Carmen Gutiérrez had been the It Girl at my High School. The kind of girl every other girl aspired to be and the kind ever guy wanted to get alone for five minutes. She was smart, she was wealthy, and the word "hottie" had never been so accurately applied to anyone else. She was the kind of girl who should have dropped off a cliff looks-wise as she neared middle age, but she was, if anything, sexier than ever.
Carmen's light brown skin now practically glowed, shining like burnished bronze to a degree I could almost swear it reflected her mane of wavy black hair. She brushed her bangs out of her hazel-green eyes as they flicked up and down my body, which only caused her hair to fall back over her eye in a mysterious way. Auburn lips spread wide to reveal a flawless smile crowned with a beauty mark, and my own mouth went dry.
"Uh... h-hi, Carmen. It's been a while," I managed.
My idiotic remark should have killed any enthusiasm in the Latino goddess before me, but if anything, it made her face light up with delight. She gave a squeal that managed to be both cute and sultry as she ran up to hug me, and I became very aware of how much larger her breasts had gotten since High School.
"Dios mio! It is you, Maxie!" she said with a pout of her lips as she looked me over again. She whispered something in Spanish under her breath, and I'm pretty sure I heard the word caliente as she adjusted her hair again.
"You know this woman, Brocker?" Mr. Starn asked.
Carmen hugged me again, rifling nailed finger through my hair as she did. "Yes, sir! We went to the same High School. Maxie... Maxwell, is a good friend of mine."
Brocker gave me a wink behind Carmen's back. "Weellllll, in that case, I'll leave you two alone. Wouldn't want to uh... get in the way."
And before I could open my mouth to protest, he was out of the room. It was only in the following moments that my brain finally came to terms with what was happening, and that no part of this situation was appropriate... or made sense.
"W-what are you doing at some dead-end office job, Carmen?" I asked as I pulled away from her. "Last I heard you went into modelling!"
Carmen's angelic face soured as she rolled her eyes. "I went in to modeling but I didn't get far. They said I wasn't svelte enough to sell cover."
She turned to walk towards my office, and I was just able to stop myself from sucking in a breath from her glorious backside. Given the breadth of her hips, it wasn't difficult to figure out what she'd meant by that.
"But why here? I mean, your father-" I started.
"I refused his offer to set me up in his company," she said flatly as she opened the door for me. "Just because my father is wealthy doesn't mean I refuse to earn my own way in the world. This was the best I could do with my credentials, but I see the job offer has a few benefits they failed to disclose."
She bit her lip as I entered the office after her, and the next words out of my mouth were surprisingly difficult.
"Carmen... I've been married for almost twenty years."
Carmen's eyes fell to my left hand, growing wide with shock as she spotted my ring. She seemed to deflate all at once, but even that was strangely tantalizing. She did up the top button of her strained blouse, a flush of embarrassment crowning her cheeks.
"Maxwell, I'm... I'm so sorry, I didn't... I didn't even consider that. It's just..."
I closed my eyes and nodded. There was still the odd night where my confession to Carmen behind the stadium bleachers replayed in my head. Carmen had let me down as gently as any woman could have, and she promised to stay friends with me afterwards. I'd been the one who'd walked the other way whenever I saw her from then on.
I'd been the one who wanted nothing to do with her. And now she was back in my life at the worst possible time.
"It's okay, Carmen. I understand, you were just excited to see me. You don't have to be polite to me anymore. I had no right to shun you after that day."
"What, no!" Carmen said, grabbing my hand before checking herself. "No, I... I'm the one who should apologize to you. Maxwell, I..." she straightened her hair again, which just made it more disheveled and more appealing, "I liked you back. You were always so... so kind to me. When I was with you, I wasn't that "rich hottie" that all the other boys thought I was. I was free to be myself. But then my father found out, and..."
"My family wasn't wealthy enough," I finished.
Carmen nodded, and try as I did, an alternate version of my life flashed before my eyes. Had one thing been different, it would be Carmen at home patiently awaiting my return, eager to soothe the stress of another hard day at-
"I need some air. Now."
I'd never left the building so fast, but my traitorous heartbeat wasn't only rapid from exercise. I hadn't done anything and I already felt dirty. I'd been with Eliza more years than I was old when I met Carmen. How could I betray her in thought, even for a moment?
I sat down on the bench outside the office, shocked to find myself exhausted from my short jog. The worst part of it was Carmen wasn't some evil homewrecker looking to snatch me away from Eliza. She was a genuinely nice person who didn't mean to be... well, everything she was to men. She could be impulsive and stubborn, yes, but she wasn't evil. She was just a woman who wanted what she couldn't have.
