By the time she came on my face, screaming my name at the top of her lungs, horns were honking at us from behind, and the road was finally clear ahead for us to move to the hotel.
And I had every intention of taking my time with her.
18
JENNA
The Following Morning
My bags were all zipped and ready to go, lined up by the door for the bellman to retrieve.
Nicholas was pacing near the window, his cell phone glued to his ear as he and Marshall went over things that needed to be handled upon our return to New York.
I wasn’t sure why, but my heart was aching in my chest—like something between Nicholas and me had shifted overnight—and I felt the urge to take a car back to New York instead of flying there with him.
“I’m not sure I’ll be able to do that,” Nicholas said. “There’s not enough time.”
“What do you mean there’s not enough time?” Marshall yelled so loudly I could hear him. “I want my damn nice list bonus, Nicholas!”
“Who said you were on my nice list?”
“I better be.”
“I think you’ll survive a three-day wait for it.” Nicholas smiled. “Jenna and I have plans when we get back to New York.”
Huh? We don’t have any plans…
“Yeah, I know you have plans.” Marshall might as well have been on speakerphone. “Getting the annulment. But seeing as though you’re coming back on a freakin’ Sunday, you can come into the office and cut my bonus check.”
“I’ll see you on Wednesday, Marshall.”
“Wednesday? Nicholas, I swear to God?—”
“I’ll think about Tuesday.” He turned around to face me. “Actually, let me call you back. I need to check on something.”
“No, wait!”
He ended the call and slipped his phone into his pocket.
“Hey…” He looked confused. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I’m just ready to get back home.”
“Tell me the truth, Jenna,” he said, looking concerned. “You look sad as hell.”
“I was thinking about your lists.” The words rushed out of my mouth. “How much I deserve to be on the nice list every year.”
“Bullshit, Jenna…”
“I deserve to be on there every fucking year.”
“Have you ever heard me complain about you writing ‘not a goddamn thing’ next to my name on your annual Christmas list?”
“You weren’t supposed to see that.”
“Doesn’t change the fact that I did.”
“That’s—” I shook my head. “That’s not the point I was trying to make. Let me finish.”
