The Good Girl (16 page)

So I did. Within reason. I left out the real reason behind our relationship. It didn’t seem wise to tell her that it was all initially based on sex. Nor did I feel the need to tell her that we had started this with a time limit in mind.

“Now he’s leaving,” I explained. “He’s been planning this for four years. Who am I to come along and change everything? I can’t ask him to stay. And I don’t see how I can go.” Sadly, I looked her in the eye. “Plus, it would mean me turning down that full-time position I was offered at
Life on the Lake.”

“Oh, Willow! Congratulations!” She screeched. “I’m so proud of you.” Then she asked the million dollar question. “What would you be doing?”

Taking a deep breath, I answered, “I would be Dear Aphrodite.” Then I just watched for her reaction and waited for her response. It didn’t take long. Honestly, she surprised me.

“I told you to follow your heart. If your heart wants to write a sex column, then I will support you.” She smiled at me and the sincerity of it nearly brought tears to my eyes.

Shaking my head, I admitted, “I would never be truly comfortable doing that. I just wanted a full-time position and that one was open.”

Looking at me slyly, she asked, “Any chance your heart is telling you to travel the world with Wyatt?”

“It’s on the back of a motorcycle,” I warned. “I don’t know how long I’d be gone. I can’t tell you where we’d be at any given time.”

“Would you be happy? Would you be safe?” Her questions were good ones.

At the question of being safe, I giggled some. Wyatt was a safety guy, but I doubt she meant in bed. Still, I considered all the time we’d spent together and how safe he had made me feel, how well he had taken care of me, how happy we were together. “Yeah, I believe I would.” Nodding contentedly, I realized that I had probably made my decision.

“Well, then it seems to me that you have a job to turn down, a trip to finance, and a man to win back. What are you doing sitting here with me?” She joked.
My mother joked!

“You’re right. I’m out of here. I love you, Mom. Thank you for everything.” Then I gave her another hug. These things were becoming a bit of a habit, thank goodness. It was time to go change my life.

When I reached the office, I took a deep fortifying breath.
Jacqueline was not accustomed to being turned down. She was equally unused to not having her way. At the moment, she was under the mistaken notion that I would be the ideal Aphrodite. Very mistaken. It was now up to me to convince her otherwise. My mother was optimistic, but completely naïve about the ways of the world. In her entire life, she had probably never had to do anything like this.

Walking in, I mustered all the courage I could before striding directly to Jacqueline’s office door. After knocking ever so quickly, I heard her invite me in.
Welcome to my parlor, said the spider to the fly.
Pulling the door open, I realized that Molina was already in there. Somehow, that made me feel much better.

“Jacqueline, while I really want to thank you for the opportunity, I really believe that Molina would make the best Aphrodite,” I said as I started the conversation.

Molina looked like she was ready to bounce out of her seat, she was so happy to hear me speak those words aloud.

Nodding, our boss said briskly, “I’ve heard that you were thinking of turning this position down to travel the world. Is that true?” Her voice gave away no hint of approval or disapproval.

Swallowing, I admitted, “Yes, I was offered that opportunity and thought I’d take it.” It seemed so weak a response that it made me feel small. With considerable effort, I managed to maintain eye contact.

She leaned back in her chair and studied me. “I just so happen to think that this is the kind of story that our readers might enjoy following.” Smiling slyly, she continued. “Now, you would be responsible for a monthly article and would also have to take high definition pictures to accompany the article.”

My burden felt lighter already. Could it really be this easy, quitting a job and finding the funding for my new adventure? It didn’t seem possible. “Thank you, Jacqueline. Thank you so much!”

“At the risk of sounding like an infomercial,” she said with a chuckle, “but wait, there’s more.” That’s when Molina reached out and grabbed my hand. Suddenly, she was becoming the sister I’d never had when not so long ago I thought she was my worst enemy. “I’d like you to be post regularly on the blog so people don’t have to wait once a month for the updates. I’d like to whet their appetites with bits and an interactive map of your journey. We’d even create a foundation so that people could donate and thereby increase your ability to serve the populations.”

There was a major
squee
rising up in my throat. This was too much. “That would be amazing!”

“Great, then let’s iron out some details. We’ll need to get your contract squared away with the legal department before you leave tonight,” she said firmly.

With that, we went straight to work.
At first, I wondered how I could ever be happier. Then I realized that it would have been better if I could have called Wyatt and shared all this news with him.

Suddenly, one sad, sour thought occurred to me. What if he didn’t want me to come anymore? We were ironing out details and writing contracts. What if he no longer wanted me to be a part of this adventure?

Then I realized, we didn’t have to be together. If he didn’t want to date me, have a romantic relationship with me, then that was fine. This was business. We could keep it business…not that it had worked so well before. As soon as we were done here, I’d head over to talk to him. I’d humble myself like I never had before.

For the first time in my life, I was taking my mother’s advice and following my heart. As she had told me, I should be able to make this work out if I really want it to. Never before had I wanted anything more.

The later it grew, the antsier I became. In my mind, I had pictured pulling into the driveway, having a talk with Wyatt, and riding off to the airport together to spend a wonderful weekend in the Bahamas. My mind is awesome. My reality…bites. By the time I left the office, it was close to 6pm. I knew that the plane had left the airstrip a half an hour before. All I wanted to do was bang my head into the nearest wall. How could it take so long to accomplish something we had essentially agreed to by 1pm?

