After spending a wonderful day with my family, I wish everyone a happy mother's day!
Here's the rest of chapter 2.
Laura
“Laura,
It
would be great to go out tonight. Should
I come over at 8? I canceled our
reservations, so we’ll just have to figure things out when I get there.
Jack”
I
had four hours to kill before Jack came over.
I laced up my running shoes. On
the elevator, I put on my earphones. As
I ran down 86th street to Central Park, I psyched myself up by
listening to some Donna Summers.
“I’m
coming out.
I
want the world to know.
Got
to let it show.
I’m
coming out,” Diana Ross and I sang, as I ran towards the park. I felt myself snapping my fingers and shaking
my hips. I had a love-drunk, perma-smile
on my face. I’m sure I looked like a
fool, but I didn’t care. My heart was
light and full of happy possibilities and it was OK if everyone knew it. Neil Diamond came on and I picked up my pace.
“She
got the way to move me, Cherry
She
got the way to groove me
She
got the way to move me
She
got the way to groove me”
By
the time I finished two loops of the reservoir; my heart was pounding. I felt alive and in charge.
When
I got home I scanned my apartment. It
was neat; it usually was as long as you don’t mind dust. New York City produces an insane amount of
dust, but I made peace with it, because that was better than dusting. However, Opu’s hair was a different
story. My ninety-five pound black
labrador retriever preferred the couch to running in the park and produced
basketball size clumps of hair that gathered in the corners of my aparement. I walked over to the clumps and picked them
up and threw them away. Done, I thought;
now the apartment is clean enough.
I
walked into the bedroom, slid open the closet doors and blankly stared at the clothes. It was easy and impossible to figure out what
to wear. I knew I was going to wear my
black, suede Tod’s that had red stitches.
They had three and a half inch heels and were still really
comfortable. My desinger Gap jeans were
also a must. I don’t know when I fell in
love with Gap jeans, but I did. I loved
that for $25 (always bought them on sale) I could buy comfortable jeans that made
me feel good. Plus, it freed up money
for me to buy ridiculously expensive shoes.
What to wear on top?
I
stripped out of my runnng clothes and walked into the bathroom. I’ll wear my black, stretchy, turtle-neck
sweather, I thought and I smoothed conditioner through my hair. It’s form fitting and warm. Maybe the high neck will make me look like a
nun. No, I want something sexy. The sheer black sweater with a camisole
underneath would be good. I finished up
my shower and grabbed my towel. Back in
the bedroom and stairing at the closet, I decided that I didn’t want to wear
the sheer sweater. I grabbed my Theory,
black silk shirt that had red and navy
designs that the cuffs and v-neck and slid it over my head. This should work and I walked back into the
bathroom to put on make-up.
“Hey
Jack, come in.” He glided in and casually leaned on my kitchen counter. His camel coat was unbuttoned and his blue
shirt was neatly tucked into his flat-front, black trousers.
“You
look great.” I said and I twirled the stem of my wine glass in my hands.
“Thanks. You look nice too,” he said. He took a few steps towards me.
“I
decided to curl my hair. I wasn’t sure
if it turned out all right,” I said and almost dropped my glass, because I spun
it in my hand too fast. “Would you like
something to drink?” Jack took another
step closer. The wine in my glass
started splashing up the sides.
“Yes,
I’d love a bourbon and coke.” He touched
my shoulder with his shoulder. I closed
my eyes and took a deep breath in hopes of calming my thundering heart. It was a mistake. Jack smelled better than chocolate chip
cookies fresh out of the oven. God, I
love chocolate chip cookies. : )
“Umm…that’s
a problem. I should have told you your
choices. I have um milk, Diet Coke, and
some pinot grigio.”
“Wine
would be nice.” He leaned in.
I
grabbed the pinot grigio out of the fridge and poured him a glass of wine.
“Here….”
He
gently caressed my lips with his. My
heart jumped.
“Wow!”
I said.
“Oh
you liked that.” Jack’s face blushed.
Crap,
crap, crap, crap. “No, no it was ok. I was just trying to flatter you.”
We
left my apartment and grabbed a taxi down to Pastis. Jack’s hand was on my thigh the entire
ride. It was hot. I was hot. His kiss was sweet. I was in trouble.
“Sarah,
Sam,
I
had the best weekend. I need to tell you
about it.
