I can't believe she said "no" to me. I got down on one knee in the middle of a casino with what felt like every red rose in the state of Nevada in my arms and proposed to her. I was at least twenty times more romantic than how he proposed to her.
Okay, so maybe proposing while I was in the middle of a trial wasn't exactly the smartest idea – I'll give you that. But heck, I thought the jury was going to deliberate long enough for me to at least buy her a romantic dinner. It's not my fault the jury was early.
But I loved her. I wanted to spend my life with her. And I knew it and I wanted forever to begin as soon as possible. I didn't keep it bottled up and play stupid games with her. I never toyed with her emotions. I told her exactly how I felt about her. I knew from the first time I laid eyes on her that I wanted to be with her.
Mary is the most beautiful woman I have ever met. Not just physically beautiful – this woman is the entire package. She isn't just a pretty face or a great body, she has a mind. She is bright, intelligent, funny… I mean, just being in her presence made me feel alive.
When you work as a public defender, you don't exactly meet the most savory characters in the city of Las Vegas. Some people are real scumbags. But some people are good and truly need some help. And I love my job. I'm sure everyone wonders why a "rich boy" like me would want to work such a "lowly" position, but I truly love it. I put in long hours at the office. And Mary understood that – at first.
I think she was ok with it when we first started dating. She had just broken up with… you know - a few weeks prior to our first face-to-face meeting and was getting back into the swing of things in the single life. So she would go out with Sam and Delinda and have some girls' night out thing or whatever. She was enjoying her new-found freedom and I respected that.
But then things got serious. I asked her to move in with me after our trip to my family's compound in Hawaii. I told her that if she decided not to go back to work at the Montecito, that would be fine with me – I would take care of her. I wanted to take care of her.
I mean, this girl has taken care of everyone. She's just that type of person. She's so caring, so warm. How can anyone not love her? How can anyone not want to spend the rest of their life with her? And it looked to me that everyone took her for granted and didn't really take care of her. I know her friends all love her and were always there for her, but I mean… You know who I mean.
He never seemed to care about her.
I guess if I really wanted to, I could blame my failed relationship with Mary on him. But what's the use? In the end, I lost her all on my own. I did what I said I would never do – I started to take her for granted.
I continued to put in long hours at the office even after she moved in with me. I would try to make it up to her with expensive presents – hey, it worked before with previous girlfriends until I grew tired of them. Not that I'm saying I'm saying I'm some kind of Casanova or anything.
But Mary was different.
She grew tired of me. So she went back to work at the Montecito – and was working with that guy again.
You know, he nearly ruined the entire Hawaii vacation. It was tragic, what happened. Don't get me wrong. But did he really have to call her the minute we got off the plane? God, that really pissed me off. He had her so worked up, she wanted to turn around and go back to Vegas right away to take care of him.
But he convinced her that he would be ok and that she should stay with me. Like he was doing me a favor… She could barely sit still the first week we were down there. I finally threw her phone into the ocean and feigned ignorance when she couldn't find it. The trip went well after that.
Then we had to come back. She insisted on helping – fine, I'll say his damn name – Danny with his father's belongings. I played the good boyfriend. I gave a little legal advice to her to give to him.
Man, I never saw the Penny fiasco coming though.
As jealous as I am of him, no man deserves to get screwed like that – no one.
Was I jealous of him? Heck, yes. Was I threatened of him? What do you think? The woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with was – hell, is still in love with another man. Maybe that's what drove me to work all those long hours.
I knew that she would never love me as much as she loves him. And that drove me crazy. It made me mad. And sad, at the same time. I knew that I wanted to be with her, but the fact that I knew in the back of my mind that she would rather be with someone else… I didn't want to deal with it.
She would always deny that she still had feelings for him. You know, I may be a guy, but I'm not blind. But I was in denial. So maybe I shouldn't be surprised that she said "no." I practically pushed her back into his arms. I still love her anyway.