Chapter 22
Tallulah
Iscrolled through the slides of my presentation on the computer as I stood behind the counter at work. Tyler, Leslie, and I had a meeting with the landlord, and they had elected me to take the lead.
Yay.
I had assumed Tyler would jump at the chance to be the leader since he had initially organized our first business owners' meeting. Unfortunately, he seemed intimidated by the idea of speaking to the landlord on behalf of the group, so I guess it was going to be me.
The door opened, temporarily letting in the sounds from the plaza outside. I looked up and froze.
Jamison stood in the doorway in a charcoal suit, holding a small paper sack in one hand. I didn't know whether to be happy or upset.
Four days had passed.
Four days since I left his condo in the middle of the night, thoroughly satisfied and wondering what would happen next.
Four days since we communicated by text.
Four days of me not obsessing over whether sleeping with him had been a mistake because I don't obsess. I go with the flow. Yeah, right.
"Hello, Jamison," I said, proud that my voice came out steady and warm. "What are you doing here?"
He strolled over and placed the bag on the counter. "You left something at my place."
I opened the sack, suspecting I already knew what was inside. One of my bangles had been missing since my night at his condo. I knew for certain I had been wearing it, so I must have lost it at his place, but I had hesitated to reach out.
I lifted out my aqua blue bangle and slipped it onto my wrist with the multicolored collection I was wearing. "Thank you. You didn't have to come all the way here to drop this off. You could've m–"
"Mailed it. I know. Or sent it through Blossom."
I looked up at him with renewed interest. "But you didn't."
"No."
We eyed each other across the counter as if we were alone, though there were two people browsing inside the store. My mind immediately went to the hours we had spent together wearing significantly fewer clothes and how he had made me throb and ache and surrender to his will.
Jamison watched my mouth in the same way he had right before he kissed me in his living room.
One of us had to say something, so I did. "How have you been?"
"Busy. You?"
"Same."
This was ridiculous. We were seasoned adults, not teenagers or young twenty-somethings. We had sex—enthusiastically—and it was extremely satisfying, and now we couldn't talk, behaving like awkward acquaintances.
"Tallulah—"
"Jamison—"
We spoke at the same time and stopped at the same time. He gestured for me to continue.
"I wanted to say that we don't have to be weird about what happened."
"Agreed. We had sex."
"Yes."
He tapped his finger on the counter. "I just wanted to come by and drop off the bracelet. I didn't want you to be looking for it."
"I appreciate your thoughtfulness."
He ran his fingers through his hair, a gesture I was beginning to recognize meant he was uncomfortable or unsure of himself.
He lowered his voice. "Look, I know we didn't discuss what will happen next, and the timing of us meeting and hooking up is complicated by our kids planning a wedding—"
The door opened again, and we both turned our heads. Blossom walked in with her laptop bag over one shoulder. She stopped short when she saw Jamison, eyebrows lifting in surprise.
"Hi, Mr. Harris." Her eyes darted between us. "What are you doing here?"
"I was..."
"He had questions about which kinds of teas would be beneficial for him to drink," I said, proud of myself for saving him, not proud of lying.
Blossom frowned. "Really? Manuel told me once that you didn't like tea. You said it was for people whose taste buds couldn't appreciate coffee."
"My son tends to exaggerate," Jamison said with an embarrassed laugh.
"He said if you had a choice, you'd inject coffee into your veins and toss all the tea into the sea like they did at the Boston Tea Party."
I stared at Jamison. Why in the world did he hate tea so much?
"Again, a bit of an exaggeration," Jamison said.
"But didn't you—"
"Blossom," I said, interrupting to save him.
She had the same analytical mind as her father and wouldn't stop until Jamison's answer coincided with what Manuel had told her about his father.
I also needed to speak up since I was the one who had come up with what I thought was the perfect lie.
I had no idea I was dealing with an anti-tea activist.
"He's slowly exploring options and learning about the health benefits. What are you doing here?" I asked my daughter.
"I was at the library doing research and came by to see if you had anything to eat so I wouldn’t have to drive all the way home."
To get out of the house, she had been going to the library while job hunting online.
Fortunately for me, she had not pushed for more information after I came home late on Saturday night.
She did watch me with suspicion as we ate breakfast on Sunday but never broached the topic of my alleged sexual exploits.
"I have pasta salad and half a tomato sandwich in the little refrigerator in the break room. You can have both," I said.
"Cool. Thanks."
She went to the back, leaving Jamison and me alone again. Unfortunately, one of the customers chose the same moment to approach. Jamison stepped aside so the man could place his selections on the counter. I quickly rang him up, and he left.
