A Prospective Husband Read online

  A Prospective Husband

  Paige Powers

  A Prospective Husband

  Copyright 2017 Paige Powers

  Dipasha Tara Raj Publications House

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without written permission from the author.

  This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Thank You

  Prologue

  “He was a jerk anyway Carrie,” Austin said to his best friend. Caroline had been crying on and off for about four hours straight after she had caught Greg, the love of her life, making out with some girl that he had met when he joined the campus art club. The third month into freshman year at the University of Texas and Greg had already strayed away like an alley cat on the hunt for a can of old tuna. She had left her suburban home with her single father in Denver, to attend the same school as her high school sweetheart. She couldn’t understand it, Greg didn’t even like art.

  Austin sat on the other line at home listening to his best friend of 14 years cry over another rotten choice of a man. He refrained from saying “I told you so” because he knew those four words could ruin relationships of any kind. Besides, he didn’t have such a hot history of dating himself. There was Adele the Gold Digger who only wore clothing from big name designers and Sophia the Bad Girl who had gotten expelled from their school junior year for offering guys and teachers alike, a feel of her boobs for a generous fee. Last but not least, there was Julia who had earned the nickname Harley Quinn because she was just flat out crazy.

  “But I want him back,” Caroline wept into the phone.

  “It’ll pass, I promise,” Austin said, trying to reason with his wounded best friend. Nothing worked, but he knew he had to listen to her. Besides, it was Carrie who had let him borrow money to buy Adele expensive gifts, and it was Carrie who secretly snitched on Sophia when she broke Greg’s heart and it was Carrie who held an ice pack on his head when Harley Quinn went on a bender and decided to knock him upside the head with a baseball bat. Listening to Carrie whine was the least he could do.

  “But we were both going to be doctors,” Caroline whined.

  “Me and you both know Greg isn’t smart enough to pull that off,” he sighed into the phone.

  “I believed in him. We could’ve figured it out. We could’ve...” she went on.

  Austin tried and tried but it was no use. This was something only Father Time could fix and he knew he was no match for him so he listened.

  “You’re beautiful and you’ll find better. What about that guy in your Anthropology class? What was his name again? Wart?”

  “Ward.” She laughed at his sense of humor.

  He made the corniest jokes but that was the way they pulled each other out of their states of sadness. That was their thing. That was Carrie and Aussie. He called her Carrie because the first time he had met her, she had gotten into her father’s wine and managed to spill it in her brown hair and all over her pretty pink birthday outfit. The resemblance between her and the spilled pig blood scene was uncanny. She called him Aussie simply because he had blond hair and blue eyes like what she’d imagined an Australian surfer would look like. A Paul Walker type. That was Austin.

  “What should I do now, Aussie? I feel so alone,” she sighed.

  “Call Ward. Besides, one way to get over one guy is to have hot sweaty sex with a new one,” he laughed.

  “I don’t think that’s the way the saying goes,” she giggled, in a river of tears.

  “But it has the same meaning,” he jokingly jabbed back.

  “You’re right,” she cheered up. “I’ll call Ward...But I’m not going to sleep with him,” she joked.

  “No judgment from this end.”

  “Do you think I will ever find the right guy? You know, one to marry me?

  “We’re 18 Carrie. It’ll happen.”

  “You should marry me,” she laughed.

  Austin had always thought Carrie was beautiful. From the day she looked like she was straight out of the De Palma film of the same name. She was perfect. He would never cross the line into being more than friends or different from her brother. The story was all too cliché. Friends progress into lovers then decline to enemies. He never wanted that to happen, and so it didn’t.

  “You’ll find someone,” Austin said painfully as he masked his feelings in reverence of their friendship. “It’ll pass,” he said not knowing rather or not he was trying his convince his friend, or himself.

  Chapter 1

  “Okay, Ms. Ella, I’m going to make this as painless as possible but the aftermath includes some swelling and a little intense soreness.”

  “I’m all set and readyyy,” her gray haired patient said in a slur as her anesthesia began to kick in.

  Caroline turned on the drill and carried on with the root canal procedure. She worked in Happy Smiles Denver, a practice her dad had opened himself, a few years before Caroline was born and after her mother had run off. Dr. van Buren, her father, had had many loyal clients throughout the decades and Ms. Ella was one of them.

  “Be kind and keep everything personal,” was Dr. van Buren’s advice to his daughter. After all, one day she would be running the business herself. As the buzz from the drill filled her ears, she couldn’t help but wonder about her patient, Ella. She had no children on file, nor had she had a husband.

  No grandchildren? She thought. She imagined that Ella lived with a house full of cats though she didn’t at all smell or look like it. She was an attractive elderly woman and dressed really dainty. Now she was about her father’s age and getting a root canal. She didn’t ask questions. She just wondered why.