And if I was being honest with myself, a part of me wanted that too.
"Maxwell?"
I looked up to find Carmen standing next to me, and I marveled at the way the morning sun lit up her hair. But that illusion was spoiled when she drew closer to reveal tears in her eyes, and I realized even she felt bad sometimes.
"I... want to apologize to you... and your wife," she continued, wiping away flawless tears. "I acted completely inappropriately just now, and it wasn't right."
"It's... it's okay, Carmen, I-"
"No, it's not okay!" Carmen said, lowering her voice after receiving stares from passersby. She sat down next to me with a mournful look. "I of all people should know what it's like to have unwanted attention from the opposite sex. It's just... you're even more handsome than when I left you. Taller too... and I'm not good at apologizing, am I?"
I couldn't help a chuckle, and soon Carmen was laughing too. I'd forgotten how refreshing her laugh could be. It was almost as good as Eliza's.
"What does she look like?" Carmen asked. "Your wife?"
I pulled out my phone and handed it to Carmen, and she scrolled through my massive collection of Eliza pictures. Carmen's face remained neutral, but her eyes seemed to grow hollow as photo after photo went by. I wondered if the thought I'd had earlier was going through her head, and if she was lamenting that lost possibility.
"I can see why you don't want me, she's a knockout," Carmen said at last, turning off the screen and handing the phone back to me. "Your children are beautiful too."
I pocketed my phone as I chose my words carefully. "It's not that I don't want you Carmen, I still consider you a good friend. But what happened back inside can't happen again. I just want to make sure that's understood."
Carmen gave a mock salute and a wry smile. "Understood, general... I do hope you'll still let me bring you coffee when you run out."
I stood up with a smile. Of course, she understood. This was the same, wonderful woman I'd fallen for a long time ago. And even though that was another age of my life, she still held the same loyalty and kindness I'd admired about her.
"I think we can allow that. But backrubs are strictly out," I replied.
Carmen laughed as she stood up. "Good to hear, I'm terrible at them," she cocked her head to her side as if hesitating. "Would it still be okay if we had dinner tomorrow night? Just strictly to catch up on what we've been doing, of course."
A small feeling of portent passed through my mind, but I dismissed it. We'd be in a public place, and I owed Carmen that much anyway.
"Sure. What are you in the mood for?" I asked.
"At the risk of sounding assimilated, I think Mexican will do just fine," Carmen said with a smirk. "There's a nice Tex-Mex place called Carnitas Grande I'd like to try."
I was just about to ask Carmen what time would work for her when my phone rang. I pulled it out expecting it to be a sales call, only to groan at the number.
"Great, what now?" I said to myself as I answered. "Hello?"
"Excuse me, am I speaking to Mr. Beckett?" asked a peppy female voice.
"This is he," I said, wincing as I recognized I was talking to the school principal. "Has there been an incident with one of my children, Mrs. Wong?"
"Both of them, actually," Mrs. Wong said in her usual bubbly tone that cloaked steel. "I was unable to get in touch with your wife, so I thought I'd call you. Your son, James was involved in a... let's call it a scuffle on school grounds today."
I furrowed my brows. James never did any physical activity beyond gym. The idea he'd be involved in a fight simply failed to compute. I asked what sort of "scuffle" James had been involved in, and Mrs. Wong's tone became sweet but cold.
"From what we can tell, it involves two other students three grades higher than him. Are you familiar with two young men named Victor and Emile Brown?"
I was familiar with both, although I wished I'd never met the latter. I didn't see much of Victor, given he and James usually holed up in James's room to play video games whenever he came over, but he definitely wasn't the type to go picking fights.
Emile on the other hand...
"I am, and I can assure you this incident will not happen again, Mrs. Wong."
I could almost picture her giving a plastic smile on the other end. "Of course, Mr. Beckett. I'm sure you're a good father. However... I would like to point out that this is the third time this month your son has been sent to my office for similar disruptions, and we've seen no sign of improvement in that time."
I squeezed my eyes shut with a grimace. When had that happened?
"I'm very sorry, Mrs. Wong, I've been busy at work and my wife is-"
"I'm sure your situation will work itself out," Mrs. Wong replied in a voice that indicated her patience was running out. "The real reason I called you is your daughter. She never showed up for class today and we can't find her on school grounds."
Carmen gave me a worried look, and I fumbled for my car keys.
"I'll be over as fast as I can."
"Looking forward to your visit, Mr. Beckett," Mrs. Wong said.