Unexpected Arrivals(55)
“Dude, I get that Paris is like the City of Love or whatever, but this is reality, not some fairy-tale fantasy. Chelsea isn’t thinking about real life; she’s thinking about some twisted version of a romance novel. Cora doesn’t have a script she’s reading from; she’ll be reacting to your whim based on a life she’s lived for eighteen months without you.”
“Why can’t it be both?”
“Maybe it can, although I don’t think that’s realistic. I just don’t want to see you go through the breakup phase again. I wasn’t sure your liver or your dick were going to survive that the first time.”
“First of all, my dick was always securely wrapped, and secondly, just because I hung out at a bar didn’t mean I was mainlining tequila.”
He held his hands up in surrender. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
I had refused to consider rejection, unwilling to believe Cora was meant to be with anyone other than me. And Chelsea’s confidence meant more than Neil’s disbelief.
“Are you going to tell her what you’ve been up to while she’s been away?” The way his eyebrows rose irritated me—like I’d somehow maligned her because I’d gone out with other women.
“If she asks, I won’t lie. But am I going to volunteer information? No. That would be relationship suicide.”
“Hate to break it to you, man, but you’re not in a relationship with her. Just because you quit dicking around with other people doesn’t mean you’re committed.”
“I’m sure she’s been with other people while she’s been gone.” At least that’s what I told myself to keep my own guilt at bay.
“Yeah? Has she told you that?”
“Not in so many words. Why? Has she told Hannah something I should be aware of?”
“I’m not getting in the middle of this.”
“You’re absolutely smack dab in the center of it all because you tell your girlfriend everything I do.”
My assistant came and shut my office door when my voice rose enough for the rest of the staff to hear me.
“You never kept secrets from Cora. Why would you think things would be any different with Hannah?”
“I never told Cora your secrets.” And I hadn’t. Not that Neil had many, but I didn’t tell her about the financial problems he’d had when we first bought the business. I’d helped him cover them so he wouldn’t have to admit any of that to anyone.
“And I haven’t told Hannah yours. I may have talked to Hannah about my concerns with where your social life was headed when you were making stupid decisions because I was concerned for my best friend—not because I was a gossip train pulling into the station.”
Both of us had gotten far too worked up over something that should have been a happy occasion, one I needed his support in. Hell, even my dad had been ecstatic when I’d told him my plans—cautious, yet happy. Oddly, he had truly acted like a father since I left Geneva Key, one I wished I could spend more time with.
I lowered my voice to continue talking to him. “Neil, I’ve never loved anyone other than Cora Chase, regardless of what I did after she left. I haven’t been in another relationship or even considered one. I had a friend with benefits—who wasn’t really a friend, considering the day I stopped coming around, she disappeared—and Chelsea. Cora knows about Chelsea, even if she doesn’t know I had sex with her…once.” I emphasized the word to make sure Neil remembered it hadn’t been anything more than a bad decision. “But if Cora’s in a relationship, or you think there’s a reason besides separation that I need to be concerned about, then as my friend, I need you to tell me—even if you don’t give me the details.”
As he let out an exaggerated sigh, he ran his palm over his forehead, down his nose, and then dragged it through his hair. The pained expression on his face indicated a desire to unload, as well as confusion over whether or not he should.
“I don’t know a lot, Carp. I do know that she’s dated and none of them have worked out beyond one or two dinners.”
“But there’s something else you’re not telling me.” I let that hang in the air and waited. I wouldn’t push it. I never would have violated a trust Cora had put in me, and I didn’t expect him to do that to Hannah.
“She misses you. And she doesn’t believe she’ll ever be happy in France until she’s sure things with you are over.”
Over. While that one word replayed in my mind, Neil gave me the time to process it without speaking. I refused to believe things with Cora and me would ever be over.
“Are you saying I’m making this trip for Cora to determine she doesn’t love me anymore so she can move on?”
With his elbows on his knees, he cradled his head in his hands. I watched silently as he once again ran both sets of fingers through his hair to the back of his neck where he massaged the tension that had suddenly made him uncomfortable. When he finally made eye contact with me, he sat up. “Hannah thinks she’s trying to convince herself it’s over because you haven’t made any attempt to come after her. She also believes Cora will never love anyone else, the same way you won’t, and that once the two of you see each other again, the doubt will wash away. And that’s when Cora will come home.”