Come Together (38 page)

“Jordan,” I admonished.

“No, I’m just messin’. Divorce is rough, babe. Or so I’ve heard.”

“It is, but I have someone to help me through.”

“Gretchen?” he asked, raising his eyebrows playfully.

“No,” I replied. “My boyfriend.”

“I’m glad Greg invited me tonight,” he said, ignoring my comment.

“Why’s that?”

“Just ‘cause. Haven’t seen you since graduation. We get to catch up.”

I nodded but narrowed my eyes at him in warning.

Since David and I were the reason the group had come together, I did my best to keep the conversation flowing. I wished several times that David were there because I missed him. Part of me believed if I wished hard enough, he would appear.

Greg, Gretchen, Jordan and I reminisced about college, memories that came easier the more we drank. Whereas Gretchen and I got giddier as we drank, Greg and Jordan seemed to get more nostalgic. They grasped at a time in our past that was long gone.

When Jordan left for the bathroom, Greg leaned over Gretchen’s lap to get my attention. “So?” he asked just above a whisper. “Jordan?”

“Jordan what?” I retorted.

“You guys seem to be getting along.”

My eyebrows furrowed. “What do you mean?”

“I’m just saying. How awesome would it be if you guys got back together now that you’re single again? It’d be like the good – ”

“Don’t fucking say it,” Gretchen interrupted. “And what the hell are you even talking about? Liv isn’t single.”

“You know what I mean. She’s no longer hitched.”

I glanced at Brian, who was thankfully preoccupied with his date. “Did you set this up on purpose?” I asked Greg.

“I just think it would be cool.”

Gretchen grimaced. “You’re a dick.”

He glanced at her. “Why, babe? I thought you’d be into it.” She just shook her head and looked at me apologetically. Greg leaned back into his seat, but not before he said to me, “Think about it.”

The waiter arrived with our meals then, and as he distributed them, I studied Greg. We had been best friends in college. I’d enjoyed getting to know him again, but the bond we’d had in college didn’t seem to exist anymore. Gretchen was right: he was a dick. Maybe he always had been. Inviting Jordan with the assumption that he could lure me away from David made me mildly sick to my stomach.

I noticed that Brian was watching him too. It struck me as odd the way he stared at him over his glass of wine, but I forked a bite of salmon and ignored it.

“So, Jordan,” Gretchen said, “seeing anyone special these days?”

“I see some special girls at this table right now,” he said, glancing at me. I bent my head and looked at my plate.

“Well, hands off, chap, they’re all spoken for,” Brian joked, but his voice held an edge of warning.

“I know, dude,” Jordan replied. “I’m messin’ around.” But he was giving me his best fuck-me eyes, and he had been all night. Flirtatious by nature, but not afraid to go for what he wanted; it was what had drawn me to him in the first place. I silently thanked the universe that I had David and wouldn’t have to make up an excuse to shake Jordan later.

“So, is it serious with this new guy?” he asked me in a lowered voice.

I nodded. “Yes. Very.”

“And where, pray tell, is he tonight?”

“New York for work. He gets here in the morning.”

He winked. “I see.”

I made a face and soon found myself at the opposite edge of my seat. Since Brian’s girlfriend was the only person I didn’t know at the table and Jordan was making me uncomfortable, I quickly asked her what she did for a living. Her voice was so soft that I could barely hear her response. I just nodded and took another bite since I wasn’t sure what to say.

Gretchen leaned over to me a moment later and whispered, “What’s with her? She’s creepy.”

I stifled a laugh. “She is not, Gretch. Maybe a little shy.”

“He probably just keeps dummies around who’ll listen to him talk about himself.”

“Be nice,” I scolded.

“Do you think she’s cute?”

“Yes. Why?”

“She’s all right, I guess,” Gretchen said and then sat back in her seat.

Brian was more pensive than I’d ever seen him. When I looked up, this time his eyes were on Gretchen. I wondered if, impossibly, he’d heard her, because he looked tense. His eyes quickly shifted to me, and he smiled. I smiled back. Regardless of Gretchen’s opinions, I liked Brian, and I could tell that he was watching out for me in David’s absence.

“More wine?” Jordan asked, positioning the mouth of the bottle over my glass.

“I shouldn’t.”

“Come on.”

“No, I think I’m good.”

