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“I’m not one to fight someone looking out for my best interest,” I laughed.
“I’ll always look out for your best interest,” he replied.
And I was going to hold him to that.
Chapter 11
Jason
My home office looked like the inside of a doctor’s office with printed medical journals sprawled out all over the place. I had a bucket of highlighters sitting next to me, and the pages I printed were highlighted according to the type of information. By the time I was done with one sheet, it looked like a rainbow and the paper had become flimsy from the amount of ink that was saturating the fibers. I had decided that since Tiffany was busy this weekend getting stuff moved around in her house and spending time with her best friend Mona, I was going to get myself up to speed on her medical condition. I couldn’t really be there for her or find her the best doctor for a second opinion if I didn’t know everything there was to know about this disease. The internet, as always, was peppered with information that I had to sort through from medical journals to personal stories of women who suffered from the condition. There were your normal fairy tale stories of women who were told they would never get pregnant and then, poof, they had triplets, to women who suffered almost debilitating depression because of the lack of fertility. Thinking about Tiffany having to feel even an ounce of the pain these women did made me uneasy, and I was determined to make her into one of the success stories.
After I understood what the condition was and what it scientifically did to her body, I started looking up treatments. There was everything from invasive surgeries to holistic remedies, and by the time I was done sorting those out, my head was spinning. I knew treatment was not up to me at all, but I wanted to give Tiffany the best options, the ones she would feel most comfortable with and would offer her the best chance of recovery. Just knowing the woman for five seconds, you could tell she was meant to be a mother. Her nurturing nature and huge heart were some of the things I had admired for years. She was everything you expected a woman holding a baby in her arms to be. How had she managed to escape college without becoming a teacher or a caregiver? I knew how her life was growing up, though, with parents who were dependent on drugs, and I wondered how much that affected her want for her own children. She had been independent since she was a small child, having to take care of her parents when they were all drugged out. From that, her brother had protected and shielded her until she could break free of the chains and become the woman she was.
It was already an adult fairy tale, and I figured if anyone could work past this condition, it would be Tiffany. I took a break, grabbing a beer from the fridge and walking out onto my balcony. I didn’t live in a high-rise like Jordan but, instead, hung out in a three-story SoHo loft with a walk-out onto the roof sanctuary that also housed a swimming pool just for me. It was like my break away from the business of Manhattan, while still being able to walk outside and see the chaos of the city. I absolutely loved every part of it. I pulled my phone out and smiled, looking down at the message from Tiffany. We had been talking ever since I left her house late Friday night. Everything in me wanted to stay, but Saturday morning was the annual fall breakfast at my parents’ place, and so, I’d gone home to get changed and ready for that. It felt weird not having her there, and even my mother had commented on her absence. Jordan simply rolled his eyes and passed the potatoes, not wanting to talk about it, irritated that his family wasn’t going into woman-hater mode with him.
The entire time at breakfast, I had thought about Tiffany and the amazing sex we’d had the night before. Her body was so tender, so soft, and it felt like more than just a roll in the hay like I thought. I had years of emotions behind it, having watched her from afar for many years, envious that my brother could be with such an amazing creature. For her part, I don’t know how she felt, but she seemed to be just as emotionally vested as I was. Physically, though, our bodies connected right away, and it was like I knew just how to pleasure her, the knowledge that would normally come later in a relationship when two people had fully brought their bodies together, over and over, learning each other’s pleasure zones and arousal buttons. Not so with Tiffany. She and I, once close, were like magnets, rubbing against each other, drawn closer and closer, and feeling every single inch of each other’s bodies. I couldn’t wait until the next time I got to be alone with her. There were several other things I had in mind for that sexy body.
Tonight, though, was the regular Sunday night dinner where I would get to sit across the table from Jordan and keep my secret to myself. I was even more disgusted by the way he had treated Tiffany, especially now that we had given ourselves to each other and now that I understood her on an entirely new level. I was disappointed the situation was as it was and I couldn’t keep her close to me, bringing her along to my parent's house to show off and hold hands with her. Jordan had been the only one to regularly bring girls to my parents while I had reserved that for a time I knew the girl was the one. I knew it seemed crazy, but that was how I felt about Tiffany, regardless of where her feelings for me were. That was something I wasn’t going to push, especially since the ink had hardly dried on her divorce.
However, I wasn’t going to lie. I didn’t hesitate to torture my brother, knowing he was wondering about the girl who was taking my attention away. He had stopped hounding me about Tiffany, though I knew it was still on his mind. He would just have to wait like everyone else until the time was right. In the meantime, I would get to keep my feelings for Tiffany private and just between the two of us. Our time would be our time, and I felt it would make it even that much more important to the two of us. It wasn’t very often, especially in my family, when something special came into your life that you got to enjoy in privacy before everyone wanted to be a part of it. I wasn’t sure how my family wo
uld react, but I knew in time, no matter how they felt at first, they would be happy to have Tiffany back into the fold.
