Chapter 15: Skylar

Spending the night with Cole was the best experience ever. He is the most thoughtful and skillful man in bed. Plus, I cannot believe that I dragged him to get a tattoo. It's a weird tattoo that I have chosen, but I love it.

I am cooking breakfast for us when suddenly I hear Cole come down from the room. His eyes are blank. They hold no emotion. I am scared at the emptiness in them. I place the breakfast down for Cole, but he just ignores it and says, "Skylar, there has been an emergency at work. I need to leave early. I will drop you home on my way to work."

With that, he leaves. I get a sick feeling in my stomach at his coldness. I leave the breakfast as is and go up to change. When I come down, I hear him talking on the phone. He motions me to stay quiet.

"Yes, father, I will be there as soon as possible, no I spent the night at the loft downtown. I will see you at the office."

With that, he turns, and we leave the loft. The entire time Cole is all tensed up and quiet. Gone is the warm Cole I was falling for. I get a sick feeling that last night was a mistake.

"Cole, when will we meet next?" I ask him.

"I will call you." He replies without looking at me.

I lean in to kiss him, but he draws back. I hate the feeling of being rejected. It is as if there is a pain in my heart.

I shut the door and see him speed off. I felt dirty as if I was a prostitute he used and threw. I hate this feeling. I needed a shower. Why did I allow him to bed me so soon? I walk to my apartment and see Lisa coming out of hers.

"Hey girl, are you just getting home?" She asks.

I nod, feeling ashamed. " It was too late to come back."

"So, you really like him?" She asks. I nod again, opening my apartment and walking in. She follows me. "Then why do you look like a ghost Skylar? Did that jerk do something? Do you want me to kick him in his balls?"

Give it to Lisa. She will always find a way to make me laugh. I look at her and say, "He started acting weird after taking a bath. We were good till we talked about breakfast. It looked like he was in a hurry."

"Did you sleep with him?" she asks. I nod. "So, you feel that now you had sex with him, he's lost interest in you?"

I nod again.

"Skylar, look, I know he is super-rich and all, but I think he likes you more than you know. You should give him some time. He might genuinely be busy." She tries to calm me down. Somehow it worked.

Lisa gets up to leave and says, "I am going to work, but when I return, let's have a girl's night. It seems like you need it bad."

I smile at her offer, and she leaves for work. I go to the kitchen to get water when I start thinking about what Lisa said. I think I am just overreacting to Cole not paying attention to me. He did seem annoyed about the phone call with his father. So, maybe his behavior had nothing to do with me.

To keep my mind off Cole, I start working on my assignments and some recipes I was working on for Mr. Albert's class. He is always looking for recipes he can put on his cookbook under our name, and I wish to have at least one of mine on his cookbook.

I also call my mom. She expects me to call her every day, which gets too much for me because she expects me to move to Texas. I have been dodging her question on my move for a long time now. She then comes up with ways to make me feel guilty. This is my life, and I want to live it my way. I get that she is worried, but I can take care of myself. I love my mom, but she can get over-protective sometimes, and that pisses me off.

Today, when I called her, she asked me about the school, and then she gave me the usual town gossip. Then she moved on to giving me a lecture on how I am making the wrong decision by not moving to Texas.

When that did not go as planned, she started asking me to move to a better part of the town. "Skylar, look for a better apartment at least. The area where you stay is very dangerous. Just the other day, we heard on TV that your neighborhood was swamped with wolves."

"Mom, I know that you feel it is not safe, but this place is cheap, and I do not go out after 10:00 PM, so I am safe. You do not have to worry about me."

"Fine, do as you wish. You never listen to me. If your sister were with us today, I would not have to listen to you defy me." She said, sniffing.

Here we go on the guilt trip. She always uses her tears to make me feel bad. I have started tuning her out when she starts to cry. Honestly, that's the only way I can be sane.

"Mom, I will look into the apartments if that will make you feel better," I tell her after 10 minutes of listening to her crib about me being a bad daughter.

"By the way, Henry was over last night for dinner. He misses you and wants to meet you." My mom loves Henry. If only she knew what he and his so-called fiance did to me.

I feel myself getting angry, "Why was he there, mom?"

"He wants to meet you; hence I gave him your number. Plus, I even told him you are single." Her voice lifting up excitedly.

I sigh and tell her, "Mom, I am not going back to Henry. That chapter of my life is closed."

"At least talk to him, you both can start as friends, and probably it will turn into more."

"Mom, I AM NOT INTERESTED IN HIM. YOU HAD NO RIGHT TO GIVE HIM MY NUMBER. HE HAS A FREAKING FIANCE. WHY WAS HE EVEN AT OUR PLACE?"

"He told me he broke his engagement with that woman. He wants to get back together with you."

"Mom, I am going to go. I have a lot of stuff to do. Bye."

"Bye sweety, love you. Call him."

"Love you too, mom. I will think about it."

Honestly, I could never bring myself to tell my mom why I broke up with Henry. She would be shattered. She doesn't know what Henry and his little bitch of fiance did to me. He moved on with his life without giving a second thought about me, so why does he even want to talk to me now? I thought he was happy with his fiance.

I just hope that Cole does not reject me when I tell him that I cannot have kids. I mean, he is the only child, so his family might expect him to have kids. That was one of the reasons why I should have stayed away from him.

It was afternoon by the time I got done with my work. My thoughts were consumed with Cole. I missed him a lot. I missed his laugh and his voice. I am hungry, so I make a tuna sandwich. After lunch, I go to see if Lisa is home, but she is not. So I return to my place and watch TV.

I hear a knock on my door, and assuming it is Lisa, I say, "I just had lunch."

It is not Lisa, but an older man with shiny white hair. He is wearing a suit just like Cole. He gives me a wide smile and says, "I wasn't planning on asking you out for dinner. Maybe some other day we could catch dinner."

I smile at him and say, "Sorry, I thought you were my neighbor. Do I know you, sir?"

"No, my dear, I fund the homeless shelter where you volunteer. I am here for a survey regarding that."

"Oh, please come in, sir. What is your name, sir?"

"Kevin Peterson. Actually, Mrs. Lindsy runs the shelter. I just provide funds there. My assistant happens to be in touch with Mrs. Lindsy, and she told me about your efforts there. I wanted to personally visit you and get to know how we could work on improving the shelter."

"Would you like a drink, sir?" I am still unsure about him, but he sounds genuine, and he knows Lindsy, so I am giving him the benefit of the doubt.

"No, thank you, dear, I will not be staying long." I see him look around my apartment, and I swear I heard a growl.

"So, sir, how can I help you?"

"You have a very interesting tattoo there on your neck. Are you into tattoos?"

I feel my tattoo, and a small smile plays on my lips. "Not really sir, I was just feeling a little rebellious towards my mother, and hence I got it yesterday."

"Well, my child, it looks great on you. It suits you perfectly. But enough pleasantries, tell me more about the program you were interested in launching at the shelter."

For the next half an hour, I explain my plan, and I feel that he was impressed by the end of it.

"Well, my child, I guess I have taken enough of your time. I should get going, and I will see what I can do for the shelter."

I walk him to the door and say, "Can I have your business card, sir?"

"My child, I am so sorry. I will have my assistant bring it in for you later. It was a pleasure meeting you prin…I am sorry Miss Skylar." He clears his throat, and I could have sworn I saw him courtesy.

it must just be a trick of my eyes, and I say, "You too, sir."

The entire encounter was bizarre, and his exit was even more strange. I felt that he was going to call me something else… but then stopped himself like he remembered that he should not call me that. Was it just a slip of the tongue or something more?