Chance Encounters (14 page)

Lena got up and kissed her husband. She had never loved him
more than she did in that moment listening to him making his declarations of
love.

“He’s right, Jacob. That’s what love is. I wouldn’t survive
a day without Todd, and if you let her go … well, you’ll feel empty for the
rest of your life.”

“I didn’t feel alive until I met her. When I first laid my
eyes on her, there was something I can’t quiet explain. I drew her picture from
memory. I knew every curve of her face. I could also feel the pain she was
suffering from her betrayal she felt. I had dreams about her. I dreamt about us
laughing and rolling through fallen leaves. It felt so real to me. I felt her
lips press against mine. I heard her laugh when I tickled her. It felt so real.
When I saw her again, I knew that fate was sending me a sign. I told myself
that if I saw her one more time, then that will be the sign I have been waiting
for. Then, with you, Lena … I saw her again, here. I knew right then and there
that I already loved her.”

“That’s what we are talking about, Jacob. Could you imagine
the rest of your life not loving her, now that you’ve met her, held her, and
touched her?” Lena asked him.

“No. I don’t want to live a life without her in it. She made
everything all that much better. The sun was brighter. The stars sparkled more
intensely, the sky was bluer. And, God, when she touched me … well let’s just
say everything was intensified. The problem is she’s gone! New York is a big
city with a million penthouses and condos. It would be like finding a needle in
a haystack. How would I ever be able to find her?”

“We’ll find her, Jacob. We’ll find her before that man
convinces her to marry him,” Lena cried out.

Todd smiled. “I know how. I know exactly what you need to
do.”

THE CAR RIDE was uncomfortable for
both Emma and Matthew. Neither one spoke for the first hour. Matt broke the
silence first.

“Em, please don’t ignore me for the entire trip.”

She stopped looking out her window and turned toward him.
She couldn’t help but notice how different Matthew was from Jacob. Matthew was
stunningly handsome, and she had always thought so. It’s what first attracted
her to him. He was always well dressed, hair perfectly styled, and looked ready
to step off the cover of GQ. He was a few years older than her. He was turning
thirty-seven a week before they were going to walk down the aisle together.

“I’m tired, Matt. It’s been a long couple of days. Who am I
kidding … weeks.” she said sarcastically.

“I know it’s all my fault. I pushed you to run away, and
it’s my fault you were driving cross-country. It’s my fault you got mugged.”

“Stop now! It’s nobody’s fault. I took a new job.”

“We would have flown there, not driven. You wouldn’t have
been alone.”

“I’m not going down this road with you, Matt.”

“Okay, okay. Let’s just agree to get along. We could have a
lot of fun on this road trip. It could be just what we need to get things back
on track.”

“Don’t hold your breath.”

He smirked at her, and turned back to the road. After a few
more hours they stopped to get gas. Matt pulled off of I-40, in Columbia, South
Carolina. He pulled into the gas station and put his card into the machine.
Once he filled the tank, he sat back in the car.

“You don’t have to pay for everything,” Emma told him.

“I don’t mind. Plus, you won’t have your card replacements
for probably a week. I have them all being sent to the post office box you gave
to Renee. Just think of me as your personal bank machine.” He smiled at her,
but for some reason it just didn’t sit well. Two weeks ago she wouldn’t have
batted an eye, but now, it just didn’t feel right.

He pushed the navigation button in the car and asked for a
nearby hotel. He followed the directions to The Hilton at Columbia Center.
Within minutes he pulled into the lot and parked the car. He walked side by
side with her into the lobby to the check-in counter. It was ten at night, and
they were concerned that they wouldn’t be able to get a room, but as soon as he
mentioned he was a doctor, they were all too happy to oblige. When the clerk
asked how many rooms, Matt said, “One please,” just as Emma called out, “Two.”
The clerk looked at them and smiled.

Matt said, “How about one room with two beds then.” Emma
rolled her eyes and stood off to the side while he filled out the paperwork.

The clerk handed Matt the room key. Matt asked, “Is there a
place that we can grab a late night dinner around here?”

The clerk thought for a moment and said, “Well, right down
the street there is a steak house. I believe they serve food until eleven, or
you could order room service.”

Matt looked over at Emma. “So what sounds good, Em, room
service or steak house?”

