Dear Jane (Animal Attraction)

by Marissa Clarke

  Romantic. If she only knew. This arrangement was all yellow roses with little sprays of baby’s breath. Jane rose, using the edge of the desk to steady herself, and walked around to the other side. With trembling fingers, she slid the card out of the flowers and opened it.

  “Two years ago, I saw you for the first time and you rocked my world…”

  Jane slumped into one of the client chairs, heart beating so hard it hurt. Two years he’d been aware of her. Watched her. Wanted her. When he’d first told her this, she couldn’t believe it. Now looking back, how could she have been so stupid? Of course he wouldn’t have broken her trust. Not only would he have derived no benefit, he wasn’t the kind to be disloyal…like she obviously was, so quick to think the worst of him.

  She set the tiny card next to the first one and slumped back into the chair, refusing to let the tears win out.

  Another flower delivery guy walked straight in without even bothering to knock, carrying a vase of pink roses. “The old dude at the front desk signed for these and sent me back.”

  Old dude?

  After unceremoniously setting the roses next to the others, the guy took off, leaving her alone with another potential knife to the heart. Jane plucked the envelope off the fork and finally dislodged the card from inside after fumbling forever because of her trembling fingers.

  “But now that I’ve gotten to know you…”

  Jane sank back down into her chair, her stomach churning with dread as she turned the card over to find the back blank.

  This was worse than a Dear Jane letter. It was a serialized Dear Jane letter with flowers punctuating just how much of a romantic loser she really was. And the worst part was she deserved it. Every single word. She’d not only accused him of something horrible he hadn’t done, she’d slammed his hand in the door, for God’s sake.

  She read the last card again and filled in the blank with possibilities. “Now that I’ve gotten to know you…” I never want to see you again… I know what a thoughtless witch you are… I understand why nobody will ask you on a second date.

  Covering her face, she leaned forward, fighting the wave of emotion. I will not cry.

  “Oh my Gawd, Ms. Dixon!” Marcie trotted into Jane’s office. “This is so exciting. Look! Here’s another one! He must really have a thing for you.”

  Yeah. Like an intense dislike. Jane didn’t even lift her head.

  Marcie set the flowers with a clunk next to the others on the desk. “They’re from Mr. Blackwell, right?”

  She didn’t answer. Didn’t even move.

  “Dear Jane…” Marcie read from the cards lined up on the desk. “Two years ago I saw you for the first time and it rocked my world…” She made a weird squealing sound through her nose. “This is fantastic.”

  Yeah. Fantastic.

  She cleared her throat. “But now that I’ve gotten to know you…”

  Jane didn’t move.

  “Oh, come on. Aren’t you going to open the card?” Marcie asked.

  “No.” She couldn’t bear to see it in writing.

  And as she sat there, wallowing in remorse, something shifted. It was a strange sensation, but Jane actually felt Eric’s presence before she saw or smelled him. She spun in the chair to find him in her doorway wearing a business suit and a blue and white sling on his right arm. He was so handsome it made her chest ache. His expression was completely neutral, but he had a slightly darker hue under his eyes than usual. He looked tired and she wondered if he was having trouble sleeping, too.

  “I’ll just be going, then,” Marcie said, heading for the door. “Mr. Dixon is a terrible receptionist. He’s up there waiting for some important papers to be sent by carrier, and he’s making me crazy. He’s even answering the phones.” She rolled her eyes and scooted from the room, giving one last grin and a thumbs-up to Eric, who only reacted with a tired, polite smile.

  Jane sat up straight, trying to put on a good face which was hard to do when she hadn’t slept much all weekend. “I was told you’d resigned.”

  “I did.” He stepped into the room. “I have another job now. I’m the attorney for Anderson Enterprises’ newest acquisition, Cahill Investment Group.”

  It felt surreal seeing him in her office as if her entire world hadn’t just blown up in her face. “Congratulations. That was fast.”

  “I was highly motivated.”

