Forgiven (33 page)

Sam and Haley walked into the study just before six that evening. Haley plopped down on the couch in front of Adam. Her eyes were sparkling and he could read excitement all over her face. Doing a quick scan, he realized that she still wasn’t wearing the Davenport Diamonds, so Sam hadn’t popped the question.

“What has you so happy, sunshine?” He asked her with a smile. Haley’s happiness tended to be contagious. She was so vivacious. No wonder his brother couldn’t stand to be away from her.

Sam sat next to her on the couch and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Like they had been doing it for years instead of months, they melted into each other, one simply becoming an extension of the other. And Adam marveled over it, wondered what that must feel like.

“It’s your birthday!” Haley exclaimed. “I am so excited to celebrate with you. We thought we’d start my taking you out to dinner. Then we have a big surprise for you.”

If Sam hadn’t been holding her, Adam would have sworn that she’d have floated away. “What’s the surprise?” Adam asked with a smile. “I mean, I’m surprised enough that you are here. I thought that you two had forgotten…” His voice trailed off and he shrugged, but the sadness in his voice was evident.

Haley’s smile faltered. She glanced up at Sam, a hint of doubt in her eyes. He squeezed her shoulder reassuringly and leaned down to kiss her temple. These days, they were hard to be around and they knew it. That was part of the reason why they spent so much time away and on their own. The other part was that Haley felt so much better, so confident, and so ready to face the world with Chase in jail awaiting trial. She wasn’t in hiding any more. And it made a huge difference.

“Adam,” Sam began in his scolding voice, “we would never forget your birthday. So, where would you like to go to dinner?”

But Adam was already morose from spending the bulk of the day alone and discovering that in thirty years, the only meaningful relationship he had was rather built in, since Sam almost didn’t have a choice in the matter. Hanging out with the two lovebirds was just the cherry on top. “Oh, you’re all big on surprises,” Adam said, trying to act happy, “why don’t you surprise me? I’ll put on a suit and meet you down here in fifteen minutes. I would have said ten, but it takes me a little longer. You understand?” And he tapped his bum leg with the cane before limping out of the study and heading to the guest bedroom.

“Well, that didn’t go the way we had hoped,” Haley said quietly.

“Ah, it’s Adam, I rather expected it,” Sam assured her. “He has been milking that leg…” He shook his head. “It will be good for him to go home and get back in a routine, rebuild his life. He hasn’t been there for almost two months. I’m sure it will feel good for him to be back on his own.”

Haley leaned back into Sam knowing that his arms would wrap around her. She pressed her face against his broad chest and inhaled the scent of him, a combination of cologne and fresh clean male. She squeezed him close. “I hope you’re right. Maybe what Adam really needs is to be around family right now. Maybe that’s what will help him heal.”

He sat there in silence and considered what Haley had said. He didn’t want to think that it was for purely selfish reasons that he would send his brother packing. Sure, he longed to be more spontaneous with Haley, have more freedoms, be as demonstrative as he wanted without worrying about interruptions, but he really did have Adam’s well-being in mind…didn’t he?

It was just after 6:30pm that Neville drove the group to Adam’s apartment. And when the vehicle stopped and Adam stepped out onto the curb and recognized his surroundings, he was feeling less than buoyant. He looked at Sam a moment, trying to read his face before he spoke. “What are we doing here?” He questioned.

“Oh, I thought you might want to change that tie. You have been wearing the same three ties for weeks at the office. And since we were in the neighborhood…” Sam’s voice trailed off and he gestured as though the answer was obvious. He leaned over and helped Haley out of the car then nodded at Neville.

The three headed to the door, greeted the doorman, and made their way to the elevator. It was very nearly 7pm when Adam stuck his key in the lock and opened the door to his apartment. It was as dark as he expected. What he didn’t expect was the aroma of food, the people popping up from behind furniture and through doorways, and the shouts of ‘Surprise!’ that rang out over the clatter of his cane falling to the floor. He pasted a smile on his face. He was surprised all right. And he was dismayed. This was the last thing he wanted for his birthday.

Looking over at Haley, Adam finally spoke, “I suppose this was your idea?”

“Not entirely. Sam helped a lot,” Haley smiled shyly, clearly awaiting his approval. She was a lot more perceptive than Sam gave her credit for.

“Thank you,” he said and gave her a half hug. He meant that much. He really did appreciate her. And dammit, she meant well. Wasn’t it the thought that counts? With that, he limped into the open loft space that was his living room.

It seemed to be going off without a hitch. That’s all that Cammie cared about. This was going to be one of the very last functions she worked for her parents and she couldn’t very well leave a bad impression that would tarnish the reputation of the family business. Ah, but she wanted more from life. Completing her MBA from Columbia University in another month should help in that department. Maybe then her parents would have more respect for her. She scowled. Nope. Doubtful. They were still so angry that she was leaving the business after the holidays; they were barely speaking to her. It would take far worse treatment than that to make her change her mind.

