by Tina Martin
“It’s normal for men, too.” Donovan smirked. “So if you were in a committed relationship, you would be happy?”
Shayla nodded. “Yes.”
“Then why’d you run from it?”
“I didn’t.”
Donovan sat up straight in her chair. “You did. You said there was a guy back in Charlotte.”
“Yeah, and I also said he was seeing another woman behind my back while making me believe I was special to him.”
“So this guy…” he said, even though he knew she was referring to Carter. “You were dating him?”
“No. We lived together. I moved in with him….had nowhere else to go.”
“Because you were homeless,” Donovan said, putting the pieces together.
“Yep.”
“And you and this guy never dated?”
“No. We just lived together like roommates, but we were close. I mean, we weren’t friends with benefits or anything like that, but we were close. He dropped hints here and there that he liked me, but when I saw the other woman I knew it was all a lie.”
Shayla finished the rest of her oysters and took a sip of water. “I fell in love with him, but he didn’t love me back. Hence, another person who didn’t want me because I wasn’t good enough.”
“You ever stopped to think that maybe he wasn’t good enough for you?” he questioned.
She shook her head, wordlessly. She hadn’t seen it that way.
“Shayla, the problem is, you’re basing your happiness on someone else. You have to find your own happiness. Don’t look for a man or anyone else to come along and make you happy. You should be happy already.”
She nodded, but she’d already fallen for Carter so now she had the added anxiety of removing him from his heart. How could she be happy while trying to fall out of love with him at the same time?
“My wife died five years ago and I could never bring myself to come here to this place because it was one of her favorite restaurants. I didn’t know how I would feel out here tonight, but now that I’m here, I feel fine. I say that to say this – sometimes we think we can’t get over things in our lives because the event is so large it seems bigger than us, even when we are at our strongest. But if you take the time to dissect your feelings, you’ll find out that large disappointments are only small clusters of life lessons that will help to mold you into a stronger person.”
Shayla looked up at him, a smile spreading across her lips. “I like that…you make a lot of sense.”
“Hey…speaking from experience.” He took a sip of water. “You want to take a walk on the beach before we go?”
“Yeah. That would be nice.”
Donovan paid for their dinner, then took her by the hand, strolling along the boardwalk to an area where they could reach the sand. Shayla took off her sandals, feeling the cool sand underneath her feet.
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you this was my first time doing this,” she said.
Brows furrowed, Donovan asked, “This is your first time walking on the beach?”
“Yep. I never travel.”
“Then we’ll have to do this more often,” he said, trying not to come on too strongly but he did want her to know he liked her. He took her left hand into his right and strolled along, walking closer to the water. They both stared off into the darkness of the ocean. “Go on and get your feet wet.”
“No. It’s probably cold.”
“It won’t be that bad. This is your first time at the beach. Get them toes wet, girl.”
Shayla laughed. “Okay, but you first.”
“Okay,” Donovan said. He bent over, slipped off his brown loafers, pulled his socks off and walked towards the water, holding up his pant legs.
“Is it cold?” Shayla asked, watching him kick his feet in the water.
“It’s a lil’ chilly. Come on.”
“Nope. I change my mind.”
“Come on, Shayla.”
“Nope,” she said giggling. “I’m going back to the car.” She turned away from him, trying to run in the sand, but quickly found out it was a difficult task.
Donovan ran to catch up to her. She squirmed and laughed so hard, it took him a minute to get a good grasp on her. Once he did, he headed back for the shoreline, holding her in his arms.
“Donovan, don’t drop me in this water,” she said, panicking.
“I’m not going to drop you. I’m going to lower your feet in it. You ready?”
“No.”
“Then get ready. I’ll do it slowly, okay?” He tilted her upright, lowering her feet to the sand as foamy ocean water pushed ashore.
“Ah! It’s cold,” Shayla squealed.
Donovan released her. “If you stand in it long enough, it’ll feel warm.”
Shayla kicked and swayed her feet about. “I see what you’re saying now. It’s not that bad.”
“Told ya.”
Shayla smiled at him. “This has been an amazing day. I haven’t had this much fun in a long time.”
“You deserve it.”
“Can I hug you?” she asked as they stood in the water.
Letting his pant legs drop, he wrapped his arms around her, causing her to envelop him in hers, leaning against his chest. She closed her eyes, inhaled his manly scent and with appreciation, she squeezed him, thankful he’d come to her rescue last night and was thoughtful enough to take her with him today on his errands and out to dinner.
When they separated, Donovan locked eyes with her, glancing down at her lips and had a longing to touch her face, to drown his hands in her curly hair. Instead, he said, “We should probably head back…have to be up bright and early for work in the morning.”
“I’m off tomorrow, remember,” Shayla told him. She had requested Monday off to travel back to Charlotte for a Fall floral show.
“Oh, yeah. That’s right. Doing anything fun?”
“Nothing you would like. I’ll be back on Tuesday.”
“Well, just so you know, I’ll be out on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Hopefully I’ll be back on Friday so we can go apartment hunting. Just let me know if that works.”
