Impulsive (Reach out to Me) (10 page)

              “If you stop buying clothes and makeup?” Michelle repeated incredulously. “Did he know he was making this budget for you?”

              “Yes,” Kara said primly. “Do you really think that I’m not creative enough to make new looks out of my old things?”

              “I think you’re creative enough for sure,” Michelle said pointedly. “As a matter of fact, I feel like I’ve made that suggestion before!”

              Kara waved that away as she went on, “The point is that I’m going to have this really awesome new place!”

              She pulled the loft listing from her pocket and handed it to Michelle.

              “Now, before you say anything,” she rushed to explain so Michelle wouldn’t laugh in her face. “I’m going to—“

              “It’s gorgeous!” Michelle interrupted. “Look at the space you’ll have! Look at the amazing light from those huge windows at the end of the living room! Oh my gosh, those sloped ceilings are perfect!”

              “Okay, so clearly I’m the only one who didn’t see the potential,” Kara muttered as she snatched the picture away from Michelle. “I know you’re doing wedding plans like crazy, but if I get the place can you help me move in?”

              “Sure!” Michelle agreed. “I’m dying to do something besides wedding plans actually.”

              “Well then I’m going to go ahead and call the realtor,” Kara said getting up and dusting her jeans off. “Fingers crossed!”

              Michelle did as Kara asked and Kara giggled because her friend was still wearing the gardening gloves.

              “It’s the thought that counts!” Michelle called as Kara began dialing the number on her bright pink cell phone.

              “Hi,” she said when the realtor’s perky voice came through the phone. “I’m interested in putting in an offer on the loft off Second Street.”

              A few days later, the offer was accepted and, in record time, Kara was handed the keys to her very own loft. Two weeks later, she was doing a happy dance in the center of the huge room when Thomas, Michelle and Hayes walked in.

              “Hi!” she called happily as she ran over to give Thomas a tight hug. “My mom is coming over with the bed and some other stuff later.”

              “Your mom?” Thomas asked, sounding suddenly nervous.

              “Yep!” Kara said with a smile. “It’s no big deal, so don’t get all tense.”

              “I’m not tense,” Thomas lied. “It’s fine to meet your mother on incredibly short notice.”

              “I thought it would be! Now, let’s get to work!”

              They walked down to the curb and began pulling her sofa out of the moving van.

              “I’m so glad you got this back from Jeff,” Michelle said. “This is the most comfortable couch in the world.”

              “I know,” Kara said, affectionately running her fingers over the soft chocolate brown suede. “It’s going to look really good in there too.”

              She was proven right when they finally got everything in the van lugged up the stairs and arranged to her satisfaction. Her brown couch looked wonderful next to the exposed brick and it was cozy next to the small fireplace. A matching oversized chair had been placed across from the couch, but still facing it so people could talk without having to lean around to see each other. Hayes proved that by pulling Michelle into the chair with him as Kara and Thomas collapsed onto the couch.

              “So the placement is good then?” Kara asked as she leaned against Thomas with an exhausted sigh.

              “It looks really great Kara,” Michelle reassured her. “I like that table, too. You really lucked out at the secondhand store!”

              “I really did,” Kara agreed happily.

              The table and four chairs she found just yesterday were perfect for the dinners she could envision having with Thomas and Hayes and Michelle. She actually thought she might be happy here. Not just happy that she’d gotten out of her friend’s way, but legitimately happy with her big loft apartment.

              There was a short knock on the door and some movers hoisted a bed into the room.

             
“Where do you want this?” the man in front asked.

              “Up the stairs please,” Kara answered. “Hi Mom!” she called to the woman behind the men carrying the bed.

              “Hello dear,” her mother said walking into the room behind the movers. “It looks very nice in here!”

              “Thanks,” Kara said giving her a hug. “I’d like you to meet Thomas and Hayes. Of course, you remember Michelle. Guys, this is my mom, Victoria.”

              “It’s nice to meet you,” Thomas said shaking her hand quickly.

              “It’s nice to meet you, too,” Victoria answered, clearly so surprised at Thomas that Kara flushed with embarrassment.

              Good heavens, were the guys she’d brought home in the past really that bad? She thought back. Andrew’s neck and knuckle tattoos had probably put her mother off just a bit, and Dean’s rap sheet hadn’t exactly been a point in his favor. Clark’s motorcycle had really sent her mother into fits of concern and Jeff had punched her in the face. By contrast, Thomas stood there shaking her mother’s hand and being polite. She guessed she could see why the poor woman was so shocked.

              “Thank you for bringing over the bed,” Kara said, to try and take the focus off of Thomas.

              “You’re welcome sweetie,” her mother said as she gave her a big smile. “I brought a surprise for you too. I hope you don’t already have new linens, but when you sent me pictures of the apartment I couldn’t help but think how nice an all white bed set would be and—“

              Kara interrupted her with a squeal. “It’s perfect! It’s exactly what I was planning to buy!”