Looking around the room, Cammie sighed. This…was pretty bad. And then she considered how she would be spending her Sunday afternoon, dressed as a clown, making balloon animals for a five year old’s Circus Circus Birthday Party, and remembered that it could always be worse. Although here she was, hot pink bustier, black mini skirt, fishnet stockings, and a pair of the most uncomfortable black heels she owned, working as the bartender for some thirty year old bachelor’s birthday party.

Tightening her long blond pony tail, and smoothing her hair down, she freshened her lip gloss, mashed her lips together and pasted a smile on her face. Something told her this was going to be another long night. And the birthday boy had only just arrived.

Cammie watched as he made his way through the room and hid a genuine smile. He was doing his best to make it look like he was mingling, but clearly he was making his way as directly to the bar as possible. Maybe he was just as thrilled as she was to be here? Before she could give it further thought, guests began ordering drinks and she was struggling just to keep up. And then, there he was, standing in front of her.

“Tell me you have something back there that’s older than I am,” Adam said with a sigh.

“Oh, I don’t know. It’s rare that we carry anything older than forty years to these events.” She pretended to be looking while biting her cheek to keep from laughing.

“Jeeze! Thirty! I’m only thirty!” Adam sat heavily on the vacant wooden bar stool. He cupped his face in his hands for a moment, then stood some to get a better look at the stool. “Hey, these are nice. Are they mine or yours?”

“Ours. You really wouldn’t know the difference?” She wondered for a moment what it must be like to have so much that you couldn’t keep track of it all. Then she shook that thought from her head and added, “I was just teasing you. I know this is your thirtieth birthday. It is, after all, kind of why I’m here.” She shrugged, smiled, and noticed a guy gesturing for her at the end of the bar. “Give me just a second.” And without a moment of hesitation, she glided down to the guest, heard his order and prepared it for him with ease and efficiency.

Adam turned his head, but not quick enough. She definitely caught him staring. Damn. He was still chuckling to himself when she returned.

“What’s the joke?” She asked. She was used to pretty much every eventuality that could occur at a party. She had been raised in the business. Her parents had started the birthday party business when she was a child after a few years of producing successful imaginative gatherings to celebrate her birth. It didn’t take long for them to realize that they could easily turn a profit and gradually, they left their day jobs to do this full-time.

“No joke,” Adam admitted. “You just caught me looking. That’s all. I must be losing my touch. I used to be so smooth.”

Before she even considered what she was about to say, the words escaped her lips. “Please. You were never that smooth. You just thought you were. Although maybe those rocket scientists you always seemed to find attractive were genuinely impressed.” Instantly, Cammie’s mouth snapped shut. Once again she had said too much. It really was her biggest flaw. Or maybe eating her emotions was. Crap. Either way, it all came down to her mouth. And thanks to her amazing metabolism, only her verbal vomit was getting her in trouble these days. Why couldn’t she be more like her little sister?

Yes, Cin was perfect. She had their father’s Mediterranean coloring and long, thick, dark hair. She had a perfect hourglass figure. And she always knew what to say. Always. She never had to waste time regretting her words or anything else for that matter. Plus, she was the perfect daughter, wholly content to work with her parents until she married and popped out the first grandchild. Judging from the way she was working the party, Cin planned to do that sooner, rather than later. Cammie shook her head in disgust.

“Listen, I have watched you in action at roughly 117 parties since you hit puberty. At each and every one of those events, you managed to find some female to hook up with.” She was about to continue, but he interrupted.

“One hundred and seventeen? I’d like to know where you get these numbers. That can’t possibly be right.” He started counting on his hands while she smirked at him. It was obvious that he was serious. She had hit a nerve. Ah, but she was serious, too.

“You know, if I’m off at all…it’s by maybe three.” She sighed. He counted. A hand waved from the end of the bar. “I’ll be back. You know, chances are your smart phone has a calculator if you think that would speed up the process.”

It only took her a few moments to pass the gentleman at the end of the bar a few bottles of an imported beer. For some reason, there was always some jerk who wanted to know if they carried Heineken and hinted, if not said outright, that he’d like to grab her heiney. And this guy…was one of those so she wasted no time getting back to Adam. He had taken her advice. He had his calculator out and was talking to himself. Every once in a while, he would smile, suggesting that the memory of the moment wasn’t so bad.

“What number are you on now, champ?” She teased him as she washed a couple of glasses and put them away.

“Eighty-seven,” he said seriously.

“And how many years to still factor in?” She poured some shots of Goldschlager and passed them to the server who requested them. Too many of those and this party would get completely out of hand.

“Just six…” He tapped a few more numbers into the phone. “Well, this can’t be right.”

Laughing, she nodded, “Oh, it can be.” She leaned toward him. “Let me see.”