Hope
you had a great weekend too,
Laura”
I
sent the email the moment I entered the office.
I hadn’t even opened my Diet Coke yet.
With
their coffees in their hands, they each leaned on my file cabinets for our
usual morning meeting.
“What’s
up?” Sarah took off her mink swing coat, it was an early Christmas present from
Gil, and gently folded it over the back of the chair.
“Spill,”
Sam said. She was still wearing her rain
boots with her pants tucked in them. I
guess she wasn’t worried about wrinkling her pants. love
“Ok,
so I ended up emailing Jack on Saturday and we went out,” I confessed and
slowly looked up from the spreadsheet on my desk.
“Why?”
Sarah asked.
“I
think it’s good. Why play games?” Sam
placed her coffee down on papers that were piled on the corner of my desk.
I
glanced over at the papers on top and breathed easier seeing that they were
drafts. “It was by far the best date
I’ve ever had.” My ears slid back on my
head, my grin was so big.
“Really,
didn’t you go to France on a date?” Sarah asked.
“Yeah. Remember Janes, Mr. Investment Bank. He constantly complained about work and that
he wanted to find balance. However, he
only worked longer and longer hours.
France was fun, but a relationship isn’t built on one weekend out of
fifty-two, so… I might have had more exotic dates, but definitely not better
ones. I felt like Jack and I were in a
movie. It was the two of us and blurry extras.”
“What’d
you do?” Sarah asked.
“He
came over to my place and then we went down to the meatpacking district for
dinner.”
“That
sounds like a typical date,” Sarah said.
“Well,
dates are only as good as the person you are with,” I said, “I couldn’t have
been with anyone better.”
“You
are so whipped,” Sam said.
“I
want more details,” Sarah said and she tapped her coffee cup.
“What
restaurant did you go to? Sam asked.
“Pastis.”
“It’s
hard to get reservations there. He tried
to impress you,“ Sarah raised an eyebrow.
“He
could have taken me to McDonalds and I still would have considered it my best
date ever,” I said and leaned back in my chair and looked up at the ceiling. With no chance of seeing Brian, I was back in
my comfy, black pants, a shirt and a v-neck sweater.
“I
don’t understand; what was so great about it?” Sarah said and she looked right
at me.
“I
guess it was just the conversation; the way he caressed my back; I don’t
know. The way he made me feel like I was
the only person in the room.”
“You
are in love,” Sam said and she smiled, a knowing smile.
“No,
definitely not love. He’s scary,” I
said. Do I tell them that he’s so scary,
because the chemistry is so strong? He
makes my heart flutter just when I think about him. I bet that he could Mac-truck my heart and
it’d be hard to scrape the pieces back together again.
Sam
held her hands by her face and pretended she was a monster. “What do you mean? Does he have fangs?” We laughed.
“No,
he just seems too perfect. Not
necessarily that he is perfect, but that our chemistry is perfect. He makes my toes curl when he kisses me.”
“Oh
my God, what is wrong with you?” Sarah said and smirked.
“You
definitely are in looove,” Sam said and crossed her arms against her heart.
“No,
I’m so NOT in love. We just had our
second date. But maybe I could love him
someday.” I could definitely fall hard
for Jack, I thought, but didn’t dare voice to Sarah and Sam.
“The
two of you are ridiculous,” Sarah said and took a long sip of her coffee. “Wait, didn’t you go out with Mr. Gold on
Sunday?”
“Yup.” I grinned.
It felt nice to date two guys at the same time. I never did that before, but I knew that I
would need to choose between the two soon.
My conscious wouldn’t allow me to string one of them along.
“And
how was that date?” Sam asked.
“It
was a very nice date. I only called him Jack
once.”
Jack
and I were both very busy over the Christmas holidays, so we decided to go out
to dinner on New Year’s Day. We met at The
Hudson Grill near my apartment on Columbus in the 80s. what kind of restaurant?
Jack
lounged in the booth, “What did you do last night?”
“I
went to a party at Bruce and Elana’s apartment.
It was mainly just our running group,” I said and craddled Diet Coke in
my hands. “What did you do?”
“I
went to a bar in Midtown East with my buddies.
It was pretty casual.” He took a
drink of his bourbon and Coke.
