Chapter 17

17

A fter walking around the main building in the center of the complex they both stopped to make a few more notes then headed back to Faith's truck. Destiny was much calmer now, but just thinking of Gloria and what she did to them made her angry. Seeing her face to face raised things up a notch.

Destiny sighed loudly. "I'm sorry I lost my temper with Gloria, but she's?—"

"Such a bitch," Faith said, finishing Destiny's sentence.

Destiny laughed. "Yeah, that's exactly what I was thinking."

As they reached her truck, Faith stopped and turned to Destiny. "Des, she can't hurt us anymore."

Destiny nodded. "But I can hurt her. Imagine my fists meeting her pronounced cheekbones."

Faith chuckled. "Honey, you've never hit anyone in your life."

"She'd be the perfect person to try it out on," Destiny said with a frown.

Faith opened Destiny's door. "How about we stop by the yogurt shop on our way to your office?"

Destiny got in the truck and waited for Faith to get in on the driver's side. "You weren't angry when you saw her?"

"Yeah, it makes me mad to know what she did to us," Faith said. "But we've got a great vision that I'm sure will beat hers. That's the best way to defeat people like her."

"You've dealt with people like her in the past, haven't you?" Destiny asked. She knew Faith had a couple of teammates in college who were always trying to get her trouble.

Faith nodded. "You have to beat them at their own game. We'll win that contract and send Gloria back to Houston or Dallas or wherever her office is now."

Destiny knew Faith was right and thought back to the new ideas they'd come up with at the office complex. They really could make this space something unique and even groundbreaking if they could convince the contractor.

Destiny looked over at Faith and studied the outline of her profile. She could gaze at Faith for hours, taking in every little curve. Those blue eyes could hold such mischief or turn dark with desire in a flash.

"You're staring at me," Faith said, keeping her eyes on the road.

"I think I'm going to need more than yogurt," Destiny said. "How about a beer?"

Faith glanced over at Destiny. "Okay, there are plenty of bars between here and your shop."

"You mean you don't want to go back to your place?" Destiny asked, amused.

"We can," Faith replied, "but I thought you wanted to be more social."

Destiny furrowed her brow and gazed at Faith. "I'm having a hard time with this," she said. "It's like you're doing whatever I want."

"No, I'm not." Faith chuckled. "I'm listening. I think you're right, we did stay to ourselves a lot of the time, but we had fun. We like the same things. Why wouldn't we want to be together?"

Destiny knew what Faith said was true, but she also thought there were times they could've celebrated special occasions in ways other than staying at home. "You're not wrong, but…"

Faith smiled. "But it might be nice to get dressed up and go out occasionally."

Destiny looked over at Faith in surprise.

"I know that's not something I liked to do before, but you know, maybe I was wrong," Faith said. "I was wrong about other things and I can see that now."

Before Destiny could say anything Faith pulled into the parking lot of a small bar, turned to her and smiled. "Let's have that beer."

They went inside, ordered beers at the bar, and sat at an empty table. There were only two people at the bar and two others at a table, but it was Monday night and early.

Once they were seated Destiny looked over at Faith. "Since you mentioned dressing up…"

"Yeah?" Faith asked.

"I think we should dress professionally when we present our vision to the contractor next week," Destiny said.

"You don't think our company shirts and shorts are appropriate?" Faith said with a grin. "I get it. We want them to see us as business women, not just the workers who dig the holes and plant the flowers."

"Exactly," Destiny said. "We can talk more about the presentation as we get all the info into the software and make the slides and videos." She grinned and wrinkled her nose. "I'm getting excited."

Faith chuckled. "I can see that. Your eyes are sparkling, Des. You look beautiful."

Destiny smiled and reached for her beer. It had been a long time since anyone had said she was beautiful and she knew Faith meant it. Her heart skipped a beat just as it always did when Faith looked at her that way.

"We're going to kick Gloria's ass in the best way." Faith grinned.

"Seeing her brought up a lot of emotions," Destiny said. "I don't understand people like that. Why would she go to that much trouble to win that project?"

"Some people can't stand it when other people are happy," Faith said. "We were happy and she knew that. We were her competition, only we didn't realize it. At least I didn't."

"I didn't either," Destiny said. "If my team didn't win a project it wasn't the end of the world. We went on to the next thing."

"That's the way it was for my team, too," Faith said. "You can't blame her for our breakup, Des."

Destiny raised her brows. "I certainly can. She set everything in motion. We don't know what would've happened had she not done that."

Faith shrugged. "I know we have to talk about this to get through it, but I can't tell you how much I regret not coming to you with the video."

Destiny could see tears in Faith's eyes. She reached over and took her hand in hers. "I've been thinking about what you said about being good enough." Destiny paused. "I understand what you were trying to tell me. I didn't realize what you meant until later. I'm so sorry you felt like that, Faith."

Faith looked over at her and smiled. "You didn't make me feel that way, Des. But I'm glad you understand now. That's why we're dating. Some things take time to process and understand."

Destiny chuckled and raised an eyebrow. "I think you like saying that."

Faith laughed. "I do. I'm dating Destiny Green."

