Ah crap.
I turn to see a young lad, maybe thirteen – fourteen max, staring at Jake, agape and wide eyed, like all his Christmases have just come at once.
Jake nods to the kid, and puts his finger to his lips, glancing around.
The kid, obviously in some state of shock, just nods his head slowly at Jake.
He looks quite comical, bless his soul.
Leaving me, Jake steps closer to the kid, and says, “I’m out on a date with my girl and I don’t want a crowd, you know.”
“Uh huh,” the kid nods.
“So just don’t tell anyone I’m here – okay?”
“O-kay,” the kid nods again. He sounds like he’s slipping off into a coma.
“You got a camera phone, kid?”
“J-Johnny,” he says coming to life a little, scrabbling to dig his phone out of his pocket. “My name’s Johnny.” He hands Jake his phone without a second thought.
“Great name,” Jakes smiles.
“Tru, would you mind?” Jake turns to me, holding the phone out for me to take.
“Sure no prob,” I smile.
I take the phone from Jake and set the camera on. I take a photo of Jake and Johnny the kid, and then hand the camera back to him.
“Th-thanks,” Johnny says to me.
He turns and stares at Jake again. He looks like he has a million things he wants to say to Jake, but they’re all stuck in his head. Poor kid.
I know the feeling all too well.
“Th-thanks for the p-picture,” he stumbles out.
“Anytime … and remember, not a word.” Jake winks at him, then takes my hand and leads me inside the door.
“I think that poor kid was in a state of shock,” I giggle, as we walk into the lift together.
Jake’s hired hand is here to accompany us for the ride up.
“I think you might be right.”
“That was a nice thing you did back there, baby.” I squeeze his hand.
“Just doing my bit for mankind.”
I look at him puzzled.
“Tru, that picture of him with me, will help that kid get laid, or if not at least get a girl to play with his dick, and that’s all that counts when you’re a teenager.”
“Is that right?”
“Yup.” He leans in close and whispers in my ear, “That’s what I was hoping for at Lumb Falls all those years ago.”
“Oh,” I say, my pulse quickening as the memories flood my brain, but this time in a whole new light.
Letting go of my hand, Jake reaches behind me, resting his hand against my ass, he cups it with his fingers. “We’ll have to go back there one day and you can do all the things to me I missed out on back then.”
I gulp down. Sex with Jake under a waterfall.
Holy hell.
Before I get a chance to respond, the lift doors ping open, and on seriously wobbly legs, I follow Jake out and find myself in the foyer of a restaurant.
There is a waiter here to greet us.
“Mr. Wethers, Ms. Bennett. My name is Adrien and I will be your server for the evening. Please follow me to your table.”
Jake takes hold of my hand again, and we follow Adrien into a large dining space.
I audibly gasp in shock.
The place is clear. I mean clear. Nothing except for a table for two positioned by the window, and when I say window, I mean the place is wall to wall glass all the way around, so wherever I look all I can see is Paris at night.
And draped around the whole place are white, twinkly fairly lights, and Jeff Buckley is mid-way through singing ‘Lilac Wine’ softly in the background.
I feel like I’ve just stepped into Heaven, and it stops me in my tracks.
Stopping too, Jake turns to me.
“You hired the Eiffel Tower?” I breathe.
“I don’t have that much pull, Tru – well I don’t think I do.” He gives me a cheeky smile, pushing his hand through his hair. “I just hired the restaurant for the night – you know.” He shrugs like this is an everyday thing, downplaying himself like always.
My heart is bumping clumsily around my chest.
“Jake, this is…” I’m struggling for words. “How did you manage to pull this off?” I ask, feeling breathless.
“Stuart. He can be pretty persuasive when he wants to be. Especially with my money in his corner.” He rests his hands on my shoulders, running his fingers into my hair. “Do you like?”
“Mmm, just a bit.” I bite down on my smile.
‘Lilac Wine’ ends, and ‘Hallelujah’ begins to softly lilt into the air.
“You ready to sit down?” Jake tilts his head in the direction of our table, which Adrien is waiting by.
I shake my head, no. “Dance with me.”
He smiles and it lights his whole face. Jake turns to Adrien. “Give us five.”
“Seven,” I say, knowing the song hits just about that length of time.
“Seven,” Jake corrects.
Adrien nods, and disappears off through the door to his right.
Jake takes my hand in his, putting his arm around my waist, he pulls me close. I lay my hand against his chest, as he starts to move us, dancing together.
“You are so getting laid tonight,” I say, looking into his blue eyes.
“I’m holding you to that.” There’s this intensity in his gaze which makes me shiver from my head to my toes.
“Do,” I whisper, as I rest my head against his shoulder.
