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“Thank you, Tony.”
“Help yourself to a doughnut. I didn’t know you were coming in today, or I would have grabbed you a tea.” I gesture because this week, I’ve been bringing them the good stuff my concierge gets for me. The first two weeks, I felt I needed to be close to the Henderson mailbox place, so I was at the glamorous local little hotel/motel for $86 a night. I’ve got the room booked out for a month. I imagine this is what camping is like, but the outdoors probably smell better. The only spoiled rich guy thing I did was overnight Frente sheets, and I hired my own cleaning crew. But I couldn’t take it, so I went back to being a spoiled trust fund kid and moved to a suite with three bedrooms on the Strip.
Neither of them feels right. I know who I am in this camp chair sharing pastries, but the rest of it is up for fucking grabs until I figure out my little witch.
My very favorite Mailboxes R US duo arrives. Two daffy women who always smell like a massage room at a second-rate spa. They recently lost a friend and have been mailing her belongings to people all over the world. Apparently, this woman had houses and friends all over, but no blood-related family. As these ladies sift through her stuff, they keep coming across addresses or names written on the back of pictures or trinkets. The stories of Lana are kind of legendary.
I hop up from my camp chair again and meet them in the parking lot. I’m in a t-shirt that says, “It’s good to be the king.” The assholes gave it to me when I graduated high school. Just as we retired our Knights of the Round Table bullshit. I rub my hands on my dark jeans and pull my sunglasses out of their tucked spot in the neckline of my shirt. I slip on the aviators and wait for the ladies to park.
The driver, Chelle, is all done up. These women always glisten a little too much, but they’re adorable.
“Woo, you are a fine man today, Tony! I don’t know what I’m going to do without my daily eye candy when we’re done with this project.”
I laugh. “And I won’t know where to put my affection. You’re the best part of my day.”
“Honey, can you grab the boxes?” Julia hops out and kisses my cheek.
“Any sign of your secret lady friend?” Chelle inquires.
“Nope. Not yet, but still hopeful.” I pick up the boxes and glance at Julia, who’s wiping a tear. “Why the sadness?” I nudge her shoulder.
“Well, tomorrow’s Lana’s service and I guess I’m not ready to say goodbye. This is the last of her things. Then it’s just the two of us against the world.”
Chelle holds open the door for me.
“A formidable twosome if ever there was.” I wink at her. I don’t know what to say to them.
I place the boxes on the counter, and Julia sets about weighing and paying for them to be scattered around the world.
I sit back in my chair and with my laptop. I sip on my coffee when Chelle comes over.
“Tony, this sad story of yours. The one where you had the girl and then were an idiot and lost the girl, twice.”
“I’m familiar with it.”
“We have a friend who has a similar story. Would you be in the market to meet someone?” I grin at this well-meaning gal, but I’m not really into an age-gap situation. I don’t want to date a friend of theirs.
I put my hand on her arms. “That’s so sweet of you. But my girl, my little witch, she’s it. She’s the only one, and if I can’t get it together with her, then it’s a life of meaningless sex and loneliness for me.” She laughs, but I’m serious. I love Makenzie so fucking much that I’ve been sitting in front of her PO box for almost three weeks, waiting just to talk to her and see if she’s who I think she is. And I don’t think she knows that she’s worth the fight. She’s worth it all, and I intend to show her. If I can find her. I know I lost the bet since we technically dated. My father will kill me if I get engaged before this messy divorce has even been monetarily settled, or the board has signed off on this quarter and the shareholders are stable, but here I am, in Henderson, Nevada, waiting on my little spellcaster and avoiding everything else. Like I should have done when she walked out of my life twelve years ago. I didn’t realize in her bold move to save face and a difficult situation that I was the real coward. It’s why I’m here instead of hiring someone to find her. I have to do this myself.
Julia approaches us, and her eyes are red again.
“Tony, it was the nicest thing to meet you. This terrible time was lightened a bit by your smiling, sexy face. Your girl is a lucky one, I hope you find her.”
“I will.” I stand to hug these women. The first day we met, they were in the store for close to two hours. I told them the same abbreviated version I’ve shared with Mary Margaret and crew.
Chelle hugs me, too, and I squeeze this darling ball of elderly goodness, despite the grease stains that will end up on my clothing.
“Let me know if there’s anything I can do for you. Lana sounds like she was quite the pissar.” My Boston slips out.
“There’s a service for her tomorrow. Would you like to come?”
Julia says, “It’s at four and that’s almost closing time here. I don’t want you to miss your opportunity with your lady, but it would mean a lot to us.” I do have a room at the gross hotel for the night. I can do this, and it would be nice to have companionship outside of a quick mail place.
When I lost my grandmother, I thought about all the lives she’d touched. She was a formal and harsh woman but loved my brother and me beyond anything. I feel like she still touches and changes people, much like this woman I never met. I see her effect on these two, and these women are so in my corner, how can I say no.
“Ok. Give me the information.”
They leave, and I sit back in my chair and wait for the love of my life to come back to me.
