprise! See?
I am capable of being spontaneous,” she said. “The girls told me how you’ve
been working so many late hours over the past couple months, so I thought this
would be a good way to get you out.”

Jesus...

“Mother, last
time I checked, I was an
adult
. I don’t need you intervening in my life
and I don’t need—”

“Yes, you do.
You deserve to find someone else, someone who will treat you right. I liked
Ryan a lot, but you can do much better. It’s never too late to find love again,
and I don’t want you to end up alone...like me...”

I rolled my eyes
at her not-so-subtle sympathy plea. “Who is he?”

“He’s my
doctor—my
gynecologist
actually.”

“What!”

“Don’t worry.
It’s not what you think. He’s not my
direct
doctor. He actually owns the
practice, so for the most part he just analyzes the bacterial slides and—”

“Thank you. I’ve
heard enough. You were at your doctor’s office and you told him you had a sad
and depressed daughter who needed a new man in her life?”

“No, I didn’t
tell him any of that. I just said you should get to know my daughter. She’s
beautiful and charming. That’s all it took...He’s forty five, doesn’t have any
kids, has a few investment properties on the East Coast, and he’s
a doctor
.
Enough said. You should get to know him.”

“I can’t believe
this...”

“Believe it!”
She pulled me back into the living room. “Michael, Claire, you two go and have
a great night together,” she said, smiling at the two of us. “I’m sure you have
a lot to talk about so...” She darted her eyes towards the front door.

“Have a good
evening, Miss Gracen.” Michael gave her a hug and reached for my hand. “Are you
ready?”

––––––––

I
buckled myself
into Michael’s Mercedes and noticed that his name was engraved on the
dashboard’s wood paneling.

He revved up the
car and smiled. “I think your mom calling you ‘beautiful’ may be the biggest
understatement I’ve ever heard.”

I smiled and leaned
back in the seat, stealing a glance of him whenever I had the chance. He was
strikingly handsome—
sexy
actually. His honey colored hair was gleaming
in the sunlight and his big brown eyes seemed to sparkle whenever he turned to
look at me.

From the way his
black suit fit his body, I could tell that he worked out, that he kept himself
in excellent shape. 

Yet, despite his
good looks and radiating charm, I didn’t feel any sparks between us. Then
again, I’d just met him.

We didn’t talk
much on the ride over, except for commenting on whatever song was playing on
the radio. The long stretches of silence were quite awkward—even more awkward
whenever our eyes met and we both clumsily smiled and turned away.

––––––––

T
he waiter set
two glasses of white wine on the table and walked away.

“So...” Michael
looked at me. “What do you do for a living, Claire?”

“I work at
Statham Industries as a marketing director.”

“Do you like
it?”

“No, but it pays
the bills. I’m stuck there until I find something else. You’re a doctor, right?”

“I am.” He
smiled. “I used to work at the children’s hospital downtown, but I decided to
return to my original specialty and work for myself.”

“You don’t miss
the kids?”

“Sometimes. I
don’t miss the crying though.” He laughed and took a sip of his wine.

I picked up a
knife and started to slice a piece of bread, but I underestimated its hardness
and cut the top of my hand.

Ugh...
“This is going
to sound so cliché...” I sighed. “But do you happen to carry Band-Aids with you?”

Laughing, he
pulled his wallet out of his pocket and thumbed through it. “You don’t mind
Batman do you? I still carry the kid ones around; it’s an old habit.”

“No, that’s
perfectly fine.”

“Here,” he said
as he reached for my hand. “Let me see.”

As he was
holding my hand and putting on the Band-Aid, I felt my skin tingling and my
heart somersaulting in my chest. But it wasn’t because of Michael’s touch, or
the soft kiss he was now placing on my wrist; I only felt those type of
feelings when Jonathan was around, when I could sense him watching me.

I looked up and
saw him standing at a table five spaces over. He was dressed in a black tuxedo
and all the other people at his table were dressed in light blue suits with “
s
Phone
launch” etched across the back.

Our eyes met and
I felt that electrical spark I’d never felt with anyone else, that passionate
jolt that took a hold of me and wouldn’t let go.

He raised his
eyebrow as he sat down at his table, looking back and forth between me and
Michael.

“Claire?”
Michael rubbed my hand and forced me to turn away. “Claire?”

“I’m so sorry.
What were you saying?”

“I’m all done
with your Band-Aid.” He released my hand. “What do you like to do when you’re
not working?”

Have sex with
Jonathan Statham...
“I
like to watch movies, run, and—”

“You
run
?
How often?”

“A least five
times a week in the morning. Four, if it’s a really hectic week.”

“I run too.
Maybe we could go on a run sometime together?”

“That’d be—” I
felt my phone vibrating. “Great. We should definitely do that. I apologize in
advance for pulling out my phone. It’s probably my mother.”

