Not for the first time, I stared across the table at Cohen and tried to remember what it was that had drawn me to him in the first place. He was handsome, I would give him that. With his somewhat shaggy blond hair, hazel eyes, and square jaw. And I wouldn’t lie, I also liked the fact that he was six foot one, towering over me by a few inches. And like I said, we had some of the same values in common, but whereas I considered myself a go-getter, Cohen had a bad habit of complaining that the people around him were out to get him somehow. It was becoming a turnoff.
“Hey, I left my wallet back at the office. Can you get lunch this time?” he questioned as we finished up.
I refrained from displaying the frown that attempted to cover my face. This, too, was becoming something of a habit. And while I was a woman all about the progression of women’s rights, and Ididjust get a promotion at work, granting me a much higher take home pay than what Cohen made on his student-teacher salary, I was getting a little tired of always footing the bill.
“Sure,” I stated rather tersely, not wanting to make a fuss about it right then since I needed to get back to work.
“Thanks.” He smiled and pressed a kiss to my cheek. “You’re the best.”
A year ago that little display of affection would have elicited a smile from me, but I felt nothing as I watched him out of the corner of my eye.
“I gotta go.” He gave my left arm a squeeze before heading off, not even waiting for me to rise from the table after paying the check.
“See ya later,” I mumbled and rolled my eyes. What was I doing with him? Maybe I was just being a bit cranky because of all of the extra hours I’d been putting in. Cohen hadn’t been lying when he indicated my new promotion left me with less time for our relationship. There were weeks when I was clocking sixty or even up to seventy hours. But the cosmetic company I worked for had just acquired another smaller company, and we were working to integrate our two different systems, as well as train some of the employees of the other company on our systems. The acquisition was what had brought about the opportunity for my promotion, so I wouldn’t shun it or the work. But it did leave me with less of a social life for the time being.
“Excuse me,” I stated, startled. I had been so wrapped up in my own thoughts about work and Cohen that I walked right into someone. Oddly, a chill ran through me and I felt goosebumps rise along my arms. I was taken aback by my body’s response, not having been cold at all in the restaurant. It was the middle of spring and a beautiful, sunny day out. It wasn’t until he said my name that the puzzle pieces fell into place.
“Princess.”
Not Deborah.
Princess. As if he’d been saying it regularly for the past five years.
My head snapped up and my throat constricted. “R-Robert,” I stuttered. My voice was airy, just as it seemed to always be around him.
“What are you doing here?” he questioned, his dark brown eyes lingering on my face, as if trying to memorize a beautiful painting before the museum took the exhibit down.
“I-I live here,” I blurted out.
His head lifted and he looked around the hotel’s lobby which we were standing in.
“You live here?”
I shook my head, feeling silly. I tried to take a step back, seeing that we were nearly touching, chest to chest, but it was then I realized he still held my elbow in his grasp. Not too tightly, but firm enough that it would take a little bit of work for me to get away … if I’d wanted to. Strangely, I didn’t have the inclination to move from his grasp.
“Yes, here in the city,” I responded finally. “I’ve been here for a while.”
“How long is a while?”
“Five years.”
His eyebrows rose. “You moved to Williamsport right after graduation?” he surmised.
I swallowed, nodding. I glanced downward toward the floor, unwilling to allow him to see the anger in my eyes that rose when I remembered how long it’d been since I’d actually seen him. That final day of our ski trip. The morning after we’d slept together and he hurried out of the room for only God knew what.
“You’ve been under my nose this whole time.”
The anger in his voice was what brought my gaze back to his. My head jutted backward in surprise. That was when I finally pulled myself from his embrace, stepping back in an attempt to break the spell he seemed to have me under.
“Under your nose?” I reiterated, partially to make him realize how ridiculous and possessive he sounded.
But in typical Robert Townsend fashion, shame was nowhere on his radar. He simply stared at me, nodding as if what he’d said made sense.
“Robert! We need to be going,” the sharp edge of the male’s voice grabbed both of our attentions.
I was able to catch an agitated expression marring Robert’s handsome face before he turned, glancing over his shoulder at the man who stood a few feet behind him. The man was an inch or two shorter than Robert but much more robust. His face was reddened and looking just as agitated as Robert’s had a moment ago. Despite the dissimilarities in build and age, I could see the resemblance between Robert and the man. This was Robert Townsend Sr. I’d seen his face many times in the business pages of the national and citywide newspapers.
“I’ll be there in a moment.”