“Livvy,” he sang, the way he used to when he was trying to convince me of something.

“Jordan,” I replied in the same voice, shaking my head.

He put the bottle down. “Did I tell you how pretty you look?”

“Why are you looking at me like that?” I asked.

“I was just thinking about us. You know. We have a long history.”

“History, yes. Future, no.”

He pouted animatedly. “Listen, babe, I’m not a kid anymore. I was stupid to let a girl like you get away. I’m happy to hear about Bill.”

“How can you say that? That was my marriage.”

“Because it gives me a second chance,” he said.

“I have a boyfriend.”

“Who’s in New York,” he pointed out.

I stared at him a second and then burst out laughing.

“What’s so funny?”

It took me a moment to catch my breath. I wiped a tear from my eye. “What’s funny is that my boyfriend is ten times the man you ever were.”

“Aw, Liv, come on.”

I continued smiling. “Sorry,
babe
.”

He leaned in further, and I once again slid to the edge of my seat. “Think about it. We make perfect sense. We were college sweethearts.”

I shook my head. “Nope. There’s literally nothing you can say to convince me. I am totally and completely taken. I might as well be – ”

“Olivia.”

I whipped around at the endlessly deep voice. David was standing behind me with his arms crossed, and just his tone alone was enough to quiet the table. He wore an expensive suit and a hard gaze. “David? What are you doing here?”

“Who’s this?” Jordan asked. He squared his shoulders as if he was sizing David up.

“Boyfriend,” David bit out, glaring at him. “Who the fuck are you?”

“You came early,” I said as my shock melted into a big smile.

“Who is this guy?” David responded.

“Honey, this is Jordan Banks – ”

“Jordan?” he clipped. His face reddened as his nostrils flared. “Ex-boyfriend Jordan?” His eyes cut across the table. “Brian?”

“Sorry, mate,” Brian said. “I didn’t know until I got here, and they told me he was just a friend.”

“Mate?” Gretchen uttered under her breath. “Is he Australian now?”

“Olivia,” David commanded, crossing his arms tighter.

I gulped. “Yes?”

“Outside.”

I nodded and pulled my napkin off my lap.

“Liv?” Jordan asked. “Is there a problem?”

“No,” David answered for me. “And I’d advise you to keep your mouth shut.”

“
Ten times
,” I told Jordan, as I pushed my chair out. “I meant that.”

He slumped in his seat as I left the quiet table behind. Outside, the evening was much warmer than Chicago, but I shivered anyway.

“We’re apart a couple nights, and you’re having dinner with your ex-boyfriend?” he started in.

“It’s not like that,” I said, rubbing my hands over my sleeved arms. “Greg has some twisted idea about recreating the past, and he invited him without telling anyone.”

“You didn’t know he’d be here?”

“No, baby. I swear. I’m totally uncomfortable with this. Trust me?”

He pressed the bridge of his nose between his thumb and his index finger. “Yes. I trust you, and I trust this,” he said, motioning between us. “It’s everyone else I don’t trust. And I don’t like the way he was leaning on you.”

I pursed my lips and remained quiet.

He cocked his head. “What?”

“You have no idea how happy I am to see you.”

“Why aren’t you arguing with me?”

“Because you’re right.”

“Excuse me?”

“You’re right.” I meant to sound confident, but the words came out squeaky. “I was clear that I have a boyfriend, but he won’t back off.”

His shoulders tensed. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

I put my hand on his forearm. “I’m telling you because I trust that you won’t explode. If you freak out every time I tell you something like that, I’m going to stop telling you.” I slid my hand up his bicep until he visibly relaxed. “It doesn’t matter to me. I see right through his garbage. He’s no threat to you. Nobody is.”

His eyebrows knit. “Since when do you like tattoos?”

I laughed. “I don’t.”

The look on his face betrayed his skepticism. “What does ‘ten times’ mean?”

I loosened my shoulders when I saw that he was beginning to thaw. “I told him my boyfriend is ten times the man he is.”

He looked me up and down. “Ten times, huh? Did you use a ruler to figure that out?”

I blushed and glanced at the ground. “I didn’t have to. You’re ten times any man I’ve ever been with.” When I looked back he was grinning foolishly. I arched an eyebrow at him. “Like you don’t know that you have a huge cock.”

