Chapter Twenty-Three
Vivian
The flight home was delayed by seven hours, which put us back in New York in time to change into our pajamas and get to bed. I was so beat from being up the night before that I had to have Case drive us back to the dorm room. I slept like a rock until she finally pushed at my shoulder just before lunch on Sunday.
"Hey. My mom wants me to come spend the night with them. I'm going to drive up there if you're gonna be okay here by yourself." She sat down on the edge of my bed, speaking far too fast for what I was capable of comprehending.
"What? Where are you going?" I pressed my palms to my eyes and stretched out.
"My mom's. I'll be back tomorrow sometime."
"What about class?" I drug my fingers down my face and grunted as I turned onto my side.
"I'll just make something up. A delay or something from the trip. I'll be back tomorrow night. You want to go with me?" She tugged at the covers playfully.
"No, but thanks." I rolled over to the other side of the bed and stood up. "What time is it? I feel like I'm coming out of a coma."
"It's twelve-forty." She got up and moved back to her bed, zipping up a small duffel bag before tugging the strap over her shoulder. "You sure you don't want to come?"
"No. I want to start working on my post-college plan." I yawned loudly and moved to give her a quick hug. "I'm going to jump in the shower. Be safe on your trip and text me when you get there."
"Okay." She caught my wrist as I turned to go. "No hanging out with Jackson, right?"
"No. Never. I'm done with him, no matter what." I gave her a weak smile and walked into the small bathroom, closing the door behind me. A week ago, I would definitely have hung out with Jackson in hopes of figuring out how we could work through all the shit we'd been through. But now, after meeting someone like Easton, there was no way.
The thought of the handsome, dark-haired businessman caused a longing to rise up inside of me that I couldn't ever remember feeling so strongly. He would be headed home sometime in the next few days, and while I shouldn't have, I expected a call from him. After leaving him without as much as a goodbye, I didn't deserve a call from him, but something told me that our love affair wasn't over just yet.
I washed up quickly and braided my wet hair before pulling on a pair of jeans and tugging a bulky sweater over my t-shirt. After lacing up my boots, I grabbed my scarf, gloves, keys, and library card. I wanted to do some research, and the library would be open on campus by then.
There was a serenity to the place that I adored. There was nothing else like it in all of New York. I needed to keep my mind busy, but my emotions at rest. The college library would help me do just that.
I picked up my favorite coffee at the corner vendor just down from the shade trees on campus and walked languidly toward the large, ornate structure. I wanted Easton to call and tell me he was home, but I would have to bide my time seeing that I didn't get the specifics on when he was flying back into town.
"This is assuming of course that he even wants to see you." I moved back as a group of guys walked out of the library, the last one holding the door for me and smiling brightly.
"Morning." He winked, and I smiled, trying to play nice as best I could.
"Morning," I mumbled and walked in as I breathed in deeply. The smell of old books was one of my favorites. That and a good strong cup of coffee was my idea of heaven. I couldn't help but wonder what Easton's favorite scents were. Our twenty-question game was cut off far too early, but it was my fault. I hoped to have the chance to reconcile that.
Taking the stairs to the third floor, I found an open cubbyhole desk with a computer that was working a few minutes later. Setting my stuff on the desk beside the computer, I turned and scanned my surroundings. It was quiet, and the place seemed empty.
"Perfect." I sat down and shook the mouse as I tried to think through what I wanted to search exactly. I'd looked up various websites on being a food critic, as well as degrees held by the world-renowned critics until I was blue in the face.
"Hmmm..." I tapped my hand on the desk as my thoughts shifted back to Easton. "That's it. Maybe I could apply at his company, and even if he never called, we could run into each other down the road when I was healed, and he was...taken?"
I grumbled and typed in his name, not at all surprised when the first full page on Google was all about him and his critiques. The picture they had for his profile was stunning, his beautiful green eyes accenting the deliciously tanned coloring of his skin. Reaching out, I brushed my fingers over the screen and let out a shaky sigh.
"I miss you," I whispered, feeling like a creeper and not caring at all. I did miss him—horribly.
