This is the fifth chapter of "For the Love of Two Sisters" so if you haven't read the first four chapters, I encourage you to do so and then return here as many things in this chapter won't make sense without doing so. Thank you to everyone who left comments in email or on the boards of the previous chapters. Your comments mean so much to me! Please take a few moments to leave comments on this chapter as well.
Once more, I have to give special thanks to my two editors, barefootgirl69 and Efon, both are an endless source of help and inspiration throughout this story; they are truly the best!
For all chapters to come, you can check my member bio for approximate publishing dates. All characters are fictional and over the age of 18. Copyright 2016.
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Chapter V
"You're getting married?" my boss said with a strange brooding voice after I broke the news to him. Slowly David Ludlow leaned back in his tall, black office chair and crossed his hands behind his head. His voice was boisterous as ever, making me cringe as he said it, certain the entire IT department had just heard the announcement. I had hoped to keep it rather quiet as gossip like this had a way of flying through the office within minutes and could easily get out of hand. Jumping up quickly, I closed his office door to keep the rest of our conversation private. "Congratulations, Gene!" he leaned forward offering his hand out.
"Thanks," I said trying to sound optimistic as I shook it before taking my seat in front of his large mahogany desk. "So anyway... that's why I need Thursday afternoon and next Monday off... if that's okay with you." He nodded along, his hands returning behind his head, a big grin growing on his lips. "Also, I might be a few minutes late getting back from lunch today. We have to pick up the marriage license from the courthouse," I shrugged. "I'm not really sure how long that will take."
"That won't be a problem... You're one of my hardest working programmers after all," he leaned forward and jotted down a few quick notes, no doubt for reporting my absences to Human Resources. "Wow... so Eugene Mendelman is finally getting married..." he shook his head as if in disbelief. "I guess I didn't realize you were even seeing someone." His pen started tapping the desk, a little, annoying habit he had that always made me want to yank the pen from his hand during our morning planning meetings. "So why didn't you bring her to the company picnic last month? You know how important family is to the owners. They love family involvement in the company. We all could've met her..." his lips twisted to the side, looking away from me for a moment. "It is a her... isn't it?"
"Of course, she's a woman!" Nervous and a bit perturbed at the insinuation, I pushed my glasses up my nose, stalling for a moment to think. "I'm not gay, David..." my mind added that I just didn't know her a month ago while a million thoughts jumbled about, each one more uncertain than the last. How exactly was I supposed to reply to this? To make matters worse, David wasn't just my boss. I also considered him a friend of sorts, the two of us working in adjoining cubicles for years before he got the promotion to manager. Lying to his face really stung; I never liked to lie, especially to my friends, but in this case I didn't have any other choice. "She was uhm... out of town that week," I looked away from him, down at my hands fiddling in my lap. "So you know... I couldn't."
"Hmmm," he sat back again, this time rubbing his chin between his index finger and thumb. My right knee started bouncing nervously. Was I completely blowing it? Surely I must be the worst poker player in the world; of course he'll see right through me. "So do you at least have a picture of this lucky girl?"
I quickly pulled out my phone, bringing up the first picture they had sent me, thankful that I had asked Milena for one of them both last week. Turning the phone to show him, I nearly pointed at the wrong sister before correcting myself last moment, my finger landing between the two of them. "That's her," I smiled widely with a tinge of pride. Fake marriage or not, Juliana was definitely the kind of woman that a guy like me could be proud of showing off; any guy would be proud for that matter. "That's my Juliana on the right."
"Holy shit!" he abruptly grabbed my phone, pulling it a little closer, his eyes growing wide. "You mean the one with the giant honkers?" I scowled at him, killing him instantly with daggers in my eyes as I yanked my phone away. He just laughed heartily and held up his hands in total surrender, "Sorry, Gene... No harm, no foul... you know me," he shook his head back and forth slowly, "but damn... talk about touchdown for team Mendelman!" He held out his fist and I reluctantly gave him the bump to let him off the hook.
Looking longingly back at the photo myself, my eyes lingered on Milena for a brief moment and then darted between both sisters. "Yeah, she's definitely pretty special alright," I looked back up at him, a part of me wishing I could boast a bit of the truth; after all, both of those gorgeous women were mine... in a way. How many guys could actually claim something like that?
He nodded toward my phone, "So who's the other girl? She's pretty smokin', too." Chuckling, he returned his hands behind his head once again. "Maybe you can put in a good word for me?"
My gut twisted and churned at the idea of him picturing Milena that way. "Oh, er... That's her sister and no can do," I shook my head defiantly. "She's got a man and uhm," I cleared my throat, "I hear he's super jealous... besides, she's crazy in love with him." I exaggerated a frown as if to prove my point, "Not gonna happen, buddy." In other words, don't even think about it; she's mine!
Snapping his fingers, he nodded. "Shucks. The pretty ones are always taken," he turned toward his computer as if it were nothing, typing a few things onto the screen. "Well, I'm happy for you, Gene." he hit a few last keys with emphasis and turned back to me. "Tell you what," he nodded. "Bring her by after lunch today so we can all meet her," he pointed toward the door behind me, "and I'll set it up with HR so you can have admin leave from Thursday through Monday," he shrugged with a friendly grin.
"Seriously?" my mood instantly changed for the better. At one point in my life, all I cared about was being at work, in front of my computer and getting things done. Milena coming into my life had changed all that so that now I only wanted to be with her; she was literally all I could think about. Okay, I admit that the entire morning Juliana hadn't been far from my mind either, but surely that was because I was talking about her so much. It had absolutely nothing to do with the sexy playfulness that she had around me all weekend... yeah, right! Still, five days off to spend with her... Milena, I mean... well both of them really, was going to be amazing. I scooched forward in my chair, offering out my hand again for another shake. "That's awesome, David! Thank you so much."
"Hey! Don't mention it," he shook my hand firmly. "Won't come out of your vacation time either... my wedding present for a friend." He typed in a few more words onto the screen and sent out whatever email he had been creating. "So where you taking her on the honeymoon anyway?" Suddenly, I froze stiff, my heart instantly beating so loud I could hear it in my ears. I hadn't even thought of that, of course people would expect that. "That's what you needed the Monday off for, right?"
"Uh... yeah," I nodded quickly, my hands rubbing back and forth nervously between my knees. Where did people even go on honeymoons? What would be considered a normal place to go? I'd heard of Europe or Tahiti, but I only had a three-day weekend, well now four and the wedding day thanks to David's gift, but still it couldn't be a place too far away. "You know..." I shrugged, shaking my head then saying the first thing that came to mind, "Disney World... Orlando."
He chuckled, nodding his head in approval and I let out a small, hidden sigh of relief that he had bought it. "That's my man! Great choice..." he leaned forward like he was about to share a secret, "make sure to take her on that Small World ride," his fingers made an OK sign, "...chicks think its really romantic," he started laughing again. Looking to either side as if someone could possibly be over-hearing him, he added, "I personally made out with more than one complete stranger on that ride before."