Anything But Mine (5 page)

Jen’s stomach churned as she digested Drew’s news. “How long will you be gone?”

Drew shook his head. “I have no idea.”

“But what about your job? And your apartment?”

“I can’t think that far ahead. I have to see what I’m facing when I get back home, and figure out what has to be done at my father’s office.”

As the hands on the clock inched towards midnight, Jen’s eyelids grew heavy and she stood up. “I’m exhausted. I’m going to turn in for the night.”

“I’m going to stay up for a while, just in case there are any further updates on my father’s condition,” Drew said. “With the three hour time difference, my mother or sister might call again, so I’ll just stay out here. I don’t want to wake you up when I’m ready to go to sleep.”

“I wish you would join me,” Jen suggested, tentatively. “Who knows when we’ll have the chance to be together again?”

Drew just looked at her, and shook his head. “I don’t know when, or if, I’ll make it back here, Jen. It all depends on my father’s condition, and his recovery.”

“Then come into the bedroom with me,” Jen pleaded with him.

“Jen, I just don’t think tonight is the right night. I’m just not in the right frame of mind to, you know…” his voice trailed off as he stared at the floor.

“Of course, Drew, you’re right. But we don’t have to…umm…we don’t have to be together in the physical sense. We can just hold each other, and fall asleep in each other’s arms. I just want to be close to you tonight.”

After what seemed like an eternity to Jen, Drew nodded his head in agreement, and followed her into the bedroom.

Jen disappeared into the bathroom to wash up. When she emerged a few minutes later in a camisole and plaid flannel pajama bottoms, she found that Drew was already under the covers, and had changed into a faded San Francisco 49ers t-
shirt
. She sat on the edge of the bed and set the alarm clock, before crawling under the covers and snuggling up next to him.

“You smell so good,” he said. “Like vanilla and sugar.”

“Thanks. It’s just my moisturizer.”

“It smells like the perfume you usually wear,” Drew replied, as he closed his eyes and breathed in Jen’s scent.

“It’s the same fragrance in the moisturizer. I’m glad you like it,” she said.

“Mmm…I love it. Every time I smell it, I think of you,” Drew said, as he kissed Jen on the top of her head and smoothed her hair.

Jen responded by kissing his chest. She sighed as she Drew held her close and, with her head resting against his heart, she fell into a deep sleep.

CHAPTER SIX

A
fter their tearful goodbye at the airport when she begged him to come back to her, Jen spoke or texted with Drew every day after he moved back to California, keeping up to date on his father’s condition.

“Why don’t I come out to see you this weekend? I’m off to Paris tomorrow, but I’ll be back on Thursday, and can catch a flight to the west coast on Friday,” Jen said during one of their phone conversations.

“That sounds great! Can’t wait to see you,” Drew said. “I love my parents, but could use a weekend away from the house. I’ll book us a room someplace, so we can have some alone time.”

“Perfect!”

Jen was distracted the entire time in Paris, and couldn’t wait for the trip to wrap up.
Come on, Friday, hurry up and get here,
she thought constantly.
I need to get to San Francisco. I need to get to Drew.

When she arrived at Charles De Gaulle Airport on Friday morning, she found that her flight to JFK was cancelled. “But you don’t understand,” she said to the ticket agent. “I have to get home. Can’t you get me on another flight?”

The ticket agent searched again, but shook her head. “I’m sorry, but there are no seats on any of the flights today or tomorrow.”

“What about from here to San Francisco? Can you get me on anything?”

The agent consulted her computer screen. “I’m sorry. There is bad weather everywhere. The snow in London and in New York is causing so many flights to be cancelled.”

Dejected, Jen turned away from the ticket counter and dialed Drew. “I’m stuck in Paris. My flight was cancelled because of the snow in New York, and I can’t get another flight for two days.”

“Oh, no,” Drew said. “I’m so sorry you’re stuck there. I miss you so much,” he said, his voice unable to hide his disappointment.

“I miss you too. I’ll call you when I’m back in New York, and maybe we can make some plans then,” Jen said, as she ended the call.

The following Friday, Drew boarded a plane for New York.
I can’t wait to see you,
he thought, as he looked at photos of Jen stored on his phone.
You’re going to be so surprised when I call to tell you that I’m in New York,
he thought, as he gazed at a photo taken of them together the night of the charity auction.
We’ve been best friends for so long, and now we’re finally going to take it to the next level.

As he stared out the window, his thoughts shifted to the other reason for his trip to New York.
I’ve got to pack up my apartment, too, and arrange to ship everything back home. At least I was able to sublet it,
he thought, glad that his friend and college basketball teammate, Luke Hanson, agreed to take over his lease.

As soon as he exited the plane, Drew dialed Jen. “How’s my girl?”

“Couldn’t be better, because I’m talking to you,” Jen said. “I was just about to call you, actually.”

“I’ve missed you so much, especially our daily runs. Want to go running together later on?”

“Wait…how did you know I’m in San Francisco? I just checked into the Ritz Carlton.”

Drew stopped dead in his tracks. “You’re where?”

“I’m in San Francisco. Surprise!”

“Oh my God, Jen. Oh, no,” Drew’s voice trailed off.

“I thought you’d be happy to see me,” Jen said, her voice cracking.

“I would be happy to see you, but I just landed in New York.” Drew gulped, before continuing, “I wanted to surprise
you
.”

“Oh, no. Can you turn around and get on a flight back here?”

“I can’t. I’m meeting Luke to pack up my apartment. He’s taking over my lease,” Drew said, as he sank down into an empty seat at a nearby gate.

“He’s taking over your lease? I don’t understand. Aren’t you coming back to New York once your father gets better?”

