“I’m not anything. He’s just fun to hang out with, that’s all.” She hoped her expression didn’t betray too much to her cousin.
“Yeah. Well, you better get in all the ‘hanging’ you can now. You’re leaving for D.C. in a few days.”
“Actually, he’s moving to D.C., I think. He’s talking to Rob about being his roommate today.”
“He what?” Melinda exclaimed.
“Shh,” Whitney hissed.
Alicia turned to look into the backseat, and Jo eyed them from the rearview mirror.
“What’s going on back there?” Jo asked.
“Oh, nothing, Aunt Jo. We’re just talking about a…guy we know from high school,” Melinda said.
“Mmm-hmm,” Jo said in a tone connoting she didn’t believe it for one minute. She never pressured Whitney about where she went or what she did. She always let it be known that she knew there was something to know, and then she waited for the guilt of not telling to cripple Whitney until she had to tell. Most of the time, it worked. Whitney hoped it wouldn’t this time. Besides, there was hardly anything to tell.
“C’mon. Let us in on it. This have something to do with where you were all day yesterday?” Alicia said.
“Regardless of where I was all day yesterday, I was home last night,” she said, giving her sneaking-out sister a pointed look. Alicia narrowed her eyes at her and then turned back to the front of the car.
When they stepped out of the car and into the mall parking lot, it was freezing. Her gloves did little to protect against the cold as the wind seemed to slice right through them, turning her fingers into ice. Wind whipped all around them, and it seemed to be trying to cut right through them. They hurried toward the mall, not paying much attention to the wreaths and garlands adorning the light poles in the parking lot.
Whitney had a great life and she needed to remember that. A wonderful—for the most part—family, a great job, and the best friends a person could ask for. Absolutely nothing was missing. Not one thing. Not even a gorgeous brown-haired man with ice blue eyes holding her close the way he had when they’d shared that blazing goodbye hug the night before. Especially not him.
She stepped into the mall and felt her body thawing all over as a sudden rush of heat embraced her. She looked around at the store windows still filled with red, green, and gold holiday cheer. Shoppers bustled up and down the main aisle, packed almost shoulder-to-shoulder, all on missions to get the best after-Christmas deals. Teens walked around in giggling groups, many of them with ear buds in their ears. Even with all the chaos, she loved the mall at the holiday season. Or maybe she loved it because of the chaos.
They split off into groups. Jo and Aunt Brenda went to hit the housewares and discount Christmas decorations for next year’s celebrations. Not even she could think that far in advance. Alicia, Melinda, and Whitney went for the clothing stores. Alicia soon saw some friends of hers in a music store and she branched off to hang out with them, telling Whitney to tell their mom she’d get a ride home with her friends.
Whitney and Melinda wandered in and out of clothing stores, trying a few things on, but not buying anything. Melinda complained about having spent all her money at a giant sale at Barney’s in New York. She just couldn’t concentrate on the clothes enough to look for something she might actually be interested in buying. She flipped through racks of dresses and ran her hands over sweaters and blouses set up on tables in the middle of store floors, but her mind was with Chace.
She kept seeing those eyes—fire and ice. Feeling his knees against hers. That simple touch the day before had nearly caused her to burst into flames. It was still burning up her mind. She imagined that she hadn’t just sat there last night. That instead, she’d moved her hands over his thighs, up to his hips, hooked them into the waist of his jeans. And—
“Whitney.” Melinda was snapping her fingers in front of Whitney’s face. She realized that Melinda must have been trying to get her attention for a while.
“Oh, um, I’m sorry. What did you say?”
“I asked what you think of this?” Melinda held a multi-colored scarf up to her neck.
“Looks nice,” she said, still trying to bring herself back to that store.
Melinda made a face, running her fingers over the fabric. “I dunno. It’s kind of scratchy. Ah, well. I don’t have the money for it. I told you not to let me buy anything anyway.”
