The Trouble With Snowmen (16 page)

Chapter 34

Larry ran after Haley but stopped short at the door. Brenda shut it right after Haley had left and stood with her back to it.

“Let her be,” Brenda boomed. “Haven’t you done enough to that poor girl?”

“What?” He took the second to look at Brenda, but he had to go. He had to stop Haley before she got on the elevator so he could find out what the hell had happened.

“You’ve led her on for far long enough.”

“What did you do, Brenda?”

“Let her down easy for you. You’ll thank me later.”

He had no time to figure out what Brenda was talking about. “Move,” he growled.

She didn’t challenge him, she just stepped aside.

He tore out of the room, not listening to Brenda’s pleas to stop. He ran down the hall to the elevator, but there was no sign of Haley. He pushed the elevator button but the door wouldn’t open fast enough so he ran to the end of the hall and down the stairs.

Larry opened the door to the parking garage, panting and sweating, and hurried into the garage in time to watch Haley’s little truck tear out onto the street.

What had happened? Obviously, Brenda had told Haley they’d slept together. Which to Haley would, rightly so, look like he’d lied to her, since he’d told her he and Brenda were just friends. But what was Haley even doing here?

“Brenda,” Larry said through his teeth. It had been a set up. But why? He would deal with Brenda later. Right now, he needed to calm down for a second and think.

He got in his car and drove toward the multiplex. He called Haley, but of course she didn’t answer. His mind went back to earlier. Haley had looked so broken, like he’d done something unforgivable. And he guessed he had, but he hoped he hadn’t.

He sped down the street until he was stopped by traffic. He hit the steering wheel. Why the hell Brenda had told Haley that they were sleeping together. Why? What possible reason could she have for ruining his relationship with Haley? He had specifically told her to step aside.

Could it be possible that she was jealous? No, Brenda didn’t get jealous like that. Their relationship was perfect, simple, uncomplicated. If one of them were in a relationship, the other one backed off. But now that he thought about it, she had seemed a little mad when he’d turned her down at the book store. Was she just pissed? It didn’t make sense. This was nothing new to her, to them. So what was her deal?

Larry parked beside Haley’s truck and ran inside the house straight to Haley’s apartment. He didn’t barge in, he knocked, first lightly and then harder, calling her name. She didn’t come to the door, and he felt so desperate that he tried the door handle.

His hands shook as he eased the door open and poked his head inside. He flicked on the light. There were no signs of her. Where would she have gone when she was so upset? She had to be at Maximilian’s.

A second later, he knocked on Maximilian’s door and then tried to enter, but it was locked. He kept knocking. She had to be in there. He then remembered her darkroom in the attic and was about to go check there when Maximilian opened his door and walked out, shutting the door behind him, leaving no doubt now as to where Haley hid.

“I need to speak to her,” Larry said, holding back ramming past him.

Maximilian held up his hand. “She doesn’t want to talk to you.”

“Come on, Maximilian. I have to explain. If she’ll give me a few minutes, I can explain.”

“I think you should give her some time. She’s upset.”

Larry shook his head. “I know. And she has every right to be.” He took a step forward, knowing he could push Maximilian aside with little effort. “Let me talk to her.”

“Just stop. If you go cavemanning in there right now, you’re going to lose her forever.”

Larry stepped back and put his hand on the back of his neck. “I just need a minute to talk to her. I need to tell her I’m sorry.”

“Later.” Maximilian’s eyes were steady, his jaw tight. Larry had never seen him so serious. “I think y’all should cool it for a while. You can go on your tour, and she can come be my model, and then y’all can talk.”

“Wait. That’s right. She’s leaving tomorrow. I can’t let her leave like this.” He couldn’t breathe. “We can’t leave it like this. I don’t think that’s a good idea at all. I love her, Maximilian. I was going to ask her to go on tour with me.”

“Really? Did you sleep with your
friend
or not?”

Larry exhaled. “Yes, but that was before me and Haley got together. She was still with Travis, or I thought she was anyway. That’s what she told me. Shit! I should have told her that! All I said was ‘when?’ I was taken off-guard. I had no idea what I had walked into.”

“Haley is like a little sister to me, and she’s naïve, and she doesn’t understand the real world.” Maximilian put his hands on his hips. “She has this crazy idea that couples should be monogamous.”

“I do too. I only want to be with her.”

“Right. Sure you do. Anyways, I’ll talk to her for you, but it’s going to take a little while. Like while we’re at the
Catwalk Wars
. She’ll call you, if she can get over what you did to her. For Pete’s sake, man, give the woman some space.”