“Yeah,
my night was very relaxed. It almost
didn’t seem like New Year’s Eve,” I said and took a bite of my mushroom
ravioli. I can’t believe that I used to
hate mushrooms. The combination of
mushroom and slippery pasta pleased my tongue.
“I
was outside and this girl kept showing me her arm.” He casually lifted his fork to his mouth and
stuffed in a large chunk of filet mignon.
I
choked. He didn’t notice.
“She
was so cold that she had chicken skin. I never saw anything like it
before.” He picked up his steak knife
and sawed off another ounce of filet.
I
took a deep breath. “Oh, that’s pretty
common if you’re really cold.” This
means nothing, I kept telling myself.
“Yeah,
I guess,” and he shoved more filet mignon down his throat.
“What
were you doing outside?” I looked down at my plate and moved the ravioli a
little bit. He’s not as into me as I
thought.
“Oh,
we were smoking,” and he took some fries and smashed them into his mouth.
“I
didn’t know you smoked.”
“Just
socially,” he said.
“Oh,”
and I felt my heart crash to the floor.
Sirens went off on my head. A
smoker, I can’t date a smoker. Seriously,
I don’t care how much money you have or how drop-dead gorgeous. I will not date a guy who smells like
death. After decades of dealing with my
mother smoking, I’m not dating a smoker.
I hated sitting in the smoking section of an airplane where there would
be toxic clouds inside, corrupting the beauty outside. As the youngest, I was forced to sit next to
her at restaurants, so my dinner tasted like an ashtray. I am not going to voluntarily sign up for a
life ruled by someone’s desire to destroy his lungs and those around him.
“Just
socially,” he said and took a fistful of French fries and stuffed them into his
mouth.
“Oh,”
and I felt my heart crash to the floor.
After
our date, I learned that not only did he smoke, but he also was dating other
women. Ok, I didn’t know that he was
definitely dating other women, but it seemed like he was definitely open to it.
On
Monday, I was in my office, blankly staring at the Chrysler building, when Sarah
walked in.
“I
have some news for you,” Sarah stated and held out her left hand. Right there smack dab in the middle of her
ring finger was the largest diamond that I had ever seen.
“Congratulations,”
I sang and embraced Sarah in a big hug.
“It’s about time – seven years?”
“Yes,
it took way too much pressure on my part.
I told him that he had to propose by Christmas. He didn’t, so I told him
that he had until New Year’s Eve. He
proposed on New Year’s Day,” Sarah said and gazed down at her rock.
“Well,
who cares what it took for Gil to finally propose. I’m so happy for you,” I said with my stomach
all in knots. There was something about
Gil that rubbed me wrong. It was just a
feeling, but a pretty strong one at that.
“How
are things going with Jack?”
“Ugh…I
think it’s over.”
“I’m
sorry. What happened?”
“He
smokes,” I said.
“And…”
Sarah took a sip of her coffee and looked me directly in my eyes.
“He’s
also dating someone else. Clearly, he
doesn’t think I’m that special,” I said and took a bite my bagel and stared at
my computer monitor.
Sarah
grinned. “Aren’t you also dating Mr. Gold?”
“It
doesn’t count,” I said. “I’m allowed to
be dating as many men as I’d like.”
“That’s
fair,” Sarah and Sam said in unison. Sam
strolled in and sat down in the chair opposite me.
“What’d
I miss,” Sam said.
“I
think it’s over with Jack. He smokes and
is dating someone else. Someone who he
took on a date on New Year’s Eve.” I took another bite of my bagel and stared
at my Diet Coke.
“Are
you sure he is dating someone else?” Sam said.
“I felt so good about him.”
“No,
I’m not 100% positive, but I don’t want to date a smoker anyway. Besides remember that he told me he bought an
apartment on the Upper East Side. Well…he still hasn’t moved in. He told me that he was moving in
December. He’s lying about that too,
right?” I questioned.
“Guys
are so full of shit in New York. In any other city, we would have met nice guys
by now, but no…guys in New York think that they can dick around with women’s
lives,” Sam said.
Sarah
believed that Jack was actually buying an apartment when I first told her. However, now that Jack seemed to be dating
multiple women and messed up our second date, Sarah was changing her tune. “Laura, I know you thought that he was
special. But considering that he smokes,
is dating other women and may or may not own an apartment in the city, I think
you’re best off continuing to date Mr. Gold.”
“When
does Mr. Gold get back from Uruguay?” Sam said.
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