Naughty New Year (3 page)

“Oh honey,”
Catherine said right on cue, “I’m so happy for you.”

Her mother
scooped her into a big hug.

“Why did you
tell him I was with Evan?” Michelle said pulling away angry.

“Who? Oh, that.
I only told him you were with a friend. I didn’t say you were sleeping with
another man. Besides, he needs to know he has to fight for you. That is a good
thing. But that Evan, he’s nothing serious. He helped brighten your holiday mood
a bit but now we can put that behind us and focus on the bigger picture. He’s
back here for you, honey. He flew all the way from Chicago to tell you that he
loves you.” Catherine paused clutching her hands to her heart. “Oh, isn’t it so
romantic?”

“Not really,
Mom. The man is a cheater and a liar and frankly, I’m not sure I can believe
anything he says anymore.”

“Okay, okay,
you’re upset. I get that. But maybe it’s worth just hearing him out? Sometimes
we all make mistakes. Didn’t you hear? He wants to start a family with you.
This is such wonderful news.”

“Honestly, Mom,
I don’t think I even want to have a baby with that man anymore.”

Catherine made a
clucking noise with her tongue in disgust.

“Oh, yes you do.
He will make you happy. You just have to trust.”

“I did that and
look where it got me.”

“Forgive, honey.
It’s all about forgiveness. Don’t be such a sour puss at one of the happiest
times of the year. Steve is a good man at heart and I think he means well.”

“You’re only
saying that because he makes a lot of money and you want grandchildren. Of
course he seems perfect to you. Me, I’m not so sure that’s what I want anymore.
He’s not the only man in the world.”

Michelle dumped
the untouched mug of tea into the sink and started to make her way to the bedroom
with her mother close at her heels.

“Please don’t
tell me this is about that Evan boy,” she said.

“What’s wrong
with Evan?” Michelle said stopping abruptly and spinning around to face her
mother again. “What is it about him that you and Dad seem to hate so much? Is
it because he actually knows how to make me happy?”

“You don’t even
know him and you’re… you’re…”

“Having sex with
him? Is that what you’re trying to say, Mom?”

“Yes. Has the
man ever even tried to take you out on a proper date? How can you respect a man
that only wants to get into your pants, honey? He was a bit of fun when you
were feeling down, I get that, but Steve, he’s for life. He’s your soul mate.”

“Soul mate?
Really, Mom? Now that I know for certain, he is not.”

“Michelle…”

Michelle sighed
and turned back to her bedroom without another word. She closed the door behind
her and slumped against it. As much as she hated to admit it, her mom made a
good point. Evan was a lot of fun but he’d never made any effort to actually
date her. A man like that obviously wasn’t interested in getting to know the
person she was inside. He’d forget her and move on to the next girl that
dropped her panties for him. She wished that the truth didn’t sting so much.
She couldn’t possibly have feelings for a man that she’d only messed around
with a few times, no matter how amazing he’d made her feel. A little voice
inside kept scratching, however, could Evan be her soul mate?

Chapter 3

Michelle
showered and dressed in the simple black dress cocktail dress that she had
brought with her from Chicago. She had been hoping to convince her mother to go
to the ballet with her sometime between Christmas and New Year’s since it had
been a long time since they watched The Nutcracker together. It used to be a
holiday tradition for them and she missed those moments from her childhood. She
dabbed a little perfume on her wrists and neck and triple checked her
reflection in the mirror. She wasn’t sure what to expect from this evening and
the butterflies in her stomach indicated that she was more nervous than she had
been on her first date with Steve.

She heard the
doorbell ring and nearly jumped out of her skin. Her mother rushed to answer it
and she silently cursed under her breath. She really wished her parents didn’t
have to welcome him back with such open arms. He’d been a complete jerk to her
and now he was being treated as though he’d done nothing wrong while she felt
like the bad guy. She wanted to approach the evening with an open mind but
resentment kept finding new ways of creeping in.

She took a deep
breath and decided it was about time to rescue him from her parents. Her cell
phone beeped so she grabbed it off the nightstand and checked it quickly before
putting it in her purse. She wasn’t surprised to find a message from Evan. She
hadn’t contacted him since her encounter with Steve. She still wasn’t sure what
to say. He wanted to see her tonight so she quickly texted him back to say that
she couldn’t and left it at that. His response came back almost instantly.

Are we still
good for New Year’s Eve?

She sighed and
sat down on the bed for a moment trying to decide what to tell him. She was
really looking forward to spending New Year’s Eve with him but in all fairness,
if she were going to give Steve a second chance, Evan deserved to know rather
than string him along until he couldn’t make new plans. Her heart sank as she
selected the letters on her phone. Before she could finish, there was a knock
on the door and her dad’s voice carried through wondering how much longer she
would be.

“I’m coming,
Dad,” Michelle said canceling the message and slipping her phone back in her
purse. The message could wait. She didn’t have the heart to send it right now.

