Filed to story: Can’t Get Enough Of You
And when I had, it turned out that she was amazing in every way possible.
Apparently in bed, too.
And now, she was gone.
My phone rang. Austin’s name popped up on the caller ID.
“Are you awake?” he asked.
“I am.”
“Breakfast?”
“Sure.”
“I’ll meet you at Farina.”
“Let’s do Café Noir,” I said.
Austin agreed, and I showered and got dressed to meet him.
An hour later, Austin and I sat at the table where Izzy and I had talked last night. I glanced toward the counter where everyone placed their orders, but it didn’t look like she was working.
But she’d worked late last night, so her absence made sense. Still, I was disappointed. I felt a growing sense of uneasiness.
Austin and I had grown up together, and I was getting into business with him, too. He was going to NYC with me so that we could start this thing together.
He was the one person I could talk to about anything.
“So, ready to get rolling?” he asked after we ordered coffee and a breakfast special with scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, the works.
“Yeah…”
“That doesn’t sound very convincing,” Austin said.
The waitress brought us our coffees.
“Excuse me,” I said to her. “I met a woman here last night, a waitress. Carey. Izzy. Is there any way I can get in touch with her?”
The waitress frowned at me. “Would you like to lodge a complaint? Or a compliment? You can talk to our manager.”
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “I just want to talk to her. Personally. I didn’t get her contact details when I saw her and I’d like to get in touch.”
“We’re not allowed to hand out personal information,” she said tightly.
“Come on, Gloria,” I said, reading her name tag. “Give a guy a break.”
Her frown grew tighter.
“I don’t think so. Now can I get you anything else to eat?”
I shook my head sadly, and she disappeared.
Austin looked at me over the rim of his coffee cup.
“What was that all about?” he asked after setting the cup down.
I shrugged. “It’s just a girl I met here… I was hoping I could see her again. Or stay in touch.”
“Like… in a relationship?”
I shook my head. “No. I mean, I’m going to the other side of the country. That wouldn’t make sense. I just…”
I wasn’t sure what I wanted her number for, but it felt wrong to let something so incredible slip through my fingers. Nothing with her had been normal. It had felt so good. So right. Being with her had felt like being home.
And I wanted that back. I wanted to be able to hold onto that.
“So, it was a one-night stand?” Austin asked.
I nodded. “I guess that’s all it was.”
“You’re better off not having contact, man,” Austin said. “You don’t need any strings attached right now, not as you’re about to jet off to a new city thousands of miles away. It’s better this way.”
I nodded. Maybe Austin was right. It was better to not see her again.
And yet, I couldn’t stop thinking about her.
After breakfast, I went back home to pack a few things and make a few calls to finalize the last things before I left. The movers came at noon, and they took all my furniture in one big truck, destined for a storage unit. I followed them in my car and helped unload everything into the climate-controlled unit. I remembered what Izzy had said to me.
You don’t have the hands of someone who runs a chainsaw for a living.
I chuckled. She’d been so quick-witted, and I loved that about her.
If only you could see me now, Carey, I thought. Moving heavy furniture and doing manual labor with the best of them.
Had she thought of me as a spoiled rich kid? Lots of people thought that. As if I didn’t have a clue about the real world because of my wealth.