A Summer to Remember

chapter Nineteen

The rest of July passed rather quickly as time always does when one is having fun; Paul and I had a blast with one another and couldn’t get enough of each other. August slipped quietly in and as it did, my countdown began for our two week vacation to Miami Beach. Paul had decided to take me out early so I could spend time with Talia who was adjusting as the only female member, and the main song writer in Winter’s Regret and she needed all the help she could get.

It wasn’t that the band members weren’t friendly—they’d kiss her ass if Seth told them too but she found herself bonding a bit too much with Kris Nieminen, the Finnish-born lead guitarist everyone nicknamed Nemo because he was always losing picks for both his acoustic and electric gitars. She thought he was friendly, funny and hot but she would never say as much to Seth because the two were best friends and did everything together, including write most of the music together while she handled the lyrics.

My life was pretty much drama-free after the whole “Stamford episode” and since we knew for a fact that Ashley hadn’t managed to get herself pregnant and had been charged with a crime due to the drug, Rohypnol, found in Paul’s system. She’d maintained a low-profile while her parents worked with a team of attorneys to keep her from serving any time for her reckless crime.

Once we left for Miami, it also meant I wouldn’t have to see her miserable face for a while because she wasn’t allowed to leave the New York/Connecticut area while the investigation was pending against her.

With all the drama happening in Talia’s life, I eventually managed to tell her what went down at Stamford and she was only relieved it hadn’t been worse.

“I can’t wait to see you, sweetie. I am dying here and on total testosterone overload. Not to mention, I don’t see how people can live down here. It’s too hot and much too humid for one thing. Between giant f*cking snails as big as rats, the snakes, and the f*cking huge flying cockroaches, also known as Palmetto bugs, I am always creeped the f*ck out.

“The pad we are staying at is awesome but I’ve found bugs in the house and it’s gotten so bad, we had to get a dog and allow Linx, the bassist, to let his pet snake out every now and then just to do a sweep. The sooner we leave Florida, the better. I am so ready to get back to L.A.”

I laughed as I checked out my Facebook timeline at work. “You’re crazy, girl. If it’s that bad then maybe Paul and I should consider staying a shorter amount of time?”

“And if you do that then I will go total Italian mafia princess on you and break your legs myself!” she exclaimed before we both burst into girlish laughter.

“Ha-ha, very funny. Listen, I have to go but I will see you tomorrow and have a wonderful time with your giant snails and freak-sized cockroaches—”

“They’re called palmetto bugs,” Talia sing-songed in my ear before she ended the call.

I set my phone down and logged off Facebook before I began to study my schedule which was full as usual. A lot of people happened to be leaving town on vacation around the same time as I was and I didn’t have time to grab lunch.

In a sudden haste, I picked up the landline phone in my office and dialed down to Claudia, the receptionist.

“What’s up, Jerrica?”

“Can you order a gyro for me from lunch? Athanasios Greek Café up the street is fine but I need it here ASAP. I have another showing with the very wealthy and snooty Dr. and Mrs. Broderick in less than a half an hour.”

“Sure. I’ll run down to pick it up for you—”

“When you do that, have one of the associates take your place at the reception desk. I know they hate it but it has to be done.”

“Okay, how about Miranda?”

I inwardly shuddered only because she reminded of a younger and less bitchy Ashley. “Yes, please do ask her.”

“And by the way, your brother is here to see you. Should I send him up?”

“Yes, please.”

I hung up the phone and stood up to stretch my legs. My heart began to beat in my chest with a fierce rhythm and I genuinely wondered what Jude wanted. He rarely, if ever, paid a visit to me at work and this couldn’t be a good situation if he’d made an exception today. I feared the worst down to my very marrow. What could be wrong now?

Jude knocked before he walked in and closed the door behind him. I walked over and embraced him.

“What a surprise. I haven’t seen you in a while so this is a genuine treat,” I began, all sugary sweetness and buttery light. “What are you doing around here at this time of the day?”

His blue eyes looked into mine before he turned away with embarrassment and stepped back from me a few feet after he ended our hug. “I have some…unfortunate news and I don’t know how you’re going to take it.”