“Okay. Will do.”
* * *
Donovan drove back to Shayla’s hotel and helped her carry bags to her room. He hugged her again, kissed her temple and walked back to his car. And he didn’t leave. He sat there for a while, just because and in that moment, he realized that he was no longer doing this for Carter. He was doing it because he liked her and genuinely cared about her well-being. There was something about her he found adorable, and he hadn’t felt that with a woman in a long time.
He smiled thinking about this, put his car in drive and as he took his foot off the brake to step on the accelerator, he saw Shayla pulling a small suitcase to her car, putting it in the trunk then driving away.
Chapter 10
Carter sat in his rental car at Norfolk International Airport, wondering where he would go from here. All he wanted was to see Shayla. Since she left, the aura of his home had changed to something dark and dreary, but would he have the guts to admit that to her? He was anxious to know what she’d been up to her first week in Norfolk and for the life of him, he couldn’t figure out why Donovan wasn’t answering his calls. So he took his cell phone from the passenger seat and dialed Donovan’s number again for the umpteenth time.
“Yeah?” Donovan answered, not even looking to see who it was. He was at work, sitting at his desk, seven o’clock in the morning, going through files and getting prepared for his out of town business function.
“Where have you been, man?”
Donovan stopped what he was doing to give Carter his attention. Leaning back in his chair, he said, “Sorry, bruh. I’ve been busy…getting ready to head out of town tomorrow.”
Carter didn’t care one bit that Donovan was busy. He wanted an update on Shayla. And why hadn’t Donovan called him?
“So how is she?” Carter asked him.
Evading his question, Donovan
asked one of his own. “You’re calling mighty early in the morning to check on her, aren’t you?”
Carter glanced at his watch. “I tried calling you just about every day this week, but for some reason, you didn’t answer the phone. So how is she, man?”
“She’s fine,” Donovan said, and he meant fine in more ways than one. “Everybody likes her at Zenadel. She’s fitting in nicely. Why you so interested in her anyway? I thought you didn’t chase women?”
“I’m not chasing her.” Carter sighed. “Just doing my brother a favor.”
“Your brother?” Donovan said, frowning. “You’re talking about Jacob?”
“Yeah.”
“I thought he passed last year?” Then it dawned on him. He remembered Carter’s brother had committed suicide and Shayla had told him that her fiancé committed suicide as well. So Carter’s brother must have been her fiancé. Now it all made sense. Maybe Carter was looking after her because he felt obligated to. There was no romantic connection between the two. He was doing his brother a favor.
“Let’s meet up for breakfast,” Carter suggested.
“Breakfast? You’re here?”
“Yeah…flew in this morning.”
“Where are you right now?”
“Still at the airport. I got a rental.”
“I’m at the office, but I can meet you in ah…” Donovan looked at his watch. “Meet me at IHOP in twenty minutes. I’ll text you the address.”
“Ah’ight.” Carter ended the call, then waited for Donovan’s text to come through. And while he waited, he saw Dr. Westbrook’s office number flash on his phone. Why was she calling? Whatever the reason, Donovan’s text was more important because once he met up with him, he’d find out more about Shayla. There was something about being in the same city with her that made him nervous and excited at the same time.
Donovan’s text finally arrived and Carter keyed the address in his GPS, following the directions to IHOP. He walked in, stood in the lobby and called Donovan to see where he was. Donovan told him that he’d just parked.
A few minutes later, Donovan came walking in the entrance. “What up man,” he said slapping hands with Carter. “Long time, no see.”
“Yeah. It’s been a minute.”
A waitress showed them to a table. They both ordered a cup of coffee.
“You still at the bank?”
“Yeah, still there,” Carter replied, unenthused. Seemed like every time he met up with someone he knew, that was their first question. Are you still at the bank? He didn’t come to Norfolk to talk about work.
“In the same role?”
“Yeah, man…President of Global Operations, going on five years now.” Carter interlocked his fingers. “So what else can you tell me about Shayla?”
“Like I said on the phone, she’s doing fine. What’s your story with her anyway?”
“It’s personal.”
“Personal in a friendly type way or in a friendly way if you catch my drift.”
“Why, Donovan? Why do you care about my interest in her?”
“She’s a nice girl…very different from the women I’ve ran across. I took her out to dinner and—”
Carter frowned so hard, he probably made permanent lines in his forehead. “What do you mean you took her out to dinner?”
“I treated her out to dinner for the first day on the job.”
“Isn’t that against company policy?”
“No. I take all the new hires out to dinner.” Donovan didn’t mention that he also had dinner with her Saturday night and again last night in addition to a walk on the beach. That would probably send Carter over the edge and from college, he remembered Carter had one heck of a temper. He already looked like he wanted to jump across the table and hit him in the face. He didn’t want to set him off.
“Well, you can’t take her out again, so don’t even think about it.”
“Why not? I know you’re watching her for Jacob and all, but she’s in good hands with me.”
