Sweet Little Thing(9)

Gravity has got the best of me.

She takes a hold,

won’t let me go.

She rips me into pieces.



Coming home,

I’m left alone with nothing but a box

of mismatched socks

and missing puzzle pieces.



I’m lost but never found.

I’m riding the wind

and coming down

until I’m swept away again.



You’ve said cut ties.

You’ve said count lies.

Break your best intentions and leave no trace.

All the hurt can be erased if you stay with me on the surface.



I’m lost but never found.

I’m riding the wind

and coming down

until I’m swept away again.



That song had way too much depth and meaning for a f*ckwit like Chad. I wasn’t at all bummed he wouldn’t get to sing it. I had no idea what would happen with the lawsuit, but I chose that night to keep it to myself and wait until after the wedding to bring it up with Mia.

I shuffled up the stairs to our loft with the weight of the world on my shoulders. As soon as I opened the door, a sweet scent flooded my senses. It smelled like Mia had been baking. The only light on in the apartment was coming from above the stove. It was seven o’clock, but it appeared Mia had already gone to bed. I walked into the kitchen area with June bouncing around at my feet. I picked her up and leaned over the stove. Wrapped in cellophane were three chocolate croissants. Mia had been baking goodies like that most of her life during the summers when she would come to New York and work in her father’s café. She rarely ever made stuff like that at home. I slid one out and devoured it while June tried ineffectively to chomp off a piece. She squirmed around in my arms.

“Why aren’t you in your crate?” I said to her. She looked at me with her big, round puppy-dog eyes. “I’m a sucker, I would have let you out too.”

I headed down the short hallway. We called our apartment a loft because it had one large room with high, gabled ceilings. The walls that separated the bedrooms and bathroom didn’t reach the ceiling, so essentially we lived in a loft with some walls.

Our bedroom was dark but there was enough light coming from the hallway that I could see Mia curled up under the covers. I went to her side. Once I moved out of the doorway, the light shone on her face. She was sound asleep at seven o’clock. I took a quick shower and slid into bed in my boxers. She stirred and opened her eyes just a crack.

“Hi, baby,” she said. “What time is it?”

“It’s seven fifteen.”

“Oh my gosh. I was just gonna take a little nap. I made croissants,” she mumbled, then yawned with her eyes still closed.

“I had one. They’re delicious.”

She scooted toward me, sank down and then nestled into my chest. We wrapped our arms around each other. She was so warm, like a little oven.

“Do you want me to get up and make dinner?”

“No, I had a long day. I just want to lie here with you,” I said.

“I’ve been exhausted too.”

“Is Jenny making you crazy with the wedding planning?”

“Kind of.” She said it in a way that made me think she didn’t want to put Jenny down. Mia was insanely loyal; she never talked shit about people even though we both knew Jenny was driving her mad.

“She’s not pregnant,” I said.

“I know. It sucks.”

“It will happen for them.” A few seconds later, I laughed to myself, thinking about Tyler in the bar earlier that day.

“What are you laughing about?”

“Today Tyler and I got into a debate over who sings a song. He got everyone in the bar involved.”

She rolled over and tucked herself into me so that I was spooning her. “What song?”

“Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress.”

Through a yawn she said, “Oh that’s the Hollies.”

I laughed quietly and then moments later, I felt her go boneless. She was asleep. I nuzzled my face into her hair, inhaling her sweet, clean scent. “God, I love you,” I whispered.





Saturday morning, with Mia cuddled in my arms, I finally asked her, “What was it that made you come around? When did you know you loved me?”

“I knew the day I met you.” She kissed my chest and then laid her head flat again before she started rambling. “I was stupid, Will. It took me a long time to see that. I wish we could take that year back. My father would still be alive and I would just meet you on a flight somewhere. We would meet and decide right then and there to live the rest of our lives together in some paradise, playing music on a beach. You know?”

“I think everything happens for a reason. All those months getting to know you… Even if we weren’t together, it meant a lot to me. I don’t want to take it back and I don’t think you should want to either. I just meant when did it click in your head?”

“When I saw Lauren.”

“Who’s Lauren?”

“This woman I met in the airport, the same day I met you actually.”

Something rang a bell about what Mia was saying, even though we’d never talked about it. “Wait a minute. I met a Lauren in the airport that day too.”