Page 116 of Keep My Heart
‘We should go.’ I take Lyndsay’s hand. ‘He’s just going to cause more problems.’
‘I agree,’ Diane says to Lyndsay. ‘Why don’t we call it a night? It’s getting late and we’ve already talked to everyone we wanted to talk to.’
‘I don’t like giving Chris that much power,’ Lyndsay says. ‘He shows up and we all leave? Why are we letting him tell us what to do?’
‘We’re not,’ I say. ‘We’re making the decision ourselves. We weren’t planning on staying that much longer anyway.’ I get in front of her. ‘We had a good night. We had some drinks, danced, caught up with old friends. Why don’t we just end on a high note and get out of here?’
She nods. ‘Okay.’
‘You’ll call me tomorrow before you leave?’ Diane says to Lyndsay.
‘Yeah, or maybe I’ll stop by. I’ll let you know in the morning.’
My phone rings. I check it, then silence it.
‘Work again?’ Lyndsay asks.
‘Yeah, I’m just gonna ignore it. I should be able to have the damn weekend off.’
Doug, a lawyer at my firm, has been calling me all night. We’re working on a divorce case together, but I told him not to bother me this weekend. He can handle whatever it is or wait until I’m back on Monday. I’m really sick of people at work thinking I’m on call all hours of the day. I need to have a talk with my boss when I get back.
‘Oh! I forgot to talk to Marie!’ Diane waves at her, then saysto Tom, ‘I’ll just be a minute. Could you get the car? I’ll meet you out front.’
‘Okay.’ He smiles at us as he leaves. ‘Have a good night.’
‘See ya, Tom,’ I tell him. He seems like a nice guy. I could see us being friends if I lived here.
Diane turns back to Lyndsay. ‘Get some rest and forget about you-know-who.’
‘I will. Bye!’
Diane races off to talk to her friend while Lyndsay and I head out of the ballroom.
My phone rings. It’s Doug again.
‘You need to answer it?’ Lyndsay asks as we wait for the elevator.
‘I don’t want to, but I probably should so he’ll stop calling. Go ahead and go up to the room. I’ll deal with this and be up there in a minute.’ I give her a kiss as the elevator doors open.
‘I’ll be waiting,’ she says, smiling as she gets on the elevator.
I can’t believe I get a whole night with her, just the two of us. The hotel room was a great idea. I’m glad Matt suggested it. Lyndsay and I need some alone time together, and not just in bed, but to talk about the future and where we go from here. I’m thrilled she’s moving to New York, but I do have concerns. I want to make sure she’s ready for this and not rushing into it. And I want her to live with me, not get her own place. Rent prices in New York are outrageous and if she’s spending all her time at my apartment, she might as well live there. I’m just not sure we’re ready for that. We just started dating. Moving in together is a big step.
‘Nick,’ Doug says when he picks up. ‘I’ve been calling you all night.’
‘I told you I wouldn’t be around this weekend. Can’t this wait until Monday?’
‘No. Iris is going fucking crazy and refuses to talk to anyone but you.’
Iris is a woman in her seventies who’s divorcing her cheating husband, a wealthy businessman. I’ve been working on the divorce for over a year and it still isn’t settled because Iris and her husband refuse to agree on anything.
I let out a frustrated sigh. ‘What’s wrong now?’
‘Donald took his mistress to the house in the Hamptons, which Iris is claiming is hers.’
‘Nothing’s hers until the divorce is final. I told her that.’
‘She’s not accepting what you told her. She wants you to get a judge to order her husband and his mistress out of there.’
