Duping Cupid (A Valentine's Day Short Story) (8 page)

Against her better judgment, she took the train to Snowflake on Christmas Day. This time, instead of vanilla cake and a turkey sandwich in a plastic shopping bag, she brought Beowulf in a sturdy pet carrier and a bag full of gifts. She hadn’t told anyone she planned to bring her dog and wondered if her mother would have a conniption about the extra “guest,” but she shelved the idea of Mom’s horrified expression in the dark corners of her mind. If she left him home alone until God knew when, she’d come back to chewed up furniture, puppy poop and pee littering her floor, and other assorted disasters. Besides, Matthew and Russ, a big overgrown boy despite his twenty-seven years, would both love Beowulf. Her brother-in-law, George, probably would, too.

This time, Kate picked her up
at the train station and was less than thrilled to see the pet carrier. “That little beast better not pee in my car.”

“Don’t worry. He’s good.”

“I’ll bet,” she grumbled as they settled in her silver Jaguar and headed for the Maxwell family compound. “I hope you’re not going to become one of those people who expects the world to treat your dog like a child.”

Vivi’s
temper flared, but she tamped down the flame on a deep inhale. “Of course not. He’s just not fully trained yet, and I didn’t want to leave him locked up in my apartment all day.”

“Well, at least you’re showing some sense of responsibility,” Kate sniffed. “I guess that’s a step in the right direction.”

“Gee, thanks.”

Her sister
flitted a hand at her. “You know what I mean. You’re thirty-six years old and still acting like a child instead of a grown woman. When I think about all you could’ve been by now...” She shook her head. “I never did understand why you wouldn’t marry Julian.”

“He never asked me,” she reminded Kate.

“He would have, if you’d done what he wanted and dropped a few pounds.”

“No, he wouldn’t have.
” She thought about his appearance in her neighborhood last night. He might have aged, but he hadn’t changed. He still valued appearances far too much. “It was never about my weight. It was about me, the whole package. I wasn’t good enough in his eyes. I would always be a little too chunky, a little too loud, a little too
much
.”

“And apparently, you were a little too much for Bass, too,” she added.

No amount of breathing would tamp her temper down this time.  Her tone scorched the air between them when she warned, “Leave Bass out of this.”

“Why?
” Kate retorted, heedless. “When are you going to learn that no man will ever marry you until you take charge of yourself and your life?”

“Maybe I don’t want to get married,” she snapped. “Maybe I’m happy with my life just the way it is.”

“Oh, please. I bet if Bass had found the nerve to actually ask, you would’ve run straight to City Hall for a license before he got off his knee.”

“‘
Found the nerve?’ What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You’re a bulldozer,
Vivi. Always have been. Take a tip from your older,
married
sister. Men like their women softer, more feminine, more vulnerable. They don’t want to struggle for power with their wives.”

“Thank you, Dear Abby, but I’m quite comfortable in my own skin. An
d any man I consider marrying had better be ready to handle me just as I am. If I have to pretend to be something I’m not to make a guy love me, we’re lying to each other right from the start and our union is doomed.  I’d rather stay single than wreck my life and someone else’s that way.”

For the first time ever, Kate let her have the last word. The rest of the drive passed in silence.

Once they arrived
at the house, though, her mother picked up where her sister left off. Vivi barely had her coat off before the interrogation began in the middle of the living room. “What’s with you and Bass?”

“Nothing,”
Vivi insisted as she bent to release Beowulf from his travel carrier. “We’re still friends.”

“But he’s seeing that old model, that Ava Whatever.
I saw it in the magazine section of Sunday’s paper.”

“So?”
She pointedly ignored her mother and made smoochie noises near the puppy’s wet, black nose. Her family had enough ammunition to use against her; she wouldn’t allow them to see how much Bass’s withdrawal really stung her.

“So in the eight years you and he were friends, you couldn’t reel him in?”

Her gaze shot to her mother, angry and resentful. This was a mistake. She never should have come here today. “You know, despite his nickname, Mom, Bass is not really a fish.”

“He could have been more than a friend. He could have been a
husband
.”

With impeccable timing,
tow-headed Matthew burst into the living room, eager and bouncing. “Where’s the puppy?” He raced toward her, his smile beaming and hands outstretched. “Lemme see. Please?”

Relieved to change the topic, she displayed Beowulf for her
nephew. “Wanna take him outside for me?” she asked. “He probably needs a little outdoor time, if you catch my drift.”

“
I can do that! Has he got a leash?”

“In my purse.
Hang on.” She fumbled in her shoulder bag until she found the silver clasp and pulled out the dog’s leash.

Beowulf immediately squirmed in
Matthew’s hold, and the boy giggled. “Look at him! He knows exactly what we’re planning for him, doesn’t he?”

“He should,”
Vivi replied. “We go walkies at least four times a day.”

The dog’s tail wagged furiously
, and he let out a series of yips.

“Okay, okay,”
Matthew exclaimed. “I get it. Let me put on my coat, and we’ll head out.”

Vivi
took the dog again and clamped the leash into place on Beowulf’s collar, and her mother reached into the closet for Matthew’s coat. While he zipped up, Mom handed her the empty hanger. Vivi then transferred the dog’s leash into his eager hands.

“Come on, Beowulf,” he crooned. “Let’s go
walkies.”

Vivi
hung up her coat and stowed the pet carrier in the closet before turning back to her mother. “Need any help in the kitchen?”

Mom refused to accept the peace offering.
“Why not? Maybe Scarlet and Kate can teach you something useful about landing a man.”

“Great.” She glanced at the clock as she followed her mother. How many hours until she could escape?
Too many.

