Authors: Cat Johnson
Troy
nodded. “Go ahead, before the hoards devour all my chili.”
“
They
better not.” Antonio called over his shoulder and left his
friend and all talk of his wife behind him, at least for a little
while.
In
the apartment across the hall, he grabbed himself a bowl of chili
from the buffet set out in the kitchen and headed into Troy’s
bedroom for some solitude.
~
In
the midst of the growing crowd in Maria’s apartment, Maddie
thought that if she had to smile at one more well meaning person, her
face would crack. She finally ditched the two chief do-gooders,
namely her brother and his wife, and snuck off for a much-needed
minute alone. She had to go all the way across the hall to Maria’s
neighbors’ place to do it.
Maddie
slipped quietly into what looked like a bedroom turned coatroom and
closed the door behind her. She leaned back against the door, closed
her eyes and breathed a sigh of relief.
“
I
know exactly how you feel.”
Her
eyes flew open at the sound of a man’s voice in the room she
assumed was vacant. She saw the owner of that voice now, sitting on
the end of the bed, eating a bowl of something and watching the
countdown to midnight on television with the sound muted.
“
Sorry,
I didn’t know anyone was in here. I’ll leave you alone.”
She turned to open the door when he stood.
“
No,
please stay. You look like you could use a minute away from the
crowd. I’ll go if you want to be alone.”
She
inspected him closer, taking note that even though she stood nearly
six feet tall in her high heels, she was still level with his golden
brown eyes. Besides being tall, she could tell his shirt and trousers
covered a really solid body. Maddie had a feeling he didn’t
spend his day behind a desk.
This
guy was definitely what her sister-in-law would call a hottie. He
wasn’t what Maddie had ever considered her type, but he was
pretty much the exact opposite of her ex-husband Alan and right now
that was type enough for her.
Then
he ran his left hand through his dark, wavy hair and she caught the
glimpse of gold on his ring finger. He was married. She felt
strangely relieved and a bit disappointed at the same time. She
relaxed immediately now that the pressure was off. She’d been
married for far too long to be comfortable being back in the dating
world again. But since he was married, she could safely be friendly.
She
smiled and extended her hand. “No, please stay. I’m
Maddie Morgan. My brother and sister-in-law are friends of Maria’s.”
He
shook her hand warmly.
“
Antonio
Sanchez. I work at the firehouse with Troy, Maria’s neighbor,
the guy whose bedroom we’re currently hiding in.” He
unleashed a brilliant smile on her and indicated the empty bowl he’d
just put on the dresser. “You should try some of the chili.
Troy is famous for it down at the firehouse.”
“
I’ll
do that, as soon as I can face the crowd again.” She leaned
back against the doorframe and half watched on the television the
chaos that was Times Square on New Year’s Eve. “Which one
out there is your wife?”
His
gaze dropped briefly to the ring on his hand, then raised to hers
again. “Actually I’m here alone. My wife and I are
separated at the moment.”
Her
brow furrowed. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have pried.
I got divorced this past year, so I know how much it sucks when
people ask questions like that. That’s actually why I’m
hiding. You can only handle so much of people trying to cheer you up,
you know?”
“
Yeah,
I know.” He smiled sadly. His gaze dropped as he scuffed the
toe of one black cowboy boot against the bedroom carpet. “So,
are you into computers like your brother?”
She
laughed at that. “No, I’m a lawyer and pretty helpless
with computers. Thank goodness for Brad. He saves me a fortune in
tech support calls.”
“
You
have to be better with computers than I am. We didn’t even own
one until this Christmas when my wife told me we had to buy one for
our six year old because she needed it for schoolwork. Can you
believe it? Six and using a computer.”
“
Yeah,
I do. One day this younger generation is going to lock all of us old
fogies away in a rest home and rule the world with their computers.”
“
I’m
afraid you’re right.” He laughed, a warm sound that
seemed to comfort her.
Interested
in learning more, Maddie hesitated as she silently reprimanded
herself for being a nosy-body. “So do you only have the one
child?”
She
thought briefly how in light of the divorce, how lucky it was that
the five years of trying to get pregnant during her marriage to her
bastard ex-husband Alan had amounted to nothing, heartbreaking though
it was at the time.
“
Two,
actually. A boy and a girl. Six and four. They haven’t quite
figured out what’s going on yet, but then again neither have I.
How long do trial separations usually last, if you don’t mind
me asking?”
Maddie
let out a short laugh. “I wouldn’t know. I’m sure
my husband’s girlfriend wouldn’t have approved of one, so
we skipped right over that step and went straight to the divorce.”
“
I
shouldn’t have asked, I’m sorry.” He looked
horrified.
She
dismissed it with a wave of her hand. “Don’t worry about
it. I’m over it.”
Was
she? That thought gave her pause. She was still pissed as hell at the
cheating bastard, but really, would she be checking out Antonio’s
hot body and prying into his personal life if she wasn’t over
Alan? Until this very moment she hadn’t even wanted to look at
a man since the divorce, forget about doing anything else with one.
Her
thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the countdown begun from
the partygoers outside. She glanced at the television screen and
watched the clock tick toward midnight.
“
Three,
two, one, happy new year!” From the other side of the door she
heard the shouts of the crowd and the shrill sound of noisemakers.
Antonio
picked up his beer bottle from the dresser and held it out toward
her. “Here’s to another new year.”
