Paradise (Girl Friday)

by Blake, Rachel

  “I told you it was Francesca.” Taylor spoke angrily to Nick for the first time.

  Nick stared down at the drawing pad. The picture on top was the pencil drawing of me. He fingered the picture absently and then looked up at me. His green gaze had softened, and I had to steel myself against the draw of it.

  “I’m sorry, Jayden. Please give me a chance to explain all of this.” His throat seemed to tighten around his words.

  I glared at him from across the room. All eyes were on me, and the room fell dead silent. There was nothing I could do to stop the flow of tears, and I could have kicked myself for breaking down in front of him. I shot Taylor a look of thanks for sticking up for me and then my gaze fell on the man who’d both captured and smashed my heart in the space of a week.

  He stared back at me. I could see his throat move as he swallowed, but I wasn’t going to give him a chance to talk.

  “Go to hell, Nick. There is nothing you can say at this point.” I raced out of the office with tears clouding my vision. I pushed through the tourists crowding the sidewalks. I heard Nick call my name, but I didn’t turn around. I just ran.

  I half-jogged, half-stumbled through town and ended up in the crowded marketplace. My black mood suddenly made the friendly smiles of other tourists and pushy sales people in the kiosks irritating rather than charming. In fact, the whole damn place, palm trees, azure seas, and crystal sand beaches became an annoying monotonous blur of scenery. I was homesick for my family, friends, and the smoggy streets of Los Angeles. Everyone here, Nick included, were technically strangers, and I was crazy to fly so far from the security of my life at home.

  I found my way onto the walkway and decided to make a bold attempt at finding my way back to the house. I’d run from the office without my bag or my sunglasses. My head had begun to throb in the relentless sunlight. But mostly it was the heavy weight of betrayal pressing against my chest that sickened me. Back home, Darren had pulled a terrible trick on me, and I’d lost my job because of it. It was the worst thing any guy had done to me until now. I’d gotten over Darren within ten minutes of rushing out of the sales meeting. This newest act of betrayal would stay with me a lot longer. I had never been with a guy like Nick, and stupidly I’d allowed myself to fall for him. I should have known no guy was that perfect.

  I wandered for what seemed like hours but was most likely only thirty minutes. Every street and shop front looked the same, and the blur of people milling about the walkways didn’t help. I finally came upon a palm tree I recognized. Its oddly twisted trunk had always caught my eye when I was clinging to Nick on the back of the bike. My shoulders drooped at the thought. Apparently I was already experiencing one of the most annoying side effects of a break up where everything was a reminder of him.

  The deformed palm tree marked the long road that would eventually lead to the house. Of course, my key was back at the office tucked securely in my purse, but I could sit on the shelter of the porch and sulk until I’d made up my mind on what to do next. My heart was leaning toward heading back home.

  My headache had churned into a thunderous migraine by the time I reached the house. No one was home, which was a profound relief and disappointment all at the same time. Nick obviously didn’t care enough to see if I’d ended up back home, and that reality depressed me more. Not that I wanted to see him, or anybody for that matter, but I really needed to take a couple of aspirin and collapse on my bed. I stretched out on the rickety chaise beneath the roof overhang. My head ached and my stomach felt queasy and my chest was filled with the weight of heartbreak. All in all, not a great day.

  I woke to the sound of a motorcycle roaring up the driveway. The shade over the porch told me I’d slept well into early evening. I sat up groggily and pushed my fingers against my temples. The pain had subsided but I felt lightheaded.

  “Jayden!” Nick yelled into the empty house. “Damn it, Jayden, where the hell are you?”

  Pierre’s car sputtered up the driveway next.

  “She’s not here,” Nick called as they pulled up to the house. “Where could she be?” The angst in his voice almost convinced me that he was worried, but recent horrid events made that seem like a stretch. Maybe he was worried that I was out selling all the secrets I’d stolen from his drawing pad. And now I really was curious about his other line of business.

  I pushed to my feet and walked to the front door where the three men were making plans to search for me. All three of their heads shot up as I rounded the corner of the house. No one said a word as I walked past them and headed into the house and straight into my room.

  A few moments later, Nick knocked lightly on the door. “Jayden, can we talk?”

  I sat on the edge of my bed and stared at the door, but I couldn’t convince myself to answer him. Disappointment kept me from opening the door. After the callous way he’d accused me of taking his notes, I couldn’t think of anything he could say that would make me feel better. Even Taylor had been convinced that it was all Francesca’s doing, but Nick had jumped to another conclusion and that would stick with me always.

  My headache had nearly disappeared, but I downed a couple of aspirin and climbed into bed. The pills burned my empty stomach, but I had no appetite. I was just depressed enough to drift off into a dreamless sleep.

  Chapter 14

  Gnawing hunger woke me. It was dark outside and the house was quiet. My clock said midnight. I decided it was safe for me to tiptoe to the fridge and grab something to eat. I crept across the floor to the kitchen with only moonlight poking through the blinds to guide me. Apparently the guys had eaten sandwiches for dinner, and someone had left half of one on a plate. I grabbed it out of the fridge, spun around, and slammed into Nick’s hard chest. The sandwich smashed between us.

