Just Friends (24 page)

She nodded. “It’s a good opportunity.”

“So you said.”

“Because it is.”

He looked down into the mug of coffee and
then looked back up at her with bleak eyes. “Why are you punishing
me like this?” he asked in a strained voice.

Alannah’s heart hurt at the expression on his
face. “I’m not punishing you.”

“Like hell you’re not.”

“My decision has nothing to do with you. I
want to find out more about the job. This is about me, for a
change.”

He stared down into his mug again, and the
silence stretched between them to an almost untenable degree before
he spoke. “I could pull some strings and get you a better job
here.” His eyes found hers, sorrowful and pain-filled. “Why don’t I
do that? I could talk to some people, or someone in my family is
bound to know someone. We could try that research center the
Johnson Foundation donates millions to every year. What’s its
name?” He double-snapped his fingers. “You know the one I’m talking
about. I could get you a job in their lab. Or—or we could try a
biotech company. Let me make some calls—”

“
Trenton
.”

Quiet descended on the room.

He looked steadily at her. “Tell me the job
you want, Alannah. I’ll get it for you.”

She took a deep breath. “You’re not
listening.”

“I am listening.”

“No, you’re not. I don’t want you to buy me a
job or use your name to get me one. I won’t allow it.”

He set his mug down and gripped the edge of
the counter. Muscles protruded from under his skin like thick ropes
of cable wire. “What good is my name and money if I can’t use them
to hold on to the most important thing in my life?”

A dart of pain grazed her heart. She placed
her cup on the stove. She hadn’t even tasted the coffee. The cup
had been a prop to get her through the morning’s awkwardness.

She had to leave because his words were
weakening her resolve. “I’m gonna head out,” she said, but didn’t
move.

Neither of them moved. Neither of them spoke.
Misery hung over the room like an ominous cloud before a
thunderstorm.

“What time do you leave on Monday?”

“I don’t leave on Monday, I leave
tomorrow.”

His head whipped in her direction, his green
eyes filled with surprise. “You said your interview is on
Monday.”

“It is, but I booked my flight for Sunday.
It’s an afternoon flight, nonstop to Atlanta.”

“Were you going to tell me?”

“Yes, of course.” Alannah twisted her hands
together. “I’m going to crash at Jill’s place and go to the
interview on Monday. I’ll be back on Wednesday. We haven’t seen
each other in years, so we’re going to hang out a little bit.”

“So that’s it, then? I can’t change your
mind?”

“It’s a great opportunity,” she said again.
This was the right decision for her, and she couldn’t allow his
feelings to factor into her decision-making.

“Lana, I’m sorry,” he said, making a
last-ditch effort to change her mind. “I’m really, really
sorry.”

“I know.”

“No, you don’t know. You don’t know how sorry
I am. You don’t know how much I regret what I did. I promise I’ll
make it up to you. Just give me a chance.” His hands turned into
fists, the tendons in his neck tightening. “You know I can’t…I
can’t bear to be without you, but that’s what you’re threatening me
with. You want to punish me, fine. I’ll do the time, but it can’t
be that. You can’t leave me.”

Alannah briefly closed her eyes. “Stop,
please,” she begged. She started to move away, but with a few long
strides he was across the floor and grabbed her arm.

“You love me, don’t you?”

“You know I do,” she said softly.

He clasped her hands in both of his, naked
pain and frustration marring his face. “Okay, then. I love you,
too. That’s why I did those stupid things. It wasn’t out of
maliciousness and it wasn’t to hurt you. I know that’s what I did,
but it wasn’t my intent. I lied because I love you. I’ve loved you
almost all my life, and I was just—I didn’t know how to deal with
those feelings, that’s all. But—but I know now. Give me another
chance. You won’t regret it.”

Shaking her head against the temptation to
give in, she said, “That’s no excuse for what you did. You know
that, Trent. Put yourself in my shoes. How would you feel if you
knew I’d been secretly sabotaging you?”

“I’d forgive you,” he said without
hesitation.

“I’ve forgiven you, too. But that doesn’t
change the fact that I need to look into the program manager
position. This has nothing to do with you. It’s about me.”

“Then you haven’t really forgiven me.”

