A Plan Worth Changing

By Bria Daly

Excerpt:
I woke up to the smell of something yummy. You’d think it was food that woke me up after three days without eating, but it was a lot yummier than food. I opened my eyes and saw a recently showered, soapy smelling, wet-haired Ben, wearing only a towel around his waist.
I was practically on my deathbed, still feverish and famished, but the idea of ripping that towel off of him and taking him right then and there did actually cross my mind.
“Sorry,” he apologized. Stupid man, as if there was a need to say sorry. As far as I was concerned, he had brought me back from my deathbed and gave me a reason to live; he looked delicious.
“Wait,” I said reaching out to him with my hand.
“Are you okay? Sorry, I didn’t even ask if you needed anything before I left.”
“I have a confession to make,” I told him.
“Okay... but only if you want to confess, because for starters, I don’t think you’re dying or anything, but mainly, since I’m almost naked and you’re in my bed, I’m not feeling very priestly or holy right now.”
“You don’t look priestly or holy,” I told him and I felt my fever rise.
“So,” he cleared his throat, “about your confession?”
My confession ... I couldn’t even remember. It had something to do with that towel he was wearing around his waist. I must have looked confused, because he laughed at me. He was making fun of me. I was finally starting to feel alive again, and the man was making fun of me.
“I forget,” I told him, and he squeezed my hand and started to get up.
“Wait,” I said, not letting go of his hand.
He sat down again. Maybe if I got him to sit and stand, and stand and sit fast enough and plenty of times, he might just lose the damn towel!
“Yes?” he asked patiently.
Still drawing a blank, and then I suddenly remembered and blushed, when I told him what I had been thinking ever since he walked into his room, “I think you’re overdressed.”

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bria Daly
• Release date: Feb 19, 2016
• ISBN: 9781310103490

Bria Daly

I'm a mom, wife, sister, friend, and author.My books are available in paperback, and as eBooks. Writing is something I've always enjoyed doing, but if you ask me what my greatest accomplishment is, I'd have to say it's my children, and with very good reason (I'm a super proud mom).About me...Bria Daly is a pen name created from the names of the most important people in my life: my husband and my two children.I was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina and I moved to the United States when I was young. I married a U.S. military man, and my husband's career took us to wonderful places around the globe. We lived in Japan, Germany, Argentina, Brazil, Honduras, and seven U.S. states. I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to see and experience different worlds and cultures. My experiences, the people I met, and the places I lived in, have made me the person I am today, and someone who appreciates all this wonderful world has to offer.I am also an advocate and defender of children, animals, the elderly, and the disabled. My house is always chaotic and loud. Chaos is not what I aim for, but it is what it is. Still, I don't think I'd want it any other way.My furniture is eclectic, our diets are all different (we have 2 vegans, a vegetarian, and an omnivore - I'm one of the 2 vegans), we have 3 dogs, 3 cats, 3 cockatiels, 2 hermit crabs, and two large fish tanks with a variety of fish (today, who knows what we'll have tomorrow?). And I believe my pets are my muses because they're ALWAYS with me and wherever I go.Thanks for giving me the opportunity to share my stories that are mostly family themed, because for me, family is what it's all about.If I can ask for on favor, it would be to please help me reach other readers by leaving a star rating or review whenever you get a chance. Visibility in online searches is based on author ranking and those numbers are generated by reader reviews.And another thing, and I really mean this, go ahead and contact me, I promise will write back. You can also visit me on Facebook, or stop be my website at anytime by going to https://briadaly.wordpress.com/Wishing you and yours my very best,Bria

Book preview

Prologue

I’ll take it.

Walter looked at me and I know he was trying hard not to do a little dance because he was that happy. Something very obvious – like his excitement and cluelessness – told me that I was Walter’s first paying client; Walter was my realtor.

The old me, the one who still believed that if you loved someone enough they’d love you back and never cheat on you, was a lot less impulsive and more reserved. She would never in a million years consider renting a place without seeing it first. But two very important factors prompted me to do just that:

One - The price was right

Two - Walter seemed like a decent enough guy, and

Three - I had to actually meet the pecs I saw in the photo Walter had just shown me.

My bad, there were actually three factors, and number 3 trumped the other two. Why I trusted Walter I will never know, but I guess there is still a lot more left of the old me than I would like to admit to.

