Her Anchor (195 page)

Chapter Three

“Are you alright?” Julia asked when she heard me gasp.

“I’m okay,” I managed to bite out. The waiter came back then and asked us if we’d ever been there before and what would we like to drink. I asked Julia as nicely as possible to order whatever she wanted and I excused myself to go to the men’s room.

I was thankful that no one was in it. “What the hell is she doing there?” if I had any more reason to hate Shelley’s, I had one then. I was glad that Julia had absolutely no idea who Elizabeth was, but I knew that Elizabeth would understand right away that the person that I was with was Julia.

I turned the faucet on and quickly splashed water into my face. I had to calm myself down; it wasn’t as if I was doing anything wrong. I just didn’t want Julia and Elizabeth to be in the same place at the same time. I finally was able to compose myself and I went back to Julia. She looked at me in confusion.

“Are you feeling okay, Michael? Do you really hate being here that much?” I shook my head. Of course I couldn’t tell Julia the real reason why I was disheveled, but I came up with a response that was close enough to the truth.

“No, I thought I saw something gross which freaked me out.” I quickly changed the subject. “So what did you order?” Julia gave me a sheepish smile.

“I ordered Macon Blanc. I hear it’s a pretty good wine.” I knew that the wine varied in prices and I inhaled sharply. ‘I’m doing this for her so swallow your pride’ I thought to myself. “And I know how much you hate trying something new so I ordered something that had chicken inside of it. You really need to try different things.”

“I’m working on that every day.” That wasn’t a complete lie; I was working on things about myself that would entice Julia to come back to me. I looked around trying to see if Elizabeth was near us, but I couldn’t find her. Maybe they weren’t seated as close as I thought they were.

“Do forgive me if I am not as adventurous as you.” I said sarcastically and Julia smiled a sincere smile. She was quite adventurous with her appearance. She had long hair one day and would cut it short the next day. Julia was an artist and she looked at her body as a canvass presented to her from God to create new and beautiful things with.

“I can tell,” she said as a frown plastered onto her beautiful face. “I hate to admit it but I really do miss you.” I could see now that she was thinking about me as much as I was thinking about her. She chewed on her glossed lips and breaking one of her rules I reached my hand out to her. She hesitated to take it, but her small hand enclosed into my larger one.

“I know that I hurt you and that you don’t trust me,” I said clearing my throat. “But I need you to understand that if I didn’t truly love you, I wouldn’t have told you what I did.” I knew that didn’t make the situation better, it wasn’t like she caught me with Elizabeth but I told her and that had to count for something. “We can take it slow and start over new,” Julia stared into my eyes with an unreadable expression on her face so I continued.

“Let me make this right, I can earn your trust again and I can be the man that you want me to be.” I didn’t feel like a real man at the moment begging for Julia’s forgiveness, but it had to be done. She thought long and hard before she responded.

“Ok”, she said as the waiter brought us our food and poured the wine into our glasses. My heart leapt for joy and I completely ignored the rancid food that the waiter placed down in front of me. “This doesn’t mean that we’re back together. I’m not ready for that yet, but we can start over fresh.”

“I’ll take it” I said as I released her hand and I picked up my glass. “Let’s make a toast.” I said and she quickly picked up her glass as well. “A toast to new beginnings,” Our glasses touched and I downed my wine, I needed to be a little buzzed before I ate the “food”.

“Thank you for bringing me here” Julia said and began eating her food.

Julia and I laughed and told each other about what happened the week that we hadn’t seen each other and I was surprised that her week was just as awful as mine. She excused herself to go to the lady’s room after a while and I exhaled with relief about how well the night was going and that’s when
she
approached our table.

“So that’s her?” Elizabeth said and a frown formed on my face.

“Please, Elizabeth. I’m asking you nicely to leave us alone, please do not cause a scene.” I could tell that she was drunk because she wasn’t as collected as she normally was.

“She’s cute,” she continued, disregarding my pleas for her to just leave me alone. “If you’re into little girls I suppose.”

“She’s the same age as me” I said irritated. Elizabeth chuckled and her eyes rested unfocused onto mine.

“And does she drive you wild with desire like I did?” I could feel my face burning up. An image of her naked body flashed in my mind.

“You’re drunk, Elizabeth.” I said looking around making sure that Julia wasn’t coming back. I saw her walking towards the table looking into the hand held mirror she always kept with her. Elizabeth followed my glance and grinned.

