Running on Empty (31 page)

After three years of not being intimate with a man, I find that I’m pretty insatiable. I give myself completely to Blake Morgan...three times. Three times!
Not too shabby.
But as much as I would love to spend all day being so giving, I cannot. We have a party to get ready for!

With goofy grins plastered on our faces, Blake and I take care of everything together. We blow up all of the balloons, laughing at each other when we can’t tie them, making them shoot all over the room. Then, we make out on the couch for a while.

We finish wrapping the remainder of Rylie’s gifts…the whole time I poke fun at him for how well he wraps. Then, we make out on the living room floor.

I finally finish making her cake, slapping Blake’s hand every time he tries to stick his hand in the batter. Then, we make out, leaning against the kitchen counter. Which, by the way, has officially graduated to being my favorite spot in the house.

Now we find ourselves rushing to set up her party in the backyard. We hang the banner on the porch and set up her presents on the table. Her theme this year is
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
. Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, and Raphael are everywhere. Even Splinter makes a guest appearance or two. Stepping back to look at our hard work, I clasp my hands together. “Blake! It’s perfect! She’s going to love it!” I pat the four little stuffed turtles on the head. They’re positioned all around her double layer yellow cake with chocolate frosting. The frosting actually earned Blake the most slaps on the hand. “Seriously, we did a great job!”

Blake walks up behind me, putting his arms around my waist. Moving my hair aside, he sets his chin down on my shoulder. “We make a great team, Alex. I’m glad you’ve finally figured that out.” I turn around to smack him on the arm, but his handsome face distracts me. I run my fingers through his hair and stand up on my tiptoes to give him a peck on the lips. “Better late than never.” He grins against my mouth. “True.”

I hear the girls yelling in the front yard and grab Blake’s hand. “Hurry! They’re here!” Making a mad dash into the house, we close the blinds as quickly as humanly possible. Both on the windows and the back door. Both of us jump onto the couch and position ourselves as though we’ve been sitting there all day. Which makes absolutely
no
sense, because once Rylie rings the doorbell twenty times in a row, I remember that I locked the door earlier. Blake and I grin at each other when we both come to this realization at the same time and get up off the couch.

I open the door and the girls completely bypass me and bum rush Blake. I lean against the wall and watch their interaction. Looking back at me with a content smile on his face, Blake gives me a quick wink as he embraces the girls.

“Hello! A little help here!” I turn around to see Harlow hauling two backpacks, two lunch boxes, and a huge Hello Kitty pillow, about to drop them all. I giggle while watching her struggle for her balance and grab the backpacks and pillows. “I gotcha girl!”

She shoots me a relieved smile and exhales a breath of air blowing the hair out of her face. Shutting the door, I hear the girls squeal loudly. “It smells like cake in here! Yay!”
Damn
it.
Another reason why I meant to make the cake first. I roll my eyes at myself.
Dumb.

The girls run into the living room and immediately peek through the blinds. “Girls! Get away from there! Go to your rooms for a second, please.” Rylie hasn’t caught onto this yet and I intend to keep it that way as long as possible. Nycole and Kyndall giggle loudly and run out of the room. Rylie follows them for absolutely no reason, giggling just as loudly.

Blake takes a seat on the couch and I move to sit by him. I look into his beautiful green eyes. I lean forward to give him a quick kiss because I just can’t help myself. But I’m stopped abruptly by someone clearing their throat.

“Is there something I need to know?” The look on Harlow’s face is not what I expected. She looks…pissed. That is actually the
last
look I would have expected to see on her face. Wasn’t it just a month ago that she was practically forcing me to interact with this man?

My defenses go up immediately. Clearing my
own
throat, I bite back at her, “No, there isn’t anything you need to know. When there is, I’ll be sure to tell you.” I snap my body up off the couch. We stare each other down for a minute, until the tension in the room builds enough to where Blake decides to clear
his
own throat. “Um, I’m going to go grab something to drink. Harlow? Alex?” Neither one of us answers him as we continue eying each other. Taking the hint, Blake wisely exits the room.

“What the hell is
wrong
with you?” I ask her, my voice just above a whisper. “Were you or were you not in favor of Blake just a week ago? What the hell has happened since then? I thought you’d be happy. This is the
last
reaction I would’ve expected from you.”

She watches me closely as she walks across the room. When she’s directly in front of me, she puts her face right in front of mine and narrows her eyes, like she is trying to figure something out. “Well, aren’t you defensive all of a sudden? Interesting.” She turns and walks out of the room making her way to the girls’ rooms.

What? I’m getting really tired of her and these freakin’ obscure messages. What the hell does that even mean? I make my move to follow her when I hear a gentle knock at the door. Knowing who it is, I put a fake smile on my face before I answer the door.

Hello fake smile. I wasn’t planning on using you ever again…

“Hey John! Hey Nancy! Come on in!” I give them both a quick hug. I can’t help but smile when a couple of Rylie’s friends from down the street also make their way to my door. I usher everyone into the living room after closing the door behind them. I hold my finger in front of my lips, silencing the hyperactive children. “Listen – Rylie’s in her room. She has
no
idea about the party so we need to be
super
quiet. Okay?” They all put their fingers to their lips, following my lead. “Good. Now, go ahead and head out back. I’ll get everyone else out there and then I’ll bring her out.” Nodding their heads, Nancy and John lead the pack, tiptoeing with huge grins on their faces. I don’t know who finds these parties more exciting…the girls or John and Nancy.

