The Rebound Guy (25 page)

They were at an impasse, with no possible compromise. And she wasn’t sure either of them was willing to back down.

“You should have ended it when you first had the chance,” Asia whispered.

“Excuse me?” the pedicurist asked.

Asia lifted up a cucumber slice and peered at the woman exfoliating her feet. “I’m sorry,” she said, realizing that she must have spoken aloud. “Just talking to myself.” She leaned back in the chair and tried to relax, but moments later, was interrupted again by Lizzie’s voice.

“Are you enjoying your morning of pampering?” she asked.

“I am,” Asia said. “Why aren’t you?”

“I just want to make sure everyone has what they need,” her friend answered.

“Well,
I
need you to relax and enjoy your wedding weekend. Let this very capable staff do its job.”

The pedicurist murmured in the affirmative.

“Fine.” Lizzie sighed. “But if you need anything, just let me know.”

“I’ll let the
staff
know,” Asia said.

Asia opted out of the makeover session that followed the pedicures. Instead, she decided to peruse the grounds of the inn. Maybe the time alone would help clear her head.

She walked along the stone path of the gardens, breathing in the scent of lavender, antique roses, and summer lilac and trying not to recall the afternoon she and Dexter had spent in the gardens of the Jefferson Market Library. Blocking her memories was hopeless, and with a sinking feeling, Asia realized it would be nearly impossible to eradicate him from all the areas of her life he’d infiltrated.

How would she ever watch a Yankees game without thinking about him? God, how would she ever enjoy another bottle of wine without recalling their “tasting” and all the delicious things it had led to?

In just these few weeks, Dexter had touched so many parts of her life, Asia feared thoughts of him would be around long after he was gone.

Her personal phone vibrated and knocked her out of her morose thoughts. She packed her work phone in her bag after receiving a text from Helena that everything had been handled. She was done with work for the weekend. If another crisis popped up, her team could handle it on their own.

Asia smiled at the number on the screen. “Hi, Mom.”

“Hi, baby. I’m sorry I missed your call yesterday.”

“It’s okay,” Asia said. “I was just calling to say hello.”

“Aren’t you in Connecticut for your friend’s wedding this weekend?”

“Yes, the wedding is this afternoon. The female guests were treated to a spa and pampering session this morning. It was heavenly.”

“Then why do you sound as if you’ve just walked through hell without shoes on?” her mother asked.

Asia sighed. She could never hide anything from her mother. “I think I may have messed up, Mom. I’m not sure what to do.”

Asia sat on a stone bench and gave her mother an abbreviated version of all that had happened since the morning after Cortland left and India had found the article on The Rebound Guy. She didn’t gloss over the fact that she’d slept with Dexter. Twice.

“I don’t know what to do,” Asia said again. “I don’t know how real these feelings are. What if I really am just on the rebound and what I’m feeling is just a side effect of my wanting to make myself feel better?”

“Stop overanalyzing, Asia. I swear, if there is one thing you got from your father, it’s that you think too much about things.”

“Don’t compare me to him.”

“Oh, Asia.” The compassionate understanding in her mother’s voice washed over her. “Honey, you have to stop doing this to yourself. I know how easy it is to hold onto hate. I did it for years, and do you know what it got me? Nothing. Clinging onto anger gets you nothing, Asia. You have to let it go.”

“I know,” she whispered.

In an even softer voice, her mother said, “You also have to remember that not every man is like your father, or like Cortland, for that matter.”

Asia huffed out a humorless laugh. “I’m not so sure about that,” she said. “Selfishness seems to be a trait of their sex.”

“It’s not and you know it,” her mother said. “Your father and Cortland are only two men in a world of billions. If you allow those two to dictate your life, you’re never going to find the happiness you deserve. And you do deserve it, Asia. More than anyone I know.”

“Me? What about you? After everything you went through with Dad, you’re the one who deserves to be happy.”

“I am, and it’s all I could ever want for you,” her mother said. “You’re always taking care of others, solving everyone else’s problems. You need to focus on yourself for a change. Do what will make
you
happy, Asia.”