Larry felt sick to his stomach. Maybe Maximilian was right. Maybe she needed a little space. There was no telling what else Brenda had said or did while she was over there. Haley had on an apron like hired help. “Okay. I’ll give her tonight. But tell her I want to talk to her before she leaves tomorrow.”

“Sure. Whatever. Oh, and one more thing.” Maximilian stepped toward Larry and kicked him hard between the legs.

Larry fell back and doubled over, the pain shooting through his body.

“I warned you,” Maximilian said and then went back inside his apartment, shutting, and most likely locking, the door behind him.

Larry’s back was to the wall, and he scooted down until he sat on the floor, tears flooding his eyes. He didn’t know what hurt more, the deserved kick in the balls, or knowing he might have lost Haley forever.

Chapter 35

At a little past five in the morning, Haley sat passenger side in Maximilian’s rented minivan. The back seats had been laid down and all of the garment-bagged clothes had been draped across them. They’d been driving for about 30 minutes, the Houston skyline way behind them, on their way to Dallas.

“What is the use of having a companion on a road trip if they’re going to be all invisible?” Maximilian asked, looking very sharp. He wore one of his own designs from his up-and-coming men’s collection that Larry had helped model, a blue long-sleeved shirt with a black suede vest and tailored slim-fit pants.

“I just keep thinking that I left things undone.”

“You need to get away to think about everything.”

“It feels more like I’m running away from my problems.” Haley stared out the window. It was dark, and all she saw was her reflection in the glass. She wore her hair away from her face, which revealed her swollen eyes from hours of crying. She hoped Maximilian’s styling included sunglasses.

“Nah, you’re taking a break from them.”

“I keep playing everything back in my head. Brenda said Larry was a snowman. But I’m sure she just heard the term from Larry.”

“Really.” Maximilian glanced over to her.

“Wouldn’t you and Regina have been all over that? I mean you said that y’all knew that Travis was a snowman when you met him.”

“Whoa. Maybe Larry is a new breed of snowman. To think, I was in awe of Travis. Not anymore, Larry has him beat by a top hat! A snowman in disguise.”

“That’s ridiculous,” she said but had already been considering the possibility. He did leave the moment she thought the relationship was going great. As soon as she thought they were about to take it to the next level, he’d gotten a phone call and had to leave.

“He’s a handsome, rich guy who’s what? In his thirties? And he’s not married, nor does he have a steady relationship. It’s kind of looking snowmanish to me.”

“You’re not married.”

“I’m not thirty!”

“And he didn’t leave anything behind.”

“So you’re telling me that walking by Apartment Four everyday would
not
bother you? I say he left the biggest snowman item ever.”

“Brenda said they had sex the night after me and Larry were together.”

“Gross,” Maximilian said. “Sweetie, you know Larry doesn’t have to be a snowman to be a two-timing lowlife, just a man-whore. Maybe he’s a sex addict. He did pick you up when he thought you were a pro.”

“No, I don’t think he’s a man-whore. You know, I don’t even know if I believe anything Brenda said.” But Haley couldn’t get the fact that Larry’s answer indicated that they had, at some point or another, slept together. No way around that one. He had lied to her because he said he and Brenda were only friends. But he could have meant a long time ago. He said that he’d known Brenda since college. That was a time long ago, so it didn’t count. Really anything before her was his business, not hers. “And I don’t understand why would he chase me all the way home just to tell me he would talk to me after we both got back? Is that really what he said?”

“Yeah, something like that. But in all seriousness, even if he’s not a snowman or a sex addict, I don’t know if he’s right for you. He doesn’t seem like the marrying kind.” Maximilian turned the radio up.

“You don’t think he’d ever want to get married?”

Maximilian laughed at something on the radio. “I love these two guys. Their birthday scams are hilarious.”

She sighed, looking straight ahead at the red lights of the cars on the freeway. Not wanting to get married had been a deal breaker for her and Travis. She did want that, but for some reason, it just didn’t seem that important at the moment. It had slipped to the back of her mind and what captured her attention instead was what Brenda had said about Larry using her as a character study for his book.

Larry had asked her about her job that first morning, and then asked to spend the day together, even joking it was for his book. He must not have been joking. At the listening vessel he’d asked her about her family, which at the time she’d thought he was getting to know her. It had been her idea to go back to the apartment.

The story she’d read on Larry’s desk flooded her mind like a heat wave. Lexi Dylan was a prostitute in a brothel!

