by Tina Michele
“Morgan, wait. What about—”
Morgan didn’t wait for Lee to finish. “What about nothing, Lee. I have to go.”
Lee could see the panic in Morgan’s eyes. She wanted to reach out to her and pull her close for comfort. As Lee stepped forward, Morgan stepped back. “Morgan.”
“I need to go.” Morgan turned away toward the elevator.
It was Alex who broke the awkward silence. “Lee can take you to the airport.”
Lee glanced from Alex to Morgan and held her breath. Morgan didn’t speak; she only sighed and nodded. Lee’s heart leapt at the acceptance, and she followed Morgan into the waiting elevator.
*
Lee waited in the car as Morgan went inside to pack a bag for the last-minute trip. She should have been excited to return to Paris, but under the circumstances, she was dreading it. Morgan zipped up her suitcase and sprinted back out to the car. She wanted to ask Lee to go with her, but she would not. She needed to make the trip on her own and prove that she could handle anything that was thrown at her.
“Here. It’s the key to my apartment. You can stay there. I called my housekeeper and told her to make sure it was ready by the time you get there tonight. It’s close to the museum and safe. It’s got everything you could need just in case you forgot something,” Lee said once Morgan got into the car.
In her rush, Morgan hadn’t even thought about a place to stay. “Thank you.” Morgan rubbed the key and tucked it into the pocket of her purse.
The ride to the airport was silent. Morgan had so many things to say to Lee. She wanted to say that she was sorry about how she ended things that morning and tell Lee that she caught Rita and the others gossiping about the very reason she had done so. She also wanted to tell her that she thought Rita had purposely sabotaged the auction details in order to see her fail, but she said nothing. It wasn’t important. The only thing that mattered in that moment was doing whatever she had to in order to save her career.
When they pulled up to the terminal drop-off, Lee pulled over to the curb and put the vehicle in park. Morgan began to get out, but Lee grabbed her thigh. A jolt of energy surged through her body. “I need to go.”
“I know. Be safe,okay?”
“I will.” Morgan smile.
“Promise?” Lee held out her pinky to Morgan.
“What is that?”
“My pinky. For a pinky swear? It’s childish I know. It was something my dad and I used to do.” Lee dropped her hand, a little embarrassed at her immaturity. But then Morgan hooked her own pinky around it.
“I like that. Pinky swear.” Morgan grabbed her purse and moved to get out of the car.
“Wait.” Morgan turned back. Lee reached over and cupped her face.
“Lee, I don’t think—” Lee leaned in and kissed Morgan softly. Morgan stared into Lee’s eyes. She wanted more. She always did when Lee kissed her. The thought of it made Morgan’s thighs heat and belly tighten. Lee knew how to stoke Morgan’s inner fire of desire and paralyze her with need with just a simple kiss. “I have to go.” Using all of her might, Morgan pulled away from Lee.
Lee opened her door, got out, and crossed over to open Morgan’s door. Morgan stepped out and waited while Lee got her bags from the trunk and set them on the sidewalk. “Thank you.”
“Of course. Be careful and call me when you get to the flat, okay?”
“I will.” Without warning, Morgan hugged Lee tight. “Bye.”
Chapter Twenty-three
Lee watched Morgan disappear into the terminal and then forced herself to drive away. She headed automatically to the gallery, but without Morgan there, she found she wasn’t really in the mood to go back. Her fingers clenched around the steering wheel. She wanted to be boarding that plane with Morgan, and flying to Paris with her. But Morgan refused. She rejected her and she rejected her help. Lee needed a distraction. She knew Morgan was smart and didn’t need Lee to protect her. She just needed to talk to someone. She got on the highway and headed to the country house. Her father had always been the one she could take her business, school, or personal issues to for clarity. But with him gone, her mom was the next best thing, even if her advice tended to be less sentimental and more reasoned. It couldn’t hurt either way.
