Love Like You've Never Been Hurt (30 page)

“I think being out at the lake is really suiting him.”
Emma pictured him walking on the beach relaxed, smiling, the tension
gone from his face.

“I think being with you is what’s suiting him. He’s
laughing again, back to being a big old goofball. I was starting to
think he’d gone and grown up on me, but now he’s happy.”

Emma smiled, touched, though a little overwhelmed, by Lexi’s
forthright approach. “Well, we have been having fun.”

Lexi frowned. “He’s got a whole lot more than just fun
on his mind Honey, what are you scared of?”

Emma was shocked to be asked outright like that. She looked down
at her nails then up at Lexi who watched her with a reassuring smile.
“Sorry, I told you I can be a bit much. It’s none of my
business, I guess I’m getting a little carried away. Don’t
let me scare you off. Here,” she picked up a bunch of files
from her desk, “these are what he’s after.” She
gave Emma another hug. “I’ll be seeing you again, Miss
Emma, and you can call me any time you want.”

“Thank you, it’s so lovely to meet you.”

“You too, Hon, you too.”

Emma started towards the door.

“Hang on.” Lexi took a business card from her desk and
wrote her number on the back. “I’m guessing you know the
office number well enough, but that’s my cell on the back, and
you can bet your tail I’ve never given that to none of those
stick insects!” She laughed. “And don’t be so
scared. If you ask me it’s him as is most likely to get his
heartbroken and I’m hoping that won’t happen. You take
care now and don’t forget, call me any time.”

Emma walked back to Pete’s office trying to process her
meeting with Lexi. She was certainly a larger than life personality.
She liked her immensely, and it seemed Jack had told her at least
some of what was going on between them.

“What is going on between us?” she wondered. “Whatever
it is, it’s good, just leave it at that for now.”

She turned over the business card, and now she had a new ally,
that could only be a good thing, right?

“Mouse!” Pete grinned as she arrived back at his
office. “Didn’t expect to see you today”

“Well, I was in the neighborhood and it’s been too
long, I haven’t seen you since Sunday,” she laughed.

He nodded at the files she was carrying. “And he’s got
you running errands for him now, has he?”

“He asked me to pick them up since I was here.”

“Good, saves me having to remember.”

“I met Lexi,”

“Don’t worry about her, her bark is worse than her
bite.”

“I can’t imagine her barking or biting. Are we talking
about the same person? That bubbly Texan lady who kept hugging me?”

Pete laughed, “She likes you then.”

“It would seem so. You mean she’s not always like
that”

Pete looked a little uncomfortable.

“What?”

“Well, she’s kind of like, you know, the gatekeeper.
Or in her case, Jack’s guard dog!”

“Oh,” realization dawned, “you mean she’s
usually fending his girlfriends off, not being nice to them?”

“Oh, Mouse, I didn’t mean it like that, don’t
get...”

“It’s all right, Pete, really. I’m trying very
hard to be more mature about these things. Of course he’s had
other girlfriends,” she smiled, “Lexi called them stick
insects.”

Pete laughed at that.

“I have to deal with the positives. Lexi is lovely and she
likes me. And, for the time being at least, Jack doesn’t have
other girlfriends, because he’s with me.”

“Wow! You are getting grown up, Mouse. I’m impressed.”

“Me too. It’s not easy, but I’m working on it.”

“Well, good for you and you picked the right guy. You have
to know he’d never mess around on you?”

“I hope you’re right, Pete. I don’t think I
could handle that.”

“You’ve got nothing to worry about there, Em.”

At that moment, Emma’s phone rang. She put the files down
and checked the display, “Would you excuse me a minute, Pete?”

“Sure, use the meeting room if you like.”

Emma stepped through the double doors. “Hey, Brad, are you
all done?

Oh, OK.

No, of course. No problem. Call me Monday then.

Ok. Yes. Have a good weekend.”

She hung up. Brad wasn’t going to be free this afternoon at
all. Looking around she realized she was standing in the spot where
she’d knocked Jack over. She smiled, remembering the feel of
his arm around her and her first look into his deep brown eyes. And
now she got to go home to him! She stepped back into Pete’s
office.

“My meeting just canceled.”

“You don’t look disappointed.”