Could that be possible? Had she been a research project? And now that he’d finished with the book, he didn’t need her anymore. When Larry had walked into Brenda’s party, it hadn’t seemed as if he was looking for her. Was he Brenda’s date?!

What if she had decided not to go to Brenda’s, would he have called or texted like Travis had done to tell her it was over? That he had gotten back with his real girlfriend?

But there was no way Larry belonged to Brenda! He couldn’t, because it wouldn’t have felt so right if he belonged to someone else.

Brenda had known every detail of her and Larry’s relationship. Clearly, Larry had told her everything. But that’s what friends do, they tell each other everything. If Larry and Brenda were lovers, and he was two-timing the both of them, why would he tell Brenda everything? It didn’t make sense. Wouldn’t he be afraid that Brenda would get jealous?

It had all felt so real. Her love was real. So much so that all of a sudden she knew that marriage was no longer a deal breaker. She loved Larry and thought, hoped, he loved her, too. That was all that mattered. Her stomach ached. All this anxiety on an empty morning stomach didn’t agree with her.

“I’ve got to stop this!” she blurted. “If I don’t talk to him, I’ll never know. I need to call him and tell him I love him. And then I’ll face whatever it is that I need to face. If I need to move on, then I need to move on. But I can’t leave it like this; I’ll go insane.”

She searched for her bag, the big purple one that she had thrown her phone in that morning with her toothbrush and makeup and a paperback. “Where’s my bag?”

“I think I put it in the back with the suitcases.”

Maximilian’s phone sat in the middle console in the cup holder. “Can I use your phone?”

“I don’t think it’s charged.”

“Really?” She grabbed it anyway.

“I don’t have a lot of minutes.”

“You don’t pay by the minute, do you? It’s got a full battery. Look, I’ll pay you back.”

“I can’t take this anymore. You and Larry have only been together for what? Two days? Don’t go calling him. He asked for some space. Maybe you should give the man some space.”

She crossed her arms and felt a little disgusted. “I don’t see why
he
would need the space.
I’m
the one who needs the space!”

“See! There you go. It’s decided.”

“It is?”

“Really? Oh my gosh. All this drama is really starting to work my last nerve. I’m trying not to let your negativity affect me. I’m trying to stay positive and energized. You need to think about other people once in a while.”

Ouch! The look Maximilian shot Haley showed her that he was really getting mad at her. She didn’t want to spoil this for him. Maximilian had worked for years on his designs and had quit his job. He had everything riding on the competition.

“I’m sorry. You’re right.” She put her hands up beside her in surrender. “I’m finished talking about my problems. From now on, you have my full cooperation, as well as my positive energy.”

“Thank you. Just you wait and see. This is going to change our lives forever.”

She looked back out the window, the sky finally showing an orangey glow off in the distance. They drove the rest of the way without Haley mentioning Larry. It hadn’t been easy because every time there was a spell of silence that was where her mind went.

After they made it to Dallas, they grabbed a bite and then found the hotel. Maximilian went to his assigned room with a couple of roommates for the show, and Haley was left alone in her hotel room with her phone that had all the calls and messages from Larry. No, no, no, she told herself. She had to ignore them. Because no matter what the message, it would make her want to call him back. If she wanted to stay focused on being a good model for Maximilian, she had to forget about Larry for the time being.

That’s when she noticed the call from her mom. “Oh my goodness,” she exclaimed. She hadn’t told her parents about being on television. She immediately called her mom as she made herself comfortable on the king-sized bed. Her family would freak out when they found out she was going to be on a TV show.

A few minutes into the conversation, Haley answered a knock at her door.

“We’ve got to go now,” Maximilian said. “The first live show challenge starts in two hours.”

“What?”

“That’s right. Let’s go. Wait, are you on the phone?”

“It’s my mom.” Haley stuck her tongue out at Maximilian and said into the phone, “Get the TiVo ready. It’ll be on in a couple of hours. Go find
Catwalk Wars
in the listings. It should be there.”

After she’d said her goodbyes and her
I love yous
, Haley acknowledged Maximilian, who waited with his hands on his hips. “They didn’t give you much time,” she said.

“They said it was all in that paperwork they sent me. But who the hell has time to read fifty pages? I had work to do. Anyways, I’ve already picked out the three outfits you’re going to wear. They’ll be waiting for us at the place. Are you ready?” he asked with a big smile. “The limo is waiting.”

“As ready as I’ll ever be.”