Find Me in Manhattan (Finding #3) (5 page)

Michael

“No date again, Pearson?” Jay laughed as I walked in the door minus my typical female companion.

“Missed happy hour ‘cause I was working on Randy’s car for the race next week. What’s your excuse, Jay? A lifetime of celibacy?” We all gave Jay a hard time because he had only been with one girl…ever. He was the relationship kind of guy. Like Phil and Amy had been together since high school, Jay was terminally looking for the elusive one. He swore when he met her that he would know. I swore he was actually a woman.

“Nah. He’s trying to win a role in the sequel to
Forty-Year-Old Virgin
,” Phil chimed in just before he grabbed a very pregnant Amy’s ass, making her squeal like a teenager.

“Get a room,” Moretti muttered. He plopped down at the table and bit into a chip grumpily.

“Aw. Jealous, Tony?” Amy taunted Moretti. She had jumped on the “give each other as much shit as possible” bandwagon years ago.

“Fuck off, Amy.”

“Whoa! Dude. Don’t talk to my wife like that,” Phil warned.

She kissed him and smiled. “It’s okay, babe. I can dish it and take it.”

“What’s up with you, Moretti?” I asked.

“You don’t want to know. Where’s your latest girl?”

“Yeah, Michael. Why no date for the last few weeks?” Amy asked throwing a peanut at me. It landed by Jay when I dodged it.

“You’re picking that up, Jay. I can’t bend over that far anymore,” Amy fussed as she pointed to her big belly with both hands. To me, she looked like she was having twins, but Phil swore there was only one in there. I hadn’t been dumb enough to say anything to Amy, but I told Phil not to be surprised if they pulled two babies out of her.

Jay winked. “Anything for you, beautiful.”

She rolled her eyes. “Back to Michael’s love life. Did you already sleep with all the women in Manhattan and Jersey? Jay was thinking about opening a second restaurant in Brooklyn. You could start looking there for a woman.”

“Ha. Ha. Very funny. After the last girl, I need a break.”

“You need a break from women?” Moretti looked shocked, and I couldn’t help but laugh.

“No, you moron. I’m trying to figure out what I’m doing. It’s like I’ve been in a fog the last few years, and now it’s time to grow up or something.” I didn’t really know where that came from, but my runaway mouth unexpectedly spoke the truth.

“Wow. Heaven must have been a disaster,” Amy smirked.

Then Phil shouted, “That was her name!”

“Yeah, laugh it up assholes. Just you wait. The next girl I bring around will be the one I’m going to marry.”

Jay thought that was funnier than what Amy had said. “When will that be?”

“In a hundred years,” I told him dryly as I dealt the first hand of cards.

Sarah

I ended up taking a cab home after my run-in with Jameson. I didn’t want to face the subway crowds, and I happened to know for a fact that cab drivers didn’t pay much attention to their passengers unless they were trying to get it on, in which case I completely understood their interest. I sat in the backseat letting my tears fall while I held my still burning cheek with one shaking hand and gripped my purse like a security blanket with the other. Of course, this would be the one time all week when Lana was home. Perhaps my humiliation for the day wasn’t complete. Maybe I could fall down a flight of stairs as well.

“What happened to you?” she asked when I walked in the door.

“Nothing,” I told her as I pretended to be fixing my hair to cover my cheek.

I quickly tried to escape to my room, but she followed me, unsurprisingly suspicious of my behavior. “Nothing, my ass. Did Jameson do this? I knew it. I knew he’d do this to you. I warned you. That asshole.”

“How do you know him, anyway?” I asked again. I didn’t confirm nor deny anything to her just like she had been avoiding the question of their acquaintance since the incident. I wanted to know why she hated him so much, not that I needed to add any more fuel to the fire at this point.

She regarded me cautiously for a moment too long, and I feared she was going to continue keeping the story to herself. Something she saw made her finally spill the beans. “You know how everyone went out during interviews?”

