The Makeover (3 page)

“I suppose I owe you an apology.”

“It’s okay.” She backed toward the door. “You take care of yourself.” He nodded, but he appeared utterly dejected. He had light blue eyes and incredibly long lashes. The lids were red rimmed and puffy. She couldn’t imagine loving someone so much that she could forgive infidelity. Feeling on the verge of tears, she gave a short wave and made her way back to her house.

“
Hurry up and change,” Tania called from her SUV. The engine was running and Mykal could practically see the cold air pouring from the air conditioning vents.

Mykal rushed inside her house. The floor plan was similar to Greg’s since the same contractor had built all the homes on this street. She entered in through the den. A fireplace was to her left. The stairs were slightly off center of the door. To the left were the kitchen and a small dining room. She bustled up the stairs, removing the dress as soon as she hit the landing, and hurried into her bedroom. Her original choice of dresses, a cute wine colored dress with a square neckline, lay across the end of her bed. She shimmied into it and changed her pumps to a matching pair.

The restaurant they chose to go to was owned by the Tania’s aunt so they always received excellent service. They were seated immediately and given complimentary glasses of wine. Mykal was studying her menu when she realized she wasn’t actually absorbing a word. She was still thinking about Greg sitting at home, surrounded by mountains of filth. She put her menu down and told Tania what she had seen.

“Wow. He still wants her back?” She shook her head. “He must be a glutton for punishment.”

Mykal ran her finger around the rim of her glass. “I think it’s terribly romantic. I wish I had someone who loved me that much. I’ve never really spoken with Daria, only seen her from afar at a few neighborhood parties. I have no idea if she’s deserving of such devotion.”

“Doesn’t really matter, does it? I mean, she’s moved on and he’s probably better off for it. From the way you described the house, she’d run away screaming even if she did change her mind.”
Tania took a sip of her wine. “It’s a shame he doesn’t have someone to make him over the way you did Mario.”

Mykal sat up straighter. She could do it. She could give Greg a makeover that would make Daria come crawling back to him and never think of straying again.

“I don’
t like the gleam in your eye. What are you thinking?”

She leaned forward. “That I can fix him.”

Tania rolled her eyes. “Don’t you have enough to do managing three jewelry stores?”

Her parents owned two fine jewelry stores in Greenville and a third
thirty minutes away in Williamston. Though she was the official manager, her father performed half her duties. Her mother had been trying to convince him to retire for a year.

“I can do it in my spare time. After all, I have an unlimited supply of it.” Other than the occasional evening with Tania or her parents, her schedule was suddenly clear.

“Don’t even start to feel sorry for yourself. If it’s a man you want, you can replace that idiot with a snap of your fingers.”

Their waiter arrived and they placed their orders.

“You’re one to talk. You haven’t dated seriously in months.”

“There’s a difference between not dating because you’re mourning a loser and not dating because of lack of time. Classes this semester are kicking my cute little ass. Aside from the occasional hook up, I’m tapped.”
Tania was in her final year of school to become a RN. They were both twenty-five and had been best friends since high school. Tania had started school late, working to save money. And then she had taken off two semesters after her father passed away her sophomore year of college.

Mykal grinned. “Oh, so that’
s the reason behind that look Demarion gave you and the reason you still have his number in your phone.”

“Ugh. No.
I looked his number up in the phone directory. You saw that Lexus of his? He parks it outside his mother’s mobile home. As in, he lives with his mother in a mobile home. And drives a Lexus.” Their food arrived and they were quiet for several minutes as they dug into their entrées. “I’m lucky to have time to meet up with you for the occasional evening. I really don’t have room for a man and the drama they bring.”

Mykal twirled her fork in her pasta. “Suppose you could find a guy who was drama free?”

Tania rolled her eyes. Her lashes were ridiculously thick and long due to the falsies she’d applied. Mykal was also wearing them. Though they didn’t have men to impress, they liked to dress to kill if only to feel good about themselves. And the admiring stares of men as they sashayed by didn’t hurt.