Lee pulled up to the house about an hour later. She couldn’t help but hope that her father would be sitting in his study just as he’d always been. Unfortunately, she still wasn’t used to the fact that he was gone, no matter how much she knew it was the truth. Lee pulled around the drive to the front of the house. Even though she grew up here and it was just as much her home as it was her parents’, she always rang the bell. This was regardless of the fact that Lee had to be buzzed onto the property when she pulled into the drive. Henry answered the door, as always.
“Ms. Dencourt, welcome home,” Henry said as he opened the door for her to make her way in.
“Hey, Henry.” Lee hugged him. He was practically another father to her. Henry had always been the one to scold her when her dad didn’t, but she appreciated it nonetheless. “Where’s Mother?”
He checked the time on his watch. “She’s on the veranda with her coffee, of course.”
“Of course. A woman of habit she is.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said as he began to lead Lee through the house.
Lee stopped. “I know the way, Henry, and if memory serves me, you have a half-finished New York Times crossword right about this time.”
“Another creature of unbreakable habits, ma’am.”
“That’s great. I’ll see you in a bit,” Lee said as she patted him on the shoulder and continued through the foyer toward the east wing veranda.
*
Morgan didn’t mind flying. In fact, the only part she disliked was the elongated anticipation of getting to her destination. She usually spent a majority of the flight reading or sleeping. With the last memories of Lee in her mind, she would have no chance of enjoying a transatlantic nap. Even so, she grabbed a pillow, laid her head back, and closed her eyes.
Morgan was too anxious to sleep. She had really gotten herself into a mess, with Lee and with her job. In one day, her entire world was threatening to cave in around her. She felt awful for the way she had handled things that morning. She saw the hurt in Lee’s eyes, and it ripped at her heart. She wanted to take it back from the moment she had said it, but after hearing Rita, she knew she couldn’t ever go back. She had to succeed on her own, on her own merits and talents. She had to prove it to everyone, especially herself. Morgan vowed to herself in that moment that she would come home with the Veronese, she would take care of Rita, and she would secure her place at the Dencourt.
*
“Mother!” Lee exclaimed when she stepped onto the patio and saw her mom.
Her mother’s head nearly spun off her shoulders at the sound. “What in the devil’s name? Ainsley Rae! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?”
“You can’t use that. The doctor said your heart was fine, remember?” Lee laughed and kissed her mom on the forehead.
“It was until now!” Her mother smiled. “Hello, my precious girl. What’s wrong? Why aren’t you at work?”
“Can’t I come for an unannounced, midweek visit without something being wrong?” Lee sat on the other chaise. The one her father used to sit on when he and her mother had their coffee together. Lee distractedly rubbed the cushion.
“Of course you can, but you don’t.” Her mother grabbed Lee’s hand that was rubbing the chair. “Okay…spill it,” she said.
Henry appeared with another coffee cup and poured some for Lee. “Finish that puzzle already?” Lee looked up at Henry.
“I would have had I not been so rudely interrupted.” Henry grinned.
“It seems our Ainsley is really throwing a wrench into our well-oiled machine, isn’t she, Henry?” Her mother looked at Lee with a grin.
“Wow! There’s too much love. I’m going into shock. Hurry, someone get my EpiPen. Smartasses!” Lee shot a l
ook at each of them and they all laughed and Henry left.
“Now, tell me. Is everything okay?” Her mother turned toward Lee and grabbed both hands with her own.
Lee didn’t hold back. She told her mother everything from the beginning. From how she’d met and crushed on Morgan in college, the day she left Paris, filling the curator position, to where they were now.
“My goodness, child. Have you talked to anyone about this but me?”
“No. I think Alex has put a lot of the pieces together, but I’ve not told anyone specifically.”
“So what is the problem exactly?” her mother asked.
“I’m not sure exactly. I know I like her very much. Always have. But right now she’s on her way to Paris and—”
Her mother interrupted. “What? You let her go to Paris alone to try to rescue the project on her own?”
