Unexpected Arrivals(46)

“Yes, yes, yes. That would be perfect.”

I’d expected her to brush over it, not extend an invitation.

“Oh, James, could you? I’d love to see a friendly face.”

“We could do that over FaceTime.” I could have slapped myself for that insensitive remark. It was like I was determined to be an ass to the one woman I’d ever loved as some form of pseudo punishment that only hurt me.

She giggled, thankfully. “Why don’t we ever do that? The thought hasn’t occurred to me because I don’t use it. But that way, we could see each other…I mean, if you won’t come to France.”

I could envision the way she’d be staring up at me from beneath her long lashes, pushing out her bottom lip just a hair, and waiting for me to give in to her whim. And if I could have driven across the ocean, I would have detoured in that very moment. The drive back to New York didn’t exactly tickle my fancy—at least a ride to Paris would have resulted in a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

“I wasn’t trying to invite myself to a foreign country, Cora.” I needed her to confirm she wanted me to come, not that she’d been polite.

Her tone suddenly changed, and her voice dropped. “You didn’t. I asked.” The hurt in those four little words fractured another piece of my soul.

“I’d love to see you.” It was a dangerous admission, yet I needed to confirm where she stood. When I told her I missed her, I meant I missed loving her. She could just need a friend.

“Promise me you’ll look at your calendar as soon as you get home. It’s a long flight, but even if you could come for a couple of days, I’d love having you.”

“Can you take time off work?”

“Of course. I’ve been with the company for over two years, James. I’m not a slave…well, mostly.”

I hated knowing she felt that way—she’d worked like a Trojan. And since she was still homesick, she hadn’t made a lot of friends—which also meant that other than the handful of bad dates she’d told me about, she didn’t socialize much. I couldn’t stand the thought of all the socializing I’d done when she left—or with Chelsea on the beach just days ago. My stomach churned again. I had to remind myself no less than twenty times a day since that Cora and I weren’t together. Technically, I hadn’t done anything wrong—it was just soul-crushing guilt that plagued my conscience.

The two of us talked until she was yawning through every sentence out of her mouth. The time difference had been a killer since we’d started these calls, and as much as I didn’t like hanging up, the possibility of planning a trip to spend time with her made it easier to let her go.

“Promise you’ll have some dates for me tomorrow?” She was cute like this. It was easy to picture her curled up next to me in bed the way it had been for so many years.

“Promise.” Nothing would stop me from giving her what she asked for.

“I miss you, James.”

“Miss you, too, Cora.”

When the screen went dark after the line had disconnected, I said, “But I love you more,” to no one.

Since I couldn’t sit and ponder my agenda while barreling ninety miles per hour down the interstate, I did the next best thing. I called Neil.

“Hey, man.”

“Hey, Carp. How was the trip?”

“I’m still making it, but if you’re referring to the time with my parents, it was interesting.”

“Yeah? What’d your dad want?” He didn’t try to hide the skepticism from his voice.

“To give us twenty-three clients.”

“I hope you told him to shove them up his ass.” He snorted like he’d said something funny.

A week ago, I would have scoffed alongside him. However, something had changed on this trip. I wasn’t sure if my dad suddenly realized his mortality and this was his attempt at atoning for his own transgressions, or he’d recognized that I had become an adult. Either way, it didn’t matter—for the first time in my life, I’d had lunch with my dad and not my father.

“Nope. We spent two days going over each account, and together, we reached out to every single one of them. Which means…we’re going to need to hire another investor to manage the additional workload.”

“Why the hell would you take your dad’s handouts? I was kidding when I said I wasn’t ashamed to take charity.”

“Because there were no strings attached.”

“There are always strings.” His agitation started to tick me off.

“Trust me on this, Neil.”

“What has you in Daddy’s pocket?”

I wasn’t in his pocket, but if my best friend cared to know what had changed, I’d gladly tell him. “He looked out for Cora.” Technically, he’d been looking out for me, although when you loved someone, you could twist things any way you chose. I loved her, and I believed my dad loved her for me.

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the call while I assumed he collected his thoughts. It abruptly ended when he shrieked, “He did what?”

“I was shocked myself. Apparently, when he found out she was in the crosshairs of Drake Halifax, he made sure to find out his intentions.”

“Please tell me that dirty old man never touched Cora.”