Love on the Scale

Chapter Fifty

"I'm so proud of you!" Mom wrapped her arms around James, and he laughed.

"It's not that big a deal, Mom. Really..."

"My baby is getting married! And you!" She turned her attention to me, and I fell victim to her vigorous hug. "A fashion designer!"

"Well... not yet. I mean, she only said-"

Mom moved on to Brandi, who hugged her back with a grin. "Thanks, Mrs. Cyrus."

Mom pulled away and fanned herself with a hand. "Oh, now I need some tissue. Excuse me, I'll only be a second. And then I'll make something for lunch."

James moved to the couch, and Brandi fell into his lap. They kissed. I may or may not have gagged, in good humor. I was happy for them. James had proposed the week before, on their trip ice skating, and Brandi had been inseparable from him since. I hoped everything worked out for them.

I also hoped everything worked out for me. The woman in charge of approving fashions had loved my designs. She thought they would make an amazing addition to the company's clothing. But I had to pass some sort of test, something to do with showing how many designs I could come up with a day, a week, a month, and how many would be practical. But I was excited; my talent had been realized after all that time.

"Chris, you're going to help me with wedding plans, right?" Brandi asked. I agreed, to her delight, and she was off on her tangent of what she wanted. James watched her with a smile, love in his eyes, and I exhaled a slow breath.

I wanted that. Love and friendship that trumped the person's flaws. Love that continued through good and bad. I frowned. Why couldn't I make up my mind? I ended things with Neil because I wanted to find myself, and now I wanted to have love that never ended. My life was turning into a soap opera and I had to stop it.

I had love like that; even though we weren't together, we loved each other, me and Neil. I mean, he didn't know I loved him, but... I knew. He hadn't called, or showed up, since he'd asked if he had any chance with me. I hadn't heard James talk about him, or even mention him. Was he okay?

"James?"

He peeled his eyes away from Brandi, raised his eyebrows.

"Have you seen Neil lately?"

His brows drew together, and he shook his head. "No, I haven't. But sometimes he'll take a few days off for no reason, so I'm not worried."

But I was. Neil never stopped badgering you if there was something he wanted. For him to stop being around me altogether, when I hadn't pushed him away? Something was wrong. I stood. "I'll uh, see you guys later. Tell mom I'll be back to see her another day, but something came up."

James looked confused, but Brandi grinned. "See you. Be safe." Her following wink told me she knew where I was going, and I rolled me eyes.

"Right. Stay in sight, you two; no sneaking off alone till you're married."

* * * * *

Manny, the doorman, grinned when he saw me coming. "Miss Cyrus, nice to see you. I've been expecting you."

"What?"

"Don't worry, Neil didn't say anything about you coming. In fact, I haven't seen him in a few days. But I knew if you were half the woman he's bragged of you being, you'd come to see if he was okay."

I stopped climbing the steps to the building, and stared at him. I crossed my arms. "Exactly what has he said about me?"

"Well before he met you, he was a real ladies man, if you know what I mean. Brought a different woman every night, and the same woman would leave alone the next morning. Then he stopped bringing 'em. I thought he finally got an STD like I warned him about, but he said no, he just met a 'fascinating girl.'" He formed the air quotes and all, white gloves in the air.

"Well, next thing I knew he'd be coming back every night with a smile on his face. Looked downright drunk, you know? But he wasn't. He said he met a girl that didn't want to give him the time of day, but she was wonderful. Curvy and cute, and shy as all get out. Said he was gonna make you see how much you deserved to be loved. That's when I thought he'd been on some new drug, you see. Love? Mr. Kaiser would swear at you in a second if you mentioned that word to him. Acted like it was from the devil 'imself. Didn't have good parents, I think."

A couple passed me, and I apologized, moved closer to Manny, who waited for them to enter the building before letting go of the door and turning back to me. "One day he told me he'd got you. How you helped him feel better about his family, and then the kiss." He shook his head, amused. "I didn't know you could give that many details of a five-second kiss. He was convinced you were the one, he was. But about a month ago he came back all sad, and quiet. Snapped at me when I tried to joke with him. Next morning he said you'd tried to kill yourself, and it was his fault. I knew he was going up to drink; he's had problems with alcohol in the past."

That explained his reluctance to drink the night I met his parents, and when we got back... before he told me he loved me.

"But he didn't. Said if you made it, you wouldn't want a drunk as a boyfriend. But when you called it off, I think he lost himself. Somebody called the police after he drank a bottle of whiskey, and his whole floor could hear him yelling up and down the hall about what he'd done. I thought he'd lost his mind, but he let me help him back to his place. I took all his alcohol. No one pressed charges."

I felt my heart drop into my stomach. He didn't tell me any of that. Why would he, he thought I didn't even want him anymore.

Manny saw the look on my face and backtracked. "But hey, a couple weeks ago he snapped out of it, just like that. Said he'd seen you again, and went on a rant like the first time he'd saw you. He showed me a picture he took before you'd seen him." He blushed. "You did look beautiful, excuse me for sayin' so, miss."

"Thank you... Manny, you said you haven't seen him lately?"

"No ma'am. Been up at his place for a while. I know he's alive, because he gets the mail when I drop it off at his door. I'm worried about him though."

"Me too. I'll see if he's okay."

Manny opened the door for me, and I turned back to him halfway through. "Thank you for looking out for him."

He blushed again. "Would've done it for anyone."

"Really?"

He thought for a minute at me question. "Well, now that you ask... I guess I wouldn't. Mr. Kaiser's just a good man. Deserves it."

I smiled to myself. "Yeah, he does."