Uncommon Emotions Part 23

Please, let us be eating at the Mexican place across the street. No such luck. Chase hustled ahead and opened the door of Amalia's restaurant, and I wanted to scream and run in the other direction. I couldn't do this. I didn't have the strength to sit through a meal in this place that means so much to Raven and came to mean so much to me. Those glorious people would be in there, and I feared I wouldn't be able to stop the tears. Well, at least I wouldn't have to worry about needing to decline this business. They wouldn't want me after seeing me cry through every course.

Since I had no choice, I walked inside and willed myself not to let the familiar smells and sights wreak havoc on my barely controlled resolve.

Chapter 27.

"Buona sera, amici. Six for dinner tonight?" Giovanni greeted.

Before Chase could respond, I stepped around him.

"Buona sera, Giovanni. Come stai? "

"Joslyn!" He threw his arms around me and dragged me to him. Several mouths in my party dropped as I dove into the hug. His scent a welcome respite to the heartache I'd been feeling. Raven must not have told him to hate me, not that I expected she would. I just a.s.sumed that he'd feel some resentment toward me for hurting her.

"Guess they know each other," Chase muttered.

"These are some potential clients of mine, Giovanni. I haven't had a chance to tell them what a mouthwatering treat they are in for yet."

"My Amalia is like no other." He gestured for everyone to follow him to an open table, keeping an arm around me the whole time. "You sit, please. I take Joslyn back to see Amalia. I will return her soon."

Chase beamed and his colleagues chuckled as Giovanni shuffled me with him. We went through the kitchen doors, and the staff made way so he could get to Amalia quickly.

She was doing a mean whirling dervish impression, so adept at keeping that kitchen running.

210*

"Amore mio," he called out to Amalia, surprising her. I only hoped she'd find me the good kind of surprise.

"My goodness, Joslyn. You have finally come to see us.

We missed you." Her arms wrapped around me, and I realized how much I missed these hugs. Amalia's hugs were even better than her cooking.

"I've missed you both, too."

"Why have you not come for visit? It has been so long."

"I didn't think you'd want to see me for a while." I couldn't meet their eyes.

"That is crazy. We adore you. We would like you to be with our Raven, yes, but we want to see you even if you are not."

"To talk you into being with Raven again," Giovanni inserted.

"It's not up to me," I reported dejectedly.

"But Raven is so sad." Amalia's already wrinkled forehead crinkled further. "Your eyes, you are sad, too."

"You talk to her," Giovanni ordered kindly.

"I've tried."

"You try again." Giovanni must subscribe to the try-and-try-again course of action.

"I'll try again," I agreed just so we could drop the subject of Raven. Talking about her was even worse than thinking about her.

"You are here for meeting?" Giovanni finally took the hint and let up on the pressure.

"A consultation over dinner. Thank you for accommodating us."

"Any special your friends want, they can have. I will bring ravioli to the table for antipasti. On the house."

"Thank you, Giovanni. Amalia, it was so good to see you both."

"You come see us again soon," Amalia insisted with another quick hug.

*211 "I definitely will." I jumped at my chance to escape, and I did it without looking at the sink where Raven and I had stood side by side doing dishes, talking, laughing, and finding excuses to brush arms or hands together. I couldn't start thinking about that, or I'd never make it through the meal.

Back at the table, the men had torn into the bread and olive oil. They were talking loudly and with great camaraderie. Chase tried to keep up, but it was clear he was the newbie in the group. "You had that man twisted around your finger. Are you related or something?" the CEO asked.

I chuckled but didn't bother to answer. It would be a dream to be related to them. "I've been told that you can order off the menu if you like. Any Italian dish you can think of Amalia can make."

"You must have some pull," the CFO commented.

Giovanni materialized and took everyone's order, complimenting each for their choices and suggesting wine or side dishes to go along with their orders. He was really good at the soft sell. My clients could learn a thing or two from him.