“Yes. I asked her if she wanted help. She refused. She says she needs to do it on her own. Morgan and I aren’t together. I ended any chance of that this morning.” Lee rubbed her face.
“Okay. But regardless of your relationship status at this point, she clearly has feelings for you. Probably ones that are just as strong and confusing as the ones you have for her. But as the director of the gallery, it’s your responsibility to ensure that she has the support she needs even if she says she doesn’t. That is prideful and dangerous.”
“I don’t know about that. We haven’t talked about it. I haven’t asked. I’m not sure I want to know if she doesn’t feel the same way. She is prideful, but it’s deserved. Even though she doesn’t feel like she’s earned it yet.
“Why does she feel that way?”
“Because she wants to prove to herself that she got where she is by herself, and not because someone gave it to her.”
“Ah ha. And she feels that you gave her the position because you wanted to what? Sleep with her?”
“Yes. Sort of. That and she doesn’t want people to think that’s how she got the job.”
“Well, it’s not. And even if you were together, it is no one’s business. It doesn’t change the fact that she is what you feel the gallery needs to succeed.”
“I know. Ugh. What do I do?” Lee threw her head back and covered her eyes with an arm.
“I can’t tell you that. What do you want to do? Right now, at this moment, what do you want?” Her mother grasped the arm covering Lee’s eyes and pulled it down to look at her.
Lee looked at her mother and sighed. “I’m scared of letting Dad down. The exhibit is a risk, hiring her was a risk, and what if being with her is what brings it all down? I could lose her and the gallery. I can’t risk losing both.” For the first time, Lee said it out loud.
“Oh, my dear child. You can’t control life any more than you can control death. You must take every day you have and live it, because you can never know what tomorrow brings. You have to live and love now so you don’t ever have to regret not taking the chance. Do you love her?”
“I want…her. I want to be with her. I…I think I do love her, yes,” Lee answered.
“Then be with her,” her mother said simply.
Lee looked up at her mother as if she’d not been listening at all. “She’s in Paris, Mother.”
“And? You have a flat in Paris, my dear. And she’s staying in it until Sunday. Correct?”
Lee’s eyes widened. “Should I?”
“Lee, it’s what your father would have done for me.” Her mother twisted the wedding band she still wore.
“I miss him.”
“Me too, sweetheart. Now go. You have a plane to catch!” She winked.
Lee stood quickly. “I do! I love you, Mom.” She hugged her mother and nearly ran through the house to her car.
She started her car. “I’m coming to Paris, my love.” She dialed her phone. “Alex, I’m going to Paris. Don’t tell anyone, not even Morgan. I’ll be home Sunday.” Lee pulled the phone away but not before Alex nearly shattered her eardrum with a scream she was certain she could have heard without the phone.
Chapter Twenty-four
By the time the plane landed, Morgan was more thankful than ever that Lee had given her the key to the flat. She wanted to be as close to Lee as possible. For the last eight hours, Morgan had endured a self-inflicted interrogation into the deepest parts of her heart and soul. Morgan had tried to distract herself by thinking about her game plan for the auction, but the memory of the kiss Lee had given her at the airport refused to be ignored. She wanted to convince herself that it was just a sweet good-bye kiss, but her heart wouldn’t let it be that simple. She remembered the way Lee had cared for her after her accident without even a second thought. No one except Freddy, or her family, would have gone out of their way for her like that.
What was she so afraid of? Anyone who mattered to her, including herself, knew that she deserved her position at the gallery. It was what she was meant to do. So many times, she had asked the universe for the chance to prove it, and she had gotten it. Why would she let the false opinions of others determine her worth? She owed Lee an apology, and she owed herself a chance to get everything she wanted, including Lee. She needed to call her and at least tell her that she was sorry. If she was lucky she might be able to salvage a small piece of what she had so selfishly ended. As she stood on the curb in front of the airport, she asked the universe for a second chance.
