Hearts in the City Page 8

  She was annoyed at the disappearing act Jazlynn had pulled, going off with a complete stranger without telling her. At the same time she was grateful she’d returned safe and sound. In hindsight she felt silly for the way she’d behaved in front of Alistair. He’d acted so cool, calm and collected in contrast to her freaking out with worry. There was something about his calming demeanor that she appreciated.

  “Who was that guy you were talking to?” Theo asked tersely.

  She lifted her head off the seat and sat up straight. She looked over at him and frowned. “Pardon me?”

  He turned the steering wheel sharply to the left onto South Street. He shook his head, sighing. He could be as stubborn as the days were long when he felt it suited his purpose.

  “So you’re going to bring a something up and then refuse to talk to me when I ask you about it? Then why bring it up?”

  He stared straight ahead, his attention fixed on the road. He clenched his jaw. “That guy. You know who I’m talking about. I walked in and you were so busy blabbering you didn’t see me standing there.”

  She looped her arm around the back of his neck, caressing it for a moment. “Oh you mean Alistair—Jamal’s best friend. The best man at the wedding.”

  Theo muttered something under his breath.

  “What are you mumbling about?”

  “I wasn’t mumbling.”

  “Sounded like it to me.”

  They drove in silence for a few moments.

  “So what? You met him once at the wedding and now you’re old pals?”

  She had no idea where he was headed with this. ”Um...no...we were just talking. Excuse me Theo but what are you getting at?”

  “I’m not getting at anything.”

  “Then why bring it up?”

  “Just forget it, okay?” he said.

  “I am absolutely not going to forget about it. You brought it up so let’s talk about it. It was obviously nothing but you seem to think it was so be a man. Own up to your insinuations.”

  He sighed angrily “Okay then...you want to talk about it, we’ll talk about it. What was this ‘match made in heaven’ bullshit I heard him talking about?” He glanced over at her quickly and returned his attention to the road. The car suddenly picked up speed.

  She was confused at first then it hit her. “Oh nothing. He was telling about wanting to start flipping houses. He mentioned he was looking for a partner and made a joke that two of us would be a partnership made in heaven because of his real estate background and my law background. That was it. That’s what you’re fretting about.”

  “How cute,” he said in a mocking tone. “He can’t be serious.”

  “And if he was...?” She couldn’t decide whether she was amused or annoyed with him.

  “You’d be out of your mind to even remotely consider it. Why hell would you blindly enter a partnership with someone you barely know?”

  “Well I’m not considering it—mostly because I don’t know anything about houses and secondly because I’m up to my eyeballs in my career right now. But if by chance I had considered it, I’d expect you to support my decision.”

  “And you’d have been disappointed,” he said evenly.

  She stiffened in her seat. “So you’re telling me I wouldn’t have your support if I took on a new business venture?”

  “Not with someone as smarmy as that guy.”

  She couldn’t help laughing. “Smarmy? Oh please...” She wasn’t naïve. Yes, Alistair had flirted with her but that’s where it stopped—harmless flirtation and nothing more.

  “Hell, if I hadn’t walked in when I did he probably would have had his hands all over you.”

  Her smile disappeared “You’re being ridiculous.”

  “Ridiculous? I don’t think so,” he raised his voice.

  “Then stop making a big deal out of nothing.” She was tired and wasn’t in the mood for this conversation anymore. She leaned her head back on headrest.

  “Don’t go off chatting up other men and there’ll be no reason to.”

  Now he was questioning her loyalty and she wasn’t going to stand for it. “Don’t go off chatting up other men? Are you serious? Let’s get one thing straight right now. You don’t get to control who I talk to or when I talk to them, and the sooner you get that, the better.”

  “You don’t like it when I talk to other women. You’ve flipped your lid more than a few times when you saw me talking to other women.”

  “That’s because they were throwing themselves all over you! And I wasn’t mad at you, I was mad at them.”

  “Either that or you were just being insecure.”

  ”Honestly Theo...do you really think I’d have asked you to drive Winnie home tonight if I was so insecure with you being around other women?” The only thing she’d ever been insecure with where he was concerned was giving him a full commitment. She wasn’t insecure about not having enough of him. She was insecure about have too much of him. She’d never had an issue with him conversing with other women. He had plenty of women friends she was comfortable with him being around.

  “Well it gave you more time alone to talk to Alistair didn’t it?”

  Suddenly she was infuriated. How dare he imply she’d made him drive Winnie home just so she could talk to Alistair?

  “Take me home,” she demanded. “I’m not going to sit here and listen to this so you can turn this car around right now and take me the hell home.”

  A crisp morning breeze blew in through the open window, disturbing the stack of papers sitting on her desk. Olivia tapped away at the keys on her laptop putting the finishing touches on her article for the newsletter. She was taking a much-needed day off. That is, if a day off meant working at home instead of at the office. It was the weekend but that normally didn’t stop her from waking up at the crack of dawn on a Saturday morning and heading off to the office to put in a full day.

