Forcing her gaze to the coral colored stones lining the walkway, she continued on. It was an unusually warm winter day, though not without several fleeting rainstorms that did nothing but cause chaos with her already unruly curls.
The afternoon sun was out again, hanging overhead in a fiery blaze that caused vapors of steam to rise from recently rain dampened pavement.
She supposed she should be grateful that her transfer to the Miami office hadn’t taken place in the summer. She’d been to Florida during those months before and the humidity was almost unbearable.
“You’re a third of the way there,” she reminded herself as she stepped up to the security door at the main entrance of the apartment complex. Not quite two months and she would be home again.
Angie quickly punched in her key code and pulled open the glass door, feeling the welcome rush of cold air against her skin.
“Ah,” she sighed, closing the door behind her.
Gathering up a handful of dark curls, she fanned the cool air across the back of her neck. She was never so grateful for air conditioning.
“Home already?” came a soft, quivering voice from the nearby hallway.
Angie smiled. “Hello, Mrs. Thompson.” She crossed the carpet of muted pink seashells to the row of mailboxes that lined the heavily stuccoed wall. “I don’t usually work on Saturday, but I had a few accounts I needed to take care of this morning.” She spoke loudly, knowing the older woman who was hard of hearing.
The woman nodded. “I didn’t realize it was Saturday already. Days all seem to run together when you’re retired, you know.”
“I’m sure they do.”
“You’re such a hard worker. They’re lucky to have you. Maybe they’ll ask you to stay on even after that other girl gets back.”
“I don’t think that’s going to happen. Besides, I’m ready to go home.” Then she quickly added, “Not that I haven’t enjoyed your company.”
“Home is where the heart is,” the woman replied. “Speaking of which, have you heard from your young man lately?”
“Young man?”
The corners of Mrs. Thompson’s mouth lifted in unspoken pleasure as she stepped up to her own mailbox. Reaching into the front pocket of her dress, she slipped out a small key and inserted it into her mailbox.
“You know,” the woman said. “The one who calls and makes your eyes sparkle for days afterwards. Oh, what was it? Tim. Tom. Something like that.” She leaned forward to add in a confidential whisper, “Only sexier.”
Angie laughed. “Trey.”
The woman pointed a slightly crooked finger her direction. “That’s it. A good strong name like Cary Grant and Humphrey Bogart. He’s a keeper, honey.”
Mrs. Thompson had welcomed Angie to the complex with a basket of assorted teas which she joined her in sampling on occasion. It was during one of those occasions Trey called and Mrs. Thompson had been quick to pick up on Angie’s feelings for him.
“He’s not mine to keep,” she explained as she pulled a handful of mail from her box and stuffed it into the leather bag she used as both briefcase and purse.
“But he will be. Never give up on love, my dear,” she said with her usual warm, grandmotherly kind of smile, then turned and walked away.
“I won’t,” Angie called after her.
“And remember,” the elderly woman called out over her shoulder as moved down the brightly lit corridor, “True love always finds a way.”
Her neighbor’s parting words stayed with her as she made her way to her apartment, several doors past the one Mrs. Thompson had gone into.
She was barely in the door when she heard the sound of tiny feet scampering toward her across the tiled floor. Kneeling, she extended her arms, calling out to the tiny ball of fur that was racing in her direction.
“Jackpot!”
The puppy, its tail wagging furiously, jumped up and down on its little hind legs, planting several wet kisses on her cheek.
“I think somebody missed me.” Laughing, Angie scooped the little white dog up, and closed the door behind her. Being a Saturday, she’d only had to work a half day, but it was still nice to know someone missed her. “I missed you, too.”
She turned her head to avoid another onslaught of wet kisses from her pint-size companion. Not that she was complaining. It was nice to be welcomed home.
It had been a little over a week since she brought Jackpot home to live with her. The two had bonded almost immediately. She had gotten the frisky little pup from a woman who worked at the Miami office. She had brought Jackpot home from the animal shelter for her daughter who ended up being allergic to him. Rather than see him go back to the pound, Angie found herself offering to take the pup.
How could she have resisted anyway after hearing the pup’s name? Jackpot reminded her of Vegas. And Vegas reminded her of the week she spent there with Trey. A week she would never forget.
Taking Jackpot in was a decision she hadn’t once regretted. He was playful and loving and helped ease some of the loneliness she’d felt since coming to Miami.
Angie set the squirming pup on the floor. “How about a treat?”
The words were barely out of her mouth before the pup went scurrying into the kitchen in a blur of white. A clear sign she had already spoiled him rotten.
Laughing, she followed him.
Sunlight streamed in through the partially open slats of the mini-blinds. She walked over and raised the blinds while Jackpot danced around her feet, barking impatiently.
“All right, Mr. Impatient, hang on. I’m getting it.”
She reached into his treat jar and held it up for him to see. “Have you been a good boy?”
The puppy barked and danced in a circle.
She bent to give him the treat. Jackpot grabbed hold of it and raced off, tail wagging behind him.
