Accidental Heartbreak (The Accidental Series, Book 2) (9 page)

“Shayla, the problem is, you’re basing your
happiness on someone else. You have to find your own happiness.
Don’t look for a man or anyone else to come along and
make
you happy. You should be happy already.”

She nodded, but she’d already fallen for
Carter so now she had the added anxiety of removing him from his
heart. How could she be happy while trying to fall out of love with
him at the same time?

“My wife died five years ago and I could
never bring myself to come here to this place because it was one of
her favorite restaurants. I didn’t know how I would feel out here
tonight, but now that I’m here, I feel fine. I say that to say this
– sometimes we think we can’t get over things in our lives because
the event is so large it seems bigger than us, even when we are at
our strongest. But if you take the time to dissect your feelings,
you’ll find out that large disappointments are only small clusters
of life lessons that will help to mold you into a stronger
person.”

Shayla looked up at him, a smile spreading
across her lips. “I like that…you make a lot of sense.”

“Hey…speaking from experience.” He took a
sip of water. “You want to take a walk on the beach before we
go?”

“Yeah. That would be nice.”

Donovan paid for their dinner, then took her
by the hand, strolling along the boardwalk to an area where they
could reach the sand. Shayla took off her sandals, feeling the cool
sand underneath her feet.

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you this
was my first time doing this,” she said.

Brows furrowed, Donovan asked, “This is your
first time walking on the beach?”

“Yep. I never travel.”

“Then we’ll have to do this more often,” he
said, trying not to come on too strongly but he did want her to
know he liked her. He took her left hand into his right and
strolled along, walking closer to the water. They both stared off
into the darkness of the ocean. “Go on and get your feet wet.”

“No. It’s probably cold.”

“It won’t be that bad. This is your first
time at the beach. Get them toes wet, girl.”

Shayla laughed. “Okay, but you first.”

“Okay,” Donovan said. He bent over, slipped
off his brown loafers, pulled his socks off and walked towards the
water, holding up his pant legs.

“Is it cold?” Shayla asked, watching him
kick his feet in the water.

“It’s a lil’ chilly. Come on.”

“Nope. I change my mind.”

“Come on, Shayla.”

“Nope,” she said giggling. “I’m going back
to the car.” She turned away from him, trying to run in the sand,
but quickly found out it was a difficult task.

Donovan ran to catch up to her. She squirmed
and laughed so hard, it took him a minute to get a good grasp on
her. Once he did, he headed back for the shoreline, holding her in
his arms.

“Donovan, don’t drop me in this water,” she
said, panicking.

“I’m not going to drop you. I’m going to
lower your feet in it. You ready?”

“No.”

“Then get ready. I’ll do it slowly, okay?”
He tilted her upright, lowering her feet to the sand as foamy ocean
water pushed ashore.

“Ah! It’s cold,” Shayla squealed.

Donovan released her. “If you stand in it
long enough, it’ll feel warm.”

Shayla kicked and swayed her feet about. “I
see what you’re saying now. It’s not that bad.”

“Told ya.”

Shayla smiled at him. “This has been an
amazing day. I haven’t had this much fun in a long time.”

“You deserve it.”

“Can I hug you?” she asked as they stood in
the water.

Letting his pant legs drop, he wrapped his
arms around her, causing her to envelop him in hers, leaning
against his chest. She closed her eyes, inhaled his manly scent and
with appreciation, she squeezed him, thankful he’d come to her
rescue last night and was thoughtful enough to take her with him
today on his errands and out to dinner.

When they separated, Donovan locked eyes
with her, glancing down at her lips and had a longing to touch her
face, to drown his hands in her curly hair. Instead, he said, “We
should probably head back…have to be up bright and early for work
in the morning.”

“I’m off tomorrow, remember,” Shayla told
him. She had requested Monday off to travel back to Charlotte for a
Fall floral show.

“Oh, yeah. That’s right. Doing anything
fun?”

“Nothing you would like. I’ll be back on
Tuesday.”

“Well, just so you know, I’ll be out on
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Hopefully I’ll be back on Friday
so we can go apartment hunting. Just let me know if that
works.”

