Where Forever Lies (12 page)

“Well,
you didn’t, but some good looking guy over there told me to
bring this over to you.”

The
waitress set the drink down in front of her and Paige shook her head,
smiling. She couldn’t believe what she was looking at.
The
nerve of him,
she thought as she stared at the drink. On the table in front of her
sat a pink, fruity drink with whipped cream, topped off with a
cherry.

She looked
in Tyler’s direction and saw him looking down at his beer
trying to hide the huge grin on his face. He took a drink of his beer
and finally looked her way, his dark eyes glistening with amusement.
He held his beer in the air and saluted it in her direction with a
cocky smile spread across his face. He winked at her and she shook
her head, held the drink in the air in salute towards him and then
brought it to her lips and took a sip.

He smiled
and shook his head and then returned his attention to his friends.
She turned away, feeling the drink’s fruity taste on her lips
and was horrified that it tasted really good.
Dammit!
She thought to herself.

“So,
mister country boy over there bought you a drink?” Kyleigh
questioned, her eyebrows raised in excitement.

“Yes,
as a joke more than anything,” Paige said swirling the straw
around in her whipped cream.

“Damn,
Paige, you would be stupid to let that one get away,” Brooke
confessed, as she downed another beer. “If you let him get
away, I’m going to go find him.” Brooke started laughing
as she high fived Kyleigh.

Paige
thought they were crazy. She didn’t know the guy, he could be a
pervert or something. Maybe a stalker, with the way she kept running
into him everywhere. She risked another peek in his direction and saw
him laughing away with his friends. His leg was sprawled out in front
of him, showing off his cowboy boot, his broad shoulders casually
rested against the back of the booth they sat in and she watched as
he ran a hand through his thick, brown hair. She bit her lip, knowing
she was far from his type, and turned her attention back to her
friends for the rest of the night.

An hour
later, they decided it was getting late and they all agreed it was
time to leave. Paige looked at her watch and couldn’t believe
it was two in the morning. No wonder she was exhausted. She couldn’t
remember the last time she had been out so late.

As they
got outside and were making their way to the car, Paige shrieked as
someone grabbed her shoulder. The parking lot was almost deserted and
it was late and her thoughts were going rampant. She had always had a
fear of dark, deserted parking lots.

Startled,
she turned around and saw Tyler. He dropped his hand from her and
smiled hesitantly. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

She eyed
him nervously, thinking back to her stalker thoughts. “Uh,
what’s up?” she asked, as she looked him in the eye.

He
scratched his head as he looked around anxiously. His eyes flitted
down her body and back up to her face, making her squirm from his
blatant staring. “Well, I wanted to ask you out. You know, if
you’re interested? I know I was supposed to call you but I’ve
been busy working all week and since I ran into you here, I thought
we could make plans now.”

The
question hit her and she was suddenly unsure. She knew she had the
urge to see him again, he had stirred deep feelings inside her, but
fear held her answer hostage. She swallowed hard and found a bit of
courage, “Okay. That sounds great. When did you want to get
together?”

Even in
the shadows of the night, she could see a smile slip onto his face.
He licked his lips as he said, “How about tomorrow night? This
is one of the rare weekends that I don’t have my son. He’s
at a friend’s house all weekend for a birthday party/sleepover
type of deal.”

Paige
thought about it for a moment, wondering if she could get a sitter
tomorrow night but then realized Kyleigh would be ecstatic to watch
Kyra so she could go out on a date. “Tomorrow works. Just call
me in the morning and let me know what time.” She could feel
Brooke and Kyleigh’s eyes on them the whole time, and knew this
was the highlight of their night.

“Ok,
I’ll call you tomorrow. See ya, Paige,” Tyler said, and
then he turned and walked back inside The Broken Spur, leaving her
mind reeling from what could be in store for her.

♥♥♥

Paige said
her goodbyes to Kyleigh and a passed out Brooke and slowly walked up
the steps to her apartment. It was late and even though she was
exhausted, she was glad she went because she’d had a lot of
fun.