She sighed exaggeratedly, but then grinned. “Fine. It’s the most horrible scarf I’ve ever seen.”
They laughed.
“Let’s go get coffee.”
They left the store and headed for the food court.
* * *
Whitney and her mom didn’t want to go see the movie that Aunt Brenda and Melinda were so interested in at the theater across from the mall, so they stayed behind and to hang out until they were picked up afterwards.
Whitney tried to think of things they could do to kill the time since neither of them seemed too excited about going in the stores any longer.
Whitney said, “We could go get something to eat now if you want.”
Her mother looked at Whitney for a moment without answering. After a long pause, she said, “Didn’t you eat?
“I had coffee earlier.”
Her mom shuffled her bags around in her hands. “Oh.”
“Why? Did you eat?”
“I had a snack,” Jo said in a guilt-tinged tone.
Perplexed, and with her lawyer’s brain constantly alert, Whitney asked, “What kind of snack?”
“I had a lunch snack.”
“A what?”
“Well, I went to Ruby Tuesday and had a burger and fries. And then I had dessert.”
Whitney laughed. “That’s not a snack. And it’s not lunch. That’s dinner!”
Her mom shook her head emphatically. “No, it was a lunch snack. It’s lunch food. But it’s not lunch time. And it’s not enough food to be dinner. So it’s a lunch snack.”
Whitney couldn’t stop laughing. She wrapped her arm around her mom’s shoulders and walked her toward a nearby nail shop, having decided to treat her mother to a manicure while they waited.
* * *
Whitney tip-toed into the kitchen a little after midnight. She hadn’t eaten much for dinner, and she’d awakened in the middle of the night with her stomach rumbling.
“Couldn’t sleep either, huh?” her brother said.
She gasped and put a hand over her heart. “Devon, you scared the crap out of me.” She went over to the wall and switched on the overhead light. He sat at the kitchen table wearing a ratty navy blue robe. “What are you doing sitting here in the dark?” She grabbed the tea kettle from the stove and filled it with water.
“Thinking.” He stayed seated, but he watched her move around the kitchen.
“About?” She set one mug in front of him and another across from him.
“Trina.”
She sat in the chair across from him. Maybe he was finally going to tell her why he’d been playing the Grinch for the past few days. “What about her?”
He slid his mug back and forth between his hands. “I don’t think things are too good between us right now.”
“Is that why you’ve been acting more like Aunt Cheryl than any of us would like lately?” she asked.
He grinned sheepishly and nodded. “I’m sorry I was a butthole all morning, but I’ve been in a really bad mood.” He put his hand over hers. “I’m glad you came down here tonight, though. You’re the only one I feel like I can talk to about this kind of stuff.”
“And you definitely need to talk to somebody about this. I can tell it’s eating you up inside.”
“Yeah.” He sighed. “I do.”
“So tell me.”
“It’s her parents. I told you they never really liked me much. I could always tell. They’d get along great with your grandparents.” He gave a humorless laugh.
“What about her parents?”
“Not long after we go
t engaged, I overheard them talking. I didn’t mean to listen in on their conversation, but I heard my name and I got curious. They started saying stuff about our family. How we’re poor and we’re trash and you’re the anomaly out all of us Joneses.” He folded his arms over his chest and pushed his chair back from the table. “They said I wasn’t good enough for their daughter and I wasn’t ever going to make anything of myself. And they couldn’t stand the thought of me marrying Trina.”
She didn’t understand. “I thought you told me you asked for their blessing before you asked Trina to marry you.”
He nodded. “Yeah. But I guess they don’t want Trina to know they hate me. They’re afraid that’ll only make her more determined to be with me. I heard them saying something about that, too.”
“So what does Trina think about all of this?”
“She doesn’t know.”
“You haven’t said anything to her about what you heard?”
Devon shook his head. “ I guess I’ve been kind of picking little fights with her a lot because I’m mad about it, but she probably doesn’t know why.”
“How very passive aggressive and not grown-up of you, Devon.”
