Virtually Mine: a love story Read online

  “Well, I was here,” he explained, “and it was on speakerphone, out loud, but anyway, you booked that commercial Wissy’s working on, right off the tape.” Kate didn’t look anywhere near as excited as Dustin had expected. In fact, she looked completely blasé.

  “I did?”

  Dustin cocked his head to the side. “Uh, yeah.”

  Kate grimaced. “Oh, great... My big break with hygiene products.”

  Clearly unenthused, Kate took off her jacket.

  Dustin followed her toward the coat closet. “Kate, this is huge! You’re finally in the game. This is what you want.”

  “I don’t know about that anymore.”

  Nothing in Kate’s response computed for Dustin. “What do you mean you don’t know?”

  Kate hung her jacket and turned back. “Dustin, it’s just... I’ve had this kind of epiphany and—”

  “No, no, absolutely not. No epiphanies allowed. Only what’s an epiphany?”

  Kate finally looked at Dustin. “It’s just...all due respect to everybody who does it, but all of a sudden, I don’t think I want to spend any more of my life pretending to be somebody else.”

  “You don’t want to be an actor?” Dustin blustered. “What do you mean? Who doesn’t want to be an actor?”

  “I guess... I guess I don’t.” Kate stowed her scooter. “I think I want to do something that’s more...in my own, actual moment. Maybe teach.”

  Dustin preened. There it was: his opening to commence with his freshly informed wooing. “Well, you do have your certificate already.”

  Kate stopped. “Did I tell you that? I didn’t think I did.”

  Dustin couldn’t help smiling. This was going way better than he’d hoped. “Hey, I know what your secret obsession is, too.”

  “You do?”

  He leaned in confidentially. “Okay, I don’t get why, but it’s using grammar good.”

  Kate shook her head, a bit confused. “It’s well. But, yes.”

  Dustin paced, impressed with himself as he rattled on to Kate. “You went to Longwood College where you majored in Special Ed and had your first stage role as, wait a sec...Tinkerbell, till they dropped your wire too fast and busted your wrist—no, your foot.”

  Kate’s mouth dropped. “How do you know that?”

  Dustin nodded proudly. “Oh, I know lots more. You’ll be impressed. Okay. You fly in your dreams. Holidays make you homesick. You love Rocky Road, but won’t touch Pistachio. You had a life-altering crush on some TV star guy I never heard of, which is partially why you moved out here, hoping to run into him somewhere.”

  “Who told you this?!” Kate demanded. “M.J.?”

  “You doodle in the margins,” Dustin continued. “You’re double jointed—why didn’t you tell me this before? This is highly important data!”

  Kate’s face went white. “Dustin...what? Have you been reading my journals?!”

  Dustin beamed, sure he was scoring major points. “Yeah. I hardly even got bored, either. And I thought it was really cute how you played around with calling yourself by my last name.”

  Suddenly, the color returned to Kate’s cheeks. “Dustin, you don’t just... That’s private!”

  Dustin shrugged, completely confused. “Not from me!”

  “Yes, from you! From everybody!”

  Dustin pointed a defensive finger at Kate. “But you said you want me to know all your stuff!”

  “Not all my stuff!” Kate protested. “Just the parts I want you to know! How am I supposed to even look at you again, knowing you know about—”

  “—how you won a ten dollar bet with your Dad by drinking a whole glass of milk through your nose?”

  “Nooo!”

  Dustin reeled back with laughter. “Dude! Even I think that’s gross.”

  “Auuuuggggh! Dustin, just go home. Go away. Now!”

  With more strength than Dustin thought Kate had, she pushed him toward the door. He did his best to resist. “But I’m wooing you!”

  “I don’t want to be wooed,” she insisted. “I want you to get lost, scram, vamoose!”

  “No way!” he spouted.

  “Every conceivable way!”

  Before Dustin could stop her, Kate had shoved him out the door and closed it behind him. Hearing the latch click into place, Dustin yelled through the locked door. “I’m not leaving, you know! I can hold out for hours, maybe days.”

  Dustin fished into his pocket and pulled out the only thing he found in there. “I’ve got plenty of floss and I am staying right here!”

