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“You okay, Jay?” Lucien asked, coming out of the offices of Company B and standing next to Jay on his bike.
“No. I’m not. I just left the Corps.” Oh, man. He was unsure of this decision as soon as he said the words out loud, but then he thought of going home to Alysse every night and some of the tension eased.
“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?” Lucien asked.
“It’s going to be a very good thing if I can convince you to give me a job,” Jay said.
“It’s yours, buddy. I wanted you to work with me from the beginning,” Lucien said. “Come inside and we can get the contract drawn up and have you sign it.”
Jay got off his bike and followed Lucien inside. “So what made you decide it was time to go private-sector?” Lucien asked him.
“Alysse,” Jay said. He wasn’t ever going to be comfortable talking about his personal life, but in this instance he didn’t mind sharing it with Lucien. “I want to marry her again and do everything right this time.”
“Good for you. Got an idea of how to propose?”
“No,” Jay said. “And I screwed up so I have to win her back.”
“Can I help?” Lucien asked.
“Be my best man?”
“I will.”
It took forty-five minutes to get the contract drawn up and for Jay to sign all the paperwork that was needed. When he left the Company B offices he was an official employee.
Next on his list was a call to Toby. He needed Alysse’s family on his side if he had any chance of pulling off his plan. He knew he’d never be able to trick her to the beach twice, and it was very important to him that he have all the details right this time. He wanted her to know how much she meant to him.
“Hello, this is Dresden.”
“Toby? This is Jay Michener.”
There was silence on the other end of the phone.
“Is Alysse all right?”
She hadn’t told her family that he’d walked out on her again. He felt shocked and surprised. “Yes. I mean I think so. I messed up and I need your help to get her back.”
“You need my help? What the hell did you do now?”
“Ran away again. But your sister held her own with me, which I’m sure isn’t any surprise to you.”
“No, it’s not. Alysse knows how to give as good as she gets and she is brutally honest sometimes.”
“She called me a coward,” Jay admitted.
“Damn. You must have really upset her,” Toby said.
“I did, but I want her back, Toby. Will you help me?” Jay asked.
There was a long silence on the other end of the phone. “If I help you it’s because I love my sister and I know that she wants you in her life.”
“Thank you, Toby. I want to be worthy of being in her life.”
“What’s your plan?” Toby asked.
He outlined what he had in mind and after a few minutes Toby agreed to assist him. “If she says no, that’s it. I want you out of here for good.”
“If she says no then I don’t deserve her.”
Jay drove back to the Hotel Del Coronado where Toby met him in the lobby. They spent the afternoon seeing to every detail and when the evening rolled around Jay got dressed in a tuxedo he’d purchased from Nordstrom’s with Candi’s help earlier in the day. He stared at himself hard in the mirror and he hoped that whatever Alysse had seen in him when he was in his dress blues, she’d see in him tonight.
He’d never needed another person as much as he needed her and it would be damned hard for him not to worry. He’d never depended on another person as much as he did on Alysse. And he had no idea how she’d react tonight.
14
“SWEET DREAMS BAKERY, home of the incredible red velvet dream cupcakes,” Alysse spoke into the phone. It had been the longest three days of her life and now that it was almost closing time on Friday afternoon she wanted to get out of the bakery and go back to her home and hide away.
But she couldn’t do that because her home was now filled with memories of Jay. She couldn’t believe he’d left her once again. Worse, that she was still in love with him.
“Hello,” the caller said. His voice was very familiar.
“Toby?”
“Yes. I have a dessert emergency,” he said.
“An emergency?” she asked. “What kind of emergency?”
