Ten
Graham
I watched Libby drive away erratically and my heart tightened with panic. She was in no position to drive, and yet I was watching her drive away. Cars were honking and she was swerving, and part of me wanted to get in my car and take off after her.
But I felt Gloria’s hand come down onto my wrist.
“Get the hell away from me,” I said. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
“Telling you what I should’ve told you a long time ago. You ruined my life, Graham. You interjected yourself into my world, turned it upside down, then expected me to follow your every whim. But you’re not taking the best things that have ever happened to me. It’s not happening. Not now. Not ever. I don’t care what a damn court of law says!”
“You’re drunk,” I said. “Go home. This is why the restraining order’s in place. And if you don’t get the hell out of here, I’m calling the cops and having you arrested.”
“You haven’t heard the last of me, Graham! I love them!”
“Then prove to them you do by getting sober, Gloria. Until then, should you ever come near me, my home, or anywhere I might be again, I’ll have you arrested and thrown in jail on the spot. Leave us alone,” I said.
I stormed back into the restaurant and paid the measly tab for the wine. I left the waiter a decent tip, then headed straight for my car. Gloria was stumbling around in the parking lot like the drunken idiot she was, and part of me wanted to leave her there. Part of me wanted to sit back and watch the restaurant call the cops on her for making an ass out of herself
But I couldn't do that to her.
Even though I would’ve had every right to.
I got in my car and called a cab. I watched as it pulled up, then a man got out and helped her into the back. I watched them drive off before I cranked up my car, then followed them to make sure Gloria got home safely. I watched as she stumbled into the apartment she called a home, and before she shut the door I watched her pick something up from the floor.
It was an empty wine bottle, and the last image I had of her was her tipping the glass up to her lips.
Sighing and shaking my head, I pulled away to try and find Libby. I traced the street she had raced down and took the first left her car had swerved down. But beyond that, I had nowhere else to look. The only thing I knew was that she lived on the south side of Chicago, but it would’ve taken me all night to scour half the damn place. Fuck. How the hell did Gloria find me at that place? What the hell had she been thinking?
I didn’t even get a chance to explain to Libby was the hell was going on.
I drove back to my home and whipped out my phone. I sent her a message through the app as well as a text message, but I got no response. I went back to her profile, trying to see if there was any information in there I could use to track her down. She probably needed some room to breathe, which was fine. I got that. But we needed to talk. I wanted to explain myself and see if she would give me a second chance at this whole thing.
I wanted to see if she would give me the chance to figure out why the fuck I couldn’t kick her like a bad habit.
I scrolled through her profile and came across where she worked. Not the safest thing to put in a profile, but it would work in my favor. I jotted the place down before I fell asleep, just in case she decided to delete her profile. The first stop I was making in the morning before I headed into work was to the florist. If she didn’t want to talk with me, the least I could do was send her something to apologize. I didn’t know how she would react, but it was the only avenue I had to get her to talk to me.
I rolled out of bed the next morning, got cleaned up, and called the florist I knew in town. I had a bouquet of white Lily of the Valleys as well as white roses along with an apology note. I wanted the florist to call me after they had been delivered so I knew she got them. But then it was out of my hands.
And still, I heard nothing from her.
The entire week, there was nothing. My text messages went unanswered, my phone calls went unreturned, and my messages in the dating app were read but not responded to. I didn’t know what else to do. I couldn’t get her off my mind. The look of horror on her face when Gloria threw that glass of wine at me wasn’t how I wanted to remember her. It wasn’t how I wanted to end things with her.
So, I did the only other thing I knew I could do.
I picked up lunch for us and headed for her job.
I grabbed the food and buttoned my suit coat before I walked inside. There were a few people sitting in the waiting room waiting on their appointments as they looked up at me. I smiled and nodded my head at them, gripping the food tightly in my hand. Then I looked up and saw Libby sitting at her desk, her eyes trained on the computer in front of her as her hands flew across the keyboard.
And my heart stopped.
“Welcome. If you want to sign in and write down your appointment time, I’ll let you know when they’re ready to see you,” Libby said.
“Hey there.”
I watched her pause as she panned her gaze towards me. She looked tired. Her eyes were heavy and there was the faintest bit of red that still tinted them. She had been crying, and it boiled my blood. A woman like her didn’t deserve to cry. And there was a good chance she’d fallen asleep doing that, judging by the faint indentations that were still pressed into her cheek.
“I brought lunch,” I said.
“Smells good,” she said quietly.
“Would you like some?” I asked.
She sighed and I watched her eyes flicker off to the side. I looked over and saw the bouquet of flowers I sent her a few days ago sitting on a side table by a window. I looked back at her, waiting for her to say that one word. That one word that gave me permission to sit with her and talk.
“Okay,” Libby said. “Sure. Yeah. Come on back. Let me clock out for lunch.”
She rolled away from her desk and opened a door off to the side. I walked around the corner and came into the front office, my eyes studying her closely. She had on a pair of professional black pants that look like they’d been bunched up on the floor for days. She had on a white shirt with a light gray cardigan slung around her shoulders, and it was already falling off her body. She was thrown together, and that was putting it mildly. What was confusing to me was how the hell a woman could still shine the way Libby could in something like that.
