Free Gift With Purchase (21 page)

“Mommy,” she whispered, “Will you sleep in my bed with me?”

“No honey. I can’t.”

“Why not?” she asked.

“Everyone sleeps in their own beds because we all get better sleep that way.”

“Please, mommy?”

I sat on the edge of her bed and stroked her hair. “What is it Isabelle? Are you afraid of something?”

“I’m afraid you’re going to die.”

“What?!”

“Like Daddy.”

“Oh my! Isabelle, I promise you, I’m not going to die. I not going anywhere.”

“Promise?”

“I promise,” I said with purpose.

“I miss my Daddy.”

“I know you do.”

“Hey momma?” she asked.

“Yeah?”

“Why does everyone have to sleep alone?”

My daughter’s question stopped me in my tracks. I realized right then that she had just made an incredible argument. Why
did
everyone have to sleep by themselves? Who made up that rule? Did only people with marriage licenses get to snuggle? Was this the penalty for being single? I wanted to climb into bed next to my little girl and sleep there every night for the rest of our lives, but I didn’t. Instead I leaned over, gave her a huge hug and whispered, “Cause that’s the way it works. Tell you what. Want to sleep in my bed just for tonight?”

“Sure!”

Izzie and I got into my bed and she was back asleep literally in two minutes. I watched my beautiful daughter snore softly and wondered how I could be so angry at everyone when I had this breathtakingly gorgeous gift. Izzie was mine. How lucky was I? The sick part was, because I was so inexplicably angry about so many things, the conversation I’d just had with Izzie made me angry at Sam. How could I be angry with a dead man?! I fell asleep with tears in my eyes, wishing my all my hate and anger would be gone when I awoke.

Sometime later, I heard a knock at the bedroom door. I sat up in bed. “Come in,” I said, still half asleep.

The door opened. Standing there with the saddest look and mascara running down her cheeks was my sister.

“Oh my God, what is it?” I asked Laura began to cry and I jumped out of bed and went to her. “What? Please tell me!”

“Dan dumped me,” she said, before practically falling into my arms and breaking down.

I must have stood there holding my older sister and letting her sob for ten minutes before either one of us spoke another word. I looked over at Izzie, still fast asleep.

Slightly composing herself, Laura suggested we go into the guest room. We sat on the bed and she explained that she had been out to dinner at
Casa De Michael
with a woman she worked with, and Dan was there with a very young girl.

“He introduced me to her, and I actually asked her if she was his niece!”

“Oh my God!” I responded.

“That’s when he said, ‘We need to talk.’ And then he told Amber…that’s her name, Amber…that he would be right back. He led me to the bar area and explained that even with the huge age difference, he’s never felt this way before. He’s madly in love with Amber and he’s decided to only date her. I didn’t even know he was dating anyone else!”

“Fucker!” came out of my mouth so naturally it was scary.

This made Laura laugh, but then she went right back into bawling, and continued crying in my arms for a little while longer. “You know, maybe I
am
just a self-righteous bitch. Maybe God’s punishing me. Maybe I deserve all this because I’m so quick to pass judgment on other people.”

“No Laura,” I said, “God isn’t punishing you. You’re a good person. You are who you are, and you strive for perfection. And maybe that’s not always the best thing, but I can’t think of anyone I respect and admire more than you. Professionally and personally.”

“Thank you,” she said through tears.

“You’re learning. So am I. So is Mom. None of us asked for this single life. But we got it. And we have to figure out how to live with it and be happy. For now, I think we’re doing the best we can. It’s brutal, but we’re strong women. All of us.” I realized right then, that if I actually listened to the way I had just spoken to Laura, I’d probably be a lot better off in life. I had impressed myself with my words. But I was a hypocrite because I wasn’t living by them. I was too busy being pissed off.

“I love you, Emmie,” she said. Then she lay down on the bed, still fully clothed. “I’m so tired.”

“Then sleep,” I said softly.

