“Come on in,” she said. “The water’s fine.”
Mike took off his shirt and slid off the dock. He followed Mia as she glided out into the lake. He kept his distance, not trusting himself to be a gentleman. The whiskey had pretty much dissolved that resolve too.
Mia flipped over onto her back. Mike was glad to see that she was clothed in a one piece bathing suit.
“What brings you out into the lake at this time at night?” he asked her.
“I was very hot, and I needed to cool off,” she said. “I take it, you couldn’t sleep.”
“Too much booze. Too many thoughts.”
“That would do it. My brain won’t stop thinking long enough for me to dream.”
“What’s on your mind?” he asked, swimming closer.
Mia moved her hands to stabilize her position. “I’m not sure I can reconcile all that has happened in the last few weeks. I feel beat up inside, bruised and bloody, and there’s a part of me that is not letting it all heal.”
“That’s unlike the Mia I know,” Mike confessed. “The Mia that forgives so easily.”
“I’ve forgiven him,” she said sadly. “But it hurt. How can I come back from that? I thought that the one constant in my life was Ted’s fidelity.”
“He told us what brought around your complete transformation. I gave him hell, and I’m not sure that helped. He didn’t break his vows, Mia,” Mike reminded her.
“Not physically. How could he simply chuck his ring on the dresser and walk out on me?”
“In his mind, he was being brave,” Mike explained. “He knew that Murphy and we would pick up the pieces, Mia. He knows how we feel about you.”
“You don’t simply disappear like that. I’m so angry.”
“And so, instead of beating him up with words and your fists, you came out here to cool off?”
“Yes,” Mia said and swam away.
Mike let her leave. He swam to shore, picked up his shirt, and took out a cigarette and lit it. He smoked it, watching Mia swim lap after lap, trying to work the anger out of her system. He thought about the old Mike, the man who would have dragged her up on the opposite shore and used that angry body until there was no going back. But he wasn’t that man anymore. He smiled. He had passed another test.
Mia glided in and dragged her tired body out of the water. She lifted a hand in farewell as she walked back up to the cottage. Mike felt sorry for her. The woman, who had Heaven and Hell panting after her, had had her ego crushed. He knew that to be humbled in this way was hard, and he hoped that she could let it go before it colored her in a very negative light.
Chapter Twenty-eight
Mia took time in the bathroom to rinse the lake water out of her hair. She braided it back, securing the long braid with the very same leather bracelet Mike had given her at the hotel. She wondered why she didn’t give it back. Was this her way of holding on to him? Was this a passive aggressive way of letting Ted know she was sought after? Just like not giving away Angelo’s dress and shoes. She never thought much about the deep-seated reasons for her actions. Mia was used to simply reacting and existing. She wasn’t a planner.
Tonight, she didn’t know how she had worked herself up into such a state of mind. They had made love, and Ted had fallen asleep. Instead of falling asleep in bliss, she was pissed. Mike had made sense out there. Ted knew that Murphy and the others would be there for her, but she ashamedly didn’t want them. She wanted Ted. He had become part of her. Did she really want to be in this position? She had severed her tie with Murphy, and instead of being free, she opened the door and let Ted walk back in.
She walked into the bedroom and stood over him. She wanted to scream at him, shake him awake, and what? She sat down on the floor, curled in a ball and cried.
Ted had felt her leave. He saw her pull on her bathing suit, so he assumed she needed to release some energy. She came back, and instead of sliding into bed beside him, she had stood there staring down at him like the woman in Paranormal Activity. He felt the anger radiating off of her. Instead of raging, she pulled it all within herself, turned around, sat on the floor, and cried. He got out of bed and moved quickly to her side. He gathered her into his arms and held her.
“Tell me,” he pleaded. “Don’t hold it in.”
“I can’t.”
“Then take me in, Mia. Take me inside you,” he begged.
Mia connected with his mind. She opened her mind to him and drew him inside. Ted found he was standing in a strange, stuffy, little sitting room by a large scorched mark on the carpet. There was a little girl sitting across from him with her head bent. Her hair was tangled, and her dress was too small. She had mismatched socks and shoes on. Her knees were scabby and her nails broken. He knew before she looked up that this was how Mia saw herself.
“I’m mad at you,” she said, sniffing.
Taken aback, Ted asked, “Why?”
“You have all this power over me.”
“Me?”
“I broke the curse, so I could give you my whole heart. You didn’t ask me to, but I set Murphy free. I have no net below me now. And then I took part of me and put it in your heart, but still you left? What do I do to make all of you leave me?”
Ted looked around and realized he was in the house Mia grew up in.
She got up and walked out of the room. He
