How I met your Mother…
Stein Willard © 2012
Disclaimer
The characters in the story are a product of my own imagination and hopefully have no resemblance to any living persons for that matter. But if it does it is entirely coincidental. Some of the places mentioned are either fictitious and or adapted to suit the plot of the story.
Acknowledgements: This piece is unedited and I claim all typos.
Archiving: Please take note that this work is copywrited and is not to be posted anywhere else without the writer’s expressed permission.
Feedback: Constructive criticism is greatly appreciated, so feel free to drop a line or two at steinwillard80@gmail.com or sent me a friend request on Facebook.
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“What?!”Leander Sutra pinched her nose bridge. “Please explain it again—slowly.”
The room was quiet. Lifting her head, Leander pierced the owner of the shop with a hard stare. The man swallowed convulsively before he spoke.
“I know it sounds bad, but trust me, it can be fixed.”
“I don’t give a damn if it can be fixed or not.” She tried to remind herself to relax, but the more she thinks about the situation, the angrier she became. “Where is it now?”
“She…” He nervously cleared his throat. “It should be here any second now.”
Leander looked at her watch. She only had half an hour before she had to be at the restaurant. What a mess! She turned to the man. “For your sake I hope it does.”
At that exact moment, the door to the shop burst open and a petite redhead stormed in. “We are soooo screwed, Jerome,” she shouted as she shrugged out of her jacket. “We tried to…” The woman’s voice trailed off as her green eyes fell on Leander. “Oh shoot! Ms Sutra. …”
Leander approached the woman. She held out her hand. “Where is it?”
The woman looked to the store owner and then back at Leander. The green eyes were wide in panic. An icy feeling of dread came over Leander. This can’t be true.
“You’re not serious. If this is how you conduct business then I’m surprise that you’re still in business,” she snapped. The woman held up her hand, an apologetic look on her face. “No, I’m tired of your bloody excuses and lame apologies. I just want what’s rightfully mine.” For the umpteenth time in the past twenty minutes, Leander cursed herself for having set foot in this shop.
“MsSutra, please just listen for a moment. I want to—?
Leander’s eyes narrowed. “YOU WANT? I don’t care what you want. Instead I want you to think of what I want for a change.” She stepped closer to the woman, her six foot tall frame dwarfing the woman. “You know what I want. Now give it to me.”
The woman took a small step back as she threw a quick glance at the man behind the counter. In that brief look, Leander read terror in the woman’s eyes. Aware of the woman’s fear, Leander quickly stepped back, putting as much space as possible between her and the redhead. She turned to the man.
“I have an appointment I can’t miss in...” She glanced at her watch. “…exactly twenty seven minutes. You have five minutes to fix this, starting NOW!” She stomped over to the opposite side of the shop; her back turned to the duo. She heard whispering and sighed. At least they’re talking, that’s more than the anxious looks she’d gotten ever since sheentered the shop. The whispering stopped abruptly and Leander’s anger returned full force. She spun around and cursed softly when she bumped into the small redhead. Her hands shot out to steady the woman. The green eyes blinked up at her.
“We’ll need more time, MsSutra. This can’t be fixed tonight.”
Leander’s mouth opened then closed and opened again. How could her plans have gone wrong so fast? If anything, she was very meticulous when it came to things like this. She never ever leaves things to fate. That was what made her such a good lawyer. It’s absurd to think that the part of the plan she’d thought would be smooth sailing was the one that could eventually sink the whole plan. The redhead was still looking at her, the green eyes large. Looking back at the woman, Leander’s brain kicked in. She walked to the coat rack, remembering that the red coat was the woman’s. With the coat in her hand, she turned back to the woman who was staring at her in confusion.
“You’re coming with me.”
“Now just wait a minute,” the man exclaimed and Leander gave him a cold stare.
“No, you wait. Unless you want me to sue you for everything you’ve got, the lady here will come with me and try to save the situation,” she hissed at him. “Do we understand each other?”
The man swallowed hard and looked to the woman. The redhead shrugged and came over to take her jacket. A brief look from the green eyes showed that the woman was not happy with the arrangement, but willing to diffuse the situation.
