Chapter 16
16
R AIN
I count the doors until I reach the third one on the right and knock lightly.
At first, comes silence, and then I hear her footsteps shuffling across the hallway.
I tip my gaze up, convinced she’s looking through the peephole.
“No way. Are you kidding me?” Eve exclaims, swinging the door open.
Her eyes widen in surprise as she sees me and hugs me.
“Rain... Oh, my God. What a surprise.”
I smile.
“What are you doing here?” she asks, taking in my shoulder bag.
“I, um... I wanted to surprise you,” I say, flicking my eyebrows up. “Can I come in?”
“Yes, yes. Of course.”
“Did I catch you at a bad time?” I ask, my gaze landing on the pile of fresh laundry on the sofa and the vacuum in the middle of the room.
She laughs, amused.
“It’s always a bad time when I’m cleaning up my place.”
“I was afraid you might be out doing something.”
She clutches her hips, throwing me a funny look.
“Really, Rain?”
“Yeah... It’s Friday night,” I say, sliding my bag off my shoulder and setting it on a chair.
“Since when does that mean anything in my world?”
“I thought you’d go out,” I say seriously.
“I thought that too, but it rarely happens,” she replies, chuckling.
“Do you want to go out?”
Her eyes go to my bag.
“Are you staying the night?”
“Yes.”
“Then, no. I have food in the oven. I didn’t plan to go out anyway. I want to stay home and relax.”
“Sounds good. Do you want me to help you with anything?”
“Sure,” she says, pointing to a bunch of clothes that need to be folded.
For about an hour, I help her tidy up her place.
At around eight, we have dinner in the kitchen, both wearing pajamas, the way we used to when we were teens.
“This feels good,” she says as we’re done eating, and she collects the plates and silverware from the table and slips everything into the dishwasher.
She pulls a box of desserts from the fridge and sets two clean plates on the table.
“We don’t need them,” I say, scooping out a bit of New York cheesecake directly from the box.
“Here,” she says, pushing the dessert plate to me as if she hasn’t heard me.
She scoops a slice of cheesecake from the box and sets it on my plate before drizzling strawberry sauce on top.
The creamy dessert makes my palate tingle.
“Mmm... This is perfection,” I say, relishing the aroma of the fruit mixed with cream cheese.
“It’s late for coffee, but I still want one,” she says.
“Decaf?” I suggest.
Her face lights up.
“Yeah... That will do.”
She pushes out of her chair and heads to the counter.
“What flavor would you like?” she asks.
“What options do I have?”
“English Toffee and Cream? Creme Br?lée? Hazelnut?”
I forgot how passionate she was about her coffee.
“Hazelnut for me.”
Minutes later, two mugs sit on the table, the smell of freshly brewed coffee filling the kitchen.
I chew on another morsel of cheesecake before sipping coffee.
“So what’s the real reason you’re in New York?” she asks, observing me from above the rim of the cup. “Does anyone know you’re here?”
“Of course they know.”
“Does James know?”
“Yes.”
“So, what made you come here?”
“I wanted to see you.”
“Besides that.”
Smiling, I put the cup down.
“I needed to get away for a few days.”
“Okay.”
“I finished the book,” I say cheerfully this time.
A smile brightens her face.
“That’s fantastic. You should’ve told me, and I would’ve bought a bottle of wine to celebrate it.”
“This is just as good,” I say, pointing to the food and drinks on the table.
I go quiet, tipping my gaze down.
“But this is not why you’re here,” she says.
I slump back in my seat.
“I’m thinking about selling my company,” I say, looking at her this time.
“And you needed to make a trip to New York to do that?”
I shrug.
“I don’t know... Probably not. But I felt like I needed to do something.”
She slides her cup onto the table before setting her elbows down.
“I don’t understand,” she says, no longer smiling. “Why are you so bothered with your company? Doesn’t it make money?”
“It does.”
“But you feel like doing something else.”
“Sort of. And it’s a good time to sell.”
“Do you have any buyers?”
“That’s why I’m here. I want to talk to David Moore.”
Her eyebrows go up.
“Couldn’t you just call him?”
“I know he’s in New York. I wanted to talk to him face to face.”
“How do you know he’s in New York?”
“James told me.”
“Does he know about your plan?”
“No.”
She crashes back into her seat, slightly disappointed.
“You don’t see a problem with that?”
“I’m not doing anything wrong. It’s my company, and I want to sell it. I hope David will be interested in buying it. He knows the ins and outs of it. He helped me set it up, so why not?”
“And you don’t see a problem with that...” she says for the second time, smiling.
“No.”
She studies my expression for a moment.
“What is the real problem here, Rain?”
“There is no problem,” I toss at her, annoyed.
