Rebound (13 page)

“
No.” He said gruffly.
“Since this is our first date, you should know now that you will
never pay for anything.” He took some cash out of his wallet. As we
walked to the end of the counter to await our order, he kept his
hand on my waist.

“
Thank you, but since this
is our first date, you should know that I don’t expect you to pay
for everything, and it makes me a little uncomfortable having you
pay for me all the time.” I attempted to say it as calmly and
gently as I could, sensing that he wouldn’t like what I had to
say.

“
I know you’re an
independent, hardworking woman, but I’m also a very traditional,
hardworking man. I make enough money that I can spend on you. You
shouldn’t have to spend your hard earned money on my whims. Okay?”
He gave me a kiss so that I wouldn’t give a retort. “Grab a table
for us to sit and eat. We have about twenty minutes before you have
to open up.” I grabbed my cooler to relieve him of the extra
weight.

I found a table in the corner by the
store front. I arranged the cooler on my chair, not knowing which
chair he’d choose to sit on. He arrived with two sacks of muffins
and both coffee cups.

“
Here’s your latte. I
don’t know which one is your muffin.” He set the bags down on the
table. He pulled up the chair beside me, facing the store
front.

“
Thank you so much. I’m so
hungry. I didn’t eat dinner last night.” I peeked in one bag and
was rewarded with finding my muffin.

“
What?” He asked with a
concerned tone. “I knew I should’ve taken you to dinner, but you
were so insistent on going home. I could’ve at least bought you
some take-out.” He said.

“
Not your fault. I’m a
pain in the ass when it comes to getting things done. I’m on such a
strict schedule that the clock commands my life.” I said
solemnly.

“
Do you have a timeline of
when you’ll slow down and start enjoying some free
time?”

“
Well, my goal is to quit
the Inn, if I’m offered the full time Director of Membership Sales
position, which would be more money and benefits. I wouldn’t need
the Inn. The owners are really good friends, more like family. I
would still continue to teach the fitness classes. It keeps me
dancing and breaks up the monotony of desk life. I like to work. I
don’t think there’s anything wrong with working hard.” I rambled
while he listened intently.

“
I just wonder if we’ll
have time to see each other. It feels like this is doomed to fail
before anything ever starts.” He said. I looked away, restraining
the tears from seeping from the corners of my eyes. It wasn’t so
much fearing losing him, but the reality that any future
relationships would be doomed to fail because of my need to make
money.

I took time to think through all he
said and I tried to compose words that wouldn’t offend or hurt him.
“Unfortunately, I can’t change my schedule. Since my divorce, I’ve
had a complicated afterlife. If a relationship isn’t forever, I
can’t make sacrifices because I won’t fulfill my goals. I relied on
my ex-husband to lift me up, and when that failed, I took the worst
fall. It broke me in every way. I have to work to make ends meet. I
have to work to pay off debts. I just can’t walk away from all that
I’ve built in the last two years. I don’t expect you to understand,
but I hope that you will respect why I live the way I
do.”

He reached out for my hand and
squeezed my fingers. “Eat. We have plenty of time to talk and work
through it all. What time should I come get you?” He took a sip of
his coffee.

“
Um. I thought you were
picking me up after my shift at the Inn.”

“
I’d like to spend as much
time with you today and you’ll need a ride between jobs,
right?”

“
My shift ends at 2:00
p.m. Then I go to the Inn for my 5:00 p.m. shift. Work ends at
11:00 p.m.” I take a sip of my latte. I pulled off a bite of
muffin, and savored it. I ate daintily, not wanting to ravage it in
front of the stud before me.

“
This may sound
argumentative, but I just don’t know how you can keep up this
schedule every day.”