“I guess I’ll let you go back to the little girl, at least for the time being.” Elizabeth grinned and stumbled back in the direction of her table. When Julia sat back down, she looked after Elizabeth in confusion.

“Do you know her?” she asked returning her attention back to me.

“No,” I lied. “She was just a drunk woman that thought she knew me”. I didn’t want to tell Julia that she was my co-worker. Julia was smart; she would have put two and two together and figured out that she was the woman that I cheated on her with.

“She’s pretty,” I hated that Julia said that and I definitely was not going to agree with her about it.

“I guess if someone’s into that type of woman. You’re more beautiful.” Julia flashed me that brilliant smile and continued eating.

When we arrived back at her place, she was completely back to her carefree self and not the cold woman that avoided me for a whole week. “I really had fun tonight. Thank you.” It was completely dark outside now, but I could see her eyes glittering.

“Thank you for coming out with me, I meant everything I said tonight.” I was about to cut the engine and walk her to the door when she stopped me with a hand on my hand. I looked at her and she smiled just before kissing me gently on the lips. I cupped her face with my hands and pressed my tongue inside of her mouth. She was sweet and her mouth was warm and when we pulled apart I could faintly see the blush on her cheeks.

“See you later” she said before she exited my car. I waited until she was safely in the house before I pulled off. I was so happy at that moment that I had completely forgotten running into Elizabeth. The way that Julia kissed me just then proved to me that she still loved me. I really felt like I had another chance with her and I just had to remain on my best behavior and she’d eventually come back home.

“This is looking good,” I said as I made my way onto the ramp for the freeway. A few more dates like this and she’d definitely open her heart to me again. I thought about calling Jacob and letting him know how the date went, but I knew that he wasn’t going to appreciate it since it didn’t end with us “in the sack”. I drove that freeway in deep happy thoughts feeling like I had acquired the world.

Chapter Four

“
You’re looking a lot better these days, something good happen?” George asked me when I was on my way out to lunch. George was an older guy, somewhere in his fifties, and he was the man that everyone went to for their problems.

“Yeah, I’m starting to fix some wrongs that I made.” Normally I would’ve gone to George about my problem with Julia because he was a better judge of relationships than Jacob was, but since it had to do with a co-worker, I didn’t want to bring it up.

“That’s good to hear” he said patting me on the back and walking out of the door. Just when I was about to exit, I remembered that I had to copy some paperwork and give it to a senior attorney. I wanted to do it now because by the time I got back I would have probably forgotten to do it. I turned around and that’s when I saw Elizabeth approaching me.

“Wait!” she called after me when I started walking in the opposite direction. She was really starting to piss me off and make me regret that I still work here.

“What?” I asked coldly. I really didn’t want to hear anything that she had to say after the little stunt that she pulled last night. When she was an arm’s length away from me, she put this sad expression on her face.

“I wanted to apologize for last night,” she bit her lip. “I wasn’t in my right mind then and I know that I said some pretty mean things.”

“Apology accepted, now please leave me alone.” I walked around her and she called after me.

“She really is a pretty girl,” I chose to ignore her which made me believe that she’d finally catch a hint and walk away. I wasn’t lucky in that regards however. “But I think you need someone
more
in your life” I sighed. What was the point of her apologizing to me when she was still practically saying the same thing that she was saying last night? The only difference is she wasn’t a complete bitch about it.

“Look,” I turned around and faced her once my copies were complete. “I will say this one last time; it was just sex and nothing more. I’m trying to set things right in my life, but you are trying to make things difficult. I do not want you, I will never want you.”

“You’re lying!” she shouted showing her true colors. “You can tell yourself millions of times that you’ve only made love to me because you were drunk, but we both know the truth.” I looked away from her then and she reached her hand towards my face and forced me to look back at her. “You wanted me even before we had sex; you’re just too much of a coward to admit it.” I was glad that we were the only ones left on the floor because this conversation would definitely get us written up.

“Are you done?” I asked and her scowl deepened. When she didn’t say anything I pushed her hand away and walked towards the door.

“You need to stop lying to yourself” I heard her say before I walked out of the door.

“I’m starting to think that she is crazy.” I said as I made it to the lobby, I pulled my phone out and called Julia. She answered on the second ring.

“I was just thinking about you.” She said and I could hear the smile in her voice. I found myself smiling as well.

“Really? I hope it was good thoughts.” She giggled and I sat down in the lobby. I brought my lunch today; I just didn’t want to stay in the office a second longer.