He shrugged.
She ran a hand over her face. “I’m sorry, Devon. I know, that wasn’t helpful.” She tapped her fingers on the table. “What they said was wrong. Clearly. But you need to tell Trina about it. You two need to talk about this. Don’t let them eat away at your relationship.” She went over to him and put a hand on his shoulder.
He looked up at her. “So that’s your best advice? I thought you’d be full of tips for dealing with snobs.”
He never missed an opportunity to take a cheap shot at her paternal grandparents. Of course, they weren’t much better when it came to the Joneses. Still, they were her grandparents and she loved them. If she refused to love people because of their flaws, she wouldn’t have had very many people left in her life.
She said, “The most important thing is Trina. Anyone can see you two are the real thing. Don’t let her parents or anyone else steal that away from you.”
Devon shrugged and mumbled something she couldn’t discern.
“Promise, Devon?”
“Yeah. I’ll call her in the morning.”
The tea kettle began to whistle and she ran to grab it before the sound woke up everybody in the house. She poured water into both mugs. Devon put tea bags in the water while she set the kettle back on the stove.
While they waited for the tea to steep, he said, “Thanks, big sis. You’re really all right. I know I give you a hard time, but you’re always there for me when I need you. I want you to know I appreciate it.”
She smiled. “I know.”
She could fix her brother’s love life, but she didn’t even have one of her own. Not that she wanted one of her own. Not really, anyway.
Chapter 9: Just Can’t Wait
Chace talked to Rob, and it seemed they would get along great. They were almost the same person. Neither one was as organized and together as Whitney and they were both crazy about her, although Chace knew better than to admit he was already.
It was all set. Chace would leave for D.C. when Whitney did, and he’d move in with Rob that day. After the call Chace had a long day of nothing to do ahead of him. Whitney was out shopping with her family.
Alone again, with no Whitney to distract him, Chace was feeling pretty low. He was happy he was moving to D.C., but being alone in that apartment with memories of Kelly for several more days was going to be harsh. He’d gone to the store and gotten boxes and he’d pulled out his suitcases and a few crates, but he was too bummed to get moving when it actually came to packing up his things and leaving the apartment that had been home for the past two years.
Even with all of Kelly’s stuff gone, she was still in that apartment with him. Yes, moving to D.C. would be the best thing for him.
It was weird. He didn’t even miss her as much as he thought he would. He just missed the idea of her being around. And having someone to cuddle up with and be close to. He missed her massaging his feet even though she teased him about his stinky toes and gross socks. He missed cooking for her. But he didn’t know that he actually missed Kelly.
Ethan had told him he fell in love too easily because he picked out a pretty girl and fell in love with the idea of being in love more than he fell for the actual girl. Well, wait until Ethan heard about Whitney. He would definitely rip into him for this one. But he couldn’t help it. If there was such thing as love at first sight, he’d fallen into it for Whitney. It hadn’t even been that quick with Kelly. With any other woman. Something about her made him just…know. What he felt didn’t have anything to do with rebounding.
Still, two years was a long time to invest in a person, and Chace couldn’t help moping around the apartment where he and Kelly had spent so many happy times together. They’d laughed, cried, fought, made up—the making up being best of all—so many times right there in that apartment.
“Well, the smartest thing would be to get rid of all the Kelly stuff first, I guess,” Chace said. He dragged his feet over to the bedroom closet to take down boxes of photos. They were the hardest Kelly things to get rid of. The two things he’d thought he’d loved the most in the world—his camera and his girl.
He didn’t even look at them. He just emptied boxes of photos—black and whites and colors both—into a black garbage bag and set it aside. He ran his hands through his hair and blew a harsh breath through his nose. He bit his lower lip and looked at Kelly’s empty side of the closet, once again feeling the pang he’d felt for the past few mornings—she really was gone. And she wasn’t coming back.
