Crossroad To Love (Fab Five Series) (20 page)

Michael leaned down and kissed Angie. It was the kiss they
had both been longing for. And now, at last, the longing was over. The last
fifteen years and Angie’s painful secret were behind them. It was time to plan
a future. The future they always should have had.

Michael lifted her from the couch and carried her to the
bedroom where they spent the next three hours together rediscovering their love
for one another. The magic was still there, and with each kiss, each caress,
the past slipped further and further away and the two became as one, the future
belonging to them once again.

With one last, tender kiss goodnight, Angie quietly went
back to her suite to finish her vacation, truly happy for the first time in
fifteen years.

Meanwhile, in another suite down the hall, Jon and Marianne
were glaring at each other. They had been in the suite for over half an hour and
had gotten nowhere.

Finally, Jon spoke again, “I guess I need to start at the
beginning. We have got to get it all out in the open. I won’t let you throw us
away over something like a colossal misunderstanding such as this.”         

“It seems to me that you are the one who did that,” Marianne
answered coldly.

“I deserve that. Call it stupidity. A few months ago, this
cute, young lab tech started flirting around with me. I ignored her from the
start. I’m a busy man and I don’t have time for that sort of thing. You know
that. One thing led to another. She was always finding excuses to come by the
office or to call me. One night, in the lab, she cornered me and kissed me. I
don’t know what I was thinking or why I let it happen, but I did. It happened
so quickly, but I immediately drew away from her. I felt guilty, but was
flattered at the same time. Let’s face it, I’m no dashing young doctor anymore.
She could have had any number of young guys falling all over her, but she
wanted me. It made me feel young again. But it never went any further than the
one kiss and it never would have. I love my wife.”

“Don’t try to defend yourself. You failed to tell me any of
this.”

“I’m not defending myself. I am just trying to tell you what
happened. I’m trying to come clean here, to be honest. I guess I should have
done that a long time ago.”

“It might have been easier to swallow if I hadn’t heard it
from Julie, of all people.”

“We all know Julie is bitter after her failed marriage. She
made it sound worse than it was, I’m sure.”

“Go on with your little tale of woe. I want to hear the rest
of it, Casanova.”

Jon sighed. “Anyway, that is pretty much all there is to it.
She wouldn’t leave me alone. I was annoyed and reported her actions, resulting
in a transfer for her. That didn’t stop her and she must have somehow found out
I was coming here tonight so that she could show up and cause a scene. That’s
when you must have walked into the lobby. If you had stuck around a few minutes
longer, you would have seen me escorting her out the door so that security
could deal with her.

Marianne winced at his words.
I’ve been a damn fool
.

Jon went on, “The night Julie saw us at the lab was the
night of the kiss. It had to be, since that’s all there ever was. Of all people
to walk into the lab at that particular moment, it had to be her. There again,
if she had stuck around a few minutes longer, she would have seen me pull away
and would have heard me giving Jennifer an earful.”

“I have agonized for months over this. If you had told me
what was going on, it would have saved me a lot of sleepless nights, and
glasses of wine. I guess I’m at fault too, though. I could have confronted you
about it months ago, instead of keeping it all bottled up inside, hoping it
would go away.”

“So that’s why I came home so many nights to find you passed
out on the sofa with a half-drunk bottle of wine on the table, you wino,” he
teased as he pulled her close for a kiss.

Marianne was back where she belonged. In the arms of the
husband who loved her. She returned the kiss, relieved to finally know the
truth.

When they came up for air, Jon continued, “I suggested to
Jennifer tonight that it might be a good idea for her to find a job in another
town if she couldn’t stay away from me. Hopefully, she has finally gotten the
message. Rest assured, I’ll call the hospital first thing tomorrow morning and
report what happened tonight. I have sufficient grounds to do that and she’ll
probably lose her job this time. And if that doesn’t stop her, I will also file
a restraining order against her. I realized tonight that she’s beginning to
become a danger to my happy home in spite of the fact that I want nothing to do
with her. She is becoming a stalker and I
will
take action against that
if it doesn’t stop.”

