Something Like This (Secrets) (3 page)

Then there was Lisa, my other roommate. She was also always smiling and happy. Hip-length black hair, skinny and tall, she graduated from the University of Maryland with an English degree. She was a junior account manager at a Public Affairs firm on K Street. She also loved to cook and was pretty good at it.

Once I was standing in front of our apartment door, I took a deep breath, put my key in the key hole, and turned the knob.
Please, oh, please, don’t be home.

No such luck. The second I entered the apartment, the aroma of Lisa’s home-made chili greeted me.

She came around the corner. “Oh, great, you’re home,” she said, a big smile on her face, a wooden spoon in her hand.

I set my purse down on the floor. “I’m going to go lie down for a bit.”

“You’re going to do no such thing.” She took my hand.

I reluctantly followed her to our small dining space.

Our wobbly table was set for two. I was happy to see that she had already filled my wine glass.

Sighing, I took a seat. “I take it Grace isn’t home...so I’m it?”

Lisa widened her smile, which made her look even younger than she was. When I first met her a few weeks ago after answering a roommate wanted ad on Craigslist, I thought she was all of seventeen or eighteen. She’s a year older than me, but you’d never know it.

Gathering her hair and then letting it fall on her shoulders, she said, “Yep, pretty much. You know I hate eating alone. It makes me feel like I’m a hundred or something.”

I slouched down in my chair. “You’re lucky I’m starving, otherwise...”

“Yes, yes, I know, you’d drift off to your room to do whatever it is you do in there.” She lifted her wine glass and took a sip.

I hadn’t told anyone about my father. I was embarrassed and ashamed. I didn’t know how my roommates would react. Would they think I was evil for not helping him? No matter how they reacted, they would know something about me I didn’t want anyone to know. I wished
I
didn’t know, if I could go back to the day I turned around and offered him my bottle of water...no, I would have done it again.

Despite him leaving me, I still loved him. I envied Lisa and Grace. They had parents who loved them, who were part of their lives, who wanted to know what they were up to, who they were dating, and whether or not they were happy. Me, I had a dead mother who, when I was a kid, would wake me up in the middle of the night because she was having a panic attack and needed me to bring her water and tell her everything was going to be okay. Me, I had a homeless father who one day simply disappeared from my life. Me, I had no one.

I lifted my glass. After swallowing a generous sip of wine, I said, “Since you’re forcing me to eat with you, I may as well tell you about my day.”

Lisa put her elbows on the table and leaned forward, causing the table to shake a little. “Oooh did something exciting happen?”

I took another sip and let the warm liquid slide down my throat warming my entire body. Then I downed a spoonful of chili.

“Come on, you’re suck a jerk. Hurry up and tell me.” She tapped the table.

“I hate this table. We need to chip in for a new one or get it fixed,” I said.

“Replacing it isn’t going to happen. Grace’s grandmother gave it to her. Anyway, stop stalling and tell me about your day.”

Grace’s grandmother had died of a stroke about a year ago. She and Grace had been close.

“I don’t know if I should tell you now. Apologize for calling me a jerk.”

She sat back in her chair and exhaled. “I’m sorry I called you a jerk. Now, details, let’s go, spill.”

I tucked my hair behind my ear. “I got asked out on a date.”

She put her hand over her mouth. “What? More please.”

“Calm down. His name is Reece.”

“Reece? Like the Terminator guy?” she asked.

“The good guy, not the Arnold guy.”

“I’ve never seen the movie,” she said.

“Something you must correct soon.”

“You have a thing for old movies. I don’t. But anyway, who cares? Go on. Who is he? What does he look like? And more importantly, when are you going out with him?” She scooped some chili up with her spoon.

I bit my lip. There was no going back now. Lisa expected juicy details and I had none. I mean, why in all hell had I opened my ridiculously stupid mouth? I really had nothing to tell. I should have just gone to my room. Besides, it wasn’t as if I was going to see Reece again so my story, my short episode, would go down as the most boring boy-meets-girl tale ever.

I scratched my head. “He’s my boss’s nephew.”

“Uh, huh, and?”

“There’s not a whole lot to tell. He came in today to meet with my boss about his manuscript.”