Her heart squeezed at her mother’s words, which cast a dark pall over her heart. In less than twenty-four hours, the only person who had made her happy lately would walk out of her life forever.

***

Dexter pulled back on his fishing rod and then cast the line again, reeling it until he found the sweet spot in the middle of the small creek. The men’s only outing had been an unexpected surprise, one he was grateful for. Fishing with rod and reel had been one of his favorite pastimes as a kid. If he closed his eyes, he could picture himself standing on the bank of the lake behind his grandparents’ property in Georgia, soaking in the stories his grandfather used to tell.

He could use some of the old man’s life lessons right now.

“Looks to me as if my prediction came true.”

Dexter didn’t bother to turn at the sound of the voice just over his shoulder, but Cortland didn’t take the hint that he was not welcome. He closed the distance, stopping just to the right of Dexter.

In his quest for some much-needed solitude, Dex had staked claim to an area about twenty yards downstream from the group of men who’d chosen to participate in the males-only outing. But, apparently, he hadn’t gone far enough.

“Has Asia’s shoulder turn cold already?” Cortland asked. “I told you it would.”

“You’re engaged to another woman,” Dexter said. “Why are you concerned with Asia’s love life?”

“It’s not her I’m thinking about,” Cortland said, holding his hands up in defense. “I was just trying to save a fellow guy from making the same mistake that I made.”

His words struck Dex like a punch to the gut. Wasn’t that the same bull he’d fed himself after his breakup with Ebony? Wasn’t that the altruistic reasoning behind his consultation business; he was stepping into the role of rebound guy so he could save men from experiencing what he’d be through?

When he had the same stuff dished back to him, it sounded like utter bullshit.

“I don’t need saving from Asia,” Dex said.

Cortland shook his head, chuckling as he said, “Some guys just can’t help playing the fool, I guess.”

“The same way some just can’t help being an asshole,” Dex said as he reeled in his line. He grabbed the small pail of bait that had been provided by the inn and walked farther along the creek’s bank until he could neither see nor hear the other men.

He didn’t give a shit about male bonding. He needed time to clear his mind, to make sense of all the scenarios jumbling inside his head.

He needed to figure out a way to make Asia his.

After last night, Dex knew he couldn’t give her up tomorrow. He’d known it before last night. Hell, he’d known it before last
week
.

From the morning he’d sat across from her at that downtown coffee shop, Dex had recognized that Asia was different from his earlier clients. She’d reached inside, touching parts of him that he had previously kept well-guarded.

 He had no idea what a future between them would look like; he only knew that there had to be one. He couldn’t walk away from this woman. He didn’t have to search one of his psychology books to know that doing so would be the biggest regret of his life.

But where did that leave Forward Momentum?

With a groan he stared into the cloudless sky, as if it would provide him with answers.

He didn’t want to give up his dream. Others had referred to it as unconventional or even controversial, but the fact was, he helped people. After the disaster he’d made of his short-lived stint on Wall Street and the devastation he’d caused in the lives of his former co-workers, he felt as if he was finally making a
positive
contribution for a change. He didn’t want to give that satisfaction up.

But his dreams for Forward Momentum couldn’t remain the same.

He couldn’t fathom functioning in the capacity he had in the past—catering to his client’s every need, making her feel as if she were the only woman in his world. Continuing to pull off those lies would now sit uncomfortably on his conscience.

And sex?

Dex couldn’t imagine taking another woman into his arms, into his bed. That place belonged to Asia alone.

So where did his reasoning leave him?

The ringing of his cell phone jolted him out of his ruminations, the sound amplified in the peaceful stillness surrounding him. He checked the caller ID. It was his sister.

“Hi, Niecy,” he answered. “How’s it going?”

“Guess who was found living in a pay-by-the-week motel in Mobile, Alabama?” Denise said.

Dex brought his hand up to massage the back of his neck. “One guess,” he said. “Myron.”

“Want to know how they caught up to him? He won twenty-thousand dollars on a lottery scratch-off. When he went in to claim the prize, his name triggered some database.”