Getting a hold of myself, I worked through the pages to find the name of his company and dug down until I landed on their website. They were all over the world, and Easton was quite high up for his division. He was lead resort reviewer. He had a zillion accolades and awards next to his name; each was more intimidating than the one before it.
"No wonder his career's so important. Must make him feel like a million bucks to be so popular." I clicked a few more times to find his boss and the rest of the executive committee. The food critic Easton kept mentioning was on several pages too, but something about him didn't sit right with me.
"You doing okay, miss?" A thin older woman stopped beside me and glanced down at the computer screen. "Oh Wilmington and Branch. I love their reviews. We usually travel based on their ratings."
"Really?" I turned my attention to her. "I just met one of their reviewers over break. Seems like a hard job having to travel all the time, but I'm hoping to one day be a food critic for them, or for myself."
"Oh really? That sounds like fun, unless you had to try something you didn't like. That would be painful." She stuck out her tongue and grimaced.
I chuckled and nodded. "I thought about that too, but I'm pretty open to trying anything once."
"That's a good attitude for that line of work." She pointed to the top of the screen. "Check their open positions. If you can get in with them, you'll be set. They're on the top five companies for reviewers, writers, and critics. Good, solid company."
"Very cool. Thanks." I smiled at her and clicked on the jobs length, finding open applications for all positions. I took my time and filled out an application for food critic, only pausing to type up a critique of La Mage's famous steakhouse to attach as part of my submission. I wasn't sure what the protocol was on submitting the review to the papers too, but I figured waiting a little while wouldn't hurt anything.
I clicked back to the bio on Easton and pressed my face to my hands, leaning toward the screen to get a better look at him.
"God, you're beautiful. Why would you even bother with a silly girl like me?"
My phone buzzed, and I almost jumped out of my skin. I glanced down to see his name on my caller I.D., and my heart almost stopped as I fumbled with the phone and tried to still my racing pulse.
"This is Vivian."
"Hey, Viv. It's Easton. I just wanted to hear your voice. You made it home safely, I assume?" His tone was neutral, but the sweet timbre that belonged only to him left me closing my eyes to savor it fully.
"Yeah. Sorry I didn't text. We had a seven-hour delay and changed gates several times last night. By the time we made it home, I was out of it. I just woke up an hour ago." I let out a short laugh, trying hard to keep things light between us.
"No worries. I took a red-eye last night and got in about two this morning. I didn't think you'd appreciate a call then."
"I was still up then, but I hear you." I took a quick breath. "I'm really sorry about not saying goodbye.”
"No need to apologize, but how about you make it up to me?"
"Okay. What did you have in mind?" I sat back in the small plastic chair and let my eyes move back up to the screen so I could look at his picture as we spoke.
"I'm heading out for Los Angeles at lunch tomorrow, but my night's just come open. I'd love to have dinner together and at least put some closure on our week, if that's what you were trying to do by slipping out in the night." He chuckled, but the sound fell flat.
I'd hurt him. I could hear it in his voice. It wasn't something I'd ever want to do to anyone, least of all him. Foreign emotions welled up in my stomach and pushed their way up into the cavity of my chest, threatening to choke me.
"Okay. Just tell me what time and where. I'll be there." I forced back tears as the possibility of a future with him in it danced around my thoughts.
"Let's see...it's two now, and I want a long night with you. Nothing more than dinner and a conversation, just in case you're worried." The sweetness in his voice left me wanting to apologize again.
"I'm not worried at all." I pressed my fingers to my lips and held back the need to confess a million things to the handsome man on the other end of the phone. I didn't know him well enough to offer up my heart, my bed, my tomorrows, but I wanted to. Maybe dinner would open the door a little wider and help me see if it was truly light that was working to peek through from the other side.
"Good. Let's meet at six on the dot." He coughed softly. "My favorite restaurant is Jaspers. Could we meet there, or I can pick you up, if you like?"
"We can meet there. I've not been there in years. My dad used to love to go for his birthday." I smiled as memories assaulted me. "Do they still have their passionfruit crème brûlée?"
