Ryan
I stood in the kitchen staring out into the backyard, sipping my cup of coffee. Time seemed to have slowed down since Miles had come and gone. Today marked our six-week anniversary as a married couple, and it hadn’t been easy to get here, especially not in recent days. When we hit the four-week point I thought it was a breeze, with time flying by and things between me and Mira going really well. I was on my way to five hundred thousand dollars and had feelings for Mira I’d never experienced before.
However, after the Miles debacle, time just started creeping by. Matters had been incredibly tense between us, and it all went back to that first night Miles went out with us to the bar. She just wouldn’t let it go, even sleeping in separate rooms, making comments about it, and altogether avoiding me as much as possible.
Evelyn was just lapping it up, she loved the drama and the suspense, but I hated it. I wanted Mira to forgive me and go back to the way things were before Miles came. I’d known when I saw him standing there in the living room that he was going to be an issue. I’d just freaking known it. There was nothing else that could possibly happen. He was loud and spoke his mind, even when it hurt people’s feelings. I’m not saying it was right, but he was a friend who was sacred to me. Just then my phone buzzed on the counter in front of me, and looking down, I saw the name Miles on the text message screen. I opened it up and read it.
Things going any better?
Ugh. Not unless you say not speaking to me and avoiding me at all costs is an improvement.
Meh, she’ll come around. And if she doesn’t, just bag it and take your money.
I’ll text you later, Evelyn is here for the briefing.
10-4 buddy
At first when he’d checked in I thought Miles was going to offer an apology, but that didn’t happen, and I knew sure as hell that he thought she was being stupid about the whole thing. I did feel like she was being unreasonable in a way, and I wasn’t sure what she expected me to do about it. I was sorry she didn’t like how I lived my life before I met her, but the past was the past, or at least that was how I thought about it, anyway.
Besides, Miles had been gone for over a week at that point. We had been through other stuff with Evelyn, gone about our daily lives and moved forward. At least I had moved forward. I didn’t understand why Mira couldn’t just let the whole thing go and move on. I had tried talking to her about it, but she’d just got even angrier than before, so I let it go. It was bad enough that we were married strangers with obvious feelings for each other on national TV, I didn’t want to add to that by fighting in front of everyone too, no matter how much Evelyn liked to see it.
I sighed and poured myself another cup of coffee, waiting for Mira to come down and meet with Evelyn to get the day’s briefing over with. Dealing with Evelyn every day had already become annoying, and I felt like I never had time for my own thoughts. Harrison tried to take the cues when I wanted to be alone, but he also had a job to do and I tried to be understanding of that. I was the one who had signed up for this thing, it was my fault, and I couldn’t go back on it just because I needed some space. I had to push through and show Mira that I really did care about her, but I wasn’t going to spend the next four and half months begging for forgiveness. Honestly, I was beginning to wonder if Mira even knew what it was.
“Okay, Ryan,” Evelyn called from the other room. “We’re ready to start.”
I walked into the living room and sat down in the chair, glancing over at Mira, but feeling the sting of rejection once again as she completely ignored me. Evelyn looked back and forth between the two of us and sat down on the couch. She rubbed her chin, obviously thinking, and then stood again and nodded her head.
“You have really been keeping up with the drama and heartbreak,” she said. “I like that, but people are going to get bored with it. So, in order to try to pull you two love doves back together, we have scheduled another planned date. This time you’re really going to have to work together to get through it. We are sending you to an escape room, and it takes cooperation and teamwork to win. I know you both like to win, so you are going to have to remember how to communicate with each other.”
“So, basically you are locking me in a room with him and I have to be nice to him in order to get out?” Mira asked, making me flinch.
“You have to work together, so if that means being nice, then yes, be sunshine fucking daisy sweet to him,” she said. “I don’t want to have to come in there and tell you how to get along. This is a TV show and you are entertainers.”
“I think we will be fine,” I smiled.
“Good,” Evelyn said. “Be ready in three hours, the car will pick you up and take you over there.”
Evelyn threw her hands into the air dramatically and walked out of the family room and out to where her car waited. Mira stood up and walked straight past me, going down the hall and up the stairs. I looked up at Harrison who was just shaking his head, feeling completely sorry for me. I sighed and got up off the couch, heading up to get ready for the event, hoping beyond hope that the couple that we were in the beginning started to shine through again.