He then grabbed the neck of the plastic bag and dragged it around the apartment with him, dumping in framed photos, clothes and other stuff Kelly had bought for him, any kitchen stuff they’d bought together—anything that reeked too much of Kelly, in other words. He kept the towels, though. They were really nice and the only ones left because she had thrown out all the old, threadbare ones he’d had when they moved in together.
She’d tried to call him more and sent some texts. She’d even gotten Amy to try to call him, but he didn’t want to hear about being friends. Seeing her, talking to her would be too hard. The only way to do it was to have a clean break. He couldn’t do it any other way without making a mess.
When he was done, he set the garbage bag by the front door and sat down next to it, drawing his knees up to his chest after grabbing the remote for the stereo. He flipped it on and the opening bars of Brian McKnight’s “One Last Cry” filled the room. He barked a short, bitter laugh and dropped his head onto his knees.
* * *
Chace opened his eyes and yawned, realizing he must have fallen asleep. He looked at his watch and realized he’d been out for quite a while. After taking the bags of memories down to the dumpster in the apartment complex parking lot, he came back up to his apartment. He was ready to start packing. Enough of that. Time to move on.
He decided to check his Skype before getting started and he saw that Ethan was on. He grinned, sat down at his computer, and connected with Ethan via video chat. His best friend in the whole world since they’d met through their frat in college popped up on the computer screen. Ethan’s black hair was tousled and didn’t look recently combed, he wore a light blue T-shirt, and he was tanned a dark golden brown as if he’d spent every minute outside since arriving in New Zealand. Knowing Ethan, he had.
“Chace, what is up? Merry belated Christmas, bud. How ya been?”
“Merry Christmas to you, too, man. I’ve been—good. How are things? How’s life with the Kiwis?”
“Oh, great, man. I’ve been hiking every day. It’s beautiful here. I love it that I’m in summer right now and you are freezing your butt off,” Ethan said before going into a detailed account of his most recent hiking adventures, which had involved a pretty nasty spill when Ethan leaned too far over a ledge. Ethan held up his leg and showed Chace a nas
ty gash.
“Nice. So you haven’t gotten eaten up by anything yet, I see?”
“Man, all the animals are tame here. Nothing dangerous. They don’t even have snakes or big cats or anything. Well, there are rumors of some big cats running around, but I haven’t seen anything.” Ethan made a face. Ethan didn’t seem to be happy unless he was putting his life at risk.
Chace was all about adventure, but Ethan gave the word new meaning. There was the time that Ethan had convinced him to wander away from their guide when they were on safari in Africa. They’d almost made themselves targets of a very big and angry rhino. Apparently he’d chosen to miss out on the tamest of Ethan’s trips so far. “Well, are there sharks, at least? Maybe you can go swimming with them or something.”
“Man, you’ve known me too long. I’m going shark diving tomorrow.”
They laughed.
“So, how’s Kelly Kellz? She around there somewhere? I don’t hear her nagging you.”
Chace looked down at his keyboard, running his fingers over the keys. “We broke up.”
“What? Really? When?”
“She moved out on Christmas Eve. Said she was leaving me for Hank.”
“Christmas Eve? That’s just cruel. And what, Hank? That’s that old guy she works for, right? And isn’t he married? Has kids older than us? Gross.”
Chace nodded. “Apparently they’d been having an affair since before Kelly and I even got together. At least they were broken up when we met. Or so she tells me, anyway.”
“Dude, that’s just nasty. And I mean it in every possible way. But really, you’re better off. I always knew that girl was shady,” Ethan said.
“Yeah,” Chace said, staring down at his bare feet.
“Yeah, uh, you probably don’t wanna hear that right now.”
“Nope.”
“So…now that you’ve killed the conversation…”
He laughed. “You’re the one who brought up Kelly.”
“Yeah, not knowing she’d gone straight up—well—Kelly on you. Hey, the good news is you can leave Nowheresville now. You should come back to Richmond.”
Holding Her Breath (Indigo) Page 8