“Okay. Will do.”

* * *

Donovan drove back to Shayla’s hotel and
helped her carry bags to her room. He hugged her again, kissed her
temple and walked back to his car. And he didn’t leave. He sat
there for a while, just because and in that moment, he realized
that he was no longer doing this for Carter. He was doing it
because he liked her and genuinely cared about her well-being.
There was something about her he found adorable, and he hadn’t felt
that with a woman in a long time.

He smiled thinking about this, put his car
in drive and as he took his foot off the brake to step on the
accelerator, he saw Shayla pulling a small suitcase to her car,
putting it in the trunk then driving away.

Carter sat in his rental car at Norfolk
International Airport, wondering where he would go from here. All
he wanted was to see Shayla. Since she left, the aura of his home
had changed to something dark and dreary, but would he have the
guts to admit that to her? He was anxious to know what she’d been
up to her first week in Norfolk and for the life of him, he
couldn’t figure out why Donovan wasn’t answering his calls. So he
took his cell phone from the passenger seat and dialed Donovan’s
number again for the umpteenth time.

“Yeah?” Donovan answered, not even looking
to see who it was. He was at work, sitting at his desk, seven
o’clock in the morning, going through files and getting prepared
for his out of town business function.

“Where have you been, man?”

Donovan stopped what he was doing to give
Carter his attention. Leaning back in his chair, he said, “Sorry,
bruh. I’ve been busy…getting ready to head out of town
tomorrow.”

Carter didn’t care one bit that Donovan was
busy. He wanted an update on Shayla. And why hadn’t Donovan called
him?

“So how is she?” Carter asked him.

Evading his question, Donovan asked one of
his own. “You’re calling mighty early in the morning to check on
her, aren’t you?”

Carter glanced at his watch. “I tried
calling you just about every day this week, but for some reason,
you didn’t answer the phone. So how is she, man?”

“She’s fine,” Donovan said, and he meant
fine
in more ways than one. “Everybody likes her at Zenadel.
She’s fitting in nicely. Why you so interested in her anyway? I
thought you didn’t chase women?”

“I’m not chasing her.” Carter sighed. “Just
doing my brother a favor.”

“Your brother?” Donovan said, frowning.
“You’re talking about Jacob?”

“Yeah.”

“I thought he passed last year?” Then it
dawned on him. He remembered Carter’s brother had committed suicide
and Shayla had told him that her fiancé committed suicide as well.
So Carter’s brother must have been her fiancé. Now it all made
sense. Maybe Carter was looking after her because he felt obligated
to. There was no romantic connection between the two. He was doing
his brother a favor.

“Let’s meet up for breakfast,” Carter
suggested.

“Breakfast? You’re here?”

“Yeah…flew in this morning.”

“Where are you right now?”

“Still at the airport. I got a rental.”

“I’m at the office, but I can meet you in
ah…” Donovan looked at his watch. “Meet me at IHOP in twenty
minutes. I’ll text you the address.”

“Ah’ight.” Carter ended the call, then
waited for Donovan’s text to come through. And while he waited, he
saw Dr. Westbrook’s office number flash on his phone. Why was she
calling? Whatever the reason, Donovan’s text was more important
because once he met up with him, he’d find out more about Shayla.
There was something about being in the same city with her that made
him nervous and excited at the same time.

Donovan’s text finally arrived and Carter
keyed the address in his GPS, following the directions to IHOP. He
walked in, stood in the lobby and called Donovan to see where he
was. Donovan told him that he’d just parked.

A few minutes later, Donovan came walking in
the entrance. “What up man,” he said slapping hands with Carter.
“Long time, no see.”

“Yeah. It’s been a minute.”

A waitress showed them to a table. They both
ordered a cup of coffee.

“You still at the bank?”

“Yeah, still there,” Carter replied,
unenthused. Seemed like every time he met up with someone he knew,
that was their first question.
Are you still at the bank?
He
didn’t come to Norfolk to talk about work.

“In the same role?”

