Chapter 22
Della
A fter making one final adjustment to a new promotional campaign I was assigned, I saved the file on our department's shared drive and shut off my computer. I had planned to walk to a popular Thai restaurant down the street for lunch and needed to get going before Adam bugged me to eat with him. He'd done it almost daily for the last few weeks, even though I'd insisted just as often I wasn't interested. And I doubted today would be any different.
It was no secret Adam hoped I'd give Jace a chance to explain his childhood actions. But I refused to do so, and lunching in the plaza made me too accessible. I spent years hating the asshat who bullied me, wishing him every conceivable illness, plight, and misfortune on the planet. No amount of retribution would ever be enough. I wanted him to hurt and beg for mercy while I gloated and gave him none.
And as ultimately cruel as the world could be, that boy turned out to be Jace—the man I'd given my heart.
Angry at the turn of events, I snatched my purse from my bottom drawer and slammed it shut.
"Ahem. What did your desk do to you?" Adam chuckled from my doorway.
Great! Just great. I didn't leave soon enough. Now more annoyed than before, I stood and shoved my chair against my file cabinet. "Nothing. So what's up?"
"I wanted to see if you'd go to lunch with us."
"Us?"
"Sofie and me. You haven't joined us in weeks. It's obvious you're hungry. You have that look in your eye, and it always makes you grumpy."
"Who says I'm freaking grumpy?" I barked.
"Uhh, the tone of your voice is a clear indicator. Not to mention the way you're beating up your furniture."
"For your information, I'm peachy. No, I take that back. I'm super duper peachy. I'll see you later." I slung my purse strap over my shoulder and stepped toward the door. I expected Adam to move out of my way, but he didn't budge.
"Where are you going?" Adam said, his bottom lip pushed forward in a perfect pout.
"To lunch."
"But—"
"You two weren't leaving without me, were you?" Sofie said, walking up behind Adam.
"Uhh, no. Della's bailing on us. Again."
"Why? We're not friends anymore?" Sofie narrowed her gaze, almost daring me to answer in the affirmative while she helped Adam block my exit.
"Frigging monkey muffins! You want to know why?" I asked, ready to throw my purse at them. "It's because Adam is a pest and won't back off. He keeps pushing me to accompany him to the plaza, hoping I'll run into Jace. Adam's determined to make me talk to him, and I don't freaking want to."
"Hold on." Sofie put her hand out, her expression none too happy. "Adam's motives have nothing to do with me. I'm simply asking you to lunch like I've done for years. Do I now have to have a specific reason?"
"No, of course not. But you're not entirely innocent. I overheard you telling Reid you thought I should listen to what Jace had to say. That puts you in the boat with Adam, although he's worse with his pushiness of late. Plus, he frigging can't stand it when people don't get along. It drives him nuts."
"It does not," Adam sulked. "I happen to want peace and harmony. There's nothing wrong with that."
"Yes, there is because it doesn't always exist. Conflict is everywhere. It's inevitable. The world isn't perfect. It's full of asshats, and Jace happens to be one of them. It's my prerogative whether I talk to him or not. So stop trying to force the issue."
"Well, I, for one, am not forcing anything. Besides, it shouldn't be a problem this afternoon. Adam wasn't planning on meeting Jace for lunch, so it should be just the three of us." Sofie arched a brow at Adam. "Isn't that what you told me?"
Adam vigorously nodded. "Uhh, yeah. That's what Jace said. He had an appointment or something like that."
"You're sure?" I scrutinized Adam's body language and facial expression to see if he was pulling a fast one. Adam rarely lied, but when he did, it was easy to spot since he tended to get super nervous and refused to make eye contact.
"Yes," Adam affirmed as he squared his jaw and met my gaze.
"Okie dokie. I'll go with you guys, but I want rolled tacos."
"Perfect. The taco shop it is. It'll be my treat," Sofie said, appearing a little too pleased.
"Why? I can pay for my own." I scrunched an eye, wondering if she was up to something.
"All right, that's it. You're going overboard and need to quit acting so defensive." Sofie shook her head at me as if I'd lost it. "It's lunch, for God's sake. That's it. Neither Adam nor I are attempting to do anything remotely questionable, and there's nothing wrong with splurging on my friends. So could you stop now?"
"Okay, I'm sorry. I'll back off and cease questioning your motives. It's just… I guess I'm having trust issues after all the garbage with Jace."
"Then we'll start over," Adam said, perking up. "Della, would you like to eat with us? We're going to the taco shop in the plaza."
"I would love to, as long as you don't mind going with a knucklehead because I can see that's how I've been behaving lately."
