Safe Space II: The Finale

by Tiffany Patterson

  “I do too,” I added sarcastically.

  “But I want you to know, my abysmal behavior was all about me. Not about you.”

  “That’s what Dr. Winston told me.”

  “Who?”

  “My therapist.”

  He nodded.

  I sighed heavily.

  “It’s not that I didn’t want you. I…”

  “Pssh, it certainly sounded like it when you screamed those words at my mother the night of my tenth birthday.”

  He frowned, looking puzzled for a moment before his face morphed to a look of horror. “You overheard that?”

  “I did.”

  His head dropped, and I blinked to keep the tears at bay.

  “Chanel, I’m so sorry. There are no words that can…” He trailed off.

  I inhaled. “How about we not do this here.” Before I could get out the rest of my thought, my office phone buzzed.

  “Chanel, you have a delivery,” Liza informed me.

  “You can send it down, Liza.”

  “I can leave—”

  “No, it’s just a delivery,” I told my father as I rose from my seat. I didn’t know why but I wasn’t ready for him to leave just then.

  I composed myself before opening the door. As soon as I did, I was confronted with a huge bouquet of pink and white roses. My heart did a little pitter-patter in my chest.

  “Ms. Richards,” the man said, leaning around the bouquet to acknowledge me.

  “Thank you. I’ll take them.”

  “Card is right here,” he stated, pointing to the card in the middle of the bouquet. “Enjoy!” He tipped his hat at me before pivoting back to the entranceway.

  I didn’t bother asking about the tip, knowing it’d already been taken care of. I headed back to my desk and carefully placed the bouquet down. A low whistle grabbed my attention, and I remembered my father was still there.

  “Those are beautiful.”

  I grinned, marveling at the flowers. I hated and loved how a simple gesture could reduce me to feeling like a sixteen-year-old girl again. I pulled the card out of the envelope.

  Enjoy your day, Baby Girl.

  Simple yet sweet.

  “I think that’s my cue to go.”

  My eyes went over to my father who was now standing. “No, wait.”

  My father looked at me expectantly.

  “I have about forty-five minutes until my next meeting. Do you want to order something from the bistro downstairs for lunch? They deliver.”

  “I’d like that,” he agreed, giving me a half-smile and sitting back down.

  I handed my father the bistro menu and glanced at the flowers again. I picked up my cell to send Xavier a quick text thanking him. I knew he was in meetings all day and we wouldn’t be able to talk until later that night.

  “You know what you want? Lunch is on me.” My father interrupted my thoughts.

  I looked at him. While his apology and admissions hadn’t erased the pain of the many memories from my childhood, I could feel them start to let up. I briefly wondered if that was what healing felt like.

  “I’m not arguing with that,” I agreed, picking up the phone to place our orders.

  ****

  “What’re you up to, baby girl?” The deep rumble of his voice made my belly tingle. I squeezed my toes underneath my blanket and bit my lip to keep from blurting out that I’d been counting down the minutes until I could talk to him since I got home from work.

  “Not much, just watching a little Real Housewives before bed.”

  “Lying ass. You know you were up waiting to talk to me. That’s why you don’t have your headscarf on.”

  I laughed at his accusation. We were FaceTiming again, so he could see I wasn’t completely prepared for bed.

  “I don’t sleep with a headscarf every night. That’s why I have silk pillowcases. Thank you very much.”

  “Yeah, if you say so. How was your day?” he asked around a yawn.

  “You’re tired.”

  “It’s all good. Never too tired to talk to you. Tell me about your day.”

  I glared at him suspiciously, taking in the slight redness of his eyes and the increased hairs on his beard. He looked tired, but damn if he didn’t look good enough to eat as well.

  “Looking at me like that is gonna get your ass in trouble.”

  “Promise?”

  He made a sound between a moan and a growl. “I swear, you’re gonna have me take a short trip back to Houston. Tell me about your damn day.”

  I laughed at the look of pure agony that covered his face.

  “All right. My day was busy as usual. Had an important meeting this afternoon with Richard Crawford and then—”

  “That the same dude you came into Grant’s with?”

  I sighed at the protectiveness in his tone. “Yes.”

  “You met with him in your office?”

  “Yes.”

  His jaw tightened. “I don’t like him.”

  I smirked. “You’ve never even met him.”

  “Don’t need to. I could see his ass was too damn touchy-feely that night you came into Grant’s.”

  “Richard is a flirt, but he’s harmless. When I made it clear that his and my relationship would never extend past anything on a professional level he tried to suggest his son as a dating option for me.”

  I bit the inside of my cheek to refrain from laughing at the hard look on Xavier’s face.

  “His son is like, twenty-five or something, and when his father isn’t busy trying to rid himself of his wife, he’s busy bailing his son out of whatever mess he’s recently gotten into. Calm down.”

  “Don’t play with me like that.”

  I giggled. “Anyway, I think you intimidated Richard a little bit that night at Grant’s. He’s toned down.”

  “Whatever,” Xavier grumbled.

  “Oh, and my dad stopped by my office today. We actually talked a little and had lunch together.”

  “That’s what’s up. How’d it go?”