I spent the rest of the afternoon organizing the notes into folders and putting them together. I figured eventually Tiffany might want to read some of the information, but for now, I had a pretty good understanding of the disease, what the symptoms were, and what to talk to the doctors about. I would be making phone calls first thing in the morning from the office. I wanted to get on top of this as fast as possible so Tiffany could put her mind at ease for the future. I had no idea how she felt, but I did know that the less stress she had, the quicker she could come back to work, and the more relaxed we could be around each other. The best thing I knew how to do was get her in to see a doctor and be there for her, no matter what the end result was. I couldn’t help but think there wasn’t something we could do to get through this, even if she didn’t end up with me in the end. I just wanted her to be happy. Everything else would work out how it was supposed to after that. I flipped my office light off and headed to my room to get changed and get ready to go to my parents’ house for dinner. It was going to be a fun night, watching my brother act the douchebag like he usually did, knowing in the back of mind, I saved Tiffany from a miserable existence in his shadow.
My parents always sent a car for me on Sundays. They wanted me to enjoy wine with dinner and whiskey afterward without worrying about me getting home. They had moved outside of the city when we were young teenagers, into a large mansion on the edge of town. I hopped in the car and sat back, watching as I passed the changing colors of the trees and texted Tiffany on my way there. She was eating pizza and drinking tequila with Mona, and it made me a little jealous, but only because I wanted to be there with her. When I arrived at my parents, I shoved my phone in my pockets and walked up the large front staircase. My mother had already pulled out the fall decorations, and there was a large wreath covered in orange, red, and brown leaves hanging from the front door. The maid opened the door before I could even reach for the handle, and I smiled as I walked in, smelling the scent of Sunday evening dinner. It was really the only time my mother cooked anymore. Instead, she’d hired a chef and spent her days and nights between the office and doing her crafting with her friends from the club.
At the start of dinner, I looked down at my phone and smiled at a picture Tiff sent of her and Mona sprawled out on the floor, surrounded by tequila and pizza. They were ridiculous, but I was really pleased to see Tiffany starting to act like her old self again. She was way too precious to be caught up in heartbreak, and I was happy to be part of the solution.
“That your new girlfriend?” Jordan looked up at me and raised an eyebrow. “Where’d you meet her?” He sounded suspicious, but I ignored his tone.
“I met her at a bar a few weeks ago,” I said smiling. “She’s pretty awesome. You’d really like her.” I stared right at Jordan with a cocky smile. He squinted his eyes at me with curiosity.
“Is that why you didn’t come back to work on Friday?” My father interrupted our stare-off, and I switched my gaze to him, taking a deep breath.
“Um, yeah, actually,” I chuckled. “She had some stuff going on, and I wanted to be there for her.”
“Well,” my mother said. “I need to meet this girl. We need to meet this girl. You haven’t talked about a girlfriend since that flakey girl you dated in eleventh grade.”
“I know.” I laughed, thinking about little Marcy from school. She was sweet but not too bright. “When the time is right, you will all meet her.”
That seemed to appease my mother and father, but Jordan kept his gaze fixed on my face. I knew he had his suspicions, but I couldn’t have cared less about what he thought. I was going to make the best decision for Tiffany in all of this, something he neglected to do from the get-go. If he wasn’t going to cherish her and treat her right, I would make sure that I did.
Chapter 12
Tiffany
I looked in my bathroom mirror after applying the last of my makeup and my cherry lip gloss. My hair looked silky smooth and flowed over my shoulders in ringlets. I was nervous, and I didn’t really know why. The other night was amazing with Jason, and we had talked non-stop since then, sending silly texts back and forth and staying up until the wee hours of the morning talking on the phone. He had a great dinner with his parents and laughed at how they noticed his attention was elsewhere. Everything seemed perfect, except that our relationship was a huge secret. I didn’t know where it was going or if I should even be thinking about that, but I couldn’t help but let it plague my mind. I just wanted everything to go smoothly. I wanted his parents to accept that we were dating, Jordan to get off his high horse about thinking I was still his property, and this medical stuff to be lifted off my shoulders. The only thing I could tell myself was to be patient and let it play out. Nothing was going to come from worrying so much.
I had gotten a lot of work done on Saturday and was ready to turn it in for more, but that meant going to the office. This time, however, I wasn’t as nervous as before, knowing Jason would be somewhere in the office. John would be pleased the files were done, and I knew there was plenty of work to keep me busy for a while. I wasn’t quite ready yet to get back to my office, but I didn’t mind having something to keep me occupied during the day. I knew, too, when I got there, I would be able to stick my head in Jason’s office and surprise him since he didn’t know I would be coming in today. I finished getting ready and grabbed my phone, dialing John’s cell phone number.
“Hey there,” he said happily.
“Hey, John,” I replied. “I finished up those files and was going to come trade them for some more. I wanted to ask—”
“I’ll make sure Jordan is out of the office,” he interrupted kindly. “I have some errands I can actually send him on right now if you're ready to come over.”
“Sounds perfect,” I replied.