              In her exuberance she threw her arms around her mom and hugged her tightly.

              “Well, I know you normally like brighter things,” Victoria said with a happy smile. “I was worried that you wouldn’t want something like this. I’m so glad you like it.”

              After the moving men had left and the finishing touches were put on the apartment, Victoria, Kara, and Michelle went to get pizza for dinner and left Thomas and Hayes to chat.

              “Well,” Hayes asked as Thomas laid Kara’s bright orange plates on the table. “How are things with you and Kara?”

              “Fine,” Thomas answered immediately. “I like her a lot. I think she’s a great girl.”

              “Sounds like there’s a ‘but’ in there somewhere,” Hayes said warily.

              “No. Well, maybe just a little. Don’t get me wrong,” he hurried on when Hayes crossed his arms over his chest and stared him down. “I’m actually hoping you can help me out here. I don’t want to lose her, but the pace she sets is really wearing on me. I’m wondering if you know anything I could say or do to make it clearer to her that I need a little more space.”

              “Have you tried talking to her about it?” Hayes asked as he put glassware on the table.

              “Several times,” Thomas said honestly.  “It’s like she doesn’t understand what I’m saying. The first time I told her I needed to study she insisted that we go to lunch. When I tried to make it clearer, she said she understood but then she showed up later with Chinese food. Then there was the film festival which I had to miss class for and now she’s talking about wanting to go white-water rafting this weekend.”

              “You’ll just have to tell her ‘no’,” Hayes said practically.

              “How can I tell her ‘no’ when, more than half the time, she doesn’t even ask?” Thomas questioned in frustration. “She just shows up with food, or with tickets, or with reservations. Last weekend, I told her I needed to study. She booked a weekend getaway and showed up here with just enough time for me to pack my bags. When I try to explain that I need a little advance notice, she teases me about being a boring accountant. She didn’t even tell me that I was meeting her mother today!”

              “I wouldn’t worry about impressing Victoria,” Hayes said with a smile. “From what I’ve heard, you’re far and away the best guy Kara has ever dated.”

              “And I’d like to keep dating her,” Thomas said. “I just don’t know how I can do it and still get my master’s degree. I already have to use every spare moment I get just to try to get a presentation for work together. I’m a week behind in my homework and I’ve missed two classes. I just don’t know how to make her see that I love spending time with her, but I can’t keep it up at the expense of everything else.”

              Hayes eyed Thomas seriously for a few moments. “You do care about her don’t you?” he asked finally.

              “I think that I could fall in love with her,” Thomas said without hesitation. “I just don’t want to give up what I’ve worked so hard for. Most of the time I feel like I’m with the right woman at the wrong time.”

              “If you don’t mind,” Hayes said. “I’ll talk to Michelle about this and see what kind of advice and insight she might be able to offer.”

              “I would really appreciate it,” Thomas said tiredly. “I don’t want Kara to think that I run around talking about her behind her back, but I’m at my wits end.”

              “I understand,” Hayes said patting Thomas on the shoulder. “I can tell she’s a handful just from the year I’ve spent pretty much living with her. I think that you’re good for each other though. Her last boyfriend became so controlling and possessive that she left him. He showed up at Michelle’s house late one night and, after he threw Kara’s things all over the yard and screamed at her, he hit her.”

              “He hit her?” Thomas repeated, his hands clenching at the very thought of someone putting their hands on his Kara.

              Hayes nodded. “She had a restraining order filed and he eventually moved away, but it was a long time before she was herself again. I think that maybe she’s just so happy with you that she isn’t thinking clearly. Let me get Michelle to talk with her and maybe we can get this whole thing worked out.”

              Thomas nodded hopefully and they moved on to a less serious topic of discussion.

              Kara and Michelle laughed when they found their guys in a somewhat heated football debate at the table when they got back. The debate ended with an agreement to disagree when they smelled the pizza and decided that the rest of the evening should be spent having fun. Michelle and Hayes left right after Victoria and Thomas couldn’t resist Kara’s plea to help her break in her new bed.

              “What did you and Thomas talk about?” Michelle asked on the way home.

              “You heard the end of the football debate,” Hayes said with a grin as he gave her knee a squeeze.

              She laughed and playfully swatted his hand as she said, “I mean before that.”

              Her playful mood dissipated as Hayes filled her in on Thomas’s predicament.

              “So?” her fiancé finished. “Do you think you can say something to her and maybe help him out?”

              “I have said something to her,” Michelle admitted. “I’ve spoken to her about it a few times, actually. She won’t listen. She’s so over the moon about him that she thinks they should be together every spare minute. You don’t think he’s going to break up with her do you? I really don’t know how she would handle that, Hayes.”

              “I think you should be very serious about this the next time you talk to her,” Hayes said. “He didn’t come out and say that he would leave her. As a matter of fact, he said that he thought he could fall in love with her. He thinks she’s the right woman at the wrong time.”