A Summer to Remember(55)
“They’re called palmetto bugs,” Talia sing-songed in my ear before she ended the call.
I set my phone down and logged off Facebook before I began to study my schedule which was full as usual. A lot of people happened to be leaving town on vacation around the same time as I was and I didn’t have time to grab lunch.
In a sudden haste, I picked up the landline phone in my office and dialed down to Claudia, the receptionist.
“What’s up, Jerrica?”
“Can you order a gyro for me from lunch? Athanasios Greek Café up the street is fine but I need it here ASAP. I have another showing with the very wealthy and snooty Dr. and Mrs. Broderick in less than a half an hour.”
“Sure. I’ll run down to pick it up for you—”
“When you do that, have one of the associates take your place at the reception desk. I know they hate it but it has to be done.”
“Okay, how about Miranda?”
I inwardly shuddered only because she reminded of a younger and less bitchy Ashley. “Yes, please do ask her.”
“And by the way, your brother is here to see you. Should I send him up?”
“Yes, please.”
I hung up the phone and stood up to stretch my legs. My heart began to beat in my chest with a fierce rhythm and I genuinely wondered what Jude wanted. He rarely, if ever, paid a visit to me at work and this couldn’t be a good situation if he’d made an exception today. I feared the worst down to my very marrow. What could be wrong now?
Jude knocked before he walked in and closed the door behind him. I walked over and embraced him.
“What a surprise. I haven’t seen you in a while so this is a genuine treat,” I began, all sugary sweetness and buttery light. “What are you doing around here at this time of the day?”
His blue eyes looked into mine before he turned away with embarrassment and stepped back from me a few feet after he ended our hug. “I have some…unfortunate news and I don’t know how you’re going to take it.”
My heart sank and I knew what he wanted to tell me but I had no wish to hear it. Despite my feelings, I put on a brave face and smiled. “Let me guess, you and Savannah didn’t work out?”
Jude shook his head before he faced me again. “I feel really awful about the turn of events but she’s too busy at the moment for a boyfriend and I can respect that. I want you to know she will always hold a special place in my heart but no matter what I sell, she isn’t buying it.”
He stopped talking and walked over to the floor to ceiling windows. “She wants children and the perfect life. I am capable of a lot but our hours are insane and we never get to spend any time with each other. Instead, we have mad passionate sex as if that is supposed to make the relationship sound and secure but it doesn’t.”
My left hand involuntarily moved to the back of my neck and began to massage my aching muscles. “That’s way too much information, Jude. I don’t want to know about your sexual trysts with more women than are listed in the Manhattan phone book. Do what you want—most of all do what you think will make you happy.”
“So you don’t hate me?”
“Well, you got over Paul and I really quick so who am I to say anything about what happens in your love life? Besides, Savannah assured me regardless what happened between the two of you, she could handle it. I’ll call to make sure she’s okay before we go to Miami—”
“Yeah, speaking of that…we’re still going together to Miami because I have waited to break up with her after we get back. No use spoiling a perfectly good vacation over bullshit. She deserves that much from me. I said she was busy and I do love her in my own way but she isn’t all that impressed with how I have decided to show my emotions so…I might as well cut my losses but we can still enjoy a great vacation together.”
All the sudden, I felt like a bulb had been switched on in my head and for f*ck’s sake, I was no longer the fake ass blonde I’d once been. “Let me see if I can get this straight because I am having a serious moment of ‘what the f*ck?’ here…you haven’t broken it off with her yet…and you come here to my office as kind of a warning to let me know that as soon as we get back from Miami, you’re going to end it with her? What the hell is wrong with you, Jude, and why can’t you just find a goddamn woman already and stick with her? * is *…you think the grass is always greener on the other side? I have news for you, Romeo, it isn’t!”