Page 14 of Their Little Sugar Plum
Lyle pauses shoveling food into his mouth long enough to shrug at Austin. “Hmm. It was, what, breakfast?”
Austin swallows. “Yeah, yesterday.”
“Yesterday breakfast?” Mikayla grabs the dish of potatoes and sticks the whole thing in the microwave. “You need more food.”
“Thanks,” Austin says. “We’re so fucking hungry—I mean, we’re really hungry.”
At least they’re making an attempt to be polite.
Lyle finishes everything on his plate and eyes the microwave timer, likely counting down along with it to when he’ll get more potatoes. “Mason, man, you asked what we’re doing here—but what about you? Why are you here? I thought you were spending Christmas in Florida.”
“Um, that.” I hold in a sigh. “Things didn’t work out with Retta. We’re splitting up.”
“Shit, sorry.” Lyle frowns. “Are you okay?”
“I’m as okay as can be.”
Austin smirks as he looks between me and Jonah and then over to Mikayla, whose back is turned while she waits on the microwave. “You seem pretty okay.”
Fuck, I know what this must look like. Me, in my forties, pursuing a woman the same age as my daughter.
What am I doing here? Mikayla couldn’t possibly want me here when she already has Jonah.
The microwave beeps at the exact same time as Austin’s and Lyle’s phones. They both look at their devices and their eyes widen in shock.
“We gotta go.” Austin stands abruptly.
Lyle stands, too. “So sorry, thank you so much for dinner, Mikayla. It was very nice to meet you.”
They take their plates to the sink. I can tell they’re torn—they want to help clean up, but whatever notification they just got, they can’t ignore it.
Jonah waves them off. “I’ll handle the dishes. If you find Ariel…please, take care of her. She’s one of my favorite people.”
They nod solemnly. Lyle says, “We will.”
“I’ll walk you out,” I say as they move to the door. “I should head home, anyway. Thank you again, Mikayla and Jonah. Dinner was really great.”
Mikayla’s mouth opens and closes. She starts forward, but Jonah takes her hand.
“Let him go.” Jonah’s voice is a whisper, but I hear it just the same. “It’s okay, pet. I’m still here.”
I feel like a fucking asshole. But I can’t keep pretending. Seeing Lyle and Austin, and that look they gave me and Mikayla, it brought everything back. With Retta, I tried to be proper and calm and vanilla. That didn’t work, because that isn’t me. With Mikayla, I’m going to try to be, what, young? That’s even more preposterous.
Austin and Lyle are out the door, already out of sight down the hall. They must have gotten a new lead on Ariel. I follow behind, feeling like my my life is ending. Every instinct screams at me to go back.
But this is best for everyone—I should go my own way before I get even more invested, before I fall harder for Mikayla.
I make my way down the stairs and out of the building, out to the middle of the parking lot. The streetlights barely penetrate the darkness. My heart feels as if it’s being carved from my chest. Slowly. With a dull knife. It’s cold, probably the coldest day southern California has seen this year. I hunch my shoulders against the chill, and against the pain in my chest.
This hurts. Leaving her hurts.
I’m being an old fool. Shouldn’t I try for happiness when I can? Running away from the potential is only going to hurt more in the end. Retta’s betrayal was on her, not me. I thought learned a lesson from it, to never lose myself in a woman again…but maybe it wasn’t the right lesson. Because losing myself in Mikayla feels safe.
I turn around. Is it too late to go back inside, to knock on her apartment door, to ask for another chance?
The main door of her complex opens before I reach it. And none other than Mikayla rushes outside.
She isn’t even wearing a coat, just that little red velvet dress.
