Page 37 of Takeover

I texted her briefly yesterday to tell her I was at Ethan’s. Her response to my text was to tell me she would be over today for a full report.

“Hold on.” I grab my iPad and call Alan on FaceTime.

“That looks like the evil one’s cooking. Did you two call me to torture me? I can practically smell it. Please tell me it’s not pot roast,” Alan says.

“Okay. We won’t tell you.” I say.

Vickie makes a point to put a piece of her food in front of the iPad before eating it.

“Tara’s gonna tell us about her weekend with Ethan Bradford. Pick your jaw up off the floor, Alan.”

I take a deep breath and try to bury the embarrassment from what happened between us this morning. I try to keep my voice matter of fact as I tell my siblings every last detail of the past three days.

“Wait!” Alan yells. “You marched into his office, caused a scene, and he brought you flowers. What the fuck?”

“Well, he was an asshole to me,” I explain.

“But he wouldn’t have been if you didn’t barge into his office. And it’s not like you’ve been exactly nice to him.”

“Boy, shut up,” I say to my brother. “Anyway, we agreed to one weekend, and it’s over, but did he have to be such an asshole? He fucks and ducks. No goodbye. He just runs out of here when his ex-wife calls.”

“How was the sex?” Vick asks.

“On that note, I’ve got to go.” Alan says right before he ends the call.

“Best I’ve ever had. Stuff that they write about in erotic novels. I’ve never had sex that good, and I doubt I ever will again. Makes you forget your name and makes you want to climb the walls good,” I tell her.

“A weekend of great sex. What’s the problem?”

“None,” I say, clearing my throat.

“Liar. I told you to fuck him and walk away, not fuck him and catch feelings.”

“You make it seem like I caught an STD. I didn’t catch feelings. Well, other than anger. It’s just humiliating. He fucked me, but the minute he gets distracted by another woman, he runs out.”

“Yeah, the fuck and duck was bullshit, but come on, Tar. He could have ducked Saturday morning, but he took you home and had you around his son for two days. His son, Tar. He adores that boy. No damn way would he just bring someone to fuck to spend the weekend hanging out with his kid. Remember how protective of us Dad was after Mother left? He was seeing Cheryl for months before he introduced us, and that was at a restaurant, not in our house.”

I pretend to ignore Vickie by focusing on my food, but Vickie is patient. She eats, but gives me side glances, waiting for me to speak.

“You’re looking for something to take offense at,” she continues. “You don’t even know what happened. If she’s anything like our mother, God help him. Who knows why she called him? She probably knows he’ll come running for the sake of their son.”

“Whatever. Not my problem. And I disagree. I’m not looking to be offended. That shit this morningwasoffensive. He left before I could even find my panties. You’d be pissed too if someone did that to you.”

“Hell, I probably would have been happy to see him go. I don’t do clingy, but, yeah, fuck that guy.”

I leave out the part about how Ethan held me so close last night, it was like he was afraid to let me go for fear I’d slip away. Or when I woke up this morning, I opened my eyes to find him looking at me. When our eyes caught, he traced a finger across my cheek like he was trying to commit my face to memory, but the moment was interrupted when Vincent burst through the door and jumped on the bed.

“Forget him. It’s over. I’m going to focus on meeting someone without the baggage of an ex-wife. Oh, and guess who called me about an hour ago? Michael.”

Vickie starts to cough at the mention of Michael’s name, but she catches herself and rolls her eyes.

“I hope you told him to fuck off.”

“I didn’t answer. I’ve had enough of men for the moment.”

“He’s an ass, but you were never going to move to Denver. You’re New Yorker through and through.”

I nod at my sister, refusing to think of either Michael or Ethan. In fact, I need to put all my energy into finding a job that’s a good fit. Maybe after that, I’ll be ready to find a relationship.

---