The Cinderella Project (A Comedy of Love, #1) (7 page)

All i
n all, it was a fantastic week.

CHAPTER FIVE

“You know, Jim, I might just be willing to spend some alone time with you, one of these days.”

“What are you talking about
, Carol?”

“We used to do that kind of thing, remember? Long, moonlit walks, holding hands, just being together.”

“Yeah, and then you married me. I’ve already paid my dues.”

“Okay, remind me how you still managed to persuade me to have five children with an attitude like that.”

Men are expected to face fear without flinching, to stand strong in dangerous situations, so why did I find myself casting about for a quick escape route when I found Ella waiting on my doorstep at 1:33 a.m. that Saturday morning?

“It’s two a.m., Nicholas,” she said quietly, her teeth chattering slightly.

“Let’s get inside.” I took off my jacket and made to put it around her shoulders. Instead, she just stood and stepped away quickly. The pale moonlight etched her scowl into her normally beautiful face.

“Where have you been all night?” she said, eyes narrowed. “Where have you been this entire
week
?”

Great. Here it was. I decided to dodge the question and ignore her exaggeration.

“Where? I’ve been so busy with my project and missing you, Els.”

She looked at me as if I’d just told her I’d been golfing with Santa Claus.

“I’m serious, Nicholas. It was bad enough that you didn’t get home until midnight, last Monday. But now? Every night this entire week? Something’s up. I know it.”

Then she surprised me. “What’s her name?” Cold. Matter-of-fact tone. There was
no
way this conversation would end well.

“‘Her
’ who?” I said, sounding as confused as possible.

“You know
exactly
what I’m talking about, Nicky. You’ve been hanging with some little
floozy
, pretending that you’re doing research. She’s probably some hot little secretary from the college who took a chance on a mini-skirt because she knew you wouldn’t be able to resist.”

Okay, now
that
was completely unfair, not to mention entirely untrue. I was so stunned that she’d accuse me of anything of the sort that I couldn’t do anything but stand there, staring.

“I knew it. I just
knew
it,” she half-squealed and her eyes began to mist. “We’re not even married and I’m already being replaced! Oh, Nicky, say it’s not true!”

Where had this come from?

“Els? Have you been getting enough sleep, lately? You’re not sounding like yourself tonight.”

“Oh, so suddenly it’s
my
problem? What happened to you, Nick?”

No. I was going to end this one right now. “Ella? Look at me.”

She did.

“Hey, I’m not sure
where
you got the idea that I was cheating on you, but I’m looking you straight in the eyes and telling you that it’s not true. If you don’t know by now just how serious my commitment to you is, then I honestly don’t know how to prove it to you.

“Ever since we started dating, I’ve kept my heart focused on
you
, despite the fact that there are ten thousand other girls on this campus that aren’t altogether hideous.”

“You’ve been
counting
them? What, do you have some kind of catalogue?”

I sighed. The comment didn’t deserve a direct response. “Look, Ella, I’ve conducted the kind of experiments on girls that many men couldn’t handle without making some kind of moral mistake and I’ve managed to do it with so much professionalism that I’ve had girls
refer their friends
to me, because they trusted me that much.

“When I put that ring on your finger that was my way of saying I was bound to you. To
you
Ella. Not to some other girl.”

Her face closed and she looked at the ground.

I sighed. “When I get done with the lab, where do I go first?”

“My place,” she murmured, still not meeting my gaze.

“That’s right. Even though my apartment is in the opposite direction. Even though I’m dog tired and would
love
to collapse into bed, I come
here
to be with
you
, who I have been away from all day. All that work I do? Who do you think I’m doing it for? Don’t you think I’d
rather
be spending time with the woman I love than making notes and reading lame romance novels for the sixteenth time? Don’t you think I’d
rather
be gnoshing on homemade enchiladas fresh from your kitchen, than dropping quarters in a vending machine or going on nothing at all?

“I go to work at six in the morning, love. And yet, I still come here every night—even for just a while—to spend time with you.
You.
If that’s not proof that I love you, then… then I guess I don’t know what love is.” Pincers of guilt nipped at my heart as the thought of a week at Tisha’s place came to mind.

But that was work
, I told myself,
no matter how enjoyable it was.

Fortunately, my tactic worked better than calling her out. My gut told me that her words were hiding a different message—she was missing me and wanted to know that I missed and still valued her. She was still threatening tears but this time, it wasn’t the “woe is me!” type of crying; that was comforting. Instinctively, I slipped my arms around her and pulled her close. She nestled in the way she always did and I held her while she cried.

When she was done, she looked up at me. “Oh, Nicky, I’m so sorry. Thank you for understanding. I knew you would. I… I know you love me. You’ve been
so
wonderful—everything I could want in a fiancé.” Ella slumped into her mournful sigh.