My heart sank and I knew what he wanted to tell me but I had no wish to hear it. Despite my feelings, I put on a brave face and smiled. “Let me guess, you and Savannah didn’t work out?”

Jude shook his head before he faced me again. “I feel really awful about the turn of events but she’s too busy at the moment for a boyfriend and I can respect that. I want you to know she will always hold a special place in my heart but no matter what I sell, she isn’t buying it.”

He stopped talking and walked over to the floor to ceiling windows. “She wants children and the perfect life. I am capable of a lot but our hours are insane and we never get to spend any time with each other. Instead, we have mad passionate sex as if that is supposed to make the relationship sound and secure but it doesn’t.”

My left hand involuntarily moved to the back of my neck and began to massage my aching muscles. “That’s way too much information, Jude. I don’t want to know about your sexual trysts with more women than are listed in the Manhattan phone book. Do what you want—most of all do what you think will make you happy.”

“So you don’t hate me?”

“Well, you got over Paul and I really quick so who am I to say anything about what happens in your love life? Besides, Savannah assured me regardless what happened between the two of you, she could handle it. I’ll call to make sure she’s okay before we go to Miami—”

“Yeah, speaking of that…we’re still going together to Miami because I have waited to break up with her after we get back. No use spoiling a perfectly good vacation over bullshit. She deserves that much from me. I said she was busy and I do love her in my own way but she isn’t all that impressed with how I have decided to show my emotions so…I might as well cut my losses but we can still enjoy a great vacation together.”

All the sudden, I felt like a bulb had been switched on in my head and for f*ck’s sake, I was no longer the fake ass blonde I’d once been. “Let me see if I can get this straight because I am having a serious moment of ‘what the f*ck?’ here…you haven’t broken it off with her yet…and you come here to my office as kind of a warning to let me know that as soon as we get back from Miami, you’re going to end it with her? What the hell is wrong with you, Jude, and why can’t you just find a goddamn woman already and stick with her? p-ssy is p-ssy…you think the grass is always greener on the other side? I have news for you, Romeo, it isn’t!”

My brother stalked toward me and grabbed me harshly by the right arm. “Listen to you, all high and mighty. You know everything, don’t you? Perhaps it’s easy for you because you’re with the person you want but for your information, the woman I desire will never be mine because she’s in a love with another man and what ever we had…how ever long it lasted…it was just a fling to her but she will never think of me the same way I think of her.”

The story had finally fallen into place and I got it. He was in love with Talia so he kept sleeping with different women thinking, hoping and praying he could forget her. Meanwhile she was head over heels in love with Seth and couldn’t see anything or anyone but him.

I jerked my arm from his grasp and glared at him, pained betrayal in the form of tears blurred my vision. I tried to keep the deluge at bay and prevent them from tumbling down my cheeks. “Listen, I get it and if there was anything I could do to help…God knows I would but Talia and Seth…whatever kind of connection they have is real. Are you sure you’re not suffering from a sour grapes attitude? Talia explained the affair she had with you was completely casual.”

“Well, she would.” Jude cleared his throat. “I loved her and I still do. That rock star bastard doesn’t deserve her but at the same time, I don’t see her leaving him either.”

There was a knock at the door and instead of the receptionist walking in, it was Paul. I smiled in his direction. Jude looked suitably uncomfortable and kissed me chastely on the cheek.

“Listen, I have to go. We can talk about this some other time, yeah?”

I nodded my head silently. “Have a good day at work.”

He gave me a half-hearted smile and replied, “I’ll try.”

Paul and I both watched him leave before my beautiful lover turned toward me and inquired, “What was that all about?”

I shook my head. “You don’t even want to know.”

He walked over to my desk and set the food down before he grabbed me possessively and held me in his arms. “Beautiful. That’s what you are, babe. I have missed you so much, you know that? I can’t wait to have you to myself in Miami.”

I kissed his lips softly. “I knew you were going to say something cheesy like that.”

We both glanced in one another’s eyes and it was one of longing and lust. Life seemed so simple at that very moment but there was so much in front of us…the unknowns that scared me half to death. I would have hated to ever end up in a position like Savannah. Then again, I had fallen for a man who loved me with all his heart and that made all the difference in the world.