  “How the hell do you do that?” I asked as my breath came back to me.

  “Do what?”

  “Move like you’re filled with air.” I attempted to sidle past him but he met my steps like we were in the middle of a mirror image pantomime.

  “Jayden, we have to talk. I’m going crazy—”

  “You’re going crazy?” I said loudly then lowered my voice to a whisper. “You ought to try crazy from my side, buddy.” I darted past him, dropped the flattened sandwich on the counter, and braced my hands there as well. My head dropped as I fought back tears.

  Nick’s arm went around my waist, but I pushed it away. Again I tried to skirt past him, but his size and the tiny kitchen made it difficult. Within seconds he had me up against the refrigerator. He put his hands up against the door, effectively trapping me within his arms. I stared straight at his chest not daring to peer up into his face.

  “Damn it, Jayden. Just let me explain.” There was a long pause. “Please.”

  “Fine,” I said with a sigh. He moved to touch my arm, but I put up a hand to stop him. “But no touching. You can explain your asinine behavior, but you don’t get to use that magic touch of yours to convince me not to hate you.”

  He dropped his hands, and I worked up the courage to look at his face. Probably a mistake.

  He stepped back. “Peel yourself off the refrigerator door and come sit on the couch.”

  I opened my mouth to protest but he lifted up his hands to stop me. “I promise these fingers won’t get anywhere near you.” He walked out of the kitchen and I followed. He sat on the couch, and I sat as far away from him as possible.

  The same moonlight that had helped me navigate my way around the living room furniture now illuminated his face, breathtaking or not, I had to remind myself that he was a jerk. But it was hard to ignore that face.

  “I told you I had a side business,” he began. “It’s not really a business. Pierre, Taylor, and I are part of a group that helps people in third world countries get the medical supplies they need. Nothing fancy, just medicine to fight cholera, malaria, and any other rampant disease. Some of the
stuff comes from the black market, and some of it is surplus or medicine that is close to expiring. My brother, David, is part of the ring.”

  “Medical supplies? Seriously?”

  “Seriously. My brother has been working with villagers living along the Amazon for several years, but he had trouble getting the necessary supplies for even the most basic medical care. That’s when Pierre, Taylor, and I got involved. They had some connections from their earlier work overseas, and the rest fell into place. Only now our last two shipments were intercepted by armed thieves.”

  “But if it is just medical supplies, why would they bother?”

  “They are no doubt trading it for arms. Medicine is valuable over there.” He paused for a moment and looked at me. “The numbers I had written on my sketch pad were the coordinates for the next drop off. We decided to thwart any attempts to steal the shipments by telling the people on my brother’s end the coordinates at the last minute.” This next pause was longer. He reached for my hand, but I pulled it out of his reach. “I’m sorry, Jayden. I was upset and when I saw that the page with the numbers was missing, I started jumping to conclusions— stupid conclusions.”

  While his secretive side business definitely scored him some points, it didn’t erase the fact that he had accused me of sabotaging things. This time I was the one to pause. “I think what you’re doing is terrific, and I’m sorry that things are going badly.” My throat tightened around my words. “I just wish your conclusions had jumped toward Francesca instead of me.” I pushed up off the couch, walked back to my room, and shut the door behind me.

  I flopped back on my bed with a sigh. No tears this time, just anger, anger at myself for falling so hard, so fast for this guy. If only he had been involved in something scandalous or shady, it would have been easier to hate him. It would be difficult but I had decided to stay the remainder of the month and finish off my job at Regent Realty. Once I got back home, I would look for a new job. Eventually, I would wash Nick from my mind completely. Well . . . maybe not completely.

  The following morning I got into the car with Pierre and Taylor. I had crawled into the backseat and a tense silence had surrounded us. They both knew that things were now strained between Nick and me, but they were gentlemanly enough not to bring it up. I wanted to kick myself over and over again for letting it happen, but it was hard to turn down a guy like Nick. “Boone left Peru last night. He should be here soon,” Taylor said to Pierre.

  “Terrific,” Pierre said with a tone that definitely didn’t fit the adjective.

  Taylor looked over at him. “I don’t understand what your problem is with Boone.”

  Pierre shrugged. “Just don’t like the guy, that’s all.”

  Taylor slumped back against the seat. “Oh, well, that explains it all. Well, Boone is coming here to meet with all of us so we can figure out a way around this problem.”

  “And we need the all powerful Boone to help with that?”

  “He knows more of the details about what’s happening on that end.”

  “It has to be someone who knows Frankie.” Pierre looked at Taylor. “And that brings me back to Boone. He knows her and then some.”

  “And then some? What the hell does that mean?” Taylor asked angrily. “Now you’re just making things up. Frankie hung out with all of David’s friends too. It could be anyone.”

  The tense silence returned.

  After a few minutes, Pierre looked back at me in the rear view mirror. “J. J, would you like to go to lunch at the little restaurant we ate at the other day?”

  My stomach had not recovered from the day before, but I welcomed the invitation. “Sounds good, Pierre.”

