“What exactly happened, honey?”
I shake my head and pull out of his arms, but he leads me to a nearby bench and makes me sit. “What happened?” he asks again.
So I explain what happened on Monday, and as I work my way through the events, my dad listens, his eyes narrowing, nodding, exhaling loudly, and when I done, he looks at me with a sober face.
“Julianne Rose Montgomery, I’m disappointed in both of you.”
“Huh?”
“You need to let him explain.”
I start to shake my head but he lays his hand on my forearm, catching my attention.
“People screw up, Jules. He has some explaining to do, but you wouldn’t let him talk. Let the man talk.”
“You and Will are two peas in a pod.”
We stand and walk back in the house. It’s quiet inside. Everyone looks so somber waiting for us to return.
“You okay?” Isaac asks quietly.
“I will be.” I respond.
Natalie is burping Olivia and I hold my hands out. “Baby. Mine.”
Natalie smirks and hands her over to me. I cuddle Olivia close and smile at Nat. “Thanks.”
“So, no cheesecake. How about apple pie?” Mom winks at me and everyone starts chattering around me again. I kiss Olivia’s head and look over at Luke who grins and takes a sip of a beer.
***
“So, why did I have to call Will’s phone to reach you?” Natalie asks from the facial bed next to mine. We’ve decided to cash in my birthday spa day. Our heads are wrapped in white towels, our bodies draped in cozy white sheets, and we both have mud masks freshly brushed on our faces with cucumbers over our eyelids.
It’s freaking heaven.
“Because I haven’t turned my phone on in four days.” I murmur.
“Why?” she asks again.
“Because I don’t want to know if Nate’s called or texted.” I respond and sigh as the technician begins to massage my hands.
“But… why?”
“Trying to de-stress here, Nat. You’re not helping.”
“I’m sorry, I’m trying to understand.”
“If he has called,” I say patiently, “I’m not sure I want to hear his voice or his excuses. If he hasn’t called, it’ll hurt.”
“Okay.” She doesn’t sound so sure, but she drops it, and we stop talking and enjoy our delicious facials. We’ve decided to go for the whole princess treatment today, and indulge in one-hour massages, mani-pedi’s and waxing too.
“That was fantastic.” I link my arm through Natalie’s as we leave the spa and take a deep breath of early-summer air. “Tell Luke thanks for me. It’s so nice having an obscenely rich brother-in-law who loves nothing more than spoiling his gorgeous wife, and therefore, his gorgeous wife’s bff gets spoiled too.”
“I will tell him,” Natalie laughs and leads me down the street to our favorite café for lunch. I look over at my friend and smile. She’s is beautiful, with her freshly polished face and chestnut hair back in a loose pony tail.
We order our usual of soup and sandwiches and find a table.
“So, I think you should turn your phone on, friend.” Natalie says with a raised eyebrow. She pulls off her thin green scarf and drapes it on the back of the chair next to her.
“No.” I sip my diet Coke.
“I dare you.” Her lips turn up in a soft smile and I glare at her.
“Don’t be a bitch, Nat.”
“Don’t be a pussy, Jules.”
Fuck.
I hate how well she knows me. She knows I can’t resist a dare. I have four older brothers who got me into all kinds of shit with my mom growing up because of their dares.
“Goddamn it, Natalie,” I mutter and pull my iPhone out of my Gucci handbag. “You turn it on.”
I pass her the phone and she fires it up, watching the screen and twirling a strand of her hair with her fingers.
“Does it seriously take this long for that piece of shit to fire up?” I ask.
“Yes.” She laughs up at me and keeps watching the screen. “Looks like ten voice mails and twenty two texts.”
“Holy fuck. I don’t know that many people.”
“Here.” She tries to hand the phone back to me but I wave it away.
“No. You check them.”
“No, Jules. Jesus, grow a pair and check your phone.”
I take a deep breath and continue to glare at my best friend. God, I hate her right now.
