by Amelia Wilde
“…and I got fired from my job. I don’t work at Basiqué anymore.” A few tears spill onto my cheeks.
Dad waves his hand in the air and takes another bite of his burger. “It’s a job.”
“A job?” My voice shrills high enough to make me sound absolutely ridiculous.
“Of course, Cate. It’s not the end of the world. And this guy—Jock?”
“Jax.”
“He sounds like he cares about you. Maybe he’s a little pretentious, but what rich guy isn’t? That job was killing you anyway.”
“‘That job’ was going to be my ticket to some security in life, Dad. You of all people should know how important that is.”
He puts down his burger and stares me in the eye.
“Cate, you’re as smart as they come, but I’m going to tell you this anyway. There’s no such thing as a guarantee.”
“But you—”
“Circumstances happened with my career that I couldn’t plan for, and in other ways I didn’t plan enough. But I’m all right! I’m still here, aren’t I?”
I nod, my throat tight. “I don’t want that to happen to me.”
My dad laughs out loud. “Oh, Cate, my favorite Cate in all the world. That’s not going to happen to you. You schedule out date nights, for God’s sake. You’re going to be fine.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“There aren’t any guarantees, but I know—I know, Cate—that you could stand to worry less. Plan a little bit of your life out, if you want, but I think you might have learned the wrong lesson from how I went into retirement.”
“I did?”
“Yeah, you did. The important thing isn’t to invest your life in your job.”
“It’s not?”
“No. The important thing—” He reaches across the table and pats my hand, giving me a grin. “—It’s always the people, Cate. People that love you. People that you love. No job can compete with that.”
40
Jax
I’ve dragged myself out of the penthouse and to a series of clubs with Christian, and with every passing moment I regret this decision even more.
Everything grates on my nerves, from the laughter around the table at the Purple Swan to the women dancing in the club we’re at now—I don’t remember the name of it. Christian has a standing reservation for a luxury booth here, which is why we came, but none of the women hold the slightest bit of appeal for me now.
The music booms from the oversized speakers near the turntables. I can’t escape it, so instead I order another drink.
The crowds come and go around the booth, kept a short distance away by velvet ropes. This club is about a hundred steps down from the Purple Swan, but even the Swan isn’t good enough for me tonight.
Where do I want to be instead?
In my penthouse with Cate.
I’d even settle for watching some horrible rom-com.
But what I’d really like to do is tear her clothing off her body and worship every inch of her skin like I’ll never get another chance, spread her legs wide and taste the sweetness there, lick it all up, lick and suck her until she gushes a new wave of wetness into my mouth, tug at her nipples with my teeth, turn her over on her hands and knees and drive my cock into her hot core…
One of the women Christian has collected throughout the evening breaks into my thoughts by shouting into my ear.
“What’s it take to impress a guy like you?”
“What do you mean?” I shout back, already disgusted by the aroma of alcohol on her breath, by the fact that she’s not Cate, by the fact that I brought this on myself.
“You’re way richer than Chris. That’s what the girls said.”
I shake my head. “We don’t need to—”
She barrels on. “So I want to know what it would take to impress you. You’ve probably got an entire building to yourself, and I’d keep you company if you wanted to head home.”
“No.”
I don’t remember her name. I can’t remember the first thing about her. I want nothing to do with this woman, who wants to be able to say she’s slept with me. If she’s lucky, she’ll make it onto the gossip sites like Victoria—Vivian?—did.
Without another word to her, I stand up and leave the booth, stepping around long legs and high heels and bodies that sway from drinking. I don’t even bring my drink with me. I don’t want it anymore.
I don’t want anything but Cate, and it’s killing me.
How much longer will it be before I can stand it? Or, better yet, forget it and move on?
Moving blindly toward the exit, I push people out of my way, my only mission to get through the crowd and outside.
Thirty feet from the door, the sidewalk is blessedly empty.
I text Peter to bring the car.
His response comes quickly. Five minutes.
A hand on my shoulder startles me. I whip my head around, wondering if it’s going to be some asshole shoving a camera in my face, but it’s Christian.
“What’s going on with you, man?” he says, looking half concerned and half irritated. “You made quite the scene, leaving like that. You’re lucky none of those photographers are here.”
I roll my eyes. “Those photographers were lucky that time at the Swan because your girl Vivian called them and gave them the address of the club.”
“That’s—” He only has the grace to look a little ashamed. “Seriously, is something up? It’s not like you to walk out on a perfectly good party without even saying goodbye.” His tone is light, but I think he does want to know. His playboy ways notwithstanding, Christian is a decent guy, and a good friend.
“I don’t know why I’m telling you this.”
“Spit it out. There are women waiting for me inside. Women, Jax.”
“You remember I told you I needed to forget someone? The woman from the magazine?”
“You couldn’t forget her, could you?”
“No.”
“How far are you in over your head, Jax?”
