Love Revealed: A BWWM Sweet Romance Novel (8 page)

They both blushed at that.

"I'm sorry," Guy gushed, "I can't believe I said that, it's so cheesy! That's so not me,” he laughed.
 

They looked into each others eyes. He noticed her brown eyes had flecks of yellow and red through them, subtle enough that you would only notice as you were going in for a kiss.

Their lips were about to touch when Darla's cell phone rang. She looked down at it and it said, "MOM".
 

"I've got to take this, I'm so sorry. Hi, mom? Sandra? What are... Okay. Okay, I understand. I'll be right there. No, don't worry. Don't worry. I'm on my way."

"Is your mom okay?"

"No, that was my cousin Sandra who lives by my mom. She went by for a visit after work to find my mom on the floor at the bottom of the stairs. She was unconscious, and breathing heavily. Mom is in the hospital now being looked over. No idea if she fell down the stairs, if somethings broken, or she just dropped to the floor where she was walking."

"Oh, I'm so sorry."

She looked at him.
 

"I'm so sorry too. We have to leave now to get to the hospital. It's the next town over, you know St. Mary's Catholic? It'll take us about an hour and a half I think."

"Sure, sure I understand. If theres anything I can do."

Darla stood looking at him, then looking out to her sister and her daughter.
 

"I'll take you up on that offer if needs be." She ran out to the garden and he could see her animatedly explaining to them both what was going on. They all rushed into the house, grabbing things from everywhere.

"Oh, Guy, all your food is in our freezer! Okay, you can just shut the door behind you. It will lock. One of us will probably come back tonight anyway."

"Ok, thanks", he said, as they ran out to her car. He didn't even get to say goodbye. He understood, family comes first. He remembers rushing himself to the hospital the first time his mother went in. You don't have time to think at all. Not even time for a single goodbye kiss. He walked into the kitchen and started bagging his stuff. He heard something from behind him. He barely had time to recognise her face, when Darla put his face in her hands and kissed him. She let go of him and smiled.

"Okay, I really gotta go this time." She ran out the door and into the waiting car, where Adeen had her smiling little face pressed up to the back seat window. He smiled back at her and watched them drive away.
 

Guy placed his mug of coffee down on his desk, almost missing the coaster. That was his fourth mug today, and it was only 2p.m.. He had got himself into a good writing streak now these last few weeks. Get up at 6a.m., go for a swim if the weather was good - which it had been since he started - breakfast and shower, then sit down to write from 8:30 until lunch, occasionally getting up for coffee and stretching his body. He worked then until 4p.m. and had dinner, checking his email and the news and reading, then he worked until 8p.m. and tried to be in bed for 9:30 at the latest. It was a good routine, similar to the one he had used for his first book. He found he had to stick to it or he got nothing done and would sit on the net all day long, making excuses for himself
 

He had heard from Darla once since he left her that night at her house. Her mother was very ill and the situation was not looking good for her recovery. He had asked her if he could help in any way, but she said there was plenty of family around and way too many casseroles at her house, but thank you. He didn't want to push it with her, so he just told her he was at the end of the phone line if she wanted to talk. He had asked about Adeen and how she was coping and Darla had replied that she had given up on the idea of going to camp now, she didn't want to be away if her grandmother died. Guy had felt very sad at this as he knew how much the camp meant to her.
 

He stared off into space for a while then got back to writing. He had already gotten half way through and without any self editing, sent it off for his editor to have a read through. He was pretty hungry and couldn't help thinking about what he was going to have for dinner that evening. He had made up a batch of chilli and was thinking of having some in a burrito. His stomach was growling. He had only eaten a small salad for lunch, it was the last of a bowl he had made up a few days ago and needed eating today. It was good, but certainly not filling enough for a grown man. Thats it he thought, I'm being a rule breaker and going to make dinner now.
 

After dinner, he sat fully satisfied with his chilli burrito and had a beer. He was allowed a beer after dinner, but no more than two on a weeknight. It just messed up his writing too much. He will have time for some drinks in a week when he goes to the mainland. He is taking his tent and is going to sleep over, so no rushing back and attempting to steer a boat over the limit! He was unsure whether he should call Darla when he got to town. Her mother is probably still ill and she would want to be on call for her if something went wrong, but on the other hand she could probably do with a break from the stress. Monika could look after Adeen, they'd go out have a few drinks, maybe come back to his tent for some 'snuggling'. Who was he kidding, he thought. It's been over a year since he went to bed with somebody. He was not the groupie type, there were women and some men, who would very openly flirt with him at book signings and readings he was forced to go to for book promotions. He never slept with anybody from those events. They were all involved in various fan groups online, he would die if a story about him sleeping with a fan got out like that. He's not that type of guy, as tempting as the offers always are. The last woman he slept with was a girlfriend, albeit a very short relationship. They met at a bar when he was visiting his brother, he had had to escape the kids excessive fighting, so he had gone to one very far from the house. She had been with some friends and approached him at his table. He had ordered a steak and fries and was drinking an old fashioned. She had introduced herself as Margaret.
 

"Hi, my names Margaret, is it okay if I sit down?"

"Sure, but I hope you don't mind if I just eat my meal here."

"No, go ahead. I just had the same. It's delicious. What’re you drinking, I'll order you another."

"Old fashioned, thanks."

She had ordered the drinks and they both quickly finished off the ones they had going. They had chatted about her job, she was a pharmacist at the local store. She lived alone, she was intrigued but not starstruck when he told her what he did for a living. They talked for a while and she invited him back to her place. They had listened to some records and then made love. He had left the next morning, with no intentions of seeing her again, mostly as they lived in different states. Margaret had other ideas though, she said that they could see each other on weekends, that they could take turns driving down to each other. He agreed, it was nice to be seeing somebody again and of course sex was nice once in a while.