  Suddenly feeling nature’s call, Dustin muttered, kicking himself. “I knew I should have used the can.”

  ♥ ♥ ♥

  A roaring fire crackled in the fireplace of Kate and M.J.’s apartment. Kate stood beside it, paging through a journal, just one of many, chronicling the ups and downs, the minutia that made up her days.

  Why she’d always felt compelled to write her thoughts down, to record the on-going details of her life, she hadn’t known. Given what had happened, though, she was highly motivated to transition to password-protected journaling on her computer. Kate took a last sentimental look at a hard cover journal then added it to the blaze. There were a lot of journals, she realized. This fire would burn for a long time.

  M.J. unlocked the door and entered with her fluffed and folded laundry. Kate wasn’t sure if it was the firelight or if M.J. was actually glowing.

  M.J. put her basket down. “Okay, guess who has a date tonight? A real one.”

  “Not me,” Kate rued. “Not I. Listen to me. I’m losing all sense of syntax.”

  M.J. motioned outside toward their apartment building’s common area. “You do know that Dustin is in the pool?”

  Kate rolled her eyes. “You must mean that guy I am never letting near me again.”

  M.J. grimaced. “Not so much on the wooing?”

  Kate resituated her journal with a fire poker. “Not so much.”

  ♥ ♥ ♥

  With Dustin lounging by the pool, Charlie was confident that Kate wouldn’t venture outside, not after the spat he’d overheard. So, seeing as he still had his management responsibilities to attend to, he decided it was as good a time as any to do some maintenance on the pool.

  At first, Charlie thought his presence might encourage Dustin to leave, but Dustin never budged. He just sat, sprawled on a lounge chair, his pants soaked waist to cuff.

  Charlie cleared his throat. “You done in there?”

  “Yeah.”

  Charlie picked up a bucket of chlorine crystals, just as a deliveryman rounded the corner of the building. The guy headed up the stairs with a showy bouquet of flowers.

  Dustin sat up. “What’s up with that?”

  Charlie inched around Dustin’s lounge chair, trying to get to the edge of the pool. “Excuse me...uh...just...”

  Finally, Dustin scooted aside. “Might want to give it an extra go, there, Bud. Some kid went swimming and I think he might have marked his territory.”

  ♥ ♥ ♥

  Absently stroking her stuffed polar bear, Bubba, Kate slumped on her bed, watching M.J. sort through her clothes. It wasn’t so very often that M.J. had an actual date, much less went out shopping for one, so the pickings in M.J.’s own closet were understandingly slim.

  M.J. pulled a cute top out of Kate’s things. She held it up against herself, the tag still dangling from the sleeve. “Oooh-la-lah. You sure you don’t mind? You haven’t even worn this.”

  Kate set the polar bear aside. “Go ahead. It’s not like I’ve got anyplace to go tonight.”

  “Don’t pout,” M.J. replied. “How many billions, correction, zillions of nights have I stayed at home while you went out with Dustin?”

  Kate knew M.J. was right. “Sorry. But couldn’t you have warned me how hideous it feels?”

  “Not adequately.” The look on M.J.’s face conveyed that she well recalled what it was like. She wandered over to the bed and took a seat by Kate. “You gonna be
okay?”

  As she looked at the polar bear beside her, Kate could only sigh. It was what it was, and she’d just have to get through it. She only perked up a little when the doorbell rang. “Probably Charlie.”

  Kate scooted off the bed and went to answer the door. Talking to Charlie wouldn’t be easy, and she still didn’t know exactly what to say, just that she needed to say something. On the other hand, if it were Dustin, there was no way she’d let him in, no matter how long he waited.

  Kate peered out the peephole. Surprisingly, Kate found it was neither Charlie nor Dustin outside. Instead, she opened the door to a stunning floral arrangement.

  The deliveryman smiled congenially. “Kate Valentine?”

  Kate glanced at her watch. “Yeah, that’s right. Isn’t it kind of late for deliveries?”

  The deliveryman affirmed it with a nod. “Guy paid me triple. Must be crazy about you.”

  M.J. wandered out just as Kate brought the arrangement inside, shut the door, and opened the card. “Aloud please.”

