Chapter 39: Chapter 39

She arrived yesterday evening to her apartment on ninety-fourth and third in the Upper East Side of Manhattan thinking maybe she’d misjudged Lucas. There was just something about his entire countenance as he left her hotel room earlier that day that made her question if she’d missed something very important.

It wasn’t until the next morning that she realized she’d miss a lot,

when a courier arrived and she opened the package to discover the custom sea green box and classic white bow that identified the gift as one from Tiffany & Co.

A sense of dread gathered in her belly as she slowly undid the bow. She didn’t yet know what was inside, but she had a pretty good idea who it was from. Chris had never been particularly thoughtful when it came to gifts, or much anything else for that matter, which was one of the reasons why it hadn’t been hard to let him go. He was now a good friend, but that’s all he’d ever be. He was just far too selfish to be the man in her life.

As she tugged the top off the box and stared down at the beautiful bracelet, which sparkled beneath the rays of sunlight streaming through her window, she felt her heart skip a beat. She appreciated the beauty of the signature Atlas bangle, but it was the card, and the inscription

engraved on the inside of the bracelet that caused her next breath to catch

in her throat.

How had she been so wrong about a man she’d seen every day for the last year and a half? How did she work side by side with the man and not get a glimpse of his true character? Because you didn’t want to see him as

anything other than a wild playboy, a voice screamed in her head. She knew

that voice was right and she felt ten times worse because of it.

Lucas had tried to be as open and honest with her as possible, but she’d refused to allow him to just be himself. She’d refused to accept him for the man that he truly was. She was thirty-five years old and yet she’d never felt more foolish in her entire life.

Slumping down on her couch, she wallowed in self pity for just a few moments before she realized that if she felt this bad, she could only imagine what Lucas was going through.

Reaching for her cordless, she dialed his cell, but wasn’t surprised when it went straight to voicemail.

Instead of leaving a message, she hung up and dialed another number. The phone rang three times before a soft, familiar voice chimed out a perky greeting. “Hey girl. How was Vegas?”

Yolanda shook her head as a wry grin crossed her face. “I should shoot you for putting those clothes in my suitcase,” she said, as she imagined Jasmine on the other end, twisting a shoulder length brown lock through her fingers, something she only did when she was guilty as hell.

“But did they work? You better not tell me you didn’t get laid?”

She hesitated as she thought of Jazz’s question, a wistful smile tugging at the corners of her lips. Yes, she’d definitely gotten thoroughly and completely laid, no doubt about that.

“Oh shit! You did get laid! I knew it. I knew the clothes—” “Yes, I did hook up with someone while I was there—” “Who was it? Spill it.”

She shook her head as she bit back a small chuckle. “It was Lucas,” she said softly.

“Ohmigod! You didn’t! You go girl. That man is fine, and I mean

fine—”

“But Jazz, I think I messed up,” she mumbled softly, cutting her friend off before she could steer the conversation in another direction.

“How could you have possibly messed up? It’s sex. Don’t tell me that hot man was bad in bed because it would be a damn shame.”

“No. The sex was fine, better than fine,” she said with a rueful smile.

“But that’s not where I messed up.” She told Jasmine the entire story, from the time their plane touched down up to now. When she was done there was a hushed silence on the other end before her friend exploded.

“Girl, are you crazy? You call Chris right now and tell his ass to stay at a damn hotel, and then you march up to LaGuardia and wait until Lucas’ plane arrives.”

“But I don’t think he wants to see me right now.” She hated the sadness she heard in her voice, but she couldn’t help that her feelings were starting to really show. She cared about Lucas, a lot more than she’d wanted to admit, but her feelings for him were impossible to ignore with this gaping hole in her heart.

“Oh, trust me. He wants to see you. But he’s going to want an

apology too. He went out on a limb for you and you left him hanging. You’re going to have to grovel a bit for his forgiveness, but he’ll come around as soon as he sees that you’re willing to let your guard down with him.”

She gently tugged on her bottom lip with her teeth, as unease stole over her. Jazz had far more experience with men than she did, but she still wasn’t sure her friend was right about this.

“How can you be so sure he still wants me? What if I show up there

and he blows me off?”

A derisive snort came across the line. “Honey, let me tell you a man does not buy a two thousand dollar bracelet for a woman he doesn’t want and then have it engraved to boot. Girl, get your ass up and get it in gear. There is a sexy man coming home in a few hours and you want to be the first face he sees when he arrives.”

She listened as Jazz gave her more little tidbits of advice, before her friend had to end the call to get back to work.

“Thank you, Jazz.”

“No problem, sweetie. Good luck.”

She disconnected the call and sat on her couch feeling a million times better after the pep talk Jasmine had just given her.

As she sat there, it took her a few minutes to figure out what she had to do, but as soon as she did, she didn’t hesitate. Shooting to her feet, she called Lucas again and this time she left a message. He’d put himself out there for her, and now it was her turn to do the same.