“You make it sound so scary. I hope she’s not like the
stalkers I’ve heard about. Surely she’ll leave you alone after you had security
escort her off the premises tonight.” Marianne looked away, embarrassed, before
admitting, “I thought you and she came here together to flaunt your affair in
my face.”  

“That is not the way it happened and I can’t believe you’d
think that of me anyway. I should be angry with you for that one. That’s what I
was trying to explain to you earlier, but you were so mad, you wouldn’t listen.
I haven’t seen you mad like that for a long time. I kind of liked it. It was
pretty hot, in fact. Shows me you were jealous and that you really do still
care,” he cautiously teased her, as he pulled her closer and planted a kiss on
the top of her head.         

“I was furious with you. I had been contemplating all week
about how I was going to approach you with the fact that I knew what was going
on. Of course, I thought there really was something going on. Then, when I saw
the two of you in the lobby, I thought the worst.” She leaned up and kissed
him, a deep and passionate kiss to reaffirm their commitment.

“Is there any chance that you would be interested in a trip
to San Antonio next weekend? I’m not on call and I can’t think of anything more
romantic for a couple of Texans than strolling along the Riverwalk in the
moonlight. We can go into that Piano Bar you liked so well the last time we
were there. It will give us a chance to put this whole stupid misunderstanding
behind us. I think my lady could use a weekend of pampering after the last few
months of aggravation I unknowingly put you through. What do you say?”

“I say let’s go for it. We haven’t been down there in a
while and I think it will be good for both of us. Jackson will be at school and
I’m sure Jordan can stay at Dustin’s house. I’ll give Dustin’s mom a call when
I get home.”

“I’ll make the reservations, then. All you need to do is get
Jordan taken care of, pack, and prepare to be pampered and wooed.” He glanced
at his watch. “You probably need to get back to your friends, unless you want
to stick around here for a while… We do have this nice big suite to ourselves.”

“Next weekend is for that… This week is for the girls. You
need to get some rest, anyway. You look tired,” she teased as she leaned up to
kiss her husband goodnight.

“So, we’re good, then?” He kissed her again.

“We are more than good, Dr. Jon. We are very good.”

“It’s a shame to waste the suite I just paid for, so I think
I’ll stay here tonight and rest. Jordan is at Dustin’s. I’m off tomorrow, so
it’ll be nice to have some quiet time, since you refuse to join me.”

“You will get your turn, Casanova. I only have a few more
days with my friends, so let me enjoy them. Oh, that reminds me. You’re invited
to have dinner with all of us tomorrow evening at the O’Gradys’s restaurant.
You’ll be able to see Rex. He’s flying in, and you’ll be able to meet the
O’Grady family. Katy, Lizzie, Rex and Michael are all going to be working with
them actually. I think you’ll like them. They’re good people.”

“Sounds like a plan, since I didn’t get to treat you girls
to dinner tonight as I had hoped.”

“How did you and Michael end up together, by the way? Such a
surprise, seeing him here in Dallas, wasn’t it?”

“I decided when I left the suite that I was not going home
until I had a chance to talk with you again. I was going to give you some time
to cool off, so I went into the bar and ran into Michael. We talked and had
dinner and a few drinks. He and Angie are having a rough time of it, too, I
hear. I always thought the two of them belonged together.”

 “Yes, hopefully, they can get past this and find their way
back together. It’s where they belong. We have all thought that for years. Oh,
you should also know about Katy and Ryan O’Grady before we go to dinner
tomorrow night.” She proceeded to tell Jon the story of Ryan and Katy meeting
and all that had happened in the days since.

“Wow, what a coincidence. Who would have ever thought that
could happen? I hope it works out for them. Katy deserves to be happy after all
this time and this Ryan sounds like a decent guy. Lizzie have any deep, dark
secrets that I need to know about before this big dinner?”

“Only that she got the O’Grady account on her own and told
Rex afterward. He is flying out to seal the deal. She wants to work in the
agency and was hoping this would prove to him that she was capable.”

“Some things never change, do they?” he laughed. “The ‘Fab
Four’ strikes again.”

