Page 86 of Yours, For Good

"But simply waiting won't make it better. Please, let me help make it better."

"I want to." I bent down from my waist, took his clean shaven chin, and pulled it up. "I'll try."

I casually took his chain in my hand and slid it through my palm as I straightened. It swung back to its place against his chest when I let it go.

My feet were solid on the parquet on my way to the door. At the last second I gazed at him; his head hung from his shoulders. He looked rumpled, lost… a bit devastated, perhaps.

I pressed my lips together and left. I found my way through Javier's gorgeous home and closed the door behind me, the Manhattan air feeling too fresh for a summer afternoon.

Chapter 35

Javier

SUITS HAD NEVER MADE me feel like I had a noose around my neck before. That night at the John Grier Home fundraiser, I caught myself pulling from the neck of my formal attire with two fingers more than once, in the hope I'd get to breathe a little easier.

More often than not, I skipped the JGH annual party. This year I arrived early, because there was a chance Nora might be there, four days after she visited me at my home.

The gala took place in an old theater turned event venue. Traces of its old glamor remained in the detailed ceiling and gold accents in the crown molding. Tall arches decorated the walls, and warm sources of light shone on the floral arrangements on each table.

People mingled during the cocktail hour in fancy clothes and jewelry. I walked around the hall chatting with other board members and guests; since I was there, I used the opportunity to negotiate and get votes for the changes I'd been working on for the charity. Even as I worked my ass off, nerves fluttered in my stomach.

They went haywire when Mrs. Lippett approached me with a hand on Nora's back.

The older woman grinned at me. "Mister Pendleton, what a treat to see you! We're not used to having you here."

My eyes were all for Nora. Her outfit was a mix of a dress and a suit in deep purple, with a fitted bustier and pants wide enough to look like a skirt. A thin, see-through shirt covered her top and disappeared at her waist. Her hair was pulled back, showing off her beautiful face and the freckles I had yet to kiss directly.

I wasn't sure what my face did in response to her appearance— my heart had started a gallop. She seemed to enjoy my reaction to her, if the slow, reticent smile appearing on her face was anything to go by.

I cleared my throat and gave Mrs. Lippett a formal nod hello. "It's good to see you again."

"I suppose you haven't met Eleanora Toledo, despite the nature of —" she remembered my rules around anonymity, the surprise at her near faux pass only visible in a small widening of her eyes. She recovered smoothly and continued, "well, that's not here nor there. Eleanora is one of the most prosperous students to ever come out of the John Grier Home. The degrees she obtained thanks to the charity took her on a path to success. She has recently received international investments to set up her very own business."

I smirked at Mrs. Lippett. As usual with the students I'd placed in my program, she presented them to funders and, with enough subtlety to claim innocence, suggested that they owed their success to the John Grier Home. A sort of, "Look at the good we do! Give us money!" plea. A political move in a fundraiser, and one that didn't feel as simple as a necessary evil.

It always left me with a stone in my stomach. All the JGH and my program had done was open doors that shouldn't have been closed. It didn't take away the work every student had put into shaping their careers.

Nora agreed with me, if the twitch in her brow was any indication. She also decided not to say anything, for she simply offered me her hand. I took it gently in mine— we didn't shake. My thumb caressed her warm skin.

I didn't know if it brought her back to New Year's like it did me, but I wished we were on an escapade to Lock Willow instead of in that party.

"Hello, Javier."

At least her teasing eyes had made a return.

"Hello, Nora." I didn't let go of her hand.

Mrs. Lippett's head whipped between us and our hands. She blinked twice at Nora's casual use of my name.

The older woman didn't dare have that kind of familiarity with me.

"I take it you know each other, after all," Mrs. Lippett said.

"We are… acquainted." Nora pressed her lips together to hide another smile.

What a way to describe whatever we still had, or what had happened only a few days before.

"Yes. Well acquainted," I added.