"Absolutely. They'd be insane to remove it from the menu." He chuckled, and my smile widened at the sound of it.
"Good. It's a nice place if I remember correctly, so a dress would work?" I got up from the terminal and clicked a few buttons, closing everything out. I wanted to get home and make sure my hair, makeup, and clothes were perfectly on point for seeing him.
"Yeah, a dress would work well. I'll see you then. Bye, Viv." He hung up, and I let the phone slide down the side of my face as my heart fluttered wildly in my chest.
I packed up quickly and jogged down the stairs toward the ground level. I collected a few dirty looks, but I didn't care. My entire body was buzzing with anticipation of seeing Easton in New York. I figured that he had lots of great promises to give while we were on vacation, but that it would be highly unlikely that we'd see each other once we got home.
I called Casey and didn't wait for her to get out much more than hello.
"He called. He got in last night, or really this morning around two. He didn't think I was up, but he just called." I was breathless and overly excited.
"Viv. Hold up. Who called and where are you? You sound like you're in the middle of a wind tunnel."
"Sorry. I'm in front of the library. Easton called. He wants to have dinner tonight." I ran my fingers through my hair as the wind picked up and tugged strands of it from the braid I'd forced it into.
"Oh nice! I knew you guys weren't done just because vacation was over." She laughed joyfully. "Are you going to stay with him tonight?"
"No. I'm not ready for that." I jogged to the car, trying to avoid the groups of students that stood around talking or skateboarding down various ramps.
"Not ready for that? You guys fucked at the hotel, right?" Casey always was one to shoot straight regardless of the shock factor.
"Made love. We didn't fuck." I growled into the phone. "You're so vulgar sometimes."
"You love it. Making love is good." She huffed. "Why wouldn't you spend the night with him? A great dinner, bottle of wine, good conversation, and then sex. Hello."
"Sex complicates things, Case. Shit." I got in the car and wrapped my arms around myself. "It's freezing here."
"Yeah, a late winter cold-front just blew in yesterday from what my mom said. Stop changing the subject. Sex doesn't complicate things, it softens them. He deserves a chance. He's not Jackson, and you're not the same girl that fell in love with a thirteen-year-old boy who lived down the street. Things change, Viv. People change."
"I applied for a job at his company. I probably shouldn't have, and I don't believe in fate, but just in case it is real, I didn't want to chance it." I started the car and flipped the heater on high.
"That's a great idea, but I'm not thinking you're going to need to help fate out at all. The guy just called you after you not only left him alone in a hot tub the night before, but didn't even have the balls to say goodbye."
"How is it that you always make me feel so much better?" I let all the sarcasm I could muster sink into my voice as I turned and backed the car out of my parking spot.
"We've been friends since you could walk. I'm not telling you what you want to hear. I love you too much for that shit."
"And what do I want to hear?" Frustration pumped through me. Why did I call her again? She was always the voice of reason to a fault.
"You want to hear that the two of you will cordially part ways and remain friends until you're healed and he's settled into a schedule that doesn't have him flying all over the world."
"How do you do that? It's annoying." I stopped at the stoplight in front of me and crossed my free arm over my chest while I waited for the green light.
"I know you, remember?"
"Why can't that be the future, though? That sounds so much better than all the other options that have played through my head."
"Because it doesn't work like that. Someone is going to steal his heart or yours if you don't leave your fear behind you and try this out with him. It's stacking up to be something incredible, Viv. Stop pushing him away. Give this a chance."
"I can't." I shook my head and gripped the steering wheel as I hit the gas. "I don't know how to."
"It's natural to think that you don't, but you do. Go with the flow, and make decisions with him based on the fact that he loves you and wants to be a part of your future."
"What if he doesn't though?" I realized how stupid I sounded, but we were too far into the conversation to stop now. "Then what?"
"Then we move on, but you're not even giving him a proper chance. Let your guard down. Promise me that you'll try tonight."
I nodded and let out a sigh of resignation. "I'll try, but that's all I've got right now."
"That's good enough."