Shane’s continuous blabbering was torture enough, yet he still found other ways to annoy her. Every night she’d had to indulge him in an arm wrestle to decide who got to use the bathroom first the next morning. He also used bribery to bend her to his will. Chores were his preferred method of payment. Mow the lawn for two weeks and Mom wouldn’t find out that she’d been making out with Billy Mason at school. Wash dishes for a month and Dad wouldn’t find out that she’d snuck out of her bedroom window to go to Becky’s party. That was the fucked up mind of her brother Shane.
Max, her Irish twin, was a little different. The age gap between them was exactly ten months. They had grown up side by side and out of all her brothers, she was closest to him. But that didn’t make him any less annoying. When they were younger, they used to watch WWE together all the time. He had learned a little too much from the stupidity on screen because to this day he still caught her in a chokehold every time he saw her. It had not been by choice that she’d watched WWE. It was a forced form of entertainment. Their mother had made it a rule that they were not allowed to play any games together. Max cheated at every game, which always resulted in biting and hair-pulling until eventually Mom decided enough was enough.
And lastly, there was her younger brother, Kevin, and his best friend, Perry, the unstoppable duo of mayhem. Theyinflicted the kind of torture no human being should have to go through in one lifetime. They would spy on her from their tree-house, drop water balloons on her head, sneak up behind her to pull her bra-strap, but the insidious pranks were the worst. She used to find the most vile, disgusting things under her pillow. A dead frog. A rotting potato. It was only when she moved that she finally got out of the habit of checking under her pillow before she went to bed.
That was her crazy family. She loved living in Seattle. A great career and awesome friends, like Gemma and Neil, kept her rooted here. Although she didn’t regret moving, the solitude was almost unbearable at times. Her roommate slash bestie, Gemma, travelled a lot, which left her alone in this tiny townhouse and phone calls from her parents every Sunday didn’t do much to fill the void. She missed living in a noisy house and having absolutely no privacy. She missed her Momma’s cooking. She missed her dad kissing her forehead before she went to bed at night. But mostly, she missed her stupid brothers.
Jordan’s thoughts were interrupted when she heard Roscoe growl at Nicole Ferreira on the screen. He hated that little blonde trouble-maker. She was always up to no good.
“Don’t worry,” she said. “She’ll get what’s coming to her. Kate will make sure of it.”
At least she had Roscoe. He hopped onto the sofa and made himself comfortable at her feet. She smiled and patted him on the head, thinking that her life at this moment was blissful—lonely—but blissful.
*****
Tyler opened the sliding door leading out onto the balcony of his bedroom. He needed some fresh air. Everything he saw reminded him of Trisha. Moments that were once so amazing,so real were now just memories trapped in a photograph. She smiled at him through the glass frame, making him think back on those magical holidays in Greece and Italy and France.
Trisha was a God-send, his perfect match in every way. Three years ago, he had not been looking for any kind of relationship. His father had been grooming him to take over the company and business was the only thing on his mind.
His dad had never been a crude businessman. He always handled matters fairly and had taught Tyler that profit was not the only measure of success. Success was seeing employees flourish, allowing them the opportunities to maximize their potential. In his eyes, the cleaning staff were just as important as the CEO and everyone should be treated the same way.
That lesson had not been new to Tyler. His dad had raised him with that belief. This was why the grooming process had been shorter than expected. After two years of working under his father’s wing, Roscoe Evans announced early retirement and left his office and fifty-one percent stockholding in Tyler’s capable hands.
Matthew had suggested celebratory drinks the day the contracts were signed and even though Tyler had not been keen, saying no to Matthew was as difficult then as it was now. The decision, however, proved to be very rewarding because he’d met Trisha the same night.
He’d been captivated from the second he saw her. She’d sat at the bar, sipping a martini, looking strikingly beautiful in a tight black dress, which accentuated her big green eyes. Matthew had somehow read his mind and approached her first. After a few minutes, he signaled to Tyler to come over. Introductions had been awkward, but having Matt there eased the tension. She was easy to talk to, nevertheless, and by the end of the evening, he’d left with her phone number and a promise for a second date.
