I Speak...Love (A Different Road #3) (22 page)

Joss slowly pulls her wrist out of River’s grasp, then she looks at Maddy and starts to walk away. The entire table lets out a collective gasp as we all watch her walk toward the hallway.

“Joss,” Maddy tearfully calls through the silence. Joss stops walking, but doesn’t turn around. “They’re family. Families fight, they do things, they say things, but they always . . .
always
come back to each other no matter what.
You,
you’re a part of this family,” she says to Joss’s back.

Joss doesn’t move for a full minute, then she continues through the room, down the hallway and into a bedroom. River is still on his knees and with every footstep Joss takes, his head hangs further and further down. She comes back out a few minutes later with her purse tightly gripped in her hand. Maddy gets up from the table and walks over to Joss. She stops in front of her, then she quickly rips Joss’s purse out of her hands, runs back to me, then hides behind my back.

“Wherever you’re going, you’re going without your purse,” she says loudly to my back.

Joss shakes her head, then calmly walks to the table and stands in front of me.

She peers around me, looks at Maddy and says, “You didn’t
need
to steal my purse, I had already made up my mind. Josh, can you do me a huge favor?” Joss asks, looking at Josh.

“Anything, just name it,” he answers immediately.

“Can you bring my things back over to the house after breakfast?” she asks.

“Really?” Maddy asks, shocked, stepping out from behind me, clutching Joss’s purse to her chest.

Joss gives Maddy a small smile, then she walks over to River and stops directly in front of him. He lifts his head, then his hands wrap around the back of her calves.

“Let’s go home,” Joss says, running her fingers in River’s hair from his temple to behind his ear.

River stands up, then he wraps her tightly in his arms. He pulls away and places his hands on either side of Joss’s face. She slowly moves in and kisses him. He lets go of Joss, then he walks over to me.

He again extends his hand, then says, “I’m truly sorry, brother. I love you with all my heart.”

I place my hand in his and again shake his hand, as I say, “I love you, too brother.”

His hand wraps around my upper back as he claps me on the shoulder in a tight hug. I’ve never hugged River before, not that I can remember, and it feels amazing. Kate clears her throat next to us, then both River, and I open up a space for her. She squeezes between us and hugs us both. There’s not a dry eye between the three of us and as we let each other go, I see there’s not a dry eye sitting at the table either.

River laces his fingers through Joss’s hand, then Joss walks to Maddy, who is now standing next to my side. Maddy raises Joss’s purse, and she takes it with a smile. Joss and River walk toward the front door, but before they leave, Joss reaches her hand into her purse and takes out a set of keys, Maddy’s house keys with the camera keychain. She looks at Maddy with a smile as she slides them toward the center of the counter, then still smiling at Maddy, her fingers grab her bus ticket, then she slides it off the counter and shoves it inside her purse.

“Cooper, I’m borrowing your car again,” Joss calls over her shoulder, then they walk out the front door.

Maddy and I turn back around to the table and look at everyone. We take our seats, but no one moves or picks up their forks to eat. I’m sure everyone’s breakfast is cold by now. No one likes cold scrambled eggs.

“Maddy, do you have any pickles in the refrigerator?” Nina asks, patting Josh on the arm, then she shoves a forkful of eggs into her mouth.

“Pickles . . . for breakfast?” I repeat.

“What? The baby wants pickles,” Nina replies, then everyone laughs.

With a smile on his face, Josh gets up to retrieve a jar of pickles for Nina.

“He’s just finishing up a meeting with a client in the conference room. Go ahead on in. He should only be a few more minutes,” Caleigh says, releasing me from her anaconda hug.

“Thanks,” I say, adjusting my boobs in my bra. I then get a huge smile on my face when I see Caleigh adjusting her own boobs underneath her silk dress shirt. It’s now become a little game between us of who can squeeze harder. Caleigh may have more years of experience in the anaconda death hug squeezing department, but I have a solid core thanks to Kate’s yoga classes. “Hey, how did your date go last night?” I ask, adjusting the strap of my catering bag on my shoulder.