"I agree. Your behavior has been ridiculous," Adam teased. "Now we need you to figure out how to fix your out-of-control brain and return it to a smidgeon of sanity."
"Wow. Only a speck of normalcy? You're not asking for much."
"No, I'm not. You're too far gone to ask for more," Adam said, trying to keep a straight face.
"Ahh, come on. I may have been a butthead, but I'm in no way a looney tune. I deserve a break." I poked Adam in the stomach, making him flinch. "So be nice. The last few weeks have been super shitty."
"Okay, you two. Let's head to the plaza before we spend our entire lunch hour here." Sofie spun around and walked away, expecting us to follow.
I hooked my arm in Adam's and led him from my office. I let go of him when we reached the exit to my department's lobby. "Hey, I'm sorry for how I've been acting, but you need to back off."
Adam held the door open while attempting, and failing, to look stern. "I forgive you and promise not to be so pushy. But don't expect me to take sides between you and Jace. You're both my friend, so you'll have to share my company. And don't think you can pry anything out of me because whatever either of you says is strictly confidential."
"But how can you call him a friend after what he did to me? I mean, the guy is a freaking asswipe."
"Uh-uh. We've had this discussion. The Jace you describe is not the person I met and have known for years. The Jace I know is a decent human being, and I'm not changing my opinion."
"Fine, but so you know, you're handling the situation better than I thought you would. I expected you to be all broken up when the bomb dropped and everything disintegrated between me and Jace. It appears I was wrong."
"Not really. I was upset at first, but then I realized my friendship with each of you was more important, and the only way I could keep it intact was to avoid taking sides." Adam peered down the hallway toward the elevators and grimaced. "Uh-oh. Sofie's tapping her foot. I think we walked too slow."
"Oops, I guess so. I'll tell her it's your fault."
"You better not."
"What are you two? Turtles?" Sofie said, crossing her arms. She glanced between us disapprovingly and scowled.
"It's Adam's fault," I blurted.
"No, it's not. It's Della's," Adam said, pointing at me.
"Good Lord, you two." Sofie jabbed at the elevator button and then rolled her eyes. "You act just like my kids."
I chuckled, realizing how childish Adam and I must look and sound. By the time the doors opened and I followed Sofie into the car, my amusement was bubbling over. The stress that had consumed me for the last few weeks now melted away. The three of us practically fell out of the elevator when we reached the downstairs lobby. By then, I had laughed so hard I snorted uncontrollably while Adam and Sofie lost it. We had to be an outrageous sight as we stumbled across the tile and out the door.
"Holy moly. It's been weeks since I laughed that hard," I said between shaky breaths. I leaned against the outside wall of our building, trying to pull myself together.
"Oh God, me too," Adam rasped. "And I'm not even sure what we were laughing at."
"I'd say you both needed that," Sofie said, smothering the remnant of a chuckle. She motioned down the sidewalk. "I have a meeting at one o'clock and can't be late. So now that a third of the lunch hour is over, we better hurry, especially since I'm starving." She hustled toward the plaza with Adam and me a few steps behind.
It wasn't long before I was snagging a table outside the taco shop, holding a tray filled with rolled tacos, a stack of napkins, salsa, and an iced tea. Sofie and Adam joined me when I took my seat, having ordered carnitas burritos and sodas.
Hungry, Sofie devoured a quarter of her burrito and washed it down with several gulps of her drink. Taking a breather, she glanced at Adam and me. "What are you guys doing this weekend?"
"I was hoping Della would go to the movies with me Friday night since she's been ignoring me so much lately." Adam peered at me over his shoulder. "What do you think?"
"Sure, I'm game. We can go to dinner after work and catch a flick afterward. But I want to pick what we see."
"I'll agree if you promise not to suggest that new movie with Hannah Bedford. Several of my coworkers complained it was awful."
"Yeah, I heard the same thing. I'll choose something else."
Adam polished off his burrito, folded the paper wrapper, and placed it on his tray. "Do either of you want to go with me to the food festival along the greenway on Sunday? Theo will have a booth at the event, and I told him I'd go and support him."
"I'll go. I went two years ago, and the food was super delicious." I glanced across the table. "Sofie, what about you? Do you want to join us?"
"I'd like to, but I can't. Reid and I have a birthday party to attend. Shoot, that reminds me. I need to confirm with Donna. She's the babysitter we hired when we couldn't reach Allison. So far, Donna's been great with the kids, although they seem to get along with Allison better. We've tried to contact Allison several times over the last three months to see if she'd come back but haven't had any luck. It's like she vanished."