During dinner, the CEO and COO took turns going through what they felt was lacking in the company, why they'd decided to bring in a turnaround specialist, and what they hoped they could get out of it. If I hadn't already decided not to take the job, everything they said convinced me more. That they wouldn't take responsibility for any troubles in the company told me that they could never accept any recommendations for improvement.

Only coffee remained to get through then I'd be free to head back to the office and send them a rejection letter.

Usually, I'd sum up what I felt were the high level problems and recommend another firm. I wasn't sure I'd bother to do even that with this obnoxious client.

"Isn't that a friend of yours, babe?" Chase asked from right beside me. He'd been inching closer and closer all 212*

dinner, trying to convince his new boss that we had the kind of relationship that would influence my decision.

I shot a glare at him and noticed that his arm rested on the back of my chair. He was really pushing it. His possessiveness perturbed me enough that I didn't register what he'd asked. As I turned my head back to the others, I caught sight of a swoosh of black hair on a trim body that I could recognize in any crowd. "Raven?"

She froze, stopping what looked like an escape then spun back to face us. "I didn't want to interrupt." The bite in her tone sounded like she wasn't over the anger. Nearly a month and she hadn't relented. Nearly a month and she looked as gorgeous as ever. Nearly a month and seeing her made my heart crack against my ribcage to the point of sure damage.

"Hi, Raven. Good to see you again." Chase stood and offered his hand.

Raven's icy stare flicked down to his hand before she gripped it briefly. "Nice to see you, too, Chase. If you'll excuse me, I need to find Giovanni."

"Wait, Raven," I started, watching in disbelief as she ignored my request and practically ran to the kitchen. I turned to my tablemates. They were so wrapped up in their little land of egocentric denial that they didn't notice anything odd. I decided to seize this opportunity. "Well, gentleman, I've enjoyed meeting with you all. Your company poses some significant challenges, and I'd like to get a jump start on the initial a.n.a.lysis right away. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to head into the kitchen to thank my friends again. I'll let you know about my decision by next week Friday, if that's acceptable."

"You don't need a ride back, babe?" Chase tried for casual, but I could see confusion and dejection swim through his expression.

"It's not too far, and the walk will do me good after a big dinner." I said goodbye to each of the executives and let *213 Chase hug me because I had to store up all my fight for pleading with Raven.

The kitchen doors swung open just as I reached them.

Giovanni yelped, set down the tray of dinner plates, and scooted me into the kitchen. What I saw there made me want to twirl back around and hit the exit. Double time.

Amalia had her arms around Raven, stroking her back soothingly as Raven buried her face in the older woman's hair.

I swallowed the jawbreaker-sized lump in my throat at the sight and resisted punching my thigh to distract me from the dread in my stomach. This wasn't going to work.

She would never forgive me. "Raven," my mouth spoke before my mind could get a grip on it.

She jerked in the older woman's arms, but Amalia used her leverage to turn Raven around. Giovanni shoved me toward them. I got close enough to be a.s.saulted by Raven's familiar scent. "They didn't tell me I'd be interrupting a dinner date," she managed in a rough voice.

I shot a questioning look at Giovanni, who gave me a shrug and left to retrieve the dinner plates he'd abandoned.

Amalia smiled sweetly and pulled Raven toward the back office. She looked over her shoulder at me and nodded for me to follow. Once inside, she disappeared as convincingly as if she were a character in the Harry Potter series.

"Giovanni called and asked me over." She could barely meet my gaze. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to break into your meeting."

"We were done, and I'm glad to see you."

Understatement of the year.

"I wanted to ... I called your ... he told me you'd come in for dinner with some clients. I didn't realize that Chase would be here or that you'd gotten back together with him."

"I haven't!" I denied so vehemently that she jolted in place. "I'm not with Chase, not at all. I had no idea he'd be in this meeting until I showed up for the client consult. He 214*

changed companies and recommended me, but I didn't know a thing about it."