She clapped twice, as if she was a little girl at the circus. “Ooh, what kind of stuff does he write? Grace is going to love this. She’s writing a novel, too. ”

I wiped my mouth with a napkin. “I didn’t know that.”

“If you didn’t spend so much time in your room and actually hung out with us every now and then, you’d know more stuff.”

“Do you want to hear the rest of it or are you settling in to give me a guilt trip? If it’s the latter, I’m out of here.”

“I’ll save the guilt trip for later. So, when are you going out with him?”

Here we go, the moment my story comes to a screeching halt. “I’m not.”

“Why? For the love of all things that are good, why not? Is he crazy? Ugly? Smells?”

“He’s definitely not ugly. He didn’t seem crazy, but then you know what they say about writers.”

“Smells?”

“Stop being dumb. No, he didn’t smell.”

“So what then?”

“He’s my boss’ nephew. I just thought that would be weird.”

“You’re wound up tighter than anyone I have ever met. Are you very sure you’re only twenty-three? You act like you’re a hundred. My grandmother still goes out on dates and with younger men.”

I let out a long breath. “Yes, yes, I know about your cougar grandmother. Look, I know you think I’m boring, but trust me, going out with my boss’ nephew is not a good idea.”

“He didn’t ask you to marry him. You’re hopeless.”

“I’m going to go take a shower.” I made a mental note not to tell Lisa anything about my love life or lack thereof again. Ha, love life!

I needed to relax and a warm shower always did the trick—that and a glass of wine.

She looked me up and down. “Go right ahead. Run away, like you always do.”

Standing up from my chair, I said, “I’m
not
running away, I’m just taking a shower.”

“Uh huh, okay, whatever makes you feel better.”

I tapped her on the shoulder. “The chili was good.”

She brushed my hand off. “You barely ate any of it.”

“I’ll eat more later, promise.”

Lisa always took offense when someone didn’t devour her food, which pretty much meant I was always offending her.

“Hope you think of Reece when you’re in the shower. Maybe the two of you can have some wild, dreamy shower sex,” she yelled as I walked down the hall to the bathroom.

“Yeah, maybe.”

“I knew it! You do like him!”

“Okay, okay, I admit to maybe,
maybe
liking him a little bit.”

***

W
hen I got to work the next day, Reece was sitting on the couch in the waiting area across from my desk. He was reading a literary journal.

I lost my breath for more than a second. What was he doing here?

I quietly drifted over to my desk.

“There you are,” he said.

“I didn’t know you had another appointment.” I put my handbag down in my chair.

I was suddenly very self-conscious and had a strange feeling that I had a piece of Lisa’s homemade corn muffins stuck in between my teeth. Quickly, I licked my teeth.

He stood and came toward me. “I don’t.”

I ran my fingers down the sides of my dress. Wow, could I be more obvious? Here I was trying to fix myself up in front of a complete stranger, who for some reason was making me very nervous. “Oh, well, why are you here?” I managed to spit out.

He winked at me. “To see you.”

Yep, I’m going to faint right here in front of him.

“Oh?”

“I came to ask you if you’ve changed your mind about having lunch with me.”

I swallowed and forced my cheeks not to blush. “I have a busy day today...I’m not sure I can take lunch.” I lied. Mr. Walker didn’t have a single appointment on his schedule. And on days when he had a clear schedule, he often came in late or took a longer than usual lunch.

“I know for a fact you can take lunch today. I called my uncle and asked him.”

“What?”

“Don’t take it the wrong way. I’m not stalking you or anything.”

“You called my boss about my schedule. Why would I think you’re stalking me? What you did is completely normal. Yep, totally normal.”

He crossed his arms. “Maybe it comes across a little weird.” Then he uncrossed his arms. “Look, I’m a good guy. All I’m asking is for you to let me take you to lunch. One hour, less, if you want, and then you can see for yourself whether or not I’m some crazy stalker, which I assure you, I’m not.”

I looked him up and down and gave in. “I’ll agree to coffee
and
if that goes well...”

He smiled. “Coffee it is.”

“Come back tomorrow morning,” I said, taking my handbag off my chair and placing it on my desk.