“Always,” the last few days have been good for Julia and I. We constantly spoken on the phone and I took her out a few times. Things couldn’t have gone better if I prayed on it. “My mom is leaving for the night to go on a little trip with her friends. I was wondering if you’d want to come over and spend some time together.” I felt like we were in high school again and I was sneaking into her house when her mother was sleeping.

“Sure, I can bring some movies over. Any movies you want to see?” I know Julia was more into romantic dramas, which I hated, but I’d be willing to watch one with her if it’ll make her happy.

“Sure, there are not many movies out that I want to see so bring what you want.” I knew Julia well enough to know that was a trap.

She surely wanted to watch something that she was interested in and not vice versa. I definitely wasn’t going to fail this test. I might bring something cheesy like “The Notebook”. I personally didn’t understand why woman swoon over the movie, it was depressing as hell.

“I know just the movie to bring,” she laughed.

“I hope so.” We talked for a few more minutes before she had to go. I was kind of sad because I wanted to speak with her for the duration of my lunch period, but I understand that she has a life too. I ate my sandwich in silence as I watched the people walk in and out of the lobby. I saw business men and women and I wondered was this something I wanted to do with the rest of my life.

“What are your aspirations? What are your dreams?” Julia’s familiar voice vibrated in my mind. I was only twenty-five years old and even though I was a grown man, I still haven’t found myself yet. When I finally do find myself, I’ll be more confident of my future. I also knew that I’d be a better man for Julia. I dumped my trash in the garbage and made my way back upstairs. I still hadn’t forgotten the conversation with Elizabeth because some of what she said hit home, but I wasn’t going to let it ruin the rest of my day. 

“So you think she’s going to give you some?” I sighed irritably, why did Jacob always think about sex?

“I don’t know man and it doesn’t matter.”

“Bullshit!” he yelled into the receiver. “If she sleeps with you you’re pretty much as good as gold.” Jacob did make a point. Julia wasn’t the type of person who would sleep with anyone, but I didn’t like the way he just said that.

“If it happens, it happens. I’ll talk to you later, I’m pulling up now.”

“Alright keep me posted,” and with that said, we hung up the phone.

When I looked at my watch, I was fifteen minutes early. I was never one to arrive early or even on time to something, but these days I am different. It was almost like I was becoming more responsible, more mature. The house was completely dark and the blinds were closed, I found this odd considering that Julia knew I was coming. Or maybe she forgot? I shook my head because there was no way in hell that she would have forgotten. She had the memory of a grown elephant. 

I walked onto the porch being extra careful so I would not trip and knocked. The seconds that it took her to open the door might as well have been hours, but when she finally did it was worth the wait. She was wearing a sexy black lace dress with silver heels. It almost looked like lingerie and she definitely wasn’t wearing a bra. I could feel my cock swelling. I didn’t know what woman wore heels when they were lounging in the house, but she pulled it off and I wanted her.

“Wow,” I said gawking at her and she smiled as she pulled me into the house and shut the door. “You look sexy as hell” she took me into an embrace and I could smell the sweet perfume she was wearing.

“Thank you,” she said and led me through the house. It had been a while since I’ve been in Julia’s mother Monica’s house, but it looked the same as I remembered.

“This house brings back memories.” I said as Julia pulled me into the kitchen. I could see she had cooked spaghetti and meat balls, my favorite, and had two glasses filled with wine. Julia was definitely giving me another chance and the thought of that made me grin.

“Yes it does,” she chirped and I sat down in the chair.

“Dinner smells fantastic, thanks for cooking this for me.” I placed the bag that held a few DVDs in it on the table as Julia brought a plate over full of food. She sat the food in front of me and went back to get her portion. I watched the sway of her hips and her ass as she moved. I could feel myself hardening again; she was definitely pushing all of my hot buttons.

“I wanted to return the favor. You’ve been really sweet.” She sat down at the table and picked up her wine glass and held it near me. Following suit we clicked our glasses together and we tore into the food.

There wasn’t a single second that went by that we weren’t talking and laughing. The food was excellent and the conversation was even better. When we had finished dinner, I stood up and cleared our plates, something I rarely did. I proceeded to wash the dishes and she came up behind me touching me on the shoulder.

“You don’t have to do that. You’re my guest.” I looked over my shoulder at her and smiled.

“I’m doing this because I want to. You put a lot of work in preparing the food for me; I can wash these dishes for you.” Though washing the dishes was such a simple task that anyone with could do, apparently that hit a home run with Julia and she pulled me down to her and kissed me.