He looked up and saw a kind of desperation on Mark’s face. Sighing, he realized he couldn’t say no.
At that moment, the gate opened and Sara appeared. “Hi,” she said to Mark.
Mark eyed her up and down, and when she glanced at Philip, he put a protective arm around her. “This is Sara,” Philip said. “Sara, this is my good friend Mark.”
“Well Sara, nice to meet you with your clothes on. Hey, maybe you can convince this joker to take you to my New Year’s bash.”
“Oh?” Sara turned to look at Philip, waiting for a cue from him.
Mark continued his sales pitch. “Phil can tell you, it’s the best party all year. I’m known for my parties,” he said, with what Philip knew was uncharacteristic bragging. He was showing off for Philip’s girlfriend. “It’s over at Castaways on Tamiami Trail and it’ll be a blast. So what do you say?”
Philip looked back at Sara and shrugged. “Want to?”
Sara bit her lip. Looking into her face, Philip could tell she wasn’t crazy about the idea, but she said, “If you do.”
“Super!” Mark clapped his hands together, presuming it was a done deal. “Party starts at 10:00. Hey, want to come in for a beer?”
Philip was willing to relinquish a few hours alone with Sara on New Year’s Eve, but no more than that. “No, thanks. We’ve gotta get back,” Philip said, squeezing Sara’s shoulder and guiding her toward the gate.
“Nice meeting you, Mark,” she said over her shoulder.
Over the next few days, Philip showed Sara around Naples. They stopped at the family store to say hi to the employees who were running the place while his parents were in Texas, and they ended up helping out for a few hours on a couple of occasions. Philip also had a video chat with his sister and saw the twins up close. He took Sara to the baseball field where he used to practice, to his high school, and to some other old haunts.
Everywhere he went, people stopped what they were doing just to get a chance to talk to Philip Mason for a few minutes. He introduced her to everyone they met and he kept his arm around her, making her feel included, like she belonged—like she belonged to him. She felt like they were a real couple now.
When they were home alone, they spent so much time in the pool, Sara thought they were going to turn into prunes. She had a nice little tan from being outdoors so much, but that wasn’t the only benefit she’d been experiencing. In the week she was here, she made love more than she’d made love in her whole life. Come to think of it, they made love more in one day than she ever had before she met Philip. They couldn’t get enough of each other.
By the time New Year’s Eve rolled around, Sara had gone shopping and bought a new outfit for Mark’s party. Philip insisted on paying for it. He even picked it out. The top was a pale peach-toned, off the shoulder, chiffon blouse with an elastic-gathered waistband, and he chose a short tight black skirt to go with it. If she were the one doing the choosing, she would have gone for something a little more conservative, mostly because she didn’t think she’d look good in something this feminine or form-fitting. But when she stepped out of the fitting room, Philip’s eyes bugged out, and she knew she’d scored a touchdown.
As she finished dressing for the party, she eyed herself in the mirror in Kelly’s room. She actually liked the way she looked. She left her hair loose tonight and didn’t try to tame the tousled waves or pull them back. A little lip balm and mascara would finish the look, but before she could bring the mascara wand to her lashes, Philip came up behind her and folded his arms around her. With their cheeks pressed together, they both smiled at the reflection in the mirror. Philip looked so dapper in a white-and-maroon-checked button-down shirt and khakis. She reached for his head and held it against hers. His hair was still shower-damp and he smelled like citrus.
“You look beautiful. I can’t wait to show you off to my homies,” he said, giving her cheek a kiss. When Sara didn’t say anything, he let her out of his embrace and walked around to look at her straight on. “You okay?”
“Yeah, I think.” She mindlessly ran her hand through her hair. “I guess I’m a little nervous to meet all your old friends.”
“You have nothing to be nervous about, babe. They’re the ones who should be nervous about making a good impression on you.”
She set the mascara tube on the dresser and sighed. “That’s sweet, but I’m sure they all have a certain expectation of the kind of girl you’d go out with and I might not live up to that expectation.”
“Then to hell with them,” he said sharply. “I don’t care what they think.”
“But they’re your friends.”
“So?” His tone softened as he held onto her hips and closed the space between them. “You’re my girlfriend.”