I spoke to Walter in the morning about a beach house he advertised on Craigslist – yes, I know, but there are a lot of great finds on Craigslist intermixed with some of the very dubious scams and deals. Walter told me about the beach house he had listed, and I decided that it would be perfect for what I had planned for my summer.

My plans for the summer were a very important part of reinventing myself. The old me was an honest, kind, hard-working twenty nine year old woman. She was married for eight years to a man who made promises he never kept, and not all had to do with being faithful. This man – I’ll call him Jonathan, because that’s his name - also said he wanted kids, but kept putting it off until just recently when he admitted that having kids was my thing, not his. Since we were married, it was a little hard for me to do ‘my thing’ without him so that, and his infidelity made leaving him an easy choice.

I wanted to have kids, but I also wanted to make up for the past eight years of being a good wife to someone who didn’t deserve it. For this reason alone, and going against my nature and better judgment I decided that I would have some fun – for the very first time ever – and…that I would have a fling.

I would be the wild child I only read or heard about; I would search for a bad boy and find out how the other half lives. I would live the part of the heroine in a steamy romance. That was the plan, and that’s where Walter came in.

I turned to look at Walter who was putting away some papers and I chuckled to myself; Walter smiled back. Walter was most definitely not the bad boy I was searching for. Walter was a fifty something year old, bald, pudgy man who had found me a place to rent on a sunny beach; the very same beach that would lead me to my bad boy, but Walter had almost blown it.

We spoke earlier today about a beach house you advertised? I said to him as soon as I walked into his office and we exchanged pleasantries.

Oh yes, Walter turned to his desk and fidgeted with some papers before giving me the bad news, I’m sorry to say, but that one was rented out this morning.

My disappointment must have shown. Walter looked like a nice guy, he actually looked like the type of guy that didn’t want to disappoint anyone, and I think that when he saw how disappointed I looked, it triggered his memory.

But I have another one that is currently available. It’s a little smaller and was just put on the market.

I later found out that "just put on the market" meant exactly that; just meaning at that very minute when he brought it up.

I only hoped that the price would still fit my limited budget.

Walter continued, The place needs some work, but the landlord lives next door so he knows about the issues that need to be addressed and will take care of whatever you need.

And the price is …

Because it needs a coat of paint, and a few screens repaired, maybe replace an appliance or two…the rent for this one will be half of what I quoted you for the other one.

He had almost lost me after mentioning the paint, appliances, and screens, but half of the price had a nice ring to it.

I pretended to mull it over, but half of the price had already won me over, Will I be able to count on getting things fixed if I need something? I mean, having the landlord next door is no guarantee. I realized I was still trying to reduce the price even more, but in truth, and for what I could afford, I could live without a coat of new paint for the month or more I planned to stay there.

That’s very true, but in this case, I happen to know the landlord well. He’s been busy, or he would have done all of the work already, and he’s actually pretty handy.

Is the landlord a client of yours? How well do you know him?

Walter smiled, The truth is, he’s my kid brother and I’m trying to give him a hand. Tell you what, what did I say before about the rent for the first place? Was it $1000? We’ll do my brother’s place for $300. How does that sound?

I had no idea what to say. The price sounded way too good to be true, and maybe it was. The place I called about this morning was $1000 and I had decided I could stay at the beach for a month. A month was all I could afford, but … $300? I might be able to stay longer at that price. My lease was up where I lived now and I already knew I wasn’t going to renew it. That was the apartment I shared with Jonathan and it was bigger than what I needed, it was lot more than I could afford now that he was out of the picture, and it still smelled like Jonathan—all good reasons to give it up. I could put my things in a storage unit, or in my sister’s garage, and then figure out where I’d live after the summer was over.

I was thinking ahead and realized the man was looking at me and waiting for a reply.

Sorry, I spaced out. Do you have any pictures of the place?

He hesitated, and looked at his desktop. I don’t have official pictures. I talked to my brother this morning about the rental and he finally agreed that it was time to put it on the marked.

Was it my imagination or had his mouth twitched when he said that?

He wasn’t sure the place would be ready for a tenant, Walter added, but I think we can get it ready and the price is much better than the price for the original place I quoted you.

