THE KNOCKING ON the door pulled me from my slumber on Monday morning. “Room service,” the woman’s voice chirped on the other side of the door.
After jumping out of bed and tightening the robe around me, I answered the door. “I’m sorry but I didn’t order any.”
“No worries, ma’am. It was ordered by another hotel guest for you.”
I stepped back as she wheeled in the cart with the covered platter and carafe. She set to work arranging it on the table for me. Once she left, I shut the door behind her and sat down at the table, eager to see what was under the lid. My stomach was growling, completely agreeing with me. I lifted the lid to find my favorite kinds of donuts. Mom. She was really doing what she could to pull me out of my funk.
Yesterday, we spent the entire day shopping. After a tiresome day, we had a late dinner with Rich. It was really nice to spend time with them even though the circumstances for me being there sucked. Today, we had another day of shopping planned. New York was so big. You could shop forever and still only cover a portion of the city.
After breakfast, I met my mom downstairs in the lobby. We grabbed a cab and got straight to shopping. Three hours and four stores later, my bags were getting heavy, so we decided to stop for coffee in a cute, little bakery.
“Thanks for donuts this morning, by the way.” I smiled as I sipped my cappuccino.
“What donuts?”
“The ones you had sent via room service.”
“Nope, not me. Must have been Rich. He has been really worried about you.”
Rich has always been thoughtful and looked after me but usually he likes to be the bearer of his gifts. If it had been Rich, he’d have shown up with the donuts himself. Strange. I’d have to ask him about it later.
We finished our coffee and continued our stroll. I stopped in front of a gift shop that caught my eye. “Hey, let’s go in there.”
As we walked in, I instantly warmed to the quaint, welcoming atmosphere. The shop was adorable, with all sorts of trinkets strewn about and I quickly lost myself looking through the hundreds of charms for bracelets on a table near the register. Each one was so detailed. Several of them had special meaning to me, so I began sorting through the ones that meant something. I picked up one that looked like a tiny high-heeled shoe and giggled as I thought about my shoe addiction. After the shit storm I’d recently dealt with, I deserved a bracelet. When I saw the moth charm, my heart stopped.
In a moment of crazy, I added it to my pile and began searching for a flame. I settled for a campfire-shaped charm. Digging some more, I found a pumpkin and a pickup truck.
Why am I doing this?
I was deliberately choosing things that reminded me of Cale. Once I was satisfied, I had enough for my bracelet, I collected my loot and was about to head to the register when one more caught my eye. Before I had time to change my mind, I snatched it up and carried them over to check out.
Mom didn’t ask about the bracelet I’d just bought and all the charms that went with it. She was a very intuitive woman and knew when not to prod. We spent the rest of the day shopping until it got dark. Then we made our way back to the hotel.
Rich insisted that we try the restaurant at the hotel. It was very fine dining and probably cost a fortune for three people. Even though I felt guilty about the prices, I enjoyed the time I was spending with my mother and stepfather. Mom and Rich had me laughing through dinner at all of their funny stories of when they had been traveling in Europe. Mom said that her Texas accent had gotten her into all sorts of trouble in France.
Feeling watched, I scanned the restaurant with my eyes but came up short. After dinner, the three of us went over to the hotel bar. A couple of glasses of wine later, I was feeling relaxed and my internal guard was down. Watching Mom and Rich interact made me sad. They were so happy and flirty. Although it was cute, it made me miss what Cale and I had.
“Here you go, ma’am,” the bartender said, setting a shot down in front of me.
“Oh, I didn’t order a shot,” I assured him and pushed it away.
“The shot of Crown was ordered for you by a gentleman who was watching you like you were the last woman on Earth,” he laughed.
The thought of another stalker made me want to hurl. Guys would always be stalkers to me now. This was the Lia I would always be.
Taking the shot in two swallows, I thought about Cale on that first night he’d spent the night. We’d had Crown that night too. Bummer. Everything reminded me of him.
“Mom, I’m going to call it a night.” I hugged her and then Rich.
“Okay, sweetie. I’ll see you in the morning, love.” She waved goodbye.
Heading out of the bar, I passed a group of drunk guys, which gave me the creeps. The tallest one with black hair was eying me big time. He grabbed my arm as I walked by, causing me to shriek and yank it back out of his grip.
“Don’t touch me, loser!” I snapped and stormed away from him.
“What a bitch!” he hollered after me.
After hurrying to the elevator, I went up to the fourth floor to get back to my room. Once I safely let myself in, I threw myself onto the bed. My nerves were a mess. I was still breathing raggedly when I heard a knock on my door. Mom must have wanted to say goodnight again before going to her room.
Just before I went to open the door, I thought about the guy downstairs. I was tired of getting myself stuck in compromising positions. Using better judgment, I peeked through the distorted peephole before opening it and my heart did a flip-flop. I recognized those broad shoulders and dark, disheveled hair.
“Lia, it’s me.”
What the hell?
How did Cale find me?
Anj. Yes, she was definitely going to die when I got back. My heart was pounding in my chest, but not in fear like it was supposed to be doing.
“What do you want?” I demanded through the door.
“I need to see you. Please,” he begged softly.
Ignoring the screams from my logical brain, my heart won out and I opened the door. He looked like he hadn’t slept in days. His eyes brightened when they met mine though, and the way his shirt stretched over his perfectly sculpted chest had my insides doing somersaults. Could I freeze time so I could just stare at him all day long?
“Do you have any ice?” he asked, holding up a swollen, bloody hand.
“What the hell happened, Cale?” I momentarily forgot why I had to stay away from him.
“Some asshole was bothering a pretty girl. He won’t be bothering any more ladies with that broken nose I gave him,” he smiled.
My Cale had punched that dick from downstairs who’d messed me.
Wait, he’s not my Cale.
“Come in. I have a mini fridge. Not sure if there is any ice left in my bucket from earlier, but you can put a can of Coke on it,” I sighed, allowing him to follow me to the bar. Turned out, there was still some ice in the bucket even though most had already melted. At least it was cold.
Setting the bucket down on the table and watching him slip his hand inside, I finally asked him, “Why are you here, Cale?”
He flinched at my words, immediately making me feel guilty.
Why do I feel guilty? I didn’t do anything wrong, I pouted inwardly.
“I’m going to cut to the chase. I need you in my life, Lia. Whoever you think I was all those years ago, I never was that person before or after the accident. This situation is completely fucked up, but it doesn’t mean we can’t make it work. People forgive each other all the time. We love each other. It seems forgiveness should be easiest with the ones you love.” He knelt in front of me and took both of my hands into his.
My body tried to ignore the jolt that coursed through me at his touch. I tried to blame it on the coldness of his hand.
At the jingling of my bracelet, he looked down at it. Lifting my hand, he carefully inspected each one. I was biting down on my lip when he looked up with a huge grin on his face.
“You still love me,” he said with hope in his voice.