Chapter 22
Chapter 22
I REACHED MY CAR in the AGD building basement, threw my purse on the passenger’s seat, and sat down heavily at the wheel, slamming the door behind me. My mind was racing faster than a supersonic jet as I tried to make sense of what had happened. In the same few short days, I had probably lost Parker to another woman, gained the job of my dreams, and had Will declare his love for me.
I let out a bitter laugh. I had finally heard those magic three little words I had wanted to hear for so long. Only they weren’t from Parker.
They were from Will.
I banged my head against the steering wheel, hoping to bash some sense into my deeply jumbled brain. Will loves me . It was bizarre. No, it was beyond bizarre; it was surreal . I’d stumbled into The Twilight Zone . I half expected Forest Whitaker to jump out from behind a tree, shouting, “Surprise!”
How did this happen? One minute, Will and I were work colleagues, vying for the same job, and somehow, through it all, becoming friends. Next, he was leaving the company so I could get the job we both wanted and making declarations of love for me!
I turned the ignition over and pulled out of my parking space. I pushed Will from my mind. I could work it all out some other time. It had to wait. Parker . I needed to get to him. I had a relationship with the man I was meant to marry to save. I didn’t have time for handsome men, telling me they loved me outside rowdy Irish bars.
Twenty-minutes of pushing the day’s events from my mind at least three hundred thirty-seven times, I noticed Parker leaning against his car as I pulled into my driveway. I took a moment to collect myself before I pushed my door open and stepped out of my car.
Parker was by my side immediately. “Cassie. Where were you? I was worried.”
I smiled up at him, tears threatening my eyes. “Sorry, I got tied up. Let’s go in.” I opened my front door, flicked on the lights, dropped my purse and keys on the side table, and plunked myself down on the sofa. Parker followed, facing me as he perched on the edge.
Without preamble, he launched with, “I went to see Sara.” He looked at me through hooded eyes.
“Oh.” I had no clue what he was going to say next. He could be about to break up with me for good. He could be about to tell me she was an Amazonian alien, here to take over the world. Anything was possible. Today had been a very weird day.
“We had a good long talk. About her and me, about everything.”
My belly twisted up in a reef knot. “Are you back together?”
He shook his head, and I let out a rush of air in utter relief. “She’s moved on.”
“Have you?” I whispered, not sure I wanted to hear the reply.
He clasped his hands together on his lap. “I’m going to be honest with you, Cassie.”
I gulped. Telling someone you’re going to be honest with them was usually the preamble for telling them something they did not want to hear.
“I thought I was still in love with her. I thought she was my perfect woman. I was thrown when I saw her at the club on Friday.”
You can say that again.
“I went to see her to ask her if she’d consider coming back to me.”
Tears welled in my eyes. I tried to blink them away, instead they rolled down my cheeks. That was that, then. We were over. Dead.
“The thing is I realized after I saw her that yes, I have moved on. Seeing her made me face up to a few things. It forced me to get closure.” He took my hands in his. “It made me realize how I feel about you, Cassie.”
My heart stopped. “It did?”
He nodded, smiling, his green eyes soft. He took my hands in his, forcing me to look at him. “I love you, Cassie.”
My jaw dropped. I blinked at his happy, shining face. He loves me ? I had to work hard to shake myself out of my disbelief. “Are you sure?”
I kissed another man only thirty minutes ago, felt things I never thought I would feel for him, and now Parker was telling me he loved me?
He slid across the sofa, leaned in, and kissed me. Knowing where my lips had just been, it was uncomfortable, to say the least. I had to cut it short.
“Cassie?” he questioned, looking wounded as I moved away.
“Sorry, I—” I casted around for an excuse. I didn’t think telling him I’d been in an adulterous lip-lock was the right thing to say following his love declaration—the declaration I’d been waiting for so long to hear. “I’m surprised, that’s all. I thought you were going to say something else. Are you sure?”
He laughed, his eyes sparkling. “Yes, I’m sure. It’s you, Cassie.” He smiled the smile of a man happy with the world and his place in it, a man who knows he’s in love—and loved back.
I, on the other hand, felt like I’d been put through a concrete mixer and tossed out the other side of reality.
“Can we make this work? You and me?”
I wiped my tears away and took a deep breath. “Yes. I would love to.”
How did this ever happen? Two men professed their love for me on the same night—no, within the same hour! It was ridiculous, laughable even. The sort of stuff madcap Hollywood movies from the fifties were about. Only it was very, very real.
