1. Calista
C alista – (Six Months Later)~
Locking the door behind me, I quickly kicked off my shoes, not caring where they landed at the moment. Today had kicked my ass fairly brutally, and all I cared about was taking a hot bath, then drinking an entire bottle of wine, though tequila seemed like a better option for a day like today.
Tossing my purse and tote on the couch, I headed towards the kitchen to the sliding glass door, and as soon as I opened it, Harvey walked past me, clearly annoyed with how his day had gone.
Now, normally, dogs were loving creatures and loved you unconditionally, but Harvey had a habit of holding a grudge whenever my sister had to stop by and check on him for me.
Unlike me, Abrielle didn’t give him love and kisses whenever she checked in on him, and he took it very personally.
“I’m sorry, buddy,” I told him as I shut the sliding glass door. “But work was a bitch today, and so I couldn’t come visit you.”
Not caring about my troubles, Harvey just walked over to his food and water bowls, then waited for me to begin making amends, and I was going to accommodate him because he was the only friend that I had in the entire world, and he knew it.
Of course, that didn’t include my sister or my parents, all of whom I loved dearly and would do anything for.
My parents, Jerry and Melanie Glenn, were bakery shop owners, and neither were looking to retire soon, so I did my best not to bother them too much with my friendless existence, as they were often busy at the shop.
Weddings, birthdays, and anniversaries stopped for no man, and since there were only two bakeries in town, they really were constantly busy.
As for my sister, Abrielle was actually my twin, but in looks only.
We were both thirty-six, had light blonde hair, hazel eyes, and had petite builds, though not too skinny.
While being thin was always all the rage, I liked eating too much to ever be described as skinny.
I liked to think of myself as a healthy medium, partial to both salads and cheeseburgers.
Anyway, that was the extent of what my sister and I had in common.
Where I liked my solitary life and job, Abrielle was the county director of our department of education, and there was no way that you could hold that kind of position without being a people person.
Any job regarding children involved a lot of work and socializing, and God bless her.
She also had a serious boyfriend of three years, insisting that the five-year mark was when you decided if someone was marriage-worthy or not, whatever that meant.
Granted, having no personal life of my own, I was probably the last person that should judge the method to her madness, but that’s what sisters were for. Plus, since Abrielle really was my best and only real friend, I should probably be nicer to her.
Now, while my life might sound a bit sad, it really wasn’t.
My parents were great, my sister was an absolute gem, and Harvey was a rock star when he wasn’t side-eyeing me.
I also had a great job with the state, though the great part came in the form of pay and the benefits package.
The actual functionality of the job could be rough at times, but that was because I was an inspector in the dairy industry, which pitted me against assholes most days.
It also didn’t help that I was only five-foot-two, so when they saw me coming, they automatically assumed that they could bully me, and I wasn’t the type to be bullied.
My parents had raised Abrielle and me to stand up for ourselves, which we did often.
The world was a cruel one, and more so for the timid.
Luckily for me, only Harvey could make me feel guilty, which was a good thing.
As for my love life, it was pretty non-existent, but not for lack of trying.
Even though I’d been screwed over by my ex-boyfriend, Miles Patrick, five years ago, he hadn’t left me bitter.
Yeah, I should have seen him being a local radio station deejay for the red flag that it’d been, but I’d gotten suckered in by his dark blonde hair, blue eyes, and love for eighties music.
So, for almost ten years, I had lived in ignorant bliss, believing that he’d been decent and faithful, only to find out that he’d been neither.
In fact, I was pretty sure that he was still a cheating douchebag, pretending like he was someone important in the music industry, which he wasn’t.
Nonetheless, while I had been heartbroken to find out that I hadn’t been the only woman in his life, I hadn’t come out of the experience a man-hater.
Yeah, it’d taken me a while to heal and move on, but that was to have been expected.
Plus, I hadn’t wanted to jump into a rebound relationship, something that was never fair to any of the parties involved.
Instead, I’d wanted the space to erase Miles from my entire life, and I had started by throwing all his shit out onto the yard, something that our neighbors at the time were probably never going to forget.
