Liza stopped in her tracks at the sight of Josh sitting on the stoop outside the apartment. He was looking down at his phone, swiping absentmindedly across his screen. She cleared her throat and stepped towards.
"Josh. What are you doing here?" He looked up and shoved his phone in his pocket. He leaned back and rested his elbows on the steps.
"Liza." He looked her up and down. There was something different about her, something he couldn't quite place. "You look good. Really good."
She rolled her eyes. "What are you doing here?" she repeated, shifting the bag of books to her other hand.
"I wanted to talk to you Liza. To see you. I miss you Liza. I miss us."
"Josh," she said, sighing, "There is no us anymore. I think I made that pretty clear."
"Why not, Liza? I've been thinking about things lately. You know, life and shit. I think I can put the whole no kids thing aside."
"You think you can now, but you don't know for sure. I can't, no, I won't be the person that corners you into a life that you might not want in 5 or 10 years. I care about you too much to do that to you." She saw his eyes light up as she said the last sentence and instantly regretted it. Typical Josh, she thought, only really hearing what he wanted to.
She shifted the bag again and set it down on the sidewalk, along with her overnight bag. Josh remained sitting on the steps, running his hand through his carefully tousled hair. Charles, she thought, would have taken those bags from me, asked if I wanted to sit down.
"The life I want is any life with you, Liza. I love you. It's always been you, Liza."
Her heart wrenched as he said those words. She had never meant to hurt Josh, she did love him, but not the way he loved her. She bent down and reached out to grab his hand. He looked tired, she thought, and a wave of guilt spilled over her.
"Josh, listen to me. I love you. You mean so much to me. I don't think I would be where I am in my life right now if you hadn't come into it. But I am not IN love with you anymore. We are not a long term thing, you and me. There's no way. The path we were going down, it's not what I see for myself. And it's not what you want, even if you don't realize it right now."
Josh clenched his fist in his pocket as he listened. He glanced down, trying to avoid looking her in the eyes, and his eyes fell on the tote bag she had set down. It was the same one she used to bring over when she would stay overnight at his apartment. It didn't have a zipper, and he caught sight of balled up clothing, a pair of heels and a clear bag of toiletries. He clenched his fingers tighter and forced himself to meet her eyes.
"Is there someone else?" He asked coldly, nodding towards her bag. He pulled his hand out of her grasp and stood up. She did too, and nodded.
"There is now. There wasn't then." He didn't need to know that Liza had been having feeling for Charles for months.
Josh rolled his eyes and paced a few steps on the sidewalk, kicking at a loose stone.
"Who? Who is it? Damnit, Liza, I deserve to know who you jumped into bed with a few weeks after breaking up with me. You know, I knew you were a liar, but I didn't take you for a cheater."
She crossed her hands over her chest. "Listen, I just told you that it just started. I'm not lying to you about that. And," she sighed, bracing herself for a new wave of anger, "It's Charles."
Josh stopped and stared at her. "Charles. Your boss, Charles?" Liza nodded again.
"Yes, we're together now."
Josh shook his head and scoffed. "That's just great. Fucking fantastic. Sleeping with your boss, Liza, really? He probably just wants to get with you because he thinks you're 26. Real classy, Liza."
"You have no right to judge me, Josh. I'm sure you haven't exactly been celibate since we broke up. And, for your information, what I have with Charles is real. He knows who I am. He knows everything. I didn't sleep with him until after he knew."
Josh stopped and ran his hands through his hair again. "You told him everything?"
"Yes. I don't want to hurt you, Josh, but that future I didn't see with you – I can see it with him. I'm not going to pretend that it isn't complicated. Neither of us is completely divorced, and we both have kids, and people at work still think I'm a millennial, but we know we want to pursue this."
"Well, then," He rubbed his hand over his face, "I need some time to process this."
Liza picked up her bags and stepped up to the door with her keys. "Take as much time as you need, Josh, but things aren't going to change. We're still over, and I'm with Charles. You need to accept that. He is going to be in my life. You'll probably be seeing him around here. And," she added, "I hope we can get back to being friends, Josh. We were always good at that." She pulled the door open and paused for a moment. "You should know that I told Kelsey, too. She knows everything." She smiled at him, but he just sighed and turned, walking away.
She found Maggie upstairs, putting the finishing touches on her homemade marinara sauce. Maggie had already tidied up and put some wine in the fridge to chill. She would never admit it, but she was very much looking forward to meeting Charles. She could tell that Liza was smitten with him, and had been so for a long time. But she needed to be the aloof but protective best friend tonight, and put the fear of God of him.
Liza put on her best happy face before she walked in, but Maggie could see right through it. She brought her up to speed on the sidewalk confrontation with Josh.