“You might as well be asking me to find a pink unicorn.
”

“What was wrong with the guy your mom set you up w
ith? He owned his own business, right?”

She nodded. “Yeah
, a sign making shop. He was nice enough but he had a kid. You know my policy. I don’t do men with kids.”

“Yeah, and it’s utterly selfish.”

“No. It’s honest
. I want to be the center of my man’s universe with no exceptions. And I don’t want to date the type of deadbeat who doesn’t put his kid first.”

They finished their meals and went to the bathroom to freshen up before hitting their next destination. Mykal smoothed a hand over her chin length bob. The cut was severe but it suited her facial structure
. Tania ran a brush over the back her short pixie cut in brisk strokes before fingering the spiky curls in front into perfect peaks.

“Are we going to say hello to your aunt before we leave?”

“
Aunt Helen is on a cruise with her husband this week.” Tania applied a fresh coat of lipstick. “Any thoughts as to which club you want to go to?”

“It doesn’t really matter
since I can’t stay out too late. I’ve got work in the morning and I want to get started on cleaning up Greg’s act.”

Tania laughed. “The poor guy, he doesn’t have any idea what’s in store for him.”

Mykal breathed a sigh of relief as she exited the Williamston branch of Cooper Jewelry
the next afternoon. It was her least favorite location to visit. James Sloan, the assistant manager, was twice her age and had been working for her father for ten years. She readily admitted that he had more experience than she, but she was tired of his resentful attitude. Whenever she wanted to make changes or updates, she was met with reluctant obedience and pessimism.

She was glad to have the visit over. Now she could return to Greenville and hopefully grab some lunch with Tania or her parents.
She unlocked her doors with the key fob and climbed behind the wheel.

“Mykal!”

Frowning, she paused with her hand on the door handle. When she spotted Mario approaching her, she wished that she’d pretended not to hear him. But she’d hesitated too long and he was upon her in an instant. “What are you doing here?” she asked, warily. When she’d met him, she wouldn’t have figured Mario for the stalking type. But then she also hadn’t pegged him as a cheater or the sort who’d show up at her house in a drunken stupor. “How did you know where I was?” She didn’t have a set schedule for when she would drop in on the stores. The surprise audits were her father’s idea. Fortunately, he had excellent staff. She’d yet to catch any of them doing anything untoward.

“I called each of the stores,” Mario replied, allaying her fear that he’d begun following her. Then he
stepped closer and gripped her car door so that she couldn’t close it. “Mykal, I’d like to talk to you, please. Ever since…that day, you’ve cut me off. Please let me explain.”

“We’ve done all the talking that I need to do. And I really haven’t appreciated the drunken messages, texts, and visits.”

He had the decency to appear embarrassed. “I’m sorry. Please, Mykal, if you’ll just hear me out, you won’t have to see me again if you don’t want to. Let me buy you lunch.”

She sighed. She should say no. But for the first time in week
s, he was sober. Maybe if she let him get this off his chest, it would help him to accept that she was never taking him back. “Fine,” she said. “Follow me back to Greenville.”

She had a craving for the pasta they served at Helen’s, but she didn’t dare take Mario to her favorite restaurant. For some reason, she’d never gotten around to taking him there
. And she refused to take him there now. She didn’t want to risk him taking a liking to the restaurant and showing up there in the future. Also, she rather hoped that this would be her last encounter with him. So she led him to a chain seafood place with good fried shrimp.

Mykal got o
ut of her car and waited for Mario by the entrance. They’d arrived in the lull between the lunch and dinner rush so the hostess seated them without delay. By the time the waiter brought their drinks, Mykal was ready to place her order and she nudged Mario into doing the same. The sooner this was over with the better.

She sipped her tea and observed, “You don’t look too bad for a guy who should have one hell of a hangover today.”
Other than a slight gray cast to his usually healthy toned pecan brown skin, he was none the worse for wear.
It was easy to see what had first attracted her to him. He had dark brown eyes that were nearly black framed by thick curly lashes.
His skin was smooth. Though he was almost thirty he could pass for someone much younger. She’d encouraged him to grow a goatee to give his boyish good looks some edge. He was trim and fit, almost too thin. At 5’7”, he was the same height as she.

