The New Year's Wish (3 page)

It was late in the evening and Kayla was more awake now
, she obediently put her nightshirt on and removed her bra from underneath. I looked at her from the corner of my eye, pretending to fix the fire. Her movements were so slow; her arms looked like tiny sticks with no strength. I moved closer now she was dressed. I tugged a piece of hair behind her ear and picked up the sandwich.
I pleaded her to eat with my eyes. She still wasn't speaking, except for a yes or a no and letting out sighs sometimes. She took the sandwich with her hands but I didn't let go, she didn't seem to be able to hold it herself. When she had eaten a half sandwich she lay down again.
"Good girl, here..." I pulled up the covers.
"Can I get you anything, do anything for you?"
She shook her head and closed her eyes. I turned out the lights and let her sleep in the glow from the fire. I retreated to the living room where the atmosphere was lighter. I followed the laughter and felt it was all going to be alright.

"Wow some turn of events huh?" Jackson sent me a comforting smile, his unshaved bea
rd opening up to reveal a slight smile, a sign of relief.
I rubbed my face, I had no clue what day it was anymore, time and space had melted together into one long sequence.
Bobby sat down next to me and handed me a cigarette.
"But she seems to be doing better now right?"
I nodded and played with the cigarette between my fingers without lighting it.
"According to the French doc, someone smashed into her and she tried to find her way back here through the storm." Bobby continued.
The room fell silent as we all thought back to the blizzard that night. Kayla had been out there freezing, probably hurt and scared. My stomach tightened into a ball of fire at the thought of whoever it was, that had smashed into her and left her at the scene.
"Was she hurt in the crash?" I asked. It was very hard to contain my anger at this point.
The memory of the car lying on the side covered with snow came flooding back. If her suitcase had been on the road it must have been quite a crash. I didn't really want to think about that but at the same time I wanted to know all the details.
"The doc said she was fine, nothing broken or the like...she was lucky...erhm apart from the almost freezing to death part of course!"
Bobby's apologetic face pleaded with me not to be upset. I lit the cigarette and inhaled and sought the usual relief from stress but the cigarette failed me.
"Should we call her parents?" I asked no one in particular.
"Her phone is completely dead, do you think Nick might have the number?"
The thought of having to explain this whole situation to Nick was more than what I had the energy for.
"I don't know" I said and with a sigh I got up to phone him. I got through to him on the second ring; he probably thought I'd gotten myself into trouble if I called him in my week off. He was right wasn't he? I was in trouble and I had no clue what to do. I only knew that I wanted to lie next to Kayla until she got better. The call was fruitless, he didn't have any numbers to family members but he would try and contact her former employer.
I stood in the kitchen smoking my cigarette and staring out the window at the winter falling in snowflakes; some of them seemed to stand still for a while mid-air, like waiting for Divine guidance on which way to go. Much like me. I thought back to the first time it dawned on me that I liked her more than just a friend.

"Sure you HAVE to go out tonight?"
"I do get to have some free time once in a while Matt!"
"I'm not so sure about that, I read your contract just the other day and..."
A pillow hit my face and I started laughing and resumed watching her put on heavy eye make-up and straighten her shoulder length hair.
"Tonight you'll just have to fetch your own cola, rub your own feet and keep yourself entertained, because I have a date!"
"A date? Gosh I can't remember those!"
Looking at me through the mirror with chocolate eyes framed by black long lashes, she put an earring in her left ear.
"I know the last time you went on one must have been in what...? The nineties? "
Her warm chuckle and the sparkle in her eyes did something to my stomach.
"Mock me all you want, but I bet your last date wasn't exactly like...yesterday?"
I threw the pillow and hit her in the back head. She came to the hotel bed I was lying on and started bashing me with the pillow. We were laughing and I caught her hips and threw her onto the bed and tickled her sides. We were interrupted by a man's voice from the door.
"Hello?"
"Oh, hi!"
She quickly sat up and smoothed her top down. She went over to him and gave him a light awkward hug.
"Matt, this is Charlie"
I waved a hand at him but didn't bother to get up.
"Erhm, we're off, see you later!"
I watched them go, feeling irritation rise in my chest. Why would she go out with him when she would have so much more fun hanging out with me? I noticed the other earring still on the dresser. I spent all night thinking about her smile and laughter and the way she'd squirmed on my bed right before we were interrupted. I wanted to dive back into the memory and kiss her. Kiss her so she'd forget all about going anywhere.

I came back to the reality of being in the kitchen and stubbed out my cigarette and went to join the others.
I heard them talking in subdued voices.
"He's head over heels and..."
They stopped all their talking as they spotted me. I couldn't help but smile a little. So my feelings for Kayla were no longer a secret.

"Why haven't you made a move yet?" Tom wanted to know and I could feel I wanted to tell. I wanted to talk about everything I'd secretly felt for the last 6 months. The word
s were pressing themselves up and out. I lowered my voice afraid Kayla would hear me if she woke up in my bedroom.
"I don't know what to do! I don't want her to stop being my assistant, but I want her to be more than that!"
Jackson arched his left eyebrow and with a devilish smile so typical for him said "Then she can be your personal assistant with benefits."
He burst into laughter. Jackson thought himself to be mighty funny and soon the rest of them tried to outdo his joke.
Our laughter and chatter came to an abrupt end as the door to my bedroom was opened. Kayla was wearing my sweater and her bare legs stuck out from underneath. Even though I should be focused on the fact that she was up and about, a part of my brain checked out her legs and noted them to be perfectly tanned and curvy. She looked taken aback and stopped in her tracks when she saw all of us staring at her. I got up and went over to her.
"Hey...how are you feeling?"
"What day is it today?" Her voice was raspy and her eyes small and tired.
"Wednesday." I answered.
Her shoulders sank and her face got a sad expression. "Oh, is there any more food?"
I took her into the kitchen and helped her find something in the fridge. We needed another refill before New Year's Eve.
"Thank you for taking such good care of me Matt" Her face attempted a smile but landed somewhere in between a frown and a painful grimace.
"Always,Kay. You take such good care of me, it's the least I can do."
"I really appreciate it, though."
She came over to me and leant her face up against my chest. I locked my arms around her.
You're safe with me, Kay.
We brought her food into the living room and she joined us on the couch, eating and listening to us talk about our lives. When she fell asleep we put a blanket on her and continued talking. Tom sent me an encouraging smile and I felt a slice of normality re-entering the room.