Morgan hailed a cab and the driver pulled away. She fished her phone out of her purse to call Lee. It rang several times before it went straight to voicemail. She didn’t want to say what she needed to on an answering machine so she hung up. She flopped her head back onto the seat, “You could’ve at least told her you were here, dummy.” Morgan called back. After a few rings, she got the voicemail again. Morgan left a short message and told her she had arrived and would call her when she got to her apartment. Before she could stop herself, she ended the call with, “I love you.” Morgan quickly hung up and slapped her hand over her mouth. “What the fu—oh my God! Oh. My. God!” she said through the hand clasping her mouth. Morgan was lost in her head trying to figure out how she was ever going to explain that to Lee. She had no idea why she’d said it. She didn’t love Lee. They weren’t even together, especially after that morning. Morgan was jolted from her mental breakdown by the cab driver when he announced the arrival at her destination. She paid the driver and fumbled out of the car, up to the door, and let herself in.
When Morgan got into Lee’s apartment, she was shocked. It was of course immaculate and smelled crisp and clean. Across from the door was an entire wall of glass looking out at what seemed like the best view of Paris there could be. She made her way to the window and was humbled by the glow of the Louvre Pyramid no more than a block away. She could have spent hours staring out the window. She watched the people meandering down the sidewalk toward where her apartment used to be. Morgan was certain she and Lee had walked by this building just as they were. She reminisced about that first kiss on her doorstep. Morgan missed Lee and wished she was there with her.
Morgan looked her watch. It was almost six p.m. in D.C. Lee had probably already left the office for the day. Suddenly, she remembered the voicemail. Morgan needed to call Lee back and just be honest. It was a mistake. It was made out of habit. That’s all it was. Morgan got her phone and dialed Lee’s number. Again, it went straight to voicemail, but this time Morgan hung up instead of leaving a message. This time she thought it very strange that Lee didn’t answer. Part of her worried that she’d gotten the message and was purposely not answering, but Morgan knew that wasn’t like Lee. Then she worried that something had happened. She dialed Alex at the office. “Hey, Al. It’s Morgan. Is Lee there?”
“Oh. Uh. No. She’s…not. She didn’t come back in today.”
“What? Why?” Now Morgan was on the edge of panic.
“She…went to see her mom,” Alex said.
“That’s weird. She didn’t mention that this morning.” Morgan thought that might be the reason for voicemai
l. “Is the reception bad up there? I’ve called her twice and it went to voicemail both times.”
“No, there is—yes, actually. Reception is terrible up there. I’m sure that’s why. Do you want me to tell her to call you if she calls me?”
“Yeah. Sure. Have you talked to her today? Do you know if she’s coming back tonight so I can call her?”
“I talked to her earlier. She’s fine. But she isn’t coming back here. But you could try her later anyway.”
“Okay. I’ll do that. Thanks, Al.”
“No problem.”
At least Alex had talked to her; she had to be fine. You’re worrying for nothing. Morgan took her bags to the bedroom. It smelled just like Lee, like clean musk and crisp soap. It was the kind of scent that didn’t smell like food but still made her hungry. She ran her fingers along the edge of the bed. She wondered which side Lee preferred when she slept. Morgan didn’t think she’d mind which side she slept on if it was next to Lee.
Morgan’s stomach started to rumble, and at that moment, she hoped there was something to eat in the kitchen. Morgan found a fully stocked pantry and even milk and eggs in the refrigerator. She wondered if it was always ready for guests or if Lee had made special last-minute arrangements. Morgan made a sandwich and then headed to the bedroom to shower and change. It was barely eight p.m. in D.C. but two a.m. in Paris. She had a ten a.m. meeting at the auction house and needed all the rest she could get if she was going to save the exhibit.
*
Lee always enjoyed flying without luggage. While it didn’t work for anywhere but Paris, it was convenient given how much time she used to spend there. She was getting nervous about showing up unannounced and technically uninvited. What if Morgan didn’t want her there? If she did, she would have invited her or asked her to come along. “It’s too late now,” Lee said to herself as she flagged down a cab.