gone too far.
“He was just talking stupid shit about…he said something
about ‘tapping’ your ‘sweet ass.’”
“Me?” I was truly shocked. Mark rarely made lewd
comments to me. He was usually one of the more respectful clients.
“Yeah. He said that he noticed we were spending a lot of time together and that when I
got to “tap it” if I hadn’t already, I should let him know how it was; if it
would be worth his time pursuing it. Fucking moron.”
“Wow that surprises me. Thank you for defending me,
but truly, you shouldn’t have punched the guy.”
He sighed and with a genuinely remorseful look he
said, “I know.”
“Is it all the stress with Marie and Mitch?” I was
hoping that’s what it was. I hoped that he didn’t have a legitimate anger
problem.
“Yeah, that and trying to still concentrate on what
I need to do in order to win this championship title and you coming into my
life….”
“Me? I’m causing you stress?” I was a little
offended by that. I hadn’t put any kind of pressure on him at all as far as I
was concerned. I had even helped him with his sister.
“Yeah, I mean…it’s hard to explain but I don’t
usually talk to people about my life and how I’m feeling or what’s going on
with my sister, things like that. For some reason I feel comfortable sharing
all of that with you and sometimes I worry that I’m sharing too much.”
“I’m not going to tell anyone what you tell me, if
that’s what you’re worried about.” I was still a little insulted, but it was
nice to know he felt comfortable with me.
“I know. I don’t think you would…I’m sorry. It’s
just new and that’s where the stress is coming from.”
I took his hands in mine and leaned toward him.
“Don’t let me add to your stress, okay? Just trust that anything you tell me
will be kept in confidence and I will never judge you.”
He leaned in too and kissed me. I loved the way his
lips felt on mine. They were so soft, yet something about them was powerful as
well. He pulled back and looked into my eyes. He looked like he was going to
kiss me again but his phone rang. He looked at the face and then put it to his
ear and said, “Hello?” He listened for a few seconds and then said, “Calm
down…I can’t really understand you.” He pulled his eyebrows together in the
middle and I could see that he was worried by whatever the caller was telling
him. “Okay, it’s going to be okay.” His words were reassuring but there was an
undertone of panic in them. “I’ll be right there. Stay there.” He hung up the
phone and said, “I have to go, Jessie. We’ll talk later.” I watched him open
the door and leave. I had no idea what was going on, but I hoped that
everything would turn out all right.
CHAPTER
SEVEN
I hung out at the gym helping Greg out with his
clients and doing some office stuff for a few more hours after Paul left. I
kept hoping he’d take care of whatever was going on and come back. I just
wanted to know that everything was okay. I called him about an hour after he
left but he didn’t answer. I didn’t leave a message. I called him again after
two hours and this time when voice mail kicked in I said, “Hey, I’m not trying
to be intrusive, just worried. Call me please.”
At around two o’clock I hadn’t heard back from him
and I finally decided he wasn’t coming back. I sent him a text that said:
“Leaving
work. Please let me know all is well.”
I got my stuff together and said goodnight to Greg
and Victoria and decided that I’d drive by his apartment and see if he was
there. I felt a little bit like Mitch…like a stalker, driving by to spy on him.
But if he was there, I planned on stopping, just to make sure that he was okay.
When I got to the apartment the first thing I noticed was that his big truck
wasn’t in its usual spot. That truck was hard to miss, but I drove through the
rest of the lot just to make sure. When I saw it wasn’t there, I just
Anne Conley
Robert T. Jeschonek
Chris Lynch
Jessica Morrison
Sally Beauman
Debbie Macomber
Jeanne Bannon
Carla Kelly
Fiona Quinn
Paul Henke