“What’s wrong with now?”

I sat down and pulled myself close to my desk. “I just got here.”

“Oh, come on, you’ll only be gone a few minutes.” He gave Mr. Walker’s door a glance. “My uncle isn’t even in yet.”

Sighing, I said, “Twenty minutes, and if I get fired over this...”

“You won’t get fired, I promise.”

Grabbing my purse, I stood. “Where shall we go?”

My stomach started aching. Had I known Reece was going to surprise me, I would have called in sick.

“There’s a place down the street just past the train tracks,” he said.

My heart melted and slid to my toes. We’d have to pass my father. “I’d rather not go to that one.”

“Why not?”

I cleared my throat. “I would rather we not go to that one. Is that okay?”

“There’s one across the street. You okay with going there?”

I nodded.

“We’re off to a good start,” he said.

“What makes you say that?”

“We haven’t even been on a date and I already know something about you.”

“And what is that?”

“You’re very particular about where you get your coffee from.”

I licked my lips. “Yeah, well, there is a hell of a lot you don’t know about me. Trust me.”

“Intriguing. I like you,” he said.

I darted toward the door. “You may change your mind, but hey, you insisted, so let’s go.”

***

T
hankfully, there wasn’t a long line at the coffee shop when we got there so we were able to get our drinks quickly. The ache in my belly was getting worse and I really wanted this to be over so I could return to work and forget it happened.

We sat down at a small corner table with a view of the street. The breakfast food trucks were starting to close up and drive off. They’d return as lunch food trucks hours later. I was tempted to pull out my phone and log on to Twitter so I could see if my favorite Indian food truck would be there today. I decided against it because I didn’t want to be rude and, hell, if he took out his phone and started messing with it, I’d take offense.

“So, here we are,” I said.

He took a sip of his coffee. “You haven’t worked for my uncle long, have you? He’s never mentioned you.”

I ripped open a sugar packet. “A few weeks.”

He sniffled. “How do you like it?”

“It’s okay. He’s a good boss,” I dumped sugar into my coffee, “I’d rather not talk about my job.”

“Okay, no worries. What do you want to talk about? Ask me anything you want.” He sniffled again.

“One of my roommates is writing a novel. I have no idea what it’s about. I just found out about it. What’s your novel about?” I stirred my coffee and then took a small sip.

He leaned back in his chair and sighed. “It’s a post-apocalyptic story. It takes place in a small town.” He sneezed.

“Are you sick?”

“It’s allergies. Someone in here must be wearing some strong perfume or lotion.”

“I don’t smell anything, other than coffee,” I said.

“I’m really sensitive.” He sneezed again.

“Do you want to go?”

“No way. You’re not getting off that easy.”

A screaming little boy came through the door, his mother two feet behind him. The boy raced to the front of the line and yelled, “I want some chocolate milk!”

“I’m so sorry,” his mother said, picking him up.

The people waiting for their coffee laughed.

“He’s in this new phase where he takes off running without notice,” the boy’s mom said to the cashier.

“I have one of my own so don’t worry about it. We have chocolate milk,” the cashier, a woman, said.

“He’s had enough chocolate milk for today,” the boy’s mom said.

Off she went out the door carrying her wiggly, whiny toddler.

“He reminds me of my little brother,” Reece said.

“How old is your brother?”

“Three. There is a twenty-one year age difference between us. My mom was twenty-two when she had me. He drives her crazy. I don’t help things. I spoil him too much.”

“What’s his name?”

“Connor.”

I giggled before I could stop myself. “Wait, your name is Reece and your little brother’s name is Connor?”

He leaned back into his chair and smiled. “You’re asking because of the Terminator movies. My mom loves the
Terminator
. She’s watched it a million times. She named my brother after John Connor and me...”

“Ha. I love that movie. I’ve watched it a million times.”

“Are you serious?”

“Dead.”

“I’ll have to tell her.”

He was going to talk to his mom about me? For some reason, knowing he was going to talk to his mom about me made me even more jittery.

“Back to your novel.”

“Yeah, so it’s a post-apocalyptic story. Anyway, one morning everything goes to hell.”