2019

The light to my dad's piano store is on, but I don't see anything unusual. Nicolas peers into the window. 

"Maybe the app made a mistake," I say. 

I push the door open, the familiar Fur Elise sounding over the speaker.

"Hello?" I ask. "Is anyone here?"

"There's no one here," Nicolas says.

There is a faint noise coming from the back of the store. I slowly approach the door and open it, my actions slow and precise.

"Who's there?" he calls out, standing to attention.

I blink several times, squinting my eyes. "Inaki?"

"Corrie?"

"What are you doing here?" I ask.

"Oh, I'm doing some last minute work for your dad. He asked me to come in for him, he forgot to do some inventory on some of the new pianos that came in.

"Oh," I say, scratching my head. "That's weird, Dad is usually pretty good about inventory, but okay. I got the notification that the front door was opened so we came over. But my dad gave you the job?"

Inaki nods. "Yeah, he pretty much hired me on the spot. Sold someone a piano on the spot. Hey, that's your friend, right?" He points over to Nicolas, who greets him with a slight head nod.

"Hey, that's your friend, right?" He points over to Nicolas, who greets him with a slight head nod.

"Hola," Nicolas says, but his expression is guarded.

"I am sorry about your flute, man," he says, frowning. "It was stupid of me."

"It's all right," Nicolas replies. "You gave it back to me anyway. So you work here now? Que interesante."

"Yeah, it's been rough, you know with Mariposa and all that, but Corrie's dad's been a good boss in the week that I've started working here."

"That's good," I say. "Well, if you're just doing some inventory work, I guess we'll just go. It's not a problem. Does my dad know you're here, though? Cause he has the same app I do and you're working over hours."

"I texted him before I came here," he says. "I promise, Corrie. I ain't lying to you."

I furrow my brow, but ignore it. I'm too tired to deal with it right now, and quite frankly, I feel like an idiot for even coming here when my dad told him to not worry. I glance over at Nicolas and he gestures for me to follow him into the main store.

"You ready to go?" I ask, gesturing for the door.

Nicolas crosses his arms against his chest, and upon looking the other way, I can't help but notice what seems like concern on his face.

"Hey," I say, touching his shoulder. "Everything okay?"

He looks down, and the back up at me. "I'm not so sure about this. Who does inventory at midnight?"

"Hold on. Let me call my dad."

I whip out my phone, still hating the fact that my screen is cracked to oblivion, but hey, at least it still works.

"Hello?" my dad asks, music playing in the background. It's jazzy, and I' hearing the clinking of glasses. He must be at a bar.

"Hey, dad. I'm here at the store. Did you hire Inaki Leblanc?"

"Oh, yeah. I did. Did you get the notification on your phone? I meant to call you earlier, but forgot. Inaki is doing some extra work for me while I'm gone. Inventory and stuff."

"Yeah, okay. It scared the shit out of me, though. I thought someone broke into the store."

"No, no. I gave him permission. He's got a kid to feed and you know with all her cancer. I met her the other day. Cute kid. She wants to take up flute lessons. Looks like you might have a student soon."

"Okay, Dad. I just wanted to make sure."

"Yeah, I got it. Well, Corrie, my date's waiting for me. I gotta go. See you later, alligator."

"After a while, crocodile."

And the line hangs up.

"So?" Nicolas asks, looking at me with expectation.

"What he says tracks. Dad says he's doing inventory for him... I guess he is paying him overtime after all. I guess the moment is gone, but we can go to Cafe du Monde again if you want."

"I can't stop thinking about those beignets," Nicolas says, eyes twinkling in mischief. "They haunt my dreams."

I laugh, slapping him across the shoulder. "You're a funny one. Let's bounce." 

                                                                                                      ***

We sit alone at Cafe du Monde, not saying much to each other as people come and go. I reckon that I don't really know what to say after what just happened between us at my apartment. I hate this silence between us, the fact that a simple phone notification stopped the moment we had between us. I stare at my uneaten beignets and contemplate giving them to Nicolas, who has already finished all of his.

"Do you want the rest of mine?" I ask, pushing the plate over to him.

"You have barely eaten anything the entire time." He frowns. "Digame, que paso?"

"You're using Spanish again, Nicolas."

"Oh, sorry," he says. "I let it come out when I'm not paying too much attention. Tell me what happened. You should eat."

