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The familiar feelings of hurt and anger washed over her though she tried hard to fight them. Even though five years had passed, the final argument with Gary still served as a cutting memory.
“There really was nowhere else to go.” Jess couldn’t help the hitch in her voice as she said the words. “Staying in Boston wasn’t an option.”
“Why’s that? It’s a great city.”
“My leaving wasn’t about the city.” It was about a boy, she added under her breath.
Jordan was astute enough to figure out the gist of things. “A man out there was foolish enough to let you go?”
Jess tried not to gasp out loud at his bold statement. She should tell him not to say such things. For she had no way to interpret them. For all she knew, Jordan was simply offering empty words to make her feel better.
“One could argue that I was the one who was foolish.” She continued to stare at the scenery before her, trying to gather her thoughts before continuing. “For not realizing sooner that it wasn’t me he wanted. Not really. It was a certain version of me, the one he was originally introduced to. The one I didn’t want to be anymore.”
Curse her artist’s mind for holding on to the most minute of details. She could clearly still see the utter disdain on Gary’s face when she’d made the announcement that she was leaving graduate school to pursue teaching art. He couldn’t grasp that she’d made the decision in order to avoid the slow death of her soul. After all, enrolling in business school had never actually been about her. Gary wasn’t interested in hearing about any of that. He wanted his future wife to be someone on the fast track, with a high-profile career in the business world. He had no use for a struggling artist still looking to find her way. He hadn’t even pretended otherwise for even the slightest moment when she’d told him.
“Like I said, he must have been a fool,” Jordan declared. Before Jess could come up with a response, he turned to her abruptly. “Let’s leave all that for now. Can I get you anything? Some coffee? Or I daresay you could use a glass of wine,” he asked, changing the subject altogether. Which was fine with her.
She shook her head. “Definite no to the wine. I’m not one to start imbibing this early.”
He gave her a smile that almost had her knees buckling. Oh, dear. Perhaps this hadn’t been such a great idea, after all. Her hotel would not have compared to the luxury of this apartment and had no chance of offering such a majestic view of the skyline. But it certainly would have been safer.
“Are you sure?” he asked. “It occurs to me that you should treat this as a mini holiday of sorts. You mentioned you hadn’t been off the island to travel since permanently moving there. And I think you could use a vacation after putting a performance of Mother Goose on with a group of elementary children.”
She chuckled softly. “It did take a bit of work.”
“And a wealth of patience, I’m sure. You’re a saint for not having lost it more than once.”
“Not that much of a saint. I did come close.”
“Then it’s settled. We’ll have to work to make this as relaxing and as much of a getaway for you as possible.”
“We? I thought you said that you had plenty to do and that we might not even come across each other aside from the parties.”
He shoved his hands in his pockets and ducked his head slightly “About that. Due to some unforeseen developments, my latest deal has gone much smoother than anticipated. I find myself with some unexpected free time. A rarity for me.”
Jess’s heart pounded in her chest at where he might be leading with all this. “You do?”
“Yes. And now that I’m back home in New York, it occurs to me how much I’ve missed it. All the places I used to frequent, the mere atmosphere of Manhattan.”
Jess waited for him to continue, not daring to interrupt.
“I’d like to show you some of it, if you’re up for it,” he added.
Was she hearing him correctly? Jordan actually wanted to spend time with her to show her around New York?
She tried to temper her response. It wouldn’t do to sound too anxious or excited. Nothing in Jordan’s suggestion sounded anything more than two near-friends taking advantage of some free time in a fun city. And it would serve her to not read anything more into it than that.
