“It’s good to have a plan in life,” she said.
“I was kidding. Really. Are we gonna go get this pizza so we can get back to my place and eat it or what? I’m starving.”
“Yep.” Whitney climbed out of the car. She was starving, too, but not just for pizza. Her face reddened as the thought crossed her mind. What was this ambitionless stranger who had an aversion to shoes doing to her? Numbing her mind. But maybe her mind needed to be numb for a while.
“So what do you think?”
“Huh?” Whitney asked, looking up. If he’d said something to her, she’d completely missed it while thinking about what he looked like under his sweater and distressed denim.
Chace grinned. “About me moving to D.C.”
“Um, well, if you’re serious—” She pulled her coat closer to her in attempt to block out the bitter cold of the late December night.
“And I am,” he said. It was amazing. Not even the bright lights in the parking lot could wash out his attractiveness.
She swallowed hard and forced herself to focus on their conversation. “I’ll ask Rob about it. Tomorrow.”
“Good.”
Whitney grinned. “Yeah.” It could be. She certainly wouldn’t mind seeing Chace around. And considering she was at Rob’s place all the time, she probably would. With both of her best friends living in the city, she enjoyed being there more than she did at her own lonely condo in the Virginia suburbs of D.C.
They took the pizza back to Chace’s and ate in his living room. She thought back to the picture she’d seen the night before, but she didn’t mention it. She had to remember that Chace was rebounding and she had to be careful. Besides, she had never had a serious relationship before. Why start thinking about something like that now? She had plenty of guy friends. Chace would just be another one of those.
They sat on the floor in front of his sofa with the pizza box between them and greasy paper plates on their laps. Earlier, Whitney had suggested wine without thinking. When she saw the grimace on Chace’s face, she realized that anything with alcohol was probably the last thing he wanted to see or taste. They had water instead.
“This has been the most relaxing day I’ve had in a long time,” Whitney said.
“I hope your mom won’t be mad I stole you away.” Chace shook his hair out of his eyes.
“Nah. We go shopping basically every day between Christmas and New Year’s. She’ll be fine missing one. Plus, she sounded exhausted on the phone earlier,” Whitney said, polishing off a slice of cheese pizza. They’d gotten half cheese and half mushroom. Neither of them were vegetarians, but neither ate much meat. One of the many things they’d found out they had in common.
“Good. ’Cause I really enjoyed spending the day with you,” Chace said.
She looked at him and smiled. He was dangerous with that handsome face. Square jaw. Long nose and a strong chin. And of course those eyes. She’d never seen eyes quite that shade of blue. Well, on a person anyway. His eyes reminded her of those of a Siberian Husky. He could have been the one in front of the camera easily, but he’d told her that he’d rather be the one behind it any day.
“What?” Chace asked, returning her stare.
“I’m just—thinking.”
“About what?”
She couldn’t tell him that. So instead, she said, “About how crazy the past not even twenty-four hours since I met you have been. How crazy it is that I even met you at all.”
“A good kind of crazy, I hope?” He raised his eyebrows.
“I think it can be.” She scrunched her lips and fidgeted with her paper plate. “Well, I think it probably is.”
He laughed softly. “Good.” Tracing circles on the carpet with his finger, he asked, “You have any plans for New Year’s?”
“I’m planning to go back to D.C. that day. To hang out with my friends for New Year’s. Why?”
“Could I tag along? Maybe be your date?”
Whitney had never had a date for New Year’s. She’d never really thought about it because she went out with her friends every year in a big group. But why not? Chace was coming to D.C. anyway. He wouldn’t know anyone.
They already had their tickets, but Rob knew the promoter for the club they were going to, and Whitney was sure getting Chace in wouldn’t be a problem. She couldn’t leave him alone on New Year’s. And if he would be with the group anyway, sure, he might as well be her date. She tried not to think of it in any terms different from that. Any interest he had in her was probably rebound interest. And she wasn’t looking for anything serious anyway. But there was no harm in making new friends. And if those friends were fun to look at, all the better.
She smiled. “Sure.”
“Great. Well, thanks.” Chace flashed those white, even teeth at her again. He had to know the power of that smile.
“For?”
“For turning the worst Christmas of my life around.”
She laughed. “You’re welcome.” No one deserved to get dumped on Christmas Eve. Surely not someone as sweet, funny, and gorgeous as Chace. What was wrong with this Kelly? Or was the better question what was wrong with Chace? She’d only known him barely a day, after all.
Chace put his plate on top of the pizza box and turned toward her. “I know you must think some crazy things about me after last night, but I want to make a good impression on you.”
“You have. That’s what you did all day today. I think we’ll be good friends,” Whitney said quickly before Chace could say something more damaging. She felt it coming. Could see it in the serious look in his eyes.
Chace grinned. “I look forward to it, too.” He moved the pizza box from between them after she set her plate on top of his. She turned toward him and with them both sitting cross-legged, he moved closer until their knees were touching. Her temperature rose through the roof and she was no longer capable of swallowing. For a moment, it seemed as if he were going to reach for her, and then he clasped his hands together and put them in his lap.
“So what do you do anyway? I never asked you that.” She realized that most of the talking they’d done had been about her.
