by Yvette Hines
“You could have. I didn’t go out. I stayed in and waited up for you. But, I fell asleep next to a half-eaten room service plate. I even missed the fireworks.”
“They were nice, you would have liked them.”
“We’re not going to change the subject, so talk to me, girl. What could have happened that would have made you wake up with Muppet hair?”
Smiling at her friend’s accurate depiction of her looks, Yasmine started at the beginning of when she first arrived at the party and brought Leigh up to date.
Yasmine bit on her bottom lip as she waited for her friend’s comments about what had happened.
The silence dragged on. “Leigh, why would he say that to me? Was it just some cruel joke? If so, what would be the damn point?”
Yasmine could hear and feel her emotions beginning to resurface.
Leigh picked up on it also, evident in her comforting touch. “Take a breath and relax, the last thing we need in a situation like this is the ‘Blake’ stomach ulcer acting up again. I don’t think he was playing a joke on you, Yassi.”
“No? Well it sure as hell felt like one. Maybe this is just the kind of games thirty-three year old men play.”
“Yasmine, I’m not the person to tell you why he asked you.” Leigh’s voice calm.
“Then who is?”
Yasmine watched her friend’s eyebrow lift. She was making a statement and hadn’t even opened her mouth.
“I am not going to ask him! Do you think I ever want to see him again?” Yasmine rose from the couch and swept past her friend to the bedroom.
Leigh followed behind her. “Girl, it’s your choice if you never want to see him again, but you’re never going to have any peace until you ask Jason himself.”
Yasmine knew her friend was right about her having peace of mind. The confusion had already ruined one night. She shouldn’t allow it to destroy anymore. She had given Blake that power and she wouldn’t give it to anyone else again.
“One last thing?”
“What’s that?” Yasmine questioned as she began to load her things back in her small suitcase and prepare for check out.
“Before you go see him. You may want to think about getting dressed and taming the shrew.” Leigh gave her one of her infamous cheeky smiles and pointed to the disarray of Yasmine’s hair.
“I’ll think about it.” Yasmine tossed a handful of clothes at Leigh and headed toward the bathroom.
~ML~
“Coming,” Jason called out to the knock on his room door as he rose from the two-person table in the living room, by the balcony where the room service attendant had placed his food fifteen minutes ago.
Just as he made what would have been his first pass of the door to his suite, heading to the bedroom to grab a robe before opening the door, it swung open. Turning toward the intruder, whom he assumed was the housekeeping trying to rush him out of the room before check out, Jason froze.
“I t-thought I h-heard you s-say c-come in.”
Jason heard Yasmine stammer as she did a good job of not staring at him, fresh out of the shower and wearing nothing but a towel around his waist.
“Actually, I said, coming. My mother would be so disappointed in me—she’s worked hard to teach us to say, ‘One moment, please.’ She used to say coming would get you in awkward situations if someone misunderstood—now I see.” Jason felt like he was rambling. He was tempted to continue on to his room and get the robe, but he was afraid that if he left the room, so would Yasmine.
“I apologize. Would you like me to leave?”
Jason hated the quiet tone she was using. He hadn’t known her that long, but he could sense that she was using it because she was uncomfortable or nervous and he wanted her to be neither.
“Don’t leave.” He continued, “It would only take me a moment to get a robe, if my apparel is making you uncomfortable.
Jason noticed the drop of her gaze, but they quickly returned to his face. He saw the rise of her chest as she took a deep breath.
“I’m not going to be here that long. I just have one question for you.”
He knew what she was going to ask, but he still gestured for her to proceed.
“Why? Was it all a joke?”
“Yasmine, sit down, please.”
She looked as if she was warring with herself, whether to stay or not.
Jason walked back over toward the balcony and slid out the other chair at the table for her to sit in. Decision made, she walked over to the table and claimed the seat.
Jason took time to collect his thoughts as he reclaimed his vacated seat, placed one ankle on top of the opposite knee and his hand on the side of his face. Index finger resting on his temple, middle finger under his nose, while the other two curled toward his palm and his thumb tucked itself under his chin. It was his relaxed look, the one he had mastered that announced, I’m cool, calm, collected and in full control.
He prayed it didn’t come across as the lie it was.
“No, it wasn’t a joke. I wouldn’t play around with anything that serious. I’m trying to make some life changes.”
“Then I know you were playing me—because you don’t even take your own life seriously and you had a heart attack.”
“Ouch! That was a low blow.”
Sitting this close to her Jason could see he wasn’t the only one who’d had a rough night. In the direct light of the sun he could see a red tint and puffiness to her eyes.
“You’re right—outside of my family I don’t take many things seriously. I may even play around with my own health and life. But, my job is very important to me.”
“So which on of those things are responsible for you saying what you did last night?” She crossed her arms under her breasts.
Even with puffy red eyes, a simple short sleeve top and snug fitting jeans, she was still attractive to him, he could feel his desire for her begin to stir. He had to remind himself he was only dressed in a towel and if he didn’t keep himself relaxed his thoughts would become evident to her beneath the terry cloth material.
