Page 60 of Be My Valentine

Is for the first two to happen at the same time.

(Howie Schneider)

Meg and her husband had been nice, but Kate knew she couldn’t stay there very long: a week was all she could spare, then she’d go home, hoping no one would come looking for her, not Mark, not Emma, not any other member of the Arrow family. As she tossed and turned in bed, she told herself that the intimate moments with Mark had been so few and far between that theirs couldn’t even be called a real relationship: nothing had happened. Yet every time she tried to close her eyes, she felt him on her - his hands, his breath, the desire to hold him close. Only to find out how she had been treated: as if she had no will of her own. He’d stripped her of the dignity, like ripping a band-aid off a bleeding wound: it hurt like hell. The last thing she wanted was to arouse other people’s pity; Mark had gone further, pitied her, and treated her like a puppet. But she wasn’t that! She rebelled just at the thought. She was just having a hard time; what could someone like him, used to chauffeurs and servants, know? Nothing, absolutely nothing, and in his self-centeredness, he had pulled out his wallet as if it was the solution to everything. She was smart enough to understand how important it was not to have financial worries; Mark was stupid enough to think that checks would fix everything. It didn’t. Life was something else, it was sharing the good times and the bad times, it was supporting the person you loved, facing difficulties together and coming out of them more united. Kate thought that she knew very little about life; she had spent most of her time inside books, filling herself with inky emotions in the muffled world of the campus, and when real life had called her, forcing her out of the safe bubble of classrooms and university corridors, she had failed miserably in comparison. She hadn’t understood the nature of most of the people she had met outside that cocoon. Mark had had his way; what did she know about love, when at most she had been out with a few college students? She, who was terrified of repeating her mother’s story, and was even afraid of sex? Because after all, you never know… all it took was a faulty condom or forgetting to take the pill and she’d be faced with a choice she wasn’t ready for. Yet, on that couch with Mark, she hadn’t thought about any of that; she just wanted him, she wanted to be his, completely. Who knows what he’d thought about in that moment instead. Maybe that he was entitled to everything just because he had the power? After all, the money that came into her and her mother’s household came from the Arrow family, one way or another.

How had she fallen in love with him? Because she was sure she hadn’t been attracted by looks alone. It had been that night when she’d seen how patient and kind he could be with his sister, in Allie’s store, it had been seeing him hang that punch then find him there at three in the morning to drive her home, it had been the way he’d defended her from that witch Annie Carson and, finally, even how he’d been furious with her when he’d realized the woman had manipulated her… but then he’d acted the same way and it had all gone up in smoke. Just as well. She’d noticed right away, but it still hurt.

After three days at Meg’s house, Kate was still a wreck.

“That’s enough now! You and I are going out tomorrow night!” Her friend told her, “My husband had already booked a special night for us, but unfortunately he’s on call, and I’m not going to be stuck in here!”

“What’s the big deal? You just have to reschedule for another day.” Kate absentmindedly flipped through the job ads in the paper.

“Don’t you know what day it is tomorrow?”

“Thursday.” replied Kate looking for an offer “Do you think I can use my experience at the pub for a cleaning job? I used to do those, too. No, wait references required. I don’t want to see Mr. Campbell again, he’s done his share too!” She too vehemently deleted the ad.

“Kate, tomorrow is Valentine’s Day!”

Kate raised an eyebrow.

“Awesome!”

“You and I are going out. I have a table; can you hear me?” Meg raised her voice.

Kate crossed her arms.

“Where would you like to go?”

“Where I already have a reservation, of course. At the Plaza!” She said casually, taking the cups off the table.

“You’re out of your mind, I’m not setting foot in there!”

“You will, since it’s your fault we booked there, all you did was tell me how fabulous it was.”

“Because it is. But I’m still not going in there.”

“We made reservations at the Rose Club, it’s intimate and private. Upholstered armchairs, low tables…”

“Very comfortable for a dinner party, a gnome table.”

“Kate!” she scolded her “It’s a gift from my husband, I’m sure he wouldn’t have wanted to have an uncomfortable evening, as you say!”

“I didn’t mean to offend you.” replied Kate mortified “I’m just not really in the mood.”

“Exactly, that’s exactly why you’re coming! I don’t want to hear any more. I’m going to work; you go through all the ads.”

“Like I have anything else to do.” Kate murmured.

The next evening, in front of the Plaza, Kate froze. Her mind was playing tricks on her; it was as if on that sidewalk she saw herself, shivering, cold and betrayed.

Meg noticed.

“You’ve got to get over this, Kate. Come on.”

“I think I came back here too soon; it wasn’t a good idea.” She looked at her friend with a lost look.

“We’re here to have a good time… just think, someone might even mistake us for a couple, with all the love in the air tonight!” She snuggled up to her and kissed her cheek affectionately.