  So was she. Motivated to crawl under a rock and shrivel up. Here she was, chatting with a guy she’d screwed over, surrounded by a funeral home-worthy amount of Dear Jane bouquets with dark circles under her eyes and no makeup. She deserved this. At least he had the decency to deliver the final blow in person.

  He sat in the chair next to her and for an uncomfortable period, they said nothing. He just stared at her with an unreadable expression. They both broke the silence at the same time.

  “Jane—”

  “Eric—”

  “Sorry,” they said together.

  “You first.” He relaxed back in the chair.

  Could this be more awkward? Nope. Not a chance. Jane played with the ends of her ponytail and gathered her thoughts. “I’m sorry about Friday night. I’m sorry I slammed your hand in the door. Mainly, I’m sorry I jumped to a wrong conclusion. I know now that you didn’t tell my dad about us. That you wouldn’t have.”

  He leaned closer. “I’m sorry about Friday night, too. I’m also sorry you slammed my hand in the door.” He held up his cast. “Very sorry. And I’m sorry that you’ve jumped to more than one wrong conclusion.” He slid the envelope out of the bouquet of red roses.

  No. She wasn’t up to this. She’d rather read that last one when she was ready. And alone.

  “Dear Jane,” he said, turning the chair to face her.

  Oh shit. She sat up straight and girded herself, like she did before every divorce consultation.

  He slid the flap open on the envelope as he recited the next line. “Two years ago, I saw you for the first time and you rocked my world…”

  She couldn’t read his expression. His eyes never left hers and she ached for what she’d foolishly lost.

  “But now that I’ve gotten to know you…”

  Here it comes. She closed her eyes, not wanting to see his face when he said good-bye.

  His breath fanned over her ear and neck as he leaned close. “You are my world.”

  Wait. What? Her heart stuttered in her chest. Surely she’d misheard him. She opened her eyes to see his beautiful smile.

  “You’re my world, Jane, and I don’t ever want to be without you. I know you don’t date lawyers, but—”

  “I hate lawyers,” she said.

  His warm smile faded and he straightened in the chair.

  Her chest pinched at his disappointed reaction. “I hate lawyers, but I love you.”

  Before she could say another word, his lips met hers and she melted. From relief, from happiness, from the overall joy of not losing the best thing she’d ever had.

  “Where are you going?” he asked when she broke the kiss.

  “I’m locking the door.”

  The smile on his face made it clear he was good with that plan. And she intended to make him smile even more. For a whole lifetime, if she was lucky.

  “And I’m disconnecting the freaking intercom,” she added.

  “Wait,” he said, leaning across the desk and pushing the intercom button. “I love you, Jane Dixon!” he yelled into the speaker.

  No doubt everyone on the fifteenth floor heard Marcie’s excited squeal from the front desk.

  So much for her vow to not cry today.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  As expected on a Monday afternoon, the One Train was crowded. Eric took advantage of that fact and wrapped his good arm around Jane to hold the same pole as her, enjoying the feel of her against him, his body still humming from their lovemaking in her office. On the floor near her feet was a box containing the four floral arrangements. She’d arranged for a company to deliver the rest
of her office boxes.

  “So, you’re working for the Andersons,” she said as they pulled into another station.

  “They told me to contact them if I ever left the firm, so I called them Friday. I worked all weekend.”

  “Another job with terrible hours, then.”

  The doors closed and they took off with a lurch.

  “No, much more flexible.” Obviously, since they were on the way to her apartment on a weekday afternoon, which never would have happened at DR&S. His body hardened in anticipation of a whole afternoon and evening naked with Jane Dixon. Only he had something he had to do first. Hopefully, he and Jane wouldn’t get there too early. He checked his watch.

  “I won’t usually work on weekends,” he said. “This was a special project. My job is to do legal research and analysis pertaining to the company’s investment in promising small businesses, with an eye toward creating franchises. This one was time-sensitive.”

  “Oh.”