  She’d just closed her laptop shut when Jazlynn entered the room dressed for work. “I’m off for work now,” she said, turning and leaving the room just as quickly as she’d entered.

  “Marcus was here looking for you last night,” Olivia yelled after her. “He said something about you guys going to a movie.”

  Jazlynn reappeared in the room with blank expression on her face. She rolled her eyes. “Oh my God, can’t he take a hint? That was two weeks ago. I haven’t returned any of his calls or texts, so it’s not like I confirmed anything with him. I just assumed he was smart enough to know our plans had changed.”

  Olivia stared firmly at her. “Well you could have at least had the decency to call him.”

  “Oh for God sakes, I even haven’t mentioned it since. That should have told him something.”

  Shaking her head at her, Olivia picked the current copy of Essence up off the coffee table. “Honestly Jazlynn...I don’t know where you get it from. How do you just stand someone up without a second thought?”

  “Well if he doesn’t have a clue that I’m not interested anymore, how’s that my problem?”

  Olivia glanced up from the magazine, shaking her head. “Wow...”

  “Who cares? Let him go on his merry way and bore the hell out of someone else. I really could care less. I’ve been seeing someone else anyway.” Jazlynn stood there as though waiting for her words to have an impact.

  Olivia stared at the magazine on front of her. “Yeah, I kind of noticed.” A strange car had dropped Jazlynn off a few evenings last week. Olivia had assumed it was one of Jazlynn’s girlfriends.

  “So...” Jazlynn said with an eye roll. “Aren’t you going to ask who it is?”

  “All right...if you insist, who is he?” Olivia had an idea but Jazlynn was so unpredictable who knew from one day to the next?

  “I know you like to pry so I’m giving you a heads-up. It’s that guy Trey that I met at Simone and Jamal’s party a couple of weeks ago.”

  Olivia let the news to sink in. She’d known this would end up happening. She’d figured Jaz
lynn meeting a guy by chance at a housewarming party would lead into a superficial relationship since every guy she stumbled became one of her flavors of the month. It was simple. Olivia collected shoes. Jazlynn collected boyfriends. “Well at twenty-five, he’s definitely too old for you.”

  Jazlynn shot her a look. “How would you know how old he is?”

  “Because Alistair told me. When you guys pulled your little disappearing act...we sat down and had a talk.”

  “Well I just thought I’d let you know...you know, just to be...” She formed quotes with her hands. “...courteous as you put it. And here you’re turning it into a lecture? To hell with this, I’m out of here.” She turned in a huff, on her way out of the room.

  ”You’re nineteen. Keep that in mind.”

  Jazlynn spun around, facing her. “Yeah... that was legal age last time I checked.”

  “At twenty-five he’s far more experienced than you.” There was no telling how many other girls Trey had on a string. Just as handsome as his brother, he was sure to have his pick of women. Alistair had certainly made no bones about the fact he was happily unattached to any one woman.

  Jazlynn folded her arms and tapped her feet impatiently, the sole of her pumps clacking on the hardwood floor. “Oh whatever...and just so you’ll know...he’s taking me to dinner and a movie tonight. Now will there be anything else or am I good to go?”

  Olivia gave her an expressionless stare then turned her attention back to the magazine in front of her. Jazlynn liked to get under her skin sometimes but Olivia wasn’t having it. Jazlynn turned on her heels and left the room, slamming the front door shut a few minutes later.

  Shewas legal and there wasn’t a damned thing Olivia could do about it. Even with Alistair’s assurances, Olivia wasn’t so sure about Trey. Trey was his brother so he was biased. Quite honestly, with the way Jazlynn’s mind changed depending on whichever way the wind blew, maybe Trey was the one Olivia should have been worried for.

  Her cell-phone rattled from inside her purse just then. She took it out answered it immediately. It was Theo.

  “Hey, what’s up?” she, asked, cradling the phone to her ear. They’d been trying hard to get the relationship back on solid footing. He’d long since apologized for the things he’d said to her on the way home from Simone and Jamal’s housewarming party a couple of weeks earlier, but things were still tense between them. His questioning her loyalty to him had crossed the line. Trust in a relationship was everything. Once that was all gone what was the use anymore? She knew he’d never cheat on her but she needed him to believe the same about her.

  “Hey Liv...what’s up?”

  “Not much...just puttering around the house. What’s up?”

  “I’m calling to let you know I just found out they’re flying me out of state for more training this month.”

  “Baby, that’s wonderful. You’ve been wanting to further your skills so this is great news.” His career was important to him so the more the training opportunities, conferences and seminars he got to go on, the better his chances for a promotion he’d been waiting for.

  “Well yes...it is great news. But the timing’s not so great. It means I’m going to be out of town for a week.”

  She furrowed her brow, sensing something in his voice. “So when would you be leaving?”

  “This Thursday...that’s what I’m trying to say.”

