Private Property: a Contemporary Romance Novella (15 page)

She decided to order pizza, too tired to cook, and sat stuffing her face when
her phone
rang.  It was 10:00 o’clock at night and no one usually bugged her this late in the evening.

“Hello?”  She muttered, trying not to spit bits of pizza onto
handset
.

“Tabitha?”  She panicked and hung up the phone.  How had Jared gotten her
home
number?  She stared at the cordless phone as though it was alien and jumped when it began to ring again.  She swallowed the food in her mouth and took a deep breath.

“Hello, Jared.”  She
answered,
knowing
who it was
on the line.

“Hi.”

“How are you?”

“Good.”  She sat through a
pause, listening to the white noise.

“Are you busy?”

“I’m eating.”  She was being distant, rude.  “I’m currently shoveling pizza into my face and watching Seinfeld re-runs.”

“Can we talk?”

NO!
  “Um, sure.  What’s on your mind?”

“I mean, in person.  Could I come over?”

NO!
  “Where’s Amanda?”  Her throat had a lump in it that she couldn’t quite clear.

“In Houston.  I just want to visit with you a while.  When you didn’t show up on Monday, I asked Kristen for your phone number.  I hope you don’t mind.”  He sounded hesitant, unsure of himself.  That wasn’t like Jared at all.

“Fat lot of good it would do me if I was upset.”  She laughed a bit, trying to take the awkwardness out of the situation.  “I don’t really know…
oh,
alright.”

She gave him directions and immediately slammed the phone down, running for the shower.  The world’s quickest
wash job
completed, she hopped out and hurriedly straightened her meager surroundings.

As soon as she’d managed to get dressed in something ‘casual, yet flattering’, he knocked at the door.

“Hi.”  She said
gracelessly
, backing up to allow him entrance.  He was just as beautiful as she’d remembered.  Tabitha hadn’t really allowed herself to fully take in his appearance last Friday, too shocked at seeing him to humor those baser urges.

“Hey.”  He held out a bouquet of flowers to her.  They were simple field flowers, wrapped in cellophane.  She muttered thanks and laid them on the entryway table.  Her apartment wasn’t much to boast about
but it was laid out well
– containing a large front room and wide kitchen, one small bedroom that she used
as
an office off to the right of the front door, her bedroom and the only bathroom located down a short hall to the left.

“Nice place.”  He commented, wandering about the living room looking it over.  She’d managed to lay her hands on some really nice furniture at an estate sale for pennies on the dollar a few mon
ths’ back and had gone with
simple decorations of candle sconces to decorate the walls
and a few well-placed plants
.  The effect was aesthetically pleasing: plenty of white
space to decrease the clutter and
enough interesting objects to discuss should she entertain, which she rarely did.

“Thank you.  Are you thirsty?”  She found
her mouth was suddenly
parched and moved in to the kitchen for some water.

“I’ll have what you’re having.”
He took a seat on her sofa, plac
ing one foot on the opposite knee.

Tabitha brought in two glasses of water and sank down into the chair next to him.  She rolled the cold glass between her hands, studying its contents.

“So, you finally went back to school.  And have a major, no less.”  He looked more comfortable than he should
,
considering the circumstances.

“Yeah, it’s been fun.  It’s hard work, but I like it.  Only
one
and half years to go.”

“What else have you been up to?  Do you go to Houston often?”

“Not any more.  It was quite an ordeal when I broke the news to my family about what r
eally happened last summer.  Things are better between all of us but
I only go back for the ma
jor holidays now.”  She smiled
at him.  “If I can’t find a way out of it, that is.”

He laughed.  “You’ve changed.  You’re more relaxed.”

“I’m also in my own
place
, not huddled on some strange man’s couch, drenched and in shock from a recent dog attack.”  It was getting e
asier to talk with
him.

“You’ve healed well.”

“Why, thank you, Dr.
Larsen
.”

“Why didn’t you come to me for the follow
-
up appointment?”

Okay, it wasn’t so easy to talk to him anymore.  “I don’t know, Jared.  Everything just got so screwed up.  I didn’t think I could handle it.”

“Why did you just run off that day?  You could have talked to me.”

“Ha!”  She stood abruptly.  “That’s easy for you to say.  You’re not the easiest man to talk to.”

“What do you mean?”  He’d gotten to his feet, but a quick gesture halting him stayed his position.

“You get real dry, unemotional.
”  She rose up as well, pacing a bit.
 
“
It’s probably the doctor coming out in you.  And I was scared.  Christ!  I was so torn up it was unbelievable.”  She
calmed
a bit, stopping just
across the coffee table
in front of him.  “But it was the best thing I could have ever done.  It forced me to make a life for myself.  And I have that now.”

“Yes, you do.  I’m proud of you.”

“Don’t say that.”

“Why?  It’s true.”

“Are you going to tell Amanda that you were here?”

“It probably won’t come up.”

She pulled her lips down over her teeth and nodded at him.  “Jared, I think you should leave.”

“Tabitha, I just wanted to talk with you.  What’s wrong in that?”

“What’s wrong?  Well, let’s see…I’m a girl, Jared.  I like believing that if I had a boyfriend
he wouldn’t hide things from me.
I like to think that I wouldn’t be privy to someone else’s heartache much less aid in its creation.  I’m not comfortable being here with you, it makes me worry.”

“Worry about what?”

