Fall Girl

Margot

Aurora's tone reflects her confusion. "But you could have said no to him. You could have used your brother's car or mine, and to be quite honest, Blake has a quite impressive collection of cars."

I was speechless, and now I am thinking why on earth I didn't say no to Kev. Why hadn't I declined Kev's offer in the first place? I was so lost in his charm that I couldn't figure out what I was doing. Does he have that power over me?

I had nothing to respond so I decided to change the topic. "Enough about Kev; he's not that important. Tell me about our Saturday night."

Before Aurora could reply, my phone buzzed with Dane's call. He requested a formal dinner setup at Tappa Italiana for ten people, including myself. It was a farewell gathering for one of the company's editors. After I had hung up the call, I turned toward Aurora. "Can you set up the best formal dinner setup for about ten people by 7 o'clock today?"

Aurora nodded, looking quite decided. "I'd do anything for you, Mar."

Before she could launch into Kev's issues again, I turned the conversation to another topic. "I don't know whether I should call Thea and ask her to come. I don't want to push her if she feels she needs space from Blake, or anyone related to him."

Aurora suggested me. "Whatever is going on between them is their business, and we don't know the story. I think that you should call her and invite her for the night. It shows you are there to support her, no matter what her decision may be."

After lunch, Aurora dropped me off at the office. When I walked into the office, Justin was on his phone. He wasn't paying attention to me, even though I was standing right next to him, so I lightly hit his table, which startled him for a moment. "Space out in chatting?" I asked with a playful grin.

He put down his phone and shook his head. "Nothing important."

I left his desk after telling him to call a meeting about the new draft with all team members. unexpectedly meeting was long that it ended at the time of dinner.

During dinner, I asked Mr. Ross about the new editor for the political magazine after his resignation. Mr. Ross responded, "I've made my recommendations; now it's up to the board to decide."

Dane chimed in, adding that the decision was pending, and I would be informed later in the week. After dinner, Kev and I once more found ourselves in his car, where there was an awkward silence. Suddenly, my phone pinged, prompting Kev to ask, "Phil?" as he drove. 

I glanced at him, teasing, "Now who's prying?" 

With a grin, he admitted, "All right, I'll go first. This fall, I'm taking a break from girls, so to answer your question, I plan to be single until spring." 

I don't know why but hearing that he is single makes me feel good. I was tempted to sit on him and start exploring his perfectly toned body, but I kept my feelings in check and told him, "Phil and I are no longer together."\

He ran a hand in his hair and inquired. "Why?"

I told him, "I wanted something different from life, and he wanted something different too, so we went our separate ways."

When he pulled up at my building, I said goodbye, stepping out of his car before my nerves got the better of me, or I entertained too many ideas about kissing him. I took a few steps, then on a weird whim, felt compelled to turn around. I smiled to see him waiting for me to be out of sight of the building before coming in. I waved him before hurrying inside.

......................................

"I'm truly sorry, Miss Parker," Dr. Goodwin's assistant apologized over the phone. "I'm afraid that Dr. Goodwin won't be able to move your appointment for today."

"But it's an emergency. I can't share anything with you except my name, so please kindly mention my name to him. I am sure he'll reschedule my appointment," I insisted before ending the call.

After waiting for 20 minutes, the hospital called, informing me that my appointment would begin in an hour. Without wasting any additional time, I booked a ride and left my office.

Standing in front of Dr. Goodwin's door 15 minutes before my appointment, I stared at his nameplate. "Dr. Reynold Goodwin, head of the psychiatry department."

I'm having nightmares again instead of taking my medicines," I impatiently informed him."

Maybe due to the workload, it's happening," Dr. Goodwin suggested.

I said in one breath. "Yeah, you might be correct because everything in my life has been a mess for the past week, plus Kev is being extremely annoying..."

Dr. Goodwin interrupted. "Wait, who's Kev, and what's his deal with you being annoying?"

I blinked, reaching into my mind in shock at how I'd never spoken about him. How could Dr. Goodwin not know? I rummaged for words to explain. "Kev was my best friend until we were fifteen."

He asked another question, "And after fifteen, what happened?"

I said, "He is gone; he has disappeared from my life without telling me anything."

The doctor cleared his throat. "Why do you never talk about his name? You are coming here for eight years. How could you have missed such an important person in your life all those years?"

Even though the back of my neck hurt, I leaned back and told Dr. Goodwin the whole story about Kev. He wrote down something and asked, "Why did he leave Glisten without telling you? And why didn't you ask him? You were best friends after all."

I was shifting my weight on seat. "I don't know the reason but after that nasty argument, I told Kev that I hate him."

"If you hate him, then why did you invite him to your party?" Dr. Goodwin asked. 

I turned my head to the right and said, "Because he works at my office; he's my boss's son."

"This is Kev Moller. Are we talking about Dane Moller's son?" Dr. Goodwin asked as he looked at me.

 When I said yes, he wrote something again. This time, it took a little while. Then he stated, "Kev was a vital part of your life, and when he left, there was a gap created in your life..."

"There wasn't a void, but in case there was, Aurora has filled that void," I cut him off before he could say anything else. "He used to be an important part of my life, but not anymore." 

Dr. Goodwin asked, "So your nightmares came back after Kev came back to Glisten?"

I stood up straight. "My nightmares have nothing to do with Kev Moller. Can we please talk about something else? I don't want to talk about Kev any longer; his mention suffocates me."

He set up another appointment for me and gave me some medicine. Because I didn't feel like going to work, I called Blaine and asked him to drop my laptop at my place on his way home. Thea called me while I was in a cab, and I answered. "Hello."

She cleared her throat. "I'm sorry, I was busy at work yesterday when you called, but I got your message. What happened?"

I told her, "I don't want to pry into your life, and I don't know much about you and Blake. I called you yesterday to invite you over our girls' night out at the Galaxy this Saturday."

She asked in a shaking voice, "Does Blake know about this invitation?"

"No, he doesn't, and our girls' night out has nothing to do with him. Since you've always been around when we hang out in the Galaxy and you're coming." I told her in my firm tone "I'm not going to take no for an answer."

She chuckled. "Count me in." 

I smiled. "Thats like my girl." I ended the call.

When I arrived home, Mrs. Ryan was in the hall. She asked me, "What happened?"

I replied, "Not feeling well; I want to sleep in silence."

She informed me that my car has back, later she took Goldie with her.

After she left, I went straight to bed, took my medicines, closed my eyes, and drifted off to sleep while thinking about Kev.