"Oh, okay." Her frown told me she didn't entirely believe me or she was confused about something else.

"Did you come over here to see me? It wasn't just Giovanni trying to put us in the same room together?"

"I wanted to talk to you, but when I called your house, I found out you were still out of town. I didn't know you were back until he called. I wanted the chance to apologize for my behavior. For my lack of faith in you. For my unfair judgment of you. I believed my uncles who lied to me." She glanced away in shame. "Even if they didn't tell me about Nick embezzling from another company, I shouldn't have doubted you. You did everything you should have done, whether it was just my family's company or another company, and I didn't stand by you. I don't know if you'll ever forgive me, but I wanted the chance to apologize."

I felt a glorious absence where the pain in my chest used to be, replaced now by a pounding that increased tenfold and made me a little breathless. "Are you under the impression that I'm angry with you?" I moved closer so that barely a breath stood between us.

"I was awful to you, Joslyn. I said horrible things to you.

I'm so sorry. I understand not wanting to return my call and for avoiding me by not going to the last basketball game."

What? "First, I never knew you called."

She jumped in before I could say anything else.

"Someone answered your home phone, told me you were still out of town on business, and took my message to call back when you returned."

My mind flickered through the possible explanations and landed on the most likely. "That was probably Antonio.

He likes to keep my dad company on dog-sitting duties.

He's eighty-five and has a hard time remembering to hang up the phone much less relay a message. I should have *215 wondered why I only had two messages on my machine when I got home."

"So, you not getting back to me wasn't on purpose?" she asked tentatively.

"Of course not."

"But you didn't go to the Storm game."

"Stuart wanted to impress his new girlfriend and her kids, so Trin and I gave up our tickets. We sat behind the bench instead."

Her whole face opened up. "You weren't avoiding me?"

"Raven, I'm not angry with you. Your uncles helped raise you. Of course you're going to believe them. Your loyalty is one of your best traits. I completely understand." I reached out to draw my fingertips down her cheek. "I wish that I'd never taken on that client. If I could have let your uncles handle it, I would have because of how much you mean to me. But I had no choice, and I'm so sorry it hurt your family and tore us apart."

"You forgive me?" Her eyes grew wide.

"I knew you'd be upset. I should have told you when I saw you at work before my meeting." I kicked myself daily for that stupid move. "I shouldn't have let anything stop me from sharing that with you right then. That was my mistake."

Her head shook in disbelief. "You're not upset? You're not thinking I have no right to be asking for your forgiveness? You're not going to storm out of here and never let me see you again?"

My heart's gaping wounds miraculously sealed up and the muscle pumped joyfully for the first time in a month.

"Why is it that the person who'd never once been in love, the person who had to be convinced that love even existed is the one in this duo who fully grasps just how amazing our love is?"

A truncated sob leapt from her mouth as tears shimmered in her eyes. She tilted toward me, and I slid my 216*

arms around her. Her body shook while the tears kept coming. I'd learned that it was best just to let her cry. She didn't do this often, but when she tried to stop it, the hiccups began and it would be another ten minutes before she composed herself. "You still love me?"

"Raven," I sighed contentedly, pulling back so that she'd look into my eyes. "What do you see?"

A sharp intake of breath told me she recognized what I hoped she would. "Smoky grey," she breathed in wonder.

"You know what that means. I love you. Madly, head over heels, hopelessly, but most of all, desperately."

"I like desperately." She smiled, eyes still shiny with tears. "Desperately suits us both. I love you, Joslyn, desperately. And I love when your eyes are smoky grey. I'm going to do everything I can to keep them that color."

"I know how we can start," I told her suggestively.

"Home, right now," she ordered. "I don't care if you're not done with your meeting. I have a month to make up for."

"I'm done, and I need a ride."

"That's the second best thing I've heard all day."

"And the first?" She shot a surprised look at me before I teased, "Wait, let me guess. Could it have something to do with how much I love you?"