"It's only been one date." Destiny pointed out.

"I know what I'd like to do for our next date, but you have to be open minded," Faith said with a twinkle in her eye.

Destiny narrowed her gaze at Faith. "Open minded? Hmm," she said with faux skepticism. "Should I? Or not?"

Faith giggled. "Come on, Des. Trust me."

Destiny scoffed. "I'm not the one with trust issues."

"Me neither," Faith assured her. "Not anymore."

Destiny smiled. Did Faith really trust her now? She kept saying the right words, but Destiny was still hesitant. Maybe another date would make things clear for her. Seeing the sparkle in Faith's eyes made it hard to say no. Who was she kidding? She wanted to believe Faith. She wanted them to find a way to be together again. "Okay. When is this date?"

"Um, all I'll say for now is…Friday?" Faith grinned.

Destiny nodded. "I'll be sure and leave Friday open on my busy schedule," she teased.

Faith chuckled. "Actually, we are going to be busy. Do you think we could meet tomorrow evening? I have jobs to complete this week."

"I have jobs, too," Destiny said. "Let's split things up. If I take the rock garden, will you have time to work on the fountain sometime tomorrow? We can meet in the evening and update our progress."

"I can do that," Faith said. "Then we can go from there tomorrow."

"We have all week and the weekend to get it perfect and nail the presentation," Destiny said.

"Agreed," Faith replied.

Destiny took a sip of her beer and looked across the table at Faith. She was smiling at Destiny with amusement. "What?"

"I have an idea," Faith said.

"About the project?"

Faith shook her head. "About us. I think I have a way for us to let go of the anger and hurt of the last three years. Then we can move forward with the story of Destiny and Faith."

Destiny smirked. "You used to think that was kind of silly. Now you're talking about the next chapter and this story."

Faith shrugged. "It may be a bit silly, but it's our story to write."

"Okay," Destiny said. "What's your idea?"

"There's a karaoke system over there and we both can sing," Faith began. "I know a song we could sing to each other. It might be a way to get these feelings out."

Destiny scoffed. "Karaoke? Sing?"

"Yeah," Faith said excitedly. "There's only four people in the entire bar. They're not going to be listening to us."

Destiny looked over her shoulder and noticed the couple at the table were in conversation. The two men at the bar were talking to the bartender. She looked back at Faith and leaned in closer. "We'll never see them again."

"Come on." Faith grinned. "You used to sing to me all the time."

"In the car!" Destiny exclaimed.

Faith giggled. "I have the perfect song. It'll make you feel better."

Destiny narrowed her gaze at Faith. "What song?"

Faith got up, grabbed Destiny's hand, and pulled her over to where the system was set up in the corner.

Destiny looked on as Faith entered the song into the system and handed her a mike. "Wait! You didn't tell me the song."

Faith smiled. "‘Stop Draggin' My Heart Around' by Stevie Nicks and Tom Petty."

"Oh, I don't know, Faith," Destiny said hesitantly.

"Yes," Faith replied. "Isn't that what we've both been doing? We're draggin' each other's hearts around and can't let go. I want to let go of the hurt, Destiny. I want to let go of the regret. I want to feel the love. What do you want to let go of?"

Destiny began to understand what Faith was getting at. Maybe belting this song out at each other would give the hurt a place to go. "I feel like I let you down," she said quietly. "I want to let that go."

The music began to play and Faith said, "You didn't let me down." She smiled. "I've got the first verse."

Faith began to sing along with the words on the screen. Destiny couldn't keep from smiling. Part of her couldn't believe they were doing this and another part of her couldn't wait to sing with Faith. It was Destiny's turn and she let the music take her.

So you've had a little trouble in town

now you're keeping some demons down

Then Faith came in and sang the title lines with her.

Stop draggin' my

Stop draggin' my

Stop draggin' my heart around.

They sang with feeling and inspiration as they stared into each other's eyes. At first Destiny felt the anger from when Faith wouldn't talk to her. She did feel like her heart was being torn apart. She could feel the hurt, but she also felt love. There had been a tug-of-war going on inside her since Faith had told her the truth.

Destiny was angry that Faith hadn't told her what happened. She wanted to yell, but what good would that do? Faith now regretted not telling Destiny the truth three years ago. The anger had still been there, but she put it in those words and it was fading.

Destiny had the next verse and she quieted her voice a little as she sang.

It's hard to think about what you've wanted

It's hard to think about what you've lost

This doesn't have to be the big get even

This doesn't have to be anything at all

As Destiny sang the words she felt the truth of them. There was nothing to get even for between them. They had both lost the most important thing to them: each other.

"Sing with me," Faith said.

Baby, you could never look me in the eye

Yeah, you buckle with the weight of the words

Stop draggin' my

Stop draggin' my

Stop draggin' my heart around.

Destiny put all the anger and pain in the chorus. As the words flew into the air the feelings left her heart. The song ended and they stared at each other. Faith was right; she did feel lighter.

The bartender and one of the men at the bar clapped a couple of times. When they looked at each other again, laughter began to bubble up between them.