Page 18 of Cherish

I stop breathing as he looks at me, and when he must have gotten his fill of me, he walks to the table, pours a drink and brings it back to the woman. When I pull my gaze away from Jason, I realize that he’s not the only one who’s interested in looking at me. His friends are looking, and when I catch Sandy’s eye, she quickly looks away and whispers something to Jacob.

It appears she’s said something about me and told him not to look because Jacob is very unsubtle as he pretends to look around the yard. When he spots me, and I’m looking directly at him, he quickly looks away.

When the woman hooks her arm through Jason’s, I avert my gaze from the scene and walk back in through the sliding glass door.

CHAPTER 10

JASON

Caught completely off guard by Maxine’s sudden grasp of my arm, I stiffen at her touch. What follows is an awkward silence. As if I have no will against my body, I turn my gaze and because the universe hates me, Alex is looking right at us. She’s not looking for long though. She abruptly turns on her heel to go back inside my house. As uncomfortable as this scene is, there is something comforting about her walking around in my house. Touching my things. Leaving her smell everywhere.

“So, Maxine,” Sandy says, looking from the empty deck and back to me, “what kind of nurse are you?” Sandy, an angel here on earth, grabs Maxine and the two of them walk to the other side of the yard, leaving me alone with Jake.

“Mellie’s friend, my ass.” I ignore him, but he’s grinning like he’s in on a secret.

“She is.”

“And?” he asks.

“And she’s not interested.” I no longer believe that. She’s fighting a war with herself. For whatever reason, she’s barricading herself from me, but not for long. That ends today.

“That is not a woman who’s uninterested. Talk before I get my mother involved.” Jake’s mother has made it her mission in life to fix me up with any black woman she meets who is under forty.

“Nothing to talk about. She’s not interested. In fact,” I say, looking as a bunch of doctors walk into the yard, “she’s interested in him.” I point at Dr. Doyle, who is walking into my yard with a few more surgical residents.

Jake assesses Dr. Doyle before he turns back to me.

“She’s interested in that guy and you invite him to your party? Are you nuts?”

“I didn’t invite him.” I had made it a point not to invite him, but we work so much and have so little time to meet anyone outside of the hospital, it’s not uncommon for us to socialize outside of work.

“You want me to kick him out?” Jake’s already walking toward Dr. Doyle, but I grab his arm. “I would punch him, but I’m reformed. I can make an exception this one time.”

Jake used to be the type of guy who’d hit first and ask questions later, but the last thing he would ever want to do is upset his fiancée by getting into a fight.

“Sandy will be so happy when her fiancé gets arrested for assault a few weeks before their wedding. Nothing says wedded bliss like a possible felony conviction. Stand down, man. I’m not threatened by that guy.”

I look at Dr. Doyle. He’s at least half a foot shorter than I am. He’s wearing a cardigan over his shoulders like a preppy clothing ad. There’s nothing remarkable about him. No, I didn’t invite him, but I’m glad he’s here.

She comes walking out of the house, holding a bottle of my very expensive imported German beer. In fact, those were in the back of my fridge, hidden away from any nosy guests. The fact that she rummaged through my fridge and took my specialty beer like she’s entitled to it does things to me.

She takes a few angry steps toward Mellie and Ananda, doing her best not to look at me. She doesn’t seem to notice Doyle either.

“Okay,” Jake says, “I won’t punch him. Yet.”

“If he needs to be punched, I can do it, but he’s no threat.”

“Okay, but I’m not letting you punch him. You need your hands, idiot. Go over there and do that fake southern charm thing that you do. Women go crazy over that shit.”

“I don’t think that would work on her.”

“So, when did this happen? You were chasing anything in a skirt at the bachelor party,” he says.

I tell him about how we met and everything that followed.

“Women,” is all he says. He turns around, finds his fiancée and blows her a kiss. I can see her giggle from across the yard as she pretends to catch the kiss. Maxine, who is still with Sandy, smiles wistfully at me.

Sandy turns her away, but not before she catches my eye and jerks her head in Alex’s direction. I look that way, only to find Alex looking at me. As if she’s caught doing something she shouldn’t, she quickly turns around and starts talking to Ananda.

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