He laughed his surprise and then leaned into me, taking my entire jaw in one big hand. “What a dirty mouth you have, Miss Germaine.” Finally, he kissed me. “I might have to spank you for that one.”

I wriggled, smiled and wrapped my arms around him.

He let go of my face and hugged me back. “You look beautiful, baby. Too beautiful to be out without me.” He ran his hand over my hair. “You’re cold.”

“I’m getting warmer, sexy.”

He laughed. “Feisty tonight?”

“Very. You never answered my question. What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to surprise you, so Brian told me where you guys would be. What he didn’t tell me was that you already had a date.”

I laughed. “He had no idea, but he was keeping an eye on Jordan. You have a good friend there.”

“Speaking of, you say that Greg orchestrated this?”

I nodded as my smile fell. “I understand if you’re pissed. I am.”

“Damn right I’m pissed, and I’ll tell him next chance I get. I don’t like that shit.”

“All right. Come on, and help me finish my dinner.”

“I’m not sitting next to that tattooed asshole.”

“Don’t whine,” I said, taking his hand and leading him back inside. They were already settling the bill so David took my seat, and I perched on his knee. I told him I was full, and he made short work of cleaning my plate.

“I’m going to take off,” Jordan said a few minutes later. “Got plans tonight.”

I wasn’t surprised, as David was literally using his large body to block Jordan off from the rest of the table.

“Bye,” I said. Even though he’d irritated me, he was harmless and he was still my friend. I tried to get up and hug him good-bye, but David’s arm tightened around my waist, securing me to his knee.

Jordan stood awkwardly for a moment. “Okay, then. Have a good weekend, guys.”

“Ready to rip, Bri?” David asked, ignoring Jordan as he waited a moment and then left.

“I don’t know, man, looks a little bleak out there. We’ll give it a go though. Greg?”

“I might just hang back with the girls.” He looked over at David. “I had a two-hour phone call with planning and zoning officials today. Feeling like a zombie.”

David didn’t respond, just rubbed my knee absentmindedly.

“Sounds brutal,” Brian said when David’s lack of response became uncomfortable.

“Maybe we want to go surfing,” I quipped.

“Do you, baby? I’ll take you,” David decided before I could respond. “Brian and I are going to hit the line-up pretty early, but mid-morning should be good for beginners.”

“How ‘bout you?” Brian asked.

“I’m in,” Gretchen exclaimed and then reddened when she realized he was talking to his date. Kat only shook her head.

“We’d better get some rest then,” David said to me.

I clasped the hand moving on my leg and whispered back to him, “Don’t count on it.”

We fell into couples on the walk back to the house. “I know I said it already, but I missed you,” I told David.

“Me too.” He rubbed his thumb over my knuckles. “Baffling how we went all those months away from each other.”

I snuck my arm across his lower back. “You must be tired,” I murmured, snuggling into him.

“Yes, and I didn’t even get everything done.”

“I’m sorry,” I said, because it sounded like an admonishment.

“I’m not,” he said softly and stopped walking. I looked up at him expectantly as we stood. “Everything is better when I can look into your eyes. That’s what I realized being away from you.” He lifted his hand and ran his thumb over my cheek. “They’re the most beautiful shade of green. They’re the first reason I fell in love with you.”

Warmth spread through my body, and I wrapped my arms tighter around his waist. David could be so rough with me sometimes, so angry. In the beginning, I never would’ve believed he could also be so endlessly romantic. “What did you see that first night at the theater?” I whispered.

“Hmm?”

“At the ballet when our eyes met. I never understood what it was you saw in me.”

“I just saw you. Clear. Raw. I felt like I was witnessing something I shouldn’t be. I’ve often wondered what you were thinking in that moment that you would let me see inside you like that. Ironic, because for months after, you tried admirably to shut me out like everyone else.”

I closed my eyes and smiled as I remembered the night that changed everything. “I was with Bill, Lucy, Andrew and Gretchen. The girls left for the bathroom, and the guys went to get us drinks. The performance was so beautiful, wasn’t it? I remember thinking how much I loved it, and how I wished life were that perfect and flawless.” I sighed. “I didn’t know that it’s not supposed to be that way,” I said, my voice hitching. “That life can be messy and still be beautiful.” His hand raked through my hair soothingly. “So it was just me in a crowd. I was thinking about how even in a room full of people, I could still feel so alone. That’s the last thought I remember before I saw you.”