Cindi Madsen: Cinderella Screwed Me Over

I walked up to the receptionist window. “Hi, could you tell Allen that Darby is here?”

The woman looked up from her computer. “Do you have an appointment?”

“No, I—”

“I’m sorry, ma’am. We’re about to close for lunch.” She slid out a business card. “Give us a call to schedule something.”

“Actually,” I said, “I’m here to see if Allen wants to go to lunch.”

“Dr. Booth has lunch scheduled with his wife.”

“You mean his ex-wife?”

The woman frowned. “No, ma’am. I mean Mrs. Booth.”

My heart dropped. Surely she didn’t mean—

“Is that Alicia?” I recognized Allen’s voice. “Tell her I’ll be right out.”

“Actually, it’s Darby,” I yelled back, rage taking over as I realized what this meant. “And I think you’d better get out here now.”

A few seconds later, Allen walked into the waiting room. “What are you doing here?” he whispered. “I really wish you would’ve called first.”

I didn’t bother whispering back. “I thought I’d surprise you and take you to lunch. You know, since you’ve been so busy lately. But I was just informed that you’re having lunch with your wife. I was sure she meant ex-wife, but she made it sound like there was no ex in front of it.”

“Look, it’s complicated. We were about to get a divorce, but then…” He lowered his voice to a whisper. “She’s pregnant. What am I supposed to do? Leave her anyway?”

I shoved him. “How about not keep calling me.” I stepped forward and shoved him again. “How about not telling me that you love me?”

“I do love you. Look, what I told you about her is true. She’s demanding. She makes me feel like I’m not good enough. Then I met you and you just lit up the room. You made me feel special.” He reached out for me. “Is it so wrong I tried to hold onto that?”

Instead of yelling all the insults I wanted to, I clenched my teeth, feeling like screaming and crying and not knowing which one to grab onto. I’d sworn that if this ever happened again—if a guy ever did me wrong again—I wouldn’t freeze up; I’d let the guy have a piece of my mind. But the giant lump in my throat made it impossible to say anything.

The door swung open and a raven-haired woman with a round, protruding belly walked in.

Allen’s eyes widened as he looked over at her, then back at me. “Please don’t say anything,” he whispered. “She’s already having a high-stress pregnancy, and they’re worried about her losing the baby.” He raised his voice, turning to his wife. “Honey, hi. Just give me a minute.”

He tried to tug me toward the back, but I was done being jerked around. I didn’t know if what he said about his wife’s pregnancy was true. She deserved to know her husband was a cheating dirtbag, but was I willing to risk her health? No. Besides, she’d probably just blame me anyway.

“He’s all yours,” I said as I bolted past her, out of the office.

For two days I called in sick to work. It wasn’t even a lie; I felt ill every time I thought of how I’d been with another woman’s husband.

Allen called off and on for a few weeks, leaving me sorry excuses and apologies in my voice mail I couldn’t believe. He told me how much he wished things were different. He said he still loved me.

See, in the end of Aladdin it was all okay because Aladdin came clean, admitted his feelings…and let’s face it, Jasmine was rich enough to take care of him, so it didn’t really matter. I think she should’ve held out for longer—maybe even ruled the kingdom without him—so girls out there wouldn’t think a little apology and flying off into the sunset repaired all. I mean, how did she know he wouldn’t lie again? He probably did.

But they never bother showing what happens after.

In real life, coming clean doesn’t always make a difference. Because some dirty laundry is too ruined to get clean again.

Time Wasted:Five months

Lessons Learned:

Don’t date someone obsessed with his car.

Insist on seeing his place.

Don’t buy sob stories.

Dentists are evil.

A person who lies about one thing won’t hesitate to lie about something big.

Never EVER date a liar!

Nadine, my partner at work, insisted we go to lunch at Blue to get away from the office—our boss was on some kind of warpath today, and it was best to steer clear when she was looking for someone to blame. After what happened Saturday evening, I’d been planning on staying away for a while. Even though Jake didn’t own the place, he might actually work there, and I didn’t want to have an awkward run-in with him. Especially since I couldn’t stop thinking about his handsome face, his smile, and the way my heart jumped into my throat when he put his hand on my hip.

“Hey, Darby. Nadine,” Mindy said when we walked in. “Just you two today? Or do you have clients joining you?”

“Just us,” Nadine said.

Mindy ushered us to a table and left so we could look over the menu.

Nadine lifted her menu and studied it, even though we both knew she’d end up getting the grilled chicken salad. I lifted mine, too, simply for something to look at, when deep male voices caught my attention, and I glanced in their direction. Jake and Chad stood near the back, discussing something. I threw my menu up, not wanting Jake to see me.

Okay, so he does work here. He wasn’t wearing the normal waiter attire, either. Hmm, guess I’ll see what I can find out from Mindy.

“So, what do you think about Mrs. Crabtree’s remodel?” Nadine asked. “Are we going to go with the Pepto-pink color, or are we going to try to talk her out of it?”

I peeked around my menu— no sign of Jake —then lowered it. “I suggested a lighter pink that wouldn’t make me think of an upset stomach, but she insists she wants that particular pink.”

“It’s going to be the most god-awful bathroom.”

“I talked her out of painting all the walls—told her accent walls are all the rage these days. She seemed to buy it, so that’ll help tone it down. Then, next time we meet, I’m going to tell her that stripes are in. If we’re really lucky, we’ll end up with one pink-and-white-striped wall that we can work accent decorations into. It might be kind of cute, actually.”

“Hello, are you ladies…?” Jake trailed off when his gaze lit on me. “Darby. Hi.”

I was impressed he remembered my name. Most people could only remember it was unusual. Even without his hand on my hip, my body reacted to him, my pulse quickening and my stomach churning with a mixture of nerves and attraction. “Hi, Jake.”

He rubbed his fingers across his jaw—such a simple motion, but it drew my attention to his handsome features. He was the exact type of guy I used to lose my mind over. “I didn’t expect… Well, you did imply you came here a lot,” he said.

“And I wasn’t lying.” Yes, I needed to remember the lying part and ignore how hot the guy was. I gestured to Nadine. “This is Nadine. Nadine, Jake. Nadine and I work together. And we do end up eating here and bringing clients in a lot.”

“Hi,” Nadine said with a giant grin, adding in a healthy dose of eye batting. “So, what do you do?”

I crossed my arms and looked up at him. “Yeah, and before you answer, maybe I should mention that I know most everyone who works here. Including the guy who actually owns this place.”

Jake’s brow furrowed. “You mean me?”

“I mean Brent.”

“Right. Brent and I own the place.” Jake’s confused expression turned into one of amusement. “But you don’t believe me.”