“Don’t ask,” she sighs, taking her seat behind her desk.

“That bad? You really need to let me set you up with my new client. He’s a doctor, and he’s oh so gorgeous,” I sing-song, wagging my eyebrows at her with a smile.

“I’ll think about it,” she says as her phone rings on her desk.

“I’ll tell you all about him later,” I whisper as she picks up the phone and answers it.

I walk into Stephen’s office and set my catering bag down between the two dark leather chairs in front of his desk.

It’s been three weeks since Joss confiscated my bus ticket to nowhere special. In those three weeks, I’ve done a lot of inner soul searching. I’ve come to realize that I’m not a product of my past. I spent so many years expecting that people would fail me and that everything good in my life would be taken away from me that I forgot how to fight for myself. I spent so many years living half a life that I let it become my normal.

I reach into the side pocket of my catering bag and remove the now framed photo of myself that Stephen took of me almost a month ago right here in this office. When I first saw this photo, I didn’t recognize the happy, smiling woman staring back at me. She had the same eyes, same nose, same color hair, and the same splattering of freckles. At first, I only kept the photo as a reminder of what happens when I allowed myself to look like that. I still have the same nose, the same color hair, and the same splattering of freckles, but there’s now a sparkle to my eyes and that smile . . . well, that smile is always there now.

I place the frame on Stephen’s desk, turn it around so he can see it when he sits down in his chair, then I sit back in the chair. Not even a minute later, I feel a pin being removed from the bun in my hair. A smile creeps up my face as Stephen lets my hair down. He gently runs his fingers through it, sweeps it off my neck, then his warm lips softly press to the back of my neck.

“How’s your day, Sweetness?” he asks, then kisses my neck again.

“Fantastic,” I reply. “How’s your day?” I ask with a smile.

“I didn’t think it couldn’t get any better, but seeing you sitting in my office waiting for me just made it perfect,” he replies.

It’s also been three weeks since Stephen has had a headache. Every day Stephen and I start our morning together, taking Kate’s beginner yoga class. Between his medication, exercise, and the healthy food I make sure he eats, he’s been headache free and thank God he has not had another seizure. He’s been managing his diabetes very well.

“What’s for lunch today?” he asks, taking a seat next to me.

As I unzip the bag to take out our lunch container there’s a knock on the door, then it opens.

“Hey, bro. Can you join me for lunch today?” River asks. He takes a visible sniff in the air, then says, “Oh, hey, Maddy. I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were here. Caleigh wasn’t at her desk. You two enjoy your lunch,” he says, then starts to shut the door.

“No, River wait. It’s alright. I have somewhere I need to be. Come on in. I made tuna pita sandwiches with cucumber, tomato, feta, and olives,” I tell him standing up.

“That sounds great!” River says.

“Are you sure?” Stephen whispers.

I shake my head yes, then walk over to River, take his elbow, and lead him to my vacated chair.

Stephen stands up, takes a chunk of my hair in his hand, gently runs his fingers to the end, smiles at me, then places a kiss on my lips.

“Are you sure you don’t mind?” River asks.

“Not at all. In fact, I insist. You two enjoy lunch,” I say, walking to the door.

“We’re still on for dinner tonight at my place, right?” Stephen asks, walking up behind me.

“Absolutely. I’ll see you tonight after work,” I reply.

“I’ll bring your catering bag home with me,” he says, then leans in and kisses me one last time.

Stephen walks back and has a seat next to River. As Stephen takes out the lunch containers, I can’t help but smile. Those two have come such a long way together. The dynamic between them has changed so drastically. On the days Stephen and I don’t eat lunch together, he’s guaranteed to eat with River and not just in River’s office either or necessarily with Josh. Which Josh is loving, too. He’s been able to spend more time with Nina, and he’s been able to be at every prenatal appointment with her.

“How did the Jones meeting go?” River asks Stephen as I close the door behind me.