The weekend dating had gone on for over two months, but Margaret was fed up. She hinted a lot that she should just move in with him, but he wasn't interested in that yet and told her it was too soon, that they were only dating a short while. So one day, Margaret showed up to his house and handed him a bunch of keys.

"These are for my new apartment. It's only the next street over, in Golden Leaves Estate. Number 42."

"You moved here? What about your job?"

"I got a new one here in the pharmacy in the mall. I applied a month ago, just in case, but you never asked me to move in, so I had to initiate the move myself. At least now we can see if the relationship is worthwhile."

Guy was stunned. He never thought she would just move here without saying anything, but then he calmed down and started to think that maybe it was kind of cute? Either way, she was here now and he had to put up with it. He did like her, he just didn't love her yet, but as she said, with more time to spend with each other, maybe that would happen.
 

The first month or so of them living close by each other went all right, they had to fit their new schedules together. Guy was out of town a lot with his mom being ill and then at home working on finishing up his first novel. She was very jealous with him being away on his own, but he told her he never went anywhere other than his hotel and for food with his siblings. They mostly spent their time together watching horror movies, which Mags was a huge fan of. They cooked together often too, she taught him the best pizza recipe and he taught her how to bake a good loaf of bread. It wasn't marital bliss, but they were feeling more comfortable together and now everything didn't revolve around making sure they had sex, as they had plenty of time for that.
 

One Sunday night about five months into the relationship he arrived home from a two night stay in Toronto where he had had a meeting with his publishers about book covers and titles. He was pretty tired from the flight and just wanted a bath, a whiskey and bed. He did not expect to find Mags sitting on his sofa eyes red from crying.
 

"What's the matter?" he asked hoping nobody had died.

"You bastard. You and your, 'I'm a one woman man' business."

"What are you talking about? Let me sit down and tell me what's happened"

"Tell you whats happened? Oh I know all about what you've been up to pal, it's all over your groupie blogs. Here take a look."

She shoved her laptop in his hands, on the screen was a page of one of his fan sites, 'Guy's Gal's' it was unfortunately called. Even though he was not a published author of a full novel yet, he had written many short stories that had been published and his publishers had made him start a website, so he had a couple of fans now. The title of the post was, The Best Night of My Life. There was not much to the post, someone saying they had met Guy after a book event for another author at belonging to the same publishers that he had attended, he had hung out with the author and some of her fans after the event, this fan had been the last woman there and he signed her book for her as pre-fame joke, giving her a big hug. They walked out together and he kept his arms around her as they did, giving her a final hug as she left to join her friends. On another tabloid blog, the photos the paparazzi got just happened to be all the ones that made it look like they were going in for a kiss. But NOTHING had happened!

He had tried to explain to Mags that it was completely innocent, that the photos were just at the right angle to show it looked like they were kissing, but he was only hugging her goodbye. She was only 19 anyway! Much too young. None of this helped. Also the fact that all the bloggers friends were talking about the photos from the tabloid blog and how it looked like they kissed made it look true. She shouted at him that he was an asshole, how could she ever have trusted him and more like that. He let her vent, but then when she ran out of steam, he just said. "I know nothing happened, if you want to believe those fraudulent photographs on a crappy tabloid blog, then you can just leave my apartment now and come back when you've had a break."

She made a disgusted face and stormed out of the house.
 

It was three days before he heard from her and she told him she believed him after all. He asked her what changed her mind and she told him she contacted the girl from the photos and asked her straight out what happened, without letting on she was his girlfriend. She told Margaret that he had hugged her, signed her book and then they walked out arm in arm, it was very sweet she said. He gave her a hug as they left and thats what the photographs captured. The girl added she was getting a lot of grief from the other fans as they know he has a girlfriend and they all thought she was having an affair with him!
 

Guy was upset that she hadn't believed him, but happy all the fuss was over.
 

They continued to date for another few months, but after that incident nothing was the same. Mags got even more jealous and suspicious, even when they were out together. It grew tiring and one night after thinking it over for about a week, he decided to end it with her. She wasn't very happy at all. The name calling began again and this time she pulled the "I moved here because of you" card, he reminded her that she moved here of her own volition. Margaret ran around the apartment gathering all her bits and pieces, packing them into a plastic bag and storming out, vowing not to return even if he begged her. He was sure there wouldn't be any begging on his part. He was done. He had his book to focus on and his father had just been told he was very sick.

So, that was Margaret, they had bumped into each other a few times on the street, but they had never spoken more than a hello. He heard a few months before he left for the island that she had moved back and got her old job back too.
 

Guy woke with the sun streaming in on his face, he had forgotten to pull the blinds again. It was a saturday morning, which meant he had a few beers as a treat last night, which would explain his dry mouth and desire for some ice cold water. He rose from the bed and took a look outside, another beautiful June morning. The sea was gently lapping at the island and slapping against his newly repaired dock. He still had the rental boat, but he was due to head into town today to pick up his new one.
 

He made himself some toast and coffee and when he finished, walked out to the dock to sit and dip his feet in the sea, while he finished his coffee. It was perfectly quiet, save for a few sea birds flying overhead. He had found a nesting pair of what turned out to be oyster catchers. They were at the back of the island and had not been too happy about his approaching their area. They were nested on the other side of a hedge, facing out to the sea, but protected by long grass. As soon as they heard him walking in their direction one would walk out and start squawking at me, then they flew about Guy diving and almost, but never actually, hitting him. Guy had run away, fast forgetting what he gone back there for anyway. He had guessed correctly that they had an egg in there and would be protecting it and then their young for the rest of the summer. He made a mental note to go the other side of the house next time he was going out back.