I lifted her chin gently. “I think we need a night out.”

Her eyes widened slightly. “What did you want to do?”

I smiled. “When was the last time we went to the lake?”

Ella hesitated for a moment, then murmured, “I think it has been almost two months.”

“Way too long,” I told her. “Remember how often we went out there when we first started dating?”

“Yeah.”

“And how we’d just sit there on the beach, making out?”

She giggled a bit. “Yeah.”

“And come on, what’s more romantic than a moonlit walk on the beach?”

She purred at that and with a kiss we headed for my car.

Twenty-two minutes later, my ancient Datsun rolled to a stop in the gravel parking lot that serviced the lake. The sand glowed heavenly white under the moon’s rays and the water had an enchanting sparkle, long after twilight. The gentle contrabass of the waves washing over the beach melded with the chorus of crickets and the lullaby of the night loons as they drifted in the reeds along the shore. I smiled to myself when I found that, as I hoped, there wasn’t another soul in sight.

Perfect.

I helped Ella out of the car, mostly out of courtesy, but partially because the inside door handle on the passenger side rarely worked anymore. I pulled her to me and her arms came up around my neck and her lips found mine, just as they had when she accepted my proposal. I could feel her warmth, taste the musky fragrance of her perfume. Her embrace warmed me to the core and I responded to her kiss with all the love I had for her. I remembered all the happy times we had shared since that very first date. We stood there who knows how long, but when we finally released, I knew I had done right to ask her to be my wife.

Ella pulled away and for several, long moments, we were lost in each other’s eyes. Then she released me and turned to face the lake. I took her hand and we wordlessly made our way to the water’s edge. We let the moon pass overhead as we left two miles of footprints to be washed away by the surf.

When we stopped I put an arm around her and she snuggled up against me. We turned our faces to the lake and I drifted in the ambience, happier than I had been for a while.

“Thanks for letting us come here,” I said. “We’ll do this one day at a time, Els. We’ll make it work. I look forward to waking up to my wonderful wife every day. I look forward to kissing her good morning and telling her just how much I love her. We’ll be the happiest married couple the world has ever seen.” I kissed her forehead. “I’m just lucky I got you before some other guy did.”

We rocked back and forth for a while as she just let go of her stress. When she was done, I took her hand and we silently walked back to the parking lot. The silhouette of the eastern mountains was just emerging from the night as new sunlight filtered through a low bank of clouds. The morning smelled of dew and lake air. Ella and I kept each other warm as we made our way back to my car. I helped her in and we drove silently back to her house. I walked her to her door and we parted with a kiss. As I flopped onto my bed that morning, things were once again looking right with the world.

CHAPTER SIX

“So, Nick? Tell me about this girl. Ella?”

“Yeah. Wow, Mom. How am I supposed to describe something so wonderful?”

“You, ah, thinking of… marrying her?”

“Oh yeah! Oh, Mom, you have no idea how great this girl is. And do you want to know what’s really cool?”

“What’s that?”

“She was… she was
sent
to me.”

“Has your father been harassing you again to try a mail-order bride?”

“Mom.…”

The walk on the beach paid immediate dividends. Within a week after that lovely morning things with Ella were better than ever. We picked out our china, registered for wedding gifts and arranged for our engagement pictures. I wondered why I hadn’t spent more time with her over the summer. Then I remembered that I
was
actually trying to get to that little thing called “graduation” so I could go out into the world and be a real boy—one who could get a job that would support a wife and kids. That was easier said than done.

I was still bothered by the fact Ella had dropped our wedding date to right on top of my preliminary dissertation defense. She had evaded my two attempts to get her reasons, but I still felt I was due an explanation. I’d wanted to do it before I’d driven home from the
lake, but we were both exhausted; not the best circumstances for a serious meeting of the minds. Now, however, was as good a time as any. I would phone Ella as soon as I was done with my lab work and we’d head to one of our favorite “discussion” spots to talk it over. I arranged to meet at around 7:00 that night and she responded with enthusiasm. It was a date.

Before that, I still had the rest of my day to face. With the start of this new week came a resumption of observing couples that were out there
being
couples. Field studies were meant to mitigate bias introduced by the milieu of clinical observation; people didn’t tend to act perfectly natural when I brought them into my lab and strapped them into my handy little torture device. In other words, I was trying not to kill Schrödinger’s Cat. The problem with these exercises was that the data was entirely anecdotal—inherently subjective. I wouldn’t use these observations as hard evidence, but anecdotal evidence could, in fact, provide insight into behavioral patterns. Provided I conducted enough observations over a broad enough range of scenarios, I argued that despite personal biases, certain trends
could
reasonably be established, which could then be measured up against the stricter empirical data provided by the tests made in The Chair. That was the party line, anyway. After all, it worked well enough for animals in the wild. Why not people in the wild? I wouldn’t admit that I needed the hope that came from watching others be happy in love.

