Heartstrings and Diamond Rings

by Jane Graves

  “Alison. Listen to me. You have to understand what we have going in Houston. It’s the deal of the century. There’s a development going in next door to our property that’s going to make its value go sky-high.”

  She yanked on her jeans. She ran her fingers through her wet hair, then picked up her purse.

  “Even with renovation costs, we could walk away with at least half a million apiece,” he went on. “That was why I did it.”

  “I defended you to Heather,” she said, as if she hadn’t even heard him. “Defended you. I told her you weren’t what she thought you were, that you didn’t have an ulterior motive, that all you wanted was to carry on your grandmother’s business. I should have listened to her. I mean, it wasn’t as if every red flag in the book wasn’t there where you were concerned. But I ignored every one of them.”

  She started for the door.

  “Alison!”

  She spun around and glared at him. “You coerced me into breaking up with Justin. Then you made love to me last night, making me think you cared about me. How could you do that?”

  “I do care about you! Just because I’m leaving Plano, it doesn’t mean we’re never going to see each other again. People have long-distance relationships all the time.”

  “That’s not what I want.”

  “Come on, Alison! Do I really have to be at the dinner table at six every night? Is that the only kind of relationship you’ll accept?”

  “You know what I’m looking for,” she said hotly. “You’ve always known. An absentee man isn’t it. And a man who lies to me certainly isn’t it.” She turned and strode out of the bedroom.

  “You know what?” he said, following her, “I’ve been listening to you for months now, telling me what you want. Well, how about what I want?”

  They reached the stairs, and she turned back. “Okay, Brandon. Why don’t you tell me what you want?”

  “When I was a teenager slogging around in those crappy bars with my father, at least I was making him happy. As much as I hated it, I was doing what he expected me to do. Then he dumped me like yesterday’s garbage. I felt like the biggest failure alive. I told myself I was going to do something with my life. Something big. I happened into real estate, and suddenly I was raking in the money. Finally I was getting somewhere. Then the market fell apart.”

  He inched closer to her, wanting to reach out, wanting to touch her, but he knew he didn’t dare.

  “When I came here in June,” he went on, “I was dead, flat broke. I had notes coming due I couldn’t pay. My credit was shot. When Tom contacted me about the Houston deal, I knew it was the opportunity I’d been looking for, but I didn’t have my part of the down payment. That was when I decided to use the matchmaking business to get the money to buy in.”

  She turned away as if she was dismissing every word, and his frustration mounted.

  “I want to be back on top again,” he said, desperation lacing his voice. “I want money in the bank. I want to be able to look at myself in the mirror again and not feel like a failure. What’s so wrong with that?”

  “What’s wrong is that you lied in order to do it,” she said. “All those things you said on the radio, in interviews, in articles…you don’t believe in any of that, do you?”

  “I gave people what they wanted.”

  “But you don’t believe it.”

  “I didn’t have to believe it. I just had to give them what they were paying me for. And that was exactly what I did.”

  “All this time I put my heart and soul into helping you, and it wasn’t even a real business for you.” Her eyes filled with tears. “Heartstrings. My God. How stupid does that sound now?”

  “It wasn’t stupid. Just because the business wasn’t forever, it doesn’t mean any of it was stupid.”

  But he knew the humiliation she felt was just too much to bear. She’d gone on and on that day about soul mates and why he needed a name like that, thinking he understood, thinking he felt it, too, only to find out that all he’d ever been interested in was the bottom line. How had he let it come to this?

  “Are you sorry you broke up with Justin?” he asked.

  She shook her head. “No. It wasn’t right.” Then she looked up at him plaintively. “But if not him, then who?”

  Brandon opened his mouth to answer, only to close it again. He didn’t know what the hell to tell her anymore. He only knew he didn’t want her leaving like this.

  “I don’t know,” he told her. “I just…” He shook his head helplessly. “I don’t know.”

  “I have to go.”

  She walked down the stairs. Brandon followed her, desperate to keep her from walking out the door. But he just didn’t know how to do it. When they reached the entry hall, she slowed down. Turned around.

  And tears were streaming down her face.

  The sight of Alison crying was just about more than he could bear. If only he’d backed away last night, shut things down, sent her home, she wouldn’t be standing there looking at him like this today. But he’d wanted her so much that he’d lost his head, and now he was paying the price for it.

  And so was she.

  “Alison,” he said. “Please believe me. I never wanted to hurt you. I don’t want you to leave here thinking anything else.”

  “I know.” She looked away. “I know you wouldn’t do that. Not on purpose.”

  He could hear it in her voice that she’d already begun to forgive him, just as she’d forgiven him for every lousy date he’d ever set her up on. He couldn’t believe it. After everything he’d done, her anger was already slipping away.

  But the misery was still there.

  “Do you know I’ve never been in love before?” she said, her voice hushed. “All these years…all the men I’ve dated…not once.”

  He just stood there, no clue what to say to that.

  “I thought I was a couple of times,” she went on. “But looking back now, I know I wasn’t.” She paused. “And then I met you. That’s how I knew. Because it had never felt like this.”

  Her words hit him like a thunderbolt. She was telling him she was in love with him?