I played with my sister’s hair until she fell asleep. Then I took off her shoes and kissed her cheek. And then I did the strangest thing. I went back to my room, quickly put on a little bit of make-up, grabbed a pair of
True Religions
, slipped a cute top over my head, and put on some heels. I scribbled a quick note and left it on the guest room nightstand. It read, “I’ll be back in half an hour.” The odds that anyone was going to wake up in the next thirty minutes were slim to none, but I didn’t want them to worry, if in fact they did, and I wasn’t there. With two sprays of perfume I was out the door, and headed to none other than
Casa de Michael
to let Dan know how Laura’s sister felt about him.

During the three minute drive over there, all I could think about was how much I was looking forward to going off on this asshole who caused my sister pain. Under normal circumstances, I would never, ever do anything like this. But I wasn’t normal these days. I was an angry, bitter person who thrived on this kind of thing. I now liked confrontation. I was at war. Looking back, I was fighting myself. But at the time, all I wanted to do was get into battle with anyone who would play, all because I was so totally unhappy. And tonight, Dan was the enemy.

When I walked into the Mexican bar and restaurant, I saw him right away, the guy who I thought was so charming at the divorce party, but who now just looked like a slimy jerk. He was giddy and his hands were all over his new young girlfriend. He didn’t seem the least bit fazed by the episode that had occurred half an hour earlier. It now made sense that Tony’s date had to leave the party the second she laid eyes on her ex-husband. God only knew what he had done to
her
.

It was time to rumble. I rolled my shoulders back, took a deep breath and approached the opponent.

“Hi,” I said.

Dan looked right at me, his wide grin fading a bit. “Do I know you?” he asked. I guess I didn’t make an impression on him at the party.

“I’m Emma…Laura’s sister.”

“Oh,” he said curtly.

Now came the silence. It was actually a staring contest. I stood there and waited for him to say something else. After a few moments he caved. “So what do you want?”

“What do I want?” I asked, my voice rising steadily, “What do I want?”

Dan stood up. Amber just sat there with a worried look on her face. “Look, I feel really bad about that whole thing.”

“How dare you!” I shouted. I could feel my face turning red and my body shaking. “My sister is a human being! She has feelings! And she’s going through a really hard time right now. And she liked you! And depended on you! And this is how you treat her?”

“Hey, I’m sorry!” he pleaded.

“No you’re not. After tonight you’ll never even think about her again. You’ll move on and focus on your current victim.” I looked at Amber and finished, “Until you’ve had enough of her too. Then you’ll do the same thing to her!”

“Shut up, bitch!” Amber said to me.

I had to give the girl credit. I liked the offensive. I had respect for it, probably because I looked up to anyone who got angry. Plus, it wasn’t really her fault. So I ignored her, looked back at the perpetrator and said in a low, calm voice, “You sicken me. Don’t ever bother my sister again. You’re a disgusting pig. And I can only hope she didn’t catch anything from you.” Then I turned around and headed for the door.

I heard Dan shout, “That’s really nice!”

Then Amber shouted, “Screw you!”

Their comments actually made me laugh, and I felt pretty good about what I’d just accomplished. I was so glad I’d come here and defended my sister. She deserved it. But I couldn’t lie to myself. Part of me had done this for
me
. I couldn’t deny that I had gotten great satisfaction from going off on Dan.

Then, just as I was walking out of the bar, my next enemy, a Mr. Luke Sullivan, happened to be walking in. The sight of him simultaneously disgusted and excited me. Half of me hated him. Half of me adored him so much it was frightening. I was about as indecisive as Izzie gets at Baskin Robbins, trying to choose between mint chocolate chip and bubble gum ice-cream.