“I will call you later,” she said to man as she shrugged into her jacket. Not waiting for Leander, she left the shop. The woman was waiting at the curb for her, signalling for a cab. Leander joined and in silence they waited for a few minutes until a cab pulled up. The ride over to the restaurant was made in silence, with the woman sitting at the far side of the seat, string out into the night.
For a moment Leander wondered if she wasn’t too harsh on the woman and her colleague, but thinking of all the explaining she’ll have to do as soon as they reach the restaurant, she pushed the sliver of guilt to the back of her mind. She had operated within her rights. They should thank their lucky stars she didn’t just decide to sue them. She pointedly ignored the woman as she tried to come up with an idea on how she was going to get out of this situation.
By the time the cab pulled up in front of the restaurant, Leander still had no plan of action. She paid the cabbie and turned to the silent woman. The green eyes were cool as they looked back at her.
“Okay. Let’s go do this.”
“Not that it’s any of my business, MsSutra, but I don’t think this is a good idea.”
Leander held her annoyance in check as she looked down at the smaller woman. “You’re right it’s really none of your business. But it’s definitely your fault that we find ourselves in this mess.”
A soft blush came over the woman’s cheeks. “Why not postpone your plans?”
Leander bristled at the woman’s gall. “Postpone? Do you have any idea how long I’ve planned this? How long I’ve waited for the right moment?” She sneered at the woman. “This is the right moment—the only moment. So stop stalling and help me fix this.” She turned away and swore she’d heard a muttered ‘bitch’ come from the redhead.
The restaurant was full. Monopo was extremely popular with waiting list almost six months long. But it pays to be part owner of the place, Leander thought, as she led the redhead past the sitting area, through the kitchen to an exclusive sitting area. It was her idea to add this VIP area to the restaurant and it quickly became a hotspot for the rich and famous. As per her request, the whole area was closed off for the night. All the tables had been moved to the outer edge of the room with only one table in the centre set for two. She heard a soft sigh and glanced at the redhead.
“This is really not a good idea,” the woman said softly. Leander glared at her until the woman averted her eyes.
“Thank you,” she snapped. “Now show it to me.”
The woman shrugged and reluctantly held out her hand, palm up. Leader scowled at the woman’s impudence and turned flipped the hand. A loud gasp sounded and they both spun around. Leander blinked at the tall blonde who stood there with her hand on her chest, her blue eyes wide in shock. Dropping the redhead’s hand as if it had burned her, Leander moved over to the blonde.Hell, she wasn’t supposed to be here for another ten minutes.
“Jenny, I...” Leander’s voice trailed off when the blonde held her hand up.
“I knew it. I knew something was up when you sounded so weird over the phone.” The blue eyes turned cold as they moved past her to rest on the redhead. “Is that her?”
Leander frowned and looked back at the redhead who was looking at her with a guilty expression on her face. Then it struck her. Her eyes darted back to Jenny. Oh no, this was not happening!
“No, Jenny, it’s not what—?
“It is exactly what I think it is. Silvia warned me about this.” The blue welled up with tears. “I thought I could…? Jenny bit her lip. “I should’ve listened to her.”
Thoroughly confused now, Leander held up her hand. “What does Silvia have to do with this?” If there was one person whom Leander couldn’t stand, it was Silvia Montgomery, Jenny best friend and her worst influence too. She reached out to touch Jenny’s hand, but the blonde stepped out of reach. “Jenny, what’s going on?”
The blue eyes flashed in sudden anger. “You want me to tell you want’s going on? You dare ask me this after bringing your floozy here.” The blonde’s voice was slowly rising as her anger grew. “After three years together, Leander? After all this time you think to embarrass me like this?”
Pushing her fingers through her hair, Leander shook her head, stunned at how fast the conversation was deteriorating. “Jenny, please let me explain. I think you’ve got it all wrong. I’m not—?
“You know what. Maybe this is for the better. Silvia said—?
Hearing that name again caused her anger to spark instantly. “Bloody Sylvia again! What the hell does Silvia have to do with this?”
“I SLEPT WITH HER!”
The room fell silent.
Jenny’s face paled as if she only now realized what she’d said. Leander felt as if she’d just been punched in gut. She opened her mouth, but no sound came. She slowly turned to look at the redhead who stood motionless, trying hard to remain invisible. When she returned her gaze to Jenny, the blonde’s face was wet with tears.