“Yeah. So? Our night was really tame.” We went out for drinks and tapas and discussed our myriad of endeavors. My interview was the first day I felt under accomplished at Colombia. “Was yours not?”

“Um, no,” she scoffed. “Jameson was hitting on another girl in my group. He had been drinking, not that it’s an excuse, but we all had a lot to drink. I think her name was Angela. She was flirting with him. When he tried to take her back to his place, she refused and said she wasn’t that kind of girl. She was from fucking Nebraska or some shit. Anyway, it pissed him off, so he started yelling at her in front of everyone. I stepped between them and told him to back off. He pushed me down then threw a beer bottle down next to me. The glass went everywhere. Angela stupidly agreed to leave with him. I guess she was trying to stop him from embarrassing himself any further, but next thing I know, Angela doesn’t show up for her interview the next day, and she never answered her phone when any of us called.”

Jameson was a bad guy. I knew that now. Whatever happened between him and Angela could have been innocent, but based on the events of my day, I would be willing to bet that Angela ran as fast as she could in the other direction.

“Why wouldn’t you tell me before?”

“You left with him that night. You didn’t want to know.”

“You could have still told me. You know, warned me or something.”

She raised her eyebrows. “Would you have believed me?”

I dropped my head back on my bed and thought about it. As much as I hated to admit it, it was unlikely that I would have believed her. I was so taken with Jameson that I wouldn’t have believed anything negative about him. Suddenly everything he did was questionable though. “Point taken. I believe you now.”

“I’m sure you do. You all right? You want some ice for your face? Whiskey? A punching bag? What do you Southern girls do when you get pissed besides shoot things?”

I laughed. “Ice would be great. There’s been enough hitting for one day, and for some reason, I don’t think you’d be up for watching
The Notebook
with me.”

As expected, she looked horrified at the thought of watching
The Notebook
. “Uh, no, but I’ll get you some ice.”

She left the room and I went to the bathroom to splash cold water on my face. A bruise had already formed on my cheek, so I inspected my arm. Five fingerprints were clear as day right above my elbow. I wanted to cry all over again.

Of course, my dad chose this moment to call and check in with me. “Hi, Daddy,” I answered with as much enthusiasm as I could muster.

“Hey, princess. How’s my girl?”

“Doin’ great, Daddy. I had my first interview today, and it went perfectly. I have another phone interview tonight. The guy moved to California, so I have to call him on the internet.”

“Sounds excitin’, baby girl. Mama and I are proud of ya.” I had to fan my eyes to keep the tears from burning. There was nothing like talking to my daddy after an emotional day. He was the best man I knew.

“Thank you. How’s everything on the farm?”

“Good. We started the cotton harvest this week. It’s gonna be a good yield, so I’m happy. Mama’s happy. That’s all that matters.”

“That’s wonderful, Daddy. I’m sorry I need to run. I need to prepare for my interview and make sure everything is workin’ right.”

“All right then. I was just checkin’ on ya. You call your mama this weekend. She’s dyin’ to talk to ya. I had to call while she was at the store just so I could hear your voice.”

“I will, Daddy. I’m glad you called.”

“You sure you’re all right, princess?”

Tears dripped down my cheeks, so I squeezed my eyes shut in an effort to hold in the sob that begged to release. “I’m great. Just busy.”

“All right then. Love you.”

“Love you, too.”

I hung up the phone then wiped my face on a towel. When I opened the door, Lana was waiting in the hall with ice for me. “It’s never a good idea to talk to your parents when you’re emotional,” she said with a sympathetic smile.

I laughed. “No. Definitely not.”

“I hate to do this to you, but we’re running another trial in the lab tonight. I need to go check on the animals. You gonna be okay here?”

“Oh gosh, yes! Go. I’m gonna take a quick shower after I ice my face then prepare for my next interview.”

“Call me if you need anything and lock the door behind me.”

“Will do.” I nodded without looking up.

“And Sarah,” her tone warranted my attention, so I turned and looked her way. “I’m a great listener and friend if you ever need someone. New York can be a lonely place.”