“Hi, Emma!” Luke exclaimed. Then he put his arms around me and gave me a bear hug. Another guy walked in right behind him. Luke pulled away and introduced me. “This is my buddy, Rick Solomon. Rick and I work together. Rick, this is Emma Bloom.” I shook hands with Rick and tried to smile while focusing on the fact that Luke had introduced me as “Emma Bloom,” not “my friend Emma Bloom” or “my good friend Emma Bloom,” or “Emma Bloom, the girl who recently came to my house and lost it, and now I have no clue what she is to me.” Luke had to introduce me as only “Emma Bloom” because he really didn’t know what I was to him. And that’s when I made the decision to call him on it.

“Luke, can I talk to you?”

“Sure,” he said. Then he looked at his friend and said, “I’ll meet you at the bar.”

Rick nodded. “Nice meeting you, Emma,” he smiled.

“You too,” I responded with a sugary smile, as I watched him walk away. Rick was kind of cute. Maybe for Laura, I thought. I did a quick left hand check and saw the gold band, however, and quickly dismissed the idea.

“You look hot!” Luke flirted, “If I was Bradley Cooper, I’d be all over you tonight!”

I stood there, unable to speak.

“So, what’s up cutie?”

Cutie? How could he be so nonchalant? A week earlier, I’d been at his house, pouring my guts out, divulging private information, and basically letting him into my soul. Since that night, I’d heard nothing from the man. Nothing! And now, upon randomly running into him at a bar, he was acting like we were old friends. It was infuriating!

I took a deep breath and asked him the question to which I needed an answer, the question that was literally driving me insane. “Luke, what are we?” I asked.

He seemed confused. “What?”

“What are we?” I repeated, my body beginning to shiver and my teeth now clenched.

“What do you mean?” he said with a nervous chuckle.

My voice began to rise. “I mean, what are we? Are we friends? Are we more?” Now I was almost shouting. “I need to know.” I paused for dramatic effect and then said very slowly and loud, “What…are…we?”

Luke stood there in frozen, as if he was digesting the question I’d just asked him four times. “What is it, Emma? What’s the matter?”

I looked right into his eyes and said, “Luke, I need an answer from you. What are we? What am I to you?”

“You’re my friend,” he said with a smile, “My good friend.”

I gasped, my mouth wide open, as if I just heard something extremely offensive. As for Luke, he had this look on his face like he felt he just said something wrong.

“
Friend
?” I asked sarcastically, “I’m your
friend
?”

“Well, maybe that’s not entirely true.”

“You know what, Luke? This is what I think of you. Either you have a girlfriend, or you just don’t like me, or…you’re gay. I haven’t figured it out yet.”

Luke chuckled, “Well, I’m not gay, so you can rule that one out.”

“That’s hilarious,” I snapped.

“And I don’t have a girlfriend, and I
do
like you.”

“Then why are you so hot and cold? Why are you there and then not there?”

“It’s complicated.”

“How so?”

“It just is.”

“That’s it?” I shouted, “That’s all you’re going to say?”

“For now,” he said softly.

“You know what?” I shouted, “I don’t want to be friends with you. You’re a shitty friend! Don’t call me anymore. And don’t text me either. You’re never there for me when I really need you, so get out of my life!” I opened the door to leave, but turned around first to say, “And by the way, that kiss the other night…it wasn’t that great!”

Luke was just standing there with a confused look on his face, and I could feel the stares from Rick and Dan and a couple other people in the bar as I angrily walked out. I didn’t care, though. I was done with Luke Sullivan. In fact, I was done with men period. I hated them all. Luke, Preston, Dan, Sam, and even my own father. Men were the enemy. That was the bottom line. I decided right then, at that moment, I would never let another man hurt me ever again.

I had no idea that at this moment, a beautiful woman who was sitting at the bar listening to me rant and rave, had gotten up and followed me out.

.

Chapter 22

I
hit the unlock button on my car remote, and was about to open the car door when I heard a voice. “Excuse me…”

I turned around. Standing before me was an absolutely gorgeous woman who looked about my age. She appeared very pure, with goodness radiating off her light, milky skin. I wondered for a second if she was real, or if I was hallucinating.

“Yes?” I responded.