“I have, but my decision can’t be based on
what you want. This is about me. I don’t know how many more ways to
tell you the same thing.”

His hands fell away to his sides, leaving her
devoid of his warm touch. “So I guess that’s it.”

“I guess so,” she said.

“I’ll be seeing you.” He turned away from
her, walked back to the counter, and picked up his coffee. He took
a sip, and when he set it down, his profile was hard and tight.

“Bye,” Alannah whispered, suddenly unsure of
her decision. Maybe leaving was the wrong choice to make, but if
she didn’t go, she’d never know for sure.

Trenton didn’t respond, his head bent and
eyes trained on the counter. With nothing left to say, she quietly
left his kitchen, left his penthouse, and headed home.

Seated in the leather chair in
his office, Trenton stared out at the city. Practicing the violin
for an hour last night hadn’t offered any reprieve from his
thoughts, so he’d come in to work that morning to take his mind off
Alannah’s departure.

Behind him, Dave, the eager as ever and
verbose sales rep who happened to be working today, too—the guy
really needed to get a life—droned on and on about what he hoped to
accomplish next year. He’d written up a detailed report of his
experience at Munich’s Oktoberfest and had a bullet list two pages
long of ideas and suggestions for improvement. Trenton hardly
caught a word he said, and the fact that he wasn’t even looking at
him didn’t slow Dave down.

Trenton rubbed a hand across his jaw. He’d
been hurt before, of course. Who hadn’t? Back in college, a crush
on a studious girl had ended when she told him in blunt terms that
he was
not
her type. But the pain he’d experienced back then
couldn’t compare to the bone-crushing loss he felt now. Over the
years, no matter whom he’d dated or slept with, Alannah remained
the constant woman in his life. His rock.

And he couldn’t breathe without her. That
simple. As if someone had hefted ballast on his chest and then sat
on it for good measure.

Trenton rubbed his sternum to ease the
pressure, and the corners of his mouth lifted into a
self-deprecating smirk. He’d always thought sappy crap like that
was ridiculous when he heard people say it. Yet he’d be damned if
he didn’t feel like he was suffocating.

He swiveled around in the chair and stood. “I
have to go.”

Dave halted the rapid flow of words. “Oh.
Should I leave you a copy of my ideas?”

“Sure, and we can discuss them in more detail
sometime this week. Get with my assistant tomorrow and have her
slot you in for thirty minutes on my calendar. However, I have to
get out of here right now. It’s a bit of an emergency.”

Dave stood. “That sounds great. I, um—”

“Thanks, Dave.” Trenton came around the desk
and clapped him on the shoulder. “You’re doing an incredible job,
and bringing you on board was one of the best decision we’ve ever
made.”

Dave beamed. “Thank you, sir.”

“No problem. Now I hate to kick you out, but
I have got to get out of here.” He said it all with a smile.

“Gotcha.”

Dave walked ahead of him, and Trenton
clutched his keys. He’d do whatever it took to change Alannah’s
mind. He didn’t have much of a plan except to beg her not
to…actually, he just planned to beg.

****

On the ride to the airport, Trenton tried to
reach Alannah. She had her phone turned off, but he stayed
positive. He didn’t know on which airline she’d booked a flight,
but he narrowed down the choices once he figured out which ones had
nonstop legs to Atlanta and which one she was most likely to
take.

He pulled into short-term parking at the
airport and then hurried to the terminal. Quickly scanning the
passengers, he didn’t see her or the easy-to-recognize design of
the Louis Vuitton luggage he’d gifted her a couple of years ago.
Risking the anger of people in line, he walked up to the counter of
the first airline he thought she might have taken, and interrupted
one of the ticket agents.

He flashed the same easygoing smile that
usually got him his way. “Excuse me, I need to find out if there’s
a passenger scheduled to fly with you and whether or not she’s
checked in yet.”

The woman looked up at him but immediately
looked back down at the computer screen. “I’m sorry, sir, but we
can’t divulge that information.”

Trenton was pretty sure if she wasn’t so
busy, that first try would have gone better. He laughed, resting an
elbow on the counter and affecting a friendly, relaxed pose—trying
to come across as less panicked than he felt. “I realize there must
be some kind of confidentiality laws or something that have to be
adhered to, but this is an emergency. I just need to know if she’s
checked in or not. That’s all.”

