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"Well…" I fling my arms around his neck and nuzzle my face into his shoulder, "there is one more thing."
"Again, Ivy?" He starts to unbutton the perfectly pressed light blue dress shirt he put on not more than fifteen minutes ago. "You're insatiable but I'm not complaining."
I giggle as I impishly tap his hands away from his collar. "No, not that. I'd prefer to be able to move for the rest of the week so I'll take a rain check."
"What is it then?" He motions for me to sit on the couch. "And for the record, the rain check expires this evening so you'll need to cash it in before midnight."
'"Like a pumpkin?" I tilt my head to the left in mock confusion.
"Sure, Cinderella." He reaches for my hand and cradles it in his. "What is the one more thing?"
"This feels like a new beginning to me," I say it sheepishly. I don't want to assume that he's feeling the hope in our future that I am.
"It's a new beginning for us." He tips my chin up so I'm looking directly at him. "Today is our new beginning."
"Thank you," I whisper. I shift slightly on the couch not because I'm uncomfortable physically but emotionally I feel uneasy about what I'm about to say next. "I saw Liz recently and we talked about you."
"Liz? Your friend who slept with Mark?"
The moment he says it I appreciate how ironic the words are. She was my friend and she did sleep with Mark. I just never imagined those two phrases would be joined together. "Yes. She came by my building a few weeks ago and said something about knowing secrets about you."
His gaze darkens. "What secrets could she possibly know about me?"
"I wondered about that too." I feel embarrassed by my confession. "So I asked her to meet me for coffee."
"Why would you put any faith in anything she said?" His voice is crisp and harsh.
"People lie sometimes. That doesn't make them horrible."
"Are we talking about her or me?" he demands.
"Her." I hesitate before continuing," it wasn't as though she had something to tell me that was life altering."
"Of course she didn't." His body relaxes and he pulls my hand to his lips to give my palm a tender kiss. "She knows nothing about me."
"There was one small thing she said that I didn't understand." I want to clear the air completely. I want all of my doubts to evaporate and the only way I can do that is to ask him about it.
"What’s that?" He peers past my hand to my face.
"She said that Brighton told her that you…well…that you and someone else…I think he meant someone else, were working together to get my shares." I stumble through the words knowing they make little sense to me and to him.
He drops my hand and I have little time to respond. It falls with a thud into my lap. A flash of panic washes over his eyes.
"What?" he whispers.
I feel the pit of my stomach drop. "Brighton told Liz that they were working to get my shares, not you, they."
"That's ridiculous," he scoffs. "Brighton is always putting his nose in where it doesn't belong."
"You reacted." I press the subject. I know I wasn't imagining the brief moment of alarm that washed over him. "When I said it, you were panicked."
"I was angry," he snaps. "Brighton has always stuck his nose into my business. His imagination runs wild and it's caused me nothing but problems in the past."
"I didn't know."
"Our relationship is strained, at best. A lot of that has to do with our mother. I don't want to get into that now but one day I'll explain why Brighton resents me." He stands now and straightens his tie.
I take that as my cue and I stand too. "One more thing, Jax."
