Shame On Me (16 page)

As the song comes to an end I feel his lips graze my temple. “I hope your dreams come true Mia,” he whispers before walking away.

“You are my dream,” I mumble as I watch him walk away. I feel an arm wrap around my shoulders reassuringly and I’m happy Noah’s here.

****

After Dinner

Ethan stands to give his speech and the four of us move to the center of the dance floor.

“Who would’ve guessed that Ava’s stomach would’ve led her to the most epic love story that I’ve ever seen?” He pauses to take in the couple smiling. “You’re fun to be around, head strong, a great friend, and you deserve all the happiness that this life brings you.” Steve wraps an arm around her and she leans her head on his shoulder but never takes her tear filled gaze away from Ethan. “Steve my friend you got lucky. You found what you wanted and held on for dear life. I envy you and wish you nothing but the best. Cheers.” He finishes his speech by raising his glass.

“Cheers,” the reception yells cheerfully.

Ethan hands the microphone to me and I look at Steve. “I never thought I’d see the day when my BFF dropped me like a bad habit.” I wait for the guests’ laughter to quiet down before speaking again. “Nor did I think that I’d see the day when she became so blissfully happy. Take care of my girl.”

“Always” he says before pulling me in for a hug.

I hug him tight and whisper in his ear. “There is a tablet hidden in her suitcase for all those naughty videos you’re going to make.” I pull back and wink at him. I then turn my gaze to her and my eyes fill with tears.

“My friend is leaving me for a better life, how can I possibly be mad at that? You have been with me through the good, bad, ugly, and awesome. I thought of thousands of different ways to celebrate the start of your new life but I kept coming back to this one. We always go dancing anytime something awesome happens in our lives, so I hope you spend every day of the rest of your life dancing my friend.” I raise my glass and the DJ starts up the song at my cue. Ava’s eyes widen as she recognizes the song and we both start singing “Raise Your Glass” by Pink at the top of our lungs. We start jumping in tune to the music and soon the dance floor is crowded with other guests.

Ava and I dance around each other and sing as tears tumble out of our eyes. At some point we hug and laugh. Ava gets me, and I’m going to miss her.

“Love you Ava,” I whisper.

“Love you Mia,” she whispers back.

****

After the speeches are done the reception flies by and it’s beginning to wind down when Noah asks me to dance. We’re dancing to Michael Bolton’s “When a Man Loves a Woman,” when I look over his shoulder and see Ethan dancing with Karen.

He has his face in her hair but I can tell he’s singing the words to her. His gaze unexpectedly locks with mine and he stiffens when he notices the water in my eyes. I turn my gaze away but I can still feel his eyes on me.

“You know Mia, I’d fight for you if you’d let me.” I pull back enough to see his face clearly and stare at him silently. “If I had another chance I’d never let you go again. Not after the reminder of how good my life feels with you in it. But I’d first have to be a contender and I’m nowhere near close to being one.”

“Noah,” I breathe.

“Forgive him and beg for forgiveness. It hurts when you see the one you love move on without you; trust me. Fix it Mia.”

Instead of responding I allow my gaze to move back to Ethan and see he is avidly watching me. “Are you ready to go?” I whisper because anything louder will cause the small restraint I have on my tears to collapse and I need to save face. Noah nods and collects our things as I say goodbye to Charlee.

“I have a surprise for you.”

“What?” she asks.

“When I worked at Ice there were a lot of people in the music industry that use to hang out in VIP.”

“Okay…”

“I use to work in VIP frequently when I was there on the weekends.”

“And your point is?”

“Directors would come by all the time after a long day of shooting. I eventually started befriending some of the directors and artists and one of them owed me a favor.”

“What kind of favor and what does it have to do with me?”

“Well I know that you’re into photography but one of the directors need an assistant and the job is yours if you want it. Jamie is expecting your call.” I thrust the card with the phone number on it towards her but it gets jammed between us when she hugs me.

“What! OMG! Thank you Mia!”

“Well I owed you and Ava for being there when I needed you the most.”

“Thank you Mia. I’m going to call Jamie in the morning.”

“No problem.”

If she takes this job she’ll be leaving ASAP. With both of my girls away I’m left with the boys and my own devices. Awesome.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Learning To Love

Wednesday

Since Kate started karaoke night the crowd has increased every week and tonight all of the tables are full. I’m in the middle of filling a drink order when I hear a familiar voice float across the airwaves.

“This is for my darlin’.” Then I hear a soft voice begin to sing “(Another Song) All Over Again” by Justin Timberlake. I stand there frozen with a bottle of cognac in one hand, a glass in the other, and eyes unmoving from Ethan. I don’t move until the last note is sung.

He held my gaze the entire time.

The entire time!

He begins heading my way and I snap out of my daze and hurry to fill the order and steady my breathing before he reaches me. By the time he reaches me my breathing is under better control but it’s still erratic enough that I look like I just finished a marathon.

“Hello darlin’.”

He did it again. I haven’t heard him call me darlin’ in months and here he is saying it twice in less than ten minutes.

“Ethan.” That’s as much as I can get out without sounding like a complete idiot. The song is what I’ve wanted to hear for months and now I don’t know what to say.

“Can we go somewhere a little more private and talk?”

“I can’t, too many call outs leaves me as the only tender on the main bar tonight.”

“Okay, well I was hoping we could talk about getting back together.”

“Why do you want to get back together?”

