Page 8 of Savannah Heat
Brock looked at Dan with more interest, his eyes narrowing. “Of course not. I’ll be on the golf course anyway. What do you do, business-wise I mean?”
“Have a good game, Brock.” Dan ignored Brock’s question. “See you tomorrow, Jenna. I need to go see a few people and then make a graceful exit.” He paused and looked at Jenna again. When he saw the bracelet on her right arm, he smiled.
When Dan was out of hearing distance, Brock turned to Jenna. “He’s an unusual guy but not much of a conversationalist, is he? What does he do for a living?”
Jenna shook her head and downed her glass of champagne before replying. “I’m not sure anymore. I’ve not seen him in years.”
The night wore on, and Jenna could think of nothing but seeing Dan the next day and how stupid she was for feeling the old excitement. She didn’t know how much she missed it, and him, until he was close enough to touch. And yes, she wanted to touch him. She touched her emerald bracelet instead— the one Dan had given her with the promise of an engagement ring to match that never came. The bracelet remained in the jewelry box for three years before she could bear to wear it again. And now, she rarely took it off. She wasn’t sure why.
The evening looked to be a huge success. By two o’clock in the morning, they were tired and anxious to get back to the hotel. Jenna was exhausted from watching Dan while appearing not to watch him. It was a relief when she saw him finally leave. She reminded herself she had a job to do, too, but all she could think about was why Dan was really in Savannah. This sent her imagination on a wild ride. Was he there for the jewels? Had he gone back to that? And if so, why?
Brock was unusually quiet on their return to the hotel. She didn’t dare ask him what he was thinking, and she didn’t really care to know, if she were honest.
When they got out of the limo, she realized he was a little drunk.
Once in their room, he kicked off his shoes, shed his pants, fell across the bed, and went into an alcohol-induced sleep before he got fully undressed—again.
Jenna struggled to get the rest of his clothes off him, and then she got into the other bed. She was beginning to suspect Brock might have a drinking problem.
Jenna settled into a dream-plagued sleep. Waves crashed around her sailboat, and the fog rolled in over her. She fought to control the boat as the waves tossed it about. The fog made it impossible to see land, and she was in a panic. And then like magic, the fog cleared, and Dan was there, but the sailboat was now a raft. The two of them were floating on a raft on the ocean with no land in sight and a monster wave coming at them from a distance. She screamed and woke up, calling Dan’s name.
Jenna struggled to sit up. The vivid dream left her shaking. For a few seconds, she was not sure where she was. She squinted her eyes and scanned the room, trying to see in the semi-darkness as if she would find something important there. She rubbed her eyes and looked at her phone. It was just past six, and she saw nothing and heard nothing but Brock’s muffled snore. She lay back on the pillow and exhaled. She felt as if the dream was a message. In her fuzzy and tired brain, she was still floating along on an unstable object with something bad coming her way. Her grandmother would have called it “a telling dream,” and it was a warning. She closed her eyes and tried to think of something more pleasant as she willed herself back to sleep.
Brock’s snoring became loud enough to break into her dreams later, and when she looked at her phone, she was surprised to see a blurry nine o’clock showing. This was later than she meant to sleep. She stumbled into the bathroom and groaned when she looked at herself in the mirror. Too little sleep and alcoholic drinks did not make for a pretty face on day two. She got into the shower, hoping for the miracle of the restorative powers of water.
When she got out of the shower, she heard Brock getting up.
Moaning, he walked past her saying that he was going to be late for the tee off as he stumbled into the shower.
She tied her robe and tried not to smile at his distress because he always bragged he never had a hangover.
When he emerged from his shower, he was in a better mood, and he soon left to meet his friends for breakfast before a day of golf.
She knew this was how he made so many contacts and why he was such a successful real estate broker. This was also how he took his company to an international level. An odd way to make a living, in her view, pandering to the whims of the rich, and chasing them down at social events, but that was the way business was done. She hated it as much as he loved it. Then she laughed at herself for judging him. She was the owner of It’s our World magazine, that was totally devoted to covering these very same people. Jenna, the hypocrite, she thought as she looked for her makeup bag.
Jenna managed coffee and toast and then made her way to the bathroom mirror to finish covering up her sins from the night before. A bit of under eye magic was called for. After she finished with her face, she stood back and looked in the full-length mirror. As she peered at her reflection, she didn’t see herself today, but rather saw the self of five years ago when she and Dan said goodbye in a room much like this one. Only she hadn’t known it was to be goodbye forever. Stop it now Jenna, it’s over, it’s over, you fool.
Jenna’s mind finally cleared after taking a few minutes to make notes for the article she should be writing about the senator’s fund-raising parties—and more coffee. The pinging of her phone brought her back to the present and her upcoming lunch with Dan.
After she dealt with a few questions from her assistant in New York City, she went to her closet. Finally settling on a pair of dark navy slacks and a green silk blouse with navy stripes, she was on to jewelry. She chose her emerald earrings, and after replacing Dan’s bracelet with another, she felt better. She left her long auburn hair down but added a small diamond clip to one side to hold it off her face. The clip once belonged to her grandmother, as did the earrings and the ring she always wore. Those pieces and the bracelet from Dan were the pieces she rarely traveled without, and this trip was no exception.
After second-guessing her choice in shoes, and changing her mind twice, Jenna got on the elevator, hoping this lunch with Dan was not a huge mistake. When the elevator doors opened in the lobby, she saw him before he saw her.
He leaned against the concierge desk, looking down at his phone. He frowned, and then sent what looked to be a quick text message or email. He wore dark gray linen trousers and a white shirt. The watch on his left arm was one she had given him, and the first expensive thing she bought him when she came into real money. She had never spent so much on anyone.
Jenna watched Dan closely for those few moments while he was unguarded, and she got a glimpse of the man she used to know—and love. Despite his wild life, the years made almost no mark on him. His dark hair always defied efforts to be tamed, and he was not a fan of too many hair products. He always went too long in-between haircuts, but somehow, he got away with it. Instead of making him look unkempt, the length made him look even sexier. She noticed no sign of gray hair among the dark ones yet, even at forty. As he looked down at his phone, his hair fell onto his forehead. Then, as if he felt her gaze, he looked up and directly into her eyes. He gave her that heart-breaking smile she remembered so well and had so loved—the one with the power to make her weak in the knees. As she walked toward him, she realized today was no exception.
Jenna took a deep breath and tried to ignore his gaze. For a few seconds, she allowed herself to be transported back in time, and everything fell away. All the bad memories, the trauma surrounding the day he left, and all the time in-between—gone. Now, it was just the two of them in this moment in time. She felt her spirit soar if only for a second while she held on to that feeling before it crashed as she came back to the present.
“Wow, Jenna, you look great, really great. Not that you don’t always.”
“Thanks, shall we get on with lunch?” She kept swallowing and moving, hoping to just get through it. Even more crucial, she needed to get away from those eyes holding her hostage—the eyes had seen every part of her. She was having trouble taking a deep breath.
Dan reached for her hand. But she ignored it.
“Sure, okay, let’s go. I get it…you don’t want to talk right now. That’s okay, I can wait. Besides I think it might be me who does most of the talking. So, am I on target? Or is it that you are starving, and you can’t wait to eat? Or maybe you can’t wait to get through lunch and get rid of me?”
“A little of both.” She softened her response with a smile.