As I walk to the elevator, I pass Caleigh in the hallway.

“Is everything OK?” Caleigh asks, concerned.

“Great! River and Stephen are having lunch in his office. I’m so setting you up on that blind date though with my new client!” I say as I hit the button on the elevator.

“We’ll see,” Caleigh replies.

I get in my van and drive a few blocks away to my next destination. I park, then grab my purse, a special container and walk toward the entrance. The bell joyfully jingles over the door as I enter, and I’m greeted by the salesman.

“Good afternoon, Maddy,” he greets with a smile, then he automatically retrieves the sales book.

“Hey, Joel. I’ve come to make another payment,” I tell him, setting the container of my famous chocolate chip cookies on the counter. The day after I promised Joss the twenty-four hours, I came back to the camera shop and made a deal with Joel. I now make him small weekly deposits until the original purchase price of the camera is paid off, then he’s going to refund Stephen his payment back on his credit card. Stephen doesn’t exactly know it yet, but I have a feeling he’ll completely understand. I need to do this myself. I might be making these payments to Joel for the next two years, but in the end, I’ll have fulfilled a lifelong dream. It’s funny now that I think about it, I didn’t need the full twenty-four hours I promised Joss, it was more like only eight. “Here you go,” I tell him, placing this week’s payment on the glass counter top.

“Let me just mark it off,” he says, opening the sales book. “Yep, just like I thought. This is your last payment. Let me go grab your camera for you,” he says, quickly walking away.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hang on there just a second. I’m pretty sure I have at least five million more payments to make,” I tell him facetiously, stopping him.

Joel agreed to the payments, and he agreed to refund Stephen, he also insisted on giving me my camera back the day we made the deal. That last part I couldn’t agree to. Even though it would most likely speed up the process because possibly I could start doing photo shoots again, I need it to be this way. I asked Nina to temporarily take down the beautiful website she made for me until I have my camera back. Without question, she did. But there seems to be something fishy going on here.

“Nope, it says right here, paid in full. See,” he says, showing me the log book.

“Did Stephen have something to do with this?” I ask.

I didn’t tell anyone our agreement because I knew something like this would happen. How did he find out about it?

“Stephen? Hmmm, is Stephen the one who originally made the purchase?” Joel asks, patting his finger on his lips, pretending to play dumb.

“Joel,” I warn.

There’s a long moment of silence as we both challenge each other to a stare down.

“Oh, alright! But it wasn’t just Stephen,” Joel confesses.

“It wasn’t? What exactly do you mean?” I ask, squinting my eyes at him.

“Stephen, Kate, Joss, Nina, Josh, Cooper, and River, have all been in and have been making payments. At first, it started out small, and I didn’t think you’d notice. But by the time all seven of them had made multiple payments it was almost paid off except for this last payment,” he says.

Again, we do the challenging stare down thing, then I realize a lifelong dream is still a lifelong dream no matter how it was achieved in the end. And actually, I think I’m loving the fact that every single one of my friends . . . no, my family, helped me achieve it. Joel searches my face, not exactly sure what my reaction is going to be.

“I’m going to miss seeing your face every week, Joel,” I say, then smile at him.

His face lights up, then he smacks his hand down on the glass with excitement.

“I’m going to miss these cookies,” he says, taking the cookies and turning his back to me. “I’ll go get your camera,” he says in a wavering voice, then walks into the back room. He comes back out and sets the familiar black backpack down on the counter in front of me. The smell immediately hits me and just like the first day I got it, I bend down and give it a good sniff. “Good stuff, right?” Joel asks.

I nod my head, yes, then I unzip the black backpack. There she is. Pride swells in my chest, then excitement at the thought of getting to use it again. I take it out and feel its heavy weight. I smile at the small crack in the shell. It’s still me, and I wouldn’t want it any other way. I’m not a product of my past, but that doesn’t mean my past didn’t help shape the person who I am today. I wouldn’t change any of my cracks. I don’t know exactly what it is just yet, but there’s a reason I lived through what I did.