Yes, it is argumentative, but not
something I haven’t heard from my family and friends. “Let me put
it in this perspective. There are so many people on this Earth that
work much harder than I do and for a lot less money. I put myself
in this predicament by relying on my ex and not working towards my
goals and financial stability. When I lost it all, I had to start
from scratch. The rebuilding has been slow, and the consequence is
working my ass off for little pay and little rest. But I know it
will get better, eventually.” I looked at the clock on the wall
before me. “I have just a few more minutes. We shouldn’t waste time
talking about my commute or my hours. Can we find something else to
talk about? How about your trip? You said you’re leaving Thursday
for several days. Where are you going?”

“
I’m going to Spain. I’m
one of several team doctors for the soccer team in Madrid. I’m
being brought in to consult on a player whose knee isn’t healing
from a previous surgery, which I didn’t perform.”

“
Wow. I hope you can make
him better.”

“
I hope so too. The sooner
I can assess and fix, I will be able to come back. I’ll leave from
Logan on Thursday evening. I get there the next morning and I go
straight to work. I’m not sure if I have to operate, but I’ll see
when I get there. I’m hoping I don’t have to, just consult, but I’d
need to examine him.”

“
I take it you do a lot of
travel?” I said, not admitting that I already know about his
prominence in his field and the work he does abroad.

“
I used to. When I was
married I traveled a lot more, but I realized that I needed to
scale back. By that time, it was too late to salvage my marriage.”
He reflected. “If the patient can come to the US, then I’ll perform
surgery here. Sometimes, it’s impossible for them to travel, so I
go to them.”

“
I’ve never been outside
of the United States. Traveling abroad sounds amazing. Of course,
for you it may be a lot of work. Do you have a favorite
country?”

“
Spain. My mother was born
there. I did a study abroad when I was in boarding school. And I
spent a year in Spain in college. Much of my travel and work are in
Spanish speaking countries.”

“
I take it that you speak
Spanish then.”

“
Fluently. And you? With a
name like Perla Mercurio, you must know Spanish.”

“
Yes. I do. My mom only
spoke Spanish. She was Dominican. My dad is Puerto Rican. Spanish
is the only language they spoke around the house. My dad has lived
here for fifty years and his accent is as thick as when he first
arrived as a teenager. A lot of that is due to living in Spanish
speaking areas around Boston. It makes it easy to speak only in
Spanish and use English only when necessary. But I think in
English, and translate into Spanish; if that makes
sense?”

“
Yeah, it does. Until
you’re immersed, and then you have to translate from Spanish into
English.”

“
Yeah, I know that
feeling. When I’m with my whole family we’re listening to Spanish
music and talking in Spanish. Inevitably, we’re watching a
telenovela, and I forget that I’m in Boston.” I look at the time.
Five minutes to 6 a.m. “I should get going.” I put my half eaten
muffin in the bag and take another sip of latte. We both stand. As
I reached for my cooler, he slips his hand under the strap and
pulls it to his shoulder.

“
Thank you.” I hold onto
my muffin bag and latte. He held the door for me. He took my hand,
and we walked hand in hand toward Duration. I melted each time we
touched, and I wondered if this would be his way for the length of
our time together. I walked us toward the service door in a corner
of the building. People were already gathered, waiting for me to
open up.

“
Good morning, everyone.
I’ll be opening up shortly. Nice to see you, all.” I greeted our
faithful, and heard various salutations. I spoke to Dashing, “I
have to open from the service entry.” We continue to the door. I
pulled out my key and unlocked the door, holding it with my foot. I
took my cooler from his shoulder.

“
I’ll be done at 2. You
can meet me at the front desk.”

“
I’ll be here.” He leaned
over and kissed me.

I rose up onto my toes and whispered
in his ear, “Good. When we get to your place, I’m going to give you
the most amazing fuck.” I grabbed my cooler. I winked and grinned,
and left him standing there stunned as I closed the
door.