The agent handed the passenger at the counter
a boarding pass and the man walked away. “Mr.…?”

“Johnson,” he answered quickly. “Trenton
Johnson.”

Blank stare. Did she not know who he was?

“Mr. Johnson, we have a line.”

He’d literally met the one woman in Seattle
he couldn’t charm. Today of all days.

Trenton stood up straight and his jaw firmed.
“Do you know who I am? Do you know who my family is?” He’d never
before pulled the Johnson card and sounded like a self-important
ass, but he didn’t give a shit. He needed information. Now.

They locked eyes.

“Should I?” she asked.

Trenton clenched his teeth. “I want to speak
to your supervisor.
Now
.”

“Whoever you think you are—”

“I’ll help you, Mr. Johnson.” The young woman
at the next terminal smiled nervously, blue eyes darting between
him and her coworker. Trenton’s gaze dropped to her name tag. Her
name was Lola.

“What are you doing?” the other agent
hissed.

“He’s a member of the Johnson family,” Lola
said from the corner of her mouth, as if Trenton couldn’t hear her.
“They own restaurants and Johnson Brewing Company. They employ
thousands of people and donate millions to charity every year. I
think we can make an exception.” She flashed a wide smile at
Trenton. “Which passenger did you need me to check on?”

Trenton slanted a glance at the other agent’s
red face before giving Lola his undivided attention. “Alannah
Bailey.” He spelled her first and last name. “She was scheduled to
go out on a flight to Atlanta, but I don’t know which one.”

“Not a problem. One moment please.” Her
fingers ran across the keyboard in a series of rapid clicks. “I see
she was scheduled to leave on the two-thirty flight to Atlanta, and
she did check in.”

Trenton glanced at the clock behind the
ticket counter. Two forty.

Damn. Alannah was already on her way to the
job interview that was a “great opportunity.”

He should have left the office earlier. If he
had, he might have caught her and been able to talk her out of
going. No doubt she’d get the job once she impressed the
interviewers with her intelligence and knowledge.

The crushing, suffocating feeling returned
full force.

Trenton ran a hand over his head. “Thank
you,” he mumbled.

He shoved his hands into his coat pockets and
trudged toward the exit. Outside, the cool air hit him in the face,
and he stopped for a moment, trying to catch his breath. He looked
left, right, and that was when he saw her. Seated on a metal bench
in a heather-gray peacoat, hands folded in her lap, and a Louis
Vuitton rolling carry-on beside her.

The invisible band that had tightened around
his chest loosened a fraction, and Trenton gratefully dragged
fresh, cool air into his lungs. He walked over to the bench and sat
next to Alannah.

Neither of them said anything. They watched
passengers disembark from vehicles, and new arrivals pile luggage
into the trunks of cars.

Alannah looked at him with red-rimmed eyes.
“What are you doing here?”

“You should have the experience you want,
away from me. I know that, but I still couldn’t let you go without
making one more effort to change your mind.” He took her smaller
hand in both of his. “Why didn’t you leave?”

She shifted her gaze to the passengers being
dropped off and picked up. “I checked in and then thought, why
waste their time? Why waste my time, when I already know that if
they offer me the job, I won’t accept it. Because it’ll take me
away from you.” Slowly, she shook her head. “I couldn’t do it. I
couldn’t leave. No matter where I go, to the other side of the
country or even to the other side of the world, my heart belongs to
you. I don’t want to be anyplace you aren’t. Right here, with you,
is where I want to be.”

He squeezed her cool fingers between his. “I
really do regret what I did.”

“I know.”

He ran a fingertip over her middle finger,
from the nail to the knuckle. “I used to think the worst thing that
ever happened to me was seeing my mother kill my father and then
turn the gun on herself. But I recovered from that. It took a long
time, but I did. I even got a new family, new friends, and a new
life to help me cope. But if I lose you…” His voice thickened. “If
I lose you, if I don’t have you in my life, I don’t think I can
recover. There’s no coping, no getting by, no ‘I’ll be okay.’
Because no one can ever take your place, Lana. Women are
everywhere, but you—you’re different. You’re special. You’re my
best friend, and I need you in my life.”