“Yeah, man…President of Global Operations,
going on five years now.” Carter interlocked his fingers. “So what
else can you tell me about Shayla?”

“Like I said on the phone, she’s doing fine.
What’s your story with her anyway?”

“It’s personal.”

“Personal in a friendly type way or in a
friendly
way if you catch my drift.”

“Why, Donovan? Why do you care about my
interest in her?”

“She’s a nice girl…very different from the
women I’ve ran across. I took her out to dinner and—”

Carter frowned so hard, he probably made
permanent lines in his forehead. “What do you mean you took her out
to dinner?”

“I treated her out to dinner for the first
day on the job.”

“Isn’t that against company policy?”

“No. I take all the new hires out to
dinner.” Donovan didn’t mention that he also had dinner with her
Saturday night and again last night in addition to a walk on the
beach. That would probably send Carter over the edge and from
college, he remembered Carter had one heck of a temper. He already
looked like he wanted to jump across the table and hit him in the
face. He didn’t want to set him off.

“Well, you can’t take her out again, so
don’t even think about it.”

“Why not? I know you’re watching her for
Jacob and all, but she’s in good hands with me.”

No. She’s in good hands with me
,
Carter wanted to say. “There’s more to it than that. Shayla and I
are—”

“Oh…you’re dating?” Donovan said like he
wasn’t cognizant of the fact that they were
not
dating. He’d
already found that out from Shayla.

“No, but we’re definitely more than friends.
I wanted you to keep an eye on her because—”

“Because of Jacob,” Donovan interjected.
“You already told me that.”

“And because I love her.”

Donovan looked confused. “You love her?
You
?”

“Why you say it like that?”

“Two reasons. One, ever since I’ve known
you, you’ve been a player. Two, she’s your brother’s ex-fiancée.
You don’t see anything wrong with that?”

Carter glanced towards the window. Donovan
had obviously spent more time with Shayla than he led on because
how did he know she was Jacob’s ex-fiancée? Shayla wouldn’t offer
up information like that to someone off of one dinner outing. And
why did she feel comfortable enough with Donovan to talk about her
personal life so openly?

The waitress brought over two mugs of coffee
and asked the two if they were ready to order. Carter told her the
coffee was just fine for him, but Donovan ordered bacon, eggs and
pancakes.

“Is there anything else I need to know about
her?”

With a tightened jaw, Donovan said, “Well,
she’s staying at a hotel temporarily until she finds a suitable
place. Um…Saturday morning she was at the library reading to a
group of kids, which I assume she’s going to be doing every
Saturday. She goes to lunch and dinner alone. After dinner, she
drives back to the hotel, sits there in the car and cries her eyes
out. Every night she’s done that which I find so odd because at
work, she’s happy and jovial, then at night she’s sad, miserable
and depressed. I take it you have something to do with that.”

Carter fired dagger eyes at Donovan. “You
don’t know what you’re talking about, so don’t make
assumptions.”

“Then why else is she here?” Donovan
inquired, because quite frankly, he liked her and if Carter didn’t
know how to treat a good woman, he certainly did. He’d already
proven that to Shayla.

“You ask too many questions.”

Donovan took a sip of coffee.

“Is she at the office today?” Carter
inquired.

“No. She took the day off.”

“Why?”

Now who’s asking all the questions?
“Don’t know, but when I was outside of her hotel last night, I
watched her throw a small suitcase in the trunk…looked like she was
heading out of town which is really strange because she didn’t
mention it when we—” Donovan stopped talking when he realized he’d
said too much.

“When you what?”

“When I spoke with her last night,” Donovan
said, boldly. Shayla was her own individual person. Carter didn’t
own her. So what, he took her out to dinner? He didn’t force Shayla
to go with him. She did it of her own free will and they’d had a
wonderful dinner on the beach. If the opportunity presented itself,
he’d do it again. So giving Carter a challenging stare, he
admitted, “We had dinner together last night, and the night before
that, actually.”

Carter grinded his teeth. “I asked you to do
me a favor and you do something like this.”

“Listen, man. You told me to watch her. You
didn’t tell me you were in love with her.”