When I showed up at the lab to get Moiré, I found her once again poring over a hardcopy of my dissertation, scribbling in red ink. She didn’t see me come in and I stood quietly behind her, taking my own notes. Moiré was the picture of professionalism. I was unexpectedly flattered that she was paying so much attention to the written representation of such a significant part of my life. She was only doing what I had asked, but to see her doing it with such intensity and without knowing I was there, earned my respect.

I like self-motivating people,
I told myself.
I’ll have to write her a shining recommendation when she’s done here.

I hadn’t realized I was staring until one of the other doctoral students walked by me with a “Sup, Nick?” and a friendly smile. Moiré turned immediately and noticed me before I could look away. I felt my face flush.

“Hey, Brad,” I said half-heartedly as he walked out of the lab with a wave.

“Ah, Doctor Cairn,” Moiré said, “I almost wondered when you’d get here, but then I realized that it wasn’t quite three-thirty, so I stopped worrying.”

I attempted a smile, but couldn’t hold her gaze. Instead, I made a point of looking intensely at The Chair and then fiddling with the sensor tabs, knowing there was nothing at all wrong with them.

“Hmm,” I muttered, sensing her coming up beside me. “Everything looks okay here.”

“I know,” she said simply. “I check it every day when I get in, if you haven’t already arrived.” Again, impressive. I’d never had such a thoughtful, thorough, proactive research assistant. I thanked her for it and steeled myself against the way she smiled at my praise.

“So, it’s observation day.”

She nodded. “Where do we begin?”

“There’s Rotary Club Park just up the road. You can’t go there without stepping on
some
pair of lovebirds doing… whatever.”

She nodded again. “Sounds good. Let’s go,” she said and she went to get her backpack.

I froze for an instant and then relaxed as I realized she was only saying that we ought to be on our way to
observe
couples—not to
be
one of them. I forced myself back into professional mode, and when she returned with her stuff we departed.

At the outskirts of the park, I stopped and took stock of the area. It was as lovely as ever, despite the July heat. Though I preferred this place at night, the ambience of trees, flowers, singing birds and all that sweet, romance film stuff was soothing, especially compared to the sterility of psych lab cubicles. Sure enough, couples had invaded the entire park. A rash of guys in their early twenties occupied a playground, doing stupid things on slides and monkey bars while equally-young girls looked on in amusement. I rolled my eyes at the brazen, juvenile displays. So much for the old days, when we just brought home animal carcasses or shot another man in a duel.

“Oh look,” Moiré said blandly, “monkeys in jeans.”

I coughed on a spasmodic laugh. Moiré patted me on the back and asked if I needed help clearing my throat, but her serious expression was belied by the mischievous twinkle in her eyes.

“No, no,” I said. I stood, cleared my throat and looked back at the park. “I’m fine. Anyway, I think I see what I was looking for.”

“The redhead sitting alone on the rock?” She pointed to her left.

My face warmed suddenly. “No! I… I… never mind. I didn’t come here to
check out
girls. Just to
observe
how they interacted with their
boyfriends
.”

“Ah
.” Her eyes lit with understanding. “How could I forget? My apologies, Doctor Cairn.” Her face turned serious again. “I’ll have to remember that handsome, single, professional guys merely ‘observe’ the ladies. Forgive me for assuming that you’d do something as uncouth as ‘check them out.’”

“Look, Miss De Lanthe,” I traded title for title, “can we please take this a
little
more seriously? I do have other things to do tonight.”

“With the redhead?” She asked, but then blushed slightly. “Sorry, Nick. You’re easy to tease. I learned it from my brothers. I’m sorry. I hope I haven’t given you the impression that I’m some kind of flake.”

I blinked. “I remind you of… your brothers?”

She raised an eyebrow, but her eyes were clearly playful. “Should I have said you’re just like my dad, instead?”

I couldn’t think of what to say, nor did I know why it would bother me that she might look at me the same way she looked at her brothers or father. Eventually, I shook my head clear and pointed at a spot on the lawn a good distance from the redheaded girl Moiré had pointed out. “I want you over there.”

She looked as if she were about to say something, but then stopped and gave me an inquiring look. “Fair enough. Are you… going to stay here?”

I shook my head. “I’ll be over there,” I said, pointing to a small cluster of trees about twenty yards from where I’d asked Moiré to go.