***

I kept my mind and hands busy with
opening the gym. Fresh towels were ready for the morning crowd. The
early birds checked in with their key fobs, and kindly greeted me
as I handed them each a towel. I was busy for the first half hour,
soon my work slowed down. There’s not much to do on a Sunday
morning. Although the smoothie area was cleaned last night, I wiped
down the counter and ensured that all the ingredients were
organized and ready to make a smoothie on demand. I made the
coffee. Once I was done, I looked around to see if there was
anything else I needed to do before I settled in the stool to wait
until I’m needed.

I reflected on our encounter this
morning. I remained shocked that he picked me up. I remembered that
he had left me messages. I took my satchel out of the drawer and
found my cell phone. I had four text messages. I ignored them,
wanting to hear his voice again. I pressed the phone button to see
that I missed seven calls and five voicemail messages. Five calls
were from Dashing, and he left three voicemails. One call was from
my father, and he left a voicemail. I had a call from Chelz, and
the remaining voicemail was hers. I punched the voicemail on my
father’s call. His message was short and sweet.

Papa: “Hola, Perla. Call me. It’s your
Papa. Buenas noches.”

Chelsea: “I hope that the reason
you’re not picking up your phone is because he’s knee deep in the
booty. Call me.”

Dashing, Message One: “Hi, Perla. It’s
Matt. I just want to say that I’ll be home soon. Sorry for being
late. I got caught up at the hospital. I hope you haven’t left.
I’ll see you soon.” I pressed save.

Dashing, Message Two: “Hi Perla. Matt.
I wanted to say Good Night. I wanted to hear your voice and tell
you that I had an enjoyable afternoon with you. I’d like us to get
together again . . . when you’re free. Hope we can talk soon.” I
pressed save.

Dashing, Message Three: “Perla, I’ve
tried to call you a few times before. At the risk of sounding
psychotic, I just hope I didn’t scare you off with being so
forward. We did get intimate fast, but I want you to know that I’d
like to see you again. We can slow things way down. I’d like to
pick you up in the morning and take you to work. Maybe get coffee?
Before this message gets cut off, have a good night.” I pressed
save.

I let out a huge exhalation. I didn’t
realize I was holding my breath. I clutched the phone to my breast
and tried to slow down the fast beat of my heart. This is
different, I told myself. This is good, I reassured myself. We can
make this work, I determined.

I looked to see the text
messages.

Chelz: U really gotta call me before I
send in the troops.

I sent her a quick message.

Me: Hi Chelz. Had an amazing time with
Dashing-Matt. At work this morning. He picked me up at 5 a.m. and
brought me to work. I think I’m falling in love. Not
kidding.

I retrieved Matt’s messages. Matt. I
think that was the first time that I addressed him by his first
name. I wasn’t sure what to call him before hearing his voicemail
addressing himself so informally. He was Dr. Keene. Chelz and I
nicknamed him Doctor Dashing. And after the mind blowing sex we
had, I couldn’t call him Dr. Keene. I wasn’t going to call him
Dashing to his face or referencing him to others. I hadn’t even
remembered his first name until he reminded me. I was in a cloud of
lust and I could barely remember my name. Boy, did I rush
this.

Matt: Perla, I’m running late. But
I’ll be home soon. Don’t leave, please.

He sent that one from the hospital.
Because my phone lost power, I couldn’t retrieve this text. I read
the next message.

Matt: Hi Perla. I was hoping to hear
your voice. I left a voice message already. I had a great time
today. I hope we can get together again soon. I’d like to take you
to dinner, when you have time.

I ignored the voice in my head that
told me this is too much. Too much attention. Too soon after
meeting. Well, fuck it. I read on the next message sent a half an
hour later.

Matt: I hope you’re not ignoring my
calls and text. Is this a girl thing? It will break my heart if
you’re not interested. Please, call me when you get my messages.
Even if you need me to back off, just let me know.

Matt: I’m coming to pick you up in the
morning. I’d rather you tell me in person that you have second
thoughts about us. I can’t bear for you to walk away so soon. I
hope I can convince you to stick around. Good night.

Wow. I never thought I’d affected him
so much. I decided to reply, even though we spent time together
this morning.