Dexter burst out laughing. “That’s just too perfect, Niecy.”

“Isn’t it, though? He claimed his winnings, and then they were immediately taken away.”

“What does this mean? Will you get some of it?”

“Not me, personally, but the bank will. I’m meeting with them today. It may take some time for the money to get to them, but eventually, they’ll get it. Of course, this turn of events means you don’t have to worry about the rest of the money you were going to loan me,” she said.

“It wasn’t a loan, Niecy. And if you still need it, it’s there.”

“No,” his sister said. “Dex, you tried to help me once and I didn’t listen to you, but I’m taking your advice now.”

Dex’s forehead furrowed. “What are you talking about?”

“Don’t you remember? You were still in grad school at the time. Myron and I had been married only a few years, and I discovered that he had a separate checking account he’d never told me about. You told me then that I needed to do the same.”

“Now I remember,” Dex said.

“At the time I was doing a lot of baking on the side around the holidays and using the money on foolish things, such as buying Myron those damn Jet Skis. You told me to open a savings or investment account and put the extra money I was making in there, but I didn’t listen to you. If I had, I would have had a nice amount saved and wouldn’t have had to come to you begging help to get out of this mess.”

“Don’t blame yourself for this, Niecy. Always remember that the threat of foreclosure was Myron’s fault. It was his responsibility to pay the mortgage.”

“Yeah, but I was the one in danger of losing my house. I can’t be put in that position again, Dex.”

“You won’t, because you know better now.”

“I knew better then. I just didn’t listen. But you want to know what’s really ironic? Years ago, I shared that advice you gave me with a few of my girlfriends. Two of them are now divorced, and both are in better financial shape than I am. They were smart enough to actually
take
the advice.” Denise laughed. “It would save women a lot of grief if they had someone to give them advice like yours after getting out of a relationship.”

Dex’s heartbeat pounded in his ears. “What did you say?”

“I’m saying that I would have been in better shape after my divorce if I had been smart enough to listen to you in the first place,” his sister said.

Dexter’s grip on the fishing rod slacked so much that it nearly fell from his fingers. Suddenly, everything became clear, as if Niecy’s words had turned on a mechanism in his brain, deciphering the code to the puzzle that had been plaguing him.

Could the solution really be
that
easy?

There was a faint ding on the other end of the line.

“Oh, that’s my cupcakes,” his sister said, wrenching his attention back to their conversation. “This cupcake thing has been crazy. I made some for Teacher Appreciation Day at Little Myron’s, school and have been flooded with orders ever since. I’m thinking of taking my act on the road,” she quipped.

“Believe it or not, I can help you with that,” Dex said. “Look, Niecy, thanks for calling with the news about Myron. I’m happy it’s all working out. I’ll give you a call later this week, okay? But I’ve got something I need to take care of right now.”

“Okay, Pumpkin. Love you. And thanks again.”

“You’re welcome,” he said. “I love you, too.”

Dex ended the call and stood on the bank of the creek shaking his head. Was he really this blind? Had the solution to his problem been staring him in the face all this time, and he had just been too stupid to see it?

A deep laugh rumbled low in his belly before bubbling up and pouring from his mouth. He headed back toward the inn. He came upon the other men who had been fishing, who now were handing their gear over to the staff at the inn. He turned in his rod and pail and took off for his and Asia’s room.

He couldn’t erase the stupid smile that had taken over his face. Hell, he didn’t want to. He now knew exactly what he needed to do.

Dex bolted through the door to their room.

“Asia!” He did a quick survey and finding the room empty, went to the bathroom. “Asia?”

But that was empty, too.

He took out his cell phone and texted her.

Where are you?

Seconds later he got a reply.
Helping Lizzie get dressed
.

I need to talk to you
, he replied.

Will have 2 wait. Have my clothes with me. Will dress 4 wedding in here. C U at ceremony
.

“Dammit,” Dex cursed. He didn’t want to wait until the ceremony to see her. He didn’t want to wait another minute.