No. She’s in good hands with me, Carter wanted to say. “There’s more to it than that. Shayla and I are—”
“Oh…you’re dating?” Donovan said like he wasn’t cognizant of the fact that they were not dating. He’d already found that out from Shayla.
“No, but we’re definitely more than friends. I wanted you to keep an eye on her because—”
“Because of Jacob,” Donovan interjected. “You already told me that.”
“And because I love her.”
Donovan looked confused. “You love her? You?”
“Why you say it like that?”
“Two reasons. One, ever since I’ve known you, you’ve been a player. Two, she’s your brother’s ex-fiancée. You don’t see anything wrong with that?”
Carter glanced towards the window. Donovan had obviously spent more time with Shayla than he led on because how did he know she was Jacob’s ex-fiancée? Shayla wouldn’t offer up information like that to someone off of one dinner outing. And why did she feel comfortable enough with Donovan to talk about her personal life so openly?
The waitress brought over two mugs of coffee and asked the two if they were ready to order. Carter told her the coffee was just fine for him, but Donovan ordered bacon, eggs and pancakes.
“Is there anything else I need to know about her?”
With a tightened jaw, Donovan said, “Well, she’s staying at a hotel temporarily until she finds a suitable place. Um…Saturday morning she was at the library reading to a group of kids, which I assume she’s going to be doing every Saturday. She goes to lunch and dinner alone. After dinner, she drives back to the hotel, sits there in the car and cries her eyes out. Every night she’s done that which I find so odd because at work, she’s happy and jovial, then at night she’s sad, miserable and depressed. I take it you have something to do with that.”
Carter fired dagger eyes at Donovan. “You don’t know what you’re talking about, so don’t make assumptions.”
“Then why else is she here?” Donovan inquired, because quite frankly, he liked her and if Carter didn’t know how to treat a good woman, he certainly did. He’d already proven that to Shayla.
“You ask too many questions.”
Donovan took a sip of coffee.
“Is she at the office today?” Carter inquired.
“No. She took the day off.”
“Why?”
Now who’s asking all the questions? “Don’t know, but when I was outside of her hotel last night, I watched her throw a small suitcase in the trunk…looked like she was heading out of town which is really strange because she didn’t mention it when we—” Donovan stopped talking when he realized he’d said too much.
“When you what?”
“When I spoke with her last night,” Donovan said, boldly. Shayla was her own individual person. Carter didn’t own her. So what, he took her out to dinner? He didn’t force Shayla to go with him. She did it of her own free will and they’d had a wonderful dinner on the beach. If the opportunity presented itself, he’d do it again. So giving Carter a challenging stare, he admitted, “We had dinner together last night, and the night before that, actually.”
Carter grinded his teeth. “I asked you to do me a favor and you do something like this.”
“Listen, man. You told me to watch her. You didn’t tell me you were in love with her.”
“You’re a real piece of work, Donovan.”
Donovan smirked. “I only took her out to show her a good time because she’s always sad. You should be thanking me. You’re the one who broke the girl’s heart. I can only assume that’s why she moved here…to start new and get away from you. After all these years, you’re still in the game, playing women. Don’t you think that’s a little old now?”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Donovan blew a frustrating breath. “Of course I do. I asked Shayla flat out why she was here. She said something to the effect that she had feelings for some
one and they didn’t reciprocate those feelings. So I’m assuming they is you.”
Silence. Carter didn’t have a response. He was processing it all.
“I’m honestly surprised she would even consider having a relationship with you. She must not know the Carter I know – the Carter who kept a little black book and could call any chick in there at any given time. The Carter who slept with five different women in the same week. Remember that?”
Carter rubbed his right hand across his shadow of a mustache. Donovan was bringing up old college stuff. Those things were true but they happened over a decade ago. “A lot has changed since college, Donovan. I’m not the same man I used to be.”
Donovan thought about the smile on Shayla’s face last night at the beach, and he was satisfied he could do something Carter had failed at – he made her happy. “Look, man, all I need to know is if she’s moving back to Charlotte. I had a hard enough time filling that position, so the sooner I can find a replacement, the better.”
“What makes you think she’s headed to Charlotte?”
“Where else could she be going? She doesn’t have any family. The few people she know live in Charlotte.”
It irked Carter to no end that Donovan seemed to know so much about Shayla after only knowing her for a week. “I wish you would’ve called me last night and told me you saw her leaving. I wouldn’t have flown here had I knew she wasn’t here.”
Donovan smirked. “Why didn’t you call her?”
Because I knew she wouldn’t answer the phone. “I wanted to surprise her.” Carter finished off his coffee and looked at his watch. “Anyway, I’m going to get out of here. And, by the way, I don’t need you watching her anymore. If you have any of her contact information, get rid of it.”
Carter left so quickly, he didn’t give Donovan time to respond. He only had one thing on his mind, and that was finding out where Shayla had run off to. He was beginning to panic as he sat in his rental car, hoping she was okay while at the same time wanting to dial her number, talk to her and find out firsthand where she was. But he knew she wouldn’t answer the phone and that would only cause him more anxiety.