Angie emptied her mail onto the breakfast bar and settled onto one of the chairs to sort through it. She reached for her letter opener just as the phone rang.
“Hello?” she said, bringing the handset to her ear.
“Good, you’re home. I was afraid you’d be at the beach or something.”
“Kathy?” she said, her the hint of desperation in Kathy’s voice. “What’s wrong?”
“What’s right would be a more fitting question,” her friend answered.
Dropping the letter opener onto the stack of mail, Angie shoved it aside. “What are you talking about?”
“Nothing is the way it’s supposed to be.”
“Have you been drinking?”
“I wish.”
“Is this about a guy?”
“Yes.”
“Who?” Kathy had so many boyfriends it was hard to know which one she was referring to.
Her friend sighed. “It’s my brother.”
“Trey?”
“Yes.”
Trepidation moved through her. “Has something happened to him?”
“Yes, something’s happened. My brother’s lost his freaking mind!”
The yes nearly had Angie’s heart stopping, but then the rest of Kathy’s statement caught up. “He’s lost his mind?”
“I shouldn’t be telling you this. It’ll upset you more than it upset me.”
“Damn it, Kathy, tell me what’s wrong.” She was ready to reached through the phone and pull the words out of her friend’s mouth.
“Trey’s getting married.”
Mental replay. “He’s what?”
“Damn it, Angel, I hate to be the one to have to tell you this, knowing how you feel about my brother. Apparently, he’s asked Traci Sanders to marry him.”
“Traci from the cruise department?” Angie’s raised voice brought Jackpot running over to her, whimpering. “It’s okay,” she said, scooping the pup up in her arms.
But it wasn’t okay. Her heart was breaking.
“It’s okay?” Kathy gasped.
“I wasn’t talking to you. I was talking to Jackpot.”
“Oh, thank
god,” her friend said with a sigh. “For a moment there, I thought maybe you had lost your freaking mind, too.”
Angie tried hard to maintain her composure. “Trey never said anything about dating anyone.” Then again, she hadn’t asked.
“It seems my big brother has suddenly decided marriage would be a wise business move.”
“Marrying Traci is a wise business move?” Angie practically shrieked. “She has blue hair!”
“Not this week. It’s orange.”
“What could Trey see in someone like her? She has places pierced on her body I never knew could be pierced.”
“Do you really want me to take a guess at that one?”
“No. On second thought, don’t answer that. I didn’t realize Trey even knew Traci.”
“He doesn’t really. At least not as well as he should if he’s going to ask her to marry him.”
Angie wanted to cover her ears. If she didn’t hear this, it wouldn’t be true. The man she had waited all her life for, the man she loved with all her heart, couldn’t be marrying someone else. “Kathy, if this is some kind of joke, it’s not funny.”
“I wish it were,” her friend said. “I guess they’ve been going out for a couple of weeks. Lunch dates mostly. And I don’t think it has as much to do with business as it does with his being a guy on the rebound.”
He’s the one who pushed her away. How did that make him eligible to be on the rebound? “So he intends to marry someone he’s only had a few lunch dates with? He is out of his freaking mind!”
“I guess he figures if he can’t have the woman he really wants – you – that any woman will do.”
He never asked her!
“She’s barely out of high school.” Angie was still in shock.
“One good thing is she’ll be able to push him around in his wheelchair when he gets too old to walk.”
“I should be pushing him! Not her.”
“You can tell that to Trey when you get to Vegas.”
“What?” She gave her pup another treat and set him on the floor.
“He and Traci have decided to elope. They called to tell me on their way to the airport.
Angie gasped. “They’re getting married today?”
“Not if I have anything to do with it. They aren’t planning to get married until later this evening. You have to go talk some sense into my brother. He’ll listen to you. I know he will.”
“So where do you come in to this?”
“I’ve already made your flight reservations. Now get packing.”
Tears pricked at the back of Angie’s eyes. She didn’t want to lose Trey, but she wanted him to be happy. “If this is what he wants—”
“You’re what he wants.”
“Is that why he’s marrying another woman?” Angie couldn’t keep the hurt from her voice.
“He’s marrying someone else because he loves you!”
“That doesn’t make any…” Her eyes widened. “Trey loves me? He said that?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“After you two came back from Vegas.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Better yet, why hadn’t he told her?
“Because Trey asked me not to. I know about you and Rick at the airport.”
“Me and Rick at the airport?”
“Trey told me he saw you in Rick’s arms.”
It took a moment to register. “Oh, my God. That’s why he was acting so strange after he came back from taking that call. He saw me with Rick.”
“Angie, how could you? Rick of all people.” Kathy’s tone was one of disgust.
“I didn’t do anything. Rick was trying to convince me that I was wasting my time with Trey. I told him he was wrong. Then he grabbed me and I pushed him away. I had no idea Trey saw that.”
“Why didn’t you tell him?”
“Are you kidding? He’d try and kill Rick. I just wanted to move on with Trey. But then when we came home he pushed me away. Now I know why.”
