Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow, page 1
Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
By: Aleks Mitchell
© 2023 Aleks Mitchell. All rights reserved.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Wendy
Chapter 2: Eve
Chapter 3: Wendy
Chapter 4: Eve
Chapter 5: Wendy
Chapter 6: Eve
Chapter 7: Wendy
Chapter 8: Eve
Chapter 9: Wendy
Chapter 10: Eve
Chapter 11: Wendy
Chapter 12: Eve
Chapter 13: Wendy
Chapter 14: Eve
Chapter 15: Wendy
Chapter 16: Eve
Chapter 17: Wendy
Chapter 18: Eve
Chapter 19: Wendy
Chapter 20: Eve
Chapter 21: Wendy
Chapter 22: Eve
Chapter 23: Wendy
Chapter 24: Eve
Chapter 25: Wendy
Chapter 26: Eve (Epilogue)
Chapter 1: Wendy
Forget the holiday season. The summer was the worst time for a person to be single.
People weren’t out during the holiday season shoving their love in your face. It was the summer that was the real killer.
Everywhere Wendy Torres turned she spotted people in love. People holding hands. People kissing. It was downright disgusting.
And entirely everything that she wanted.
Then there was the stupid Christmas in July specials. Who the hell invented Christmas in July? Christmas was in the cold darkness of December where it should be left.
Those movies were so unrealistic. Love like that didn’t exist. The Hallmark Channel was a joke. A mockery of what real life was like. A baker doesn’t fall for the depressing banker that hates Christmas. She wasn’t sure why she even watched those movies. It was depressing, like the rest of her life.
Wendy hated to feel this way. She loved Christmas. It was always her favorite holiday. That changed when the love of her life stomped all over her heart two weeks before the cheery holiday.
The magic of that holiday was lost. She couldn’t imagine what it was going to be like when the actual holiday hit instead of the made up summer version.
In the meantime, the couples taking late night walks together in her apartment complex were getting on her last nerve.
There was one plus side to being alone.
It made her reliable at work. She was always a workaholic, but since her breakup she brought that to a whole new level.
That’s why it wasn’t a surprise that she was at the office the night before the Fourth of July finishing up some paperwork.
Someone cleared their throat from the doorway of her shoebox of an office. Hazel eyes narrowed on her.
“What are you still doing here?”
Kate leaned against the doorframe and smirked. She lifted an eyebrow. “I could ask you the same thing.”
“You’ve got a wife at home. All I’ve got is a plant. And it’s dying.” She never did have much of a green thumb.
“I hate plants. They’re so needy.”
“Agreed. The only reason it’s not in the trash is because my mother bought it for me.”
Kate smiled. “Are you spending the holiday with her and your dad?”
“No. They’re in Seattle with my brother, sister-in-law, and nephews this year.”
“You didn’t join them?”
“I didn’t want to take the time off.” She also didn’t feel like faking a pleasant mood, which she’d have to do if she spent the Fourth at her brother’s.
His wife went all out every year. Their house looked like the USA threw up there.
“Spoken like a fellow workaholic.”
Wendy closed her laptop and smiled as she stood up from her desk. “Don’t you mean reformed workaholic?”
“Yeah, I know. I’ve been slacking since Josslyn tied me down.”
“Didn’t you ask her to marry you?”
“Minor details.” She smiled. “Are you heading out too?”
“No.” She held up her mug. “Coffee. I’ll be here another couple of hours.”
“But what about your plant?”
“Funny.” She followed Kate out of her office and towards the kitchen down the hall. It was more of a pantry than a kitchen. They were lucky they even had that with how tight their budget was. The price of being a public servant. “I think the plant will be fine a little while longer.”
“You never RSVP’d to our barbecue tomorrow afternoon.”
She walked into the kitchen and blew out a long breath. “I don’t know if I can make it.”
“Please don’t tell me you’re working on the Fourth of July.”
“No. There’d be no point. No one’s working tomorrow.”
“It’s a little sad that that’s the only reason you’re not going to work on the Fourth of July.”
“I’ve got nothing better to do.”
Kate’s eyes widened. “Hello. Party.”
“I don’t want to bring anyone down. I’m not really in the party type of mood.”
“All the more reason you should come. It’ll get you in the mood. Besides, it’s hardly a party. It’s more like a little get together. We only invited a few people.”
Kate was being sweet. It was nice that Josslyn was even inviting her to their Fourth of July get together. She did sleep with her wife back in law school. That felt like a lifetime ago now. A time when things were simple. The pressure of life hadn’t gotten to her yet. She had all the time in the world to get the career she wanted, find a wife, and have a couple kids.
It felt that way at the time. Now she knew that time went unbelievably fast, especially when you spent so much of it working.
“Can I think about it?”
Kate smiled, nodding her head. “Of course.”
“If I decide not to come, Happy Fourth.”
