by Gina Henning
“Very good.” The waiter turns and heads back towards the kitchen.
“How did you find out about this place?” I beam at Jack.
Jack’s eyebrows stiffen. “I have my ways…of finding out about…things.”
The waiter returns with the bottle and pops the cork, offering it to Jack to smell. He nods. The waiter hands me a glass. I sip the wine. It’s delicious. Pinot Noir is truly like sex in a bottle. It’s light at first and then intense, filled with fragrant notes and a heavy pull on your tongue with a lingering scent in the air. I inhale and am transported to a garden filled with violets and lavender flowers.
I blink and realize Jack and the waiter are watching me, waiting for my reaction. I smile. “Yes, it’s perfect.”
The waiter nods and pours Jack a glass. The cheese platter is in front of us. Two different types of Brie, goat cheese, cubes of sharp cheddar, and an assortment of nuts and crackers. I spread some of the Brie onto a cracker and glance up at Jack. His eyes are inspecting my every move. He’s studying me with an intensity.
My cheeks warm. “Cheers.” I reach for my wine and Jack’s glass meets mine halfway across the table. The glasses clink and the red liquid sloshes against the side. I laugh and take a swallow.
“So…” Jack swirls the wine in his glass, methodically with a precise control and self-containment. “Tell me about your work this past week.” His eyes leave his glass and focus on me.
I wrinkle my eyebrows. “It’s been busy. I’m glad to finally be done with it; that’s for sure.” I smile, happily sipping my wine.
The corners of Jack’s mouth pull up slightly. “So tell me about Trent. Did he print out any more reports for you?”
I nod and let out a nervous laugh. “He did, or he tried at least. I made sure I already had the reports. But it’s not a big deal.” I take a sip of my wine. “I even had to shoo him away one morning… I think he’s got the hint.”
Jack smirks. “If you’ve given him any hints…he’s not picking them up.” Jack swirls the wine in his glass and takes a swallow.
“Well, that’s his problem, not mine.” I nod and take a long swallow of my own.
“Just, be careful.” Jack nods.
Be careful? I’m a professional woman… This isn’t my first job and most definitely isn’t the first time I have had to interact with members of the opposite sex. I don’t need anyone telling me what to do. Is this what married life would be like? Jack telling me to be careful and acting as if I’m inexperienced or need guidance? I place my glass down on the table. I’m probably overreacting, but Jack can’t talk about being careful when it comes to working closely with colleagues of the opposite sex.
“Why couldn’t you FaceTime with me on Monday night?” I thrust out my chin. I know I’m being childish, turning it round on him. But the question blurted from my lips before I could make sure I was phrasing it in the least confrontational style.
Jack sighs and runs his massive hand through his think blond hair. “Corinne asked if I could help her install a light in her bedroom.”
My jaw is in my lap. My chest is tight. I can’t breathe. It hurts. I let out a slow deep breath.
“Wow.” My lips are two solid lines holding my face together. I can’t believe he just gave me a hard time about Trent when he cancelled on me to install a light in Corinne’s bedroom? My body is tense.
“Yes, she said she had tried to do it herself and ended up short-circuiting all of the electrical units in her room. She was worried about calling a repair person for an after-hours call.”
“Huh, so first it was her garage door and now her bedroom light.” My chest heaves up and my stomach twists into a tight ball of insecurity and disappointment. Here he was giving me advice about how to act in the workplace and yet he’s installing equipment in a female co-worker’s bedroom? My brain is short-circuiting from this hypocrisy.
“Yes, she has been unlucky so far in the place she is renting.” He reaches for my hand and I let it fall into my lap.
“How lucky for her to have found you.” I purse my lips. I want to bolt from this place and get as far away from this situation as I can. The walls are closing in on me. It’s like the end of our relationship is rushing towards me. We are being torn apart, by the distance and distractions in our lives. I shake my head. Maybe we aren’t meant to be together. What if Corinne is the one for him? I’m dizzy. I can’t breathe… Little beads of sweat are popping up along my hairline.