“Probably. She
texted me three minutes ago.” He laughed.

“Really? About
what?”

“She just asked
how our night was going.”

“What you’d
say?”

“
Amazing
.”
His deep brown eyes lit up as he smiled—making him look even more gorgeous, but
I felt no attraction to him whatsoever.

“I wasn’t aware
that your “mom” was a “man”...You two look nothing alike.”
Jonathan.

I tried not to
laugh. “What do
you
like to do when you’re not working, Michael?”

“I like to go
rock climbing, visit car shows, and remodel old homes in the—”

“I
love
remodeling.”

He cocked his
head to the side. “You’re joking with me, aren’t you?”

“No, I’m
serious. I get a huge adrenaline rush whenever I’m in a hardware store or near
a construction site. I can’t really explain it, but if I could ever do that for
a living...”

“I’m part of a
home improvement group that does projects every other Saturday. Would you be
interested in joining?”

“Extremely.” My
phone was vibrating again. “I would love that.”

“Is he a long
lost friend?”
Jonathan.

“None of your
business.”
I
texted back.

Our waitress
appeared and set down our dinner—a beautiful array of exotic shellfish and
pasta. I wasn’t the biggest fan of seafood, but the scallops and oysters looked
too delicious to pass up.

“Ask him if he
likes your bracelet.”
Jonathan.

I tossed my
phone into my purse and picked up a fork.

“I like your
bracelet.” Michael looked at my wrist. “Is it a Harry Winston? My colleague’s
wife has a similar one...It’s
a lot
smaller though.”

It couldn’t be a
Harry Winston...

“Um, I’m not
sure what it is. It was a gift from a friend. It came in a blank black box...”

“Pretty generous
friend.” He raised his eyebrow. “Are you enjoying the food?”

“Yes, it’s
really good.” I swallowed a forkful of shrimp.

“My friend is
the manager here. We can come back any time you like, even if they’re booked
for the night.”

“Sounds great.”
I put my fork down. “Would you please excuse me for one second?”

“Of course.”

Like the
gentleman that he was, he walked over and helped me out of my chair.

“I’ll be right
back, Michael.”

I made my way
into the women’s restroom and locked myself into a stall. I pulled out my phone
and logged into the Harry Winston website, scrolling down their gallery of
bracelet images. Then I spotted the one that was just like mine...It was at the
bottom of the page, near the bracelets that said “By appointment only.”

I clicked on the
picture and read through the details: “an open lattice bracelet set in platinum
with three hundred and forty small round diamonds.”

I wasn’t going
to click on the picture to reveal the price, but I had to know: One hundred
thousand dollars.

I gasped,
holding my jeweled arm in front of my face—trying to comprehend why Jonathan
would give me something so extravagant.

We barely knew
each other when he gave this to me...

I unlocked the
stall’s door, ready to walk out, but Jonathan stepped inside and slammed it
shut.

“Are you on
a
date
right now?” he said through clenched teeth.

“Clearly.”

“Is it going
well
?”

“It’d be going a
whole lot better if you weren’t holding me hostage in the bathroom...”

“I thought you
said you didn’t do the
dating thing
.” His eyes hardened.

“I guess I
changed my mind. Is that
a crime
, Jonathan? Are you going to report me
to someone?”

He narrowed his
eyes and stepped right in front of me, breathing slow and steady breaths—making
my heart race uncontrollably.

“Let me get this
straight.” His eyes were blazing. “I’m good enough for you to
fuck
, but
I’m not good enough for you to go out with me? Not even
once
?”

“Glad to see you
finally saw the light!” I tried to move past him, but he slammed both of his
hands against the wall, on both sides of my head.

“I’m just one of
your little sex toys?” He hissed.

“Yes, except
unfortunately you talk back and I can’t turn you off. Can you please get out of
my way?”

“
No
.” He
looked like he wanted to rip me to pieces, like he wanted to slap me into
another world.

“Jonathan,
please stop being childish. You and I have meaningless sex. That’s it. There’s
nothing more to it. I’m sorry if you’ve started to like me, but I don’t like
you—at least not in that way. I don’t think about you at night, you don’t cross
my mind throughout the day, and I just use you for some much needed stress
relief, so if you could just—”

He pushed me
against the wall and forced his lips on top of mine, kissing me so hard I could
barely breathe. He slid his hand underneath the slit of my dress—running his
hands across my thighs. Then he twisted my panties and ripped them off.

“Jonathan—”

“
Shut up
.”
He lifted my leg and hooked it around his waist. “Put your arms around my
neck.”

“Jona—”

“I’m not going
to ask you again.”

I placed my arms
around his neck and heard him unzipping his pants.

“You don’t think
about me when you’re alone in bed at night?” He looked into my eyes.