Chapter 36
Yasmine
There was nothing like trauma dumping on a near-stranger to make a person realize how low they had fallen.
Yasmine hadn’t even put on makeup or changed into her jeans to go over to Sarah’s.
Not that Sarah seemed to notice. She was also dressed comfortably, with a yellow fuzzy robe belted over the silky blue pajama set.
Her wispy grey hair was pulled back into a clip, a few strands escaping to frame her face, which barely changed expression, remaining thoughtful through the entire drama of Yasmine’s story with Zeus.
“They should make a movie out of this,” Sarah said when Yasmine finally finished. “Have you heard any updates on Pete James?”
“Not yet.” Yasmine glanced down at her phone, which remained quiet in her hand.
After she’d updated Veronica and Amara, texts had started coming in from her friends, wanting to check on her and make sure she was okay.
Apparently, they’d all agreed not to bother her until ten this morning, giving her time to sleep in after last night.
Which was so very sweet and thoughtful. She did wonder if she detected Claudia’s hand in that agreement.
If she’d been doing it because she hoped Zeus and Yasmine were working out some stress relief with each other, she’d been very wrong, but it had been nice to have a breather.
She’d also texted the school she taught her weekly class and let them know the situation, just in case they wanted to cancel class for the upcoming week.
They weren’t making a final decision yet, but she was supposed to keep them updated.
Once Yasmine was done with all of that, she’d gotten in touch with Sarah, who had been delighted at the idea of company.
That was how she’d ended up on Sarah’s couch, drinking tea, and telling the older woman everything she couldn’t tell her friends.
Well, she could have told Claudia, she supposed, but she wasn’t sure what her friend would think.
Even after she arranged for Zeus and Yasmine to go off together last night.
It helped that Sarah was extremely nonjudgmental.
“And nothing from Zeus?”
“No.” Yasmine sighed, mournfully looking down at her phone again.
She kept thinking that maybe she should text him first…
but if he didn’t want to hear from her, then she didn’t want to annoy him.
“He’s going to text when it’s time to go get Hope, then I’ve got to figure out what to do.
I have no idea how to make him forgive me. ”
“Oh, honey. You can’t make anyone forgive you. Though you can try to earn their forgiveness.”
“Where would you suggest I start?” Yasmine smiled sheepishly at Sarah’s look.
“I’m kind of desperate. I have no idea what I’m doing.
Normally, if things went this badly with a guy, I’d just cut my losses.
” Not that anything like this had ever happened before, but she couldn’t imagine trying to keep any of her exes if something like this had happened with them.
She would have just let them go on to their next girlfriend, sure that the curse would give them the happy ending with her.
“Has it occurred to you that cutting your losses is why you never end up moving forward with your previous relationships?” Sarah asked, bemused. “Maybe you weren’t cursed. Maybe you just didn’t see anything worth fighting for in them. And no one can blame you for that.”
“How do you explain them marrying the very next woman they date then?”
Sarah shrugged.
“Marriage isn’t always a happily-ever-after, dear.
Maybe some of them were. But maybe some of those women were willing to settle when you weren’t.
” Sarah gave her the kind of look that could only come from a woman with experience.
“Did you ever wonder whether they felt like they were living happily-ever-after? Or did you just decide they were since they got the wedding?”
“I…” Yasmine’s voice trailed off. Sarah wasn’t the first one to say something like that recently.
Zeus had said something similar. Her friends hadn’t put it quite that way, but she knew that they all felt as though she perpetuated the curse by matchmaking for her boyfriends.
As if it was her fault that she could see who they would be better suited with, or at the very least who they had more chemistry with.
“Is it possible that you kept dating the wrong men because you didn’t feel you were actually ready to be married?”
Yasmine stared at Sarah. The other woman smiled gently.
“Why do you want to be married, Yasmine?” she asked.
“I… because it’s what you’re supposed to do.
” Except Yasmine had never been one to do what she was ‘supposed’ to do.
Heck, she was a romantic who believed in prenups, which most of society would call extremely unromantic.
They called it ‘preparing for the divorce.’ But Yasmine knew she would never get married without one.
Her mother had hated it because she thought it was Yasmine’s way of putting off the wedding, instead of just being a good life decision.
“Who says? Women used to have to get married because we were basically forced to for financial reasons. Now, you girls have options I didn’t have, much less the kind of choices my mother or grandmother had.” Sarah smiled. “If you want to live in sin for the rest of your life, who cares?”
“My mother.” The answer was automatic. “My dad would, too.”
“Why?”
“Because…” Yasmine faltered again. She wasn’t entirely sure.
Appearances? Maybe a bit. Marriage was important to her parents and their friends.
To society in general. Because her mom wanted to make sure she was taken care of…
but Yasmine took care of herself. She did not actually need a man, certainly not financially.
So, she’d refused to settle for anything other than a man who added something to her life and disappointed her mother over and over again.
“I think she thinks it will ensure my happiness.”
“No one’s happiness is ensured. You could get married to the best man in the world, and he could be hit by a bus the next day.” Sarah’s smile was sadder now. “The best we can usually hope for is happiness for a while. A life with no regrets. Do you regret breaking up with any of your exes?”
Yasmine shook her head.
“Do you wish you’d married any of them?”
“Absolutely not.”
“Do you think you’d regret it if you didn’t fight for Zeus?”