Everything he said was true and it fit in with my plans. I wanted to get away and be on my own. I had lived with my parents and my sister, and then moved on to living with my spouse. I was never alone until recently, and I wanted more of that. I also wanted to stay at a beach house; a beach house sounded like fun and would be relaxing, but there was that small detail that I had almost no money. And to top it all, I didn’t know where I’d be living when I got back from my summer adventure; eventually I’d have to get back to my normal life, a life that involved working again and paying for rent. I’d need to have enough money for a deposit for my next place, and I would have to …

He was waiting for me again, but this time I pretended that it was his fault and not mine, You said you had pictures?

Oh, yes! Well sort of. I spent a couple of weeks with my brother last summer, so I have family pictures, but I can show you what I have and point out some of the highlights of the place and maybe draw a floor plan for you. I’m sorry, I should have had this all ready for you, but …

That’s okay. Just show me what you have.

He went to his computer behind a desk and I followed. His screensaver was the picture of a duck; I could think of worse things, and I actually thought it was a very cute duck. He opened a folder labeled Summer – 2013, and opened up the file for me to see. There were probably a hundred pictures in the folder. He scrolled down quickly and stopped occasionally to show me the beach, the waves, the sand, a starfish, a fire, a sunset, a little boy making a sandcastle, a boy holding a crab over another boy’s head, and … a balcony. He stopped.

He explained that the balcony in the picture belonged to his brother’s house, and not the house that was for rent, but he said the balcony was identical to the one I would have if I rented the place. The balcony looked like a balcony; all I could see was a railing and a chair, so that didn’t tell me much at all, but it seemed to make Walter happy so I smiled as if to confirm that it was a very nice balcony indeed.

The next picture was of a back; a man’s back to be precise. A very nice, well-built, muscly, and solid, tanned back.

He scrolled down some more.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a reason for him to return to the muscled guy since the guy’s back had occupied the entire picture and there wasn’t even a speck of sand I could ask Walter about. I could only hope there would be more pictures of that same man’s back coming up.

Walter kept scrolling quickly and made a sudden stop at one photo and told me that that was a picture of his wife. I smiled and said she was very pretty, although she really wasn’t as much pretty, as she looked nice; she had a very nice smile and looked content.

Then he scrolled down some more and opened a picture of what looked like the front of the beach house.

Nice, things were looking good.

This is my brother’s place again. If you look over here, he pointed to a small and faded corner in the shot, you can see the left side of the rental. It’s just the corner, but you get the idea, right?

Not even a smidgeon of an idea.

Aha, yes, I see, I lied, because I wanted him to show me more.

Next, we looked at a family shot. Walter was in the picture and I could see the pudgy belly he hid under his business attire. His wife was in the picture, and there were three kids that I assumed were his. The other person I saw, I could only assume was the front side of the back I had seen earlier. The guy’s front was as gorgeous as his back. If his muscles looked tight and defined on his back, his front looked even better. The beach house was looking better than ever.

In the picture – I’ll call the guy Adonis, but I’m sure that’s not his name – Adonis had his eyes shut and he was sticking out his tongue. The three kids in the picture were doing exactly the same thing. The only ones who weren’t making funny faces at the camera were my realtor and his nice-looking wife. I wondered, but didn’t know how to bring it up, if the guy with the gorgeous front and back was Walter’s brother. If it turned out that he was the brother, and that he was the landlord of the rental, I would shake hands, leave a deposit, and seal the deal before the guys pecs went away or were taken by someone else.

I lingered a little too long on the picture and he smiled at me.

Busted…

You have a nice family, I said blushing and trying to cover up what I was really thinking.

So what do you think? he asked.

I think…I think that that is one very hot male specimen … but that probably wasn’t what he was asking me. So aside from the incredible back and beautiful pecs, agreeing to rent this place made no sense at all. If I even considered signing a lease agreement based on the little I knew about Walter, the rental, or his brother, I could be signing my own death sentence.

I had seen a balcony from another house – the house next door - the fuzzy left corner of the actual rental, and …

I’ll take it, I said, and brought my checkbook out of my purse and waiting for him to hand me a pen.

Timing was everything, and those pecs wouldn’t be waiting forever…

Five months earlier …

"That’s it?"

The suit looked at me dismissively, closed his leather binder, and getting out of his chair said, Yup.

Yup? All I get is a yup? I looked at my lawyer. His entire outfit, consisting of the suit, a shirt, tie, shoes, socks, and underwear was easily in the range of $2,000 to $3,000. The money I paid him today could buy him two more of these expensive outfits, and all he said was Yup?