“It only happened once,” Jenny said in a broken whisper. “I…I wanted to tell you, but I was scared you wouldn’t understand.”
If ever anyone should ask her how it felt to bleed out, Leander knew that she had a pretty good idea now. Her heart felt as if it was squeezed so hard, that every drop of blood was seeping out into her chest cavity. She had planned this moment for almost four months. First she had to fly to Paris to get the ring Jenny admired the last time they were there on holiday. Once she had the ring, she had to wait for Giancarlo Biatta, Jenny’s favourite chef to have an opening so she could fly him in from Venice. At the last minute she found that the ring she’d snatched from Jenny’s jewellery box to serve as a measurement, was actually her grandmother’s and a little too small for the blonde. That’s when she rushed to the small jewellery shop near her office to have it resized. That’s where everything started to go wrong. The redhead, believing that she and Jenny were the same size, tried the ring on, only for it to get stuck and no way to remove it.
And now this.
She slowly turned to look at the redhead. “Please come closer.” Her voice was so hoarse that for a moment Leander wondered whom it belonged to. When the redhead came to stand at her side, she took the woman’s hand and looked at the ring.
She spoke without looking up. “I was going to ask you to marry me tonight.” She lifted her eyes to see Jenny’s reaction. The blonde seemed to grow paler as she looked from her to the ring. “Can you believe that it took me four months to set this up, only for the ring to get stuck on this lady’s finger while she was resizing it?” Patting the woman’s hand, she walked over to the table and pulled the champagne bottle out to the ice bucket. She took a long pull and smacked her lips together. “This is really good stuff.” She took another pull from the bottle and when she lowered it, she was just in time to see Jenny back as she quietly left the room. The redhead was still there, looking at her. “You hungry? I have a very expensive four course meal being prepared in the kitchen.”
The redhead blushed. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. The food was intended for the person who was going to wear my ring at the end of the evening. If I’m not mistaken you’re wearing it now, aren’t you?” At the woman’s weak nod, she smiled. “Then let’s eat and have fun.”
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“Oh man, that must’ve sucked big time,” the fourteen-year-old boy exclaimed, his green eyes wide with disbelief.
Leander grinned. During the dinner, she and the redhead, whom she found out was called Ana, had talked at length only for Leander to find out that the redhead was a lesbian too. There was no need for the boy to know that they went to a lesbian club afterwards where they both got very drunk. The next morning she woke upin the redhead’s bed and liked it so much that she went back for more.
“Yes, it sucked back then. But now at least you know how I met your mother.” She ruffled his dark hair and glanced at her watch. “I’m running late, got to go.”
The boy’s eyes widened, reminding her of an identical pair she’d first stared into sixteen years ago. She blinked suddenly, remembering what that look meant. “George, where’s the key?”
The lanky teen scratched his head. “I had it here, Mom.”
“And where is it now?” She wasn’t going to panic. She glanced at the watch. When the boy didn’t answer, she looked back at him. When George had asked her to take part in his new handcuff trick, she’d never guessed that this will happen. Not when she had to meet her wife in half an hour for their anniversary date.
“I can’t find it,” he replied, his voice sounding panicky.
Leander took a deep breath and fixed her dark eyes on her son. “Well, that’s too bad. My wife, your mother, expects me to meet her at a hotel room in half an hour. You should know that I’m not going to miss our date.”
The boy turned red as he looked at her. “But how are we going to get the cuffs off?”
Leander climbed to her feet and pulling him behind her, walked over to the sink where she rinsed her coffee mug, fully aware of the boy’s discomfort. After putting the mug in the dishwasher, she turned to him. He really lookedawfully uncomfortable.
“Don’t fret so, son. Not many boys your age can boast that they’d had their first birds-and-the-bees talk complete with a live demonstration.”
She burst out laughing when the boy looked like he was going to be sick. She pulled him into a gentle hug and kissed his cheek.
They’ll definitely have to make a turn at the locksmith first. Leaving one arm around her blushing son’s thin shoulders, she reached inside her suit jacket for her cell phone and pressed her wife’s speed dial.
“Hi honey, you won’t believe what happened,” she said when her wife answered.
THE END