by Claire Adams
I wondered why I had pushed so hard. One second, I was convinced this was a sick joke Jason was playing on me, and the next, I was barreling through with it anyway. I didn’t make sense to myself at the moment. I had on a romantic long white dress with thin straps and intricate nude panels on the bodice. I paired the dress with black wedges and kept my hair down. I was still staring at my reflection in the tiny mirror on Missy’s table when she walked in.
She looked flushed and happy, and she still had her graduation robes on. “Wow, you look great.” She nodded at me. “But I thought you were meeting your parents tomorrow for your celebration dinner?”
“I am.” I nodded. “Where are your parents?”
“They’re taking a walk around East Lawn,” she replied. “I’m meeting them at the quad in fifteen minutes for dinner. If you’re meeting your parents tomorrow, then why are you all dressed up?”
I bit my lip. “It’s a long story.”
That grabbed Missy’s attention. She turned around and raised one eyebrow at me. “Do tell.”
“I thought you only had fifteen minutes?”
“They’ll wait,” she said.
“I’m meeting Chance for dinner,” I said.
“What?”
“Yeah…”
“How did that happen?”
“It’s not a date or anything,” I said quickly. “I just sort of asked him out…to talk.”
“About what?”
“Us,” I said. “I told him I needed closure, which I do.”
“And you decided this on a whim?”
“Well…not exactly,” I said, dragging my feet.
Missy frowned. “Nat…?”
“I got a text this morning at the ceremony,” I explained. “It was anonymous and it told me to go out to dinner with Chance and that it would pay off.”
Missy’s eyebrows rose higher on her forehead. “Seriously?”
“Yup.”
“And, you don’t know who sent it?”
“Nope.”
“And, you just thought you’d trust whoever this person is?”
“I thought about ignoring it,” I admitted. “But the text says that it’ll pay off.”
“And, you believed that?”
I sighed. “I know I’m acting desperate and stupid, but I have to see this through.”
“Did you consider the possibility that this might be Jason trying to mess with you?”
“I have.” I nodded. “But I don’t think he would be that cruel. Chance broke up with me for his own reasons – this has nothing to do with Jason.”
Missy shook her head. “I don’t know if this is such a good idea, Nat.”
“I don’t, either,” I said. “But either way, I’ll have some form of closure at the end of tonight. That’ll be worth something, right?”
“If you say so,” Missy said, but she didn’t sound certain.
“You better get going,” I pointed out to her. “Otherwise you’re going to keep your parents waiting.”
Distractedly, Missy nodded and changed out of her outfit and into a sexier version. Then she gave me a hug. “Just… Be careful, okay?” she said.
“I will,” I nodded.
After Missy left, I turned back to my reflection, wondering if I was just setting myself up for a fall. I was about to tie my hair up into a ponytail when a call came in on my phone. When I checked the number, I recognized it as the same anonymous one from this morning. Grabbing the phone, I answered quickly.
“Hello?”
“Hi.”
It was a woman’s voice, I realized in surprise. The voice was crisp and confident. It sounded like it belonged to someone older, but I couldn’t be sure.
“Who are you?” I asked immediately.
“That really doesn’t matter at this point,” the woman replied. “What does matter is that I know you.”
“How?”
“From around,” she replied vaguely. “And, I’m here to help.”
I wondered if she was being cryptic for a reason or if she just enjoyed playing the part. “Help?” I repeated. “Why do you think I need help in the first place?”
“I know about you and your professor.”
I felt myself tense instantly. “What?”
“I know about you and Chance,” she said, and I definitely sensed amusement in her tone.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said.
What if this was a trap and someone was trying to lure me into admitting the relationship just so that they could use it as proof later? I felt a slight burst of panic, and then it faded almost immediately.
What was done was done. Chance and I had had a relationship, and it had been perfect… At least for me. I wasn’t going to deny it now because the honest truth was that I was proud to have been his girlfriend, even if the relationship hadn’t lasted forever.
“You don’t have to deny it,” the woman said. “I already know everything. Including the fact that Chance broke up with you recently.”
I frowned in confusion. “What is your interest in my personal life?” I asked. “And how do you know so much about me?”
“There’ll be time enough for that explanation later,” the woman said. “For right now, all you need to do is trust me and go meet Chance.”
“Why?”
“Because he lied to you.”
“What?”
“He lied about the reason he wanted to break up with you,” she told me. “That was not the real reason.”
I hated how fast the hope rushed up inside me. “Then what is?” I asked.
“Jason.”
My fingers went cold when I heard his name. “Excuse me?” I said. “Jason had something to do with why Chance broke up with me?”
“Jason had everything to do with why Chance broke up with you.”
“How can that be?”
“Shortly before the breakup, Jason cornered Chance in his office and basically gave him an ultimatum. He threatened to expose your relationship unless Chance ended things with you himself.”
“Are you serious?” I demanded.
“Deadly serious.”