“Okay, give it to me.”
She hands it to me and I check the voice mail first. The first six messages are from my family, wanting to know if I’m okay. The seventh and eighth are Natalie wanting to meet up for a spa day and threatening to call Will.
The ninth is Mrs. Glover telling me that I forgot a personal item in my office and she’ll mail it to me.
The tenth is Nate. It was left this morning.
“Julianne,” he sighs and pauses and I grip the phone tighter, pressing it harder against my ear as if I’ll be able to hear his voice more clearly this way. “I hope that four days is long enough. I can’t go another day without hearing your voice. Please, baby, call me. Talk to me. I love you.” There is another long pause and then the message ends.
I’m staring at Natalie with tears rolling down my face. I’m not sobbing or making a scene, but the tears began to fall when he said my name. I press replay and pass the phone to Natalie so she can hear.
She listens avidly, her beautiful green eyes on mine. Her eyes also well with tears as she passes the phone back to me.
“Wow, Jules.”
“Damn it,” I mutter.
“What are you going to do?” she asks.
“Write you out of my will.” I reply and wipe my cheeks.
“Seriously,” she smirks.
“Oh, who am I kidding? I’ll probably call him later today.” The waitress sets our lunches in front of us and we dig in.
“He’s been calling me, you know.”
“Jesus, he’s been calling everyone. Will said he called him, and mom told me last night that he’d called her.”
“He hasn’t been able to find you, Jules. It’s making him crazy.”
“Good.”
“My best friend once gave me good advice when I was mad at my husband. She said, ‘don’t play games with him.’” Natalie frowns at me and I squirm.
“I’m not playing games.”
“Yeah, you are.” She shrugs and sips her soup. “I get it, though. He was an idiot on Monday. But I get why he was.”
“You do?” I ask incredulously.
“Yeah, we all do. We’re all talking to him, bonehead.”
I sit back in my chair and stare at her, my mouth open and eyes wide. “You’ve all been talking to him?”
She nods and takes my hand in hers. “Just talk to him, Jules. I hate to see you hurting when you don’t need to be.”
“You weren’t there…”
“Nope, I wasn’t. And you have every right to be angry. But doesn’t he have the right to explain?”
“I just…” I shake my head and look down, blinking tears from my eyes. “I just keep seeing myself sitting in that chair, with those people looking at me impassively while they took away my job. A job that I was so good at, and dedicated so much of myself to. And Nate knew, Natalie. He knew how much I loved my job, and how good I was at it.”
“You’ll find another job, Jules.”
“I know, but while they so flippantly took my job away, the man I love so much, and professed to loving me so much in return, sat in his chair and looked at me like he didn’t even know me. There was no emotion in his face. In his eyes. He was just… blank. And that’s what tore me up the most.”
I pull my hand out of hers and lean back again, shaking my head. “You were there Friday night, Nat. You saw how he kicked DJ’s ass. You know how protective he is of me, yet I’m telling you, that man was not sitting in the conference room on Monday. And it tore my heart out.”
&
nbsp; Natalie frowns and looks down at her plate and then looks back up at me. She looks like she wants to say something, but stops herself.
“What?” I ask.
“Jules, maybe he didn’t have a choice.”
“What do you mean?”
She shakes her head slowly and looks out the window to watch the cars pass.
“Nat, what do you know?” I hear the desperation in my voice, but I don’t care.
“Honestly, I don’t know anything about that meeting. Nate didn’t say anything about it. But what you’re describing… It just…” She frowns again and looks back at me. “Honey, I don’t think he had a choice.”
What? We stare at each other for a long minute, our brains churning with what-ifs.
“Do you think…?” I stammer.
“I don’t know. Just do what he’s asking, sweetie. Call him.”
Chapter Thirty Two
After Natalie and I say our goodbyes, I drive back to Will’s house and pack my bags. It’s time to go home.
“Leaving me so soon?” Will asks dryly, leaning against the doorjamb with his arms crossed over his chest.
