Chapter Four

 

I don’t remember falling asleep, but I do remember being jolted awake by my phone ringing. I sat bolt up and grabbed it without looking at the number.

“Hello?” I asked breathlessly.

“What. The. Fuck?” Rebecca asked over the line.

“Uh … I’m going to need a little bit of context.”

“Oh really? I thought you said you were vegging all night last night?”

“I …” My brow furrowed. Had she seen me and Aron out? “I said I was vegging.”

“Really? All night?”

“I didn’t say all night,” I pointed out.

“Yea. I mean, judging by pictures, you weren’t doing it all night.”

“Wait, what do you mean pictures?”

“Oh, you didn’t realize? You’re all over the news.” Rebecca sounded bitter.

I fawned. I was all over the news?

“Why?”

“Mel, you lied to me last night. You said you were vegging and you were, what? Fucking some billionaire playboy?”

My mind spun. I tried to process what she was saying.

“What?”

Rebecca went silent over the phone. “I … I have to go,” she said quietly. “Sorry.”

And then she hung up without another word. I stared down at my phone thinking about what she had just said. My heart skipped a beat. Pictures of me. In the news? No, there was no way it could be me.

I jumped for my computer.

She was right. I was in the news and didn’t really understand why. I clicked on one of the links, my eyes scanning the article as fast as they could while still reading.

Top designer seen out on date with young girl!

Aron Brentson has been seen out with a young girl, whose name we don’t know. Sources close to the 36 year-old graphic designer suggest that this is not the first time the couple has been out together and that it’s exactly what it looks like—a date.

My heart skipped a beat. Sources? What sources? Who?

Whoever this lucky girl is, it’s safe to say that she’s where most women would kill to be. We look forward to keeping an eye on these two—and seeing just how long they last!

And that was it. It was hardly anything except for a picture of us. Which spoke volumes for anyone who actually knew me. I took a deep breath, trying to tell myself that it wasn’t a big deal, but I knew it was going to turn into one, eventually. I bit my lip, trying to calm my racing heart. He could have at least told me. He should have warned me that I might end up in the newspaper if I went on a date with him.

I took a deep breath, trying to relax; it wasn’t working.

It took everything I had not to look him up on the internet. No. I inhaled deeply again. I wasn’t going to go read all the articles about him written by someone other than him. If we were going to make this work—whatever it was—we were going to need to get to know each other the right way.

 

My fingers clenched into fists. I couldn’t believe it. Sources close to me?

Who the fuck would that have been?

Either the site was lying, or someone close to me was lying. Either way, I didn’t like it. Damnit. I blew out a deep breath and slammed my laptop shut. I should have been more careful.

I ran my fingers through my hair, blowing out another deep breath, my stress levels rising. I closed my eyes and forced myself to think logically. It’s fine. You’re a couple hours ahead of her. You can call her and get it sorted out before she even sees it.

I reached for my phone, trying to calm down a little before I called her.

 

I looked down at my cell phone and saw his name flash across it.

“Hello?” I tried to sound normal.

“Hi, did I wake you?” Was it just me or did he sound hopeful?

“No, I just got up a little while ago.”

“Oh, well um … there was something I wanted to talk to you about.”

“Oh?” I waited, wondering if I already knew about it.

“So ... when we went out to dinner last night there … uh, might have been something I didn’t mention to you.” I waited. And waited, and waited a little longer. “Um, it’s just … there might, uh … be pictures of us going around. It’s just … you know how the press can be. They jump on anything that they can even if it’s something stupid and of people who hardly mean anything to the public. They are just looking for content.”

“And you provided it?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. What made him special enough to provide content?

“I guess … I have a habit of showing up at charity events, that’s all. That’s how they know me.”

Charity events?

I bit my lip. I knew looking into it would be wrong, but that didn’t stop me from really wanting to.

I took a deep breath and nodded.

“Alright. I understand, so if I see anything in the paper, I shouldn’t be surprised.”

“Well, I doubt it will make it to the newspaper, more likely a blog.”

Great, because it’s not like more people read those than the newspaper. Still, I knew it wasn’t his fault. He hadn’t meant to do any of this to me.

“Okay, well thanks for warning me.”

I could have just told him I already knew, but I was trying to give him the benefit here; it was nice that he called to warn me. I didn’t want him to feel like it was in vain.

“How was your flight?”

“It wasn’t bad. Any plans for the weekend?”

I want to see you. I almost said it out loud.

“Not really. You?”

“I’m mostly going to be going to meetings with clients. There … well, I can’t say much about it, but there is something major going on, and I gotta meet with a bunch of people to make sure it all goes smoothly.”

Hmm.

I had a hard time not prying about that I’ve gotta admit.

“Sounds interesting. Is it going to be a lot of work?”

“Probably, but it will be worth it.” He paused. “And you know, hypothetically, I could still make time to see someone. If I needed to, or if someone wanted to see me.”

