The One who got Away

***

“So, you’re going to run a custom bike shop?” Brandon asks me again. “Like, really? I mean, I know that you always said you wanted to do something like that, but I thought that your education had changed things…”

Urgh, I don’t want to think about my medical training. I know that I’m throwing it away, but it’s for the best. I wouldn’t ever be happy doing that. It wouldn’t be me. Maybe I’ll find some way to incorporate it into my life somehow, but for now all I want to do is this. This is my dream come true. It’s everything to me.

“I know, but this is what I want. I did all of that for my dad, and now I want to do this for me.”

Brandon looks stunned, but he eventually manages to transform his expression into something that looks more like happy. “Well, that’s great news. You should always do what makes you happy.”

I reach into the fridge and grab him a beer. That’s the first thing I brought to be fair, food can come later.

“Here, have a drink with me. I need to celebrate.” I feel like I still need to reassure him a little bit. “Honestly, Brandon, this is the happiest that I’ve ever been and I know that I can make a success of it. Trust me.”

He nods and finally caves to what I’m telling him. “Yeah, okay fair enough. If you say that you’re happy then I believe you. And I know that you’re smart enough to do what’s right. Your business plan looks good. And hey, if you ever need a lawyer, not that I hope you do, I will be your guy.” He clinks he bottle against mine and smiles.

“Oh of course, you’re going to be the hottest lawyer in town. I wouldn’t go with anyone else.”

We both take a swig of our beers before Brandon speaks again. “This will be a great little shag pad too, won’t it? For when you have a string of women to bring back here. Since there are so many who still want you.”

I feel like he’s digging in deep, but I

won’t rise to it. “I don’t really think I’m going to treat this place like that,” I confess. “It’s above my place of business, and I’m not even like that so much anymore. I want to be better, you know? I want to search for something a little more. Maybe like what you and Jenny have.”

I hope this makes him see that if me and Leah ever do end up together, that she isn’t just a fling. I’ve held a candle for her for five damn years. If we ever make it official I won’t screw it up. I refuse to.

“Wow, I never thought that I would see the day! I assumed that you’d be fifty when you finally picked a twenty year old wife, a bit like Hugh Hefner, you know. With your own Playboy mansion.”

Maybe, once upon a time, that’s what I wanted for myself too, but I don’t see any fun in having a stream of meaningless sex anymore. It isn’t deep. It’s just carnal and I’m not an animal anymore.

“You know what? We should go out and celebrate. Not just drinking, we should go out and have a meal.” I nudge Brandon in the side. “You should invite Jenny too, I want to get to know her a bit better.”

Brandon’s eyes light up as he sees me making an effort, but then he seems to realize something. “Oh, but it can’t be just the three of us. That might get awkward. I should invite someone else too. Maybe Leah, since she’s just broken up with Patrick. It might do her good to get out and enjoy herself.”

My heart lifts as I hear Brandon’s words. Leah has broken up with her boyfriend, the one that she was so insistent was the one for her. That has to be because of me. The temptation to bring her with us so I can secretly flirt with her dangerously, under Brandon’s nose when he’s just told me not to go anywhere near her, is almost overwhelming. But, if I want this to be more serious than a fling then I need to step back for a while. I need to take some time for her to get over her last relationship properly before she comes to me. It’ll be hard to keep away from her, but it’s the right thing to do. Also, this might throw Brandon off the scent.

“Oh, that’s a shame,” I reply innocently. “Especially when you thought that they were so happy, but I honestly don’t mind it just being the three of us. It’ll be nice to just have a chilled out night.”

He gives me a little bit of a suspicious look before he nods and finally agrees with my plan for the evening. “Yeah, okay. Let’s do that then. I’ll call Jenny now, see if she’s free to come out with us.”

As he stands to make his call in private, I lean back on my chair and smile to myself. In the background of everything that’s happening here, my love life is sorting itself out too which is wonderful. I’m not a home wrecker, I wouldn’t have interfered at all if I genuinely thought that Leah was happy with Patrick, but it was immediately obvious that he didn’t excite her. She’s a woman that needs thrilling, she needs someone to unleash that spark within her. I hope that person is me, but even if not, I think she’ll be glad in the end.

Really, all I want is to make Leah happy in whatever way that I can. This is the first step to the rest of her life, I hope this shows her what she doesn’t want so she can start working on what she wants.

Chapter Twenty One – Leah

I roll my neck, trying to get the strain out of it as I sit uncomfortably in my office chair. Sometimes, I don’t know what I’m doing here in this place, working for an office supplies company isn’t really for me, but it’s an easy job and it pays well. I haven’t ever delved too much into it, but now I’m starting to think that just like Patrick, it doesn’t challenge me. I guess ever since high school I haven’t done anything to really push myself and that’s made me kind of lazy. I know that I want to make changes, but I don’t know where to begin.

“I just heard,” Gloria, the girl with all the gossip, leans across to me and whispers. “That Helen is leaving. She’s off to do a college course online so she can start to be a teacher. How crazy is that?”

I mean, that isn’t the craziest thing that I’ve ever heard, but that’s just how Gloria is. She acts like everything is a huge deal. She’s the sort of person who will work here forever. I guess I didn’t ever put myself in that category but now I know that if I don’t do something soon, then that’s exactly where I’m going to end up.

“Oh, well that’s good news. She’s trying to make something of her life. Good on her.”

“Well, I heard,” Gloria isn’t ready to give up just yet. “That it’s all for a fella. She wants to impress a guy.”

I sigh loudly, suddenly realizing what this is about. She must have heard through the grape vine that I’ve spilt up with Patrick, just because things don’t ever remain a secret in a place like this, and she wants to know more. There’s no way in hell that I’m going to give anything away. I certainly don’t want to trash talk my ex boyfriend because he didn’t do anything wrong, I just want to be able to move on, that’s all. I want to get my head down and concentrate on moving forwards. Me and Patrick have pretty much had a clean break, we’ve hardly had any communication at all other than to get our stuff from each other, and that’s the way I like it.

“Oh right, well she can do what she wants for a guy, can’t she?” I shrug blandly. “Isn’t it up to her?”