120 Blind Dates... And Other Short Stories

Chicklit Flash Fiction Prompt #31: A Ghost Of Her Past

It was all too obvious. He knew how to say all the right things in the right tone; and he obviously knew Paris a lot better than Chrissie did because he had been an apprentice at one of the major fashion houses at the start of his career. So he took her on a nightly walk by the Seine, which was supposedly a sightseeing tour, but the main sight was obviously not Notre-Dame de Paris, the famous cathedral which had been in part destroyed by a fire, but came at the end when they reached his apartment. Of course, he invited her up, and Chrissie decided to go for "it." It was clear that he always got what he wanted, and he wanted her on that night. Besides, she had already fallen for him by that time, so she allowed him to seduce her. There would be plenty of time later to think about the consequences of her little romance because it obviously caused a conflict of interest with her original job assignment.

On the next morning, Ryan invited her to stay with him and few friends in a private villa they had rented on Mykonos. When she was unsure about it because of her job, he called Bernie and pitched the idea of an in-depth profile to him. Bernie was quite happy about it because Ryan rarely did interviews, and here he was, offering his magazine exclusive content.

"Kiddo, I don't know what you've done to him, but he seems to be quite taken with him," Bernie told her afterwards.

Of course, Chrissie did not mention her completely unprofessional affair to him at this point although she should have. She was happy to be able to stay with her new lover, who was a great lover in the literal sense of the word, too, and she found the prospect of going to Mykonos with him exciting, too.

She had the time of her life there because she was the only woman among five men. Ryan's friends were two gay couples, who claimed that they were very happy that she was present because they had been worried about Ryan coming all by himself ("I mean, he doesn't usually stay alone for long. But he is truly the worst picker of girlfriends I have ever met among heterosexual men," Darren, one of the gay friends, confided in her while they were relaxing in the villa's pool one day). The men were only too happy to show her the island, driving her around in a smart or Lamborghini. They took part in a crazy party on Paradise Beach, went to restaurants where they spotted a few other celebrities, and they even visited Delos together. Walking around the ancient ruins on a sunny day in early October gave every one of them the worst sunburn they had suffered in ages.

She was very much in love with Ryan when they parted. She had to go back to work in the US, and he had to take care of some business in Europe and Japan. But he promised her he would come to New York as soon as he could as he was very interested in meeting her family. That didn't sound like she was just a "summer fing" to him, right? As a matter of fact, Chrissie was very much in love when she returned to the US, and all she did during the entire flight back to New York was to think of her future with him. She really wanted this relationship to work because she thought he could be "the one" for her: Ryan was smart, sexy, financially independent and had a great sense of humour. What more could she possibly want from a guy? The only thing that bothered her quite a bit was the fact that he was running a global empire and would be away from home a lot if they decided to embark on a long-term relationship.

Chrissie thought that was what Ryan wanted, too, when he joined her two weeks later. He wanted to get to know her family. Since Chrissie knew how protective her father was of his daughters, Chrissie made the fateful decision not to introduce him as her boyfriend when she took him with her on a Sunday.  Her younger sister, who called herself an "influencer" because she ran a moderately successful YouTube channel, couldn't believe her luck when she got to meet Chrissie's new friend. As she loved fashion and read "Vogue" religiously every month, she knew who he was at once and started to flirt with him. Ryan was not unaware of the signals that were sent into his direction, but he ignored them at first and focused more on striking up a good relationship with Chrissie's father, with whom he hit it off immediately. Her father even dropped a hit afterwards that Ryan "would be a great addition to our family."

Little did she know that her sister had set her sights on Chrissie's boyfriend and was about to dig her claws into him.

"Chrissie, I need to talk to you," Ryan said to Chrissie once the Christmas dinner was over. "Let's go somewhere where we can talk in private."

Chrissie shrugged and suggested that they could go to her father's study. As a child, it had been her favourite place in the world because Ivy and her had enjoyed playing hide and seek there. It pained her to think of the child who would be born in a few months, Ivy's child with Ryan, and who might enjoy playing hide and seek in this room in the future.

"Look, it was never my intention to hurt you," Ryan stated once they were alone. "And I'm very sorry if I have."

She thought that he looked more gorgeous than ever as he tried to apologise for something that was beyond forgiveness, and that made her even more angry. It was essentially self-hate because she hated herself for still thinking he was cute. The sarcasm in her voice was clearly perceptible when she spoke. "If it wasn't your intention to hurt me, why on earth would you have thought it was okay to start an affair with my sister? What did she do to poor you, drag you into her bed?"

"Look, what we shared this summer will always be a beautiful memory. And it looks as if we will be a part of the same family in the future. So please, let me be your friend!"
She noticed that he was practically begging her, which was why she wasn't going to let this go this easily and let him off the hook like that. "You obviously don't understand how much you have hurt me and how close you have come to destroying the family you want to be a part of. So let me put this in a simple answer for you: NO!"

And with that, Chrissie walked out on him.

Later reports of what happened next deviated. It remained unclear whether Chrissie gave the big Christmas tree that was standing in the hallway a push or whether she just walked into it because she was so angry that she just didn't see the tree. Although no family member had seen how it had happened, the outcome was the same: The Christmas tree fell to the ground with a whosh that could be heard everywhere in the house, and the entire hallway was littered with broken electric candles and baubles that had been smashed into many little pieces - just like Chrissie's heart.

Her nervous breakdown had begun.