The next day while she took a shower, Bobby and Tom went grocery shopping.
Kevin hopped onto the kitchen counter and Jackson got started on dinner.
"So Matt, now that Kayla's not in Paris meeting that secret lover of hers, you could propose the whole PA with benefits thing?"
"Shut up Kevin! She might hear you!" I hissed at him, scared she'd heard anything.
"She can't hear anything with the water running!"
"He's right you know, you might as well give it a go now she's here!" Jackson chimed in.
"What's the worst that could happen?" Kevin looked at me curiously.
"The worst thing that could happen would be if she quit her job."
I was stuck. I couldn't deny my feelings after I thought she might be dead, but I didn't want to risk losing her.
Luckily the boys returned from their trip and I could focus on something else.

We did have an extra room to spare, but I didn't feel like sharing that info with Kayla, I liked havin
g her in my bed. We climbed into bed together Thursday evening and I was beginning to wonder why she didn't feel like calling anybody. At least whoever she had missed in Paris?
"We've tried resuscitating your phone but I guess it doesn't tolerate the cold."
She turned her back to me and pulled her sweater over her head, and grabbed a white cotton tank top from her broken suitcase on the floor. She covered her breasts with one arm but I still enjoyed some of the view.
"It's okay, I have all the numbers in my calendar."
"Of course"
Tank top in place she crawled underneath the duvet and stared at me. "What do you mean, of course?"
I suppressed a smile. "You wouldn't be my best PA ever if it wasn't for your OCD type of organizational skills, so of course you are the type of person who backs up everything, that's all I meant."
"OCD type huh?"
She raised her eyebrow at me and I saw a glimpse of the old spunky Kayla in her eyes.
"What? You don't like to be called organized?" Pretending to be completely innocent I looked at the fireplace and removed my watch, pretending to be interested in some invisible dirt on the clock face. I liked where this was going, we were always teasing and flirting and winding each other up. She could handle anything I threw at her better than most of the guys. I would miss our banter if this went all wrong.
"Sure I like it, I was just not sure you understood that word, being the worst slob I've ever met and all."
She gave her pillow a good beating and turned it around a couple of times before she was satisfied and rested her head on it. Her hair spilled over the pillow in waves, I'd never seen it like that before; she always straightened it.
"I'm not a slob!" Pretending to utterly disagree with her statement I lifted my eyebrows, feigning offense.
"No Mattie, you're the perfect little housewife, the best I ever met." She giggled into her pillow and rolled her eyes.
We both stared into the fire for a while in silence, before I came back.
"Well at least I'm not a perfectionist who irons her underwear!"
" I don't! I only iron yours!"
Genuinely taken aback I turned around facing her, taking in all her sleepy barefaced beauty. Her dimples were showing, telling me she liked this verbal ping-pong.
"You iron my undies?"
Her roaring laughter silenced the boys in the other room for a while. She put her head down her pillow and put a hand on her stomach and her body was convulsing with each laugh. I could see her nipples through the fabric and felt myself go a little bit hard. She was sexier than ever before.
" What's so funny?"
"Oh fuck Matt, you don't seriously believe that I iron your boxers? Why would I even do that, I'm your PA, not your maid!"
She continued her laughing fit and I felt partly stupid and embarrassed and partly confused.
"But what about that time in New York where you had all those clean ones..."
I didn't end the sentence, because every word I said had her laughing harder. I felt my smile becoming harder to hide, her laughter was so infectious.
"Nick gave them to me in the hallway and told me to bring them to you.”
"Oh God I'm so stupid! I really thought you'd washed and ironed my underwear!"
We both fell down on the mattress roaring with laughter.
"Oh Matt, you're so stupid!"
Slamming her hand a couple of times into the mattress before her laughter was just giggles and then became nothing but heavy sighing. I messed up her hair with my hand.
"They do say laughter is the best medicine, I'm glad to be at your service!"
"Oh I'm glad too, gosh laughing is hard, I'm so tired now."
I stroked her hair back in place.
"It's okay, go back to sleep and I'll be here with more medicine when you wake up."
"Okay"
She closed her eyes immediately.

In the middle of the night I was woken by a weird sound. At first I couldn't tell where it came from or what
it was. I thought it was the dying fire at first or a mouse somewhere, but after rubbing my eyes and lifting my head to get a better listen, I discovered that it was coming from Kayla next to me. The sound stopped, indicating that she had discovered I was awake.
"Hey are you ok?"
I was answered with complete silence. Not even a single breath could be heard. I inched closer and pulled her hair gently away from her face, but I still couldn't get a good view of her face as she was facing away from me. I didn't care if I was overstepping any physical boundaries, I just wanted to know if she was okay so I moved closer to her back and leaned over supporting myself with one hand on the other side of her waist.