  Here Caroline was, aged 36, and it seemed like she would soon be on the same lonesome route as the woman in her chair. When she was finished, she showed Ella out. Her nephew picked her up. He was handsome. About 21. Too young for herself but still, it didn’t hurt to look.

  “Look at him, bright eyed and bushy tailed,” she thought. “Had he a girlfriend? If he does I’m sure he cheats on her,” she judged. Caroline scolded herself for being such a cynic.

  It wasn’t at all her nature, but her biological clock was ticking. The sounds of ticks and tocks seemed to follow her wherever she went. Her younger cousins had had children and her 22 year old cousin was on her third child already.

  “All I need is an extra push,” she thought.

  Caroline left her office about 3 PM. That was the latest she would work on a Friday. She insisted that it was social time, whatever that meant exactly. Caroline had a few girlfriends but none of them came close to Austin. It was in her experience that most women befriended her as a means to get close to Austin. At least, that was her experience in high school.

  This hour wasn’t a social call though. She had to go see about her father who was in the hospital for his high blood pressure. It didn’t sound too serious but because of his age, she was afraid. After all, Dr. van Buren was the superman in her life and the only real friend beside Austin that she had. Befor
e Aussie came into the picture, it had only been her and her dad and she was really not at all ready to lose him. No one could ever really prepare to lose a lifelong friend.

  Caroline walked into the hospital where she was very well recognized. Not because she had been there very often, but because and some point in time, her dad had treated most of them. Everybody loved him and he was charming even in his old age. He was always quite the ladies’ man and he had no trouble attracting Caroline’s stepmom, Elizabeth, who greeted her with a hug as soon as she walked in the room.

  “Hello Carol, my lovely flower, how was work today,” she greeted.

  “Root canals, X-rays, loud school children and old grumpy people. Nothing out of the ordinary Lizzie,” she pleasantly replied with a smile.

  “It’s good that our superhero over here has a break from it all,” she said with worry evident in her voice.

  Grabbing her hand, Caroline assures her that it will be fine not knowing if that were true at all. All they could do was hope for the best.

  “Hello Pepper Pots,” her father said in the midst of the sadness that was about to overpower the room.

  “Pops!” she squealed.

  “And Aussie!” Austin peered from behind the room door.

  “Oh my god, what are you doing here!” she yelled to her best friend whom she hadn’t seen in weeks.

  “Well I hadn’t seen the Ironman in a while so I figured I’d stop by because I’m needed,” he said arrogantly. It wasn’t a lie though. They relied so heavily on each other and it was no mystery at all.

  “Why are you two here. Go out! Have fun. I have Lizzie.”

  “We know pops, but we worry about you,” Caroline said in defense of herself and Austin.

  “I’m old and every person reaches this point in their life if they keep on living.”

  “But you’re not dead yet,” Lizzie said with her usual dark sense of humor.

  “Please go. It will make me feel better...”

  “It will make US feel better,” Lizzie agrees.

  Austin laughs. “I’ll wait for you downstairs. Meet me at my place later, Carrie.”

  “Okay,’’ she says as they share a hug.

  She smells him and he smells like some type of cologne that she cannot quite put her finger on. Austin recognizes her smell really well, it’s the same fragrance she’s been wearing for years. The smell of flowers and vanilla fills his nostrils.

  “Take it easy, pops,” Austin says, kissing his second father on the forehead.

  “He’s always been gentle that way,” she notes silently, as her handsome best friend exits.

  “Why can’t you date a man like that, flower? He’s hot,” Elizabeth squeals with lifted eyebrows.

  “He is so in love with her, Lizzie. That’s the same way I used to look at you.”

  “You mean that’s the same way you look at me now,” she snaps.

  “Ladies, I’m dying you know,” Dr. van Buren says changing the direction of the conversation.

  “Don’t say that pops, no you’re not.”

  “Not yet but maybe soon.”

  “Pops...”

  “Before that happens, I would love to see you walk down the aisle.”

  “But dad I...”

  “I thought that nice guy Billy proposed to you. Why didn’t you guys work out?” Lizzie butted in. “You guys would’ve made such a handsome couple.”

  “We didn’t make it because he was sleeping with one of his students,” Caroline said on the defense line.

  “Bastard,” Dr. van Buren said, followed by a few coughs.

  “Before I leave Earth, Caroline, I would love to walk you down the aisle.”

  “It’ll happen dad. It’ll happen.”

  Chapter 2

  “Hold on Carrie, I’ll be out in a minute,” Austin yelled from his bathroom. She had entered with her own key. From the misty steam in the apartment she could tell that he was in the shower. Austin always took a long time to get ready. He defied the stereotype that women took longer than men when it came time to go out.

  “I thought we were just going to a chicken joint!” she shouted.

  “We are but I take pride in how look Carrie! You know how I am!” he shouted back.

