Chapter 11

Merrick

Even as I dropped her off at her apartment, I sensed I was wrong in some way, yet she was the one who had lied. She hadn’t asked me for money or appeared to try to swindle me in any way. But I didn’t keep people in my life who were dishonest, and she certainly appeared to have lied to me on purpose.

“Wow, what’s with that face today?” Wendy asked as I arrived at the office.

“Rough weekend. Can you get Wyatt and have him come to my office, please? Thank you.”

Instantly, I started scouring the internet for information I could find on Kristina. If she had done this to other people, there might be a story about it online. But I couldn’t find anything bad about her. There was an amazing story about her work with Girls Tech and the fundraisers she was doing. There were a few smaller stories with similar agendas; I wasn’t getting any backup on my feeling that she had tried to trick me.

“Hey there, big guy, how was your romantic weekend?” Wyatt said jubilantly.

He obviously had no idea how downhill things had gone by the end of the weekend. I couldn’t have predicted the horrible ending; no one could have.

“Well, I found out she lied to me and had previously contacted me about donating to her organization.”

“What?”

“Yeah, she had called me a couple of days before our date and tried to get a donation, and I refused. Well, she said it was to get on their mailing list, but either way, she didn’t admit to knowing me when we went out.”

“Merrick, I’m confused. Did she lie to you to try and get money? She didn’t seem like that sort of woman.”

“She didn’t tell me we had talked on the phone before. That’s lying.”

Wyatt burst into laughter and came to sit down across from my desk. He didn’t know what it was like to have feelings for a woman who straight up lied to your face. His woman was truthful and caring and would never do something like that.

“You know what this sounds like to me?” Wyatt asked as he sad totally relaxed in the chair across from my desk.

“Like I’m a big chump!”

“Uh, no. It sounds like a misunderstanding. Did she actually ask you for money? I think you are blowing this all out of proportion”

“Not yet, she was probably waiting until I fell in love with her,” I said as I turned and looked out the window of my office. I could stand to look at Wyatt and how at ease he seemed during this whole conversation.

“Merrick, maybe she called you before Patty had told her she set you two up. Maybe she didn’t know who she was being set up with. Perhaps after figuring it all out, she actually liked you and didn’t want to deal with this sort of reaction.”

“She wasn’t honest.”

“Oh, give me a break, Merrick. You tell people all the time that you can make them money, and sometimes we end up losing their money. We aren’t purposely being deceitful, but it does turn out that we lied. I would think you’d have a little more understanding. What did Kristina say about it all?”

I strained to remember what had happened on the airplane. My anger and surprise about the whole situation had thrown me off, and I wasn’t sure I recalled exactly what she had told me. I did remember that she had insisted I knew her, but did I really know her?

“She denied it being a malicious thing. Said that I knew her better.”

“What did you say?” Wyatt asked.

“Pretty much that I just needed to think about things.”

“Merrick,” Wyatt shook his head in disapproval. “It’s such a stupid thing. If she had tried to get you to donate to her organization, I’d feel a little bad for you, but she didn’t even ask you for money?”

“No, she didn’t. But she did say she was going to lose her job if she didn’t reach her donation quota.”

“And she didn’t ask you for money? Even though she was going to lose her job? Um, that sounds like a stand-up woman to me. Sorry buddy … I’m not on your side with this one. Unless you think she was just saying all of that to get you to give a donation? How exactly was it said?”

“She just talked about it as the stress of her job.”

“How about we go talk to Patty and see what she has to say? She did a background check, and I’m sure she’ll have some insight into who Kristina is.”

“It doesn’t matter much now; after the way I reacted, this isn’t going to be saved.”

“Wow,” Wyatt said as he stood up to leave my office. “I didn’t take you for such a quitter.”

Wyatt walked out without saying another word. I wasn’t a quitter. Anyone who knew me knew that I gave everything my all. I didn’t do something if I wasn’t willing to put everything I had into it. I had to talk to Kristina, but first, I wanted to see what Patty had to say. She had matched the two of us up, and she was my only contact that knew Kristina better than I might.

I didn’t call; I didn’t make an appointment … I just went straight over to the Millionaire Matching site to see if I could find Patty and get her take on what was going on. I’d lived in New York for many years, and it wasn’t out of the realm of possibilities that a woman would try to take advantage of me. I totally understood it was possible; the part that was gnawing at me was how sweet she was, how much we got along, and how honest all our conversations were. Was it possible that she had only lied about this one thing, and everything else was the truth?

“I’d like to see Patty, please,” I told the receptionist when I arrived.

“She’s in the middle of a matchmaking session. It might be a little bit … would you like me to tell her you stopped by?”

“No, I’ll wait.”

“It really will be a little while. See all these women?” the receptionist said as she ran her finger from one side of the room to the next. “She’s meeting with them all in groups of three.”

“Wow, okay, so how long do you think?”

“One to two hours.”

“I can come back in an hour or so, thanks.”

I couldn’t sit in her lobby and wait; I was too jacked up to sit still, and I certainly couldn’t get any work done so I walked. I started walking north from my office uptown. There wasn’t a particular place in mind; I just wanted to keep moving while I thought about Kristina and everything that was going on.

Soon I found myself in China Town and walking down the same street I had walked with Kristina. The shops looked less interesting in the middle of the day, and the whole area was not nearly as beautiful as it had been when I was there with Kristina. I paused outside a souvenir shop and looked at the knick-knacks in the window, but without her by my side, none of them were beautiful enough to evoke a purchase from me.