“I really hope you do, but if you don’t I understand.”
Kate headed down the hall towards the exit, and Wendy headed back to her office with her coffee. She got back just as her phone started to ring. It was her mother.
She answered the phone and put the phone between her ear and her shoulder as she opened her laptop back up. “Hi Mom. How was the plane ride?”
“Long. I don’t know why your brother had to move all the way to the other side of the country.”
Wendy smiled. Her mother hated flying as much as she did. “I know. Distance aside, everything went okay?”
“Yes. No turbulence, so that’s a bonus. Your father slept the entire ride.”
“Lucky him.” She could never sleep on a flight. She was too afraid that she’d wake up to a literal nightmare surrounding her.
“What are you doing?”
Wendy stopped typing, staying still as if her mother could see her. “Nothing.”
“You’re a terrible liar for a lawyer.”
“I’m just finishing up.”
“Which translates to three or four more hours of work for you.”
“I won’t be here that long. I promise.”
“I don’t like you being out so late, Wendy. I hate that you live alone.”
Rub it in, why don’t you?
“Yeah, me too.”
“I really wish you would have joined us.”
“I know, but I can’t take that long off. I’ll call you though.”
“You better. I better go help your father with the bags. Knowing him he’ll grab someone else’s bags and lose ours.”
“Okay. Text me when you get to Will’s house.”
“I will. Love you.”
“I love you too.”
She hung up the phone and placed it aside. She closed the laptop and packed it up. She could finish the rest at home. Her mother was unfortunately right. She lived alone now. They didn’t live in a town with a high crime rate, but bad things happen anywhere and everywhere. She refused to even watch the news with how depressing it was. She saw enough bad stories in the DA’s office to know that she had to always keep a mindful eye on her surroundings.
She placed an order to her favorite Chinese restaurant before heading out of the office.
This Fourth of July was going to be one for the books. Her laptop, Hallmark movies, and leftover kung pao chicken. Life couldn’t get any better than that.
Maybe going to Kate and Josslyn’s wouldn’t be such a horrible idea. She had to find a way to get out of this rut. She didn’t want to be this person. The kind of person that hated summer and Christmas in July. That was never her. She was bright and shiny. An optimist.
She was never a person that liked being alone. She’d been with someone in one way or another since college. But that was when she was in her twenties and it was easier to put herself out there.
It was starting to feel easier to be alone than to put her heart back out on the chopping block. She had to do something or her new normal of being alone was going to become a permanent fixture in her life.
Chapter 2: Eve
“I don’t understand why you’d rather stay in a hotel than here with your family.”
Eve counted to three in her head. Counting every time she spoke to her mother was necessary to avoid an all out argument with the older woman. “Because I stay up late. Besides, I’m here seeing friends too. They live further south.”
“It’s only a thirty minute drive, Eve.”
“She doesn’t want to stay with her parents,” her father said. He sm
“Thank you Dad. At least someone in this family gets me.”
It made sense. They were cut from the same cloth. They both put way too much time into their work. Her mother did her own kind of work. Party planning. Social events with high society snobs. Looking down on the poor every chance she could with fundraisers she set up to make herself look like a good person. Victoria Tilman had a lot on her plate. Including trying to find the perfect man for Eve. Another reason she wanted to spend as little time at the house as she could.
“Don’t encourage her, Richard. Being an independent woman is fine, but she has something that men don’t.”
Eve smirked. “Yes, I do have something men don’t. Two things actually.”
“Don’t be coy, Eve.”
“I was born that way, Mother.”
“You have a clock. It’s ticking. Did you know that after thirty-five many women need medical assistance to get pregnant?”
Research would have to be done before she took her mother’s word for that. She had the tendency to embellish facts to fit her narrative.
“Wow. Thirty-five. I’ve got two years before I’m barren.”
“This is not a joke, Eve.”
Nothing ever was with Victoria Tilman. “I know, Mother. It’s a good thing I don’t want children.”
“You say that now. So did Sally Thornton. Now, she’s forty-one and has to adopt.”
“I’m sorry, I’m missing the part where that’s a bad thing.”
“It’s bad for her. She wants children of her own.”
“The children will be her own. Adopted doesn’t mean not yours.”
“Biology matters, Eve. Now she won’t know what predispositions her children may have as they get older.”
“They have genetic testing now, Mother. I’m pretty sure medical history is a part of the package now.”
“Genetic problems aren’t the only concerns.”
“Your mother’s right,” her father said, though he had a smug smile on his lips. “A child can also inherit temperaments. You’re lucky you didn’t inherit the crazy gene from her side of the family.”
That earned the man a glare from Victoria and a laugh from her.
“Do you want the company to fall into ruins?”
“Eve is going to take good care of the company. The Tilman legacy is in good hands.”
“Yes, and after?”
