My heart breaks as she fights back tears. “Oh, Mer. I’m so sorry. I wish I had known. I didn’t mean to cause you any pain.”
“No,” she says, shaking herself as she looks up at the ceiling to dry her tears. “It’s okay. You just caught me by surprise and it’s been so long since I even thought of him.”
“Mer,” I warn, seeing right through her bullshit and she sighs.
“He was my soul mate, Jett. I still believe that and now I get to live the rest of my life without him.”
I shake my head. “What a fucking prick.”
“I second that.”
Pushing out of my chair, I round her desk and pull her out of her seat before wrapping her up in a hug. She shudders and tears sink into my shirt for a moment before she pulls away and fans her eyes.
“God, I’m not going to do this today. I’m done crying over that asshole.”
I grab a tissue out of the box on the table and hand it to her so she can fix her mascara. “I have half a mind to find his number and rip him a new one.”
“Oh, you already did, Hon. The first time around. Even did it right in front of his new teammates. It was glorious.” She laughs at the memory and I smile, fighting back the sadness that overwhelms me as I wish I could remember it, too.
“I could do it again. You know, as an exercise to get my memory back.”
She throws her head back and laughs. “As much fun as that sounds, I don’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing how much I still love him and probably always will.”
“Okay. I’ll restrain myself then.”
“Thank you,” she says, flashing me a smile as she sinks back into her chair and I walk around the desk and sit down again. “So, what are your plans now that you’re here?”
“I suppose I need to call my assistant, Nico, and see if she’ll be open to coming here so we can get back to work.”
She scowls. “But you don’t remember anything about your company, do you? Or what designs you’ve already done?”
“No, but Nico has kept pretty good records and she can help me figure all that out. I need to do something other than sitting around and thinking about how much I want my memories back.”
“Can we trust her?” she asks, studying me intently. “Will she tell Gavin?”
I shake my head. “I don’t think so. Speaking of Gavin though, what have you told him?”
“Nothing. I either don’t answer the call or when I do, I tell him that I haven’t heard from you but I can tell he’s not buying it.” Her phone starts ringing on her desk and she shakes her head as she glances down at the screen. “Speak of the devil.”
“Gavin?”
She nods.
“Answer it,” I tell her and she nods again as she presses the button to accept the call before putting it on speakerphone.
“Hi, Gavin.”
Even through the phone, I can hear his sigh of relief. “Hey, Mercedes. Please tell me you’ve heard from her.”
I wave my hands to get her attention and she mutes the call as her brows knit together.
“Tell him I called you and I’m fine but you don’t know where I am.”
She nods.
“Mercedes?”
She unmutes the call. “Sorry, someone walked into my office to ask me a question but Jett called me last night.”
“Oh, thank God. Where is she?”
“I don’t know. She wouldn’t tell me,” she says, meeting my gaze and I nod. “But she’s okay.”
He growls. “I need to find her, Mercedes. She needs to come home.”
“Listen, Gavin… I don’t mean to step on toes here but she’s been through a hell of a lot lately and she told me that she ended things with you when she left so I think maybe you should just let her do whatever soul searching she needs to do.”
“She’s not in her right mind!” he bellows into the phone and an image of him raking his hand through his hair pops into my mind. I scowl. Why would I think of that? Did he ever do that when I was around him?
“Just because she doesn’t remember what’s been going on over the last five years doesn’t mean she’s crazy. If you love her, you will respect her wishes.”
Something crashes on the other end of the call. “Bullshit. It’s because I love her that I need to find her. Are you lying to me?”
“All right. I’ve been more than understanding during this situation but now I’m done. You don’t get to call me a liar and bombard me with multiple calls a day. If Juliette wants to speak to you, she’ll reach out. Good-bye.”
She hangs up and shakes her head as I release a breath.
“He sounds…”
“Out of his ever-lovin’ mind? Yeah, he does.”
“Maybe, I should call him…”
Shaking her head, she slaps her hand down on the desk. “Absolutely not. You made your feelings clear and I just reinforced them but he doesn’t care. Calling him only tells him exactly where you are.”
“Do you think he already knows?”
“I think he suspects,” she says. “It’s the first logical place that you would go especially considering where your memory cuts off.”
My teeth sink into my lip. “How long do you think before he figures it out?”
“I don’t know,” she sighs. “I would keep an eye out if I were you. He could already be here and coming to see me at my office probably wasn’t the best idea.”
Shit.
“I’ll be careful,” I assure her with a nod. She sighs as she looks over at the calendar on her desk.
“All right. I’d better get back to work but call me if you need anything, okay? And we’ll get together again soon.”
I stand and toss the trash from my lunch in the basket next to her desk. “Actually, there is one thing you could do for me.”
“Name it, babe.”
“I need to rent an office for my business down here.”
She smiles. “Well, wouldn’t you know, my tenant upstairs just moved out.”
“Here?” I ask, glancing up at the ceiling. She nods.
“Yep. What do you say? Want to see it?”
“Absolutely.”
She stands and walks around the desk before linking her arm through mine and leading me back to a long hallway next to the lobby with two elevator doors. She presses the up button.
“So, the footprint of the second floor is basically the same as this and below us is the employee parking garage so you won’t have to pay for parking somewhere else.”
I nod as the doors slide open and we step in the car, excitement coursing through my veins. It will be so nice to get back to work, not only because I need something to do in my day but because I’m so eager to learn all about this business I’ve put my blood, sweat, and tears into for the past five years.
“What do you know about my company?” I ask her and she glances over at me with a wide smile on her face.
“I know you’re freaking killing it and I’ve even seen some of your pieces on some of the upper class women here in Baton Rouge.”
My eyes widen. “Really?”
“Oh, yeah. But I would expect nothing less after you got your work into a certain store that favors a little blue box.”