Once they’re safely outside, I dart into the kitchen to get Blake. He’s standing by the refrigerator, glass in hand, staring at the floor. I think Harlow’s reaction really upset him.

“Blake – its fine. I’ll take care of Harlow.” I try to sound as sympathetic as I can while grabbing his arm. “Listen, don’t let her ruin all of our hard work.” I open the door and force him outside. “Oh yeah, you know Mrs. Meyer, right? Go say hi!”

I shut the door and pick up the pace to the girls’ rooms, where I hear clinking tea cups in Rylie’s room. I slow down as I approach the room, taking in a deep breath before I open the door. I immediately have to suppress a giggle. If I wasn’t so upset with Harlow and her dumb undecipherable code, I would’ve laughed at seeing her with the pink boa wrapped around her neck and huge tea hat on her head. She twists her body around in the kiddie sized chair and I jerk my head toward the party. She nods in response.

“Whew! Alright girls, it’s too hot for tea in here.” Standing up and taking off her boa, she fans herself dramatically. “Let’s go out back for some fresh air.” Nycole and Kyndall jump up and shriek loudly, running out of the room. Rylie attempts to go as well, but Harlow reaches out and catches her before she can escape. Maintaining her hold, she takes off her hat and puts it on the table. Before passing me, she pauses. “I’m sorry Alex. I need to talk to you. Come see me when things settle down.” I nod my head and let her move by me. Rylie lets go of Harlow’s hand and gives me a quick hug before skipping down the hall after her.

When they reach the door, Harlow stalls Rylie until I meet up with them. I look at Harlow and we both nod to each other, signaling “party time”. I open the door and guide Rylie outside.

“Surprise!” Everyone yells together. Rylie looks at the set up and turns to hug my leg. “Oh – thank you Mommy!” Holding her fist in the air she adds, “Turtle Power!”

There’s a collective laugh among everyone and we watch as she runs to her cake. She grabs the stuffed turtles and holds them in her arms. “Thank you all for coming to my party!” She giggles, eyeing her presents. “Are all of these for
me
?” My little actress. I shake my head at her theatrics and look to Blake as he does the same. When our eyes meet, I melt.

An hour into the party and it’s an absolute success. The best part? Presents, of course.

Harlow gives Rylie a make-up kit. I attempt my first use of “mommy death glare 2.0” on Harlow when I watch her open it. She just laughs. Seriously…this glare needs a lot of work.

John and Nancy give her this annoying mini-ATV that has an obnoxious police siren.

I give her useful and educational things like clothes and books. She always hates my presents. It’s nothing new.

But Blake’s present? His present takes the cake, of course. When she opens it, her eyes double in size and she claps her hands together excitedly. It’s the perfect present for her…a trunk full of Disney dress-up clothes. Every Princess outfit is accounted for. From Cinderella to Ariel to Rapunzel…they’re all there with all the accessories. She runs to him and jumps in his arms. He holds her tightly and then places her on the ground.

He crouches down to speak to her. “Okay Rylie, there are enough Sunday Breakfast Date clothes in there to last a while. I want to see you in all of them, okay?” She nods her head and gives him another huge hug. He watches her as she runs to John and Nancy to show them the Snow White tiara. When he glances my way, I mouth a small,
thank you
. He gives me a slight smile and a nod, and then goes back to watching her as she starts to pull everything out of the trunk.

After presents, we sing the usual birthday song and Rylie blows out her candles, in her new and improved Sleeping Beauty dress I might add. I make her take it off before she eats cake. It’s funny how you can get kids to do anything for cake with no temper tantrums.

Afterwards, we all mingle outside for a while, well…everyone except Blake and Harlow who seem to be going out of their way to avoid each other. After a couple of hours, Rylie’s friends leave and John and Nancy decide to head out. I walk them to the door and give them both an embrace before they leave, thanking them for coming. Closing the door, I turn to head back to the living room, when I hear voices coming from my bedroom. Switching to stealth mode, I quietly tip toe with the voices getting louder as I approach the room. I press my ear to the door.

“Blake, this is ridiculous. When I called you here, it was to help her, as her friend. Not to sleep with her!”

“She’s a grown woman capable of making her own decisions. This isn’t your call to make, Harlow. It’s hers.”

“She can’t make any decisions in the state she’s in, not clear-headed ones. The woman you see is not the woman I helped through the tragedy of losing Derek. She isn’t ready yet. Not for this. You’re completely taking advantage of her vulnerability.”

“Bullshit! She’s perfectly fine. She’s grieved enough. For God’s sakes…let her move on. You know, if I didn’t know better, I would almost say that you want her to need you. I would almost even say that you want her to remain miserable so that you have a reason for existence.”

“Fuck you, Blake! You don’t know shit. You’ve been here for like, what, two seconds? You don’t know her. You know what she wants you to know. I called you because she wasn’t getting any better and I thought maybe you could get through to her. But if I knew this was going to happen, I would have dropped all communication with you a long time ago. Bastard!”

Stepping back from the door, I feel the blood drain from my face. My hands are shaking. A lump starts forming in my throat and the tears start to flow from my eyes. But these tears are different from my usual ones. These tears are tears of anger. I can feel the walls building up around my heart, suffocating any emotion I previously felt for Blake. I’m completely void of anything but rage now. I keep running parts of what I just heard through my mind.