I suck in a breath that tastes reminiscent of powdered sugar and cafe au lait that lingers in the air. "Honestly, I'm sad," I say, my voice barely above a whisper. "Sad because everything between us was interrupted by my phone and I just can't shake this feeling. It's kind of numb. I don't know how to describe it."

"We haven't talked about that," he says, smiling. "What happened between us was incredible, Corrie."

"I know," I say, taking a deep breath. "I really want to do it again. I really do," I say, pausing.

"I sense a but somewhere in there," he says, frowning as he picks at the beignets I offered him, not really eating them.

"I've never felt more connected to anyone than I've felt with you. Not even with my ex. The way I feel when you kiss me."

"I feel the same way." He strokes the back of my hand.

"But I'm scared, Nicolas," I say. "After what happened with Jeff. I'm scared. I just can't be in a relationship right now, and I don't want to get into a situationship because that's what this feels like to me. You and I both deserve better than that."

"You're right," he says, taking in a deep breath and exhaling it all out. "God, I wish we met under different circumstances. Maybe before you met that asshole. I saw the way he treated you the other day at school. He is disgusting."

"Nicolas," I say. "Can I, um, ask you a weird question?"

"Sure."

"Have you, um," I say, chuckling as I put a hand over my mouth and look away for a second. "Have you seen someone who looks like Jeff in the dreams that you've had of me?"

He pauses dead in his tracks and looks up at me with wide, almost terrified eyes.

"Well, have you?"

"Yes. Many times. Tell me what happened between the both of you."

                                                                                    ***

2017

I sit at the top of the steps that overlook Jackson Square. To the right of me is Cafe du Monde, to the left of me are the Pontalba Buildings, and in the distance, St. Louis Cathedral stands in all of its glory. The sun's shining and today is hot, but I don't mind it. I'm here with Jeff and that's all that matters to me.

"Jeff," I say, leaning into his shoulder. "I love this."

He shifts himself slightly. "Yeah," he says absentmindedly. "We're going miss our reservation at Captain's Castle if we stay here like this. Come on. Let's go."

"Oh," I say, blinking through the confusion. "Okay. I guess we can go now. I thought we had another hour. Captain's isn't that far away."

He shrugs. "You know how bad the city traffic can get."

"Okay," I say, grabbing my phone and opening it up to the lock screen.

"What are you doing with your phone?" he asks. "Put it away."

"Jeff," I say. "I was just checking the time."

"I don't care. We are going to the restaurant now. Okay?"

The rest of that day is really a blur, but the highlight is when we walked into the restaurant. At first, I wanted to hold his hand, but he took it away from mine and instead just put his hand on my shoulder, leading me to the hostess's station.

"Jeff," I whisper in his ear. "Everything okay?"

He only nods, looking around the restaurant. The ambience in the restaurant is stately and old-fashioned. Sure, the restaurant hasn't been updated in many years, but its vintage charm is what keeps people coming in droves and I love this restaurant for that. This is our favorite place, the place that he took me to on our first date. I can't help but notice that he seems a little more unusual than his normal. Since the death of his mom, things between us have been strained, I know, but something in the air is different. I can feel it and it's so tangible that I can cut a knife right through it.

I watch as Jeff takes his phone out of his pocket, checks it, and then puts it back in.

"Welcome to the Captain's Castle," the hostess says with a bright smile. "How many this afternoon?"

"Just the two of us," he says.

"Come right this way." She grabs a menu and leads us to a table.

As I sit down, I notice that Jeff is still looking around. He's on his phone again.

"Jeff, I thought we agreed. No phones."

He doesn't seem to hear me.

"Jeff," I say, raising my voice. "I thought we agreed on no phones."

He looks up at me and sighs. "All right, all right. I'll put it away. Gosh, you're such a nag."

Another blow. I close my eyes and let it bounce off me, richoteting outside the restaurant.

A female server with light-brown hair, pulled up, two loose tendrils at her forehead walks up to our table and with a smile sets down coasters and two waters with lemon.

"Hello, can I get you both started off with any drinks and appetizers? I'm Bessie and I'll be your server today.

"We'll both have the pork belly," Jeff says with a bright smile.

It's the most that he has smiled today.

"Pork belly," Bessie says relaxing her pose, eyes on Jeff. "Fantastic choice."

"And I'll have an unsweet tea," I say, interjecting.

