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"Just some woman I met who introduced me to two dripping with sweetness, mouth-watering chocolate desserts in one day."
"Well, she must some kind of woman, Jacob. You should snatch her up and never let her go," I replied.
"Oh, she's scrumptious, and you bet I’m not letting her go. I’m following her around like a stray pup now," he opened his mouth and started panting.
We shared so many laughs before our food came out. We ate without missing a beat in our conversation. After we had eaten delicious deli sandwiches, pickles and chips, we ordered chocolate mousse cake for old time’s sake. Jacob paid for our meals and we headed back to the church to get my car. Our conversation in the car was light, until his phone rang.
"It’s Justine," he said, after looking at his caller ID. "She's been calling me nonstop since I saw her in Miami." He looked at me as if he wanted me to advise him on how to handle her, and I was about to chime in until I recalled what he said.
"Wait a minute. You saw her when you were in Miami this week?"
"She came to my office and I told her it was over, but she's insistent that we can work things out. When I told her that the only woman I want is you, she went off the deep end," he confided.
"How did she know you were going to be in Miami?" I asked, wondering if Jacob was even telling the whole truth.
"My secretary told her."
"Did you check your secretary about that?" I fumed.
Justine's persistence to be in the picture made me feel some type of way. They had a history I could never make up with him, and I knew the depths that a woman would go through to get a man. This had to be nipped in the bud before it spiraled out of control.
"Yes, I have everything handled with her. I don’t want you to worry about her, Destiny. After what I told her, she should have the picture."
"Why is she still calling you though, Jacob?" I sounded more pissed than I wanted to sound. “I’m not trying to sound rude. I just want to know what’s going on with her,” I rephrased.
"I haven’t been answering to find out.”
“Well, until she stops calling, she’s going to be a problem. I know women who have been scorned and some of them are still pining over the men that left them behind.”
“See that’s the thing. I don’t want to leave her behind entirely. I wish we could have our old friendship back, but she wants more.”
“Of course she does, Jacob. Most women don’t cross the line and jump back over it on a whim. She’s probably dangerously in love with you,” I said, and thought about the implications of a mentally unstable woman grieving over the man I was involved with.
“I wish we never crossed that line,” Jacob said as he parked his car beside mine. “I might have to change my number."
“That might be the best thing to do. Because even if she’s listening to your voice message or just hoping that you’ll pick up may be giving her unjust hope that she’ll get through to you.”
“Then it’s settled. I’ll have Wanda get me a new number set up tomorrow,” Jacob said before he got out and rushed around to open the door for me.
"Thanks for lunch, Jacob," I spoke, feeling a pit in my stomach as I exited his car. "But Jacob, I'm not going to deal with any more mess with Justine. If you ever choose to stand by her side over mine again, we're done."
"Destiny, wait. Don’t walk away from me!" I heard him call after me, but I stormed toward my car. I searched for my keys but couldn’t find them fast enough to get in before he reached me. He ran a finger under my jaw and I turned to face him. We remained in that position, eyes interlocked.
“What do you want to say, Jacob?”
"When we go out and have fun like we just did…it’s just so perfect. I don’t want you to leave upset with me. In my heart, I'm doing the right thing by you. I’ve told Justine that I don’t want to see her again and to leave me alone."
"Jacob, all of that is good. But before I met you, I was an independent woman, and didn’t feel like I needed anyone. I won’t let my feelings hold me hostage in this relationship, either, just because Justine is playing games, and she is. I know a woman’s games when I see them." I swallowed the lump in my throat, pulled away from him and got into my car.
"Destiny…" I heard his voice fade out as I drove away.
I didn’t want to lose him. However, the thought of him kissing Justine like he did the night I saw him at Lapidus reeled me back in from the fantasy world I’d been living in. I had to give some genuine thought to our future…for my kids and myself. I refused to get so far out in his ocean where I couldn’t reach the shore and ended up drowning in his love.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
DESTINY
I Think I Love You, Again
