Chapter Five
Kory
When the clock strikes exactly five o’clock, I grab my bag and stand from my desk. Terror grips my throat, and I don’t know if it’s because I’m afraid Henry won’t show, or if I’m afraid that he will. Today was somewhat productive after he left. I spend the past few hours trying to sink myself into work and forget about the possibilities tonight might bring. I’ve always considered myself a strong woman, once I grew up a little. I’m someone who doesn’t need others, but with Henry I’m weak. I try to give myself a pep talk as I take the elevator down, but I know the second my eyes lock on his I’m going to be a goner.
When I get to the lobby I don’t see him and a sinking feeling hits my chest. Would he really stand me up after the big fuss he made this morning in the lab? Just as I’m about to walk outside, one of the security guards comes over and smiles at me.
“Ms. Summers, if you’ll follow me, please.” She holds out her hand in the direction I should go, and I realize this must be the way to Henry.
I follow her through the lobby and around the south entrance of the building. It’s not my usual way of entering for work, so I don’t come out this way much. It’s close to Central Park, but my mom’s place is in the opposite direction. So even though it’s a much more beautiful walk out this way, I never get to enjoy it.
When I step outside, the security guard nods to me and smiles, then goes back inside the building. It’s a warm night out, but there’s a breeze and the sun is beginning to set. I look around and see a large fountain straight ahead, and there’s Henry standing in front of it.
I put my hand over my mouth to muffle my gasp when I see him surrounded by candles and flowers. It’s then I notice the whole place is free of people, and it’s just him and me in this gigantic space.
I walk over, and he comes to meet me halfway. The smile on his face is from ear to ear and it’s infectious. A giggle forms in my throat and the hollow place in my chest warms. Suddenly I’m a teenager again and I’m head over heels for a man I don’t even know. I always thought it was a silly schoolgirl crush, but even now, after all this time has passed, my light for him never dimmed.
He leans in and I think he’s going to kiss me again, but instead he wraps his arms around me in a hug and just holds my body to his. God, his warmth wrapped around me makes me want to cry. How I’ve ached for this embrace.
He places a kiss on the top of my head then moves his lips to my ear. “I think I may have gone a touch overboard.”
I laugh and lean back to look up at him. “You think?”
Once again, I look over to his display of candles and flowers, and I’m awed by the gesture. I can’t believe he did all this.
“Are we eating here?” I ask, as he takes my hand and leads me over to the fountain.
“I wanted a quiet place to talk,” he says, and his words are heavy. I know what he wants to talk about, but I don’t know that I’m ready to visit that subject just yet.
“Henry—” I try to step away from him but he stops my movement. I shouldn’t even be here after what he did to me at prom, but I finally want to know why he did what he did all those years ago.
He shushes me softly. “You promised me dinner, and I’m holding you to it. Come with me.”
He leads me to the edge of Central Park, where there’s a dock with rows of small boats. A man is there to greet Henry, and he takes us over to one of the boats. They are big enough for a couple of people and the one he takes us to is set up with candles and a picnic basket. It’s so over-the-top romantic, and the girly part of me is squealing with excitement.
Henry speaks to the man before stepping into the boat and then holds out his hand to help me board. I hesitate for only a second, and before I know what’s happening, his hands come to my lower waist and he lifts me, placing me inside it with him.
I laugh and shake my head as I take a seat across from him, and he grips the oars. He begins rowing us out onto the lake, and I look around at the fairy lights lining the trees and twinkling across the water.
“You did all this?” I ask, feeling like Ariel in The Little Mermaid.
“I wanted to make sure you couldn’t run from me.” He shrugs and winks at me.
His chiseled jaw and day-old stubble make him look even sexier in the shadows. I should probably be angry he got me in the middle of a lake in order to talk to me, but I kind of like that he’s willing to do this to keep me.
“I’m a great swimmer,” I say, leaning back in my seat, trying to seem in control, like he doesn’t have the upper hand here.
I watch as he stops rowing to remove his jacket and roll up his sleeves. When he reaches up to pull his tie loose, every female part of my body goes on high alert at the skin exposed on his body. Suddenly I’m just as hot as he is out here, and it’s only getting warmer.
“Like what you see?” He wiggles his eyebrows playfully, and I roll my eyes.
“Have you gotten cocky in your old age?”
“No, just hoping you like the view.”
“It’s not so bad,” I hedge, not wanting to stroke his ego. But then I immediately think of all the things on him I’d like to stroke.
Jesus, get it together, Summers. Focus. He broke your heart.
“I’ll take what I can get,” he says as we come to a spot under a canopy of trees that has lanterns hung all around it.
“Do you do this for all your dates?” I blurt out, unable to stop myself. “Never mind, don’t answer that.” My cover-up is terrible and I wish I could take the words back.
“I don’t date.” His words aren’t teasing, but instead firm and true. “You’re the only woman I’d do this for, Kory.”
“You don’t know me.” It’s the only defense I have, and I think maybe if I say it enough that I’ll start to believe it. “You thought you knew me a long time ago, but people change.”
He hooks the oars to the side of the boat and leans forward with his elbows on his knees. “You’re right, people change.” His agreement is a painful truth, but one I think we both need to hear.
I look away from him, because if I keep staring into those blue eyes of his, I won’t be able to hold back the tears.
“Look at me, Kory.” I take a breath and then turn back to him, unable to deny him what he wants. “I grew up and I became a man, but my feelings for you never changed. I may not be the same person I was when I was eighteen, but my heart is stuck in that library where you smiled at me for the first time.”
“Henry,” I whisper, feeling a lump form in my throat.
“Just listen, baby,” he says, getting on his knees in front of me. “I’ve spent the past ten years trying to convince myself that what we had wasn’t real. Tried to deny the fact that the first time I held your hand I knew I didn’t want to hold another for the rest of my life. That when I had you in my arms on the dance floor, I never wanted to dance with anyone else but you. We had one day together and it changed everything I knew to be true. I made myself believe that you didn’t feel the same way, and that’s how I made it through.”
He reaches forward and takes my hands in his. His hands surround my fingers, and he brings them up to his mouth, grazing his lips across my knuckles.
“Three thousand seven hundred and twelve,” he whispers, then stares into my eyes. “That’s how many days I had to tell myself that it wasn’t real. And then today, I kissed you, and I knew it was all a lie.”
A tear slips down my cheek. I’ve done the same thing he has, trying to make myself believe something that every part of my soul fought against. But I gave my heart to him once, and the second he had it, he ripped it in two. I can’t go through that again.
I pull my hands from his grasp and place them in my lap.
“Do you know what’s gotten me through all these years?” I ask, straightening my spine. “Every time I thought about giving in and picking up one of your calls, I remembered what you did to me. Even years later, when a moment of weakness would make its way in, I would conjure up the image of you in that bathroom with your pants around your ankles and Cassie Springer naked and on her knees in front of you sucking your cock. Then I’d remember the sounds of everyone laughing at me and how stupid I was to trust you. That’s what got me through it, Henry.”