She
unlocked the door and stepped inside, her balance wavering slightly
from being a little tipsy. Her head was beginning to throb so she
poured herself a glass of water and took some ibuprofen. As she
leaned against the counter she looked around her apartment. It was so
quiet without Kyra here. It had been such a long time since she had
spent the night anywhere that Paige felt the vacant, lonely feeling
begin to creep in on her. Normally, she was so busy with work and
Kyra, that her place was never quiet or boring. Kyra definitely made
things interesting in the house. She was always getting into
something, jabbering or laughing. Paige smiled as she thought about
her. She was everything to her and Paige couldn’t imagine her
life without her. Her life revolved around Kyra and she did
everything in her power to provide for her and give her a happy,
healthy life. But now, at this hour, standing here all alone, she
began to realize that she was also truly lonely. There was no denying
it, no pretending that she was okay; she felt an emptiness inside her
that was showing more and more each day.

Her mind
drifted to Tyler and she wondered what his plans were in life. He
seemed like the type of guy to take charge and get things done
whenever they needed to be done. She was surprised he wasn’t
dating anyone, but then she remembered he’d said he was
divorced. Maybe he wasn’t even looking for anything serious.
She thought about that and hoped that wasn’t the case because
she wasn’t looking for a fling. If she was to get involved with
anyone, she would want it to be a little more serious than just
hooking up every once in a while.

She set
her glass in the sink and walked down the hall towards her bathroom.
She looked at herself in the mirror and saw the black mascara smeared
under her eyes and her hair was lightly frizzed in the back. They’d
danced for hours tonight and even though the summer heat had gotten
to her hair and her legs felt like Jell-O, it was all worth it. Paige
considered making a girls night out a monthly thing. She thought
getting out for a night and having adult fun would be good for her.

She pulled
her hair back and washed the makeup off her face, brushed her teeth
and then climbed into bed with thoughts of her life and what the
future may hold for her and Kyra weighing heavily on her mind.

“Mommy,
the dinosaur says rooaarrr!” Kyra yelled happily, as she raised
the plastic dinosaur in the air towards Paige, a red curl falling
into her eyes.

“Yes,
it does, Kyra,” Paige said, as she lay on her stomach placing
plastic trees all around on the floor for Kyra’s favorite make
believe dinosaur game.

She never
would have thought her little girl would love dinosaurs so much.
Paige figured dolls or ponies, like most little girls, but never
dinosaurs. However, Kyra was beyond fascinated with them. When Paige
was little, she had preferred dolls to anything else. Living in the
city, she was never around animals or even had a desire to be. She
was content playing dress up or having tea parties. Kyra, on the
other hand, wanted nothing to do with dolls and had voiced an
interest in having a dog. Paige cringed at the thought of an animal
in the house. She didn’t know how people could live with
animals tromping around their house, shedding everywhere and having
accidents. Even thinking about it she felt the anxiety taking hold.
Her OCD would be in overdrive.

Paige
stared at Kyra, admiring her red curls that were similar to her dad’s
auburn tinted hair. From the size of her ears down to the double
crowns on her head, she looked just like him. Paige watched her smile
as she played with her dinosaur and knew that was one of the few
things she’d passed down to her. Paige had a huge smile that
seemed to engulf her whole face and every time Kyra smiled, she was
happy to see that a little piece of her was there.

As Paige
played dinosaurs with Kyra, she felt her phone vibrating. She pulled
it out of her pocket and frowned as she looked at the unfamiliar
number. She debated on whether or not to answer it but pushed the
talk button anyway.

“Hello?”

“Paige?”
a guy questioned on the other end.

“Yes,
this is Paige. Who’s this?”

“It’s
Tyler.”

Paige sat
straight up and gripped the phone tightly between her fingers. She
felt her fingers begin to throb and loosened up a little.
It
is just a phone call,
she told herself. It surprised her, scared her, and intrigued her
that this man made her feel these emotions all at once.

“Hi...
you, um... called,” she said nervously, hoping he didn’t
notice.