My heart skipped a beat. He was acting like he actually wanted to see me. But was it true? Maybe it’s just some kind of media stunt.

I mean really, why would he want to see me of all people? I’m sure he could have found a prettier girl or someone more successful.

I bit my lip not asking the question.

“If you don’t want to, I totally get it.”

His words reminded me that I still hadn’t said anything.

“No! I’d love to see you again. When do you get in?”

“I get in on Sunday.”

“Maybe I could pick you up.”

“If that’s the case, you can stop at my place and grab a car. I’m guessing you don’t have one. Do you have a license?”

“Yea.” I just couldn’t afford a car, which I wasn’t going to tell him.

“Alright, I’ll text you the address. I’ve got a spare key taped to the bottom of my Jag. You can let yourself in and grab the … key chain with a Canadian silver dollar on it. That goes to the blue car.”

“Alright,” I stammered, trying to take it all in. He was lending me a car, so I could pick him up? I’d been trying to work through how I was going to pay for a cab.

“There should be a full tank in it,” he said.

“Wow. Awesome. Alright.”

We talked a little longer before he finally said he had to go. I didn’t want to let him go, but we’d been running out of things to talk about anyways. I knew it wasn’t really a big deal. I’d be seeing him a couple of days anyways.

I hung up the phone as someone pounded on my door.

I jumped up and rushed to it, aware I was still in my pajamas. I looked through the hole quickly. Rebecca stood there waiting for me to open it.

I hesitated. Why is she here? She hated coming over because there was no table, or coffee table, or TV.

I opened the door, watching her closely. “What’s up?” I asked.

“I just came to hang out. How’s it going?”

“Fine.” I stepped out of the doorway and let her come in.

“I was going to invite you out to lunch, but I thought you might not want to go out in case you had any more pictures of you taken.”

Her phone buzzed, she looked down at it frowning.

“What?”

“It’s Sarah. She wants your number.”

My brow furrowed. Sarah had never paid me much attention. I mean, she was nice. But she was Rebecca’s friend, and I think part of her felt like I was trying to slip in on her friendship

“Why?”

Rebecca shrugged. “Maybe she saw you on her homepage too today.”

My jaw dropped. Were people actually going to try to be my friend because of that? I groaned, closing the door behind my friend and blowing out a deep breath. “Great,” I muttered. Just what I needed.

I headed into the kitchen/living room, motioning for Rebecca to follow me.

“So, what’s the dish?”

“What do you mean?”

“How’d you meet him? What was the date like? Have you two …” she waved her hands as if that made everything clear. “And what about the age? Isn’t he quite a bit older?”

I shrugged, not willing to admit that he was a good ten years older than I was. “There’s not much to say. Anyway, I don’t want any sources telling the media anything. No offense.”

Rebecca laughed softly. “None taken. But really, you like him?”

“I don’t know.” I shrugged. “It’s only been one date, unlike what you’re being led to believe.” My brow furrowed. Had someone he knew told them that? Or had they managed to get to him?

“Really? Damn, I knew it had to be a lie. I mean, you’ve been working nonstop for a month. How did he even convince you to go out with him?”

He gave me a $100 tip. Oh, that sounded bad. I wasn’t going to say that out loud.

“Flowers.” That played a part in it too—kinda. “He sent me flowers.” I pointed over to them.

“Wow, that’s a lotta flowers. I’d have said yes to him too. So that’s why you didn’t come out with John and me?”

“No, I didn’t go out with you guys because I was tired. I’d planned on staying home all night, but when he asked me out … I couldn’t say no.” Well, I didn’t want to. “By the time I got home, I was dead tired, I didn’t want to bring you guys down.”

“John’s going to take this pretty hard, eh?”

My heart skipped a beat as we sat down on the couch together.

I hadn’t even thought about John.

“I know … I’ll … I’ll talk to him sometime. Try to smooth things over.”

“You know, he really likes you.” Rebecca’s brow furrowed. “You’re not just going to be able to ‘smooth things over’ with him. You’re going to break his heart.” I could hear the bitterness in her voice.

“I just hope there will be a nice girl there to comfort him,” I said, trying not to sound snarky.

Rebecca’s cheeks flushed. I didn’t say a word as I stared out the window before pushing myself up and padding over there.

“John and I never would have worked out anyways.” I shrugged. I knew it was true. It’s not just that I wasn’t attracted to him. “I’m … too much for him. He wouldn’t be able to deal with it. I save too much; I work too much.”

Most guys didn’t like a girl who worked as much as I did; at least, that’s what I was beginning to figure out.

Maybe that will be different with Aron. I mean, he did work a lot. And he was older—he might like a woman who worked and provided for herself. Not that I could quite say I was providing, but I was managing to pay my bills, and I wasn’t too deep in debt, so that had to count for something, right?

I took a deep breath and turned back to Rebecca. She looked mad. Beyond mad.