Page 96 of Crave

“Yeah, I’m sorry too. I’m sorry you don’t know what the hell you’re talking about. I’m sorry I shared a painful part of my past with you only to have it thrown in my face. I just want to go home. If only you knew.” Her voice breaks, and she wraps her arms around herself, shielding her body from me. Feeling like I’m about to lose her, I pull her into me and wrap my arms around her. I stick my head in the crook of her neck and pepper her with kisses. I pull back, put her face in my hands and look in her eyes. The tears have pooled but haven’t fallen yet.

“I’m crazy about you, baby. I love you so much, and I’ve been an asshole. I’m sorry.” The tears fall then. I quickly wipe them away and kiss her cheeks. I put my arm around her and steer her towards the building, relieved when she doesn’t resist. We cut through the lobby and make our way into my office.

“Sit down. I’ll get you some water.” I run to the kitchen, cursing my stupidity the entire way. “Fuck.” I slam the fridge door with more force than necessary after grabbing two water bottles, and I practically walk into Troy as I exit the kitchen.

“Whoa.” He sidesteps out of the way. “You okay?”

I ignore him as I make my way back to my office. When I return, Sandy’s back is to me as she wipes her eyes with a tissue. Her spine goes stiff once she hears the door closing.

“I brought you some water.”

She finally turns around and faces me. Her eyes are red, but the tears have dried. I hand her the bottle.

“I’m sorry,” she says, taking a small sip. “I don’t know what came over me.” She puts the water bottle down, smooths down her hair and turns her back, and just like she did before we went to lunch, she pretends to study the pictures on my desk.

I walk up behind her and lay both hands on her shoulders.

“I’m sorry too. I never should have said what I said. You trusted me with that information and I betrayed your trust. Please, forgive me.”

“I love you, so I forgive you, but that’s not a topic I'd like to discuss.”

I turn her to face me, pull her in my arms and kiss her lips. “I just wanted to have a nice lunch with you before I have to be away from you for four days, and I ruined it. I wish you were coming with me on this trip. I don’t want to leave things like this.”

She rests her head on my chest and puts both hands on my biceps.

“You can’t bring your girlfriend on business trips, Jake.” She repeats the same words she said to me two days ago.

“Says who?” I challenge. I’m relieved to see a real smile on her face.

“I’ll be here on Sunday when you get back, okay? Do you need me to take care of the dogs for you while you’re gone?” She looks up at me with those beautiful brown eyes and all I can do is kiss her.

“You’re perfect, you know that? Always thinking of others. No, Luke’s staying at the house and will care for the dogs.” She nods and lays her head back on my chest.

“Isn’t your meeting starting soon?”

“It started five minutes ago, but I don’t care. You’re more important.” She walks out of my embrace as my office phone starts to ring. “It’s my dad looking for me, I bet.”

“Go! I’m going home, and I’ll see you tonight.” She gives me another kiss and we walk out of my office together, telling each other words of love as she walks towards the front door. Still unsettled by our fight, I make my way to the conference room, with an eerie feeling of foreboding.

That feeling of foreboding only gets worse. My heart is in my throat as I watch Sandy walk out of the building towards her car. I had started to walk her out, but she told me no and urged me to go to my meeting. The rest of the afternoon is filled with meetings about the upcoming trip. Immediately following the last meeting of the day, dad and I make our way to Chestnut Hill for our business dinner.

It had started to rain by the time we left the office, causing traffic to be twice as congested. When we finally arrive at the country club, the rain has turned from light to heavy. To add to my irritation at the turn of events, our dinner guests are almost an hour late due to the weather.

The dinner runs long and by the time we finish, there is a torrential downpour and half of the city of Boston has lost power.

“This is why I hate coming to the fucking city,” I whisper to my dad as we watch our guests leave for the hotel next door. I fumble for my phone, nearly slamming it against the wall when I see the dead screen. A loud clap of thunder followed by several flashes of lightning strike.

“Looks like we’re stuck here for the night. Let’s get us a couple of rooms. I need to call your mother.” Dad sighs and starts to lead us towards the door.

“I can’t. I told Dee I’d be by tonight.” I run my fingers through my hair and cringe at the sound of more thunder. “I can’t leave things like this.”

“Leave things like what? She’ll understand, Jake. If things were reversed, would you want her driving in this? Who knows what the streetlights are like out there?”

“Of course, I wouldn’t want her driving in this.” The words come out sharper than I anticipate.

“Judging by the way she looks at you, it’s safe to assume she wouldn’t want you driving in this mess either. Come on.” He slaps my back and we walk under the awning to the adjacent hotel. “And what do you mean, you can’t leave things like this? You two had a fight?”

“Something like that. I need to get my charger, so I can let her know I’m not coming. Goddamn it!”

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