  I shrugged and then adjusted myself in bed, sitting up against my tufted headboard. I watched as Xavier’s eyes roved over my bare shoulders and the top of my breasts. I wore a rose-colored silk negligee. When he ran his tongue across his bottom lip, I had to squeeze my thighs together.

  “It was rather unexpected but some things that needed to be said were.”

  “Such as?”

  “I apologized for accusing him of being behind that article. And he apologized for something I overheard him say when I was younger.”

  Xavier looked at me expectantly. “What did you overhear?”

  “Remember when I said I’d been having trouble sleeping because of recurring nightmares?”

  “Yeah, the ones about Anne Marie, right?”

  “Yeah, those too, but they weren’t the only dreams I’d had. One was about my father. The night of my tenth birthday party. I overheard him telling my mother that he had never wanted me. At first, I’d thought it was just a dream but then I remembered…”

  “It wasn’t a dream,” Xavier stated through the phone.

  “No,” I answered, shaking my head. “It was a memory. One I’d long forgotten about, but for some reason, my damn subconscious thought it was a good time in my life to bring it up now. I know it’s stupid to hold that against him, but—”

  “It’s not stupid. You were hurt. That’s some shit no kid should ever hear.”

  I closed my eyes after letting out a heavy breath. My body filled with gratitude. The understanding in Xavier’s voice is what I needed.

  “Did his apology help?” he asked.

  I paused to consider. “I think so. Not the apology so much as his acknowledging how hurtful it was. All I ever wanted as a kid was to matter to my father.” I wiped a tear that’d managed to escape.

  “Good.” I heard the sincerity in his voice.

  For the first time, being this vulnerable with someone wasn’t accompanied by a magnitude of fear.


  “How’re you so damn perfect?” I divulged without thinking. I hadn’t meant to say those words but they were true.

  He grunted. “I’m far from perfect, baby girl.”

  Not that far, I silently thought.

  “So, are still deciding whether to work at Combs and Combs? Have you talked it over with your therapist?”

  “Not yet. I hadn’t even thought about it in months until my father came to my office today. I’ll bring it up in our next session. But enough of my daddy issues. Tell me about your trip. How’re the renovations going?”

  “Smoothly so far. Everything’s on schedule. I’m just ready for it to be done. I’ve been waiting a long time for this.”

  I smiled. “How come you’ve never opened a restaurant in Vegas before?” It’d been something I’d been wondering. Xavier had been in the hospitality business for close to fifteen years with restaurants in more than three states. And considering Vegas was closer to Houston than some of the other cities he had spots in, I wondered why he hadn’t contemplated that market in the past.

  “I did.”

  I lifted my head in surprise but stayed silent, waiting for him to expound.

  “I was about twenty-five and had owned a couple of restaurants by then. I was full of myself and heard this entrepreneur was looking for investors to open a restaurant in Vegas. I figured it was going to be my leg into Sin City. I sought him out over the next few months, and everything seemed legit. He requested I put up the money upfront. I was cool with that, because I figured I’d make it up on the backend. He was supposedly meeting with casino and hotel owners, but I never attended any of the meetings. I was fine with that because I was busy in Houston and D.C. at the time. I was just going to be a silent partner anyway.”

  I grinned at that, knowing my baby likes keeping himself in the background when it comes to his business. To the public, he was the strong, silent type.

  “So, I thought contracts were signed, and the deal was done. I decided to do a pop-up visit and go check on renovations only to find that nothing was being built. Well, that’s not true, there was a restaurant being built at our location, but we didn't own it.”

  “Shit,” I cursed.

  “Yeah,” he responded. “I was pissed because I’d put up a hell of a lot of money, plus this was what I’d thought was my first break into Vegas. I’d planned it to be a springboard to more ventures. Come to find out, dude was a smalltime entrepreneur who did have a couple of restaurants not in Vegas, but acquired most of his money scamming people.”

  “Damn, so how’d you handle it?”

  “It took me a while even to find all this out. By the time I’d caught wind of what was happening, he was nowhere to be found. In the meantime, I gathered as much information on him as I could. About five years after he skipped town, he returned to Vegas, looking for investors. It took a couple of years, but he eventually opened two restaurants on the strip. After a year of doing just okay, his businesses began to fall apart. Head chefs started quitting, staff turnover was a mess, reviews got worse and worse. And a year and a half ago, he finally had to shut them down. He now owns just one restaurant far off the strip.”

  I squinted at the gleam in Xavier’s eye. “What’s this guy’s name?”

  “Dominic Rossi.”

  I frowned, not familiar with the name.

  “And his failing restaurants were just bad luck?”

  “Nah, that was all me,” he declared with his cocky ass grin. The dimple that rested just above the start of his beard emerged. “I’d been waiting years to get his ass back. Knew my time would come, and had people in Vegas looking out for me.” He shrugged as if it was no big deal. “It took me a while to make sure everything was right before trying to open a spot in Vegas again. But it was a lesson learned. Taught me to do my work and not trust someone else with my business, be patient, and how to find someone’s weak spot.”

