Microsoft Word - T108JustDesserts.doc (14 page)

and have him meet you there.” Grace looked much too

excited about this thing.

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Jade did not feel the same. “What’s his name?”

“That’s the really funny thing. His name is Guy. Isn’t

that funny?” Grace asked.

Donna raised a brow. “Yeah, hilarious.”

Jade sighed again. This was hell.

~

If Jade thought she had been in hell before, she knew it

to be true when she walked into the coffee shop Monday and

found Guy sitting there. Grace was right, he was gorgeous,

but the kind of gorgeous that made you want to wipe your

hand off on your pants after he shook it.

“Jade. Wow. Grace wasn’t exaggerating. You are

fucking beautiful. Usually when people fix you up, they lie

about looks and stuff.” He looked at Jade as if she were just

served up to him on a silver platter to do with as he pleased.

She waited for his eyes to travel down her body and then

back up again to finally reach her face before she allowed

herself a shudder of disgust. “Did she also tell you why we

are meeting?”

“Yeah, something about your boyfriend cheating on you

and you wanting him to see you with a good looking guy.”

Guy grinned at that. “Whatever. I’m fine with that. Don’t

care how we get together, as long as we do.”

Ewwww! She could not do this, and especially not with

this man. Jade was about to tell him this and then make her

escape when Daniel walked in.

He stood in the door of the coffee shop and stared at her,

then his gaze moved to Guy and he visibly paled. Jade could

do nothing but watch as he turned and went back out onto

the sidewalk without one word being spoken between them.

“Listen, Guy. I have to go.”

Jade was out of her seat and aiming for the door before

Guy could sputter, “Hey! What do you mean? I came all the

way here.”

That would be the last time she would listen to Grace’s

advice about men. From now on she would heal in her own

way, in her own time, with pajamas and late night TV.

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Trilogy No. 108: Just Desserts

One hellish week later, Jade’s phone rang. She crawled to

the edge of the couch and grabbed it. “Hello?”

“Jade, it’s Donna. Grace and I are coming over.”

Except for somehow hauling herself into work each day,

Jade had been pretty much been a recluse since the breakup.

She saw Donna at the office, but that was it. Socializing

seemed beyond her. She glanced down at her stained and

crumpled pajamas. “I’m not really up for company, Donna.

Thanks anyway.”

“It wasn’t an offer, Jade. We’re out in the hall. Open the

door,” Donna demanded.

Jade sighed. Donna was using the tough love again. Oh,

well. She shuffled to the door, flipped the locks, flung it

open, then made it back to the couch and under her blanket

before her uninvited guests were even through the door.

“Jeez, you look like crap. Never thought I’d see the

day,” Grace commented, looking happy.

“Thanks,” Jade snorted.

“Grace, why don’t you stop being a bitch and tell Jade

why we are here?” Donna suggested.

“Gladly. You may know that Donna forbade me from

going back to the pawn shop after the shooting,” Grace shot

Donna a scowl, “so I’ve been keeping my eye on the

Classified Ads for estate jewelry.”

“Which is way too expensive! You shouldn’t be

spending that kind of cash,” Donna reprimanded.

“I’d rather be poor than unfashionable,” Grace

proclaimed.

Jade wondered where this was going and how it could

possibly make her feel any better.

“Anyway, Jade. Look what I found.” Grace flung the

paper in front of her and she noticed one ad in particular had

been circled.

Engagement Ring For Sale: Perfect for Valentine’s Day,

jade and diamonds set in platinum custom designed by Julie

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Aronson. Email [email protected] for details.

Brand new, never worn. My loss is your gain.

“That’s Daniel’s email address at work.” Jade sat up

straighter in her crumpled pajamas and read the ad again.

The blood rushed in her ears as she asked, “Are you saying

that ring was for me? But why was he cheating on me with

that woman if he was going to propose?”

“Wait, there’s more.” Donna stepped forward and

handed her a computer print out of an online article with a

grainy photo. “That’s Julie Aronson. She’s an up and coming

jewelry designer who lives right here in the city. She hit it

semi-big when some actress wore one of her pieces on the

red carpet. Recognize her picture?”

Jade looked from Donna back down to the paper and her

heart began to pound harder than it had been before just at

the sight of the woman. “It’s her. The woman from Sam’s

photo and the one I saw hugging Daniel when she came out

of his apartment. So you’re saying he started to have an

affair with the woman who designed my engagement ring?”

“Jesus Christ! It’s true what they say about blondes!”

Grace threw her hands up in the air.

“Shhh. Grace, relax. Jade’s upset, sleep deprived and

probably on the verge of malnutrition. She’s not thinking.”

Donna turned from Grace back to her. “Jade, honey. I don’t

think he was cheating at all. I think what you saw was

perfectly innocent, just a
nice working with you, thanks for

the great ring
hug.”

Jade’s chest felt tight. “You really think so? Both of

you?”

“Yes,” Grace nodded vigorously.

“Mmm, hmm. We really do,” Donna agreed.

Jade drew in a deep shaky breath. “Oh, my god. What

have I done?” She looked at them helplessly with tear filled

eyes. “What if it’s too late?”

Donna shook her head. “He loves you, Jade. That is

obvious to everyone but you. He went to a lot of work for

that ring…”

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“And expense. Jade and diamonds set in platinum

custom designed by this famous chick! Yeah, I think he

loves you.” Grace nodded. “Get out of those disgusting

pajamas, fix yourself up and get over there.”