"Wow. Still no Allison. What do you think happened?" I popped the last piece of rolled taco in my mouth while eagerly awaiting Sofie's response. Allison was known to be a highly responsible person, so whatever transpired fell into the realm of thoroughly weird.
"I have no idea, other than nothing makes any sense. Reid's convinced something sinister may have occurred since Allison's daughter doesn't know where she is and found two past-due letters from utility companies in her mother's mailbox. Braxton has been methodically searching and following up on every lead but hasn't uncovered anything substantial."
"Okay, that goes beyond bizarre." My mind was already spinning with a multitude of dastardly scenarios, remembering Sofie had witnessed a murder when she was a teenager, with the body unearthed at a construction site years later. "Hey, umm… You don't think Allison's disappearance has something to do with the prostitute that you saw murdered, do you?"
"Good Lord, I'd hope not. That was years ago. Besides, I don't see how. Denny's dead, and Nick is in prison. The only person possibly still around is my mother, who wasn't directly involved."
"Yeah, I guess that would be too far-fetched." Willing my brain to sever its macabre thoughts, I turned to Sofie with a much more pleasant suggestion. "Hey, about Sunday. Would it be easier for your sitter if I took Evie to the food festival with me? That way, Donna would only have Wyatt."
"I don't know about being easier since Evie isn't difficult to care for. I'm sure she'd like to go, though. Evie says she has fun whenever she's with you."
"Cool. The last time I went, the event had face painting and games for the kids. Plus, I can let Evie ride the carousel and play in the Rings Fountain."
"Uhh, Della?" Adam interrupted, sounding worried. "Before you turn around, I want to say I had nothing to do with it."
"Do with what? What the bejesus are you talking about?"
"Jace is… Well… He's…uhh…walking toward us right now."
"Holy shit! You frigging liar. You planned this. I can't believe you." I jerked my head to the side. Sure enough, there Jace was, smiling as he strolled in our direction.
"No, I didn't. I swear. Jace said he couldn't get away this afternoon." Adam looked wild-eyed, as if he had no clue what to do.
"I'm leaving." I jumped from my chair and snatched my lunch tray.
Sofie reached out and grabbed my arm. "Della, you don't have to leave. We're not going to force you to talk to him."
"I don't even want to sit with him. I need to go." I swiveled toward the front of the restaurant to ditch my trash and, in doing so, caught the growing despair on Jace's face. Desperately trying to ignore it, I hurried across the courtyard, practically launching my tray onto the cabinet by the door. This was the second time I'd seen Jace since Lily's soccer game, the first being on the rooftop of our apartment building. And, like before, I was beginning to spin out of control. I didn't know what to think or how to feel. All rationality had evaporated, my world crashing in on itself.
"Della!" Jace urgently called my name, the sound echoing in my mind. His hand went to my arm, stopping me from moving forward.
I spun around, finding myself facing Jace.
"Della, please. I'm begging you. Don't leave. Talk to me."
I stood, my body frozen, while my thoughts zigged and zagged, becoming a fragmented mess. As the fog cleared and awareness dawned, I slowly realized that Jace's eyes were moist. Shocked, I swallowed the gasp threatening to burst forth.
"I know I hurt you, and I'll do anything to make it right. Just allow me to explain," Jace pleaded.
I stared at him, my words stuck in my throat and refusing to come. It was as if my head wanted to explode, the pressure unrelenting.
"I'm not the horrible kid I used to be. I changed, and that person is long gone. Let me prove it, please."
"No," I whispered.
"I love you and miss you, Della. Just hear me out. Give me a chance. That's all I ask."
That was it. I couldn't take any more. Jace's pleas went straight to my heart. My knees trembled, my body threatening to collapse. Ripping myself from his grasp, I bolted from the plaza, heading the wrong way down Seaport Boulevard. Ducking into a parking garage, I hid between two cars and doubled over. Tears immediately gushed forth.
Jace said he loved me.
Why did he have to say that? Why, why, why?
If he wanted to break me, he more than succeeded, his words shredding me into tiny pieces. I hated him and everything he'd done to me when we were kids. He'd been beyond cruel, his bullying affecting not only me but my family.
My parents' distress was unmeasurable as they tried their best to counter the damage Jace caused to my self-being and emotional health. Their scars were still there and might always be since pain that deep, especially when related to your children, didn't go away that easily. Spencer had also been affected. He'd been riddled with regret and guilt because, in his mind, he'd failed to protect his little sister.
These were the byproducts of Jace's viciousness, which I was powerless to erase.
And on top of all the anguish, terror, torment, and tears, I felt something else—a betrayal of myself.
Because as much as I hated to admit it.
I loved Jace.