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His words hit me like a punch in the stomach. “Jack, I changed my mind. I don’t want to go anymore. I have no idea how those emails got sent, but I was literally in the middle of typing up an email to tell him that I wasn’t going to come.”
“You don’t need to lie. I told you. I understand. You needed the money, and this was the best way to get it. But I’m not going to let you dangle hope in front of my son any longer than you have to. I’ll handle breaking the news to him tomorrow.”
“Jack,” I said, pleading. “I’m not making this up. I wasn’t going to go. The only reason I even wanted to go in the first place was—”
“Please,” he said, voice low. I saw the first hint of emotion in his otherwise calm expression. He looked like he was in pain. “Just take Griff and go. I’ll call you a cab to the airport and make sure the tickets back to New York are taken care of. But I need you to go, and I need time to think.”
“You’re not listening to me!” I shouted.
“Because I already let you make a fool of me for long enough. I’m not going to stand here while you try to spin truth out of lies. You got us, okay? You got me. But it’s over, so go.”
I felt like I was in a daze as I carefully woke Griff and explained to his sleepy, confused self that we were going to need to head home to help Luca and Lindsey with their cat. He ended up falling asleep as I carried him down the stairs to wait for the cab Jack called us.
Even as pissed as Jack was, he still stood in the lobby of the hotel, looming like an angry shadow, until he saw us get in the cab with our bags and leave the hotel.
I stared out the window, feeling nothing but determination. I was not the kind of person who was going to let it end here. Not over something like this. Yes, I should’ve told him sooner. But I had reasons for doing things the way I did, and I wasn’t going to give up until he’d looked me in the eye and listened to every last one of them. It was that simple.
He was too mad to listen to me right now? Fine. But I was just going to make sure he heard me when he had calmed down.
Griff groaned, then kicked me in the leg as he tried to stretch out in the backseat. “Are we getting pancakes?”
“It’s midnight. Why would we be getting pancakes?” I asked, letting some of my irritation through to my voice.
“You want pancakes?” Our cab driver asked. “You should try donuts. Much better.”
I scrunched up my face. “Obviously donuts are better. But we’re not getting either. And that’s not really a fair competition.”
“Pancake is a dessert. Donut is a dessert. Donut wins every time.”
I entered into a debate with the cab driver for the rest of the ride, mostly so I wouldn’t be trapped with my thoughts about Jack. I just hoped he wasn’t having some wild, crazy star athlete sex with the first hot woman he came across while he was pissed at me.
Temporarily pissed. Because as soon as he’d had a few hours to cool down, I was going to go to his place back in New York and explain everything.33NolaMaybe calling Chris Rose for advice on my relationship with Jack was a mistake.
This was the thought circling my mind as I watched Chris, the oversized, muscular, bona fide national celebrity stalk around my tiny apartment the morning after my fight with Jack. Griff was at school, which was good, because Chris had already dropped about five “f” bombs since arriving a minute ago.
“So you came to me,” he said, more to himself than to me. He was decked out in his football team’s gear but was wearing a pair of flipflops that made a steady rhythm as he paced.
“Do you have any ideas, or are you just going to keep talking like some kind of movie supervillain?”
Chris looked at me with narrowed eyes, then folded his arms. “I can help. The question is whether you’re ready for my help.”
“I’m not exactly working with all the time in the world. I asked you because I know Damon brought you in like some kind of expert when he needed to get through to Jack. If Damon thinks you understand Jack in any way, then maybe you could help me figure out how to undo the damage I’ve done. Also, my best friends are super busy with a business thing today. So I was desperate.”
“Oh, I can help. What you need to do is really simple. Women forgive with their hearts. Men forgive with their penises.”