  The train slowed for another station. “So, have you put any thought into what you are going to do now?” he asked.

  “Yes. Take you back to my apartment and ravish you.”

  “Ravish?”

  She laughed. “Kind of goes with my dad’s favorite word, affair. Too bad it doesn’t pay as well as practicing law.”

  He nipped her neck. “It does have excellent benefits.”

  Her body swayed into his as the train set into motion again. He’d never appreciated the subway system as much as he did at that moment. Still gripping the pole, he pulled Jane tighter, and his body thrummed in time to the swaying of the train. Not one for PDA, he loosened his grip, getting himself back under control. Besides, it wouldn’t do to step off the train in his current condition.

  She heaved a heavy sigh. “I have no clue what I’m going to do. No decent firm will hire me now.” She shrugged. “Something will turn up. I have some savings until it does.”

  “What about your pet boutique idea?”

  The train brakes squealed over the first part of her response as they pulled up to her stop. “And I’d never be able to get that kind of money together. Like I said before, it was silly.”

  When the doors opened, she grabbed her box and they pushed their way to the platform, blinking as they exited the stairs into the sunlight. “Glad I live close to the stop. Even with almost all the water dumped out, these flowers are heavy,” she said.

  “Would you mind if we check on something first?”

  “Is it far? Because not only are these flowers heavy, they’re beautiful and make me want to rip your clothes off with my teeth.”

  Holy shit. He needed to put the florist on retainer. “It’s very close. It’s the business the Andersons want to invest in through Cahill. The one I worked on over the weekend. We think it’s very promising.”

  “As long as it’s close. I’m kind of in a hurry, Blackwell,” she said, peering through the blooms.

  Nothing compared to the urgency he was feeling as the image of her removing his clothes with her teeth ran in a continuous loop in his mind. “The business is on the direct route to your place.”

  They rounded the corner and he could barely contain himself as he waited for her to react. At first, she didn’t even break her pace, maybe because she couldn’t see well through the flowers, but then stopped short. For a moment, he thought she might drop the entire box, so one armed, he relieved her of it and set it on the ground.

  The last few hours had been as unnerving as his first job interview. So many things could have gone wrong, but now that he was standing in the prescribed spot at the prescribed time, and everyone was there, he knew it had all fallen into place as designed. And the stunned look on Jane’s face made the entire weekend of all-nighters worth every sleepless second.

  “Oh my God. Dad?”

  …

  Something was up. Something big. Jane stared in disbelief at the group of people in front of her apartment building. She knew her mouth was gaping open and she must have looked ridiculous, but for some reason, her body wouldn’t do what she wanted it to do.

  Her father beamed. Really beamed. He wore a huge grin on his face like when she had scored goals in soccer as a little kid. Michael and Chance Anderson were there, too. At their feet were two little dogs in matching collars.

  “Are we ready?” her father asked.

  “For what?” her words came out in an inaudible whisper.

  “Yes,” Eric said.

  It wasn’t until then that she noticed they were all outside the vacant space in the bottom of her building that used to be a dry cleaner.

  “The build-out begins in two weeks,” Eric said. “But for now…”

  Her father yanked on a rope attached to a sheet above the door. When it hit the ground, Jane did, too. Unable to stand, she sat on the sidewalk, staring up at the sign she’d dreamed about since she was seven years old.

  Animal Attraction

  “That’s… I…”

  At least she wasn’t the only one wearing a goofy grin. Everyone gathered on the sidewalk—even the dogs—were smiling.

  “Is that…?” She pointed at the two dogs painted on the sign which were identical to the ones on the sidewalk—one a Japanese Chin and the other a Shih Tzu.

  “My wife Mia’s an artist. She took a couple of liberties when painting it,” Michael Anderson said.

  The sign was amazing. Classy, but fun at the same time, with animals frolicking around the borders. “I love it. Oh, wow. That’s Gandalf! He hates having his picture taken. How did you…?”

