When We Meet Again

Chapter 5

Meaghan spent thanksgiving at home with her mother and Mr. Henley came by for thanksgiving dinner. He brings his apprentice along and Meaghan is surprised to see that he’s a shy and retiring young man; very tall, long shaggy dreadlocked hair held in a pony tail. He has some gray hairs on the sides of his head although it’s clearly premature. It makes him look cool especially with his Woodstock jeans and fitting shirt. He’s very polite to Meaghan and her mother and asks Meaghan questions about being a doctor. He even seems interested in the answers.

Meaghan texts Bain after dinner to lament that if she’d only met him two weeks ago she definitely would have given him a chance to woo her.

“What changed two weeks ago?” Bain asks.

“Dean Wesson came charging back into my life by way of the emergency room.”

Bain just sighs.

“I know you think I’m a delusional mess and I totally agree with you but the heart wants what the heart wants.” She protested.

“And your heart wants Dean Wesson?” Bain asks.

“Well…my heart is definitely interested in seeing how that goes,” she hedged.

“And the fact that he has a girlfriend…?”

“I told him I don’t play like that and he well…implied that he would end it with her,” she told him.

“He implied?” Bain repeated.

“Look if he doesn’t then he doesn’t. No harm no foul. We haven’t done anything irrevocable.” Meaghan said.

“He could just tell you he did and not do it. How would you know?” Bain asked.

“That is a good question and I will get back to you with an answer as soon as I have one. Meanwhile how was your thanksgiving?” she asked.

“Oooh, I met someone,” Bain said excitedly.

“Really? Where?” Meaghan asked mimicking his tone.

“The strip club,” Bain said.

Meaghan made a raspberry sound.

“Hey don’t hate on strippers. They need love too,” Bain protested.

“Okay okay bye Felicia. My mother is calling me,” Meaghan said and hung up. She shook her head laughing. Bain was always so worried about her romantic decisions even though he made the worst ones himself. It was crazy.

Her phone buzzed and she looked down at it. Message from Dean.

A little birdie told me that you’re in New York right now.

Meaghan laughed out loud. She clicked on reply and typed.

And therefore you find that…? :/

She walked the few feet that would take her to the door of the trailer and sat on the steps waiting for a reply. When she realized she was staring fixedly at her phone she hastily stuffed it in her pocket and began to look up at the sky instead. It buzzed immediately.

Therefore you find that I’d like to have a drink with you.

Meaghan stared at the message wondering what she should do about it. She wanted to call Bain back and ask him but she could already hear what he would say in her mind.

Are you single then?

She typed in her reply and then hesitated over the send button. She grimaced and then shrugged as she hit send. She put her phone away after because she was pretty sure there either would be no reply or else it would take a while. To her surprise her phone buzzed almost at once.

No I’m not. Not yet. Sammy’s in Ibiza on a photo shoot and I don’t want to break up with her over the phone. So short of going there…

This was followed immediately by another message.

I just want to have a drink and talk. Nothing else. It’s thanksgiving, you’re around, I’m around. Let’s get together. Please.

It was the ‘please’ that did it. Or at least that’s what Meaghan told herself. She thought about it; it was only 10pm and her mother was already asleep or in a food coma she wasn’t too sure. What could it hurt? One drink and she’d be back here.

Fine then. Where do you want to meet?

She stood up to go in search of her shoes and the car keys when her phone buzzed.

I’ll pick you up.

She stared at the reply in surprise. First of all it had been almost ten years since Dean had been to her neighborhood. And that was like twice; at night. He really thought he’d remember the way? Plus he was coming from right across town. It would have made more sense for them to meet somewhere in the middle. Meaghan shrugged internally; it was his funeral after all. If he came by with some impossibly expensive car and got mugged for it or whatever. The sound of a turbo engine distracted her as she stepped into the trailer to get her shoes. She turned around to see the Lamborghini Aventador she remembered from all those years ago in front of her mother’s home and Dean was grinning wickedly at her from the driver’s seat.

“Hi,” he called.

“How did you get here so fast?” she demanded.

Dean shrugged, “Actually I was already in the neighborhood,” he said.

“Oh really? So what would you have done if I’d said no?” Meaghan asked. Dean shrugged but he didn’t look too worried about that possibility.

“Oh you think you got my number or something huh? Or am I just that easy?” Meaghan asked only half joking.

“No it’s not that. I just really wanted to see you and I didn’t want to take no for an answer so I wasn’t going to.”

“Really? So seriously what would you have done if I’d said no?”

Dean shrugged again, “Whatever I needed to. Crawl on my hands and knees; beg and cry; play a boom box outside your window in the rain…name it.”

Meaghan was struggling very hard not to laugh.

“You’re crazy with a side of bat sh*t; you know that right?” she said instead as she picked up her shoes and began to put them on.

“Only about you,” he said but so quietly she didn’t know if she was supposed to have heard. She thanked God for her chocolate complexion which enabled her to hide her blushes. Her skin felt really hot though. She walked slowly down the steps of her trailer, carefully closing and locking the door behind her and then stepped forward into his vehicle. He drove off at once, seeming to know where he was going and Meaghan stared at him wondering.

“So…you seem to know this neighborhood pretty well,” she ventured.

Dean shrugged, “I have a good memory for places I’ve visited,” he said.

Meaghan nodded but said nothing more about it. She looked forward before thinking to ask, “Where are we going?”

“Oh I thought we’d visit the hard rock café. A little birdie told me you enjoy classic rock.”

Meaghan stared hard at him, “Okay I give up. Who’s this little bird that’s snitching on me?” Dean laughed long and hard at that one.

“You’re funny you know that?”

“And you’re not answering my question you know that?”

Dean glanced at her and then back to the road, “I remember the classic rock from high school. You used to hum Metallica tunes under your breath in the library and I saw your vinyl collection that time I dropped you off at home. I knew you were in New York because one of the nurses at the hospital texted me.”

Meaghan was taken aback that he’d made such a study of her life but then the last thing he said snagged her consciousness like a hook. “Why are random nurses at my locum texting you my twenty?” she demanded.

Dean had the grace to look embarrassed. “I might have asked her to?” he whispered sheepishly.

Meaghan stared at him in shock.