Entwining his fingers together, he placed them over his abs. “My job is responsible for me asking you to marry me.”
“I’m not understanding,” she acknowledged. “Look, Leigh is waiting for me downstairs. Can you stop all the riddles and just be straight with me?”
Jason appreciated her directness, if she agreed it would make the arrangement that much easier.
“Yasmine, you and I both have a problem that the other one can solve.”
She made a gesture to indicate she was listening and wanted him to continue.
“Everyone, including my boss, thinks that I need something in my life. I can disregard why most people are telling me that, but not Mr. Coleman.”
“Why?”
“Because I want the position of vice-president that will be available this fall. Right now there are two of us who are up for the position. You remember Raquel from last night. She is the other contender. Well, Mr. Coleman had a meeting with me when I got back to work after my heart attack and said he was leaning very strongly toward me.” He exhaled a breath. “It was like music to my ears. The only thing about it is that he’s afraid if I don’t have some outside interests that don’t include my work, then I’m going to have another heart attack. No amount of verbal reassurance from me is enough to ease his mind. I still may get the position, because I’m damn good. But, I don’t want to run on maybes. I’ve worked too hard. In the last three years since he had open-heart surgery and I assisted the current vice-president, I’ve given up everything for this job. Which I don’t regret.”
When Yasmine made a move to say something, Jason raised his hand to stop her.
“Nor do I intend to change my life.”
“You don’t think that getting married will change your life?” Yasmine’s voice didn’t sound as if she was convinced.
“Not with you it won’t.”
“How’s that?” Yasmine asked defensively.
“Do you want to be married?”
“No!” Yasmine was emphatic.
“That was fully confirmed in your reaction last night. You just want to raise two precious little ones.”
Jason let the silence grow at the table, then reached for the hot carafe of coffee and poured some into his cup; which he was about to do before she showed up.
“So, you think that’s a reason for us to get married?”
“It all depends on how bad you want the children.” He sipped his coffee gingerly, squinting at the rising steam.
She rose abruptly. “Not bad enough to marry you or anyone else.”
Yasmine quickly exited the room like something horrible was after her.
Jason listened to the door close firmly behind her. He sat at the table a few moments to finish his coffee. Then he got up to get dressed and packed for check out from the hotel—he had an hour. For that amount of time, he wouldn’t think about Yasmine, his offer to her or the fact that she’d turned him down.
“Well, Mr. Coleman, I hope I get points for trying.” He stripped off the towel and grabbed a pair of boxers from the top drawer of the dresser.
~ML~
Yasmine walked down the hall, and didn’t stop until she got to the elevator. She should have never allowed Leigh to use her powers of persuasion to find out in which room Jason was staying. She had heard it once said that ignorance was bliss, now she understood what the statement meant.
She never planned on getting married again, but if God had dropped love into to her lap she couldn’t say for sure she would turn it down.
But, this...
This proposal wasn’t anything and because of that reason she would brush it under a rug somewhere and never think about it again. She prayed every night that Joshua and Jessica would be placed in a good home. It was time for her to realize it may not be with her. She loved them and wanted the best for them, but if she couldn’t get someone to realize she could love them enough for two parents, then she would have to come to terms with possibly losing them.
She was glad when the elevator doors opened up on the lobby floor. When she stepped out of the elevator she imagined that Jason and his offer were both in it. With the sound of the door closing softly behind her, it signified all that was said on the fourteenth floor was locked away.
Yasmine may have been able to choose not to get married, but over the last twenty minutes she’d just found out she had no control over her desire for the opposite sex. It felt good to know Blake hadn’t killed that also.
For a moment she recalled the image of Jason standing in nothing but a stark white towel. The contrast of it against his tanned skin was alluring. The way the towel rode low on his hips; as if it was barely staying in place and at any moment it would slip loose and sail to the floor at his feet—strong masculine feet.
Yasmine closed her eyes for a moment; she could still see the sight of his lean muscular chest, a swimmer’s chest, with naturally developed tone that screamed vital strength. Jason had abs that begged for slow kisses. Her hands tingled with the thought of lightly raking her fingers through the dusting of hair in the center.
Shaking herself to clear her head, Yasmine walked up to the plush chair where Leigh was sitting and flipping through a magazine, as if she were reading it.
“So, do you want to talk about it?” Leigh asked curious.
“Nope.”
“Okay, then lets go.” Leigh’s voice rang with awareness and then teased her. “I understand that you don’t want to share the lovely info with your best friend after she’s had to agree to a date with a twenty-year-old hotel desk attendant. A child, for cryin’ out loud, but that’s what I would do for you.”
The corners of Yasmine’s lips lifted as she linked their arms together. “Come on, I’ll buy you lunch since neither of us had breakfast.”
“That sounds more like it.” Leigh slid on her sunglasses as they exited the hotel.