“Well, to pay the bills, I’ve been doing a little of everything. Most recently, work on a cleaning crew that cleans offices at night in Richmond. But what keeps me going? Photography.”
“Yeah.” Whitney looked around the room, surprised she hadn’t made the connection before between the photos and the little comments he’d made throughout the day about taking pictures. The room was full of stunning photographs. Mostly landscapes and people she’d never met before. But Kelly was conspicuously absent.
There were also pictures of random things. Like hands. Feet. An overflowing garbage pail that somehow didn’t look disgusting. A close-up of a cluster of leaves.
“You’re good,” Whitney said.
“Eh. I can’t seem to really find the spark in anything. I haven’t had inspiration for any of it in ages. But I’ve had a few paying gigs. Mostly high school girls who want me to do their senior portraits.”
Whitney grinned. “Yeah. I bet they are girls.”
Chace laughed, his face reddening. “Yeah, whatever. My high school groupies.”
“Ah, dreamy, dreamy Chace.”
“Like you don’t have a line of admirers waiting for you every time you step out of your door. Just because you ignore them doesn’t mean they don’t drool.”
He reached over and brushed a lock of hair away from her face. “Well, there are the admirers.” He moved closer so that his lips were inches from her ear. “And then there are those who are admired.” His hands moved up her arms and stopped at her shoulders. “Guess which one you are.”
No. This was wrong. No distractions allowed. She was coming up for partner in a few months. Nothing was going to derail that. She cleared her throat and leaned away from him a little. “I should get going.”
He nodded. “I guess it’s getting kind of late.”
Chace walked her to her car and
before she could slip inside, he surprised her by wrapping her up in a tight hug. Taken off guard, all she could do was hug back. She was almost certain he could feel her heart thundering through both of their jackets.
It was both weird and wonderful to her that she’d had kisses before that didn’t have intensity and intimacy equaling what she felt just wrapped in Chace’s arms. A lot of kisses. She wondered what it would be like to kiss Chace. That was when she knew she had to pull back from him even if she didn’t want to. She definitely didn’t want to.
Chapter 8: Lunch Snack
The next morning, Whitney sat in her room with the door locked after sneaking away from her mother while she was on the phone with Aunt Brenda. It was driving her crazy not checking her email. And every time her mom caught her with her laptop or her BlackBerry, Whitney felt the guilt full-force. So she found it easier to sneak away throughout the day.
There’d been nothing important the day before, but that day Whitney opened her email to find a message from Kim with a copy to the leader of the practice group, Andersen. She rolled her eyes, opened it, and found an inter-office memo attached. Apparently they had a new case coming in, and Kim wanted a memo concerning the legal issues presented and the areas of law that were probably applicable by New Year’s Day. It was a big case and they had to move quickly. Yeah. Kim always said that.
Kim was handing off the preliminary memo to a couple of first-year associates and she just wanted Whitney to look over their work and report to her. Whitney deleted the email and buried her head in her hands. She wasn’t looking forward to dealing with Kim when she got back. Her supposed mentor was the bane of her existence. Unfortunately, Kim was going to be instrumental in deciding whether Whitney would make partner or not.
She sat back from her computer and decided to call Rob, since none of her other emails looked urgent. After grabbing her cell phone, she went over to her bed, buried herself in the mound of pillows there, and dialed Rob’s number.
Rob picked up on the first ring. “Yo, Whit. What up, what up?”
She laughed. “Hi, Rob.”
“Merry Christmas, I miss you, you didn’t call me for Christmas. Did you like my present? I loved yours. You know me too well. Did I cover everything?”
She’d had a Brandon Lee The Crow collage T-shirt made for him since The Crow was his favorite movie, and he had an obsession with graphic tees. Which probably explained his vocation.
Whitney grinned as she answered him. “I loved yours, too. Thanks. And yes, you did.” He’d gotten her a couple of audio books he’d recommended to her, but that she hadn’t gotten around to picking up for herself, and he’d made her a shirt with finger paints that said “Politics Are Sexy” since she was a political news junkie.
He owned a T-shirt design company that made screen tees, usually with clever phrases on them. Her favorite was still “Have You Hugged A Socially Awkward Person Today?” He’d had it framed for her birthday one year, and it currently hung in her spare bedroom, which she used as a study. Whenever she got too stressed, she could look at it and break the tension.
“How was your Christmas?” She turned on her side and looked at the posters from her high school and college days that were still on the wall.
“You know, the usual. The folks ragging on me for dropping out of ‘G dub’ even though it was a million years ago, the girl throwing a fit about me not going to her house for Christmas. I should have since Mom was all about throwing bro’s degree in my face. You know he graduates this May.” Rob’s company was really successful so far, especially with the high school and college kids around town. That didn’t make his parents like it any better, though. They hadn’t liked much of anything he’d done since he dropped out of George Washington University. He was still working out of his trunk and online only, but his sales numbers were growing every quarter. His dream was to open a physical store, and he was trying his hardest to make it happen. He was almost there. “Anyways, glad that’s over. How was yours?” he said.
“Another Jones family Christmas.”