“Because I’m in love with you. I was pissed when you dumped me and I thought with time apart my feelings for you would fade but it didn’t. I fall asleep every night watching your videos and don’t start my day without looking at old photos of us. I’ve got it bad for you and I’m tired of fighting it. Let’s get back together.”

I look into his eyes and see sincerity there. I shouldn’t be surprised because Ethan has never deceived me, well not until Karen.

“What about Karen?”

“I tried to force a relationship with her to work when I knew it wouldn’t. She knew before I did that it wouldn’t work, but agreed to go to the wedding with me as a friend.”

“But you were dancing with her.”

“You were dancing with Noah and he was there as your friend.”

Well he had me there.

“You were singing to her.”

Ethan shakes his head and sits down on the bar stool in front of him; bringing him closer to me. Once settled, he covers my hand resting on the bar with his.

“I was singing to you.”

WHAT!

“What!”

He holds my gaze for a few seconds before speaking. “After dancing with you I could still smell your perfume on me by the end of the night. Being around you all day after months of stolen images on a phone, I was ready to admit that I don’t want to live without you. I was on my way to cut in on your dance with Noah when Karen stopped me. She thought that you’d be too emotional that night to fairly consider what I had to say. So I pulled her close and pretended she was you and when our gazes connected I was sure you knew I was singing to you.”

He was singing to me.

To me!

“I need a drink down here!”

I turn to the customer and hold up a finger, asking for a moment, when I see the girl with him jab her elbow into his stomach. I take a quick look at the other patrons at the bar and see my conversation with Ethan has their complete attention.

“Ethan I have to get back to work,” I say turning back to him.

“Not until you agree to get back together.”

“I don’t know Ethan, I’m tired of getting my heart broken. Maybe I need to be single for a while.”

“I took a chance on you, and all I’m asking is that you take a chance on me. We know what does and doesn’t work for us and we’ll be better this time around.”

“I’ve been in so many relationships that went from good to bad quick. What if I don’t know how to make a good thing last?” I allow that to sink in before I end our conversation. “I have to get back to work.” I step away from him and begin filling orders.

“Your usual Earl and Sue?”

Earl and Sue aren’t a couple but they come in together Monday through Wednesday. I once asked them if they were together, which got me identical eye rolls. I later found out that they dated in their twenties but now (in their fifties) they’re content being friends.

“Fill us up sugar. You should work it out with him. I saw how you were when ya’ll were together and when ya’ll broke up. You were sickeningly happy, but happy none the less.” Earl says as I watch Ethan walk out the door.

“Love is worth fighting for. At the end of this life you want to have as few regrets as possible, don’t let that boy be a regret.” Sue adds as she points to the door. All I can do is nod as I refill their drinks.

A few minutes later I hear the strings of a guitar being strummed. I look up to see Ethan on the makeshift karaoke stage sitting on a stool with a guitar. He must have slipped back in while I was busy filling orders.

“Darlin’, we’ll learn together.” He says right before he begins singing Lil Wayne’s “How to Love.” Well how can I say no to that? I vaguely remember Kate snapping his picture as he sang to me, and being pushed from behind the bar by another tender who finally showed up. When he finished his song he headed straight for me. I spread my arms wide and he walked into them with the biggest smile I’d ever seen. We’ll figure it out together and that’s all that matters.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Figuring It Out

September

I am absolutely thrilled to be able to call Ethan my boyfriend again. That night after karaoke I followed him to his new loft. It’s an old factory that was turned into an apartment building with high-end apartments and lofts.

I waited as he opened his metal front door to a room with concrete floors, a garden, concrete walls, and a glass ceiling. The glass ceiling makes the room warm enough for the garden to survive during any season.

To the left of the garden foyer is a frosted sliding glass door, which Ethan promptly pulled me through. I immediately noticed the dark hardwood floors, recessed lighting, and muted grey walls throughout the place.

“Come on beautiful, I’ll give you a tour.”

We stopped at the edge of the living room, which had charcoal grey couch, an oversized ottoman, and a media center with a TV attached to the wall. He was blocking my view so I had to peek around him in order to see the dinning room table on top of a white throw rug to the right of us.

Beyond the table I spotted white cabinets attached to a brick wall. Walking into the kitchen, I noticed champagne colored countertops over the lower cabinets as well as an island.

To the left of the kitchen/dinning room there’s a large frosted sliding glass door and a small frosted glass door. The small door lead to a blue and white half bathroom. The sliding glass door lead to a large bedroom with a large brick accent wall. The bedroom has a king size bed pushed against a set of large windows, a small sofa, and a TV on top of a TV stand.

There are two more frosted glass doors in the bedroom and one lead to the closet and the other lead to his personal bathroom. His bathroom has two copper vessel sinks, a glass enclosed rainfall shower, and a claw foot tub with copper fixtures.

There’s an industrial feel to the place but it fits him in a way that I never thought it would.

“So what do you want to do with me now that you have me here Mr. Grant?”

He groaned and pulled me in close and rested his forehead against mine before speaking.

“I want to do a lot to you but first we need to talk.”

I nodded and allowed him to lead me to the living room for our talk.

“Why didn’t you ever give up on me?” I blurt out as soon as my butt hits the sofa.

“Love never fails.”

“What?”

“Its part of a scripture.”

“I know its part of a scripture, what does it have to do with us?

“My mom told me I’d know when I met the right girl cause love never fails. I was infatuated with other girls but never loved one as much as I love you. I tried hard to let you go but my heart wouldn’t let me.”

Wow.

“Love never fails.”