“Hi, Daphne,” a woman says, showing up right next to my elbow.
“Whoa!” I yelp, jerking back in surprise. This is New York City, there are people everywhere. I’m not surprised by having a person right next to me. I am surprised by them knowing my name.
“I know who you are,” the woman says. “I used to date Dominic Masters. I know that you’re dating him right now. Want to see my pictures?” She digs into her purse and pulls out some pics of Dominic and I kissing, leaning up against the limo that night that he surprised me outside of my apartment. “He’s your stepdad, you know.”
“Really? I hadn’t noticed,” I say drily, shoving the pictures back at her. “Thanks for the newsflash, but if you don’t mind, I’m going to go home.” I start walking faster, hoping to lose the woman. I have my Nikes on; I can take off at a run if I need to. She’s got heels on; she’d probably have a hard time keeping up.
“But do your coworkers know? Does your boss know? I think the employees of the New York Presbyterian Hospital would be intrigued to find out that their rising star is breaking incest laws!” Now she’s shouting, and my steps are going faster because she’s creeping me the fuck out. How dare she threaten my career!
I unlock my phone in my hands, trying to find the Uber app through my panic. I can’t actually call the police; the woman hasn’t done anything but show me some pictures. But I can get the hell out of dodge.
“Listen, I’m just warning you because someone might tell them. You don’t want to throw your career away over him, I promise. I’m Heather; did he tell you that we used to date?”
Ohhhhh…this is the infamous Heather. Ms. Clingy, Ms. Gin-Tossing-In-The-Middle-of-a–Bar Heather. I look her up and down quickly, and mentally shrug. She seems hot enough, if she wasn’t also a little on the nuts side.
“Daphne, you have to listen to me,” she says pleadingly, putting her hand on my arm. We slow to a stop in the middle of the sidewalk, humanity flowing around us. We both ignore the world and just focus on each other. “Do you know what he’s promised me? Did he tell you how he broke my heart? He says that I knew from the get-go that we were just going to be fuck buddies, but I didn’t. That’s something that he conveniently came up with later. In the beginning, I was the love of his life. He’s never been around someone as amazing as me. I completed him. Does any of that sound familiar?”
Oh my God, it does. I nod jerkily, hating her for saying those words, but also knowing I needed to hear them. If what she is saying is true…
All of those things were things he’s said to me. What if he’s just stringing me along, like he apparently did to Heather?
“Then, after all I’ve done for him, he’s suddenly too good for me. Daphne, you have to be careful. He’ll get bored with you and he’ll dump you like yesterday’s trash. Then what happens when you don’t have a career anymore because you’ve screwed yourself over?”
I feel a flush of panic wash over me. I’ve worked really hard to get as far as I have at the hospital. As a woman, I have to work harder and longer than the men to get ahead. I have student loan bills to pay off, dammit! I can’t ruin it all for a guy who's willing to say anything to get into my pants.
And really, what do I know about him? Yeah, he was married to my mom for a while, but then they got divorced. He hasn’t had a steady relationship since then. Doesn’t that say something about him?
“Here’s my card with my number. Text me your number,” Heather says as she hands me her business card. “We can talk more later. I have to get going.”
I numbly send it to her, and then watch as she turns and heads back down the street, fading into the crush of the clogged New York streets.
What have I gotten myself into?
52
Dominic
Sunday dinners, cooked by Mary. I’d missed these dinners, but looking around the table now, inhaling the smells wafting up from the bulgur and cashew stuffed eggplant, I’m in heaven again.
Except for Heather. She’s shown up at my office twice more this past week, and I’ve had to take a restraining order out against her. At this rate, I’m going to have to put my secretary on a standing order with the florist; she can get a new bouquet of daisies, her favorite, every Tuesday and Thursday. I’m quite afraid I’m going to end up losing her, all over an insane woman who doesn’t understand the word “no.”
Daphne seems quiet tonight. She’s been quiet for the last week, actually. I’m not sure what’s going on. I’ve been sidetracked by Heather’s reappearance in my life and some new clients at work, that we haven’t been able to spend enough time together. I vow to myself to make time this week, in her schedule and mine, for her to come back to my place and spend some … quality time in the bedroom. I can buy some rose-scented lotion and give her a full-body massage to help her loosen up. Plus, bonus points—I get to run my hands all over her body. I can pay special attention to her—