Sara smiled. “Do you realize that’s the first time you called me that?”
Philip arched his brows before taking her in his arms. “Well, that is what you are, isn’t it?”
“I hope so,” she answered quietly.
“Then don’t worry. And don’t be nervous. You should know by now that I’m my own man, and I don’t let people tell me what to think or who to see.”
“Philip.” She hesitated while she played with the buttons on the placket of his shirt. “How late do we have to stay?”
Laughing, he asked her, “Why?”
“I don’t know, I guess I imagined it being just the two of us when midnight comes.”
“Ah, you want to get me alone, huh?”
Partly, she was looking for an “out” in case she wasn’t having a good time. As for the other part, Philip got it right. Gazing into his eyes, she confessed, “I can’t lie.”
“We don’t have to stay late. If you want me all to yourself, you got me.” He lightly kissed her lips.
When he leaned away, she smiled and rubbed his lips with her thumb to remove the lip balm that transferred during the kiss.
“Hey, just a second,” Philip said. He reached into his pocket and took out his phone. He tapped on the camera app and said, “We need to capture this moment for eternity. Come here.” He put his arm around Sara’s shoulder and when she leaned in, he held the phone at arm’s length and clicked. “Smile.”
»»•««
Philip navigated while Sara drove to Mark’s party at a club called Castaways, about twenty minutes from the house. They pulled into the designated parking lot behind the club, and as Philip got out of the car, he eyed his crutches in the backseat. “I think I can manage without them for one night.”
“You can always lean on me,” Sara replied, slipping her arm around his waist.
They entered through the rear of the club and found that it was already packed with partygoers. Judging by the diverse crowd, it looked like there might be several concurrent parties going on.
Filtered lights made the otherwise dimly-lit room look like it was filled with smoke. The music was loud and muffled, resonating in a layer of sound an octave or two lower than the boisterous crowd. Sara thought she caught a whiff of pot on the way in, mixed in among the smell of beer, perfume, and sweat.
Holding tight to her hand, Philip leaned over and said something in Sara’s ear, but she couldn’t hear him. “What?”
“Seems like we’re late,” he shouted, even though they were right on time. But Sara knew what he meant. The festivities were already well under way.
Using her free hand, she reached into her purse, which was hanging from a thin shoulder strap, and switched her phone off. She wasn’t expecting any calls anyway. “See anyone you know yet?” Sara shouted.
Philip perused the room. “Hard to see anything at all,” he yelled. Tugging her hand, he asked, “Wanna dance?”
Sara’s eyes widened. She looked down at his knee. “You can dance?”
Philip laughed and led her out to the edge of the packed dance floor. He pulled her into his arms and swayed to the beat of whatever song was playing. After a minute, Sara realized that Philip wasn’t even moving his feet. He was merely holding her and swaying.
Being in Philip’s arms felt like heaven. “You’re an amazing dancer,” she said without lifting her ear from his chest.
“Yeah right,” he chuckled, kissing the top of her head. “I had an ulterior motive, you know. I just wanted to hold you.”
Sara closed her eyes and nodded against his chest. A second later, his chest was gone. Mark had literally pulled Philip away.
“Dude, you made it,” Mark shouted, clasping Philip’s hand and giving him a quick guy-hug. He looked over at Sara. “Hey Sandra!”
“It’s Sara,” she corrected, but she was pretty sure he either couldn’t hear her or wasn’t listening.
“Come on, the gang is dying to see you.” Mark grabbed Philip’s arm and dragged him in the direction of the bar on the opposite side of the club. Philip looked over his shoulder and managed to break free of Mark’s grip long enough to reach for Sara’s hand and pull her along.
Philip introduced her to a swarm of people who, it seemed to her, were mostly drunk, or half-drunk anyway. But heck, it was New Year’s Eve. Someone shoved a couple of bottles of beer into Sara’s and Philip’s hands. Philip clinked his bottle against Sara’s before taking a swig. Sara raised the bottle to her lips, but didn’t take a sip. She wasn’t much of a beer drinker anyway, but more importantly, she was the designated driver tonight, so she decided to just use the bottle as a prop.