“And Chance just…went along with that?”
“He would have lost his job in a heartbeat for you,” the woman replied. “But Jason reminded him that Chance wouldn’t be the only one affected if the news of your relationship came out. You would be expelled.”
I bit my lip. “I knew that,” I said. “And, I was willing to risk it.”
“But Chance wasn’t,” she told me. “He loved you too much to allow you to sacrifice your education for his sake. He claimed that loving you meant protecting you and that was what he needed to do. That was why he broke up with you.”
I shook my head in disbelief. “That’s… I… Sorry, I’m just processing.”
“Understandably.”
I let the silence sit for a few moments before I spoke. “So, the reasons he gave me for the breakup were all lies?”
“Unequivocally.”
“He did it just to protect me?”
“He did.”
I felt a tear slip down my cheek. “He was really convincing.”
“He knew he had to be,” the woman explained. “Otherwise you wouldn’t have accepted it.”
“That’s true,” I nodded.
“When you meet Chance at dinner tonight, tell him that you know,” the woman told me.
“Will it matter?” I asked. “No matter what I tell him, he’ll stick to his guns. He’s stubborn.”
“Oh, I know,” the woman agreed. “But in this case, he has no reason to be. The problem has been taken care of.”
“What? Jason has been taken care of?” I asked.
“He has.”
“How?”
The woman laughed lightly. “I wasn’t willing to let this guy get away with what he had done. He’s obviously got some issues, and he would have gone on to mess up more lives had he been left unchecked. So, I had a few friends of mine
follow him. Apparently, he had started stalking a new girl, another student.”
“No.”
“Her name was Gina Smith; she had been in one of his classes last semester, and she had already turned him down a couple of times.
“Once my friends realized that he was a serial stalker, they broke into his dorm and went through his things. He has quite an extensive collection of pictures of other women.”
“Oh my God,” I said. “I should have reported him long ago.”
“You should have,” the woman agreed. “One of my friends made contact with Gina and told her what was happening.”
“Did she suspect that Jason was stalking her?”
“She had no clue, which highlights what a practiced stalker he was,” the woman replied. “In any case, my friends advised her to press charges, which she did. The cops found quite a nice little stash of pictures of all the different women Jason has stalked over the years.”
“Oh my God…” I breathed.
“Jason was taken into custody about a week ago,” the women informed me. “He spent a few nights in jail.”
“He’s in jail?”
“Not anymore,” the woman replied, with a hint of regret in her tone. “It turns out his father is quite a powerful man. He managed to get the charges dropped, and Jason was released in time to graduate. But he did get a beautiful black eye courtesy of his time behind bars. I think his first experience of jail was enough to convince him that he would never want to go back.”
“So that means…”
“Jason has no idea that his incarceration had anything to do with you and Chance,” the woman said. “He’s under the impression that Gina was the only one involved. She’s got a restraining order placed against him, too. As far as I’ve heard, Jason’s moving to a different state – and I doubt he’ll be back anytime soon.”
I was shocked and thrilled and overwhelmed all at the same time. I had so many different questions; I didn’t know where to begin. “Does Chance know all this?”
“I thought I’d give you the pleasure of telling him,” the woman said. “He might appreciate it more coming from you. Oh, and by the way, Jason had quite a few pictures of you and Chance together.”
“Oh God…”
“Don’t worry, my friends got them all,” the woman assured me. “So, there’s no hard evidence of your relationship with Chance. They left the rest of the pictures where the cops could find them, though…”
“Who are you?” I asked again.
“Think of me as your fairy godmother,” the woman replied, and I could tell she was smiling.
“I’ve never met you?” I asked curiously.
“No.”
“But you know Chance,” I surmised.
“Smart girl,” she confirmed. “But really, my identity isn’t important here. You and Chance are.”
“Why did you do all this?”
“Because I happen to like Chance,” she replied. “He’s a good man, and that’s a rare thing to find. So is true love, by the way. Trust me; I’d completely given up on it until I met Chance. His love for you convinced me that genuine men are out there and so are healthy relationships.”
“You mentioned that you had two friends follow Jason?” I said, trying to figure out who she was.
“Yes?”
“Um…when you say, ‘friends,’ are you using that term broadly?”
She laughed. “Are you trying to figure out if I used hired guns?”
“Yes.”
She laughed again. “No, I didn’t pay them. They’re not thugs. They’re just big, intimidating guys who both happen to like me very much. I thought I’d take advantage of that.”
“For me?”
“For you and for Chance,” she replied.
“I… I don’t know what to say,” I admitted.
“Say thank you to your fairy godmother.” The woman laughed. “And get going; don’t you have an important dinner to attend?”
This time I smiled, and there was no caution or doubt behind it. I felt lighter than I had in weeks and suddenly I realized that the dark fog of sadness that had hung over me had finally lifted and everything looked bigger and brighter, including my future.
“Thank you, fairy godmother,” I said, repeating her words.