I knew for a fact that Miles was never going to forget that night, and I could only hope that it still gave him nightmares.
Anyway, I was single simply because all the good men were taken, and that was just a sad fact.
At my age, they were already settled down or stationed in Guam.
I also refused to do the whole dating app thing because I just didn’t have that kind of time to waste.
I wanted to meet a real person, not try to guess how old their profile picture was.
After making sure that Harvey’s food and water was adequate enough for him, I rubbed his ears as he began eating, then went to grab my shoes from the front hallway. The last thing that I needed was to forget that they were there, tripping over them later, breaking my neck in the process.
As I headed back to the living room to grab my purse and tote, my phone rang, and I recognized the ringtone as belonging to my sister, and I could only imagine what she was calling me for.
For the most part, both of us were too busy during the week to do much more than send random texts to one another.
“What’s up?” I asked, holding the phone to my ear with my shoulder.
“Mitchell just asked me to marry him again,” she sighed. “And I think that he’s serious this time.”
Walking towards my bedroom, I asked, “Uhm, he wasn’t serious all the other times?”
Mitchell Herman was Abrielle’s boyfriend, and the first time that he had asked her to marry him, they’d only been dating about six months, and my sister had called him crazy.
A year after that, he had asked her a second time, to which she had replied that she’d think about it.
Then, on their two-year anniversary, he had asked her a third time, and she’d told him that she was still thinking about it.
Honestly, if the man didn’t love her so damn much, I’d think that they were both crazy.
“No, I think he was,” she answered. “But I think that he’s really serious this time.”
“So, are you going to finally put him out of his misery?” I asked as I walked into my bedroom, dumping my purse and tote on the bed. “I mean, in all honesty, your five-year rule is rather crazy.”
“It’s not crazy,” she argued. “It ensures that the match is solid before you go to all the trouble of changing your last name. I mean, that shit has to be a bitch to deal with.”
She wasn’t wrong.
“So, what makes you think that he’s serious?” I asked, dropping on the bed, putting my bath on hold for the moment.
“When he asked me to marry him, he said ‘We’re getting married, and I mean it, Abrielle’,” she replied.
“No getting down on one knee or anything?”
“Nope,” she answered. “He just grabbed my hand, slipped the engagement ring on my finger, then went to go make dinner.”
“Okay, I think this is the part where I tell you congratulations,” I said, my heart feeling warm and giddy for my sister.
“Well, nothing is official until it’s on social media, so don’t congratulate me just yet,” she said cautiously. “Besides, I still have to tell the parentals.”
“Who will be very happy for you,” I pointed out. “They love Mitchell.”
“Well, if you’re not going to talk me out of it, then I expect you to help me plan the wedding,” she stated, knowing full well that she was just as happy as I was for her. Abrielle wasn’t a pushover, so if she was wearing Mitchell’s ring, it was because she wanted to.
“Oh, God,” I groaned. “Why can’t you guys elope like decent human beings?”
“If we elope, then guess who’s left to give Mom and Dad a traditional wedding?” she remarked pointedly. “But if that’s what you want...”
I snorted at that. “I can’t get the guy at Radial to give me a discount on my oil changes, much less find a man to marry me. So, I think I’m safe in that regard.”
“You just need to lower your standards a bit,” she advised. “You’re too picky.”
“Wanting a guy to have a job, not live with his parents, and have all his teeth is not being picky,” I told her. “I don’t even care what kind of job it is as long as it’s legal, and even then, if he can support himself, then I’m open to negotiations.”
“Lots of hockey players have their teeth missing,” she said, not missing a beat.
“And if you can find me a professional hockey player that can put up with me, then I’ll scratch teeth right off my list,” I harrumphed.
Abrielle laughed, and the sound made me smile. “I’ll get right on that.”
After a few seconds, I said, “Call Mom and Dad. They deserve to know next.”
“Thank you, Calista,” she said sincerely. “You’re the best.”
“Love you, Brie,” I replied before hanging up to go bribe Harvey with treats before my bath.