Running Back to You (The Running Series, #1) (45 page)

“I was wondering when you’d show up,” he says dryly. 

I hand him his cookies and ask him for his forgiveness.  “Derek, I really
screwed things up badly last night.  Is there any way you’ll ever forgive me?”

“Jette, I know you never meant for things to snowball the way they did. 
I could have insisted we call someone, too.  I knew there was some crazed
person out there, and I let everyone worry unnecessarily.”  He’s quiet for a
moment, and then adds, “I need to learn how to say no to you.”  I didn’t think
it was possible, but now I feel even worse.

I follow Derek as he takes his cookies to the kitchen, and sitting at the
table are Emmy and Grant.  I walk straight up to Emmy with her box of cookies
in hand.  “Looks like you’ve been busy this morning,” she says. 

“Emmy, I’m so sorry I made you worry last night.” 

“Jette, Derek explained everything.  I made some pretty big mistakes,
too.  If Derek can forgive me, I can forgive you.”

“Yeah, I guess we all screwed up big time, didn’t we?  What the hell happened
last night?”

I get the entire, horrible story.  First, Emmy tells me about how she and
Marcus panicked when they found out that I left with Derek, fearing the worst. 
They wanted to believe Jack when he told them that I went home sick.  They
waited an hour and called Auggie to check on me.  Just as Auggie was telling them
that I never showed up, Evan arrives at the bar to give me a ride home.  It
doesn’t take much convincing for them to persuade Evan that Derek is my stalker
and abductor.

Then Grant tells me how Evan and Adam showed up here and demanded to see
Derek’s room.  He tells me how they trashed his room, looking for clues that
would tell them where Derek might have taken me.  Apparently, that’s what they
were doing when Camilla called Evan.

“Oh, Derek, I’m so sorry.  Can I help you put your things back together
again?”  I hate to think about Derek having to clean up more of the mess I
created.

“No need.  Evan came by last night and apologized.  He and Adam made
things right, Jette.  Like I told you last night, he’s really a good guy,” he
reminds me.  “We talked and came to an understanding.”

“About what?” I wonder.

“You.  Let’s just call it a gentleman’s agreement.”

“Oh.  Ah, okay.” 

“Did he call you this morning?” Emmy questions me.

“No,” I utter softly, wiping my eyes. 

“Give him time.  He’ll call.  I’m sure of it.  He loves you, Jette. 
He’s just upset, too, you know,” she states confidently.

“I hope you’re right, Emmy.  Why did I have to turn on that damned
television last night?”  I sulk.

“You could call him, you know.”

“Yeah.  I know.”

I apologize one more time to all three of them, and head back home to get
ready for work. 

F
or once, my night at work goes by uneventfully without any complications
or drama.  I still haven’t heard from Evan.  I know that tomorrow I will see
him.  The night of the big Restore the Shore Benefit has finally arrived.  I
miss him so damned much, it hurts.  For the second night in a row, I cry myself
to sleep.

It’s still pitch black out when I’m startled awake by the slow creaking
of my bedroom door opening.  A dark figure is standing in my doorway.  I sit up
and wipe the sleep from my eyes.  Am I dreaming or am I awake?  “Evan?”

Softly, he mutters, “I couldn’t sleep without you.”

“Are you really here?” I ask
skeptically.

“Shhh ... go back to sleep.”

He slips off his shoes and climbs into bed beside me. Wrapping his arm
around my waist, he pulls me close.  He smells so good and feels even better.

“I’m still mad,” he whispers.

“Me, too,” I reply.

“I love you, Juliette.”

“I love you more, Evan.”

I can actually feel him smile.  Another tear falls, and Evan wipes it
from my cheek.  Together, we drift off to sleep wrapped in each other’s arms. 

I wake up hours later.  The sun is up, shining brightly, casting a warm
glow throughout my room.  I turn over, and my bed is empty.  Was it just a
dream?  Did I want him to come back to me so badly that I fantasized the whole
thing?  God, I hope I’m not going crazy.

Folded neatly on my dresser is Evan’s UMD sweatshirt that I wore
yesterday.  Perhaps wrapping myself in him, enveloped by his scent, swathed in
his warmth, caressed by his soft touch, is what brought about last night’s
dream.

I slip his sweatshirt over my head again.  If I can’t have the real
thing, this will have to do. 

Auggie must be up because I smell fresh coffee brewing.  Knowing that I
look like hell, and not really caring right now, I wander into the kitchen. 

The sight before me stops me dead in my tracks.  “Evan?” I ask.  “You’re
really here?”

I can’t stop what happens next.  I fall to my knees and cry.  Deep,
bellowing, unladylike sobbing.  I have no idea why I’m crying, but now that
I’ve started, I cannot stop.

Evan drops to his knees and looks me straight in the eyes.  “Baby, why
are you crying?  I’m right here.”

“I thought . . . I lost . . . you.”  It’s all I can get out in between
the sobs.   

He stands up and lifts me into his arms effortlessly, as if I were a rag
doll.  I wrap my arms around him and bury my face in his neck.  Closing my eyes
and concentrating as best I can, I try to slow my breathing and calm my
emotions.  I can feel the tears slowly subsiding.

