One More Chance

I kept replaying our encounter in my mind, how hot her words had been in the beginning but how she had warmed up to me eventually. How her laughter had poured from her lips and how easy it had been to slip into a routine we were both familiar with after exploring one another’s bodies.

The chemistry was undeniable, and the only thing I could think was that it frightened her.

As I sat in my car outside my office, I dialed her number. The phone rang out in my car as I sat back, allowing the air conditioning to blast me in the face. The phone rang and it rang, and I felt my heart rate kicked up. I just knew I was going to have to hang up and call her back again.

Then she picked up.

“This is Ana.”

“Hey there,” I said.

“Hi, Tyler.”

“I’ve been trying to call you.”

“I know. I’m sorry. I’ve just been so busy with the store. We set up our summertime rush really well and we’re reaping both the positives and the negatives from that.”

“Anything I can help with?”

“Can you come stock shelves?”

“Is that an offer?” I asked.

“Not really,” she said, giggling.

“Come on, Ana. I know it’s been a while, but I know when you’re hiding something from me.”

“What?” she asked.

“I know you’re keeping something from me. I believe you’re busy with the store, but I also know you’re not always at the store.”

“What do you mean?”

“Come on, Ana. Don’t do this. If you didn’t enjoy our date, just say so. That was one of the things I adored about you. You were always honest with me.”

There was a longer beat of a pause than I was comfortable with.

“Look, I run my own business. You’re about to know what that’s like if you don’t already. Just because I’m not at the store doesn’t mean I’m at home chilling in my underwear. I’ve got research and business meetings, store runs and keeping my own home clean. I’ve got my parents I’m looking after and future planning for the space I want to open up in San Diego and—”

She promptly cut off her statement, and I clenched my jaw.

“And what, Ana?”

“Why am I rattling this off to you? It’s not even your business. We sleep together once and you suddenly think you’re back in high school, breathing down my neck and owning my every move. I have a life I life, Tyler. I’m sorry if I couldn’t answer your incessant phone calls.”

“I called twice,” I said flatly.

“And some people consider that incessant.”

I drew in a deep breath and sighed. This wasn’t how I had thought this phone conversation would go. Then again, I hadn’t planned on backing her into a corner to tell me the truth.

I didn’t buy this story of her being too busy to pick up the phone. I knew what we shared was raw and vulnerable and beautiful. But I could tell I was already pushing her away. Even if she was hiding something from me, I wasn’t going to figure out what it was if she wouldn’t talk to me or be around me.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to come off as abrasive. I just thought what we shared Monday night was nice.”

“Then say that,” Ana said.

“I just did. Did you enjoy Monday night?”

I heard a small giggle in the background and furrowed my brow.

“What was that?” I asked.

“Just at the store. There’s a kid running through the hanging clothes.”

“Mom! Come on!”

“Sounds like a little boy.”

“I think it is,” Ana said.

“Mom! You promised.”

I heard the phone go dead silent and I looked down at my car’s dash. The phone call hadn’t ended. Was there a dead spot in her store? Something didn’t add up. Something about all of this didn’t sit right with me. I cranked my car and pulled out of the parking space in the garage of my office building when Ana’s voice sounded again.

“Sorry. Had to tell the mother to kindly keep her child on a leash.”

“Yikes. How did that go down?” I asked.

“Not as well as I had hoped. I had to mute the phone call.”

“Probably for the best.”

But I still wasn’t buying what she was feeding me. I pulled back into the parking space and turned off my car. The last thing I needed to be doing was waltzing into her store to fact-check her damn story. That would only piss her off more. But I knew she was lying to me, and that made me just as angry. Ana had never been a liar. We had always been open with one another.

Had she become one? Was this a new trait of hers?

“What are you doing this weekend?” I asked.

“I’ve got to pop by the store Sunday afternoon, but other than that I don’t…think I have…hold on.”

The phone call muted again, and I clenched my jaw. I needed to see her again. I needed to get her in front of me and look her in her eyes. I’d fished through dozens of sob stories and fake alibis to come up with the truth in the middle of a courtroom. I could figure out why the woman I still adored was hiding something from me and what that something was.