Chapter 6

After her less than festive Christmas holiday,
Vivi decided to spend New Year’s alone, at home with Beowulf. Sarah had invited her to a party, but she wasn’t in much of a celebratory mood. Too much family time and too many battle scars left her needing a chance to lick her wounds in private. Unfortunately, Sarah didn’t get that memo.

A
little after nine on New Year’s Eve, her phone rang.

“Why are you still home?” Sarah demanded, her words a bit slurred. “The party started two hours ago.”

“I’m going to pass, Sarah,” she replied. “I told you yesterday I wasn’t feeling up to it.”

Sarah clucked her tongue like a disapproving nanny.
“I knew it. I knew you’d have problems dealing with the holidays minus Bass. You guys have spent too much time together to not miss each other. But, hey! That’s all the more reason why you should come. To take your mind off the fact that he’s not with you tonight.”

She hadn’t confessed her suspicions to Sarah that Bass’s attachment to Ava wasn’t
a temporary job. If she had, she would’ve had to explain seeing the photos on the Gossipmonger website, which would require explaining her obsession with
SebAva
and the Google Alerts on her laptop, which would incite a lecture from her receptionist that she did not want to sit through.

“I’m fine without him tonight. I’m fine without everyone tonight.
I’m still recuperating from Christmas with the fam. Tonight, I just want to be alone. Okay?” No family lectures, no southern belles, no pregnant sisters. Just Vivi and her new best friend—who currently sat in the corner, licking his privates.

“You don’t have to lie to me,” Sarah pressed. “I know how miserable you are.”

Vivi forced a laugh. “Oh, come on, Sarah. It’s not like Bass and I are soul mates and one of us died.”

“No, it’s more like my parents giving each other permission to cheat.” She gave an exaggerated
, “Eeeeewww!”

The sigh escaped before she could squelch it.
“For the thousandth time, Bass and I are
not
a couple. We’re friends. That’s it.”

“Yeah, right.
If you’re just friends, how come neither of you has ever dated anyone else?”

“Because we’ve both been on the crappy end of the romance stick.”

“So because of one bad experience each, you both gave up on love?”

“One
horrific
experience. Besides, there’s more to life than love, you know.”

“Yeah, sure.
There’s breathing, too. But everybody breathes. Breathing doesn’t make your worst day better. It doesn’t give you a thousand reasons to smile. You and Bass have something really special, and you’ve spent the last eight years, hiding behind ‘we’re just friends.’ That’ssss sssstupid.” The slurring worsened as Sarah attempted to whisper, but only managed to smash her words together into incoherency. “Youshouldcometotheparty. Getoutofthehouseforawhile.”

“No, thanks.
I’m not interested.”

“Come
on
! Don’t you know if you spend New Year’s alone, you’re doomed to spend the year alone?”
“I’ll take my chances. And Sarah?”

“
Yessss?”

“Drink lots of water and pop a few Tylenol
s before you go to sleep tonight, or
you’re
doomed to the mother of all hangovers tomorrow.”

“
Thankssss, bosssss.” Sarah’s drunken twitters pierced Vivi’s eardrums, and she yanked the receiver away from her head before she suffered permanent damage.

“Goodnight, Sarah.
Happy New Year.” She hung up and absentmindedly stared around her apartment. Beneath her teeny decorated Christmas tree in her teeny living room, the stocking with Bass’s name in gold sparkly glitter and one unopened present remained.

She
frowned. How long would she have to look at that reminder that her best friend had abandoned her?

Screw it. Day after tomorrow
, she’d find a way to get these gifts to him. What she needed was a liaison, a go-between who could visit Bass without arousing the suspicion of the press. And she knew exactly who that should be.

Rising from her couch, she strode to the closet for her coat and Beowulf’s leash. “Let’s go, boy.
A quick walk for you and a visit to a friend for me.”

The pup gave up on his privates in favor of the excitement of his evening constitutional.

Right on schedule, the minute they hit the first floor, Mrs. Melendez’s door opened. “Happy New Year, Miss Cupid!”

“Happy New Year, Mrs. Melendez.” She indicated the leash gathered in her gloved fist. “I have to take Beowulf for a walk, but when I’m done, can I stop down and talk to you about something?”

“Ah, sí.” The woman nodded with the enthusiasm of a bobble head doll. “You come back. I make
café Cubano
, eh? And we’ll have some
pastelitos
to ring in the new year.”

Cuban espresso and those yummy fruit-filled pastries?
No need to ask her twice. “Count me in. Can I bring you anything?”

“No. You come. We talk. Eh?”

“Give me fifteen minutes.” Vivi cut Beowulf’s walk short, but with the wind chill plummeting the nighttime temperature below zero, she had no doubt he didn’t mind. Racing inside her building again, she met Mrs. Melendez on patrol in the lobby. “Let me just put Beowulf back upstairs.”

Mrs. Melendez shook her head and opened her door wide
r to usher Vivi inside. “You bring him, too. He’s welcome. You think he’ll like
pastelitos
?”

“He might,” she replied as she strode past the older woman
into the apartment. “But they’re not good for him, so he’ll have to pass.”

The warmth inside hit her as if she’d stepped into a sauna.
Mrs. Melendez, a Cuban native, had never grown accustomed to harsh New York winters and kept her thermostat at a balmy seventy-five degrees year-round. Her apartment, decorated in vivid greens, blues, and tangerines, enhanced the tropics atmosphere. The old woman’s pet parrot, Chico, in his gilded cage in the corner of the living room, was overkill in Vivi’s opinion.

After unclipping Beowulf, she stuffed the leash and her gloves in her pocket and removed her coat. The pup sniffed around for a minute or two, padded into the kitchen, and plopped
himself down near the corner where, in Vivi’s apartment, his water and food bowls sat.