“Yeah…I’m pretty handy.” Jack’s fingers walk across the table and try to find my hand. But I’m not going to meet him on this one. I’m afraid, I’m falling, and I might end up alone. I was fine before I met Jack. On my own…not that I didn’t fantasize about being with someone or finding the one…but now I’m in a relationship where I feel like Jack is the one…but what if I’m not his one… What if I’m wrong? I need to be honest with my feelings. To Jack and myself.
“Jack, I’m not okay with you going and helping out women install various things in their houses or fixing things. That’s not your job and it’s not appropriate.” I swallow and grab my wine, finishing the remainder of it.
“Are you ready to order?” The waiter eyes each of us.
“Please give us a few minutes.” Jack nods at the waiter.
“Lauren…” He scoots closer to me and grabs my hand from my lap. He pulls it to his mouth and kisses each of my knuckles. “What’s wrong?” His eyes bore into mine. His icy blues melt my frozen heart. My feelings are being swiped away by the warm glow that surrounds him.
“What are you going to do the next time Corinne calls and her garbage disposal has her car keys stuck in it?” I internally high five myself, because that would be a very wacky situation.
Jack smirks. “Okay, you’re bothered by me fixing things at her house?”
I nod. It’s not just that, but it’s a start.
“I’ll tell her that I can’t help.”
“And if she asks why not?”
“I’ll say I’m tied up.” Jack leans over and nuzzles my ear. “And what I mean by that is that my heart is woven into the tightest fisherman’s knot to the love of my life.”
My insides warm. His words are like an unchained melody linking me to him. “Okay.”
Jack leans into my hair. “I’ll take okay for now.” He scoots his chair back to his spot and pours each of us more wine.
My chest tightens. I need to tell him about seeing Trent at Shantilly’s. If I don’t there will be a moment of dishonesty between us. I glance down at my lap.
“I’m glad we’ve gotten past that.” Jack raises his glass to me.
“I need to tell you something.” I roll my lips over each other.
The vein in Jack’s neck pulses. He puts his glass down on the table and stares directly into my eyes as if he is going to retract what I’m about to say before I can let the words form at my lips.
“Monday night, after you cancelled our call, I made plans to go out with Brianna.” I pick up my glass of wine and take a gulp. Jack is silent, watching me, waiting for me to finish. “Anyways, I got there before her and I went to our normal spot in the back of the lounge. Trent was sitting in our seat.” I take another swallow from my glass.
Jack cocks his head to the right. “And what happened?”
“I was surprised to see him and then he bought me a glass of wine.” I let out a sigh.
“You let him buy you a drink?” Jack squints at me as if I have said something in a foreign language.
“I didn’t really have a choice. He ordered it before I could even say no.”
“Lauren, come on, do you know how that sounds?” Jack shakes his head. “What happened next?” Jack scrunches up the tablecloth on his side of the table.
“Then a few minutes later Brianna showed up.”
“And then you left the table and went to sit on your own?”
I glance down. “No, we stayed and then his friend showed up.”
“Okay, so you were on a double date with Trent
and Brianna?” Jack runs his hand through his hair.
“No, Jack, it wasn’t a double date. It was a pure coincidence. I had my one glass—”
“The glass that Trent bought you?” Jack rubs his eyebrow.
I roll my eyes. “Yes, the glass he bought me. The glass I was only there to drink because you stood me up for our call date in favor of replacing Corinne’s bedroom light.”
Jack lowers his eyes to the table.
I probably shouldn’t have said that, but it’s true. I take a deep breath. There’s no point in being petty. “That’s all I had and then we left, Jack. Me and Brianna.”
“Lauren, listen, I trust you. I do.” Jack reaches for my hand and squeezes it.
I jump in before he can finish. “I trust you too. But this distance thing is hard. I hate not seeing you.”
He nods. “I know. I hate it too.” Jack takes a deep breath and puffs it out. “Look, I do trust you, but I don’t trust him. You have to be careful. Trent is obviously interested in you and you aren’t exactly pushing him away by accepting a drink from him at a bar.” Jack rolls his eyes.