“Ryan told me to invite you. I wasn’t going to tell you, but
now that we’ve talked, I think it would be wonderful if you join us, especially
with Rex and Michael there. It’ll be just like old times.”

“I look forward to it then. Sounds like a fun time. I hope
Michael and Angie worked things out though.”

“So do I.”

“Go back to your friends now, Honey, I’ll use the time for
some much-needed rest and relaxation. It has been a killer week in the OR, not
to mention the strain of tonight. I’ll see you tomorrow. Call me with the
details about dinner. Babe?” he asked.

“Yes, Jon?”

“Thank you for listening to my side of the story. I do love
you.”

“I love you too. I’ll call you tomorrow. Get some sleep.”

Marianne let herself out of the suite and slowly walked to
the elevator. All was right with her world again. She could not wait to tell
her friends, especially Katy.

When Marianne entered the suite, the lights were out and it
appeared that everyone had gone to bed. She put down her purse and went into
the small kitchenette to get a drink of water.

As she entered the bedroom she shared with Angie, she saw that
the other three were in their pajamas, seated on the bed and apparently having
a good old-fashioned ‘Fab Four’ gab fest, or ‘fab fest’ as the guys liked to
call it.

“May I join in?” she asked.

“Of course, get into your PJ’s and start talking, girl. You
seem in better spirits than you were earlier. Is everything okay now?” Lizzie
asked.

Marianne answered her friend as she pulled on a nightshirt
and jumped onto the bed.

“Things are better. I have chosen to believe him that
nothing happened other than one kiss. He realizes he should have told me about
it from the start. It would have saved a lot of heartache and misunderstanding,
not to mention bottles of wine. I would say things are good. He may have to
take legal action against Jennifer though if she doesn’t stop harassing him.
Oh, and the best part is, Jon is taking me to San Antonio next weekend. We are
going to relax, stroll the Riverwalk, and get romantic…”

“Honey, it’s so good to see you smiling again. But you have
to trust Jon from now on. You know that, don’t you?” Angie asked.

“Yes, I know. By the way, speaking of trust, how did your
talk with Michael go?”

Angie was grinning from ear to ear. “We are going to work it
out. It was very intense. We spent some heart-wrenching hours talking and
crying together, but it’s all out in the open now. I may be inviting you all to
a wedding one of these days. We’re planning to remarry, but haven’t decided yet
if it will be a private ceremony or not. By the way, he said you and Lizzie
paid him a visit. Now why does that not surprise me, the old matchmaking game?”

“You aren’t angry with us, are you?” Marianne asked.

“Of course not, silly. Maybe what you said to him helped. I’m
grateful to anyone who’s helped us through this horrible time. He said Jon also
gave him advice. He even called my mom. Katy, I’m surprised you didn’t get in
on this.”

“I guess I was too tangled up in my own problems this time.
I hope I didn’t let you down, Angie,” Katy replied.

“Of course not, you can’t be the one who solves everyone’s
problems all the time, you crazy kid.” She and Katy exchanged a look of
understanding.

Marianne spoke up, “I invited Jon to have dinner with us
tomorrow night. He had wanted to spend some time with all of you while you were
in town, so I hope you don’t mind that I asked him. His reason for being here
tonight in the first place was to treat us all to dinner. And we all know how
that turned out.”       

“As long as it’s comfortable for you, we would love to see
him again. I really am looking forward to tomorrow night’s dinner now that we
all have our problems behind us,” Angie answered her friend cheerily.

Katy thought to herself,
Not all of us have their
problems worked out,
but she kept quiet. She really did not want to think
about it tonight.

“And wasn’t that weird, Jon and Michael meeting up in the
bar and getting together to drown their sorrows?”  Lizzie mentioned.

“Yes, I asked Jon about that. It was strange. Did you get a
chance to call Rex back, by the way?”      

“Yes, I did. I’m just a little bit nervous about showing him
my work tomorrow. I think he’s still in shock that I landed this account
without him. He’s probably scared to death to see what I came up with.”

“I think you just took him off guard when you secured that
account all on your own. You know how men are.”