“Hmm, okay. So you don’t wanna open the door then?”
My eyes fly to my door. “Open the door for what?”
“Go find out.”
I throw the blankets off me and rush over. What has this man sent me now? I had a list of things I expected to find waiting for me at the door, but the man himself was not one of them. It doesn’t fully register that he’s standing in front of me until he wraps his arms around me, surrounding me with that woodsy scent.
“What are you doing here?” My voice is three octaves too high, but I don’t care. He’d already been gone for a week and was supposed to be gone for two more. I missed him. Simple as that.
He grabs my chin to pull my lips to his. “They didn’t need me in person for the full three weeks, so I brought my ass home.” He grabs a bag off the floor with one hand and my hand with the other to walk us inside. He tells me about his flight on the way back earlier today while I grab him some water.
A delicious aroma fills the room when he opens the bag he brought with him. “Oh my God, what’d you bring?”
“You sounded like you were having a rough day when we talked earlier, so I knew you wouldn’t be up for me taking you out tonight.” He hands me a red and white carton. “I picked up Chinese food. And don’t try to tell me you had girl dinner; that’s not a thing.”
“I mean, it is.” I gesture to my unfinished ice cream, neglecting to mention the handful of chips I ate earlier. “But I won’t turn down Chinese food, thank youuu,” I sing.
“Of course, J baby. And the best part? You ain’t gotta put a bra on.”
The smile on my face is impossible to contain. “See, you just get me.”
Chapter Two
Rome
Four months after the wedding
After a day filled with never-ending meetings and problem after problem, the last thing I want to do is socialize with people I don’t like.
I’m standing in Janelle’s living room, waiting for her to finish getting ready so we can head out. She’s excited for tonight, so for her, I’ll keep my complaining to a minimum.
I hear her heels clicking down the hallway before I see her, and when she steps into my line of sight, I’m blown away. The royal blue satin dress she’s wearing fits her like a glove, but the high slit in it shows off her thigh adorned with one of my favorite thigh chains of hers. Her hair is in some intricate updo, and her long legs look even longer with her sky-high heels on. God, she’s gorgeous.
“You ready?” she asks, adjusting her silver armband.
Honestly, the only thing I’m ready for is wrapping her legs around me and carrying us to the nearest surface, but I grab her hand and lead her to the car instead. There will be time for that later, I hope.
Once on the road, Janelle asks, “Okay, so remind me why you don’t like these people again?”
“They’re dickheads. When the guys and I started The BC, we knew we’d have to go to events like this where the people are more concerned with their image than the city they claim to love. But knowing that doesn’t make it any easier to swallow.”
Baltimore Gives Back is an annual event celebrating the city’s many nonprofits and foundations and their accomplishments. It’s a chance to see how far we’ve come and to make or maintain connections with those who can push us closer to our goals.
The organizations do great work, and I like quite a few of the people in attendance. The people who are clearly in this for the wrong reasons—there to look benevolent and soak up the glory when they couldn’t care less about this city or its people—sour these events for me.
She takes my hand and intertwines our fingers. “I get that. I’ve been to plenty of events full of arrogant doctors who only care about the prestige of having that title.”
“Right.”
“And none of the other guys are coming tonight?”
“Nah. We take turns going to these things so we don’t all suffer. Arnold eats these things up, so we should always send him.”
She doesn’t say anything to my Arnold comment. He and Amerie have been a sore spot we’ve been trying to navigate in our relationship. She’s hoping the therapy sessions she’s going to with Amerie will bring them back together, so she wants everything to be okay between Arnold and me. I want to give Janelle everything she wants in life, but I can’t give her that. I will always love Arnold like a brother. We’ve been through a lot together, and it’s hard for me to imagine my life without him. I didn’t realize until after the wedding, though, that I’ve been in denial about how much Arnold has changed over the years. How much I’ve changed. How we’ve grown into two people with very different ideals.
Sometimes, I think back to the night he tried to kiss Janelle, and I want to break his jaw. He scared her. He made her uncomfortable. I’m not okay with it. Janelle wants a sense of normalcy returned to the group, so I go along with it. We still hang out, and I still see him as family, but we have to acknowledge that things aren’t the same between us and might never be.
When we pull up to the Four Seasons, I pass the valet my keys and escort Janelle inside. The lobby is a blur of people rushing in all different directions. A well-dressed crowd is waiting for the elevator up ahead, so Janelle and I go around the corner to a different one.