“It’s time to go home and pull it together.”
“Good call, sis.” He smiles at me, but his eyes still look worried.
“I’ll be okay,” I reassure him.
“I don’t doubt it. But if you need anything, I’m here. We all are.”
“I know.” I throw the last of my things in the bag and zip it closed. “Thank you, Will. Really.”
“I do have my moments, you know. Just don’t let the press know.” He winks at me and I walk over to him and he opens his arms to give me a tight hug. “Gonna call him?”
“Yeah, when I get home.”
“Good.” He kisses my head and I pull back. “Come over for dinner next week. I’ll cook.”
“Gag,” I roll my eyes. “I’ll cook. You’ll poison me.”
Will grins and lifts my suitcases and follows me out to my car.
***
I haven’t been home in four days, and it feels good to be here. I grab a water from the fridge and unpack my things, knowing that I’m procrastinating. I want to call Nate. I want to hear his sexy voice. But I don’t know what to say.
Finally, when laundry has been done and put away and there’s nothing left to do, I pick up my iPhone and sit on the couch, staring at it. I bring up Nate’s number on speed dial and my thumb hovers over the green send button but then I decide against it and power down the screen.
This needs to be done in person.
I climb the stairs to my bedroom and carefully choose an outfit of dark denim wide-leg jeans, a cornflower blue blouse that matches my eyes, and a black belt, cinching the blouse around my waist. I add my birthday diamond earrings, and black Louboutin stilettos.
I paint my clean face with a small amount of makeup, accenting my eyes and lips, and curl my hair in loose waves framing my face.
I drive to Nate’s without giving it too much thought so I don’t chicken out and go back home. His car and the bike are both in their parking spots, telling me that he’s home.
Good.
I use my usual parking space and take the elevator to his floor.
I pause at his door, my stomach suddenly full of those mutant butterflies again. God, what if he’s decided he doesn’t want to see me?
Instead of knocking, I use the key Nate gave me a few weeks ago and open the front door, stepping inside. The lights are on in the kitchen and living areas, and there is a fire roaring. There are several bouquets of pink roses throughout the space, on the breakfast bar, on the dining room table, by the sofa.
No Nate.
Then I hear the voices.
I walk back toward the bedrooms and the voices get louder. They’re coming from Nate’s office. I stop, just out of sight, and listen.
“This is it, Audrey. This is the last time.”
“Sure,” she snorts. “You won’t be able to stay away from me for long, baby.”
“After this, I want you to change your name.”
“Change my name?” she asks incredulously. “What the fuck?”
“I don’t want you to have it anymore. I’ll make the arrangements; you’ll just have to sign the papers.”
He’s making her change her name!
“Is this about that blonde tramp you’ve been fucking?”
And… that’s it.
I turn the corner so I can get a look into the room, and I’m transported back to Nate’s office last month. Audrey is perched on his desk, he’s scowling up at her, and she’s about to run her perfectly manicured hand down his face.
“Touch him and see how fast I have you on the ground,” I warn quietly.
Both of them whip their heads toward me in surprise. Nate’s face registers shock, hope, and then wariness as he realizes what I’ve just witnessed.
Audrey grins and lets the palm of her hand make contact with his face.
I grin back. Nate backs out of Audrey’s touch and stands quickly.
“Goddamn it, Audrey…”
“I warned you,” I murmur as I stalk toward her. She hops off the desk and faces me head on, her brown eyes glaring at me.
“I’m not afraid of you.”
I smile and cock my head to the side. “You should be.”
Her eyes go wide for a moment and then she glares at me again. “Nate doesn’t want you. You left him, remember?”
I slide my eyes over to Nate just as he balls his hands into fists, his molten gray eyes on mine, and I know.
“Audrey, Goddamn it, shut the fuck up…”
I pivot on my heel before he can finish the sentence and stalk out to the living area.