“Okay.” I take a sip of my wine.
“Okay?” Jack’s eyebrows squish together.
“Yes, okay, I get it. I understand what you’re saying.” I flutter my eyelashes.
“I know you get it, but are you going to change how you respond to his advances?” Jack glares at me.
I nod. I know I could have made things much clearer with Trent. I just wanted to ignore it, but that seems to have made things worse. And yes I could have gone about the office flashing my engagement ring, but I can’t deal with all the questions about why my fiancé isn’t around—not to mention Javier wouldn’t be impressed to learn his new team lead would soon be whisking off for a long honeymoon and maybe, someday, maternity leave.
That’s if Jack and I ever get that far.
My stomach is a knot of nerves. This is going so bad. Are we even meant to be together? With so much tension between us I feel more wound up than I can remember. And it’s a Friday night, I’m in a beautiful inn, dressed in an amazing dress and sitting across from a gorgeous man. I should be having a fabulous, romantic weekend. Did my parents go through these types of discussions before they were married or even after for that matter? I shake my head to rid the negative thoughts. I look at Jack and nod again. “Yes, I’ll be more careful…you’re right, I don’t want him to get the wrong impression.”
“Good.” Jack nods.
I sigh. “Is this going to work?” I let fall from my lips.
Jack’s eyes widen. “Lauren, don’t doubt us. Everyone has their kinks to figure out. We have a huge hurdle to get over with the distance, but we’ll get past it… That’s a temporary problem. Our love is a lifetime of certainty.” He leans in and kisses my lips. “I promise.”
I sigh. “I just worry about all these little issues and the distance—it kills me. I miss you so much and then here we are together finally and we’re fighting over a bunch of silly jealousy things, filled with insecurities.” I blink. I don’t want to cry in this ballroom.
“The distance is awful. But, I will fix it.”
The waiter is back. Jack and I order and he squeezes my hand as the waiter leaves.
“Lauren, I’ll make things better. Don’t worry about it; I promise you. This time next year, our long-distance relationship woes will be a long-distant memory and we will be living together. You’ll be waking up next to me every morning and wondering if you’re still dreaming.” Jack kisses my hand.
I laugh. “Oh wow…the air in this room…it’s getting hard to br—”
Jack leans in and kisses my lips before I can finish. His tongue is luscious from the wine. I unravel in the moment until I realize we are in the ballroom surrounded by people.
“Jack…we should probably save that for the bedroom.” I pull back and then wink at him. “Or the bathroom.”
He smiles. “Why save it? I’m not going to run out of kisses for you.” Jack leans in and kisses me again. His lips are whisking away all my ideas of not being a fan of PDAs… I’m sinking in deeper and deeper. Letting go of my insecurities and indulging in Jack’s lips. My fingers grasp his hair.
Jack pulls away. “Lauren, please control yourself… We are in public.” He motions around the room.
“Oh okay…now we’re going to be aware of our surroundings?” I giggle.
“I’m always aware of my surroundings.” Jack kisses my knuckles as he stares at me. I swallow. My chest is tight. I want to exit this room and be alone with Jack… He’s making my insides a volcano of erupting emotions of desire.
“I hope you’re ready for this weekend. I promise it will be one you’ll never forget.” Jack smirks at me.
“That’s quite a statement. I hope you can fulfill that large order.” I raise an eyebrow at him.
“One thing you can put your faith in is that I always make good on my promises.” Jack wiggles his eyebrows at me.
***
Our dinner has been cleared away and the lights lower. I notice a few people standing up from their tables and they are all heading in the same direction. The center of the room, where a dance floor is situated. I swivel my attention back to Jack. The grin plastered across his face means one thing. We’re going to be dancing. I internally cringe. I’ve never had professional lessons and the majority of my dancing has taken place in a dark club, not in a much brighter room filled with people who look like they have had lessons. Maybe I can fake a twisted ankle?