  “Don’t make me have to drag you out of there, Austin!”

  Austin wished that such an imaginary scenario could become reality. The honest truth was that he always looked his best and smelled his best around her. Though he was her best friend, he was not at all blind. Caroline was very attractive, and all he wanted at the time was to run his fingers through her long brown wavy hair and to look into her dark eyes and have his way with her in the shower. These sexual feelings weren’t at all new but they first became apparent around the time junior high came around.

  Here they were, lifelong friends at the mature age of 36 and contrary to popular belief, they had never been intimate with each other.

  Austin finally emerged wearing sweatpants, a wife beater and a pair of sneakers. He looked simple but perfect to Caroline.

  “Ready to get going?” he asked with his now matured voice.

  “Took you long enough,” Caroline said power walking out. Austin stared at her slim body as she sped past him. She was perfect. She wore long blue skinny jeans and a tight fitted pink shirt. It was simple but she looked amazing in it. As always, she smelled of vanilla and flowers.

  “Come on, what’s the hold up?”

  “Hold on to your bra, I’m coming,” Austin said, not realizing that he had been ogling his friend for so long.

  “Yeah, yeah,” she playfully replied back.

  The Flying Chicken had been their meet up spot starting in their teen years, when their parents had finally allowed them to start going off on their own. They had the best milkshakes in the state.

  “Yes, one chocolate and one strawberry milkshake with the buffalo wing platter please.”

  “Will that be all?” the young waitress asked flirtatiously.

  “That’s all,” Austin said, paying her no mind.

  “She is all over you,” Caroline joked. Inside she was a bit envious. She never liked competition when it came to Austin.

  “Shutup Carrie, she just wants a tip,” Austin said, showing his bright smile.

  Caroline knew that was far from the truth. Girls always wanted Aussie. He was gorgeous, down to earth, smart and had a great sense of humor. These were qualities only one could find in a 90’s coming-of-age film, not in real life. It was true, Austin was the real deal.

  “So how are you doing Carrie?”

  “I’m fine.”

  “Really?” he said, pretty much knowing the answer. “You might as well tell me now before I shake it out of you.

  “Oh, to be grabbed by you,” she thought to herself. Sighs, “Dad’s not that sick but I’m scared.”

  “I know you’re scared but everything will be okay.”

  “It’s not only that.”

  “Go on,” Austin says wide eyed with folded arms.

  “I’m 36 Austin...we’re 36.”

  The waitress stops by to leave their food. Seeing that they are in serious conversation she doesn’t engage with the two attractive customers. Instead she tells them to “enjoy” and makes her way across to pick up another order and serve the next group.

  “We’re 36 and not married. We don’t have children and I have no prospects.”

  “Carrie, it’s never really been a real pressing issue for you unless you’re going through a breakup,” he stares at her.

  He knew her so well.

  “It’s not a breakup this time. It’s a matter of life and death.”

  “What do you mean, Carrie?”

  “My dad wants me to get married, that’s what I mean.”

  “Doesn’t every parent want that for their child?”

  “But it’s his dying wish, Aussie,” she says hopelessly. “I don’t know what I’m g
oing to do. I have no prospects.”

  “I don’t see the huge deal. I’m in no rush to get married and I feel fine.”

  “Because you’re a guy!” Caroline shouts a little annoyed her best friend.

  This was the downside to being best friends with the opposite sex. Differences and the subconscious lack of empathy.

  “Well let’s fix it.”

  “How?”

  “How about I ask Jeanine to talk to one of her friends? Some of them are single.”

  “I’m not fond of the idea but what options do I have?”

  “Me,” he thought. “None. Let’s go home and come up with a plan.”

  “Oh god, please don’t tell me this is fun for you.”

  “Sure it is!”

  He wasn’t excited at all about searching for someone for his best friend. He liked that Carrie was available. He couldn’t stand any of her boyfriends. He didn’t like to share. Though he was in love with Jeanine, there were spots that she couldn’t reach that Caroline could. One thing was certain, he would rather help his friend than see her drown in self-pity.

  Chapter 3

  Robbie was a handsome 30 year old and he seemed like a real gentleman. She wasn’t fond of Jeanine’s friends because they were kind of stuck up. Most of her friends were married and getting ready to bear children. If they weren’t married or had children already, they were all casting nets in hopes of catching a few fish.

  “So what do you do?” he asked with a smile.

  Robbie was surprisingly chill. He was a tall brunette with brown eyes learning the tricks of the trade running his father’s business in architecture. He was charming and he would make a great businessman.

  The night was going well. Robbie had picked her up in a red two door Mustang. She wasn’t impressed because of the car itself but because it was a good sign. He was definitely not a family man at the moment. It was perfect because she was not too keen on having children just yet. She was already rushing to get married but for now she was fine with her Beagle who waited home for her every night.