Jamison opened his mouth to speak, but Blossom emerged from the back with the containers of food.
"I'm going back to the library," she announced, pulling my last kombucha from the small refrigerator.
She paused, eyes sweeping over the two of us.
"You know, Manuel also mentioned you've been in a really good mood lately.
Whistling at work, that kind of thing. I guess getting enough sleep has really helped, hasn't it? "
"Certainly has," Jamison confirmed.
"I told you my mom was good," Blossom said.
"She certainly knows her stuff." Blossom had no idea, but he was speaking with double entendre, which made my cheeks burn.
"See you later, Mom." Blossom waved as she headed toward the door.
"Bye, my love."
The door shut quietly behind her.
"Do you think she knows?" Jamison asked in a lowered voice.
"No. She suspects I was with someone on Saturday night, but she has no idea it was you. She's too preoccupied with job hunting, wedding plans, and Manuel. Keeping what happened to ourselves was the right decision, at least for now."
"Agreed." He fell quiet for a moment. "When I walked in, you were frowning. Is everything all right?"
Knowing he recognized my distress made warmth unfurl in my chest. "Nothing I can't handle."
"Tallulah," he chided.
"No, really. It's a business-related issue I'm working on," I said dismissively.
"What kind of business issue?" Concern filled his voice.
I hesitated, unsure if I wanted to burden him with my problem. "In a couple of days, I and two other business owners in the building will have a meeting with the new landlord to discuss our concerns. We were elected by the other tenants to be the points of contact."
"What concerns do you have?" Jamison asked.
"We're worried about getting pushed out, the way the company pushed out tenants when they bought other buildings.
I wanted to have a strong showing, with the names of all the tenants on the letter we're going to present to the landlord, but half of the business owners didn't sign the darn thing.
They're worried about backlash, which is extremely frustrating. "
"Can you reschedule to try to get more signatures?"
I shook my head. "I don't know if a delay will do any good.
Besides, the landlord gave us one date and made sure we understood he was doing us a favor.
He has a very packed schedule, et cetera, et cetera.
He's flying out of town this weekend and will be gone until Wednesday of next week, so we couldn't even push the meeting forward a few days if we wanted to.
" I leaned against the counter, the weight of the meeting settling between my shoulder blades like a muscle ache.
"I hope he listens to us. If they drastically increase the rent, most of us won't be able to stay. "
"I had no idea you were dealing with this."
"Yeah. Wish us luck," I said, laughing without humor.
His expression turned thoughtful, the line appearing between his eyebrows, which meant he was processing and thinking deeply about what I had told him.
"Do you feel prepared for the meeting? What's his name, by the way?"
"Freedom Capital Real Estate is the company, and Jason Ochoa is the landlord and the person we've been talking to. I'm as prepared as I can be. We have an organized, visually attractive presentation, and I'll be leading the meeting."
"I'm sure you'll do an excellent job," Jamison said.
"Take your time, present your case, and show Mr. Ochoa why it's beneficial to have all of you stay.
He's not going to be concerned about you.
You have to show him how half the businesses leaving will hurt him, even if it's what the company has done in the past. Turnover is costly. "
"I'll be sure to convey the message. You were about to say something before Blossom came in...?"
He tapped the counter. "I forgot what I was about to say, so it wasn't very important."
His answer disappointed me. I didn't believe he had forgotten.
"You have more pressing issues to deal with," Jamison continued. "If you need help with your presentation, let me know."
"I will," I said. My second lie of the day.
I didn't feel comfortable enough in our newfound closeness to ask for his assistance. Besides, we didn't have much time. The meeting was in two days.
"Let me know how the meeting goes."
"I will," I said again. My third lie of the day.
Jamison left soon after, leaving bitter disappointment in his wake.
I didn't doubt the attraction we had for each other.
After all, we'd spent a wonderful night together and had sex twice.
I can't remember the last time I orgasmed that many times in one night.
The last time had probably been with my ex-husband, more than ten years ago.
While I didn't doubt the attraction and chemistry between me and Jamison, he was hesitating, and so was I.
Neither of us wanted to be the first to put ourselves out there, and I understood why.
Based on our conversations, we were both once again attracted to someone different than ourselves, which hadn't worked out in our first marriages.
"Can I help you find anything?" I called to the remaining customer.
"I'm just browsing. Are these part of the sale?" She held up a tincture.
"Yes. Twenty-five percent off."
"Thanks." She placed two in the basket on her arm.
I returned my attention to the presentation I had been working on. Whatever was or wasn't happening between me and Jamison would figure itself out.
For now, I needed to work on saving my business.