“Lauren, are you ready?” Jack pushes back his chair and is standing over me. I quickly swallow the last drop of my wine… If anything is going to get me through the first moments of this dance, it’s liquid courage.
“Yes, I’m ready.” I beam back at Jack.
He leads me onto the dance floor as Percy Sledge comes across the speakers…belting out “When a Man Loves a Woman”. Jack twirls me around and pulls me back in close to his body. Our chests are melded together. I imagine our hearts are having a beat race. I’m sure mine will win this round.
Jack glides us across the floor as if he wrote this song himself. He is so familiar with each step, landing at the right beat. I’m impressed I haven’t had to take an extra step to keep up. I simply let him lead and follow his steps, as if I’m on a special machine with magnets aligning my feet to his. The song finishes and Jack leans into me and sings, “When Jack loves Lauren”. Tingles trail down my neck and along my collarbone. I’m glad my dress isn’t low cut. I’m sure my chest has splotches of red. My cheeks are toasted.
Several more songs play and with each one I’m falling into this place of red hearts floating in the air covered in glitter and birds chirping in the background. I’m in the forest of Jack’s love.
The music stops and everyone claps. Jack leads us out of the ballroom and down a hallway. He reaches around the back of my head and I tip my chin up so that our mouths meet. Jack’s lips press down hard on mine. His tongue finds its way in and dances a longer dance than what we experienced in the ballroom with our feet.
Jack presses his forehead down against mine. “Lauren…what I feel for you is burning inside. I feel like I’m going to explode with happiness when you’re in my arms.” He traces the side of my face with his thumb.
My chest heaves up. “There’s no place I’d rather be.”
He tugs my hand and leads me back to the staircase. Rushing up the stairs doesn’t seem like a possibility in these heels and especially not after all that dancing. Slow and easy is the only thing I can imagine. Jack lifts me up with ease as we hit the landing of the second flight of stairs.
“Jack, put me down. I’m too heavy.” I pat his shoulders.
“Impossible. I could carry three of you combined… Now that I think of it…that might make for a fun weekend too.” Jack squeezes me in closer as he makes it to the second flight of stairs.
I laugh. “Ha, I don’t think you could handle three of me.” I turn his face to mine.
“True, six of you is probably better… Think of all the possibilities.” Jack wiggles his eyebrows.
“You’re ridiculous.”
“Ridiculously in love with you. If you weren’t wearing this tiny little dress I would carry you over my shoulders.”
“Oh, now my dress is the problem?”
“No, no that dress has been a problem since it made its first appearance. I’ve been having a difficult time focusing on anything else.” Jack digs in his pocket and slides the key in the door, while still managing to hold me.
“Okay, well we are here now.” I raise my eyebrows at him and nod. Obviously he can place me on my own two feet.
“Yes, we are and that dress needs to go.” Jack leans in and kisses me. His hands run over the back of my dress, slipping the buttons free. “Meet me in the bathroom.” Jack breathes into my ear. He turns and strides towards the bathroom. The sounds of the water being run come through the door. Is he taking a shower?
The reflection of the fire is flickering in the window. I’m drawn to stand near the fire and warm up from being alone in the room. The door to the bathroom opens and Jack peeks his head out.
“I thought I was pretty clear.” Jack cocks his head to the right.
I take in a deep breath. My insides are warming even without his touch. Just at the mere sight of him. And we are alone…no reason to stop.
Jack motions “come hither” with his finger. I glance to my sides and point at myself. The sides of his mouth curl up and he nods slowly.
I wet my lips and glide across the room. The sleeves of my dress are sliding down my shoulders.
Jack’s massive hands reach around my waist and he melds our bodies together. He traces the neckline of my dress as if he is admiring the embroidery.
“Lauren, this dress.” He breathes into my ear. “Needs to be removed.” A shower of heat pours over my head and down my body reaching my toes, and I find them curling tightly inside my shoes. Jack slides the dress from my body and I step out of my heels. Jack’s lips crash into mine and his tongue searches my mouth until it latches onto my tongue. His taste is no longer of Pinot, but of something lighter and bubbly.