“Because, if you really don’t mind bringing Holly,
this means I can go home now.”

“You know I don’t mind. I’ll call her when I get
done here.”

“Thanks Pete, you’re the best.”

He smiled, “Anything for you, Em.” He checked his
watch, “If you get going now you might still catch dinner with
lover boy.”

She grinned back at him, “You don’t need to tell me
twice,” she hugged him. “I’m off. I’ll see
you in the morning.”

He laughed as she hurried to the door. “Yeah, see you then.
You drive safe though, no speeding tickets, OK?”

“Yes Boss!”

After she’d left the worst of the traffic behind, Emma
called Holly.

“Hey Sweetie.”

“Hey, I’m sorry, but I’m leaving tonight.”

“No problem. I kind of knew you would. I’ll bet Jack’s
pleased.”

“I haven’t told him. When I talked to him this
afternoon I still thought I’d have to stay and he was teasing
me about abandoning him. I’m going to surprise him, tell him he
made me feel too guilty to leave him all alone.”

Holly laughed, “I’m sure he’ll love that.”

“I hope so.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

“Thanks Holly. Pete said he’d call you later about
picking you up. Be warned, he usually leaves early.”

“Hey, I’m just the hitch hiker, I’ll do whatever
he says.”

“Don’t tell him that,” laughed Emma, “you’ll
give him all kinds of ideas!”

“Honestly, Em! Leave it alone. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Bye.”

It was almost eight thirty when Emma turned onto North Shore; the
traffic out of the city was always worse on Fridays. Her heart did
that happy little skitter as she pulled into her driveway. She’d
decided to leave the car here and walk down the beach to see Jack at
the RV. She’d spent much of the drive up thinking about what
she would say, how she could tease him about having to come back to
him, just so he wouldn’t have to spend the night alone. She
really was pleased with herself. She was going along with all of
this, not over thinking everything and instead listening to the part
of her that didn’t want to run scared. She left her bag in the
car, not wanting to waste time taking it inside. She set out down the
path to the beach. Looking out at the last of the evening sun she
felt so happy.

Then she froze.

At the far end of the beach she saw Jack. He was with a woman.
Emma began to shake as she watched them walk side by side at the
water’s edge, their dark heads close together as they talked.
Jack said something and the woman laughed and punched his arm. She
was tall and slender with long dark hair – a stick insect! Jack
held something out and the woman looked at it and nodded. He laughed.
He looked so happy. She saw him shrug and grin that sexy grin. The
woman reached up and hugged him and he hugged her right back. He
really did look so very happy. Emma’s heart was pounding in her
ears. No, No, NO! She turned and ran for her car. She couldn’t
stand to see any more.

She drove out onto the unpaved road that led back to the freeway.
She had no idea where she was going as she swiped at the tears
rolling down her face. How could he? On her beach, their beach! Where
they’d walked so many times, held hands, collected pebbles. She
began to sob as she drove. “Oh, Jack!” She pulled over,
no longer able to see the road. She sat there a long time until the
sobs subsided. How could he do that to her? Why tell her he loved
her? How could she have been so wrong? She heard Pete’s voice,
just hours ago saying,

“You have to know he’d never mess around on you.”

Lexi’s voice, “The man is crazy about you.”

Jack himself, “Hurry home to me, Baby.”

Ha! Why, Jack? Because if I’m not quick enough you’ll
have to find someone else to warm your bed?

Only this afternoon she’d been so taken in by him she’d
told Pete he didn’t have any other girlfriends. How wrong she’d
been. How wrong they’d all been!

It was getting dark. She didn’t know what to do. She
couldn’t sit here all night and she certainly didn’t want
to go home. She didn’t want to risk seeing them again, or risk
Jack seeing her. What would he do? Would he try to hide the woman,
pretend there was nothing going on? Or would he be like Rob and tell
her she was being ridiculous? After all, she’d left him alone
for two nights, what did she expect? How she wished she’d
called to tell him she was coming back. But, no, then she wouldn’t
have known. He’d still be keeping this woman secret somewhere.
Who was she? Where had she come from? Was she a tourist he’d
picked up at the lake or a girlfriend who had come out to visit him?
Whoever she was, she was welcome to him.