“Good luck.”
The line went dead, and I put my phone down tentatively. When I looked back at my reflection, it felt like the whole world had changed suddenly, and I was looking at a new woman.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chance
I had to admit; I was nervous. Sitting there in the middle of the restaurant where I had broken up with Natalie was giving me major stress. I hated coming here myself, so I could only imagine how she must feel. But I wanted to drive home the point that we were not getting back together. I was fairly sure that was what she wanted to discuss.
I ended up ordering a drink for myself, hoping that the alcohol would soothe my nerves and give me the strength to maintain my cold façade when Natalie got here. I kept thinking about the tears running down her face when I had told her I didn’t want her anymore. I kept thinking about Jason’s black eye, and Lindsey’s cryptic words before she had left the bar the other night.
My head was spinning when I saw Natalie enter the restaurant. She didn’t see me at first, so I had the freedom of staring at her hungrily as I watched her talk to a waiter. She looked absolutely beautiful, like some floating angel out of an ancient painting.
She walked through the tables towards me and on instinct, I rose from my chair, trying to force my expression into one of indifference.
“Natalie.” I nodded.
She gave me a breathtaking smile that I had to resist. Then we sat down together, and after the waiter had taken our drink orders and disappeared, Natalie turned to me.
She looked different from that morning, I realized. Her face was brighter, her eyes were dancing, and her features were arranged into an expression of softness. She didn’t look sad or depressed, and she certainly didn’t look like a woman seeking closure.
“How have you been?” she asked, breaking the silence.
“Fine,” I replied shortly.
Natalie nodded, but she didn’t seem perturbed by my coldness. “You looked very nice today in your robes.”
“Thank you,” I said, refraining from offering her a compliment in return.
“My parents liked you,” she went on. “I think I’m going to tell them tomorrow who you are.”
I frowned. “Why?”
She shrugged. “Mom’s been asking about Chance this whole trip. It wouldn’t be right not to mention to her that you are Chance.”
“Do you think she’ll care?” I couldn’t help but ask. “That I was your teacher?”
“I don’t think she will,” Natalie replied. “They are not ones to care about something as superficial as that. We’re both adults, and we didn’t do anything wrong, despite the university’s policy.”
“That is entirely subjective,” I pointed out.
Natalie’s expression didn’t change. “I suppose it is,” she agreed.
“There’s another reason not to tell them,” I said.
“Which is?”
“We’re not together anymore,” I said.
Again, her expression stayed the same. “Hmm.”
That answer surprised me, and I started to question what had led her to ask me out for dinner in the first place. It was almost like she had moved on and she wanted me to know that. I gulped back my questions and stared at the menu. We ordered a couple of dishes and the moment the waiter cleared our table, I checked my phone, as though I had more important places to be.
I realized that I had a message from Lindsey. All it said was, “You’re welcome.” Puzzled, I scrolled down to see if there was more to the text, but she hadn’t written anything else.
“Chance?”
“Yes,” I said, looking up at Natalie.
“You seem distracted.”
“I…have lots on my mind.”
“Anything you want to share with me?” she asked, and I wondered if it was just my imagination or if she was trying to coax something out of me.
“Not really; I’m not the one who requested this dinner.”
I was being rude, and I knew it, but I hoped that my attitude would make it easier for her, but it was killing me inside. Why did she have to look so damn perfect?
“What are your plans?” Natalie asked.
“My plans?”
“Are you planning on staying on as a professor?” she asked.
“Uh… I’ve been offered a position at the university,” I admitted. “A permanent position, but… I don’t think I’m going to take it.”
“You want to move again?”
“Maybe a year or two in Germany,” I nodded.
“What about France?”
I frowned, unsure of Natalie’s motives and confused by her line of question. “I’m done with France for the time being,” I said. “I don’t think I’ll see Paris for a few years at least.”
“I miss it,” she said. “I think about it every day.”
If she was hoping to dredge up feelings from our romantic trip to France, it was working. I felt shifting uncomfortably in my seat, trying not to let the memories weaken my resolve.
“I don’t,” I said sharply. “I’ve had better trips.”
Natalie looked at me carefully for a moment. “I don’t believe you,” she said.
“No?” I said. “Doesn’t make it any less true.”
“You’re really good, you know,” she said unexpectedly. “If I didn’t know any better, I would have been thoroughly convinced. You could have gone into acting. Hollywood would have been all the better for it.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked.
“Is there anything – anything at all – you want to tell me, Chance?” Natalie asked pointedly.
I frowned. “No,” I said. “But why don’t you tell me what you expect me to say.”
She nodded. “Okay, how about, ‘I’m sorry I broke up with you, Natalie… I’m sorry I broke up with you because I didn’t really want to. I only did it because I was being blackmailed.’”
I stiffened at her words. “What are you talking about?”
“You know exactly what I’m talking about,” she said. “I know everything, Chance. I know all about Jason and the deal he made with you.”