“Yes, there is. He did something, didn’t he?”
“Who are you talking about?”
“James.”
“No, he didn’t.”
“Why are you trying to get his attention?”
“Trying to get his attention? Me? No. You got this wrong. It has nothing to do with him or me.”
“It has everything to do with him and you. You don’t need to focus on your company right now. You just said it. It’s doing well. Yeah, it might be a good time to sell, but it may also be a good time to expand. Regardless,” she says, gesturing, frustrated. “This is not about your business. You’re restless and feel like doing something––anything––even if it’s rushed or wrong. You want to meet David and talk to him about it, and that’s fine––from a business point of view, anyway––but you could let James handle it instead of going behind his back. But no. You want him angry over stupid shit because you want him to focus on you. That’s why I’m asking you. What did he do?”
“He didn’t do anything.”
“Why are you looking for trouble, then?”
“I’m not.”
She searches my eyes for a few moments.
“Why don’t you sit on your butt and tell him to sell your company if you want to send a message to him? Whatever that message is. It’s still unclear to me,” she says, sinking her dessert spoon into her cheesecake.
I stare blankly at her lips.
“I thought you had a good time in Monaco,” she says.
“We did have a good time.”
“But?”
“There’s something else,” I say in a strained voice.
“I knew it,” she murmurs, smiling. “What is it?”
I hesitate for a moment.
“I might not be able to get pregnant.”
Her spoon makes a smooth landing on her plate.
“Wait a minute... Have I missed something? Can you back up a little? Since when are you trying to get pregnant? Are you trying?”
“I’ve been off the pill for almost two months.”
“And that’s enough to draw this conclusion?”
“It’s not only my conclusion. We saw a specialist in Monaco.”
“We?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“Everything is fine with both of us.”
“You’ve lost me.”
I sigh.
“Despite the doctor’s findings, I had a suspicion that something else might be a risk factor, so I went to see another specialist for a second opinion. I had the appointment today.”
“Here or back home?”
“Here.”
“That explains a lot.”
“Anyway... This doctor told me the same thing. That it’s too early to get worried, and I should give it a little time.”
“But you don’t.”
“I don’t. But then she said something else. Sometimes, women can’t get pregnant if they’re too stressed.”
She looks at me, a blank expression on her face.
“I can’t say I have a stressful life, but...” I murmur.
“Are you telling me you can’t get pregnant because you’re stressed out when he’s away from you?”
“Something like that.”
She looks down for a second.
“I know it sounds stupid,” I say.
She lifts her gaze to me, slowly shaking her head.
“I don’t think so. There’s probably truth to that, but even so, it’s too early to panic.”
She pauses.
“When do you think he’ll be back?” she asks.
“Lex says it might take another six months, if not more.”
“The beginning of next year. ”
“Yes.”
“And because of these six months, you’re losing your mind,” she says, humor lining her voice.
“Yeah... You can say that,” I say, breathing a chuckle.
“What is with you, woman?” she blurts, smiling.
“Everyone I know is having babies,” I say, throwing my hands up in the air, frustrated.
I try to sound amused, but I’m not.
“And Ed’s having twins.”
“So, I’ve heard,” she says, a comical expression sliding over her face.
“This is serious business,” I say, trying to de-tense and take it lightly.
A knowing grin tugs at her lips.
“Never in a million years I would’ve thought you’d be so in love with this man,” she says out of the blue.
I toss her a questioning look, and she continues.
“You’re like a dog chasing his tail, never catching it. Yeah... It’s about the babies. Everybody has one, or in Ed’s case, two. But to you, the idea of having his baby is tangled with your hope that he’d be close to you again,” she says softly.
I almost taste my tears.
Her expression changes.
“Oh... I didn’t want to upset you.”
“You’re not upsetting me,” I say, sniffling.
“Please don’t cry.”
“I’m not crying,” I say, offering a fake smile.
“Am I right?” she asks quietly, her fingers rubbing my forearm.
Biting my lip, I nod.
“And you can’t tell him because you’d look like a lunatic, right?”
I nod again.
And then I tilt my gaze down.
“Am I...? A lunatic?”
She stays quiet until I look at her again.
She shakes her head.
“No, you’re not. And I’m so proud of you,” she says, her eyes glinting with emotion. “And him... I would’ve never thought he could make you love him so deeply. That he would take the love you had given him and make it grow, nourishing it, protecting it, and multiplying it… I have no idea what he did, but you are in such a great place, Rain. You don’t even realize it,” she says, her eyes smiling, glinting with tears. “You need to wait for him... Yes, you do. But when he comes back, he’ll make you walk on clouds. Trust me when I say that. It will all be worthwhile.”