“Jesus!”  She pushed her hair out of her face with an erratic gesture.  “I remember what went on between us.  I remem
ber that you had a girlfriend.  T
he same girlfriend
,
I may point out
,
that I had the privilege of meeting the other night, and I remember that I helped you cheat on her.  I remember that there’s no reason for you to be here, because a one night stand never needs to
be
more than just what it is, or was in our case.”

“Is that what you think happened between us?”  Jared came around the table and stood towering over her.  “I can’t help it that I had a girlfriend at the time.  I can’t change what happened, I wouldn’t even if I could. 
Although, maybe I would have done things differently.
  Had I known that I’d find you wrestling around with my dog outside one night, I could have changed my situation, but having no fortune-telling abilities
left me a little lacking.
”
  He
had
begun to poke the air in front of her with a tense finger.

“Whatever, Jared.  I really don’t know what good this conversation is doing.”  She was going
to cry –
at any given moment, she was going to begin sobbing like some
lack
wit
.  “Please, don’t do this to me.”  Her voice warbled.

“What about me, Tabitha?  Do you know what I’ve gone through since seeing you last weekend?  All the torment brought back to life?”  He stepped closer, she stepped back.  “Don’t do that.”

“Do what?”  She sniffed and clenched her teeth.

“Don’t run from me again.”

The dam broke.  Tears came spilling out her eyes, rolling over her cheeks,
dripping
onto her shirt.

He hugged her to him, letting her ball up her tiny fists and
push
at his chest.  “Tabby, I’ve missed you so much.  I just wanted to know why you didn’t call.  Why you didn’t tell me what was wrong.  I came home that night and everything of yours was gone.  No note, no call, no nothing.  Kristen and I were frantic.  And when you finally called her, she told me you didn’t want to see me.  Do you know what that felt like?”

His breath felt
amazing
fanning through her hair.  His chin was braced on the top of her head, his arms around her back.

“I couldn’t…
I still can’t Jared.  I think I thought there was something between us, I made myself believe there could be something between us…but you had a girlfriend.  You still do.”  She pushed away, turning her back on him.

“Actually, Amanda became my fiancée
.
  But then –
”

Tabitha whirled around and faced him.  A
vicious
calm overtook once his words settled in and she slowly made her way to the door.  Wrenching it open, she stood to one side, defiantly glaring at him.  “Get out.”  She hissed, barely able to breathe.

“Tabitha, please hear me out.”  He fumbled with words, not moving from the center of the room.  “I didn’t know how to find you and Kristen kept telling me you didn’t want me to know where you were.  What was I supposed to do?  I’ve known Amanda my whole life and it’s always been understood that I’d marry a debutante.  My family,” he sneered in disgust, “wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“Then do your duty.  Now, please leave, Jared.  I can’t take this anymore.”

“You’ve got to understand.  I can’t marry her.  How can I, when I can’t get you out of my head?”  He stood beseeching her.  Needing from her what she could not give.

“What
you
need to understand,
Jared,
is that I can’t care.  All I know is
that
I deserve more than some other woman’s throwback.  I may not have much by your family’s standards, but I deserve my own man.”

Jared’s body took on a pained expression.  He stood a moment longer then moved through the open doorway.  “You’re right, Tabitha.  I should have never come here.  I should have known to leave you alone.”  He
tenderly brushed his knuckles
down the side of her face.

She steeled herself against his touch, willing him to go away.  Her heart couldn’t take any more.  As he disappeared down the stairway, she sank down on her knees, her head hung in defeat.






Tabitha called in sick to work, completely sleep-deprived.  She waited until early afternoon before she called Kristen, wailing into the phone.

“Okay, here’s what I want you to do.  Doug’s out of town for the weekend and I have the house to myself.”  Apparently they’d moved in together.  “Can you meet me there around six?”

Tabitha agreed and hastily packed a bag.

Pulling up into Kristen’s driveway released some of the stress inside her.  She was exhausted and just needed her friend’s shoulder to cry on.  How dare he do this to her?  Did he think so little of her that he could ask her to continue making a mockery of Amanda?  She was no harlot.  She may not have as much as most, but she was worth plenty more than that.

She pounded on the door, ready to be hidden away from the harsh world.  She would stay the weekend, gather herself up once more and trudge forward.

Kristen opened the door, stiff and jerky in h
er movements.  Tabitha paid her
no heed and pushed past her friend.  She came to an abrupt halt in front of Jared.  She turned on Kristen, but she was already moving out the door.  Tabitha dropped her bag and lunged for her, but Jared grabbed her about the waist.

“I’m sorry.” Kristen said.  “Just hear him out.  I’ll be down the street if you need me.”

“No!”  Tabitha yelled as
Kristen
closed the door, trapping her in this house with that man.

“Stop, Tabitha.  Please.”  She struggled against his steel grip, fighting him with all her might.

“Let me go.”  She demanded, enraged.

“Not until you hear me out.”

She snatche
d at his arm and bit down, hard
.  He howled and threw her up against the wall, pinning her there.  “I told Amanda.  I told her all
about
us, Tabitha.”  He said, growling
in anger.

“About us?”  She spat.  “There is no
‘
us
’
, Jared.  Remember?”  She fought to get the ground beneath her feet again, but his hold was too strong.  In the struggle, Jared had managed to brace his forearm against her chest, pressing his
solid
body to hers.