After an hour of walking around, I felt worse than ever about how I had acted with Kristina, and I impulsively tried to call her. As the phone rang, I tried to imagine what I would say if she picked up. How would I reconcile how I had behaved with what she had told me? When the call went to her voicemail, I just hung up. There wasn’t enough clarity in my own mind for me to talk to her yet.

When I returned to Patty’s office, there were still about ten women sitting in the lobby waiting to go in and talk to her. I decided to grab a seat and wait for my turn. The women were all of similar height and size, they had brown hair and large breasts, and I couldn’t help thinking there was a wealthy man who had requested those exact things.

When the last group of women strolled out of Patty’s office, her receptionist called her to say I was waiting for her. After another ten minutes or so, Patty appeared in her office doorway and ushered me in.

“Merrick, it’s nice to see you. How are things going with Kristina?”

“Well, that’s what I’m here about. There was an issue, and I just wanted to find out some more information about her.”

“What do you mean by issue?”

“Well, apparently she had called me at my office before about her charity, and she lied to me about it.”

Patty looked confused by what I was saying. I was choosing my words carefully as not to imply that Kristina was trying to trick me, but by the look on Patty’s face, it was clear I was going to have to tell her everything.

“Kristina lied to you?” she asked.

“Yes, I mean, sort of. Yes, she did lie, but I’m trying to figure out the motive and …”

Patty held up her finger and motioned for me to be quiet as she dialed the speaker phone in front of her. The phone rang twice, and then I heard Kristina’s voice on the other end of the line.

“Hello,” Kristina said.

“Hi, Kristina, what happened with you and Merrick?”

Patty’s willingness to straight out ask what was going on surprised me, and I instantly put my head into my hands as I waited for her answer.

“Oh, well, remember that day you told me you were connecting me with someone?”

“Yes,” Patty said as she stared me down.

“Well, I was recruiting companies to sign up for my newsletter list that day. It’s a newer initiative we have so we can provide people information about Girls Tech and then hopefully get them interested in being more involved.”

“Okay, what else?”

“I talked to Merrick before I knew he was the person I was getting matched up with. I simply had him on my list as Stanley and Associates. Well, later that day, he called me, and it all started to come together, and I realized who he was, but when I went out with him on our first date, I didn’t tell him I’d talked to him before.”

“Why didn’t you tell him?” Patty asked as she continued to look at me.

I still had my head in my hands, but I was looking up at her while she talked to Kristina. Somewhere deep down I hoped there was a great explanation for all of this. I adjusted myself in the leather seat and then stopped moving as the sound of the movement echoed throughout Patty’s office.

“Because I liked him; he was kind and smart and exactly what I never knew I always wanted. I didn’t want him to think I was tricking him,” Kristina said as she started to cry.

“But that’s what happened? He thought you were tricking him?”

“Yes. I don’t blame him, and I don’t blame you if you don’t want to work with me anymore. I wouldn’t want to date anyone else right now anyways.”

“Kristina, I want you to take a few deep breaths and relax a little. I have a feeling things will work out just fine for you. You’re a smart, sexy woman that any guy would be stupid to give up on,” Patty continued to look at me and shake her head in disgust. “We will talk in a few days. Take care of yourself.”

“Thanks, Patty.”

As Patty hung up the phone, I knew I was in trouble. She leaned back in her chair, crossed her arms, and just stared at me. I waited for her to say something but then realized she was waiting for me.

“I admit I acted hastily.”

“Hastily? What exactly happened?”

“We were on our way home from Sonoma and had just made love when she accidently said she worked for Girls Tech. I remembered the name and freaked out a little.”

“While you two were naked?” She asked as her eyes burned into mine.

“Yes, but I don’t know why that matters.”

“Just like a man not to understand a woman feeling vulnerable when she’s naked. Okay, so what did you say or do for the rest of the trip home?”

“It wasn’t good.”

“It seems to me you have two options here. Either step up and admit you overreacted or walk away. You know Kristina told me not to connect her with any man who was specifically looking for a redhead like you were. I lied to her and didn’t tell her that was what you had asked for. We all lie sometimes, Merrick; you need to be able to weigh the gravity of it against the person who told the lie. I don’t think Kristina did this maliciously, but if you want to believe that, it’s up to you. I’d be happy to match you up with a new girl if you’d prefer.”

A new girl? The idea seemed absurd to me. I didn’t want to be matched up with anyone else, and it took her saying that for me to snap out of it and realize how I felt.

“I don’t want a new girl,” I protested as I sat up straight and leaned toward her desk.

“Let me ask you something Merrick, and I don’t want you to take offense,” she started to say and leaned in toward me. “Is it possible you felt yourself bonding with this girl and made this whole thing into a big deal as a way of pushing her away?”

“No, absolutely not,” I said unconvincingly.

“From what I know about you, this is your first real relationship in a very long time. It can be scary when you have feelings that are new.”

“Don’t analyze me. I know my feelings,” I protested some more. “I didn’t do this on purpose. I like her. I wouldn’t push her away …”

I trailed off as the realization started to hit me. I might have pushed her away; it wasn’t a conscious decision, but I could see where Patty was coming from, and I didn’t like it. I didn’t like that I played a role in this disaster.

“It doesn’t matter now. If you care about her, go get her back. End of story.”

“Okay. I will,” I said as I stood up. “Thanks, Patty.”

“I don’t want to see you back here until you’ve fixed this, understood?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

I immediately thought of calling Kristina and trying to mend things, but as I left Patty’s office, I thought there had to be a better way than just dialing up Kristina. I needed to do something big, something that she would take notice of.