Nine
It had been three weeks since the Neptune Festival when Yasmine walked into the orphanage to visit the children. She had purposely stayed away to give herself some space and put things into perspective. She had done that and was feeling rational about the fact that the twins would never be hers.
“Hi, Yasmine. It’s good to see you.” Ms. Andrea was standing at the visitor’s counter when she came in.
“How’s everything been going over the past few weeks?” Yasmine liked the other woman. Her patience and sweet disposition was just what the children needed here. Most of the kids spoke highly of Ms. Andrea. The other staff members had told her frequently they had to stop some of the little ones from calling her mommy, because of the closeness and time she spent with the children, they naturally reached out to her as a parent.
“Good, we had an adoption carnival yesterday and got a lot of applications submitted and even quite a few for some of the older ones.”
Yasmine’s heart plummeted. The older ones usually didn’t get adopted, and if a lot of them were getting eager parents looking at them, then that meant most likely Joshua and Jessica were on the list. She had worked hard on coming to grips with the fact they would go to someone else, but she wasn’t prepared for it happening this soon.
“That’s great news.” Yasmine smiled at the woman, hoping her disappointment about losing the twins wasn’t written on her face.
“It sure is. I’ve got you signed in. Most of the children are in the playroom, if you want to go in there.”
“I brought some new books with me to read. I’ll drop them at the desk on my way out so you all can get them processed into the library.” Yasmine held up the bookstore bag she had at her side.
“That’s great. I’ll tell Nancy so she’ll be expecting them.”
“Thanks.” She headed toward the playroom, with heavier steps than she had entered the house with.
When she entered the playroom, all of the children stopped playing and begin to jump up and down and chant, “Read us a book! Read us a book!”
Yasmine grinned at them all. “Okay, okay, I’ll read. Everyone sit in the reading area.”
As all the kids in the room scrambled to sit in a semi-circle around a chair that stood on a large area rug that was decorated with books. Yasmine scanned the room for two familiar faces.
As she sat in the chair and talked to the children about the books she was going to read, she realized that Joshua and Jessica were not in the room. Her heart began to race, assuming that the two of them may be visiting somewhere with their soon to be adoptive parents.
She kept a lid on her emotions and decided to focus all of her attention on the children eagerly awaiting the books to be read.
An hour and half later her mouth was dry and her legs had gone numb, Yasmine closed the third book the kids had bribed her into reading. Then she said good-bye to them and headed back toward the desk. She enjoyed being with the children and even though the twins were gone she would still come and visit them.
“Hi, Nancy,” Yasmine spoke to the lady who ran the mini library in the orphanage. “Here are the books. I read three of them and the kids loved them, the other two are by one of the same authors so I’m sure they’ll like them also.”
“I’m sure they will. They always enjoy your reading to them, when I do it they don’t pay attention as much.”
Nancy was a salt and pepper haired woman who’d begun volunteering her time at the orphanage since she’d retired from hotel chain, where she was the president’s secretary. They’d given her a healthy severance package, which allowed her to work for free. She’d been at the house for a few years, a very talkative grandmotherly type who nurtured the children in just the way they needed it.
“It’s just a new face.”
“No it’s your voice and your animation as you read through the stories. The children get a kick out of it.” Nancy confirmed.
“I noticed the twins weren’t there—do you know where they are?” Yasmine had considered not asking about them, but she
knew she would never get it out of her mind if she didn’t get some kind of closure.
“They weren’t?” Nancy looked a little shocked. “They love your story time. You may want to check upstairs, maybe they’re in the TV room.”
Yasmine’s heart did a small leap of joy. She would have an opportunity to say good-bye to them before they left.
“Thanks, I’ll check upstairs before I leave then.”
“Okay. I’ll see you next time.” Nancy headed toward the kitchen.
Yasmine performed a light jog up the stairs to the second floor landing, when she reached the top of the stairs she walked into the first room on her left and peeked inside. She didn’t see either of them among the other children, mostly teens. The next room was on her right and it was where the boys slept. She tapped lightly on the door, when a young masculine voice called out she opened it and walked in.
There were only three boys in the room, playing cards; none of them being Joshua. She left and walked to the second door on the left which held the girls’ room, opening the door without knocking she walked in and found two girls looking at a magazine and one girl napping.
Feeling dejected and giving up hope of finding them, thinking maybe they were in one of the visiting rooms or perhaps helping some of the volunteers with something, Yasmine headed down the backstairs instead of turning to walk the way she had come.
When she approached the landing she stopped. Joshua and Jessica sat on the stairs with tear-streaked faces, holding each other’s hands.
“Sweeties, I’ve looked everywhere for you. What’s the matter?” Yasmine descended the stairs and sat on the one below them.
The similar faces continued to look at her, filled with sadness and silence.
“If you don’t tell me what’s wrong I can’t do anything to help you.” Yasmine replied sincerely.
She watched them look at each other as if deciding whether to talk or not, then they spoke in unison. “Nobody wants us.”
For the second time that day, Yasmine’s heart dropped. “What do you mean no one wants you?”