Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Valentina

We’d become inseparable.

During the week, when Ford had to work, I’d go into the city for a night or two. He’d spend the days in his office, and I’d go to museums and spend time hanging out with Eve at her restaurant. Sometimes I even met him for lunch. Yesterday, I’d packed us a picnic, and we ate in the park not far from his office. At night, we went out to dinner or ordered in and ate naked in bed. Weekends we spent in Montauk frolicking on different beaches.

He’d even started to teach me how to surf—another item crossed off my My Turn list. I sucked at it, but a few tumbles in the waves always ended with making out on the sand, so it was worth it. I couldn’t remember being this happy in years.

But time was moving way too fast now. I’d sent out more than a hundred resumes and had a bunch of interviews already. Tomorrow I had a second interview at a school not too far from my house in New Jersey. The position would be perfect for me—a one-year leave replacement teaching Intro to Italian to middle school students. Though thinking about anything that would occur post-Labor Day made me feel a little sick to my stomach.

Tonight we were going to the music festival he’d bought tickets to—yet another item from my list. By the end of the summer, I wouldn’t have many things left.

“I got an interesting email today,” Ford said.

He was lying on my bed, buck naked, with his hands behind his head as he watched me try to find something appropriate to wear to a twelve-hour concert. I’d actually Googled music festivals earlier to see what people wore because I was that out of touch. The photos that popped up freaked me out. Not only did I not have a crocheted bikini top, micro-length denim skirt, and cowboy boots, but I wouldn’t wear them if I did—even if that looked like what half the female attendees were wearing.

“Oh yeah? What was the email about?”

“A building in Chicago that’s for sale.”

I poked my head out of the closet. “Chicago?”

“Yeah. We used to own it. It’s a long story, but my father had wanted to expand the temporary office space business outside of New York. His plan was to open an office in Chicago. He bought a building there three years before the accident. It was an old, dilapidated warehouse that needed a ton of work to convert.”

“Oh. Wow. But you said it’s for sale. So he owned it and sold it?”

Ford shook his head. “No. I actually sold it. When my dad bought it, there was an existing tenant that still had a few years left on their lease. We worked on the conversion plans and blueprints off and on while I was in college. It was kind of our thing. It was supposed to be the first project I’d manage after I graduated. But after the accident, being in two states was too much to deal with. It was just Bella and me, and I couldn’t be running back and forth to Chicago during the construction all the time. She was only fourteen. So I sold it. Apparently it’s for sale again.”

“Are you thinking of buying it back?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s odd that it’s available again so soon. Now that Bella’s away at school and things run pretty smoothly again at the office here, I could probably take it on. I still have all our old plans. It feels like I should at least go check it out. I think I’m going to fly up for the day next week. I’ve never actually been to the property. I was in college during that time.”

“Sounds almost like it might be meant to be, the way the project left your life when you needed it to and now suddenly it’s back again.”

He nodded. “That’s sort of what I thought, too.”

“I really do believe some things happen for a reason. Like how I’d been taking one class a semester for a few years, and a year and a half before my divorce, I decided to take more. I had no idea I’d be divorced and the decision would become so important to me. But the timing couldn’t have been more perfect. Finishing the classes gave me something to focus on through some hard times, and when I was done, my son was off to college. Maybe you’re supposed to do this project, the way the opportunity fell back into your lap.”

“Yeah.” He stared off to nowhere for a minute, and then his eyes returned to mine. “You might be right. Important things seem to happen for a reason, and we shouldn’t walk away from them even if it wasn’t how we saw things playing out originally. If something feels right, we have to make it work.”

We were definitely talking about more than a building in Chicago now. And though I agreed with him, the discussion made me nervous. I broke our eye contact and reached into the closet for a cute, bright blue sundress.

Holding it up against myself, I tilted my head. “How about this?”

He frowned and held my eyes for a moment before looking at the dress. “I think any one of the sixty-three outfits you’ve shown me would be perfect.”

***

I had the greatest time at the concert once I got there, once I realized no one really gave a shit about what I wore or how old I was. We arrived at the festival about three. It had been going on since noon and was scheduled to go on until at least midnight. By ten o’clock, I was definitely starting to fade. Ford and I sat in the grass, me between his legs with my back against his chest and his arms wrapped around me. Most of the audience was young, but there were also a decent amount of people my age and older.

“Did you come to a lot of these?”

Ford kissed the top of my head. “I used to when I was in college.”

I looked around. “There’s just such a carefree feel here. I’m not sure if it’s the music or the people, or maybe both, but I’m so relaxed.”

He gave me a good squeeze. “I’d like to think it’s the company.”

I smiled. “I’m sure that has a lot to do with it.”

A high-pitched voice popped my blissful bubble. “Ford?”

His arms tightened around me. “Jess. How you doing?”

The woman didn’t even try to hide her sizing me up. Her eyes started at my shoes and worked their way up to the top of my head. She made a disapproving face.

“I’m good. It’s been a while.”

There was an awkward silence, and I knew in my gut that he’d slept with her. Don’t ask me how—women just have a sixth sense about these things. Of course, that made me examine her even closer. Her body was ridiculously perfect, tanned and thin…and so much of it was on display. She was basically wearing the outfit I’d seen in the festival photos I’d Googled—crocheted bikini top, tiny denim skirt and cowboy boots. She also had dozens of bracelets up her arm, a choker, and three or four different long necklaces to complete her outfit.

Ford tilted his head to me. “Valentina, this is Jessica.”

“Hi,” I said.

Jessica showed me her pearly white, fake smile as her eyes shifted above me. “You look good, Ford.”

He shrugged. “Thanks. Must be because I’m happy.”

She tilted her head. “You should give me a call sometime.”

I might’ve been insecure about my age and whatever was going on between us, but this tart wasn’t going to be disrespectful. Ford had his arms wrapped around me, for God’s sake.

I answered her just as he started to speak. “Do you need office space?”

Her nose wrinkled. “No?”

I flaunted the same plastic smile she’d given to me, along with her coy tilt of the head. “So you wanted him to call for…”

I heard Ford’s soft chuckle behind me.

The girl stared down at us for a few seconds, then flipped her hair and rolled her eyes. “Take care, Ford. You have my number.”

I wiggled my fingers. “Bye-bye.”

Jess was barely ten feet away when Ford wrangled my back to the grass. He looked thoroughly amused, grinning wide with his head hung over mine. “You’re sexy as fuck when you’re jealous.”

“I wasn’t jealous. That girl was just rude. You’re sitting with your arms around me, and she asks you to what…give her a booty call?”

Ford rubbed his nose with mine. “You like me and don’t want other women seeing me naked.”

“I get the feeling you’ve already seen that particular woman naked.”

“It was a long time ago.”

“Glad to hear that.”

“Jealousy means you give a shit.”

“Well, of course I give a shit.”

His face turned serious. “Do you think that’s going to change in a week or two?”

God, he was right. The summer was racing to a close, and I couldn’t imagine not seeing him anymore, much less walking away. He’d have plenty of women to take my place.

“No, I’m sure it won’t.”

“It doesn’t have to.”

I frowned. If only it were that easy.

He lowered his head and brushed his lips to mine. “Not too late to change your mind. Maybe you need a few Post-it reminders around the house of what this feels like.”

Something told me I wouldn’t need a sticky to remember how this summer made me feel. On the contrary, I might need something really potent to make me forget.