Drew closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Jen, honey, I’m sorry. I wanted to talk to you about that this weekend. I can’t see any scenario that will let me come back to live in New York in the near future. Someone has to run my father’s business while he recuperates, and I’m the only one who knows pretty much everything that has to be done because I worked with him every summer when I was in college.”

Tears streamed down Jen’s face. “But what about your job? You were just getting some on air time, everything was going so well…”

“I know,” Drew said, a catch in his voice. “Everything
was
going well.” They were silent for a minute, before Drew asked, “Can you fly back here? If you catch a flight tonight, we can still have part of the weekend together.”

“I wish I could, but I have a photo shoot in Cabo starting on Monday. I’m flying down there Sunday morning.”

“So when you’re done, just fly back up to San Francisco to see me. It’ll be mid-
week
, but maybe we can work something out.”

“But I’m flying from Cabo to Cancun on Wednesday, to meet up with my family for our annual winter vacation. I’m so sorry, Drew.”

“I’m sorry too, Jen. My God, it’s like fate is conspiring against us.”

“I know,” she half-
whispered
. “We’ll just have to keep trying.”

After two more weeks of repeatedly failing to figure out travel logistics, Drew voiced his greatest fear during a late-
night
phone conversation. “Jen, this isn’t working out.”

“What do you mean?” Jen asked nervously.

“I mean,” Drew hesitated. “I mean, we can’t get it together. I’m stuck here on the west coast, while you’re traveling the world. It’s impossible to see each other.”

“But what about next weekend? Why doesn’t that work?”

“I told you, I have to be at that tennis tournament all weekend. My dad’s firm is handling all the public relations for it.”

“I’ll come to you. My schedule is pretty clear that weekend.”

“But
my
schedule isn’t clear. I’ll be working the entire weekend.” The silence was deafening as neither of them spoke. Finally, Drew said, “I’m so sorry, Jen. You’ll always be my good friend. Hell, you’re my best friend, but I can’t ask you to wait around for me forever.”

“I’ll wait for you, as long as it takes,” Jen insisted. “We can make this work.”

“We haven’t managed to make it work so far. I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but maybe you should get on with your life, without me,” he said, before abruptly ending the phone call.

Heartbroken, Jen replayed the conversation with Drew over and over in her head the following day.
But how can I get on with my life,
she thought,
when you’re the only one I want to share it with
.

Sitting in her agent’s office, she was again lost in her thoughts about Drew, when she heard Mike say “earth to Jen, earth to Jen,” and snapped to attention.

“I’m sorry, I’m just a bit distracted,” she said. When Mike asked what was on her mind, Jen recounted the entire situation with Drew, including the fact that he wouldn’t be returning to New York.

“Sounds like you need a
good
distraction,” Mike said. “How about a date with a billionaire?”

When Jen wrinkled her nose and didn’t answer, Mike continued, “You know you have to go out with him once. I know you don’t want to do it, but you have to. He paid a lot of money for the privilege of taking you out to dinner, and I have to get back to his assistant. She’s called quite a few times trying to set the date up.”

Turning to his computer monitor, Mike consulted Jen’s schedule, and added, “It looks like you have some free evenings between now and your next trip to Europe for the Italian Vogue photo shoot. Let’s try to arrange for you go out with him sometime before you fly to Europe.”

Jen grudgingly agreed, and as she got up to leave, said, “Just let me know when and where I have to show up for the ‘date’.”

Once back in her apartment, Jen picked up the turquoise silk yarn she had purchased on the way home from her meeting with Mike, and began to work on knitting a simple halter top that she could wear once the weather turned warmer. As she knit, she became acutely aware of the quiet in her apartment.

Feeling lonely, Jen picked up the phone, called her friend Catherine, a substitute teacher and plus-
size
model, and invited her over for dinner.
I’ll pick Catherine’s brain tonight,
she thought.
She’ll know what to do about the Drew situation. And if she doesn’t have any ideas, she can always ask Luke,
she thought, hoping that her best friend or her boyfriend would help her convince Drew to give a long-
distance
relationship a chance.

Catherine arrived a few hours later, just as Jen finished preparing dinner. “I don’t know about you, but after the holidays I’m definitely not runway-
ready
, so I hope fish and a salad is okay with you,” Jen said, as she placed the salad in the refrigerator and slipped the salmon into the oven. She retrieved two wine glasses from a cabinet while Catherine opened a bottle of pinot grigio and poured them each a glass.

“So…I have some news,” Catherine said, as she stuck her left hand out, revealing a sparkling diamond on her ring finger.

Jen squealed with joy as she hugged her friend. “You’re engaged! I’m so happy for you and Luke! When did he propose, and how did he do it? Tell me everything!”

Catherine took a deep breath, and explained that Luke had proposed over a quiet dinner the previous night. “It was so romantic,” Catherine said with a sigh. “Jen, I’d really love it if you would be one of my bridesmaids. If you hadn’t insisted I go with you to the basketball game that night, who knows what would have happened, or if we ever would have dated,” Catherine said, thinking back to the night two years earlier, when she and Jen went to cheer on Chris, Luke and Drew, who were the stars of their college basketball team. “So, will you be one of my bridesmaids?”

“Of course, Cath! I’d be honored to be a bridesmaid.”

As Jen tossed the salad, Catherine asked, “So, how is Drew’s father doing? Any idea when he will be coming back to New York?”

They sat down at the table, and Jen filled her in on all the details, including her last conversation with Drew when he urged her to get on with her life without him. “I don’t know what to do,” she confided. “We’ve tried and tried, but it never works out. Part of me wants to just jump on a plane to California and surprise him, and the other part of me thinks that if he really wanted me there, he would just say so.”