  A bit taken aback, Kate read:

  Congrats on booking the commercial. Guess what? I did, too! Let’s grab dinner tonight and celebrate.

  Eric (310) 555-5763

  “Who’s Eric?” M.J. inquired.

  Kate’s attention lingered on the card. “Eric is Brad, only really Brad isn’t Eric, he’s Charlie who’s pretending to be Brad, who supposedly looks like Eric.”

  M.J. waived her arms in confusion. “Wait, wait. Charlie? As in our apartment manager, Charlie?! He’s your Imaginary Boyfriend?”

  “Not the face,” Kate explained. “That’s Eric. The real person behind the face is Charlie, who isn’t, by the way, speaking to me right now, but... Oh, M.J. What am I going to do?”

  Mustering her resolve, Kate marched down the apartment building steps and approached Dustin where he slept by the pool. She cleared her throat. Nothing. She nudged his chair.

  Finally, Dustin’s eyes popped open. An impish expression quickly unfurled. “I knew you’d come down.”

  Kate stood her ground. “Dustin, you have to leave.”

  Dustin sat up. “Okay, maybe I shouldn’t have read your journals.”

  Incredulous, Kate shook her head. “Maybe?”

  “Probably,” Dustin conceded. “Okay, definitely. But come on, now, Kate. You gotta know I was just trying.”

  “Trying to what?” Kate blustered. “To mortify me beyond words, to wholly and categorically creep me out?”

  By then, Dustin lumbered to his feet. He stood a respectful distance away. “I was... I’m trying to say I’m sorry, that’s all. I want you back.”

  Kate expelled a deep sigh. As clueless as Dustin was, this time, she knew at least his heart was in the right place. Completely embarrassed, she hid her face in her hands. Through the cracks in her fingers, she could see him coming closer, bending down from his taller frame to look at her eye to eye. Playfully, he peeled her fingers away from her cheeks.

  Her anger subsiding, Kate still put up resistance. “Cut it out.”

  “Not till you smile for me,” Dustin insisted. “Gimme a little snicker.”

  Despite Kate’s best efforts, she could feel the beginnings of a smile as it curled on the corners of her lips.

  Dustin lit up, encouraged. “Ooh, I saw that!”

  Deliberately, Kate pouted. “I’m not smiling. That was a twitch. I hear twitches are quirky.”

  For once, Dustin seemed to get her joke. He shuffled his feet sheepishly on the concrete. “Kate, see, the good news is, I retain very little.”

  “Who knew that would be such a plus?” Kate quipped.

  “Except the nose-drinking part. That’s probably going to stick.”

  Kate shrugged self-effacingly. “Yeah, I figured. With the visual.”

  Dustin moved even closer. “So...”

  Kate put her hands up, stopping him. It felt good to be back on friendly terms, but she knew that friendly was all they would ever be. As cute as he was and as much as she’d tried to convince herself otherwise, he was not the one for her. “Dustin, I... Okay, here it is: I have a date.”

  Dustin’s face fell. “With who?”

  twelve

  ♥

  Charlie edged the blinds open to peer outside of his window. He had seen the bouquet arrive earlier. He had heard Eric’s confident knock on Kate’s door and put two and two together. He listened to the ease with which Eric greeted her. Now, he watched as Eric took Kate’s arm and led her down the stairs to leave. Even Charlie had to admit that they made a sensational looking couple.

  It wasn’t about conceding defeat for Charlie. Defeat would have meant there was ever some semblance of a competition, and it was plain enough for Charlie to see that if this had been a race, he hadn’t even made it to the starting blocks. Charlie did his best to face up to the facts. As much as he wished it could have been otherwise, Samantha had been right. Kate was entirely out of his league.

  Though he always did his best not to judge, deep down, he’d never thought Dustin had been anywhere near worthy of Kate. However, in fairness, he had to admit that Eric could be an entirely different matter. As pretty as Kate was, she deserved a guy as handsome and personable as Eric appeared to be, a guy who seemed poised for success.

  Charlie didn’t know exactly why Eric had resigned from Virtually Mine, just when he’d rocketed to the top of their stable of Imaginaries. But whatever the reason, something in Charlie respected that Eric had suddenly opted to leave their roster. A year of witnessing the dynamic between his boss and the models that she hired left plenty of room for supposition. Somehow, Charlie had a feeling about Eric’s sudden departure. He wanted to believe the best about him, especially if he was going to be seeing Kate.