He shrugged. “Maybe Eric will have some children and one of them can take over when Eve’s ready to step down.”
“That’s not happening,” Eric said as he came into the dining room. “If I have children, I’m raising them to be family disappointments like me.”
Eve smiled at her older brother. He was hardly what she would consider a disappointment. Maybe to their father who would have preferred a man take over his company. He never said it out loud, but she knew it was the truth. Her father saw women as a liability. If she were to ever have kids, that would mean less time for business. A man didn’t have such liabilities. They were more reliable. At least in his eyes.
Eric had a back bone. He didn’t get pressured into joining the family business. He wanted nothing to do with it. He even used his trust fund to start a couple of his own charities. Unlike their mother, his goal was to actually help people. Not be perceived as someone that wanted to help people.
“Says the philanthropist,” Eve said.
“Giving back is important,” their father said. “It’s too bad you didn’t decide to work for Tilman Industries. It’s hard to give back when you don’t have anything to give.”
Eric smiled as he sat down. “I might not be a real estate mogul, but I know how to invest. Your contribution has grown in the last few years. Starving children everywhere, thank you.”
The vein in their father’s forehead was becoming more pronounced. Great, here comes a fight.
Victoria put her hand up. “I won’t have you two bickering.”
“Don’t worry, Mom,” Eric said. “I’ll leave the bickering to you and Dad.”
Eve bit back a laugh. “As fun as this has been, I have to head out.”
The crease between Victoria’s eyebrows deepened. “It’s only three.”
“I know. I’m already late for my friend’s party.”
“Which friend is this?”
“You wouldn’t know her,” Eric said. “She works for the poor. I’ll walk you out.”
“I’ll stop by sometime tomorrow.”
“Brunch will be at eleven, Eve. Don’t be late.”
“I know, Mother.” She’d be late regardless. She wasn’t her if she wasn’t at least an hour late to her parents’ house.
Eric walked her out to her car. “I can’t believe you’re leaving me alone with these people.”
“The offer still stands. I got a room with two queen sized beds just in case she gets to be too much.”
“I’ll manage. I’m probably going to head up to bed soon anyway. She’ll be taking her Xanax soon and pass out from mixing it with too much champagne.”
Eve shook her head. “Great role models that they are.”
“Yeah, it’s amazing we’re even still alive.”
They had the nannies to thank for that.
Eve smiled and hugged her brother. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Drive safe. Have fun.”
“Thanks.”
She got in the car and headed to Riverside. She still had to make a stop to get a bottle of wine not wanting to show up empty handed. That and she wanted to make sure she had something to drink in case they didn’t have enough alcohol. She’d been kicking back a couple extra nightcaps the last couple of weeks.
Life was becoming depressing. Couples in love everywhere she turned. It seemed like everyone in her life, but her was with someone.
Even Kate. Kate of all people was married. She never thought she’d see the day.
What was mortifying was that before Kate fell in love with her wife, Eve actually thought she could have a future with her ex friend with many benefits. But that may have just been her mother’s words going through her head. She hated when the things her mother said actually resonated with her.
Victoria wasn’t the only one that heard the ticking of Eve’s clock. The idea of being with one person and having children was always trivial. She never wanted those things. When she thought about her life and what it would look like, carpooling and making school lunches was never a part of her dreams.
Being a boss bitch. That was her dream. The first woman CEO of Tilman Industries. It wasn’t a huge accomplishment since her grandfather and father were the only other CEO’s the company had ever had. She got lucky that her brother didn’t want anything to do with the real estate business.
Tilman Industries was her father’s baby, and it was going to be hers too.
It was starting to look like it would be her only baby in life.
Her mother’s words cut deep. She thought the same thing. Was she going to get older and regret letting a business be her only baby in life?
Chapter 3: Wendy
The television was calling Wendy’s name. It took everything to ignore it. Being one of the hottest days they’d had that summer didn’t help matters. Staying home and watching mindless television in the comfort and coolness of her small apartment was tempting.
But she already texted Kate that she would swing by for a bit. She just hoped that Kate was telling the truth when she said it would be a small get together.
She didn’t have the mental energy to mingle with too many people. She was putting herself out there, but she’d prefer baby steps. She was never a social butterfly. She’d been an introvert for as long as she could remember. In elementary school she’d had crippling anxiety. Luckily she grew out of it once she got into high school and joined the school debate team. There was something about arguing for her beliefs that washed away her need to make herself little.
Nonetheless, there was still some anxiety in her. Not enough to require therapy, but enough to make her social battery permanently heading towards the red. She was a homebody. There was nothing wrong with that. Not to her anyway.
On her way to Kate and Josslyn’s she stopped at a grocery store to grab a dessert. She had her mother to thank for that. Never show up to a party without bringing something with you.
The grocery store was packed. It was the Fourth of July. She probably shouldn’t have waited until right before the party to get something.