There were women who wore ten thousand-dollar dresses to a single fucking dinner date and didn’t shine the way she did.
“What’s for lunch?” Libby asked.
“I brought steak salads and a side of macaroni and cheese from Boka,” I said.
“Ah, so I still get to know what their food tastes like,” she said.
“That was the intention. I’ve got two different drinks. Iced tea and Lemonade. Preference?”
“The lemonade sounds nice, thank you.”
I divvied out the food as she cleared off a spot on her desk. I pulled up a stool in the corner and sat down, watching the way she prepared her eating spot. She was self-conscious, that much was for certain. The way she cut up everything into small pieces before eating it. The way she delicately sipped at her lemonade. The way she chewed everything without the slightest sound.
She was uncomfortable.
And I hated that I made her feel that way.
“I wanted to talk about what happened the other night,” I said.
“Who was that woman?” Libby asked.
“A crazy ex of mine. I have a restraining order against her for some things she pulled towards the end of our relationship.”
“Is she the reason why you don’t have time for cultivating relationships?”
“In a sense.”
“Graham, I might not have a glamorous job or have glamorous things, but I know when people are holding things back. You’re guarded. I’ve been burned enough by men to know when they’re keeping secrets.”
“I’m sure you have secrets of your own,” I said.
“None that interrupt dates in high profile places to throw wine in my face, no.”
“Gloria… wasn’t always that kind of person. But she morphed into being that kind of person with me. Part of me not wanting a traditional relationship is because I know my life is high-pressure. And the pressure got to her.”
“So you feel responsible for the person she turned into.”
“In a sense, yes.”
“What else aren’t you telling me?” she asked.
“Libby, I can’t-”
“I know you’re not looking for anything traditional. And really, I’m okay with that. I’m not in any position to get caught up in… whatever this is anyway. I don’t have the funds to keep buying new clothes whenever you want to take me out somewhere nice,” she said.
“You don’t have to buy new clothes,” I said. “You can wear whatever makes you comfortable.”
“So if you took me to a restaurant by the sea and I walked in wearing this, you wouldn’t have an issue with it?”
I eyed her up and down, pausing long enough to make her sigh.
“Libby, I didn’t say anything.”
“You didn’t have to,” she said. “Look, I’m glad you came by to talk. But I know there’s a lot you’re not telling me. And just like you don’t want to get into some sort of traditional relationship, I don’t want to have to look over my shoulder during every date I have with some guy I barely know.”
“Nothing like that is going to ever happen again. I have a restraining order against her, Libby.”
“And that seemed to really help a few nights ago.”
“I’ve been burned. Bad,” I said. “And I think you have, too. But I’m not the only one being guarded here. You are as well. Every single wall you have right now is thrown up, and I’m trying to tap on them lightly to get you to peek out from around them.”
“What do you want?” she asked. “Why are you here?”
It was a good question, and one I wasn’t sure how to answer.
“I’d like another chance,” I said.
“To… what? Take me out to dinner?” she asked.
“Yes. But not only that. I’d like another chance to try and form something with you.”
“I thought you didn’t want that.”
“I want someone I enjoy spending my time with to be there when I’m free.”
“So you want me to be at your beck and call?”
“No. I want you to want to spend time with me whenever the two of us are free. However that time is spent is up to you. But I want…”
I drew in a deep breath as her beautiful eyes stared up into mine. For a timid woman, she really knew how to back me into a corner. The tenacity and fire in her words was alluring, and it showcased a side of her I wanted to get to know.
“I want to get to know you,” I said. “If you’ll let me.”
She nodded as she speared a bite of her salad. I watched her roll it around in her mouth, munching mindlessly as she thought. Never had I sat on the edge of my seat like that before. Never in my life had I been so nervous for a fucking answer to come from some woman I was chasing. It had been a long time since I’d pursued a woman like this, and none of those women made me hang onto her every word like Libby did.
What the hell was this woman doing to me?
“Okay,” Libby said. “I think I’d like that.”
“Good,” I said. “I’d say we could start now, but I’m due back at work in fifteen minutes. Are you doing anything tomorrow night?”
“Nope. Just sitting around with dinner and my cat.”
“You have a cat?”
“A calico. His name’s Mozart.”
“A fan of classical music?” he asked.
“It’s a secret passion, yes.”
“Well, maybe I could take you to the symphony sometime. They aren’t playing this weekend, but in a few weeks their season will start back up.”
“I’d like that,” she said, smiling. “What were you thinking about for tomorrow night?”
“There’s a bookstore downtown I thought we could go to. Since you’re such an avid reader.”
The light in her eyes returned, igniting her features as her innocence poured through. There she was. There was the Libby I found on the steps of that wedding venue. She was peeking through and it clenched my gut with happiness.
Such a small gesture bringing light to a wonderful woman.
“To the bookstore it is, then,” she said.