When it was time to go, I waited at the bottom of the steps and gave Mira my arm, walking her out to the car. She was quiet, but a little more relaxed than before. When we arrived at the escape room the energy was high, and I actually saw her smile and laugh for the first time in days. They explained to us how it worked.
“You get clues in each room,” the guide said. “You have to work together, to solve those clues in a limited amount of time, otherwise you die. Well, you don’t literally die of course, but that’s the gist of it.”
“I think we got this, right?” I asked, looking at Mira.
She smiled but didn’t say a word. We headed into the first room and were able to solve the puzzle in the first three minutes. By the time we made it to the fourth and final room, things were definitely a lot harder, but we had started to work together as a team and talking to one another about something that wasn’t Miles. We read the clues together over and over, looking around the room for things that would fit. It was tense, no doubt about that, but surprisingly the tension was not between us, it was because we were working so hard to win it. In the end, we solved the problem, making our way out to a cheering group of employees. We worked really well together, something I hadn’t noticed until we were in that last room.
The crew gave us signs to hold up celebrating our victory, and I took that moment to bring Mira in close to me. She didn’t fight me, and that was enough for the moment. It was way better than having her not want to be within ten feet of me, so I would consider it progress. She was a tough chick and didn’t give in easily or give up when she thought something wasn’t right. Despite the fact that it irritated me in the Miles situation, it was a really good trait in general.
When we were done there, we headed out, deciding to stop and grab some fast food burgers on our way back home. It had been a long day and neither of us really felt like cooking. We ordered our food and headed back to the house.
“You want to eat outside on the porch?” I asked, as we put our stuff down in the kitchen.
“Yeah,” she smiled. “That actually sounds really nice. I’ll grab some napkins and plates.”
We went out onto the porch and pulled our burgers and fries out, laying them on the plates. I sat back and stretched my arms up high, happy to be back to my temporary home. Doing the escape room was a cool experience, but I was pretty sure I wouldn’t do one again.
“You know, we would never have gotten out of there if it weren’t for you,” I smiled.
“I know,” she smirked, with a giggle. “No, you contributed a lot. That third room riddle had me stumped like you wouldn’t believe.”
“Oh, I believe it. I saw the vein popping out of your forehead, remember,” I laughed.
“Oh stop! Yeah, I was stressed, but then you found the chalk board and it all made sense,” she said.
“I actually had a lot of fun with you today,” I said. “We really work well together in situations like that.”
“I agree with you,” she said, taking a bite of her burger. “I think we work well in almost every situation. Listen, I am still not happy about Miles, but I don’t want to keep ignoring each other. I miss talking to you. So, I’m going to let it go, I just ask that if the situation arises again before this whole thing is done, that you try to be a little easier on me.”
“I promise,” I smiled. “And I told him what was up with the whole thing. He felt terrible.”
“Yeah right,” she laughed.
“Okay, he didn’t actually say that, but I could tell he was actually thinking about something other than himself for a split second.”
“I’ll take that, it’s likely the best I’ll ever do with him,” she said with a wink.
I stared across the table at her as she finished her burger and wiped her mouth. She really was one of the most beautiful women I had ever seen. Miles was right, she was not the typical girl that I slept with, but she was far more to me than just some one-night stand. Not only was she technically my wife, but she was really special in other ways, too. I found that I missed her when she wasn’t nearby, and I enjoyed being around her more than anyone else I had ever met.
I stood up from my chair and walked around the table, reaching my hands down for her. She looked at me suspiciously, but put her hands in mine, letting me pull her to her feet. I wrapped my arms around her shoulders and moved a piece of hair from her eyes, thinking about how glad I was that she was back to being her old self again. I didn’t know if I could have taken much more of the avoidance. I leaned forward and kissed her lips, softly at first but then harder, pulling her into my chest, feeling her body pressed against mine. Just as I was about to scoop her up, her phone rang, interrupting our kiss. She pulled it out and looked at it curiously before answering.
“Hello?” she said, smiling up at me. “Yes, this is her. She is? Right, okay, I’ll be right there.”
She hung up the phone and stared down at it for a second, her face turning to worry.
“I gotta go. My mom is in the hospital, and it’s really bad.”