  I could only see his eyes in the mirror, but it was easy to spot the sympathy in his expression. I wasn’t the type to enjoy being pitied but having a quiet lunch with Pierre where I could air my grievances would be therapeutic. Rita was my usual crying shoulder, but I wasn’t ready to confess my stupidity to her yet. And it was hard to communicate effectively through messaging. Although, in my case, there was not much to say except that I’d jumped into bed with my boss and had gotten my heart trampled in the process.

  Nick’s bike was already in front of the office when we pulled up. My pulse went instantly into overdrive. I took a deep breath and slid out of the backseat. He was in the back office when I stepped inside and for that, I was grateful. At this point, I wasn’t completely sure I would be able to last out the month. I had to either get over this whole thing and fast, or I’d have to head back to California soon. After my reaction at just seeing his bike, I was leaning toward the latter.

  An unopened box with a new fax machine was sitting in the center of my desk.

  Taylor walked over and picked it up. “It’s about friggin’ time. Another realtor is supposed to fax over an offer today, and I felt like an idiot telling him the office didn’t have a fax machine yet.” He lifted the big box and walked it over to an electrical outfit. “I guess it’ll have to sit on the floor until we get some damn furniture in this place.” Taylor was uncharacteristically angry as he lowered the box to the floor. Grumpiness seemed to be the order of the day for the entire office.

  I set right to work with my list of business calls. I was just leaving a message on a client’s voice mail when I heard Nick’s door open. His large shadow loomed over my desk, flustering me as I recited my message. By the time I’d finished I wasn’t entirely certain I’d left the correct information.

  Nick peered down at me with his pale gaze for a moment and then handed me a new listing. “Jayden, could you please call Mrs. Hinton and let her know I have the perfect house for her. Set up a time to meet later this afternoon,” he said with unusual formality. Suddenly I missed being called Flash.

  “Sure thing. I’ll get right to it.” I reached for the phone but he remained standing over my desk. I glanced up at him. He looked down at me and it seemed he badly wanted to say something else, but he turned and walked back to his office.

  Taylor cussed as he struggled with the fax machine, and Pierre left on a coffee run in hopes that steaming cups of java would cheer everyone up. Seconds later my phone rang.

  “Regent Realty,” I answered.

  “Jay? What’s wrong?”

  “Mom? Why do you think something’s wrong?”

  “I got your message on Facebook and I sensed something was wrong.”

  The woman’s intuition was positively uncanny. “All I wrote was ‘how is everything in California?’ How did you interpret that as something being wrong?” My voice broke on the last words.

  “Jayden, it’s Mom. Just say the word and I’ll go on-line and buy you a ticket home.”

  I fought back tears knowing that if I let the waterworks go then I’d be sobbing into the phone soon, and my mom would be boarding the next plane to Tahiti before I could blow my nose. I swallowed and took a breath. “Nothing that I can’t handle, Mom. I’m a big girl.”

  “You don’t sound the least bit convincing. Why don’t you pack up and come home today.”

  Her offer was tempting. “No, Mom, not yet. Please don’t worry. How are the newlyweds?”

  “Your sister has the worst taste in men,” she said with a sigh of exasperation. “I give it a year.”

  “Sorry to hear that. I guess finding the right man is like finding the right pair of jeans, frustrating, discouraging, even heartbreaking, but when you find the right pair you never want to give them up. I’m glad you found the right pair this time, Mom. I hope I’ll be so lucky some day.”

  There was a long pause before she spoke. “Jay, come home soon.”

  “I will, Mom. I love you. Bye.”

  The remainder of the afternoon was depressingly dull. Nick had Pierre running errands all day so we had to postpone the lunch we’d planned. Taylor and Nick had gone to several showings, so I was left alone to do paperwork and take phone calls
. The job truly was beneath by skill level, and I’d decided when I returned to California, I would take my time and find a job that suited me better . . . without the hunky boss. I’d never make that mistake again.

  My mom and Rita must have had some form of psychic connection. They rarely spoke so I was sure Mom hadn’t called Rita to voice her concerns, but the next phone call was from my friend.

  “Hello.”

  “Jay, what’s up? You sound funny.”

  “All I said was hello.”

  “And it sounded funny.”

  “Oh my God, my mom called you, didn’t she?”

  “Kind of. Never mind that. What’s happened? Is it Mr. Zero?”

  I laughed. “He might be a zero alcohol needed guy, but he’s definitely going to cause me to drink.”

  “You slept with him, didn’t you?”

  I paused. “Kind of.”

  “Jay, Jay, Jay, when will you learn?”

  I cleared my throat loudly. “Hey, look who’s talking, Miss ‘panties are just a nuisance’. Besides, I’m changing my ways. I’m going to throw all my energy into my career, and it won’t be here at Regent Realty. I won’t have time for guys.”

  “At least until the next dreamy boss comes around.”

  I slumped back and my crappy chair nearly tipped backward. “I really thought he was different, Rita. I’m such a fool,” I said glumly.

  “Ahh, Jay, come on. You’re not the first girl to let down her defenses around a hot guy. Shit happens. You’ll be fine. Why don’t you come home? I miss you. I’ve been hanging out with Charlene from the law office down the hall, and all she can talk about is her manicures and the price of her handbags. I’m going nuts.”