“I don’t care, Matt. I’m tired and I’m not very hungry.”

“Okay, that made it easy I guess. Room service it is.”

The clerk handed them a menu and told them to have a great
evening.

Matt opened the door and flipped on the light. The room was
large and clean, with two queen-sized beds. Matt dropped his suitcase on the
bed and opened it. “I took the liberty of bringing a few things for you to
wear. You left some clothes at our house, so I figured you’d need some stuff.”

She walked over and laughed out loud. She held up a silk
night gown that he had bought her for one of their romantic weekends. “I hope
you are joking.”

“Well, I am sure that they have robes in the bathroom, and
no offense but I’ve seen and explored every inch of your body. So, if you want
to be modest now, it’s all on you.”

She grabbed the nightgown, went into the bathroom, and
slammed the door shut. Matt smiled to himself. “So what sounds good for dinner,
or should I just surprise you?”

She didn’t respond to him. When he heard the water in the
shower turn on he decided to place the order for her.

When she emerged from the bathroom, dinner was set up on a
little table in their room. There were candles on the table and a bottle of
wine, poured and waiting.

“Matt—”

“Emma stop! I didn’t do this. I guess when you order as much
room service as I did, they do the rest for you. I don’t have any tricks up my
sleeve.”

She tightened the robe around her and sat at the table. He
ordered two surf and turf specials. It was two beef medallions served with
shrimp smothered in a lobster butter sauce. Her stomach growled as she smelled
it. She had to admit she was hungry, but yet she had no appetite.

Matt handed her a glass of wine and said, “Please dig in.
You seem a little thin to me, so please eat.”

“Nice, Matt. You really know how to sweet talk a girl.”

“Ahh come on, cut me a little slack here. I’m trying really
hard.”

“Sorry!” She took a bite of her beef medallion and it melted
in her mouth. Matt smiled as he took a sip of his wine.

They made it through dinner without fighting, which Matt
took as a step in the right direction. Emma took her glass of wine and stood
out on their little patio. It overlooked a big pool that was lit up. Matt stood
beside her and noticed her looking at the pool. “You want to go and take a
swim?”

Emma looked over at him. “No! Besides, it’s closed for the
night.”

“Since when would that stop us?”

He grabbed for her hand and pulled her over the bordering
bushes. She flashed back to her and Jacob sneaking into the pool at the hotel
they stayed in. She stopped. “No, Matt, I really don’t want to do this. I’m
tired.”

He stopped short and had a look of disappointment on his
face.

“I just figured that this is what you’d want. You know, a
little mystery, a little mischief.”

“Why would you think that?”

“Isn’t that what your new friend is all about?”

“Who are you talking about?”

There they stood in the middle of the courtyard, Emma in a
terrycloth bathrobe and Matt in his lounge pants.

“The man you had sex with Emma. I’m not a fool.”

Emma wasn’t expecting to have this conversation with him. It
was none of his business.

“I’m not stupid, Emma. I pulled in and saw that man’s arm
around you. So guess what … now we’ve both had our own indiscretions. The
difference is … I forgive you, and I am still willing to try to make things
work with us.”

“You forgive me? How dare you, Matthew.” She stormed toward
him and started poking his chest with her fingers. He only laughed as he kept
taking a step backwards. “How dare you say this to me? We’re not together. It’s
none of your business. The difference is … we were engaged to be married when
you slept with someone else. That’s a huge difference.”

He kept backing up; he was letting her vent it all out. He
knew he had it coming to him, and she was letting him have it good. He tried
not to smile too much as she ranted on and on about him. He loved how fired up
she was, and how stunningly beautiful she was standing in front of him with the
white robe coming undone as she walked.

He kept backing up until his foot brushed the edge of the
pool. He grabbed hold of her so that they both fell into the pool. When Emma
surfaced, she screamed out in frustration, “Ahhh!”

Matt dove under the water and swam to the other side of her,
pulling her back under the water. When she came back up, he was laughing, but
she was furious.

“I hate you, Matt! I swear to God, I hate you!”

She started crying. He swam up to her and wrapped his arms
around her. He gently eased her head onto his shoulder and let her cry. “It’s a
start, Emma. At least you feel something for me.”

She buried her face in his chest and couldn’t keep from
crying. They had put on quite a spectacle outside; they had an audience of
residents watching them from their rooms.