  Quitting Virtually Mine on principle was more than Charlie had yet brought himself to do, he realized. Maybe there was some substance beneath that eye-candy face of Eric’s. Maybe he was a smart, stand-up guy. Maybe he would treat Kate the way she deserved to be treated. For her sake, Charlie hoped so.

  As he watched Kate and Eric disappear down the sidewalk toward the Promenade, Charlie coaxed himself to hope they’d have a good time. They’d go to dinner, maybe a movie, he supposed. They’d trade tales of what brought them to L.A. They’d revel in the amazing way they had met, how it seemed so meant to be. They’d stroll past street musicians, soulfully singing of romance in the city of dreams.

  It wasn’t long before he heard Rob arrive to pick up M.J. for their date. From the confines of his bachelor apartment, Charlie watched as they headed off toward the beach with a picnic basket.

  Though Charlie had never liked being alone, he’d long ago accepted it as his lot. It hadn’t ever been easy, but on this particular occasion, it ached like never before.

  ♥ ♥ ♥

  Kate thanked Eric for a lovely evening out, and then entered her darkened apartment. He had been a true gentleman, she reflected. It was a rarity that she greatly appreciated.

  Altogether, it had been quite a day.

  As Kate’s eyes adjusted to the moonlight, spilling in from the front windows, she stopped, stunned. There, in the middle of the living room, was the Victorian chair she’d sold to Charlie, the one with the scratch on the leg from her childhood ice skates.

  When Kate flipped on a lamp, she caught her breath. A white velvet jewelry box rested on the chair’s brocade seat. A single fresh daisy had been placed on top.

  Moving closer, she found that an envelope was tucked under the box. It was labeled Open Me Last.

  Kate stood there for the longest kind of time, just looking at all that Charlie had left for her. Reflexively, she welled up with emotion over everything that had transpired. In a way, she was afraid to open either the white velvet box or the envelope underneath. “Oh, Charlie,” she murmured. “What did you go and do?”

  Finally, Kate picked up the jewelry box and lifted its hinged lid. Tucked inside, with a golden heart necklace, she found the keys to her old rag top conve
rtible. A scrap of paper attached to the key fob read:

  I couldn’t keep this either.

  Overwhelmed, Kate sat down. She stared at the envelope for a while. With a deep breath, she opened it and pulled out the hand-written letter. As she read, she could almost hear Charlie’s voice, pouring out his heart:

  Dear Kate,

  It’s been one of those days. I’m not entirely sure why it is that there are so many things I have to say to you, and yet, I cannot manage to speak a word of it to your face.

  Perhaps it’s my IBS acting up. Perhaps it’s just my fears. But certainly, it is because I’ve been in love with you for so very long, and I can’t bear seeing in your eyes that you don’t return it.

  Kate looked up soberly, her face washed with regret. Mustering her courage, she continued to read:

  I’m quitting my job tomorrow. I’ll be turning in my notice as apartment manager, too. Maybe I’ll move to the valley. Maybe I’ll go home for a while. Maybe I’ll just get on a bus and see where it takes me.

  It’ll be easier this way, Katie. You’ll go on gracing the presence of every person who has the great blessing of meeting you. And I’ll always know that for the sweetest week of my whole unremarkable life, the most beautiful girl in the world was virtually mine.

  Kate buckled over with sobs. Rivers ran down her reddened face. She wept harder and longer than she’d ever wept, far more than she’d wept over Dustin. She realized that she had long loved Charlie as a friend, but never once had she considered the possibility that there could be something more.

  Tears gave way to prayers, prayers more fervent than she’d prayed in a very long time. “Oh, God,” she cried. “What am I supposed to do?”

  ♥ ♥ ♥

  Late that night, Charlie sat alone in a Ferris Wheel car on the Santa Monica Pier, watching the thinning crowd as they returned to their cars. It was his final night on the Wheel, he had decided, one last look over the shimmering city, one last reminder of his very best memory: watching Kate enjoy this very ride, and seeing the light of her smile.