“Underwater.”
Christian purses his lips. “So what happened? Did you cut her loose?”
“No. I got her fired from her job.”
“Jax,” Christian says, starting to laugh. “What have I told you about fucking women in the office?”
I decide not to tell him about that part.
“I got her fired from her job.”
Christian’s mouth drops open. “What the—”
“It was killing her, man. She was going to lose it. The only thing is, I didn’t get a chance to tell her about the plan I had.” I run my fingers through my hair. “She got so angry at me that she dumped me, and then she had to run home for an emergency with her sister.”
“Jesus, Jax. And you haven’t gone to talk to her yet?”
“She left New York.”
“So?”
“So, she’s in a different state with her family.”
“And you have a private jet.”
“She doesn’t want anything to do with me.”
Now it’s Christian’s turn to roll his eyes. “People say stupid shit in the heat of the moment. Are you absolutely sure?”
“Pretty sure.”
“That doesn’t sound a hundred percent to me.”
“What the hell do you expect me to do?”
Christian slaps me on the back like I’m his junior employee and he’s a sixty-year-old CEO. “Well, Jax, I tell you this as your best friend in the entire world: stop being such a controlling jackass and trying to take over her life. Also, if you miss her enough to interrupt parties over her, go see her. It’s never too late for love.”
“Shut your mouth. Never too late my ass.”
“Are you coming back in or not?” Having imparted his wisdom, Chris is already turning to head back into the club.
I brushed it off, but his words have started the gears turning in my head.
There’s only one way to find out if it’s too late, and I’m not goi
ng to try it empty-handed.
“You go. I have calls to make.”
“It’s 1:30 in the morning.”
“Go.”
Christian gives me a jaunty salute and heads for the door. I start dialing. I’m going to need my accountant and my lawyer, and I need them right now.
Because in the morning, I’m going to find Cate.
This is my only chance.
41
Cate
It’s not long before I’m back at Bee and Dex’s house. As thrilled as they are with Gabi and Izzy—nicknames set in early in our family—it’s beyond exhausting to have not one, but two newborns in the house, so I’ve been spending my free time cuddling one baby or another so Bee and Dex can take turns napping.
I don’t know how they do it all and still smile at each other. Bee’s more of a mess than I think I’ve ever seen her, and Dex still looks at her like she’s the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen in his life.
For all I know, she is.
One day, Bee sends Dex out for an afternoon with his friends.
“You’ve been here every second since the twins were born,” she says as he stands in the doorway between their living room and their bedroom, looking back and forth from her to me to the babies.
“I’d feel like shit to go out and leave you here.”
“Cate’s going to be here the entire time,” Bee wheedles. “You can go for a couple of hours. These are your friends, Dex. In a few months when I’m not attached to these gorgeous babies all the time, you can return the favor.”
“Okay,” Dex says, his forehead still furrowed.
“Go take a shower and make yourself presentable. Then get out of here.”
Another flash of guilt crosses Dex’s face, but as he disappears into the bedroom I see the corner of his mouth turn up in his signature half-smile. Bee is right. He needs this.
Fifteen minutes later, he emerges wearing a fresh outfit, his face neatly shaven, smelling like his body wash and face brimming with excitement. He gives Bee a kiss that lasts almost long enough to be embarrassing, plants little kisses on each baby’s head, and then grabs his keys.
“Don’t let anything here get too crazy, Cate,” he says to me.
Izzy is asleep on my chest, her soft baby scent filling my nose. “I won’t. Scout’s honor.”
Dex lets out a snort of laughter at my joke and heads out the front door at a clip.
Bee giggles as the front door swings shut. “It’s like he’s a little worried that I’ll call it all off. He misses his friends.”
“I thought he didn’t have many friends here.”
“He kept to himself when he first moved back, but now that he’s involved in the local political scene, he’s found—and I know, it sounds crazy—a couple of good guys that he likes to hang out with. When there’s not a baby crying…which right now is practically never.”
“This must be a special moment, then.” Gabi is curled up in Bee’s arms, snoring softly.
We sit silently in the quiet, each on our respective sides of the couch. Bee closes her eyes and leans against the backrest. She’s got dark circles under her eyes, but somehow she still looks radiant. Her sandy hair is gathered on top of her head in a messy bun. A hot tendril of envy rises through my chest. I always felt like I had to work harder than my sister to be beautiful, to be valuable. It was always easier for her.
I check that thought.
Maybe it wasn’t.
I guess you never know.
“How did you know, Bee?”
“About what?”
“About Dex.”
She takes a deep breath in through her nose and lets it out. “That I loved him?”
“More than that. How’d you know he was the right one for you?”
“I loved him almost from the moment I saw him. We always had…” Her voice trails off as she searches for the words. “There was always something between us, but it was more than friendship, and when he kissed me the first time, it was like…God, this is so stupidly cliché. It was fireworks.” Bee smiles at the memory.