Steve fiddled
nervously with the cuffs of his expensive-looking suit as she approached him
and tempted to smile as he greeted her with a small kiss on the cheek. She said
goodnight to her parents and let him usher her out the door to the Maxima.
Before she could open the passenger side door, he was there to open it for her
and wait for her to climb into the seat before closing the door behind her.

“So, where are
we going?” she said as he pulled out of the driveway. The silence between them
felt tense and awkward.

“You’ll see.”

She sighed
slightly and thought of Evan. She wondered what he was doing right now. She
knew that she shouldn’t think about him but she couldn’t help herself and
before she could censor her thoughts, she had a mental image of him spread
naked on his bed, fully aroused, and willing her to enjoy him. She sighed again
feeling the dampness between her legs. She had to steer her thoughts in a
different direction or she would never make it through this evening.

She was only
partly surprised when they pulled into one of the most upscale restaurants in
the area. She waited as once again, Steve insisted on being the perfect
gentleman holding open the doors as they went. The hostess led them to their
table and handed them their menus. Michelle took the menu and studied it
carefully and when she didn’t say anything for a long time, Steve asked what
she would choose.

“I still haven’t
decided,” she said with a sigh.

“Well, I have it
on good authority that the special of the day is especially exquisite.”

“Yes, well, I am
sure it is but you’ve forgotten one important detail.”

“What is that?”

“I’m allergic to
fish,” she said plainly. She couldn’t come up with a nicer way to soften the
blow. He’d obviously gone to great lengths to choose the restaurant in a town
where he was not particularly familiar and gotten to know the foods they
offered. She felt bad raining on his parade.

“No, you’re
not.”

“Yes, I am.”

“Since when?”

“Since always.
My parents could have told you that if you had thought to ask them.”

“Why would I
need to ask them? I was married to you for two years.”

“My point
exactly.”

She watched his
cheeks turn a slightly redder shade as he contemplated his error.

“It’s okay,” she
said suddenly feeling guilty for being so harsh, “I’ll have the chicken.”

“You don’t like
chicken.”

“Well, that you
do remember.”

“Yes, because I
was always annoyed that you refused to make chicken for dinner. It’s one of my
favorite foods. Everybody eats chicken. How could somebody go for days and
never make chicken for dinner once?”

“It’s not so
hard when you can’t stand the taste of chicken.”

“Geez, Michelle,
I’m sorry. I thought for sure that you’d be okay with a seafood place. Hey, why
don’t we just go somewhere else?”

“No, it’s okay,
really.”

“I want this
night to be perfect for us.”

“Steve, really,
you don’t have to try so hard. Buying me dinner at an expensive restaurant
isn’t going to magically make up for everything you’ve put me through.”

“No? Well, how
about this?”

He got out of
his chair and got down on one knee. His actions caught the attention of others
around them who were now watching with eager expressions. This was absurd,
Michelle thought, everyone thought the ultimate romantic was going to propose
marriage when they had no idea what a jerk he truly was. Much to her horror, he
reached for a jewelry box in his pocket, opened he lid, and offered her a
beautiful diamond ring at least double in size to the original engagement ring
he’d given her.

“What is this?”
she said with a dry throat.

“Michelle, I
want you to now how serious I am about starting over so I am once again getting
down on my knee and begging you to please have me. I can’t imagine living my
life without you in it and I would do anything to keep you. So please, please
stay married to me?”

They were
surrounded by a murmur of awws and whispers as she felt her cheeks burning.

“Get off the
ground,” she demanded.

“Please do me
the honor of continuing to be my wife.”

“Steve, you’re
embarrassing me. Get off your knees and sit down and let’s talk about this like
civilized adults.”

“Take the ring,
Michelle. Please.”

He took it out
of the box and held it out for her so that she could see the way it glimmered
in the soft candlelight of the restaurant. She reached out her hand and let him
slip it on her left ring finger where she’d abandoned her original wedding
jewelry before she’d boarded the plane for home.

“Now, sit down,”
she repeated.

The people
around them erupted in cheers and clapping and she wished that she could
shrivel into the chair and disappear. Thankfully, Steve sat down and despite
her disgust with his proposal, he grinned widely.

“I can’t believe
you just did that,” she said.

“I’m turning
over a new leaf.”

“Who was this
ring originally meant for?” she asked him taking him off guard a little. She
could tell by the way he shifted his eyes to his glass and cleared his throat
before answering that he wasn’t telling the truth.

“I bought it for
you when I knew that I couldn’t give up on our marriage.”

“You bought it
for her.”

“Michelle, come
on, I’m really trying here.”

“You bought this
ring for her and embarrassed me in the middle of this stupid restaurant to give
it to me. What happened, Steve? Really? Did you propose on Christmas and she
turned you down so you decided to settle for second best?”

