Vince

Lunchtime rolls around the next day and I’ve almost convinced myself that surreptitiously checking the windows for Jackie’s runner isn’t the most pathetic reaction ever. On another pass by Kayla’s office—because Jackie’s office would be too obvious—Kayla calls out to me.

“He’s not running today.” Kayla smiles, takes her fingers from the keyboard, and puts them in her lap. Waiting. For me to confess, most likely.

I hesitate outside her office, cellphone in hand. I glance down at the game I was mindlessly playing before giving up and shoving my phone into my pocket. Kayla’s no dummy. She had to suspect something was up yesterday because you could’ve sliced the tension in Jackie’s office with a dull knife.

In front of Kayla’s desk, I cross my arms and look down at her. “What do you know?”

“They have lunch today. Jackie left five minutes ago.” Kayla is smiling. “Why don’t you ask her out, Vince? She might surprise you and say yes.”

Or she might surprise me, say yes, have sex with me, and then pursue the guy who cheated on her instead.

Since I’m not going to tell Kayla any of what has transpired, I go with “We work together. It would be unwise to start something.” I nearly add “at this juncture” in my panic to make the statement sound official.

Close call.

“Anyway, thanks for the info. If you don’t mind—”

“I won’t tell her, Vince. You both mean too much to me to let gossip ruin what you have. Friendship is important.”

“Yeah.” The word tastes like acid on my tongue. Our friendship is important. All I can hope is that I haven’t ruined what we have for a stab at what we could be.

Could have been, I mentally correct.

Because if she’s trying to get Jaundice back, I’m out.

Jacqueline

J.T. invited me to a sushi restaurant with crisp white tablecloths and clean lines and a million windows. I park and walk to the restaurant, spotting him at a table just past the hostess stand. He waves and I steel myself before walking over to him.

“You look pretty,” he tells me. I try not to pick apart his words or let my memory of him with the blonde poison what could’ve been a sincere compliment.

“Thanks.” I sit and a waiter rushes over with a glass of water, then offers to give us time to review the menu. “No need. I won’t be staying.”

Watching the smile fall from J.T.’s face is priceless. I sort of wish I could take a picture, because Vince would get a kick out of it. Even though Vince was being decidedly weird today, I would show it to him.

“Have to get back to work?” J.T. frowns.

“No.”

I thought of two ways to lay out what was going on. I could slap him in the face with a finger-point and an “I SAW YOU!” or I could leisurely lean back in my chair and ask, “Who was at your place Friday night?” I land somewhere in the middle.

“I’m embarrassed to say I was under the impression we were exclusive.” I sip my water while J.T.’s expression turns understanding. “So I guess I’m confused as to why I’m here.”

Silence settles in the air, and to my surprise, J.T. speaks first.

“You’re here because you asked me out and this was the only day I was available.”

“Because you have other plans with other women? Or because you have to work?”

“Both at different times.” His shrug is too casual for my taste. “You don’t have to be embarrassed, Jackie.” His hand on mine feels foreign and wrong, but I don’t pull away. I’m not sure why. “We never defined things, and I didn’t realize we were that kind of couple.”

I didn’t realize there were definitions to make.

“How can we be a couple if you had sex with a blond woman the night you refused to come into my apartment?” Oops. There went my cool. J.T. pulls his hand off mine and I hate myself for showing my cards.

“Tanya and I have an agreement.”

Hearing her name stings like a slap to the cheek. Like the first time Lex referred to his secretary in a possessive manner. Ash and I are in love.

Puke.

“She comes by every once in a while,” J.T. continues. “It’s sex and nothing more. She’s dating her ex-boyfriend again and it’s not working out the way she hoped. On occasion you have to relieve the stress of a tough week, you know?”

A laugh lacking humor exits my lips.

“I wouldn’t let her down when she needs me any more than I would let you down,” he says with a tight frown.

“But you did let me down. I was under the impression you and I were having a great night, and when I invited you in, I figured we could have a better night.” I’m not sure why I’m arguing. I don’t want anything to do with him after what he did to me—or didn’t do to me, as it turned out. J.T. is a lot less handsome now that I know what he’s hiding under his exterior of perfection. He’s a cheating, lying bastard. “At the very least you could have told me the truth.”

The only reason he would’ve lied is so he could have his proverbial cake and eat it too.

“Come on, Jackie.” He smiles in a condescending, smarmy way and suddenly I realize why I’ve had a distaste for J.T. since that ill-fated night. He’s behaving like Lex after I figured out he was cheating. After I conned him into admitting it.

“You wouldn’t have put out that night and you know it,” J.T. says. “You were going to invite me in and we would’ve made out and you might’ve taken off your shirt, but—”

“Shh!” I hiss, reminding him we are in public. He’s smiling and I’m coming unhinged. Nothing makes me angrier than my being upset while the person I’m upset with is completely unfazed.

“The point is both of us know you weren’t really inviting me in.”

Face hot, I reply, “Well, it would’ve been nice if both of us knew you were going home to screw another woman.”

Anger creeps into his expression. Finally! I stand, vindicated. “Goodbye, Jaundice.”

I pivot on my heel, head high, my summery dress billowing behind me as I pick up speed. I slip on my sunglasses and I don’t look over as I pass the window. At my parked car, I climb inside as old, ugly feelings of betrayal and of my marriage ending in the worst possible way swamp me.

Tears well and I try to staunch them, but I’m too far gone to successfully hold back. Dampness streaks my face as I press the accelerator to the floor and speed past the Brookdale Group. I can’t go in there. I can’t face Vince. I can’t face anyone right now.