Ten Days of Perfect (November Blue #1)

“I’ll have no way of knowing if what you say is true until I see him tonight - he wants to ‘catch up.’ You can’t be there. If you are, he’ll know something’s up.”

Bo’s face fell ten stories.

“Weren’t you going to meet Josh tonight?” Nice distraction.

“Josh is an asshole. He can wait.”

I stood up and crossed over to Bo; he stood to meet me in the center of the office. I reached for his hands - the only peace offering I had at the moment.

“I need to get some work done; I have to help Monica plan this trip to Concord. I’ll call you tonight after I meet with Adrian.”

“Are you upset with me?” Bo gave my hands a tender squeeze and just barely caught my eyes.

“I’m not, I promise. I just want to get through today and tonight. I’ll call you after I deal with Adrian. To be honest, I don’t want to catch up with him but I have no real reason to not want to besides you.” I drew the corner of my mouth up sweetly to reinforce that I really wasn’t mad.

“OK. Talk to you tonight. Please be careful.” He knit his eyebrows together working out God-knows-what in his head.

“I always am.”

Bo leaned in and gave a quick, sweet kiss to my neck before heading out as he shouted good-bye to Monica.

I turned my attention to my work and prepared for tonight’s meeting with Adrian. My work email held the information about Adrian’s travel plans, as Bo promised.

A new email came in just as I was heading out for lunch - it was from Adrian.

Hey Ember,

I’m looking forward to tonight. Let’s meet around 7. Where should we meet?

Talk to you soon,

Adrian



I responded immediately.

Hi Adrian,

You caught me just as I was heading out for lunch.

Let’s meet at Finnegan’s - you’ll find the address online.

See you at 7.

Ember



I was thoroughly satisfied with the brusqueness in my email, yet my insides started to twist with uncertainty. I wasn’t worried that I would run full-speed in to Adrian’s arms. I was worried that he might expect me to, being that he’s a “smug bastard” and all. Bo’s depiction of Adrian kept a smile fresh on my lips for the rest of the day.





Chapter Twelve

“How am I even supposed to dress for something like this, Monica?” I spewed panic.

It was 6:30pm. I shuddered at the thought that Adrian was in Barnstable, looking forward to “catching up.” Monica was lounging on my bed as I rifled through my closet. She hadn’t spoken about Josh since last night; she was in her “not talking about it right now” phase.

“Hmmm, wear those dark skinny jeans there and that black fitted tee.” Monica pointed and smiled. “Oh! Those impossible nude heels, too. There, that’ll do the trick.”

“What trick, Monica?” I bristled at my own irritation. “Sorry, what trick?”

“Oh, come on, Ember. You want to look sexy and confident, without being irreverent. You haven’t seen the boy in four years; you’re even hotter than you were then. Hey, maybe he got fat!” Monica bounced at the thought.

“I highly doubt Mr. Lacrosse got fat, Monica, but, thanks for trying. OK, I’ve got to get going if I’m going to show up first.” I grabbed my clutch and headed for the door.

“OK,” Monica said as she followed me down to the street, “give Josh the middle finger for me.”

“Will do. You OK tonight?” I knew she was using humor to mask her still-fresh pain.

“Yea. Just call me when you get home, alright?” She gave me an encouraging smile.

“Mon, I gotta tell you, I’m a little nervous about tonight. Adrian and I haven’t seen each other face-to-face since graduation. I mean, it wasn’t weird then, but I have this feeling that it will be now.” I twisted my hands at the thought.

“Well, Ember, I guess it’s a good thing you’re going. You need to decide if you can emotionally leave Adrian in the past since he and Bo are in your present. Then, you can go about planning your future.” She winked as she got in her car.

I climbed into my car and took a deep breath. The drive to Finnegan’s was just long enough to recall the last night I spent with Adrian.

*

Neither one of us was having sex with other people, but we had agreed that we didn’t want the stress that could come with being in an exclusive emotional relationship. We spent the summer before our senior year on the Princeton campus working separate camps and summer schools. It was really just the two of us, without all of our friends around, and it was so much fun.

At the end of the summer, it happened. We had just spent a fantastic night together and he was asleep on my bed. I sat in the chair on the other side of the small room, staring out the window and crying.

“Hey, Em, are you OK? What’s wrong?” Adrian rolled over to find I wasn’t there and caught my moon-lit tears. He rubbed his eyes and shifted to a seated position on the edge of the bed.

“Adrian,” I slumped my shoulders and shuffled over to the bed, where he was waiting with open arms. “I’m so sorry.”

“Babe, what’s going on? What are you sorry for?” He wiped a tear away from my cheek. I’d never let him see me cry before, and I think he was scared.