I guessed it was true what they said about men being like buses: you waited around for one to come for what felt like a lifetime, and then suddenly, two arrived at once.
Parker and I had spent hours talking that night after his big announcement. He came clean about wanting me to be like Sara—the golf, the jazz club, even the way he liked me to wear my hair—and apologized profusely for it. And I forgave him. Sure, I didn’t like it, and it was more than a little bit creepy, but I believed him when he said he loved me and wanted to be with me. And it felt good.
Especially if I didn’t think about Will.
The following day, he suggested we go out to lunch at Alessandro’s. With a start, I realized I had never taken him to the Cozy Cottage.
“Let’s go to my café for a change, okay?”
“Sure. I’d love to.” He smiled at me as he took my hand in his.
When we walked through the door, Bailey was at the counter, chatting with a good-looking guy. She was blushing and clearly flirting. “Good for you,” I thought.
“Where do you want to sit?” Parker asked.
“Oh, we always—” I gestured at my usual table in the window and noticed there was a couple sitting there with their young son. “Oh. It’s being used. Oh well, let’s sit somewhere else.”
We found a table on the other side of the room. While Parker settled in, I went to the register to see Bailey, now hot guy-free. “Hey, you. Who was that?”
“Oh, the guy I was just talking to?” She was trying to play it cool. “He’s just a regular. Comes in here most Saturdays.”
I raised my eyebrows. “He’s cute.”
“Really? I hadn’t noticed.” She flashed an embarrassed grin. “Anyway,” she began, clearly changing the subject, “what are you doing here on a weekend? You’re a strictly weekday girl around these parts.”
I nodded toward Parker, who had picked up a magazine and was leafing through it, looking at ease with the world. “I’m here with my boyfriend.”
Her face broke into a grin. “You’re back together?” I nodded, happiness bubbling up inside. “See? I told you it was worth talking to him. And now you’re going to fulfill the beach pact.”
“I am.”
Parker and I ate a delicious lunch together, luxuriating in our little love bubble. Once we’d drunk our coffee and were ready to go, Parker declared the Cozy Cottage as his second favorite café in all of Auckland. This was progress, although I clearly still had work to do convincing him of the error of his ways.
After we said goodbye to Bailey and she gave me one final thumbs-up, we strolled hand in hand along the street, soaking up the warm spring air. We peered in shop windows and strolled through the Domain, a beautiful patch of greenery amidst the urban jungle.
Life felt good; it felt right.
I had to remind myself not to think about Will.
Only, I couldn’t stop him from popping into my thoughts. I found my mind wandering to what it would feel like to be with Will. I looked out the window of my house at the trees being buffeted around by a storm raging outside. I let out a long sigh. Will was messy. He wasn’t in the plan. It was so much easier to be with Parker. We were destined; we were right. Sure, we’d had some hurdles to leap over, but we’d done it and things were now great between us.
Parker was my One Last First Date. He was it for me. Neat, orderly, organized. Just the way I liked it. It had to work out.
The following day, guilt-ridden and in serious need of distraction, I accepted Paige’s invitation to the Cozy Cottage Café. Although the very thought of seeing Paige had me twisted up in a series of tight knots, I told myself I needed to act as though nothing had happened with Will. Which of course it hadn’t—just an ill-advised kiss and some drunk talk he didn’t mean. No, Will wasn’t in his right mind when he said he loved me. He would have realized when he woke up the next day and probably felt thoroughly embarrassed about the whole thing.
Nevertheless, it was with trembling hands I pushed the door open to the café, just before ten in the morning. I sat down in our reserved spot and texted Paige, letting her know I was already here. I had given Bailey a brief wave on my arrival, ignoring her signal to come over and talk with her.
My phone beeped, giving me a surprise. I picked it up and smiled as I read a text from Parker, telling me he loved me and he’d see me for dinner tonight. I fired off a quick text and placed my phone back on the table.
“ You have some explaining to do.” Marissa stood over me menacingly, her arms crossed.
Uh-oh. The kiss. She saw the kiss.
“Marissa! Did Paige invite you?” Suddenly seeing Paige felt like a pleasure cruise in comparison to having to answer Marissa’s inevitable questions.
She pulled out a chair and sat down opposite me. Her face was hard and uncompromising. I half expected her to pull a flashlight out of her purse and shine it in my face to begin her interrogation. Possibly throw in a thumbscrew, too. I knew I was in for a rough ride.