"Liza, it's not your responsibility to lick his wounds and make him feel better. I love Josh, but he needs to move on. You've got your own life to live, and you can't let him weigh you down. Now," she said, arching one eyebrow and taking a sip of her pinot grigio, "You need to tell me all about your night with Charles. Did the Empiriconda live up to the hype?"
Liza laughed, letting all thoughts and guilty feelings about Josh fall from her mind, and true to her word to Charles, told Maggie every little detail of the past 24 hours.
At 10 to 7, Charles rang the buzzer to Liza's apartment. He had a bottle of wine in one hand and a bouquet of flowers in the other. He rocked back and forth on his heels, trying to work out his nerves. He wasn't sure why he was so nervous. He felt more nervous than he had meeting Pauline's parents.
"Who is it?" A woman's voice crackled through the speaker. It was a warm voice with a distinct Brooklyn accent.
"Uhh, it' Charles, Charles Brooks."
"I know who you are, darlin. Come on up."
He took the stairs up the second floor, taking them two steps at a time with his long legs. He reached out to knock on the door, but it swung open before he could do so. Liza grinned at him. She eyed him slowly, appreciating how hot he looked in those dark wash jeans and a black shirt. The top buttons were undo, giving her a peak at his chest underneath. He hadn't shaved, and his stubble made him look ruggedly handsome.
"Hey you." She leaned up to kiss him – without her usual heels she needed to stand on her toes to reach him.
"Hey there beautiful." He handed her the flowers and stepped inside.
"Let me go put these in water. Maggie will be right out." He slipped his coat off and took a look around. It was a good sized loft, with brick walls and wood floors. There was art everywhere, and he was almost overwhelmed by all of the different colors and textures and patterns. He spotted a few distinctly Liza touches, like the manuscript sitting on the coffee table and a picture of her with a young blonde girl, who he assumed was her daughter.
"That's Caitlin." Liza came up behind him and wrapped her arms around him. "I'd like for you to meet her."
"Me too."
"Well, well, you must be the famous Charles Brooks." Maggie sauntered out of her bedroom and leaned up against the kitchen island. Maggie had seen a few pictures of him, but he was even taller in person. He smiled and strode over to her, holding out the bottle of wine. Maggie noted the label. It was a $500 bottle.
"And you must be the infamous Maggie Amato. Liza has told me all about you. I'm so glad we are finally able to meet."
Maggie took the bottle and set it on the counter. "Liza has told me a lot about you too." She smirked mischievously and delighted in seeing both Liza and Charles turn red in the face. They really were perfect for each other, she thought, freakishly tall, modest, and bookish.
"Let's crack this baby open, shall we?" Maggie gestured to the wine. "And Charles, you can sit down and tell me all about yourself while Liza pours."
For the next four hours, the food and conversation flowed. Liza was relieved beyond measure to see that her best friend and her man instantly hit it off. They talked about books and music and art and food. And Liza. Maggie asked him a lot of questions, but nothing that crossed the line too much. It warmed Liza's heart to see them converse and crack jokes, and it warmed Maggie's to see the way these two clearly adored each other. Maggie noticed that they rarely weren't touching each other – holding hands at the table, his arm slipping around her when they moved to the living room to relax on the sectional. He may not be from her world, but he fit in quite well to Liza's.
At half past 11, Maggie stifled a small yawn and got up, stretching.
"Well, I think I'm going to call it a night, you two. I've got to get up early and meet Malkie at the community garden. And," she grinned as she walked to the doorway of her bedroom, "I'll make sure to put in my headphones, so feel free to, you know." She winked at Liza before closing the door behind her.
Liza stood up and stretched, lifting her arms above her head. Charles caught a glimpse of her bare stomach as her shirt lifted, and he reached up and grabbed her around the waist, pulling her down on top of him for a kiss. She laughed and shifted so that she was straddling him.
"What time are you picking up the girls tomorrow? Can you stay?"
"I have to be home by 11 to meet my Aunt at the house. So yeah, I can. If you'll have me."
Liza leaned down and put her hands on either side of his face before leaning in to kiss him. She pulled away and searched his eyes. "What did I ever do to deserve you, Charles Brooks?"
"You saved me, Liza."
She ran her hand gently though his hair, gently rubbing the side of his head with her thumb. "I must learn to be content with being happier than I deserve."
Charles recognized it as a quote from Pride and Prejudice, her favorite book, and returned it in kind with another quote from the book, "You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you."
"If you insist." Liza leaned in and brushed her lips across his before standing and reaching out a hand to him. He stood and took it, letting her lead him a little further into her world.