“Hi,”
he chuckled and then said, “I told you I’d call. How
about I pick you up at seven?” He asked, getting right to the
point of the phone call.

Paige
looked over at Kyra as she played quietly with her toys. She rarely
went out, let alone twice in a weekend. Guilt was beginning to take
over but she also found herself curious as to what it would be like
to go out on a date with Tyler and where he planned on taking her.
“Okay. Where are you taking me?” she questioned.

“You’ll
just have to wait and see,” he teased.

“I
don’t really like surprises, you know,” she said
adamantly, as she stood up and started pacing the living room. Kyra
stopped playing with her toys for a second, watching her mom with a
curious expression on her face.

“But
I do. I’ll be there at seven so be ready,” he said, and
then she heard nothing but silence on the other end. He didn’t
even give her a chance to say bye. Paige found herself staring down
at her phone, her heart beating as if it was about to explode. What
was she thinking? She suddenly felt panicked at the thought of going
out with him. The last blind date flowed through her mind and she
sucked in a shaky breath, telling herself that at least she had met
him a couple of times first, so it wasn’t like it was a
completely blind date. She didn’t think Tyler seemed like the
type of guy to try and make a move on her, but after the last
incident, she didn’t put it past any guy. The girls at work had
told her that Cory was also a nice guy and he ended up having grabby
hands. Plus, with Randy just passing away, the thought of bringing
another guy into her daughter’s and her life more than
terrified her.

She looked
down at her daughter as she played quietly and knew she wouldn’t
bring any guy around her until she knew for sure that there was a
chance it could work out and become something. It wouldn’t be
fair to Kyra to have a guy enter and exit her life again and she
would never forgive herself if she let her get attached to someone
only to have them ripped from her life.

Paige
began pacing again as she dialed Kyleigh’s number. As she
answered, Paige blurted everything out at once.

“Whoa,
wait a minute. Slow down, Paige, and start from the beginning.”

Paige
stopped pacing her living room and took a seat on the end of her
couch. She started absently straightening the quilt that was draped
over the arm of the couch. She slowed down and told Kyleigh to be at
her house by six. Paige held the phone out of ear shot as Kyleigh
squealed with excitement. “Oh. My. God! I am so happy he
called. You lucky bitch!” Kyleigh yelled, and Paige found
herself unwillingly smiling.

♥♥♥

After
taking an hour to find an outfit that she thought looked good, and
waiting on Kyleigh, she was finally as ready as she would ever be for
this date.

“Oh,
my God, Kyleigh, I’m so nervous. It’s been so long since
I’ve been out with a guy. What if I lock up and don’t
know what to say? Or what if he ends up being crazy? Or...”

“Paige,
it will be fine and you will have fun,” Kyleigh exclaimed, her
hands rested on her shoulders as she stared in her face. “He
looks like a nice guy and he’s good looking. Just relax and
have fun, don’t take it too seriously.”

Paige
sighed as she scanned Kyleigh’s face for reassurance and
relaxed as she saw that Kyleigh’s eyes were filled with
confidence that she could do this. She pulled away and looked in the
bedroom mirror one last time as Kyleigh left the room. As she looked
herself up and down, she felt her confidence starting to grow. She
wasn’t ugly and she knew she was a good person. She wasn’t
normally arrogant but she knew she had a lot to offer a guy and she
wanted to take that step forward in her life. Deep down she was
ready, it was something she longed for even though she was still
anxious about getting to know someone again and having them around
Kyra.

She put on
some dangly diamond earrings to go with her black lace shirt and
skinny jeans, adjusted the hair clasp that held her curled hair on
one side and applied some lip gloss.
It
is just dinner,
she told her reflection and headed down the hall towards the living
room where Kyleigh was lounging on the floor with Kyra watching
cartoons.

She stood
in the middle of the living room, not sure what to do, when she heard
a knock at the door. She clutched her chest as her nerves started
firing like crazy. She took a deep breath in and out and saw Kyleigh
grinning at her like an idiot.

“Answer
it,” she whispered, as she gestured frantically towards the
door and Paige nodded as she went to answer it.