Gently, he sits on the couch and places me on his lap.  I don’t want to
look at him.  I hate that he’s seeing me like this.  I hate everything about
this situation.

There’s a box of tissues on the table beside the couch.  I grab one from
the box and give my nose a really good blow.  I grab another to wipe my eyes
and place both wadded up tissues on the table.

“Are you ready to talk about what happened?”  Evan moves loose tendrils
of hair from off my faces and places them behind my ear.

I nod.  “You first.”

“Thursday night was the worst night of my life, Juliette.  Not knowing
where you were or if you were safe was pure torture.  I thought I might never
see you again.”  Evan’s face looks tormented.  He runs his hands through his
hair and continues.  “My worst fears almost came true – that you were in danger
and I couldn’t protect you.  I’ve had nightmares ever since.  I had to come
over early this morning just to make sure you’re safe.”

“How did you get in?  Wasn’t the house locked?”

“Adam left your keys with me, along with the alarm code.  We both thought
it would be best if I had access to the house in case of an emergency.”

“Oh.”  I’m glad he has keys to my house.  I hope he has an opportunity to
use them again.  I hope he wants to use them again.  “I’m so sorry.  I wasn’t
thinking clearly when I took off with Derek.  I thought you left me.  I
believed that
my
worst fear had come true – that you realized you needed
more.  That’s what
I
have nightmares about, Evan.”  I feel like my heart
is breaking all over again.

“You don’t trust me.  You don’t believe we’ll really have a future
together.  You don’t have faith in us, or in this,” he states despondently.

I can’t blame him for being upset with me.  “But sweetie, you didn’t see
what I saw.  It’s our first day apart, and you go running right to Averee.  I
saw you at her loft.  Why?  And why is she telling everyone that you’re dating
her again?” I ask softly, wiping away the tears that have sprung again.

“I didn’t want to say anything, but she’s been calling and texting me for
a while now.  When she showed up at the Knicks game, that was the last straw. 
Somehow, she found out that we were going to be there.  She orchestrated that meeting,
baby.  I had to go tell her face-to-face to back off.  I think she told people
we were dating just to get back at me.”

“So you didn’t trust me, either.  You never told me she was calling you. 
Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Juliette, you have to understand. I know how much you worry about my old
lifestyle and I was trying to save you that pain.”

“So you’re mad at me for not trusting you, but you didn’t have enough
faith in me to tell me what was happening.  We’re at a little bit of an
impasse.  Where do we go from here, chief?”

“All I know is that I can’t live without you.  I can’t eat.  I can’t
sleep.  I can’t concentrate.  We have to find a way to get past this and move
forward.”

“How do we do that, Evan?  I want you to have faith in me.  I want to trust
you, too.”

“I think I have an idea.”  He lifts me off his lap and walks towards the
door.  “I’ll be right back.”  I can hear him open the trunk of his car and slam
it shut. 

When he comes back, he’s got a blue Tiffany’s box in his hand.  My heart
starts racing, my pulse is quickening, and my imagination is running wild.  I
knew he went to Tiffany’s on Thursday, but I was too afraid to ask him about
it. 

He sits back on the couch with me and hands me the gift box.  “Open it,
please.  I was hoping to give this to you Thursday night.  When I bought it, I
couldn’t wait to get home to give it to you.  But ... well ... you know how that
worked out.”

The box is too large to be a ring box.  I can’t imagine what it could
be.  How could this gift make a difference in our relationship?  I open the box
and waiting inside is a silver key chain with a beautiful heart pendant and a
key, a house key. 

“I don’t understand.  What does this mean?”

“Juliette, I want to go to sleep at night with you beside me.  I want to wake
up each morning with you in my arms.  I want you to know that I’m coming home
to you every night.  I want you to move in with me.  I love you.”

This is the last thing I expected to happen today.  “But what about Maddy? 
I can’t just dump her on Auggie.”

“Bring her. She’s one of the reasons we’re together today.  We can take
her running on the beach with us every day.  But if you don’t want to – “

“Evan, I want to be with you more than anything.  Are you sure you’re
willing to put up with all my crazy insecurities?  Rumor has it, I’m quite a
handful.”  A smile is plastered across my face.

“I think I can handle you.  Is that a ‘yes’?” he asks.

“Yes.”

“God, I love you.”

“I love you more.”

Keep Your Eye
on the Ball

E
van helps me pack.  I’m not taking everything right away. There’s no
rush, but neither one of us wants to sleep alone again tonight.

“Sweetheart, I don’t know how I’m going to break the news to Auggie. 
He’s going to be devastated.”  Auggie is my rock.  He’s always been there for
me.  Now I feel like I’m just turning my back on him, abandoning him.

“He knows.  I asked him Thursday night before I went to see you at work. 
I knew that if Auggie wasn’t alright with it, you would never agree.”  I love
that he respects my relationship with Auggie enough to ask him his permission. 
He’s like my brother, and it’s good to know that we have his blessing.