She
raised her own glass of champagne and clinked it with his bottle.
“May it be better than the last one.”
“
Amen
to that,” he agreed and they both drank deeply.
Chapter 2
“
Antonio.
Come up and eat something.”
He
had a brief feeling of being eighteen years old again as his mother
yelled down the basement stairs. Antonio blinked at the clock. He
hadn’t gotten nearly enough sleep, considering he’d been
at Troy’s party until two in the morning.
“
Gracias,
but no, Mama.” Maybe he’d hit his head and slipped into a
coma filled with strange dreams. He certainly could not be thirty-two
years old and living in his parents’ finished basement.
Might
as well get up since he was awake now anyway. With a sigh, he swung
his legs off the bed. He pulled on sweatpants and a sweatshirt and
stumbled upstairs in search of coffee.
“
Antonio.
Why do you not want to eat?” His mother stood by the stove in
her favorite housedress.
“
I
want to get in a run before I pick the kids up at Tina’s, Mama.
If I eat now, I won’t be able to run.” He kissed her on
the cheek and grabbed a sausage off the plate she was about to serve
to his father.
“
In
my day, you didn’t run unless you had someplace to get to fast
or someone was chasing you.” His father’s profound words
of wisdom came from behind the newspaper he was reading.
“
Tina’s?
Dios mio, it’s your house too. You pay the bills. And you still
need to eat.” His mother apparently wasn’t done with him
yet.
He
ignored the Tina comment, downed a burning swallow of coffee and
began to feel human again. “Just save me some food, Mama. I’ll
pop it in the microwave…” He let that sentence die when
he remembered his parents didn’t own a microwave on principle.
“
God
never meant food to be cooked by radiation. We use a stove here,”
his father proclaimed.
“
I’ll
make more food when you get back. We’re not poor, you know. You
don’t need to eat old leftovers.” His mother waved a
wooden spoon at him.
Given
he had managed to insult and annoy both of his parents in under five
minutes, he went downstairs to put on his running shoes while vowing
he’d talk to Tina today about their situation. He’d
waited this thing out for long enough.
Antonio’s
cell phone rang midway through his five-mile run. Out of breath, he
seized the excuse for a rest and answered it. “Hello.”
“
Hey,
Antonio. What the hell? What are you doing? I can hear you breathing
from here.” Troy’s voice sounded through the earpiece.
“
I’m
in the middle of a run. What’s up?” Antonio grabbed his
foot with his free hand and stretched his quad muscle.
“
I
won’t keep you long then. It’s just that Amy wants to go
out to dinner tonight to celebrate our engagement—”
“
Sorry,
I’ve got the kids tonight.” He started to jog in place so
his muscles wouldn’t cool and cramp.
“
But
you have to come. My best man has to be there to help celebrate,
right?”
“
I
suppose I could put the kids to bed and then come over to the
restaurant. My parents will be home with them.” If there was
one thing he was pretty sure of, it was that his parents wouldn’t
be going anywhere on a weeknight, even if it was the holidays. “Will
it just be me, you and Amy?”
Troy
hesitated a beat. “Um, no. She’s invited a few other
people too.”
Did
Troy sound weird? The question of exactly what other people were
invited sounded loudly in his head, but the fact that Antonio was now
sweating and chilled at the same time stopped him from prolonging the
phone call any longer. Enough of the chit chat, he had to get going
before he caught himself a cold. “Okay, just tell me when and
where.”
Antonio
wrapped up the call and got back to his run, trying to get back into
the zone Troy had interrupted. Rather than obsess over who would be
at dinner with them, he started to plan his day in his head. He
always found it easier to think when running.
He
made a mental list. Get back, shower, change. Head to Tina’s,
discuss their marriage and bring the kids back to his parents’
house. Feed them and early dinner, maybe watch a video and then put
them to bed. Change again, meet Troy and Amy and whoever, eat and
probably spend the night discussing wedding plans.
Hmmm.
The wedding plan part didn’t sound too great, but Troy was his
best friend. He’d just have to suck it up and pretend to be
interested in colors and dresses and flowers and all the rest that
came with planning a wedding. He was best man, after all.
He
was honestly happy for them. How could he not be? Antonio thought
back to the party the night before. Troy had been absolutely giddy
and Amy actually glowed with happiness—when she hadn’t
been crying with happiness.
And
then there was Maddie. He remembered seeing her eyes glaze over when
Troy and Amy made the announcement about their engagement just after
midnight. His first instinct had been to go to her and take her out
of there. But he hardly knew her and his place as best man was
alongside Troy. So instead he proposed a toast to the happy couple
and let Maddie slip out into the hallway on her own. He was
disappointed he didn’t get a chance to talk to her again.
Antonio
pushed thoughts of Maddie out of his mind. While he was still
married, he had no right to even think about her or her incredibly
blue eyes and sinfully long legs. Forget the dream he had about her
during his few brief hours of sleep last night. He felt unfaithful
just remembering that. He guessed those kind of dreams were to be
expected though, after well over five months of celibacy. He
definitely had to talk with Tina
today
. He was tired of living
like a married monk in his parents’ basement.
He
picked up the pace and ran hard until his lungs and his legs burned
and he couldn’t think of anything else even if he’d
wanted to.
~
Far
too early in the morning considering it was New Years Day, Maddie
grabbed for the phone ringing on the nightstand in her condo.