  No. He couldn’t let this go on. He couldn’t let her have any of those feelings, because if she thought he’d let her down today, it was nothing compared to how he’d let her down in the future. He’d want her so much that he’d promise her anything, and then the next deal would come along and he wouldn’t be able to turn it down. It was what he did. It was who he was. It was the only thing in his life he’d ever been a success at. He couldn’t give that up, so he needed to end this now.

  “You didn’t fall in love with me,” he said gently. “You fell in love with the man you thought I was. But he was never real.”

  “Are you sure?” she said, her voice a plaintive whisper. “Isn’t that man in there somewhere?”

  Let her go, and do it now.

  “You deserve a much better man than me, Alison. And I hope one day you find him.”

  She wiped her fingertips beneath her eyes. “Yeah. I kinda hope so, too.”

  God, what an understatement.

  He hated himself for this. All of it. After what he’d done, she’d be so wary and so guarded that she might never open herself up again, and every dream she had of a husband and a family might never come true.

  She started to leave, then turned back. “The home tour—”

  “You can still use the house. We’ll work it out.”

  She nodded. “Maybe I don’t know who you really are,” she said quietly. “But I’m still going to miss you.”

  Brandon swallowed hard. “I’m going to miss you, too.”

  She turned and left his house, and as he stood at the doorway and watched her walk down the steps to her car. He gripped the door frame tightly, tormenting himself by watching her drive away. As her car disappeared from sight, he realized it might be the last time he’d ever see her.

  What had Tom said? In the end, you’d make her way more miserabl
e than Justin ever could.

  And that was exactly what had happened.

  Ten minutes later, Alison knocked on Heather’s door. When Heather answered, her eyes flew open wide with concern.

  “Oh, sweetie,” she said. “What happened?”

  Alison opened her mouth to answer, but tears overcame her for the umpteenth time since she’d left Brandon’s house, and she couldn’t speak. Heather led her inside, sat her down, and brought her Kleenex, and Alison told her the latest sob story in her quest for a husband and family. Heather hugged her and told her everything was going to be all right, even though Alison was pretty sure nothing was ever going to be right for her again.

  “I should have listened to you,” she told Heather. “You had it right. Brandon was just what you said he was.” She balled her hands into fists. “God, Heather, I’m such an idiot! I keep making mistakes, over and over. I just want a man to love me. Is that really so much to ask when the world is full of them? What’s wrong with me that I can’t find at least one?”

  “I don’t know,” Heather said quietly.

  “You managed to do it,” Alison said, wiping her nose for the twentieth time. “And I don’t know how. I don’t know how one day you could have been groveling around with me in the dating muck pile, and then suddenly you looked up, and there was Tony. The perfect man for you. And he carried you off on his white horse like you were some kind of princess, and I was still sitting there with nothing. I still have nothing.”

  Heather didn’t say anything. But really, what could she say?

  Alison wiped tears from beneath her eyes with her fingertips. “I don’t want to be alone. I don’t want to be that awful woman who’s forty or fifty years old who has nothing to talk about except her health problems and her cats. I can’t bear the thought of that. I just can’t.”

  Alison felt as if there was a hole in her heart that grew bigger with every beat, and judging from the look Heather was giving her, every bit of the despair she felt was showing on her face.

  “Alison?” Heather said gently. “Are you going to be okay?”

  Alison took a deep yoga breath. Let it out slowly. Then she wiped her eyes for what she was determined was going to be the last time.

  “Oh, come on, Heather.” she said, smiling through the last of those tears. “I’m always okay eventually.” She paused. “This one may just take a little longer than usual.”

  And then, damn it, she was pulling out another Kleenex and crying all over again, because this time it was different. This time she hadn’t felt as if she was settling for an average man and hoping she would eventually learn to love him. She felt as if she’d found that one wonderful man the universe had been holding for her, just waiting for the right time to hand him over. And there would have been no learning to love him, because she already did.

  The trouble was that she didn’t know how to stop.

  On Wednesday morning, Brandon drove to Houston and met Tom, who had driven down the day before. At two o’clock, they sat down at a conference room table at United Title, and over the next forty‑five minutes, it seemed to Brandon as if he signed his name fifty times on that pile of closing papers. And every time he did, he felt as if he was betraying Alison one more time.

  Good God. Would he ever get her out of his mind?

  “So what do you think, buddy?” Tom said as they left the title company, a big grin on his face. “We pulled it off. We actually pulled it off. It’s going to be smooth sailing on this one, don’t you think?”

  “Yeah. It is.”

  “Listen, I’ve already checked into the hotel. I reserved a room for you, too. What say you check in, and then we go have a drink or two, and then have dinner at some ridiculously expensive restaurant? And then, who knows? One way or the other, we are celebrating.”

  Brandon stopped at his car. “You know, I’m not so sure I’m up for that. I think I’ll just head back to Plano. I have a lot to do there.”

  “Oh, come on, Brandon! Don’t flake on me! Tell you what. I’ll spring for champagne. The good stuff this time. Not like that stuff in Kansas City that tasted like old sweat socks.”

  “No. Really. I’m going to head back.” He pointed the remote and flicked open the driver’s door.