That had been the beginning of their romance and the more he got to know her, the more he realized she was a perfect fit for him. He could tick off all the boxes. She was beautiful. She was smart. She was thoughtful and caring. She also came from a family of high social standing. It wasn’t her status that appealed to Tyler. It was her ability to handle the media.
Their relationship sparked off floods of tabloid articles and her picture had made the cover ofHot Gossipmagazine several times, but she took it in her stride. That was Trisha, the perfect public icon. Any man would be proud to have her on his arm. Problem: Now that man was Oliver.
Tyler lifted a photo frame, the one of them in front of the Eifel Tower. That wonderful moment frozen in time was a reminder of what his life used to be like, what it should be like. He missed her. He missed the way her shimmering black hair fell beautifully over her shoulders. He missed the way her lips would tilt up in half a smile. He missed her and he wanted her back.
Though getting her back seemed like an impossible task. She was going to walk down the aisle in six months and now all the weird and wacky ideas Matthew had conjured up seemed almost plausible. Maybe not all. He was still fully against kidnapping her mother, but his mind began to toy with the idea of dating someone else. The thought did not seem as distasteful as it had earlier. In fact, what Matthew had said made a lot of sense. Jealousy was a very powerful tool.
Maybe dating another woman could have its advantages, Tyler thought.But not Jordan! She’s—well…she’s Jordan. Lanky, weird, slightly psycho Jordan.
But after replaying the list of names Matt had suggested, Jordan seemed like the most suitable candidate– at least for all intents and purposes.
She’s good-looking in a nerdy, accountant sort of way. She isn’t married and she definitely doesn’t have any skin disorders. She’s witty, though sometimes it borders on just plain sarcastic. She has great breasts and—
The fleeting image slapped him out of his thoughts. “Great breasts?” he wondered out loud. “Where the hell did that come from?”
Brushing it off, he walked back inside. He needed someone he could take out a few times then throw in the towel with no complications as soon as Trisha came back. If he approached this in the right way, he could do that with Jordan. He knew her well enough to know that she would not develop any emotional attachments after a few dates. From that perspective, Jordan was the perfect person to ask. She was insensitive, completely unfeeling and used absolutely no tact when dealing with emotional issues. During the secret-Santa exchange at the Christmas party last year, she’d given Nancy, the marketing manager, a whole basket of chocolates and new born baby clothes. And while that didn’t seem bad on the surface, Nancy wasn’t pregnant. She was also diabetic. The misunderstanding was forgivable. It was Jordan’s attempt at an apology that made the situation uncomfortable. For everyone. It wasn’t insincere…just badly worded.
Right. So Jordan was the perfect candidate and he needed to ask her out. He just had to do it in a very subtle, very casual way so she wouldn’t get suspicious. He walked to his bed feeling more relaxed now, relieved that he had finally made a decision on how to get Trisha back. He still was not altogether happy with the idea, but at least it was an idea that could potentially work. He would take Matthew’s advice and take Jordan out on apretenddate. The tricky part, however, would be getting her to say yes.
The Execution
“So, Jordan, you wanna party with a real man?” Tyler cringed at his own words. “No, that’s stupid!”
He stared at himself in the mirror and was not at all impressed. Being off the dating scene for three years had caused him to become a little rusty, but he still knew that a line like that, especially with a woman like Jordan, just wouldn’t fly. He adjusted his tie, cleared his throat, and tried again. “Hey, Jordan.” He puffed out his chest a bit. “Wassup!” He did a little head nod, which was supposed to come across as bad-ass, but instead it looked completely ridiculous with him wearing a suit and tie. “You wanna hang with me tonight, then go back to my…crib?”
Oh, jeez! That’s even worse. Not bad-ass at all.
If he were a woman, he would never fall for that. Pick up line number seven hundred and thirty five had crashed and burned. He’d been practicing to ask her out for two days now with no results. This fake date needed to happen tonight. Trisha went to Giovanni’s every Thursday and he could not procrastinate any longer. So many times he’d walked up to her with every intention of asking her out, but then common sense got the better of him and he just carried on walking. This wasn’t as easy as he remembered.
The flushing toilet behind him reminded him that he was not alone in the men’s restroom. He groaned and sprinted out the door before the anonymous flusher made his way out of the stall. Preparation time was over. He was going to march straight up to Jordan and ask her out. How hard could it possibly be?