“Your aunt behave herself?”
“Of course not.”
Rob laughed.
“So, I have what might be the weirdest question in the world for you.”
“Shoot.”
“What if I said I found a roommate for you, but I only just met him Christmas night? He seems like a normal guy, not an ax murderer or anything.”
“What?” Rob stretched out the word longer than Whitney had ever heard anybody do it.
“It’s a long story, but I met this guy, he wants to move to D.C., and I told him you’re looking for a roommate—”
“Wait a minute, wait a minute. Let’s go back to you met a guy. Whitney Jones met a guy? We know this does not happen every day.”
“What? I meet guys.”
“Correction. You scare guys off. And you haven’t even done that for about a year now.”
“Anyway, what do you think?”
“Give me his number. I’ll give him a call. We’ll chat. He can’t be worse than Scary Feet Sam. And this rent is a biotch for one person. I need somebody, and Craigslist is failing me. I keep getting these sketchy people who ask me things like if I’ve ever narked on anybody or if the cops come by my place a lot. This one guy asked me if I think our government’s conspiring against us via Twitter. I ended the convo not too long after that.”
Whitney laughed. “Okay, I’ll give you his number and we’ll see what happens.”
“I still want the full story.”
“And you’ll get it. When I get back to D.C.”
“Not fair.”
“It’s a long one, and I have to get out of here soon for after-Christmas shopping fun.”
“Ugh. The nightmares. I think I still have PTSD from Thanksgiving. I’m not ready.”
“Has Delaney dragged you out for any of it yet?”
“We’re supposed to go to Potomac Mills today. I’ve spent the morning hiding from her, but I think she’s coming over to the apartment soon, so I won’t be able to get out of it.”
“You know you love it.” Whitney grinned, waiting for his reaction.
“Yeah, whatevs. Gimme that number if you’re not going to let me in on your I-met-a-man story.”
“Okay.” Whitney gave him Chace’s number. Then she said, “Oh, and he’s probably coming out with us for New Year’s.”
“You can’t tell me things like this and then leave me hanging. What makes you think you can do that?”
“It’s seriously not a big deal. I couldn’t just leave him alone in the city on New Year’s. He won’t know anyone. He’s just going to be part of our group.”
“Is he?”
“Well, I kind of said he could be my date. But it doesn’t mean anything. You know it’ll be a whole group of us like it always is.”
“Yeah, well, most everyone’s going to be paired up this year. Erika won’t, though.”
“What?”
“She didn’t tell you?”
“No.”
“Really? This is big news. I’m surprised.”
“Well, maybe I forgot to call her back or something. Spill. Now.”
“See, it doesn’t feel good, does it?”
“Rob!”
“Okay, okay. A.J. says he’s not going.”
“You’re kidding.”
“He’s getting worse by the day. Did she tell you he didn’t even get her a present this year?”
“What? Really?” Whitney couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“Yeah. He basically tried to make it look like her fault that she didn’t get one. You know how he is.”
“Unfortunately, I do.” He was being a jerk, like always. And Erika just kept putting up with it.
They talked for a little while longer about Erika and her questionable taste in men and then Rob had to go because Delaney was there.
Whitney, her mom, and the others left for the mall a little after Whitney got off the phone with Ro
b. Whitney put on the warmest coat and gloves she’d brought to River Run—her black leather ones—because it was freezing out there. Aunt Brenda had gone home the day after Christmas. They were meeting her at the mall since she lived closer to it than she did to River Run. The closest mall was an hour’s drive away, and, surprisingly, Alicia was the one pushing them out of the door. She’d gotten up early. She couldn’t wait to spend all her Christmas money, so she wanted as much time in Fredericksburg as possible.
Melinda sat in the backseat with Whitney. She started up her one-person interrogation squad as soon as they got in the car and Jo and Alicia immediately began squabbling over the station and volume of the radio.
Melinda leaned in close. “So you were gone all day yesterday.”
“Yeah.” She fiddled with her gloves.
“You were with him, weren’t you?”
“Who?”
Melinda’s eyes sparkled with the anticipation of learning juicy gossip. “Don’t play dumb. That guy. The drunk one we helped home.”
She couldn’t stop the smile from playing at the edges of her lips. “Maybe.”
Melinda shook her head. “You backed out of after-Christmas shopping. Which you love. You were gone all day, and there ain’t that much to do in this town. You were with him. Now, dish before I tell your mama what you been up to.”
“I haven’t been up to anything. We were just talking.”
“So tell me what you talked about.” Melinda grabbed Whitney’s knee. “You know I don’t let you keep these kind of things from me.”
Warmth spread from her heart out over her entire body as she remembered her day with Chace. “Everything, Melinda. Just…everything and nothing. Our families. Our lives. What we’ve done and what we want to do. Places we’ve been and places we want to go. Big things. Small things. We just talked about…life.”
Melinda shook her head. “Look at you. You can’t be gone over him already. You barely know this guy.” Melinda’s mouth dropped open, and she covered it with one hand and pointed at her with the other. Then she whispered so that Jo and Alicia wouldn’t hear. “But you are. Look at you.”
Holding Her Breath (Indigo) Page 7