“I’m sorry,” she said and I could see it in her face. “I honestly wasn’t trying to make a joke about this. If you need me to just go back to the lab instead
.…”

I shook my head again. “No, no. Nothing like that. I’m not trying to get rid of you by splitting up.”

She seemed relieved and I gave her a reassuring smile.

“Have you ever sketched nudes, Moiré?” I was embarrassed the second the words came out.

“Yes. I have a bulging portfolio from my time spent at the Adonis Colony, back in oh-six.”

I wasn’t sure what shade of red my face turned then. I wasn’t sure whether it was the idea of her frequently examining chiseled, naked males, or whether it was some sort of unexpected jealousy.

“A-Adonis… Colony?” I asked, carefully.

“Yes,” she said plainly. “It’s on a small island just off the coast of Denver.”

I made to speak and then stopped, mouth hanging open like an idiot. Moiré bit back a laugh. I realized what was going on and shook my head at my stupidity.

“Okay, so maybe that wasn’t the best metaphor,” I groaned. “What I was trying to get at was that multiple perspectives are more likely to give a clearer view of the overall picture. That’s why we’ll be sitting in different locations, even though we’re watching the same things.”

“I’m sorry.” She still fought her laughter. “It’s so much easier to be serious in the lab with the formaldehyde in the air from upstairs.”

“It’s okay. Really, I don’t mind the jokes. I’m just… still getting used to them.” I looked at her more seriously and added, “You’ve honestly been the best, most professional research assistant I’ve ever had and the work you’ve done in this past week really tells a shining tale about your competence and intelligence. Don’t worry about a joke or three. Besides, my sisters used to tease me all the time, too. I guess I’ll just think of you as another one of them.” I immediately regretted saying that, but hid it anyway.

“Cool. Then we’re blood.”

“Something like that,” I muttered. “Let’s go to work.”

The time in the park was productive, though I regretted splitting from Moiré. We both sat where I’d assigned us, trying to look casual as we spied on people and made notes about the various, intimate things they were doing. When I first started these observations, I had felt like a low-life voyeur. Time salved that feeling; I reasoned that if I could manage to conduct the kind of experiments that required The Chair with maturity and poise, that benevolently stalking random strangers should be a cakewalk by comparison. And so it had become.

I forced myself to keep my mind on the task at hand and I was proud that I only glanced at Moiré twice and only to see if she appeared to need any help. She’d been kind enough to not even acknowledge that she was with me; I’d told her we needed to do that to avoid attracting attention to ourselves. I was pleased with my self-control.

Two hours later, Moiré perched herself discreetly behind me. I glanced backward and noticed her stowing her items in her bag. She avoided looking at me as she spoke.

“Hey, Nick? I know we might not be quite done here, yet, but I need to take off. Is that okay?”

I nodded. The words “Hot date?” were out before I could think. I mentally cringed at the slip.

She winked. “I promised I wouldn’t tell. Don’t worry, I won’t do anything you wouldn’t.”

Whoa. “Um… Moiré?”

She laughed. I kept falling for this why?

“Actually, I need to get going myself.” Ella would be expecting me and I wasn’t about to disappoint her.

Moiré finished packing, zipped up her backpack and stood lithely. “See you Wednesday?”

I got on my feet. “You know the place. I’ll see you then. Have fun! And, don’t forget, Friday we start observations of dinner dates.”

She smiled, but I managed to continue breathing. “Yep. Thanks!” With that, she began walking. Suddenly, she hesitated, then quickly returned.

“Oh and by the way, I oughta show you that portfolio one of these days. Some of those guys? Yeah.” She winked and with a little wave, she was off, leaving me crimson-faced and flustered all over again.

“Good grief, woman,” I muttered. “You’re gonna get someone in trouble with that teasing one day.”

Frankly, I loved it.

I jogged from the park to Ella’s place, but found that I was five minutes early when I actually arrived. Apparently, I had some extra spring in my step that afternoon. Knowing that Ella wasn’t fond of me arriving early, I took a casual stroll around her row of townhomes. Just before 7:00, I rounded the corner nearest her place and pulled up short—a stranger loomed at Ella’s stoop as a tense silhouette in the doorway. He looked like one of those crazy survivalists you’d expect to find roaming the Montana back county. What I could see of his face was a bizarre blend of frustration and longing. I couldn’t see Ella, but I could hear her voice, pitched and agitated. I hurried to her door, worried.

“Nicky!” she shouted as soon as she saw me. She pushed roughly past the stranger and yanked me into a long, very deep kiss that caught me completely off guard. When she was done, I staggered back a step or two, dazed. The kiss left me feeling assaulted, rather than warmly greeted.

“Jake,” she said, scowling at the stranger, “this is my future
husband
, Doctor Nicholas Cairn.”