I can hear his heart beating up through his chest, his heat caressing me, his special Jake scent soothing me.
And I know unequivocally this is my happiest moment with him so far, and I just know there’s going to be so many more to come.
“Te amo,” I murmur quietly.
“You too baby, and I will, forever,” he whispers, kissing my hair.
And we stay here dancing for much longer than our seven minutes, with Jeff Buckley and the lights of Paris as our only other company.
Chapter Twenty-Four
I let myself in my flat, lugging my heavy suitcase in behind me.
Simone’s at work. She came home a few days before I did. Her work is a little stricter on holidays than mine; I guess that’s the awesome part of having a boss who is also one of my best friends.
I just couldn’t bear to leave Jake, and he wasn’t so keen on letting me go either.
Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I stare down at his last text; the one I received the moment I was settled in my first class seat on the plane to bring me home:
Just think about it please. I love you so much. I want you in my life, permanently. I want to wake up every day with you beside me.
…
“Don’t go,” Jake whispered, holding my face in his hands.
“I have to. I’ve got work to do at the magazine, and you’ve got promo for the tour to do … and I’m sure you need to go into the office to check up on the label … baby, it’s only for a week and then we’ll be back together,” I added, staring up at his sad eyes.
“It’s one hundred and sixty eight hours without you,” Jake sighed.
“Did you just work that out in your head?”
He nodded.
“Smarty pants.”
“Stop changing the subject.”
I hooked my fingers into his T-shirt. “It’s not a long time and then we’ll be back together.”
I don’t mean that. It feels like it’s going to be forever, especially when he just broke it down into hours like that.
But we’ve been in each other’s pockets far too much recently, and I don’t want Jake to get bored with me. The distance will make him miss me, make him want me more.
Or get lonely and go looking in search of comfort elsewhere.
I quickly shut out that thought, and my stupid irrational side.
The time apart will be good for us.
Jake stared into my eyes, his blue ones caressing my soul, and I could feel myself faltering, weakening to his plea.
No. Be strong, Tru. It’s only a week.
No, it’s one hundred and sixty eight hours…
“I’ll miss you, baby,” I said forcing my strength. “So much, but we both have to work.” I reached up on my tiptoes and kissed his lips.
“Move in with me.”
What?!
“What?” I leant back away from his face, resting down onto my unsteady, heeled feet, searching his expression.
“I’ve spent long enough without you in my life, Tru, and I won’t do it again. Come and live with me in LA. Move in with me.”
I run my finger over the screen on my phone, staring at his message again.
…
“Jake, this is crazy! We can’t move in together!”
“No, what’s crazy is that I’m standing in an airport saying goodbye to you again.”
“This isn’t the same as back then. We’re not fourteen anymore. We’re not going to lose each other. I’m yours and you're mine, and that’s never going to change.” I held my friendship bracelet up to him as proof of this. “I’m just going to work for a little while, and then we’ll be back together when I fly out in a week. You’re only asking me to move in with you as a knee jerk, because of how you feel right now about being away from me.”
He took hold of my arm and kissed my friendship bracelet.
“No, I’m not. I want to live with you because I’m in love with you. I want to share my life with you. Just tell me you’ll at least think about it?”
I closed my eyes briefly. “I’ll think about it.”
His hands moved around my neck, and then he was kissing my deeply.
“You won’t regret it,” he murmured.
“I haven’t said yes, yet.” I lifted my eyebrow at him.
“No. But I’m just hoping on the fact you seem to have a hard time saying no to me.”
Dragging my suitcase through to my bedroom, I dump it down on the floor, then sit on the edge of my bed in the silence for a moment.
The last time I was here I was here with Will. Everything has changed so much since then.
I feel a sudden, unexpected tear trickle from my eye. I hurt Will so badly, and I’m never going to be able to take that back or fix it for him.
It’s hard, feeling happiness to the level I do with Jake, when I know it came at the price of Will’s pain.
It was easier to block it all out when I was still in Paris with Jake, but sitting here now, surrounded by memories of Will and the time we spent together, just makes it all so real. And it hurts that I hurt him so terribly.
I loved Will. I still do. Feelings like that don’t just disappear overnight.
I just wish there was some way to tell him how truly sorry I am.
Never would I change choosing to be with Jake, I just wish I’d had the foresight to do it the right way.
But then is there ever an easy way to break the heart of the person you’re in a relationship with, to leave them for your soul mate.
With a sigh, I start to unpack my suitcase, and set to work on doing my laundry.
I hate washing clothes, but it helps to keep my mind occupied from sad thoughts of Will, and scary thoughts of moving in with Jake, until Simone gets home from work.
She’s late getting in as work was busy, but brings pizza home with her, and we sit in the living room eating and drinking wine.