“Maybe she should call first. What if, god forbid, he

sells the ring before she gets over there!” Donna suggested.

“You’re right. He’ll never get what he paid for it selling

it in the classifieds.” Grace threw the cordless phone laying

on the coffee table at Jade on the couch.

She flung her hands up in front of her face to block it.

Her reflexes weren’t lightening fast on a good day, but

especially not today. Swallowing hard, she looked up at

them.

Donna nodded with encouragement. “Go on, sweetie.”

Jade took in a deep breath and dialed the number she

knew by heart, the number she never thought she would dial

again.

~

Daniel lay on the couch and rubbed his chest in the

general area over his heart. He’d had a tightness there since

Jade dumped him. Was he too young for a heart attack?

Having the love of your life inexplicably shut you out of her

life could probably induce a heart attack. Maybe it wasn’t so

inexplicable after all. Not after seeing her with that guy in

the coffee shop two days after she dumped him on the

phone.

The phone rang and he jumped on it, sighing with

disappointment when he saw Tim’s number come up on the

caller ID. Shit, why did he still do that, have hope? It was

crazy.

“Hi, Tim.”

“Jesus, you sound worse than the last time I talked to

you. You two still didn’t make up?”

Daniel had had to tell Tim, given he was building their

supposed newlywed dream home. Going over the dollar

amounts for the renovation, since they were so far along,

they decided it would be better to complete the loft first and

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then sell it rather than abandon the project and try to sell

half-done. Thank god Tim was thinking clearly at the time or

Daniel would have taken a huge financial loss and dumped

the place to get rid of it. Trying to unload the ring was

enough to tear out Daniel’s heart at the moment.

“Dan?”

“Sorry, Tim. I’m here.”

“You need me to come over? We could drink way too

much beer, eat pizza and watch sports on television without

any women bitching at us about it,” Tim offered.

Daniel would gladly give up sports forever if it got him

Jade back. Maybe he did need something to distract him.

Sitting around wasn’t doing any good. In the beginning, he

figured Jade was still having some sort of posttraumatic

stress syndrome and she would come to her senses. Then he

saw her with that guy…

Now he did not hold much hope of a reconciliation, and

yet he jumped every time the phone rang. He was pretty sad.

“How long do you think it takes to get a girl out of your

system?” he asked.

“How long did you date?” Tim asked.

“Eight months.”

“A regular girl, I’d say the half-life theory would hold,

you know, a four-month recovery for an eight-month

relationship. But you with Jade, I’m thinking you are in for a

long hard ride getting over that one.”

“Thanks.” Daniel snorted.

“Sorry, man. I could lie to you, but I wouldn’t be doing

you any favors.”

“I know.” Daniel sighed. “I don’t think I’m up for the

male bonding thing tonight, though. But thanks for the

offer.”

“It’s an open invitation. Any night, just give me a call.”

“You got it. Was there a reason you called? Besides

Jade?” Even saying her name hurt.

“Yeah, actually. Maybe this will cheer you up. My

supplier has a custom order of Brazilian cherry that the

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Trilogy No. 108: Just Desserts

customer cancelled. He’s willing to give it to me for less

than a dollar more per foot than we were paying for the pine.

You want it?”

Daniel laughed. He was finally getting what he wanted.

This would have been good news on any other occasion.

Maybe it was a sign. He should keep the loft, move in

himself alone and start a new life, a life where there weren’t

reminders of Jade absolutely everywhere. “Yeah, I want it.

Thanks, Tim.” Besides, he would have all that cash when he

sold the ring. He couldn’t think of a better way to spend it

than on his Brazilian cherry floors.

“You got it, man. Talk to you tomorrow when I get a

delivery date.”

When the call waiting chimed in over Tim’s goodbye,

Daniel said a quick ‘thanks’ and clicked to switch the call

over. “Hello?”

“Daniel.”

His heart felt like it was being squeezed in a giant fist.

“Jade. Hi.”

“Hi.” She sounded so small and sad.

“How are you?” It took all of Daniel’s strength not to

call her ‘baby’. She wasn’t his baby any more. But why was

she calling? He was afraid to dare hope.

“Um, can I see you? Tonight. I think we need to talk.”

He swallowed the lump in his throat. “I agree.”

“Can I come over in a bit?”

Daniel glanced around the wreck of his apartment. “I’ll

come to you. Okay?”

“Um, okay. How long do you think? Before you get

here, I mean.”

If he could fly, he’d be there immediately. Then he got a

whiff of himself. He needed to shower. “Um, an hour I

guess. Is that alright?”

“Perfect. I…uh…I’ll see you here then in an hour.” God,

her voice still affected him, even more so now after he had

lost her.

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Grace and Donna whipped both Jade and her apartment into

shape so quick it made her dizzy. She looked around at the

candles burning, the uncorked bottle of wine with two

glasses, and the scarf draped over the lampshade for

atmosphere, according to Grace.

The piles of used crumpled tissues were gone. The

pillow and the blanket Jade had dragged from her bed to the

couch to wallow in days ago somehow got back on the now

neatly made bed. And Jade herself was not only freshly

showered and dressed in a velvet sweat suit that would be

easy to get out of, according to Donna, but she had on

makeup and perfume for the first time in a week.

“Have you guys done this before?” she asked. They were

like the booty call makeover mavens.

“Sure we have. Every time Grace picks up a guy at a bar,

I have to get her and her place in shape before he arrives,”