He winced and rubbed his temples even as she watched him. “This was too important for me to lie in bed at home all day. I really appreciate you talking to me. I wish we could have done this sooner.”

She’d programmed her phone to send his calls directly to voicemail and she’d refused to see him whenever he came around. Some things didn’t require a conversation to be understood. “Talking about it isn’t going to change anything.”

He leaned forward, his expression earnest. “You don’t understand-”

She arched an eyebrow. “You weren’t screwing another woman on your couch? That was someone else’s ass I saw?”

“Well, no… But, please,
baby, you have to hear me out.” He reached across to the table to grab at her hand and knocked over his glass of cola.

Ice and soda came at her in an unavoidable tidal wave. Mykal gasped as her thin cotton dress was quickly soaked.

“
Damn, Mykal, I’m so sorry!” Mario grabbed his napkin and began swiping at the table but that only forced more of his drink to pour into her lap.

She finally stood
up. The initial splash had hit her in the chest so she was wet from the mid-chest down to just above her knees. Mario got up and started dabbing at her breasts until she slapped his hands away. She knew it was an accident, but she couldn’t help being irritated with him. If it weren’t for him and his cheating ways, she could be having lunch with Tania or her parents right now. In a dry dress. “Just…let me handle it. I’ll be right back.” She made her way through the restaurant, feeling like all eyes were on her.

Surveying
the damage in the ladies’ room mirror, she was relieved to note that the stain wasn’t as noticeable as she’d feared amid the swirls in the black and purple cotton. She gathered up the dress at the front and turned on the water. Fortunately, she was alone in the bathroom and she didn’t have to worry about flashing anyone.

She rinsed and squeezed out the cotton until she couldn’t detect the cola stain. But now her dress was
even wetter and wrinkled. She dried it with paper towels first and then stood in front of the hand drier for a few minutes but she lacked the patience to keep at it until it was completely dry.

By the time Mykal returned to the table, their food had arrived. Mario sat nervously picking at his seafood platter.
The table was clean and a fresh drink sat in the corner, far from Mario’s reach. He stood as she approached the table. “Baby, I’m so sorry.”

Mykal gritted her teeth at the endearment and waved aside his apology. “Forget it. It was an accident.” She sat down and picked up her fork.
The sooner she finished eating, the sooner she could leave.

“Mykal, I never meant to hurt you. Before it was even over, I regretted it.”

“Spare me the details.”

“You need to understand. Before you, I’ve never had women notice me. Then you helped me with my wardrobe and my hair and suddenly, women were complimenting me and flirting with me. It all went to my head. I’ve been turning down women for weeks and I…well, I had a weak moment.” He shrugged. “It was more of an accident than anything.”

She pursed her lips and resisted the urge to yell at him or throw her drink in his face. “Mario, that woman did not get to your house by accident. Your pants and hers did not come off by accident. And you sure as hell did not penetrate her
by accident
!”

“Baby-”

“Don’t call me that,” she snapped. “I’m not your baby.”

“Mykal, please, I made a mistake, but I still love you. More than ever. Screwing up like this, it made me realize how much you mean to me. Being with Celia was a serious error in judgement. But sometimes, we need to make mistakes to learn from them. Please, can you forgive me? I’d like us to move forward. We’d be stronger for this. I know now. I’ll never cheat on you again.” He reached across the table, carefully avoiding her glass, and took her hand. “I love you so much, Mykal,” he said, his eyes filled with tears.

Sympathy tugged at her heart, but she knew there was no going back.
The image of him having sex with another woman was burned in her memory. She’d never be able to trust him again. His infidelity had killed whatever feelings she’d had for him. “I’m sorry, Mario.” She pulled her hand from beneath his. “Some mistakes can’t be fixed.”