As soon as I reached my vehicle, I was on the phone. Once it was answered, I said, “Mom, I need your help!”

“Come on over,” she said. “I’ll pick up Italian!”

Though I was really enjoying getting to know my mother, I felt terrible for her, knowing that she wasn’t getting the life she wanted. Unfortunately, I couldn’t change that for her. Making her life better was entirely up to her. Maybe seeing me happy would help inspire her. Clinging to that thought, I once again traveled the route to my childhood home.

When I arrived, my mother was outside in a sundress and big hat. There was something very Audrey Hepburn about her at the moment and it made me smile. “Well, hello, gorgeous!” I called as I stepped out of my vehicle. “What’s the occasion?”

“I had a garden club meeting earlier. Doesn’t this dress just look the part though?” She said with a huge smile.

Nodding, I said, “You look beautiful, mom. I bet all the other women were incredibly jealous.” My smile fading, I said, “And I’m sorry that it seems like I’m only over when I need something these days, but yesterday I just needed you. Today…I don’t even know what I need…”

Throwing an arm around my shoulders, she said, “Come on in. We’ll eat and you can tell me all about it.”

While I was on my way over, she had apparently run out and picked up Carabbas take out.
It was just what I needed. Okay, I probably needed pizza, but she wasn’t there yet. This was close enough.

“So,” my mother began, as she summed up everything I had just told her, “let me see if I understand. You already managed to find a way to fund this trip and you turned down the sex column. It seems the only thing left is to get the guy?”

After letting out a hollow laugh, I looked at her. “Yeah. That’s all. Only…now I have to wait until Sunday night or Monday at the very earliest. I have no idea when he’s leaving. This…is terrible.” Frowning, I added, “My life is really falling apart here.” Staring at my plate, I pushed around some pasta that I hadn’t been able to ingest.

“Maybe you should trade seats with me,” my mother quipped.

Glancing up at her, I wondered, “Why would I do that?”

Leaning towards me, she explained, “From here, your life doesn’t look so bad. Hell, to me, it looks like it is really coming together even.” She must have seen the disbelief on my face because she said, “You have to have pieces to put something together, Willow. And your pieces are about to fit perfectly.”

Smiling weakly, I said, “I hope so. I just don’t see how right now. Every scenario I play out in my head, I’ve lost the guy.”

“Bah, what makes you think so?” She asked.

“Mom, he didn’t call,” I whimpered.

“Has he ever?” Her question was a good one.

Considering it for a moment, I realized that we had only ever really texted that first night. Shaking my head, I admitted, “No, he never has.”

“Then why would now be different?” She set her fork down and waited for an answer.

“Shouldn’t he come chasing after me, trying to win me back?” I asked seriously. “I mean…if this were a movie, he’d do that. And then we’d live happily ever after…”

“Oh for the love of God!” She said in dismay. “I thought I had raised you better than that.” She frowned. “Willow, you left him. In this day and age, if you want the guy after that, then you need to go get him.”

“He’s in the Bahamas. I don’t even know where. They have a private island!” I pulled my loose hair back away from my face. “I couldn’t go after him if I wanted to.”

Leaning back heavily in her chair, she laughed. “Oh, is that all?”

“Isn’t that enough?” I was frustrated. Could she we be having communication issues already?

“Willow, let me make a few phone calls. Let me fuel up the jet. We can be out of here first thing in the morning if you want.” She shrugged.

“It’s that easy? You know where he is?” I asked.

Laughing, she said, “I will. Fiona Evans is in my garden club. I saw her earlier today. We get along well. And if I know her, a relationship between you and her son is something she would love to encourage, so I’m sure she’ll divulge their location so our pilot can fly us there.” She smiled at me. “You don’t believe me. Fine.” With a smile, she stood and left the room.

When she returned moments later, she had her cell phone. “No phones at the dinner table normally, but we can make an exception in this case I think,” she murmured as she searched for the contact info. I stared at her in fascination. Clearly, my mom could be pretty awesome.

She must have found the number she sought because seconds later she said, “It’s ringing.” There was another pause. “Fiona, darling! I’m so sorry to bother you on vacation.” She listened. “Still in the air? Wonderful! So, do you have a moment to talk about our love sick kids?”

Really, I wanted to sink down in my seat then, but it was obvious that whatever she was saying was working. Their conversation was light and pleasant.

“Oh, well, I’m convinced I can fix Wyatt’s foul mood,” she said with a smile.
Then she gave me a thumb’s up sign. “Yes, if you could divulge your location, and you have room for two more guests, I’ll bring Willow tomorrow…” She waited. “You’ll send the plan back for us? Oh, Fiona, that is incredibly generous, but we have our own plane.” She listened. “Listen, I insist that we give you a check for the gas. If you don’t want to take it, simply donate it to the charity of your choice, love. Really, it will make me feel better. After all, we just invited ourselves on your vacation.”

There were a few more minutes of conversation before she hung up. Once she had, she looked at me. “So, you must have gathered…plane will be waiting for us tomorrow morning at 10am. We’ll arrive around lunch time…late lunch. Our arrival will be a surprise.” She smiled at me. “Now you just have to survive until then…and decide what to say.”

She was right. That was all. It sounded so…simple. Of course, already I had learned that matters of the heart rarely were.