Page 38 of Picture Perfect Love

Joshua

Iwoke up to the sound of ringing from the phone. For a brief second, I was transported back in time. The alarm… Abby’s alarm.

It was time to get up and start our day. Breakfast, workout, sex in the shower, dinner plans, off to work. I reached for the feeling of her warm body, but all I felt was the empty, cold sheets.

My heart sank all over again as I swatted towards the phone, silencing the blaring bell. Only for it to start all over again. Finally, I picked up and shouted an answer.

“It’s me,” Camille’s voice came on the line. “I thought you might be wallowing in bed still. It’s time for our weekly executive meeting. You’re late.”

“You got by just fine all those years without me coming to the damn things. I’m sure you can make it through today.”

“Look, as much as I loathe the idea of seeing you stumbling in here all groggy, half-shaven, and wreaking of alcohol, not to mention the half hour or more we’d have to sit around waiting just for that to happen… You were on a roll, Joshua. No reason to start slacking off now. Besides, we need to talk to you.”

“And what happens if I don’t come?” I grumbled. “You fire me? Maybe that’s what everyone needs.”

“If you don’t come into the office, we organize a family dinner and have the same talk this evening. Only this time, Mother would be invited and clued in on everything. So it happens now without her, or tonight—with her. Your choice.”

I drug my hand down my face. She was right. I could feel the half-shaven stubble on my chin and cheeks. “Are you seriously threatening to tell on me to Mom if I don’t come?”

“Yes. Yes, I am,” she replied unapologetically.

I clicked to end the call and slammed the phone back down, swinging my legs over to the edge of the bed. I couldn’t resist looking over my shoulder one last time to the empty side of the bed, half hoping that I had made a mistake at first and that Abby would suddenly be lying there. When she wasn’t, I shook it off and stood to my feet.

Forty-five minutes later I was walking into the Heartstring headquarters to find all of my siblings waiting for me in the boardroom. There was already a heavy uncomfortable silence in the air as I marched straight to the coffee station to pour myself a cup, not even bothering to hide the additional pour from my flask in my suit pocket. I could hear Lucas part his lips to speak, but he kept it in when Camille kicked him under the table.

“Let’s hear it,” I said after taking a few sips. “What’s so important?”

“We want you to get Abby back,” Jada announced, her eyes full of hope. Always the romantic.

“What?” I gaped. “You’ve got to be kidding me. You called me all the way down here to discuss… my love life!?”

“It’s not just about your love life,” Camille argued. “Come on, Josh. You know it as well as we do. She was good for you. She was the only thing that’s ever managed to inspire you to start turning things around. Some people need a hobby or a passion or just their career to help them put their best feet forward.”

“Or drugs. Or booze,” I quipped, toasting my mug to them.

“Or love,” Jada swooned.

“And when’s the last time you had a boyfriend?” I snapped at her.

She recoiled, dropping her solemn eyes to the table. I immediately felt bad. Jada was the baby and an eternal optimist in addition to being a hopeless romantic. We all hated giving her a hard time.

“I’m sorry,” I submitted, taking my seat across from them. “So… what is this? Some sort of intervention?”

“That’s exactly what this is,” Camille nodded.

“Look at you,” Lucas said, shaking his head. “I was finally starting to come around and trust in you. I could see what you might be capable of. Now you’re backsliding and letting all of us down.”

“It’s a feeling we should all be used to,” I grumbled.

“Whatever it takes,” Camille sighed. “You have to get her back.”

I sat for a moment, taking in the desperate expressions on their faces. They only wanted the best for me. Deep down I knew that. I also knew as well as they did that Abby was the best. I didn’t deserve her. I didn’t deserve anything I had. The money. The job. The penthouse suite. But maybe, just maybe, if I had tried a little harder with her, I could have pulled it off, and everything else would have fallen into place.

I started considering what I had in my arsenal. Whatever it takes, like Camille had said. When we first met, I was convinced she was the one. It was just like what every book, movie, and song had ever described the feeling to be. While milking her friends for info about how I could convince her just to date me, I also paid close attention to anything that might help me after that. No matter what Abby thought, it wasn’t just about winning her over. It was about giving her the life she always dreamed of.

Between her friends and all the things she shared with me during our talks, I had pieced together an entire vision she had for her dream life, a dream she never expected to come true. Just things she would want if she could have anything. The picture it painted only made me love her more, because it wasn’t just a beautiful dream. It was all of the things I always wanted and never knew it. She invented a dream for me. A reason to live, to be a better man.

I could give her that life, I thought. Maybe it wasn’t too late. And maybe I didn’t even have to be a part of it, if she didn’t want me to be. She deserved to have what she wanted, with or without me. Especially after all the trouble I had caused her.

---