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“Why can’t it be you?”
My brows wrinkled as I looked over at him. “I don’t give men that broke my heart access to it again.”
“Men that broke your heart?” He chuckled. “If anyone’s heart was broken, it was mine.”
“How could I have broken your heart, Mecca?”
“Are you serious right now?”
With flaring nostrils, I crossed my arms over my chest and looked away. “Yeah, I don’t think this is going to work.”
“I think you’re right.”
My eyes rolled and leg began to shake as I tried to keep my cool. He was the reason we broke up, and he had the nerve to suggest I broke his heart? Another chuckle escaped me as my eyes watered. The rest of the ride was done in silence, and I barely let him get the car in park before I hopped out of it.
“You not gon’ let me open the door for you?” he asked as I quickly unlocked my car and got inside.
Ignoring him, I slammed the door and locked it. I was glad we had this conversation before we invested too much into our friendship. Work was all there could be between us, and as soon as this case was over, we’d need to go our separate ways.
Istared at the tickets, unsure if I wanted to offer them to Shalom. She was in the conference room waiting for me. When she called and told me that she wanted to meet and go over what she had so far, I had my assistant pick up coffee, tea, and pastries. Now that we were wrapping up, I wanted to offer her the tickets to try and fix how weirdly things ended between us last weekend.
One minute, we were having fun like old times. The next, she was mad about a future wife and kids that wasn’t even on the radar yet. Then, she had the nerve to suggest she was the one heartbroken after breaking up with me and aborting our baby. I was confused as hell by the whole encounter, but I didn’t have the energy to unravel it. We’d had a good time together, and I hated how it ended.
Releasing a long sigh, I headed out of my office to the fifth floor where the conference rooms were. One of my clients was happy that I was able to get him three times his asking price without having to go to trial. It was honestly an open-and-shut case that we knocked out over the course of one week. The mechanic he’d gone to lied about the work done on his car, and it was fairly easy to prove that.
Unfortunately, because the mechanic had crossed wires to avoid the check engine light coming back on, the car caught on fire while he was in it. The lower part of his body was burned, which was how we ended up getting as much money out of him as we were able to. The money wouldn’t take away the physical impairment, but it would make his life easier.
I assured him that he didn’t have to give me anything extra beyond my fee, but he insisted on getting me season passes to the Grizzlies and Titans games. I knew there was a chance Shalom would say no to accompanying me, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to ask. When I walked into the conference room, she was placing the last of her papers into their respective folders. She gave me a soft smile before lowering her eyes back to them.
“A client of mine gave me season tickets for the Titans this year and Grizzlies next year.” Her eyes lit up as she grinned. “I was uh… wondering if you wanted to join me for a game or two.”
Her smile wavered as she plopped down in her seat. “Mecca, I’m not sure if that’s a good idea. We agreed we wouldn’t try and be friends.”
“Yeah, because you spazzed on me and I’m still not sure why.”
“Well, you told me I would feel better if I talked about it.” Her tone raised. She was getting upset. That made me upset.
“Yeah, but that was before I knew it was about me.”
She chuckled, and I couldn’t help but join her. I hated even asking her if she was okay because it ruined the progress we’d been making. If I felt like I could put aside the hurt of her betrayal to have her in my life again, I couldn’t understand why she couldn’t meet me halfway. That was her choice, though, and I wouldn’t force my way into her life, no matter how much I wanted to be in it.
“Mecca…”
“You’re going with me to some of these games, and I’m not taking no for an answer.”
I held my breath, waiting for her to give me a hard time about it. Instead, she lowered her head as she smiled and almost whispered, “Whatever you say, Mecca.”
Not expecting it to be that easy, I turned to leave before she changed her mind. My own grin spread my lips as I headed back to my office with a bit more pep in my step. It reminded me of Norbit after his makeover when he was going to meet Kate for his date on Tuesday. I covered my mouth and chuckled with a shake of my head. This woman was going to be the death of reason within me, and for today, I was okay with that.
* * *
Symphony was having a rough day. I felt like she needed to talk to a woman, but she didn’t want anyone in our family there because she felt like they would judge her. It was a toss-up between me calling Amelia or Shalom, and I chose Shalom because of our history. Not long after Shalom arrived, I realized I made the right decision. They hit it off instantly, and Symphony was able to release a weight she’d been carrying by being able to talk to a woman.
It hurt me all over again that Aunt Rachel was acting the way she was. She wasn’t even answering Symphony’s calls. She did talk to Uncle George, and her excuse was Symphony being pregnant hurt her feelings. Apparently, she had a vision of Sym’s future that she believed a baby would ruin. I could respect that, but I also felt like she would regret not being in her daughter and grandchild’s life sooner than later.
Shalom stayed for dinner, and they watched a movie together in the living room before Symphony decided to call it a night. She could barely keep anything down and was tired a lot. I was glad she was able to stomach the butter and parmesan noodles I’d made her. I was worried the garlic would be too hard on her nose and make her sick, but she devoured them, so we agreed to put them in rotation so she would stop losing weight.
I didn’t want Shalom to leave, so I offered her a tour and a round of bowling, which she excitedly accepted. It wasn’t until we got to the game room that she said, “You have a big, beautiful home, but there’s hardly anything in here.”