As she stood there among Philip’s old cronies, she marveled at the attention and respect they gave him. She was glad for him. He deserved it. She knew that his friends and teammates at school had all but abandoned him since he went on the injured reserve list. But here in his hometown, he was a bit of a novelty because these people didn’t see him every day. Some of them hadn’t seen him in a year.
After a while, the DJ’s voice broke her thoughts. He’d been shouting the current time between sets, and he just announced that it was eleven forty five. Sara looked around the room, thinking she should pay a visit to the ladies room before midnight. She touched Philip’s arm and stood on her tiptoes to whisper in his ear that she’d be right back. He looked at her quizzically, and she wasn’t sure he heard what she said, but he nodded anyway.
She set her beer bottle down on the bar and went to the back of the club, thinking she saw a rest room on the way in, but the door she remembered turned out to be “Employees Only,” so she made her way through the dense crowd to the front of the club in search of a bathroom.
She finally reached the ladies room, only to find that she wasn’t the only one. Lots of other girls had the same idea, so she queued up in line.
The noise level was rising as it got closer to midnight and there was no time to spare by the time she left the bathroom. The DJ had already started the countdown.
Sara was frantic to find Philip. This would be the first New Year’s Eve that she had a date and a boyfriend and she wanted to reap the reward of that all-important midnight kiss. Her heart was pounding and the crowd wasn’t budging. Couples had already begun the ceremonial kissing, and Sara wouldn’t be the one to break them up by trying to push her way past them. That wouldn’t be right.
At last the bar was in sight. Sara searched the faces for Philip’s, but she didn’t see him. She saw some of his friends and…
“Three…two…one. Happy New Year!”
There he was!
Sara stopped in her tracks when she saw him. She blinked several times thinking she must be hallucinating or something. This couldn’t be happening. But it was. Philip was kissing another girl!
She felt flushed, lightheaded, queasy. Her throat closed up. She thought she might pass out. Or throw up. Instead, she ran past Philip and his friends and rushed out the back door.
Outside in the parking lot, horns were honking, fireworks were exploding, couples were kissing, singles were smoking, and everyone seemed to be laughing except Sara. Her head was down and she was sobbing as she walked between rows of cars, not really knowing where she was going and caring even less.
When she looked up, she spotted her car a few rows over. Reaching into her purse, she retrieved the keys as she rushed toward the car. She pressed the button that unlocked the doors and climbed inside. She tossed her purse at the backseat and gripped the steering wheel, angrily squeezing it until her knuckles were white. “Ugh,” she yelled through gritted teeth, before hitting her head repeatedly against the top of the wheel. “Stupid, stupid, stupid.” How could she be so stupid to believe the fantasy? She should have listened to the instinct that told her a guy like Philip would never be interested in a girl like her for long.
She let her tears flow freely now that she was alone. She turned the key in the ignition and the doors automatically locked. Philip could find his own way home, she decided. There were plenty of people here who’d be happy to give him a ride, including that girl he was kissing. He probably was already planning to spend the night with her.
Sara decided she would drive directly back to school from here. There was no reason to even stop at Philip’s house. The only thing she’d be leaving behind were the clothes and shoes she’d worn the day they arrived. And her large handbag. She would toss his crutches outside room 24C when she got back to the dorms.
Right now, none of that seemed important. She just wanted to get out of there. She was about to hit the gas, when she realized her vision was too blurred to drive. Her eyes were clouded from crying and she couldn’t see straight.
“Stop it, Sara,” she said out loud. “Philip is a two-timing bastard who doesn’t deserve your tears.” He wasn’t the one who was too good for her, she realized. It was the other way around, because she would never treat a lover the way he had just treated her.
She plucked a Kleenex from the tissue box on the floor of the passenger side and looked in the rearview mirror so she could blot her tears. Her mascara was smudged and she had raccoon eyes. As pretty as she looked when the night began was how bland and boring and ugly she looked now. At the stroke of midnight she turned from Cinderella back into the forgotten stepsister with the grimy face.
Right now, she wished she’d never met Philip. But despite the hurt and rage she was feeling, she knew in her heart of hearts she wouldn’t trade their time together for anything. For one week in December, she felt like a goddess. She was swept off her feet and transported to a place where time stood still, where there was just the two of them and no one else in the world. Why, oh why couldn’t it stay that way?