  Tom grabbed his arm. “Hold on a minute.”

  “What?”

  “We just pulled off the deal of the decade. You don’t sound properly excited about that.”

  “Come on, Tom. You know I am.”

  “I’m not so sure,” He eyed Brandon carefully. “Are you good with this deal? I need a partner who’s one hundred percent on board.”

  “I am,” Brandon said. “I just have a lot on my mind.”

  Tom let out a sigh of resignation. “Yeah. And her name is Alison Carter.”

  Just hearing her name made Brandon feel depressed all over again. “There’s nothing between us. Not anymore.”

  “That’s right. There’s not. So there’s no need for you to sound so miserable, is there?”

  Brandon kept telling himself he just needed to get back in the swing of things. Once he put a crew together and renovations were under way, his old life would come roaring back, and he’d be in the groove again.

  “No,” he said. “There isn’t. I just need to get back to Plano and shut things down. Then it’s full steam ahead.”

  “Hell, yeah,” Tom said, clapping him on the shoulder. “Just wait until we get the warehouse roughed in. Once the framing and Sheetrock are up, that’s when you’ll start to see it come together. And that, my friend, is when all those dollars signs will start dancing in your head.”

  Tom was right. There was always that one moment during every project that he felt it shift from what it had been to what it was going to become. From that moment forward it was a race to the end, the excitement building, until finally it was ready to be put on the market. And then came the money.

  In this case, it was going to be one hell of a lot of money.

  Brandon got into his car and drove back to Plano, ticking off in his mind the things he needed to do once he got there. Tomorrow he’d spend the day getting his business documents and tax information in order and deciding how he was going to break the news to his clients that he was shutting down the business. Then he had to get the home tour out of the way. Alison’s plan was to put the finishing touches on the house on Friday before the tour on Saturday, but he decided he’d call in a professional cleaning service to do the last minute cleaning so they didn’t have to. He’d say it was his contribution to the cause. The least he could do.

  The very least.

  But no matter what, he didn’t want to see Alison. He just couldn’t. So he decided he’d drop a house key off with Heather, then make himself scarce on Friday and Saturday. Once the tour was over, he’d spend the next week making calls to his clients and issue refunds for matches unmade. After that, he’d contact his grandmother’s attorney, let him know that he was leaving, and turn over possession of the house to the First Baptist Church. Then he’d hit the road for Houston, where he was going to turn an old warehouse into luxury loft apartments and watch the money roll in.

  It was nearly nine o’clock when he reached Plano and pulled into his driveway. He grabbed the mail and went into the house, where Jasmine greeted him with that screeching meow, winding her way around his ankles. He hadn’t yet figured out what he was going to do with her when he left. Maybe the neighbor across the street who’d kept her when his grandmother died would be willing to take her again. He had no intention of abandoning her, but the answer hadn’t come to him yet.

  He started to toss the stack of mail onto his kitchen table when he noticed an oversized square envelope hand‑addressed to him. He opened it up, and he couldn’t believe what he saw.

  A wedding invitation?

  Mr. Jack Warren and Ms. Melanie Davis request the honor of your presence as they join each other in holy matrimony…

  Jack and Melanie? Brandon had to think for a moment, but the
n he remembered. They were the first couple he’d successfully matched up.

  Then Brandon saw a handwritten note included in the envelope. It never would have happened without you, Brandon. We hope you can be with us on our special day. Love, Jack and Melanie.

  Brandon picked up the invitation again and stared at it, thinking back to the beginning when he’d been so cynical. He’d matched up these two with very little thought. The fact that they actually liked each other meant he could collect his money with no further work, and he’d considered that a good thing. But not for one moment had his thought process gone beyond that. Not once had he ever envisioned this.

  Brandon had never been to a wedding in his life. He’d always imagined lace and bows and men in uncomfortable suits and cake and punch and old ladies pulling out tissues to dab their eyes because it was all so beautiful.

  Then all at once, he was transported back fifteen years, to the times he’d watched his grandmother put on her best Sunday dress and leave the house to go to her umpteenth wedding. She said nothing made her happier than to watch the people she’d matched up commit to each other forever and know she’d had a part in it. That’s how I know I’m doing what the good Lord wants me to, she’d told him. Someday you’ll find your calling, too.

  And all he could think back then was My calling is to travel the country, make millions, and live it up for the rest of my life.

  When he’d jumped into his grandmother’s business, it had been almost like a joke to him. Pair people up almost at random, and if something stuck, okay. If it didn’t, that was okay, too. He’d take whatever money he’d earned and move on.

  But this…this proved it had meant so much more.

  His first wedding. He hadn’t had a clue it would feel like this.

  At nine o’clock on Thursday night, Alison sat with Heather on her sofa, leaning against the sofa pillow, sipping the martini Heather had made for her. She’d pulled her feet up beside her, which she’d tucked into a pair of fuzzy purple socks that had been hideous even before Lucy had clawed them half to shreds. Ricky had plopped his fat butt on the sofa beside her, his head against her thigh, purring so loudly she was surprised the neighbors hadn’t complained. She petted him absentmindedly, and he turned and looked up at her adoringly.