It was fully dark now. If she couldn’t go home, where could
she go? Not to Gramps, he’d know there was something wrong and
she didn’t want to upset him, especially not tonight before his
party. Missy? No. Dan would be there. OK, then. Ben. He had a spare
room in his apartment, she could stay there. Then they could get
everything ready together in the morning too. She took a deep breath.
This would not spoil the party. She wouldn’t let it.

She started the car and dialed Ben, her hands still shaking. His
voice over the speakers sounded reassuring, so familiar.

“Hey Mouse.”

“Hey Ben.”

“What time will you be over tomorrow?”

“Would it be OK if I come over tonight?”

“Sure, what do you need?”

“A place to stay.”

“What’s up, Em?”

“I’ll tell you when I get there.”

“Do you want to come to the restaurant?”

“Can I meet you at the apartment, in about fifteen minutes?”

“Of course. Em, are you all right?”

“Not really, no. I’ll see you in a few.” She
stifled another sob as she hung up and headed down the west shore.
He’d sounded so concerned, why she couldn’t she have
fallen in love with Ben? He was good looking and successful too, but
more importantly he was honest and trustworthy and, like Missy and
Pete, he loved her and he’d always been there for her.
Protected her from pain instead of inflicting it.

She arrived at the resort and hurried past the restaurant where
the band were playing out on the deck and the Friday night crowd
danced. She ran up the stairs to Ben’s apartment and knocked.
He let her in, his face full of concern.

“What’s going on, Em?”

She burst into tears and he wrapped her in a hug.

“Shh, it’s OK, little Mouse. It’s OK. It’ll
all be OK.” He stroked her hair and held her gently as she
cried and cried. Eventually she pulled herself together.

“Thanks, Ben. I’m so sorry.”

“I’m here for you, Em. We all are. Is this a whiskey
night?”

She nodded and gave him a small smile. The four of them had a
tradition of whiskey nights whenever one of them hit a bump in the
road of life. He brought a bottle of whiskey and two glasses.

“Want to sit outside?”

She nodded. They sat on his balcony directly above the lake and he
poured two glasses. Emma downed hers in one go.

“Whoa, slow down, Mouse. Are you going to talk to me?”

She nodded pushing her glass forward for a refill.

“Have you eaten, before we go pouring whiskey down you?”

“No,” she realized she hadn’t eaten since
breakfast. “I don’t think I could.”

“No more of the strong stuff until you at least try. Let me
call down and order you something. Then you have to tell me what’s
going on.” He called down and ordered her a sandwich and fries.
“I can go straight down and get that for you now. Will you be
OK a minute?”

“Yes, I’ve got to make a quick call anyway.” She
wanted to let Holly know to come straight to Ben’s in the
morning, she didn’t want her going to the house.

“Hey Sweetie, I didn’t expect to hear from you
tonight. Did Jack like his surprise?”

At that the tears came again. “Jack had a surprise of his
own and I didn’t like it at all.”

“What happened?”

She told Holly what she’d seen. “So it seems he really
wasn’t able to get through two nights alone.”

“Oh, Sweetie, I’m so sorry. Perhaps there’s some
explanation.” She didn’t sound convinced.

“Even if there was I wouldn’t want to hear it. I’m
staying at Ben’s tonight, so could you get Pete to drop you
here in the morning?”

“OK.”

“But don’t tell him why. I don’t know what he’ll
make of this and to be honest, I don’t even want to know.”

“Em, don’t you think you should talk to him. Don’t
you think he’d want to know, help straighten this out?”

“I don’t want to deal with him. I don’t want to
deal with any of it. Promise me you won’t say anything.”

Ben came back out and put her food down in front of her.

“Promise me?”

“OK then.”

“Thank you. I’ve got to go. I’ll see you
tomorrow.”

“You get some rest tonight. You’ll be all right, Em.”

“Thanks Holly, bye.”

“Here you go,” said Ben. “You have to eat
something.”

“Thanks.” She stared at the plate.

“Well, go on then. Two fries before I refill you.”

She ate two fries then pushed her glass forward. He topped it up
and she took a long swig.

“Take it easy though. Remember we’ve got a party to
run tomorrow. Now are you going to tell me what’s happened?”