“I set this up. Paige is out of the office today on some Marketing thing. You haven’t been returning any of my messages or calls, so this was the only way. You need to give me answers.”
I studied my hands, the knots in my belly tightening. It was true: I’d been avoiding Marissa like she was the Black Death. Even though I didn’t know for sure, I suspected she’d seen me with Will that night we kissed. The fact she was now sitting opposite me, looking like a severe school teacher about to give me a hiding, confirmed my fears. “You mean about Will, right?”
“ Of course I mean about Will,” she scoffed.
My heart skipped a beat at the mention of his name.
“And before you go denying anything, you should know I saw everything.”
I swallowed. “Oh.”
She crossed her arms and nodded, her lips pursed. “Talk.”
My chest tightened. “I don’t know why I did it. It was wrong, and I regret it. It didn’t mean a thing.” My annoying eye twitch made an appearance.
“Then why did you do it? You know how Paige feels about him.”
Guilt whacked me in the guts. I hung my head. “I know. I feel terrible.” I looked up at her. “You haven’t told her, have you?”
She shook her head. “I figured I’d give you a chance to explain yourself first.”
I tried to smile at her. “Thanks.”
Her gaze was ice cold. “I’m not doing it for you .”
“Okay.”
“So? What’s going on? Is he two-timing Paige? Are you two having an affair or something?” She raised her eyebrows in expectation.
I guffawed. “No!” I shook my head. “To be honest, I don’t really know how it happened. And believe me, I know that sounds like a total cop-out.”
I explained to Marissa how I’d found out he had resigned so I would get the job, how he’d told me all he cared about was my happiness.
“Why? Is he in love with you?” she half joked.
To my surprise, tears welled up in my eyes. I wiped them away.
“Oh, my gosh! He is, isn’t he?” She leaned back in her seat. “You’re the one.”
I nodded, grim. If Will was in love with me. Paige would never talk to me again.
“Oh, poor Paige. We were convinced it was her, weren’t we? She’s going to be devastated.”
“I know.” I hung my head. The last thing I ever wanted to do was hurt Paige. She was the sweetest, kindest person I knew.
“Tell me exactly what’s been going on.”
And so I did. I told her about how nice he’d been to me, about how I’d judged him without even knowing him. I told her about how we’d gone out for meals after golf, how he’d taken me to the Lady Gaga concert. As I talked, I felt an inexplicable sense of calm pervade my once knotted belly, a smile warming me in a way I hadn’t felt for some time. Perhaps ever.
Eventually, once I’d told her the whole sorry tale, she put her hand on mine. “You’re in love with him, aren’t you?” she asked softly.
I stared at her, wide eyed. I was in love with Will ? Was she out of her mind ?
“No!” I exclaimed with such force I shocked even myself.
People at the table next to us stopped and stared. I tried desperately to swallow down a rising lump in my throat. “I love Parker,” I said in a quieter voice.
She arched one of her eyebrows. “Do you?”
I nodded as tears pricked my eyes. Of course I loved Parker! And he loved me back. Parker was the one I was meant to be with. He was right for me. Not Will. A tear rolled down my cheek. I wiped it away.
“Cassie,” Marissa said with such kindness my tears began to flow, and I was unable to stop them as they splashed onto the table. “Oh, honey. Here.” She handed me a napkin.
Was I in love with Parker? Suddenly, I wasn’t so sure. Me, the girl who had her life mapped out so thoroughly, knew exactly when relationship milestones needed to be met, had clear, achievable goals in life. Me, the woman who had decided, even before our first date, Parker R. W. Hamilton was the man I was going to marry. All that effort, all that planning, everything. How could I not be sure?
I wrung my hands, my mind whirring. I’d been so desperate to push Will from my mind my feelings had become completely scrambled.
It is Parker. It has to be Parker. I didn’t research Will. I didn’t spend hours ensuring he was the right guy for me. And he’s not Mr. Great-On-Paper the way Parker is: he doesn’t even come close. He’s arrogant and loud and rude. He calls me Dunny, for goodness sake. He’s not the man I could ever be with. Parker is. It’s Parker.
I wiped my tears away and raised my chin, defiant. “It’s Parker I love.”
Marissa narrowed her eyes at me. “As long as you’re sure.”
I squared my shoulders, resolved. “I am.”