“Julianne!” Nate’s voice is panicked as he follows me but I ignore him. I hear Audrey’s heels click on the hardwood as she follows after Nate.
I walk into the kitchen and open the fridge. Chocolate cheesecake and lobster are staring back at me along with my favorite champagne. I turn around and take in the room, the flowers, the fire, and I look into Nate’s gray eyes for a long minute.
Audrey is fuming, shooting daggers at me, then gazing longingly at Nate, and I almost feel sorry for her.
“I understand.” I tell her calmly. “I understand how easy he is to love, Audrey.”
Nate swears under his breath and pushes a hand through his hair. Audrey’s lip quivers.
“But none of this,” I wave my hand at the room, “is for you. He isn’t yours. I suggest you take whatever he offered you and run with it, because it’s all you’re going to get.”
Her eyes narrow and she smiles slyly. “He just offered me his cock, like always.”
“What the fuck, Audrey!”
I walk casually over to her and look her straight in the eye. “If you ever touch him again, I’ll rip your tongue out of your pretty little head.”
Audrey looks over at Nate. “This is who you want?”
“With every breath I take. Get the fuck out of our home, Audrey.”
The breath leaves me as I stare at him. Our home? He stares back at me, his jaw clenched, his gray eyes burning with need and love.
Audrey looks at us both and sneers at me. “At least I got you fired.”
“Get the fuck out, Audrey!” Nate yells and she jumps. She snatches up her purse and jacket and stomps moodily to the door, slamming it behind her.
I can’t move. I just feast on him with my eyes. He’s in his jeans and black t-shirt, showing off his beautiful tattoo. His hair is loose. His hands are in fists at his side and every muscle in his gorgeous body is tight.
“Are you really here?” he whispers.
“I’m here,” I whisper back.
“Why?”
Why?
I walk toward him and suddenly feel calm. This is where I’m supposed to be. But he still has some explaining to do.
“Because I’m done running.”
“Jules, what happened on Monday…”
“We’ll get to
that. I have a question first.” His eyes narrow on mine.
“What is it?”
“Can I have my necklace back, please?”
Nate’s whole body sags as he sighs and closes his eyes in relief. He reaches in his pocket and pulls out the necklace. “I’ve been carrying it around for four days.”
He holds it out to me, but I shake my head and turn around. “Will you please fasten it?”
I pull my hair out of his way and he fastens the lovely silver heart pendant around my neck, but doesn’t touch me.
Not yet.
And that’s okay because once he starts I’m not going to let him stop and I need to hear what the fuck happened on Monday.
“Let’s sit.” He leads me to the sofa and we sit. I kick off my shoes and pull my legs up under me and turn to face him. He brings one leg up on the cushion and faces me too. We sit like this for a minute, just looking at each other, until I feel tears pool in my eyes.
“Don’t cry,” he whispers. “I can’t stand it when you cry.”
I shake my head and look down at my hands, then take a deep breath and look back up at him, the tears under control.
“I’m listening.”
“Where did you go?” he asks, his voice low and eyes fierce.
“I was at Will’s.”
“Are you okay?” he asks.
“I’m getting there,” I respond.
“You’re done running, Julianne.” He clenches his eyes shut for a moment and then looks at me again, his eyes sad and filled with longing. “I can’t take it when you run away from me.”
“Nate, Monday was…”
“I know exactly what Monday was, and you would too if you’d have listened to me.”
“It hurt,” I whisper. “I needed you more Monday afternoon than I’ve ever needed anyone, and you weren’t there for me. You didn’t fight with me, for us. It made me feel insignificant and like everything we had was nothing.”
“I know, baby.” His voices softens and he reaches a hand out to run his knuckles down my cheek but I pull back out of reach. He flinches. “Jules.”
“Just tell me what happened.”
“You won’t let me touch you? Does that mean that you just want an explanation so you can leave for good?”
I swallow hard and look at his beautiful hands and shake my head slowly, but I can’t talk. Not yet.