It seems like she hasn't heard me.

"Excuse me," I say to the server. "I'll have an unsweet tea."

She turns to look at me and doesn't smile. "I got it."

"And you? You never told me your drink order," the server says, looking at Jeff with anticipation in her eyes.

"I'll be right back with those drinks, ya hear?" She smiles at Jeff and he returns the smile.

She comes back with the drinks and as soon as I take a sip, I nearly gag at the massive sweetness. It's the first time I've heard Jeff laughing in a while, but when I look at him, it's pretty clear that he's laughing at me.

"I asked for unsweet tea," I say with a sigh. "This is too sweet."

"Just ask Bessie for another one."

"Bessie?" I ask, tensing in my seat.

"Oh, yeah, our server. She said her name was Bessie."

"Okay, well there she is over there," I say, flagging her down.

"Is there anything you need?" she asks, almost in a deadpan tone.

"I asked for unsweet tea and you gave me sweet."

"Oh, I did. I'm sorry. I'll get you your unsweet tea now."

The remainder of our lunch time has already come and gone, and as he is paying the bill, I notice something strange on his phone screen, but it disappears quickly when it turns off. Curious, I want to take his phone and see what it said. It alarms me a little because I want to take his phone and check it out — because I swear I saw the name Bessie somewhere on his phone. No. Don't think like that, Corrie. You're probably just thinking about the server. That's all.

Once we walk out of the restaurant, Jeff is already miles ahead of me and quickly steps into his black truck and shuts the door, starting it. Fearing that he's going to take off without me, I'm running in my heels, looking like a crazy woman while I'm running up to the door.

"What was that?" I ask, my heart trying to catch up to my breath.

"What was what?" he asks, looking over at me.

"Just now. I thought you were going to take off without me."

"Sorry. Look, I got to use the restroom. I guess I drank too much. I'll be right back. Okay?"

"Oh, yeah. 'K."

He runs off and the minutes crawl by. It's strange that he's taking so long to use the bathroom, but I open up his glove compartment to look for a mint, but I am left with something else. My heart sinks to the floor as with trembling hands I see the pack of condoms. Fresh tears sting at my eyes. He doesn't use condoms with me, at least not in a while because we haven't been having sex. Now everything makes sense, but I can't believe it. No. Maybe it's one of his friends. One of his buddies probably left it here. Yeah. That's right. One of his friends. It was one of his friends.

Jeff opens the door and sits down.

"What is this?" I turn my head, fresh tears in my eyes. "Please, Jeff, tell me these aren't yours."

He gives me the side-eye.

"They aren't yours, right?"

I hate this silence.

"Come on, Jeff. They aren't yours. Tell me they're not yours.

He stiffens, tightening his grasp on the steering wheel. "They're mine, Corrie."

The words hit me like a blow to my soul. I am sinking into an abyss that I cannot find a way out of.

"You tell me who she is right now."

"You don't really need to know that."

"Yes, I do. Cause we're getting married in three months. I deserve to know who you've been fucking behind my back, Jeff."

"It's Bessie, all right?" He blurts out. "And she's an incredible woman. No hard feelings, Corrie. But she actually makes me happy."

"And, me, your future wife? I don't make you happy?"

"Not for a long time."

"Fuck you, Jeff!" I say, slapping his face. "And fuck you for taking me to the restaurant where the girl you've been fucking for God knows how long works. You're a real piece of shit."

"Corrie," he says. "I was planning on breaking up with you today. You just made it a lot easier for me."

"Oh," I say with a scoff. "I'm the one breaking up with you. I don't even give a fuck anymore. Go and live your stupid life, I don't care."

"Corrie," he says, almost whining. "Let me at least take you home."

"Forget you taking me home, asshole. I can make my way home without you."

I get out and slam the door to his truck so hard it almost shakes. I run as far away as possible from that asshole. Captain's Castle is far away from me and the more I walk away, the heavier I am. The more I realize how stupid I've been this whole time. I thought we were going through a rough patch, but this entire time, he's been seeing that bitch. No wonder why she was so cold to me. No wonder why she gave me sweet tea when I asked for unsweet. She probably even put an exorbitant amount of sugar in it just to spite me. I wipe away the tears from my eyes, knowing that I deserve better. But we were going to get married in three months. Maybe if I turn around, maybe if I convince him that I'm the one, he'll forget about Bessie and come back to me.