Her kindness overwhelmed me and tears started leaking again. “Thank you, Lana.” She nodded with a shy smile and walked out of the apartment. It was a little strange that I hardly knew my roommate. We really only used the apartment to sleep, and we even did that on different schedules. She was a night owl, so she stayed at the lab late. I was a morning person, so I woke early to start my day. Sure, we had dinner together a few times in the past couple of years, but we never really had a heart-to-heart. We talked about school and research or told funny stories. With this whole Jameson thing happening, Lana seemed to be someone I could count on, a real friend. It was nice to know I had one person I could trust in New York.

I went to my bedroom and dialed the first person in my favorites. She answered on the first ring. “Oh. My. God. I can’t believe it! Sarah Grant is actually sparing a minute of her time to call me.”

“Shut up, Maggie.”

She giggled. “How are you?”

That was when the sob broke free. “Awful,” I cried. I sobbed uncontrollably as I told her the entire story starting from the incident on my fourth date with Jameson.

At some point, she must have put me on speaker because I didn’t hear anything from Maggie, but Parker roared into the phone in her place. “Sarah, I swear I will get on a plane and hunt that asshole down tonight if you give me the word. Maggie is sitting here crying, and nobody makes my two favorite girls cry like this without having a word with me.”

I sniffed and felt my lips almost smile. “While I appreciate your macho enthusiasm Parker, I think it is entirely unnecessary for you come up here and defend my honor. I’ve already decided that I’m going to have to tell my professor that I can’t work with Jameson anymore. Either I’ll get put on another study or he will, but I have a bruise on my face and fingerprints on my arm that say he’s not allowed anywhere near me ever again.”

“Sarah, you need to go to the police. Or file a report with the university, at the very least. He shouldn’t be allowed to stay in school at all.” This was coming from a sniffling Maggie, and I could tell that she had been crying. She was a good friend, the best, in fact.

“We’ll see. Maybe this is all over, and he’ll choose to leave on his own. He said he was done with me. I don’t see any reason for making a big deal out of it if it’s over.”

“It’s a huge deal, Sarah! He physically hurt you.”

“Don’t yell at her, Parker!” Maggie scolded tearfully.

“Sorry. I just don’t want him to have the opportunity to hurt her again.”

“Surely he doesn’t think he can get away with this,” I throw out there, breaking up their tête-à-tête.

“They always think they can get away with it. That’s why they do it,” Parker snapped angrily again. His tone didn’t offend me because I knew his anger was directed at Jameson. I knew Maggie was probably shrinking into her shell at the very sound of his anger, though. She hates any drama and emotion. It makes sense considering everything she’s been through.

“Look, I appreciate y’all worryin’ about me, but don’t. I’m a smart girl, and I’m no one’s victim. I’ll talk to my professor tomorrow and see where we go from there. He won’t get his hands on me again.”

“Maybe you should take a self-defense class. Living in a city like that can be dangerous. You need to be prepared,” Maggie said.

“That’s actually a good idea,” Parker added.

“You sound surprised. You know your wife is brilliant, right?”

“That I do,” he said proudly.

“Okay, if we’re getting mushy, I’m getting off the phone. I have an interview in fifteen minutes anyway. I need to go clean up my face and prepare myself to be a professional again.”

“Call me later. We love you,” Maggie reminded me happily. It used to be she who had to call me for emotional support. Now I was the one who needed someone. Oh, how the tables have turned. That was what friends were for though, right?

“Love y’all, too. Bye!”

I felt a million times better after talking to them. I had a plan and didn’t even feel afraid of having that conversation with Dr. Wright. At this point, I was willing to do anything to never face Jameson again. Unfortunately, Jameson had other plans.

Halfway through my online interview, my phone started buzzing from my bed. I had to ignore it, but it continuously went off through the rest of my interview. The second my interview with Corporal Lance ended, I grabbed my phone. I had twelve missed calls.