Choices of the Heart

Brian walked into the living room of his dad’s house to see his dad staring at the phone with a puzzled look on his face. He frowned.

“Hey, Dad, what’s wrong?” he asked.

Brian Sr. looked up and smiled at his son. “Nothing, really,” he answered.

“You sure? I mean you looked like someone was playing a joke on you or something.”

Brian Sr. sighed. “Well, actually, this young woman called and was asking me about a date that I never had, so I was confused and told her that I was married and that I didn’t know her. Nor would I cheat on my wife. She seemed hell bent on the fact that we knew each other though,” he explained.

Brian furrowed his eyebrows. “Did she give a name?”

Brian Sr. looked at him. “Yeah, she said her name was Dakota,” he answered.

Brian’s eyes widened in shock. “Shit, that definitely won’t go over well. Dammit,” he exclaimed.

Brian Sr. furrowed his brows. “What’s wrong?”

Brian sighed. “I met Dakota at the same restaurant I was supposed to have a blind date at. We both got stood up and when she finally gave me a chance, we had a good time. I told her I’d call her, but I’ve been too scared to and I don’t know why exactly. I was actually, coming over here to ask you what I should do,” he answered.

Brian Sr. chuckled. “I don’t remember you ever being scared to call a girl before,” he teased.

Brian shot him a glare, which only made Brian Sr. laugh more. Brian threw himself on the couch and rubbed at his face as he tried to think about how to rectify the whole issue with Dakota calling his dad. He knew she must have tried to look him up in the phone book, which was different. Most girls would search for his name on the internet, but if his assumptions were correct and she did use a phone book to call, then that gave him more respect for her than he already had.

“Look, if she calls again, which she might, you answer the phone. I’ll stay out of it,” Brian Sr. said walking past the couch and towards the kitchen.

Brian leaned back into the couch and ran his hands through his hair. He should have known is father wouldn’t be of much help. He leaned forward and grabbed the phone off the coffee table and searched through received calls until he saw a number he didn’t recognize. He prayed that it was Dakota’s number.



Dakota stared at the phone in her hands. She was still upset about the phone call, but she didn’t want to be. She knew she should have been smarter than to fall for someone like Brian, but she felt as if he truly wanted to get to know her. Then again, if he did then he wouldn’t have pulled that stunt with the phone call. Dakota tossed the phone to the other end of the couch and then stood up. She grabbed her computer from the couch and then headed towards her bedroom. She was halfway down the hall when her phone began to ring.

She stopped and turned towards the living room. She looked at the couch before turning back around and making her way into her bedroom. She didn’t feel like answering the phone. Setting her laptop down in its normal spot on her desk, Dakota turned towards the bathroom and turned the tub on. She would take a bath and then curl up with a good book like she normally did in her evenings. She had just started to strip from her clothes when her answering machine finally picked up the call.

“Um, this is Brian Haner. I’m looking for Dakota Knight. If this is Dakota’s phone, please answer. I need to apologize for earlier,” Brian’s voice echoed through the apartment.

Dakota froze. She went into the bathroom and turned off the water, but just as the water stopped flowing the answering machine had beeped off. Grabbing her robe from behind the bathroom door, she slipped it on and headed back into the living room. She pressed the delete button on the answering machine, not interested in listening to the message in it’s entirety.

She walked to the refrigerator and grabbed a bottle of Rose Moscato wine and a wine glass. Walking to the couch she picked up the phone and stuffed it into her robe pocket and headed towards the bathroom again. She poured herself a glass of wine and placed it on the edge of her tub and made sure the bottle was right next to the tub as well before she grabbed the phone out of her pocket and placed it next to the bottle of wine. Turning towards the cabinet that held her towels, she opened it and pulled out two towels and two washcloths. She dropped one into the water and watched it as it absorbed the water before slipping out of her robe and letting it fall to the floor.

Stepping into the tub she sunk into the warm water and let out a contented sigh. She rarely allowed herself to take baths because they always took too long. She only took them when she was either really stressed or feeling really down about her life. She picked up her glass of wine and took a long sip before placing it on the floor next to the bottle. She knew that she would finish the bottle of wine before the night was over and she was okay with that. It’s why she always had at least two or three bottles in her fridge at all times. Rose Moscato was her favorite wine because it was sweet and the after taste wasn’t so bitter like most red wines, but then again it was considered a dessert wine and those wines were sweet. As she soaked in the tub she let her eyes slip closed and her mind wander.



Brian stared at his phone. It had been a few minutes since he made the phone call to the phone number. He had yet to get a phone call back or even someone to answer. For all he knew he could have dialed a crazy stalker fan, but he was hoping that it was Dakota. He was contemplating on calling the number again, but he didn’t want to seem too desperate. He was utterly confused at what to do. He wished Suzy was home because he knew that she would be able to give him some sort of answer to his dilemma. Sighing, he picked up the phone and dialed the number again. He held in his groan of annoyance when it went to voicemail again. He made sure to leave one though, because he realized that whoever this number belonged to could be out and about. He didn’t want to be rude.



Dakota was jolted awake by the ringing of her phone. She blinked her eyes and adjusted herself in her tub. Realizing that she had fallen asleep, she yawned before grabbing the dry washcloth and drying her hands on it. She then reached over the tub and grabbed the phone from the floor and answered it.

“Hello?” she asked, still a bit groggy.

“Dakota?” Brian’s voice came through the phone.

“Yeah, who is this?” she managed through a yawn.

“It’s Brian,” Brian answered.

Blinking her eyes, Dakota readjusted herself again. “What do you want?” she asked.

“I want to see you. Are you busy?”

“You said you didn’t even know me, so why the sudden change of heart?”

Brian sighed. “Look, I need to explain what happened, but I don’t want to do it over the phone. Can you meet me somewhere?”

Dakota rolled her eyes as she sat forward in the tub. “Why should I?”

“Dakota, please give me a chance, I want to explain what happened because it was all a misunderstanding,” Brian pleaded.

Dakota sighed. “Fine. Where do you want me to meet you?”

“Do you have a pen and paper?”

“No, hold on give me second,” she said.

Dakota climbed out of the tub and held the phone to her ear as she wrapped a towel around her body. Stepping out of the tub, she was careful to not kick over the half bottle of wine still sitting near the tub before walking into her room. She grabbed a pen and paper from her nightstand drawer.

“Alright, I’m ready,” she said.

Dakota listened to the address and wrote it down as Brian said. She then hung up the phone. She looked into the mirror before walking to her closet and grabbing some undergarments, a pair of sweats, a T-shirt, and a hoodie. She was not about to dress up for this meeting because she wanted to be comfortable. Once she was dressed, she brushed the tangles out of her damp hair and then pulled it into a ponytail. Slipping on some flip flops that were by her bedroom door, Dakota grabbed her purse and then headed out the door.