  Her heart sank. “What do you mean this Thursday? The fundraising gala is this Friday night,” she said, anger creeping into her voice. The last thing she wanted was to show at the gala all dressed to the nines all alone. She’d planned her outfit months ago and had been perusing hairstyle magazines to find the perfect up do for her hairstylist to replicate. Hell, she’d even decided what makeup look she wanted. The firm’s fundraising gala was a serious event and one of the ways the firm showed its involvement in the community. Money raised at the event went toward funding for nonprofit organizations in the community. The local newspapers would be there in droves snapping pictures so it was important to look ones best. “Isn’t there any way you could fly out on Saturday instead?”

  “Of course not,” he said tersely. “I don’t get to pick and choose when I want to show up. That would defeat the whole purpose of me going.”

  “Well we’ve been planning this for weeks. What am I supposed to do now? Show up alone?”

  “What’s wrong with showing up alone?”

  “I shouldn’t have to go alone, especially when I was supposed to be going with you.”

  “Well you won’t be going with me this year, so deal with it,” he said bluntly.

  “Clearly.”

  He let out a heavy sigh on his end. “Look...I’ve been trying to get a promotion for months. You of all people should support that.”

  “And I do, but can’t you understand that I’d be disappointed? Especially since this is so last minute.”

  “I know this is a bummer for you, but the same way I support you and all your late hours at the office...barely spending time together, I expect you to do the same for me.”

  She knew he was right. He’d been extremely tolerable and deserved the same from her. “It’s just that Bertram was expecting you to be there. He’s been looking forward to seeing you again,” she said, her tone softening.

  “And you’ll give him my regrets and tell him I’ll be at the golf tournament at the retreat.”

  “Yeah if something else doesn’t come up between now and then,” she muttered.

  “What’d you say?” he asked, sounding ready to argue.

  “Nothing. Just forget it.”

  “I’ve been making sacrifices for you for as long as we’ve been together,” he said.

  “And I’ve made some here and there for you, too.” She hadn’t whined when he’d sprung it on her that he wasn’t able to stand in Simone and Jamal’s wedding because his boss was sending him away for a training seminar that same weekend. She hadn’t whined at all. Instead, she’d gone to the wedding all by herself, stood as maid of honor and made the best of it for the sake of her best friend. She didn’t mean to come off as selfish but she couldn’t hide how terribly disappointed she was that her plans for an enjoyable night together at the gala, sipping expensive wine and schmoozing with partners and corporate dignitaries had gone up in smoke.

  “I have to get back to work...we’ll talk later,” he said.

  “Uh-huh,” she said, feeling in low spirit. “Guess I’ll see you tonight, then.” She heard the click of Theo hanging up on his end. She thought about it some more. She couldn’t blame him for receiving such short notice about his trip and certainly couldn’t blame him for taking advantage of opportunities to advance his career. It just stunk that this trip had come up at such an inopportune time.

  She leaned back on the coach and relaxed, trying to convince herself that she’d still have a great time at the gala. At some point during the night she was expected to take the podium and say a few words about the annual retreat to get everyone pumped for the golf tournament. She planned to put on her best fake smile and do the partners proud.

  She turned her attention back to the magazine still lying open on her lap and as she did, a business card lying face-down on the floor caught her eye. It had probably fallen out of her purse when she pulled out her cell-phone. Remembering whose business card it was she picked it up and flipped it over. Alistair Davenport, Realtor: “It’s not just a house, it’s a home!” The card depicted a small photo of him smiling and looking very handsome in his business suit and tie. His phone number, email address, and company website address were at the bottom of the card. He was a go-getter. The fact that he was starting his own property investment company was a clear indication of that. His suggestion that she partner up with him had thrown her. He barely knew her and she barely knew him.

  She stared at the card for a few moments, remembering the friendly conversations she’d shared with him. How she had let her guards down, dancing with him until the wee hours of the
morning. The combination of wine, celebratory atmosphere and his irresistible charm had enticed her to let her hair down. Dancing with someone other than Theo had felt weird, but strangely enjoyable. Had she been available she might have given him a second glance. Smiling, she slipped the card back into her purse and inside her wallet. She planned to put feelers out at work just in case anyone was in the market for a new home.

  “I finally told Jamal,” Simone said. “I had to.”

  “Well it was the right thing to do...especially if you plan on keeping it, which I’m assuming you are?” Olivia asked.

  “That’s my plan...” Simone licked tiny beads of soda dew from the straw in the glass in front of her. “He’s all ecstatic about it and I’m worried sick. It’s a very bittersweet situation. I should be happy and I want to be happy, yet I can’t.”

  It was an early Thursday afternoon and the two of them having lunch at a steakhouse. There were sipping their drinks and waiting for their entrees to arrive. “I wish I knew what to tell you.”

  “Tell me everything will be fine. That there’ll have been some kind of mix up and the baby will end up being Jamal’s after all. Please...just give me something,” Simone said, sounding frustrated.

  Olivia stared at her from across the table. “The only thing I’m going to say is that your best bet is to just tell him the truth. At best, he’ll forgive you and he’ll raise the child like it’s his own.”