A Summer to Remember

chapter Six

Manhattan welcomed me like a prodigal daughter and I accepted her warmth and everything else she offered including the incessant noise, the endless stream of yellow cabs and the general population of people who spanned every ethnic group and religion.

I returned to the gallery on Monday and decided my trips to the Hamptons would have to be spread throughout the summer. Perhaps I could even try Cape Cod or Martha’s Vineyard. Anything was better than a nightmare scenario of running into Kevin again. The event had damn near scarred me for the rest of my life and opened old wounds I didn’t want to think about.

My assistants were handling the floor in the gallery while I spoke to the accountant in his office. Alastor Baker was an absolute genius when it came to numbers. He was also to die for hot with café au lait skin, deep hazel-green eyes and a body that was beyond perfect. He was also happily gay and engaged to a hot Norwegian he’d met on vacation while in the Greek part of Cypress, visiting family on his mother’s side of the family.

“So, in terms of profit, we’re doing okay?” I inquired while I nursed a grande, skinny sugar-free caramel latte.

“Yep. In fact we are doing better than okay. We have been extremely busy and I don’t see us slowing down either. This is going to be a phenomenal summer for us.”

I stood and walked around his spacious office. I wore a an enticing scarlet wrap silk dress and black Christian Louboutin four-inch heels. My hair was up in a chignon and my makeup was understated as usual but I had an amazing tan that accentuated my loveliness and I seemed to glow with a happiness that wasn’t there and hadn’t been in a very long time.

“Okay, if summer is supposed to be so great, when are you taking your semi-annual pilgrimage to Nicosia to see your parents?”

Alastor appeared skittish before he studied his Apple computer and typed something really quick before he stared at me again. “Well, it depends. I can wait until September if that is a better time for you. It’s two weeks but Lord knows I don’t want to get on your bad side. My parents are actually leaving Cyprus…at least full time. They are settling somewhere more stable and have already bought property in Nice.”

I bit my lip before I walked over to the large window that overlooked the second floor of the gallery and showed all the activity below. “As in France? Why?”

“You don’t keep up on world events, do you? The whole country is on the verge of collapse along with dire situations in Ireland, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece. The government is actually raiding private citizen’s bank accounts to prevent default and my parents moved their money out of the country back in January.

“It’s a scary situation for quite a few European countries and although we all love Cyprus, it has become untenable for them to stay there for the time being. They are moving in July and I told them I would try to get away and help them but…if it is inconvenient then I’ll just roll with the punches—”

“Don’t say that. You should go in July as planned. We’ll Skype and figure out something but go and help your parents. You gave them your word.”

Alastor placed his right hand on his heart and breathed a sigh of relief. “What happened to you in the Hamptons? It’s like you came back a whole different person.”

I smiled at him though I know it never reached my eyes. “Perhaps I did…and you don’t want to know what happened there, not really.”

I walked out of Alastor’s office and thought about my weekend in the Hamptons. I did come back a different person but I wasn’t sure if she was someone I wanted to be and that hurt the most.

I was in love with my brother’s best friend and I didn’t have a clue what to do about it because he had a perfect girlfriend and he certainly couldn’t handle me and all my various complications. I was a walking disaster—so beautiful and vibrant on the outside but so broken and conflicted on the inside. If I was smart, I would try to stay away as far from Paul as possible.

Unfortunately, time conspired against me and as I walked down the metal staircase, the man himself was standing there speaking to the receptionist. She busily paged through the appointment registrar and continuously told him he didn’t have an appointment and I was booked all afternoon.

“Paul, what are you doing here?” I greeted and tried to keep the bite out of my voice. “I’m busy all day today and I don’t have any time for small talk I’m afraid.”

He looked up at me and smiled, his bright crystal blue eyes shined with happiness. “Can I at least take you out to a quick lunch? I really need to talk to you.”

I would have said no but there was something in his eyes which implied what ever he needed to tell me was serious. I looked towards Claudia, my diligent receptionist and grinned at her conspiratorially before I winked.

“Sure but it has to be a quick one. I have another client coming in…an hour.”

“Don’t worry, I promise not to keep you for too long.”

“If you stay a little bit past the hour, is it okay for me to hand over Doctor Winters to Ms. Adams?” Claudia inquired.

Andrea Adams, my assistant, was competent at best but her cold demeanor and her knowledge of art sometimes threw certain clients off and unfortunately for me, Dr. Winters was one such client. He was a neurosurgeon and liked to believe he knew everything about everything; he was a client I definitely handled with kid gloves because not only was he an arrogant bastard but he was cheap too.

“No, you may not because I will be back in time for our appointment,” I replied before I joined Paul at the reception desk.

I glared at him and he finally met my gaze, albeit reluctantly. “Look…I just wanted to apologize about this past weekend—”

“I do believe this a conversation best had on the go because you’re on the clock and I don’t have an infinite amount of time,” I interrupted brusquely.

“Of course.”

Men, they could be so completely and utterly clueless sometimes. Did he really think I wanted Claudia to know about what was going on in my personal life? I was her employer and no way did I want her to have that kind of gossip in her arsenal that I had made a complete and utter fool of myself in the Hamptons the previous weekend. I might as well have taken out an ad in The New York Post and saved myself and my family a bit of embarrassment.

We walked out together side by side though I was more than satisfied when he didn’t attempt to grab my hand. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to be such a bitch back there but Claudia is a walking ‘gossip columnist’ in the making and I don’t want her to know about our weekend in the Hamptons.”