  I looked at Xavier through the screen of my phone as he continued to talk about his restaurants in Vegas. When discussing the betrayal he’d suffered at the hands of Dominic Rossi, his eyes darkened almost to black. Now, as he talked about the on going renovations and plans he had for his new places, his eyes brightened. I realized in that moment just how calculating he could be, and God help me, it turned me on even more. Was there anything this man could do that I wouldn’t find sexy?

  “I gotta get up early in the morning.”

  I pouted, knowing that I needed to let him go. Hell, I had to get up for work in the morning too.

  “Four more days, baby girl,” he stated, as if he could read my thoughts.

  “Technically five, since you get in late Friday and I won’t see you until Saturday.”

  “Or, you could just meet me at the airport Friday night. You know what? I’ll schedule my car service to pick you up before they pick me up from the airport.”

  Before I could even respond, I saw him pulling his tablet out.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Emailing Bryce to set it up. I wanna see you as soon as I get off the plane.”

  “You’re so damn spoiled.”

  He laughed. “Yup, but I worked my ass off to be this spoiled.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Oh, wait, Saturday I have something.”

  “What?”

  “It’s an event sponsored by the women’s shelter. It’s at a park not too far from the shelter.”

  “What type of event?”

  “It’s a day-long thing they have every year. This one is in memory of Anne Marie. I volunteered to help set up.” I paused, wondering how he’d respond to my next request. “I can bring a guest.”

  “Are you asking me to come with you?”

  “No, I was thinking of taking Richard Crawford. You think he’d agree?” I teased.

  He shot me a deadly look. “I told you about playing with me, right?”

  I couldn’t hold in my laughter.

  “Yeah, I’ll be there. Now take your ass to sleep.”

  I laughed some more. “Goodnight.” I love you. Those three words were on the tip of my tongue. Thank goodness I hadn’t said them aloud. I stared at my now darkened screen, grinning. I couldn’t wait for the next few days to speed by.

  Chapter Nine

  Chanel

  “So, you two are good?” Gabby questioned as we stepped into the second-floor space of an empty building. This building had been on the list of prospects for her spa, and we were finally doing some inspections. I’d finished telling her about my feelings after speaking with Xavier the night before.

  “I guess, we did just get back together. But…”

  “But what?”

  “What if he decides to bounce again?”

  “You need to work on your abandonment issues,” Gabby snarked, causing me to laugh.

  “That’s what my appointments with Dr. Winston are for.”

  “Yeah, and what does she say about it?”

  “She says fear is normal, especially when you’ve been hurt in the past. But it’s my choice whether or not I give into that fear and blah blah blah, normal shrink stuff,” I finished, waving my hand in the air.

  “It’s all true, though.”

  “I know, it’s just easier said than done.”

  “I get that.” She nodded as she looked around the space contemplatively.

  “What are you thinking of this space? I think it’s big enough.”

  “It’s big enough, and I like the dark oak wood floors.”

  “But…?” The frown told me there was a “but” coming.

  “I don’t know. There’s no real place for sunlight to come in. You know my love of natural lighting, plus, the guy who owns it already told me I would have to get all types of plumbers and electricians in here to do the rewiring if I’m going to have a functional upstairs and downstairs. Plus, we’d have to pull out the hair washing sinks downstairs.”

  This place had been a hair salon that had shut down about six months ago. While the upstairs had been used as
the office, the first level still had all the hair sinks and blow drying chairs that would need to be taken out to make room for the spa that Gabby was looking to open.

  “Okay, this place would need more work, but how about the first place we went to? That one didn’t need as much work.”

  She nodded, the brown and blonde ombre wig she wore sending tendrils down, slightly covering her frowning face. “That place was a joke. The feng shui was all off. And did you see it was next to a pet grooming business? No, thank you.”

  “What does a pet grooming business being next door have to do with anything?”

  She looked at me as if I’d lost my mind. “Chanel, barking dogs and hissing cats next to a spa? No. I’m trying to create an environment where my clients come to relax and refresh from their hectic and stressful lives. How the hell are they going to do that with dogs howling next door?”

  I lowered my head, smirking at the dramatic way Gabby waved her hands around and her eyes enlarged as she explained. But I had a feeling it was more than she was letting on.

  “No, you know what? When I find the right place, I’ll just know.”

  “How are you going to know if you never go and look? I had to drag you out today to come look at places, and you’ve rejected all three—all three that were perfectly good locations for a day spa.” I held my hand up to keep her from cutting me off.

  “I can’t describe how I know. These places just aren’t it. Plus, maybe right now is just not the right time with work, volunteering and me getting ready to start my doula training.”

  I cocked my head back in surprise. “Doula training?”

  “Yeah, I’ve told you it’s something I’ve thought about for a while now.”

  “I know, you’ve talked about it for years, but I didn’t realize you were doing it now.”

  She shrugged. “It just feels like now is the perfect time for it. I’d like to offer doula services as part of my business. Anyway, let’s get something to eat. I’m hungry.”

  “We still have two more places to look at,” I reminded her.

  “Not today.”

  I decided not to push the issue anymore. One thing Gabby and I had in common is that we weren’t ready to address something until we were ready, and no amount of pushing or prodding would help.