“It wasn’t only that,” her friend explained. “I talked my brother into letting you know how he felt about you. But when you didn’t respond to the card he sent along with the roses, I thought maybe I had somehow misread the depth of your feelings for him.”
“Roses? I never got…”
“Angie?”
“Rick!”
“What?”
She was going to kill him. “Rick said the flowers were from him. I should have known better. He’d never given me flowers before.”
“But Trey’s card was with them.”
“Not when I got them. Instead of a florist’s card, Rick’s business card was inside the envelope that was attached to the bouquet with his profession of love scribbled across the back of it.”
“You never said anything.”
“That’s because Rick pissed me off and I threw them in the trash. They didn’t mean anything to me. If only I had known they were from Trey…”
“That lying, conniving, son-of-a—bitch. Wait until I see him Monday.”
“Never mind Rick.” He was the least of their problems right now. Trey’s sudden decision to marry made sense now. He was acting out of hurt. He thought she didn’t love him. “I have to stop Trey from marrying Traci.”
“Thatta girl, Ange! I knew I could count on you.”
She certainly wasn’t going to sit around and let the man she loved marry someone with orange hair. “I have to call him.”
“I’ve tried,” Kathy said. “He’s not answering his cell. I have a feeling that he turned it off so I wouldn’t try and talk him out of getting married.”
“Damn.” Angie grabbed a notepad and pen from the kitchen drawer. “Okay, what time is my flight?” One way or another she was going to stop this wedding.
*
Trey paced the floor of his hotel room, waiting for word from Kathy. If everything had gone as planned, his sister’s flight should have landed in Vegas twenty minutes earlier. Why hadn’t she called yet?
“Angie will be here,” his father said, walking over to clasp a firm hand on his son’s shoulder.
Trey wished he felt as confident as his father sounded. “What if she doesn’t come?”
“Son, that little girl has loved you from the first time your sister brought her home to meet us.”
“She was just a kid.”
“Who grew up to be a beautiful young woman,” his father added with a grin. “One who never gave up on you. That’s how I know Angie will be here, no matter how crazy this plan of yours is.”
He sure as hell hoped so. The arrangements had all been made. Now he just hoped he’d have a bride.
His cell phone rang and Trey nearly dropped it in his hurry to answer it. “Hello?”
“Is that the Bridal March I hear?”
It was Kathy. “Angel’s coming?”
“Did you really have any doubt?”
Hell, yes, he’d had doubt. And now that he knew Angel was on her way, his heart was beating overtime.
“Where are you?”
“At the airport.”
“What did Angel say when you told her I was getting married?”
“That if anyone was going to be pushing your wheelchair it was going to be her.”
Trey raised a questioning brow. “My wheelchair? She planning on breaking my legs?”
“That’s our Angie,” his father chimed in with a chuckle.
His sister laughed. “I’m sure she wanted to when I told her you were running off with Traci, but I think your legs are safe. What Angie meant was that she intends to be the one taking care of you when you grow old.”
Emotion knotted up in his throat.
“Trey, you still there?”
“I’m here.”
“What about Rick?”
“He’s still an asshole.”
“I’m talking about Angel’s feelings for him.”
“Angel doesn’t have any feelings for Rick. Remember that little scene you witnessed at the
airport?”
He raked a hand through his hair, his jaw clenching. “Yeah.”
“I thought you should know that when you saw Angie with Rick at the airport, Rick was trying to talk her into forgetting about you and giving him another chance. Apparently, the ass pulled her into that embrace you saw.”
“That bastard.” And all this time he’d believed…
“If you had stuck around long enough, you’d have seen her push him away, followed by her telling him it was you she wanted.”
“She did?” Damn his stubborn pride. If only he’d asked her instead of reading things into what he thought he saw that day.
“Yes.”
“No wonder she never replied to my card. I acted like an ass.”
“True, but that’s not why she never replied.”
“What do you mean?”
“Angie never saw your card.”
He sank down on the edge of the hotel bed. “But the florist said—”
His sister cut him off. “That the flowers were delivered and they were.”
“Are you telling me they lost the card?”
“No, Rick took it.”
Trey shot to his feet, fury surging through him. “He what!”
“Apparently, he was there when the roses we delivered. He intercepted them and then switched the card to make Angie believe he was the one who sent them to her.”
“Just wait until I get my hands on his scrawny little neck,” he seethed.
Mike Landers stepped over to his son. “Is there a problem?”
“Nothing I can’t take care of when I get home,” he assured his father. Rick was lucky he was several states away at that moment or he’d be the one needing a wheelchair.
His sister groaned on the other end of the line. “That’s great. Just how Angie wants to spend her honeymoon, visiting you in prison. Forget about Rick. Angie has always and will always love you, even if she’s never said the words.”
“She has.”
“What?”
“She told me she loved me when we were in Vegas.”
“And you still doubted it? Trey,” she groaned.
“I was an idiot, okay?”
“Better, I suppose, than being a pathetic little slime ball like Rick is.”
“Trey?” his father prompted, his expression one of concern, understandable since he was only hearing part of the phone conversation.
Only in Vegas Page 16