Steve started to
show signs of irritation.

“You’re being
unreasonable.”

“I don’t think
so.”

“You told me
that you’d give me a chance and all you’ve done is attack me since we left your
house. What’s going on with you, huh? Is it that other guy you’re seeing?”

“Oh, please. At
least I can be honest about the fact that I slept with another man and I
enjoyed it!”

“So you did
sleep with him. I knew it.”

“Not that it’s
any of your business.”

Steve sighed and
sat back in his chair. He pulled out his cell phone and looked at the display,
frowned, and put the phone back in his pocket. They sat in silence until the
waitress came to take their orders and once she disappeared, Michelle took a
deep breath and decided to try to make peace with the situation.

“I’m sorry,
Steve,” she said slowly, “I know this must not be easy for you. It’s hard for me
to simply forget and forgive everything that happened but you’re right, I told
you that I would give you a chance and I’ve not been very fair.”

“No, it’s okay.
I deserve it after everything I put you through.”

“Why did you do
it?”

Steve sighed and
shrugged his shoulders slightly.

“I never meant
to hurt you. It just sort of happened.”

“If you loved me
then how could something like that just happen? That’s the part that I don’t
get. And what’s to stop it from happening again?”

“I know it isn’t
easy to believe anything that I say right now but I promise you that this time
it will be different. What happened with Sharon is never going to happen again,
especially now that I realize what I almost lost.”

Steve reached
across the table to take Michelle’s hand in his. She looked at their hands
entwined and waited for some fluttering in her stomach or racing of her heart
but nothing happened at all. They continued to talk about their Christmas and
events going on in their lives as they waited for the food to arrive but in the
back of her mind, Michelle kept thinking about Evan.

She jumped and
pulled her hand from Steve’s as she heard someone say her name behind her. She
turned around to find Evan looking down at her in surprise.

“Evan,” she said
and then she let her eyes take in the uniform that he was wearing. She
remembered him mentioning working as a waiter while he was finishing his degree
but he’d never mentioned which restaurant so she didn’t expect to run into him
here.

“Michelle, I
thought that was you.” His eyes went from her to Steve and then back again. She
could tell that he was trying to get a read on the situation. Only moments ago
she’d been sitting with her hand in Steve’s. She tried to cover the enormous
diamond ring on her left hand with her right hand but she knew he’d already
seen it. That probably told him everything he needed to know. She shouldn’t
feel guilty. Steve was, after all, her husband. Things were exactly as they
should be.

“Evan, what are
you doing here?” The question came out before she could stop herself even
though the answer was rather obvious.

“I work here.
Part-time, at least anyway while I’m going to school.”

“Oh yeah. Ummm…
Evan, this is Steve, Steve this is Evan.” She made the introductions because it
seemed awkward not to and although the two men shook hands, the tension in the
air was palpable. They grunted an exchange as they sized each other up and she
sighed. Just the scent of Evan as he leaned across the table to shake Steve’s
hand made her weak in the knees.

“Well, this answers
my question about New Year’s Eve,” Evan said trying to force a smile, “It was
nice to see you, Michelle. I hope you have a good New Year.”

He disappeared
before she could answer. She got up as though she would follow him but then
Steve’s voice reminded her why she couldn’t. She was here with Steve and she
was wearing the ring that he gave her with the promise that their marriage
would be better. There would be no New Year’s Eve with Evan. There would be no
more Evan period. Before she left Chicago, she dreamed that Steve would come
back in her life and tell her that he’d made a mistake and wanted her back. Now
that she got what she wanted, why did she feel so sad?

After dinner,
Steve surprised her by taking her to see The Nutcracker, which she didn’t think
she’d get to see this year since she hadn’t got around to buying tickets for
her mom and her after spending all her free time with Evan. As she watched the
characters dance across the stage she felt herself wondering if Evan would have
been the type to enjoy such an event. Even though Steve brought her, she knew
that he would rather be somewhere else. He only brought her here because he
knew it was something that she loved and he wanted to impress her, not because
he had any interest in it.

By the time
Steve pulled the car into the driveway at her parents’ house, she felt tired
and emotionally drained. They walked to her front door and they stood there
awkwardly looking at each other. She knew that she should invite him inside but
all she really wanted to do was take a hot shower and go to bed. Alone. Steve
shuffled his feet nervously as he stared at the ground with his hands in his
pockets. She should say something, she thought, but she didn’t know what.

“Thank you for
everything,” she said at last, “I had a nice time.”

“This is really
strange,” he said still staring at the ground.

“I know.”

“I’m your
husband. You should stay with me.”

“Look, Steve,
I’m really tired. I had a nice evening but I just want to go get some sleep.
How about we talk tomorrow, okay? I don’t want this to get weird.”

“Do I get a good
night kiss?”

“Steve…”

“I checked out
of the hotel this afternoon.”

“What?”