My name is Nikki. I have an English degree and my vocabulary is much better than my attorney’s. The job I do as a high school English teacher is designed to mold young minds; I don’t help dissolve marriages, I help build minds. I drive a fourteen-year-old car I bought used, and he drives a Ferrari. Life isn’t fair.

My attorney got up and gathered his things to leave. After all, he already had a crisp cashier’s check in his pocket, and there was nothing worth making him stay.

It was mind numbing to think that I was already divorced. Everything was so expeditious. With little discussion and a few signatures here and there, a huge part of my life was deleted on paper with the flick of a pen and some weird-ass curlicue signature I was still using from the days when I was still in school.

I was about to make some snide remark about what money can buy or get rid of these days, when a high pitched - and very fake - giggle from the other side of the table shut me up.

It was Jonathan’s floozy. Jonathan just had to bring his latest and her boobs to our divorce settlement. Didn’t he? And now, I shook my head at the irony of it. My lawyer had apparently found his way to the floozy and was trying to chat her up. I guess there was something worth making him stay …

I looked at my lawyer and the floozy. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but his mouth was moving so I could assume he was talking. Now he talked. No mono-syllabics like yup. And apparently the guy was a real hoot by the sounds of the floozy’s irritating giggles.

Unfortunately, Jonathan decided to take the opportunity to find his way over to me now that he had been pushed aside.

Jonathan stood in front of me. I was still sitting down, so I had to look up. If not, I would have been staring at his crotch. And although neither his face nor his crotch held too much appeal to me, I would take his face over his crotch any old day.

"Hey, babe. No hard feelings. Right?"

He was using his, I think I’m really charming, smile. I stared at him for a few seconds without bothering to answer.

Eight years I wasted on him … Give me the papers and I’ll sign again.

Instead I asked, What?

I meant to say, we’re good, right? Shit happens and it’s time to move on I guess, he was still trying to work me up with that smile of his. It should have worked; I paid a lot of money for those bright, white teeth of his three years ago when he said it would help his career and future opportunities.

I looked at the man I spent a third of my life with and answered, Of course we’re good. I’m just glad it’s finally over. I can’t believe we waited this long, I laughed.

Jonathan looked a little taken aback. He wasn’t used to me being cynical. Although I wasn’t really, I was just stating a fact. Once I realized that everyone else was right and I was the only one who was wrong about Jonathan, I finally saw him for who he was and not who I wanted him to be; I still can’t believe it took me eight years to figure it out.

We both turned when we heard more giggles coming from the floozy. By now, she had her arm wrapped into my lawyer’s arm. They were already walking out to the reception area, arms linked.

Jonathan’s attorney had already left the room without even saying goodbye to Jonathan. She was yelling into her cell phone and I felt sorry for the poor sucker on the other end.

I looked at Jonathan. His attention was on the floozy’s back. I recognized that look. That was his little lost boy look. It was different from his I know I’m charming smile; this look he couldn’t control. I had been drawn to that look; the nurturer in me made me want to help and protect him, but now it felt really good to know that it wasn’t working anymore.

Ouch, I said as I started to get up, but I don’t think he heard me. Jonathan walked away without saying good bye or even taking notice of me.

Eight years of sharing our lives, our bed, our dreams, and now it was all gone. Poof! Just like that. I was alone now in the room where our marriage was legally dissolved. I looked at the expensive furniture and the warm colors painted on the walls; this was a place where history was made. Not all of it warranted a place in a book or even on a gossip page, but every day matters, important to a few or to many, were settled in rooms across the world that looked just like this room.

There were mergers, divorces, murders, rapes, fraud, evasion; the room had so many different stories to tell. In the end, and whether the outcome was good or bad, one thing was certain: a chapter closed. And more often than not, at least one-sided satisfaction was guaranteed.

Today’s story was a minor one in the big scheme of things. Today a chapter was closed on the story of a boy and a girl who fell in love when they were too young to know what love really was. Today’s story was of a girl in love with love, and a boy who reaped the benefits until he became bored and it got old.

Back to the present time…

Chapter 1

Sam called.

I didn’t even have to look at the caller ID or even hear her voice; I heard some noise, the phone dropped, some chewing, and I knew without a doubt that it was my sister Sam.

I was on my lunch break in the teacher’s lounge when the phone rang.

Hey Sam.

How’d you know it was me? I didn’t even say a word, Sam said breathlessly. "Oh, wait a minute. Duh! Caller ID. Got it."