“But you didn’t date.”
“We were going to. Life kept intervening.”
“So when you saw him again…”
“That was a wild coincidence. It was one of those split-second decisions. I wanted to show him how over him I was, and at the same time I wanted to know…why hadn’t it worked out? Why had he disappeared from my life for so long? At first, it wasn’t about getting him back. But once we started talking, everything from school came rushing back. Anyway, in the end, you don’t get that many second chances, so I took it.”
As Bee speaks, I remember the Fourth of July, Jax cutting across traffic to talk to me. That was a split-second decision, too, exactly the same kind of thing Bee had with Dex.
“And you’re sure he’s the one for you?”
Bee laughs, a pretty, charming sound. “Cate, is something on your mind?”
“Obviously I can’t hide it from you.”
“Did you and your boyfriend have a fight?”
The tears come so quickly it surprises me. “We broke up.”
Bee is instantly concerned. She raises a hand like she wants to reach for me, but drops it again when I wave her off.
“Don’t wake up Gabi because I was a total idiot.”
“What happened?”
“He got me fired from my job. Well…transferred. I wouldn’t listen to him long enough to hear the whole story. It happened overnight, and he didn’t say anything. There was a medical emergency with his mother, and we didn’t talk, and he didn’t text, or send any kind of message. The next day I showed up at Basiqué and I’d already been replaced.”
“Wow. That’s a ballsy move.”
“I was pissed.”
“I bet. It probably doesn’t help that he was right.”
I roll my eyes. “Not you, too.”
“He definitely should have told you, and talked to you about it, and if I ever meet this guy, I’ll tell him that myself. But that job—it wasn’t worth what you were giving it. Would you even be here now if you were still working there?”
I shake my head.
“That’s what I thought. So why don’t you call him up and tell him you’re sorry, and you can kiss and make up as soon as you see him again.”
I swallow the lump in my throat. “It’s too late. He won’t want anything to do with me.”
Bee looks at me for a long moment, then shrugs her shoulders a little. “If that’s what you think. Want to watch a movie?”
“You pick.”
She turns on a romantic comedy that had been popular when we were in high school, and I laugh at all the appropriate parts, but her words ring in my ears.
You don’t get that many second chances.
42
Jax
I’m stepping onto my private plane, everything squared away, my things already stowed in the overhead compartment by my staff, the portfolio with all of my plans for Cate held tightly in my hands, when my cell phone rings in my pocket.
Jesus.
My first instinct is to ignore it, but after all that’s happened lately with Mom, I can’t risk it.
When I pull it out and see the name on the Caller ID my heart sinks.
It’s the nursing home calling.
Not right now, not right now…
That thought is followed immediately by a sickening rush of shame. My mother cannot help what’s happening to her. This is no time to be concerned with my own convenience.
Cate can wait.
I hope.
Peter is still waiting next to the car, and I turn and head back down the steps to the plane, waving him over as I answer the call.
“Hunter.”
“Mr. Hunter, this is Angelica from Brookside. I’m calling because we’ve had a medical emergency involving your mother that necessitated a transfer to Mount Sinai—”
I cut her off. “Is she all right?”
“As far as I
know, her condition is still serious.”
“I’ll be there as soon as I can.” I disconnect the call. “Mount Sinai. Right now, Peter. I’m going to make some calls on the way. I need you to cancel the flight.”
“Of course.”
In ten seconds we’re speeding away from LaGuardia, my heart in my throat. What the hell is happening with my mother? Her doctors are the only ones who know, and they’re not coming to the phone. Not now.
I hope I get there in time.
By the time I walk into my mother’s room at Mount Sinai, she’s resting peacefully against her pillow, looking haggard and somehow much older than the last time I saw her. Every time I see her like this it guts me all over again. She should have so many happy years left ahead of her.
The doctors briefed me in the hallway before I got here, but their words seemed to slide in one ear and out the other even as they were speaking. Something about organ failure, which sounds terrible if you ask me, but the main idea is that she’s still alive and her condition is stable…for the moment.
I needed to see her. I couldn’t take it all in.
I’ll meet with them later to go over it all again, figure out what the next steps are.
The moment I see my mother’s eyes, I’m flooded with relief.
She knows who I am.
“Hi, Mom,” I say, sitting down on the doctor’s stool next to her bed and taking her hand in mine.
“Jax.”
“How are you feeling?”
“I’ve been better.” She gives me a wan smile, her eyes sparkling a little. “Some hospital, isn’t it?”
“The best in the city. Only the best for you, Mom.”
Her smile widens a little. “You’re a good son.”
“I don’t know about that.”
“The best son.”
“I’m your only son.”
We both laugh, and I squeeze her hand.
“What’s this I hear about your organs, Mom? Have you not been taking care of them?”
Her face turns serious. “I do try my best, Jax. But I’m not always myself these days.”