Maria Undone

Chapter 7 (Brian)

When Maria had taken off on me without a word, my initial thought was: fuck it! 
She was just a random woman I spent an hour with on a whim. Sure, she had some magnetic pull that dragged me to her table when I first spied her. And, yes, whatever damn spell she wove had me behaving out of the ordinary and acting like a damn fool, begging her for scraps of attention. Did my stomach churn excitedly at the prospect of grabbing her number and seeing her again? Okay, yes. But so what? She was just a woman. 

A beautiful, sexy woman. 

The sexiest I'd encountered in a long time. 

So when I found myself searching the faces of dark-haired women I passed on the street and started frequenting the cafe we had met at, I knew I had been kidding myself. I wanted to see Maria again. 

Annoyingly, it wasn't happening organically. You would think I would bump into her at least once in a town this size. But no such luck.
After two frustrating weeks of coming into town for absolutely no reason, I finally thought, "fuck it," and walked straight into her salon without thinking it through. The little bell on the door jingled, announcing my entrance, and the young blonde receptionist at the front desk glanced up at me with a welcoming smile. 

My gaze ate up the place, hungry to lay eyes on the woman who constantly invaded my thoughts. I was immediately taken by how bright and clean Maria's salon was. The decor was minimalistic and stylish, with splashes of white, black, and gold. The chairs were all full with clients having various treatments done to their hair, and a few were seated in the waiting area. A swell of pride rose inside me. The fact that Maria was relatively young and achieved what looked like a popular and successful business was no small feat. It showed she wasn't afraid of hard work and having career goals. Another huge tick in the attraction column for me.

"Hi there!" The bubbly blonde called out when I remained silent. "Do you have an appointment?" She stared at me expectantly as her hand clasped the computer mouse.

A few heads turned to me. None were Maria.
What the fuck was I doing? I felt like a deer in headlights as I snapped back to reality. Tracking Maria down at her place of work might not be appreciated by her. The more I thought of it, the more it was downright stalkerish and would probably cause her to write me off completely. Yeah, this was a stupid idea.

I slowly started to back up. "Erm, no. Sorry, I thought a friend was in here for a hair appointment, but he must've left."

"Oh, what was his name? I can check." Her fingers were poised over the keyboard as she continued to smile politely at me.

"Ah, no. That's okay. Oh, look, he's just texted me. Thanks. See ya." I waved my phone at her pathetically before swiftly walking back out the door, embarrassed I had even thought to do that. I had to keep hoping to bump into her.

So when I entered Malley's almost a month later and spotted a familiar dark head and sexy little body at the bar, the relief I felt almost had me pumping my fist in victory. 

Fucking finally.

I wasn't surprised when she didn't immediately jump for joy when I approached her, but that confirmed my suspicion - Maria had seen my wedding pic and presumed I was still married. After she dismissed me at the bar, I was determined not to give up. Far from it. I hoped that a bit of alcohol would make her more amenable to a conversation later in the night.

But then she flicked me that warm, sultry smile from her table; the rest was history.

Maria didn't agree to dinner. 

But she did agree to lunch.

It deflated me a little that she was still keeping a wall up. I was usually the guarded one when I took a woman out. This sense of unease - of needing to impress Maria enough that she would give this thing between us a chance - was a foreign feeling to me.