It was a scary, scary question, but Yasmine felt the answer in her chest before she responded.
“Yes,” she whispered.
Zeus
When Zeus picked up Yas to go get Hope, she was very quiet on the ride to the vet. He stayed quiet, too, letting her stare out the window. He wasn’t really sure what to say to her at this point. It didn’t seem the right time to get into an in-depth conversation about anything.
“Do you want us to go get your car after this?” he asked as he pulled into the parking lot.
There were a few spaces open right in front of the vet, thankfully, so Hope wouldn’t have to walk far—or he wouldn’t have to carry her far if she couldn’t walk.
“You can still come back to my place if you don’t want to spend tonight at home.
But you might want your own transportation. ”
Yas hesitated for just a moment before shaking her head.
“No, thanks. I don’t have anywhere I need to go until tomorrow at the earliest.” Her voice dropped lower, closer to a whisper. “I’m not ready to go home yet.”
“Okay.”
He wanted to tell her that it probably wasn’t going to get easier, but he didn’t want to push her. It sounded as though she would need her car tomorrow, so circumstances would get her to that point without him having to be the bad guy.
Getting out of the car, he started around to open her door, but she already had it. He curved his fingers around it, holding it open, so he could be the one to close it behind her. Yas shot him a curious, almost hopeful look, but then her gaze fell again.
As they walked into the vet’s office, Zeus stepped into place slightly behind her, glancing around the parking lot out of habit.
He didn’t see anything out of place. An older couple coming out of a restaurant on the other side of the lot, hand in hand, the gentleman helping his partner down the stairs.
They were both wearing khaki pants and light blue shirts, almost matching perfectly.
Zeus knew how appearances could be deceiving, and yet something about them made him think that he wouldn’t hate that for him and Yas.
Maybe not the matching outfits, but the connection that practically radiated off the two of them.
Zeus’ hand came up to rest on Yas’ back, ushering her into the vet office as he turned to face forward again. Yas glanced up at him again but too quickly for him to catch her expression.
Taylor was standing beside the receptionist as they walked in, and she brightened as soon as she saw them. Even though Zeus knew the office would have called if anything was going wrong with Hope, it was still a relief to see the vet tech looking so happy to see them.
“Good afternoon, you two! Hope is doing so well. She’s going to be thrilled to see you.”
He felt Yas relax against his fingers.
“Oh, good, we can’t wait to see her.” Yas’ relief was evident in her voice and the way her shoulders sagged.
“Give me just a minute. I’ll go get her, and Cherise here will handle the paperwork.” Taylor patted the older Black woman sitting in front of her on the shoulder. “She’s still a little woozy from the pain meds, so she won’t be moving as quickly as you’re used to, but she’s recovering nicely.”
“She’s such a good girl. I’m glad she was able to get her surgery,” Cherise said, shooting them a quick smile as Taylor trotted off, before focusing on her computer. “How is Sarah doing?”
“Also recovering well,” Yas answered, letting Zeus off the hook for the small talk. “She has a friend coming in to stay with her tomorrow, who will be here for at least a week, and we’ll be around to help with Hope as needed.”
“That’s wonderful. It’s good to have community. Okay, so just let me print this…”
About ten minutes later, they were out the door, though not without what seemed like half the staff coming out to say goodbye to Hope.
Cherise came around from the other side of her desk to kneel and give Hope’s ears a good scrub.
The huge blue fabric cone around her neck made it a little more difficult, but not impossible.
The dog panted happily, though she was definitely a little out of it.
She was able to walk, so Zeus didn’t have to carry her to the car, though he did have to lift her into the backseat.
She lay down easily, and Yas clambered into the backseat with her, buckling herself in and lifting Hope’s head so it could rest on her lap.
Hope’s tail thumped up and down as Zeus carefully maneuvered it so he could close the car door without closing it on her tail.
“Good girl,” Yas crooned, running her fingers over Hope’s body.
With the cone on, she couldn’t possibly see Hope’s head without craning to the right.
Zeus couldn’t see anything but Hope’s body and the blue cone resting on Yas’ lap, which was fairly hilarious looking.
Yas sighed. “I wanted to go get her a big stuffed animal to come home with.”
“I have to go back to work after we get her settled in. I’ve got a big event tomorrow, but we could do that this evening if you want to,” he offered.
“Thanks. I might take you up on that.” Yas fell silent for a moment. “Tomorrow’s event… is that the one at Naomi’s shelter?”
“Yeah.” Zeus’ shoulders tensed. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Yas; it was just that it was not supposed to be a publicized event.
“Naomi told me about it when I called her today. She knows I’m a huge fan of Senator Marlin. She’s going to try to make it so I can meet her tomorrow.”
“Ah. Well, as I’m the one who will be running your background check, that shouldn’t be too difficult. Is that why you’ll need your car tomorrow?”
“Yes. Unless you can take me.”
“I can’t.” Which was probably for the best. “We’ll be getting into place before the senator’s arrival, coming straight from the office. I don’t even know if I’ll be driving my own car; we may go over as a team.”
“Yeah, that makes sense.” Yas looked out the window. “I promise I’m not just trying to invade your space. If you want me to go—”
“I don’t,” Zeus said quickly. Was he still struggling with what he wanted from her? Yes. But he did know he didn’t want her to go.