Paul looked at me briefly as we continued to walk at a New Yorker’s pace. “No, it’s my fault. I was in such a hurry to apologize I forgot how much art galleries can be gossip mills.”

“No problem. You didn’t do any damage and besides, she spends half her time on the phone with her friends when she isn’t greeting customers or making appointments. I only put up with her because she is competent, shows up to work on time and doesn’t take an exorbitant amount of sick days,” I responded, my tone all business.

“Well, we don’t have a lot of time so I was thinking we could go to Athanasios. It’s a Greek restaurant up the street and they make the best lamb gyros. How about it?”

“As long as they are quick.”

“We can sit at the bar—the service is faster that way.”

Paul and I walked to the small hole-in-the-wall Greek place that had obviously acquired their little piece of property before the West side’s prime real estate blew up. He ordered us both a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon and two gyros with yogurt sauce.

I swigged from my wine for courage before I turned toward him on the narrow bar stools. “Thanks for taking me out to lunch. I needed this…if only to get out of the office for a while.”

His blue eyes were so pale, the green striations around the pupils stood out. “You’re welcome. Although lunch isn’t over yet.”

I laughed out loud as the wine began to take effect. My breakfast that morning had been a skinny caramel latte and nothing else. “Seriously, you didn’t do anything wrong in the Hamptons so I don’t know why you would be taking me out for an ‘apology lunch’ as you put it. It wasn’t even Ashley who pissed me off and she had nothing to do with what went down between Kevin and I. That whole situation…it’s a different kind of messed up I couldn’t possibly explain in a half an hour, Paul.”

“Yeah but something went down between you two—hell, even Stevie Wonder would have been able to see it. The hatred in your eyes and the way you talked to him…if I didn’t know any better, I would think he raped you or violated you in some way.”

The tears threatened to spill over but I kept them at bay. “It was nothing like that, believe me.” I cleared my throat and sipped from the wine. “Sorry, I don’t have any date rape or gang bang stories to share with you. College at Vassar was terribly ordinary and mostly drama-free. My father never touched me indecently and my brother never tried to feel me up. Our family is perfectly normal and not all that fascinating.

“Kevin and I…we went through a patch I can barely describe as tough because it was something else and I am not willing to share it with anyone yet. It’s just how I am. He wasn’t hurt in the process but I was and it’s something I have to live with and…I can do it…I swear to God I can but not if you keep looking at me like that.”

Paul leaned against the bar. “But that’s a lie because Talia knows. I don’t understand how I know she knows…call it intuition. If you could tell her, is it any different from telling me?”

I bit my lip before I looked away. Our gyros had arrived and they smelled absolutely delicious but suddenly, I didn’t have an appetite. What was I supposed to tell him?

Talia was the one who found me and called the ambulance, waited around for countless hours before the doctor told her I would be okay but I was damaged goods and would never be able to perform some of the most basic functions in life. I was am empty vessel and no man—not one who was self-respecting and wealthy—would ever touch me with a ten foot pole. I had zero chance of marrying into my class unless I was willing to settle for less than model material looks, washboard abs and a smile of pure heaven the way Paul stared at me now.

He’d never look at me like that again and if I told him the truth then our friendship would remain intact but any special feelings he had for me would disappear overnight.

Funny…if I was a man, none of this would be an issue, but I wasn’t and now I had to deal with the cards life dealt me.

“You’re right about Talia knowing but she’s the only one I can trust with my secret and you’re Jude’s best friend. Not even my family knows about what happened at Vassar and I would like to keep it that way,” I finally said before I sliced off a part of my gyro and stuffed it into my mouth.

It was mouthwatering good and I was quite pleased to be sharing such a great meal with Paul. He deserved this if nothing else.

He sliced into his gyro before he set the utensils on his plate and placed his hands flat on the bar. “Listen, I need to know how you feel about Kevin because…I can’t eat, I can’t sleep. I don’t even want Ashley and I am this close to telling Jude how I feel about you because I don’t think we should be apart. Stop pushing me away, Jerrica.”

“Paul, if we were together, I would tell you but we aren’t and you have this great woman who cares about you and is so perfect and beautiful. Why don’t you keep her for now?” I sliced off another part of my gyro and shoved it in my mouth. “If you’re asking me about Kevin, the answer is simple,” I began as I pushed the food to the side of my mouth so I could speak clearly. “He’s a f*cking douchebag and I never want to talk to him or see him ever again. I hate him and there aren’t many people I can say that about but my utter disgust with him knows no bounds. If I had the chance, I meant what I said…I would cut his balls off and make it so that he couldn’t stick that pencil dick of his in any other woman ever again. Does that answer all your questions about my feelings for Kevin?”

Paul looked quite self satisfied as he finally ate a piece of his gyro. “You mean he didn’t have a big cock? That is shocking.”

“Cut the shit, Paul. You shared swim class with him at the Academy. You or Jude could have told me what he was packin’ because it wasn’t much and his looks weren’t enough to make up for an average-sized dick,” I replied facetiously.

“Listen, men’s cocks aren’t really high on my agenda, Jerri. I didn’t tell you because some men can look small but be adequate when the time comes to ‘close escrow’—you get my drift? I wasn’t there when you two were intimate and really, how would it look, me telling you the guy you’re dating has a small dick? Does that seriously make any sense to you?”

I laughed out loud again before I took another sip from my wine. “Fine. I’m asking too much from you. Why do you keep bringing Kevin up anyway? He is a person I would never want to talk about ever again if I had my way.”

Paul became serious as he set his knife and fork down. “He’s on the hook for insider trading…Jude and I can prove it but we were reluctant to report it because we didn’t know how you felt about him.”