  “He hates everything,” Eric agreed. “Except me, of course. Mia worked from my description kind of like a police sketch artist. I think she got his thug glare down just right.”

  And as she sat on the sidewalk, staring up at the sign that had been her dream since she was a little girl, reality hit. A sign was one thing. A viable business was another. She couldn’t afford one month’s rent for a retail space in this part of New York City, much less a year or more or whatever the terms were here. “Wow, everybody, this is really great, but I can’t—”

  “Stop. Not another word,” her father said, offering his hand to help her to her feet. “I didn’t raise a naysayer.” Once she was standing, he put his hands on her shoulders. “From the time you were a little girl, you planned and plotted and dreamed about this place. I watched you play this concept out with blocks and stuffed animals, then Barbies and decorated shoe boxes, and then overheard the plans grow up as you and your friends grew up. You girls had spreadsheets, job assignments—you even did rudimentary market analysis.” He turned to the others. “She gets that from her mother.” Then he returned his attention to her. “But for some reason, you never made it happen. Why?”

  Eric did the mental equivalent of crossing his fingers and toes, hoping she’d answer honestly.

  “Because Dixons are lawyers,” she said softly.

  “You’re a Dixon. But you’re also Jane: a creative girl who always wanted to run a business centered around animals. You were forever bringing home strays, nursing them back to health, and then finding them homes. Birds, cats, puppies. Even a squirrel one time. Even now you have a worthless cat that nobody else wanted. What’s his name: Godawful?”

  “Gandalf.”

  “Gandalf.” He squeezed her shoulders, then gestured to the sign. “This is where your heart is. Not in an office, dealing with angry people all day. All your mother and I want is for you to be happy.”

  She stared up at the sign. “I’m not in a position to do this. I can’t afford it and don’t have the human resources, either.”

  Michael Anderson stepped forward. “My dad started Anderson Enterprises over fifty years ago. He didn’t have the money or resources to do it. He had investors, and eventually paid them all back with interest. He found and hired the right people to make it happen. We bought Cahill Investments with that spirit in mind. We want to give promising businesses a start.”

  Jane glanced back up at the whi
msical sign that represented a lifelong dream, and her breath caught.

  Michael continued, “Eric pitched this business to us Friday night, and we were skeptical. Over the weekend, he put together a market analysis and it looks like there’s a demand for this kind of business, especially in this neighborhood. Even with solid numbers, we still weren’t completely sold because there’s a substantial conflict of interest where you and Eric are concerned.” He winked at her. “We then talked to your dad, who believes in you so strongly, he joined in the venture, securing the lease for the space just this morning.”

  Which explained the papers he was waiting on at the receptionist desk.

  Jane looked from one smiling face to another, still a little dizzy. “I don’t know what to say.” All these years, she’d read her father’s reactions wrong. He wasn’t disappointed in her. He was disappointed for her.

  “Say yes, and we’re in business,” Michael said. “Eric has all the particulars. You can decide exactly how you want this to operate, since, according to your dad, you’ve been planning it out for a while. After twelve months, you can decide whether to turn the business over to us if you don’t like it, continue on in partnership with us, or buy us out completely. If it goes really well, which we think it might, we’ll talk about franchises with a cut to you for originating the concept.”

  “I…” She was still too blown away to talk. To believe that people actually wanted to invest in Animal Attraction.

  Eric slid his arm around her waist, his touch grounding her. “I contacted your vet friend, Fiona, and located Caitlin, who divorced her husband and is back in the city staying with her parents. Both are available this week to meet up if you want.”

  A chill ran down her spine. This was really going to happen. Animal Attraction was going to be a real thing.

  “I’ll bring some papers by later for you to look at,” Chance said.

  “Uh. Great.” She couldn’t quit looking at the sign and grinning.

  After handshakes and congratulations, Jane finally found herself alone on the street with Eric, still in a happy daze.

  He leaned down and stared at her mouth, brow furrowed.

  “What?”