“Everything is fine here, folks! Everyone can go back to
bed,” Matt yelled out.

He carried her back to their room, helped her to the
bathroom, and closed the door. “Change out of your wet things, Em. You can
sleep in one of my shirts. I promise no more for tonight.”

He went to his bag and got her a shirt to put on. He cracked
open the door just wide enough to hand it to her.

When she exited the bathroom, her hair was in a messy bun,
and Matt’s shirt hung down to her knees. Matt was already on top of his bed
looking at a map app on his iPhone. Emma quietly slid under her blankets and
pulled them up around her. Matt rolled on his side and smiled at her.

“Do you want to talk? If you have something you want to say
… I’ll listen.”

“No, Matt. I don’t feel like talking. It’s been a long day,
and I just want to go to sleep.”

“Goodnight, Emma … Hmm, it feels good to say that again.”

Emma closed her eyes. Her heart felt heavy, and she had
never felt so confused.

She hoped the pain would fade. The pain that Matt had caused
her when he broke her trust, and now the pain that Jacob left when he walked
away. She silently cried herself to sleep.

She was running through an apple orchard, just like the
ones she remembered from back home when she was a child. It was a beautiful
autumn day and the breeze had just a slight chill to it. She was running,
dodging in and out of the trees. She suddenly felt arms wrap around her waist,
pulling her playfully down to the ground. She could hear Jacob laughing, and it
made her heart sing. He laid his head beside her on the ground. The leaves
covered them like a thin blanket. She leaned over and kissed him. She had never
been filled with so much happiness. She felt carefree and loved. Jacob leaned
into her ear and whispered …

Matt stood over Emma, gently patting her to wake up. “It’s
seven in the morning. We need to hit the breakfast buffet and be on the road
before it gets too busy.”

Emma woke from her dream and felt the loss of Jacob all over
again. She wanted to hear what he was going to say, but sadly she was awakened.
She got herself ready and walked into the lobby to the buffet. Emma picked at a
corn muffin, while Matt devoured a whole plate of scrambled eggs, bacon,
sausage, and pancakes. He seemed more relaxed today than the day before. He
kept smiling at her. Her heart didn’t feel it. Her heart longed to be with
another. It now felt strange to be sitting across from Matthew even though
they’d been together for eight years. He felt like just someone that she used
to know.

Sitting in the car, Emma still didn’t feel much like
talking. She was still shocked at what Matt had said to her last night, and she
felt bad that she yelled out that she hated him. Her thoughts kept wandering
back to Jacob. She still didn’t understand why he had run off the way he did.
She was wondering if maybe there was a reason why. She was so sure he had felt
the same way she did. He virtually told her so. He made her feel so special and
he opened a piece of her that she didn’t even know existed. Time with him was
exciting and unpredictable. Every touch made her skin tingle. No one, not even
Matt, had ever made her react like that. So, how could she be so wrong? How
could she have poured her heart and soul out to him and then get rejected? She
had hoped that he would have agreed to come to New York with her. They didn’t
have to stay, but she at least would have had to tell her boss that she was
going to turn down the job. She wasn’t excited about it anymore. It wasn’t what
she wanted now. He made her realize that there is so much more to life than
what she had been living.

Before long she closed her eyes. Matt woke her up in what
felt like just a few minutes to her, but it was actually two hours later.

“Hey, sleepy head, wake up. I thought we’d stop for some
lunch and a little shopping here at Myrtle Beach. I know you’ve always wanted
to see it here so I took a little detour.”

Emma looked around and was amazed at the view. She had
always admired Myrtle Beach and wanted to come here, but between work and life,
they never had the opportunity to make it.

“Come on.” Matt opened the car door and excitedly got out.
He hurried to her door and opened it for her, giving her his hand.

“My Lady, let us go and enjoy a tourist day, shall we,” Matt
said cheerfully.

The two of them got out and headed to the barefoot
boardwalk.

Matt noticed the look in her eyes changed when she looked
around. She seemed relaxed. The area was so new and fascinating to her, she
glanced around in bewilderment. He only wanted to make her happy so he could
win back her heart. He was starting to notice that her two day fling seemed a
little bit harder to shake than he anticipated, but he wouldn’t give up. He
loved her too much, and he was willing to do anything to get her to fall in
love with him all over again.