Sam almost always asked the questions and answered them, never giving anyone a chance to set her straight. Samantha continued talking, "How about lunch today? Three o’clock lunch at The Bistro okay?"

I laughed at her, "Since when is three o’clock lunchtime?" I asked looking down at the sandwich I was about to put in my mouth before my break was over.

Since I won’t have time to eat before lunch before then. I’m sure to Sam that made sense.

If we have lunch when it’s almost dinner time, can we call it something else? Because I’m having lunch as we speak, and like a normal person does.

"It’s 11:30; it’s not even noon. What are you … in pre-school?"

"High school actually."

"You can call it linner or lupper if you want, but for me it will be lunch."

I laughed at my sister. She was always running wild from one end of town to another, going to meetings, picking kids up, heading a PTA meeting or coaching little league; there was nothing Sam couldn’t do, except maybe have lunch at a normal time.

The two of us couldn’t have been any less alike. Samantha was a whirlwind - actually more like a full-blown tornado - and I was … not.

Sam has always been in charge. I love my sister so I prefer to say she’s a leader because it sounds much better than telling the truth: Sam is bossy, loud, and stubborn.

I was the quiet one of the two of us from early on. I don’t think anyone could get too many words in with Sam around, so quiet was part of just being in her presence. Sam raised me. When we were little, I did as I was told, and Sam always looked out for me. I was in good hands. I was also the good sister, or at least that’s what my parents used to tell Sam and me. My parents used to tell Sam, and me, "Nikki is the peacemaker. She’ll be a great ambassador someday." They didn’t want me to be an ambassador. They wanted me to be able to do things for them and take care of them someday. I don’t think they trusted Sam not to flip them and say adios!

That plan never came to be. My parents died in a car crash before they needed caring for, and Sam would have beaten me silly had I catered to those two.

Sam, who was bossy and pushy with everyone else, never took advantage of that. Instead, she always pushed me to stand up for myself, and defended me with tooth and nail. Nobody, I mean NOBODY, could ever get away with hurting her younger sister if Samantha had anything to say or do about it.

So when Samantha decreed lunch to be at three, I submitted without much of an argument, because some battles are just not worth fighting.

The bell rang and I jumped.

The fact that it rang every day and at the same exact times, didn’t matter; it was still too loud, and even if I anticipated it, it always caught me off-guard.

I also jumped because I had been thinking about how I would tell Sam that I was going to go away for a month or more. I had signed the papers at Walter’s office and hadn’t had the guts to tell Sam yet. Part of it had to do with placing a deposit on a place I had only seen in the corner of a picture; part of it had to do with wondering if the whole thing would even be worth it if the pecs guy never showed up.

The sound of the bell always startled me, but even though the bell was bad enough, it was also always intermixed with an immediate scraping of chairs, book dropping, shoving, short exchanges between the students, and the occasional bang of a chair hitting the edge of a desk when one of the students had the decency to actually push a chair in before leaving the room.

I started to open my mouth to say something to my students before they left, and chose to close it instead; they were on their way out and wouldn’t be listening.

I smiled and, out of habit, ventured over to the classroom door and yelled out to the back of my students’ heads, Have a nice summer!

A few turned around, and a couple of them waved.

I’m a good teacher. My students don’t have to love me to learn. But I have to admit that there was a time when I cared a lot more and wanted to be that teacher movies are made about. Maybe someday...

A lot has changed in the last few years. Some might say it has to do with experience or growing up, but I also think it has to do with what life dishes out. I think I became a little more cynical after I thought my husband actually loved me, and at about the same time, I found out he was cheating on me.

School was out for the summer and I had a future to plan. I had plans. Today at lunch I’d share those plans with Sam, but for now, I had to pack my things at school to clear the classroom for the summer.

I picked up a box I brought in from the copy room that morning and looked around. Most of what was in the room belonged to the school; I just had to take the few things out that were mine.

Chapter 2

So why couldn’t you have lunch before three o’clock today? I asked Sam as soon as we met up at The Bistro in town.

Cause I was eating my first lunch when I called you …

I laughed at her, "Hah! And you asked if I was in pre-school. So is this your second lunch, or would you rather it be your first dinner?"

No, this is lunch for sure. Pre-dinner comes after dessert, she said winking at me.

Sam never gained weight and never stopped eating. I