Best She Ever Had (9781617733963) (15 page)

“To hell with Cynthia!” the voice in his head argued.

“I . . . well, I—”

His phone rang again.

He could envision her waiting for him at the dock, gritting her teeth and tapping her foot impatiently, despite him urging her to go on without him. It was so typical of her. If Cynthia wanted something, she expected him to drop everything and come running. She hadn't changed in all these years. But he wasn't doing it this time! If Cynthia thought he was about to end this date and give up the chance to sample a piece of Shino pie in his hotel room later that night, she had another thing coming!

“You
what,
Korey?” Shino asked expectantly. “Are you going to answer that, by the way?”

His phone was ringing a third time, and instead of thinking about Cynthia, he remembered Jared in his Christmas Tree costume . . . Jared, who was probably boarding a gondola to sail away with his future teenaged wife, only to collide with disaster.

Korey's shoulders slumped as his phone rang yet again. “I'm sorry, Shino, but I think I'm going to have to cut our dinner short.”

I'
m going to kill him,
Cynthia thought as she listened to the line ring
.
She finally pressed the button on her phone screen to end the call.
I swear to God that I am going to kill him!

She didn't think it was possible, but her anxiety went up another notch as she looked at the people who streamed past her on the vaulted bridge overlooking the hotel's manmade canal. Clarissa and Jared could appear at any second, and here she was scoping out the crowd, searching for Korey. It was now more than fifteen minutes after the time she told him to meet her here. She had called him three times already, but each time the call went to his voicemail.

“Asshole,” she muttered under her breath.

She glared down at her wristwatch, squinting under the street lamp at the watch's glass face as dusk descended into night. The orange, reds, and purples from the sky above that had reflected off the canal water were now blending into a deep navy that was quickly becoming ink black. More lights started to turn on along the bridge, the dock, and the front of the restaurants lining the canal.

Korey had said that if he didn't make it back from his date in enough time to go ahead with the search without him. But she didn't think he would actually
do
it. He had to realize how important this was! But now they were probably going to miss the kids because Korey was more interested in having a candlelit dinner with some chick he met at the hotel gym than he was in finding their children.

And he thinks my priorities are out of whack,
she though flippantly as she impatiently tapped her Tory Burch leather slipper. Cynthia scanned the crowd one last time and shook her head, finally giving up on him. She stomped across the bridge and along the sidewalk to the spot on the canal where a row of gondolas were docked. A short line of people waited there on the cobblestone. She fell in line behind them, standing on the balls of her feet to see if Clarissa and Jared were in line in front of her or in one of the boats drifting away from the dock. But they were nowhere to be found.

“So I guess you didn't run into them?” Korey asked from behind her seconds later, making her jump in surprise at the sound of his voice.

Cynthia whipped around to face him. At the sight of Korey, the tirade she was prepared to unleash died on her lips. She blinked in amazement.

It was like someone had waved a magic wand and transformed the gruff mechanic with grease under his nails into a debonair businessman. Korey had suddenly morphed into the black Adonis she had spotted in the shopping center parking lot almost a week ago, except Korey was three times as sexy.

He had finally gotten rid of his five o'clock shadow and was clean-shaven. He was wearing an expensive-looking, European-cut, charcoal-gray suit and a simple, silk black tie, something she presumed he hadn't packed when they decided to take their impromptu trip to Vegas. Instead of Korey's usual understated aftershave, the scent of a very familiar and expensive cologne wafted toward her. She knew the scent because one of her boyfriends had worn the same cologne on several occasions.

Korey better be wearing a knockoff,
Cynthia thought angrily. She knew the real version cost about sixty bucks an ounce. That meant between the cologne and the suit, he had probably spent almost a grand for his date with Shamu, and that didn't even count the dinner itself!

“It's Shino,” a voice in her head corrected.

This is the same man who once balked in high school at paying an extra twenty-five cents when she asked for the medium instead of the small popcorn at the movies. And judging from where he lived and what he drove, Korey was still as much of a penny-pincher as she remembered. Now he was tossing around money in Vegas like he had a bottomless wallet. What the hell had gotten into him?

“Why didn't you answer my calls?” she asked through clenched teeth, crossing her arms over her chest.

“I didn't need to. I already knew what you were going to say.”

“That your ass should be here! That I can't believe you'd—”

“Look, I don't need a lecture from you, all right? I told you to—”

“Go ahead without you. Yeah, I remembered!”

“And you didn't, which was your choice. I just don't understand why the hell you're pissed at me.”

She was pissed at him for blowing off the search for the kids like it wasn't of the upmost importance and the sole reason they had traveled all these miles. She was pissed at him because he had acted as if he wasn't remotely interested in her romantically despite their steamy history, yet he had just wined and dined a woman whom he had only met hours ago. She was pissed at him for marrying Vivian and making Cynthia believe that her best chance at happiness was to stick with Bill and hope that he was Clarissa's father. In short, Cynthia was pissed at Korey because everything about him at that moment made her absolutely furious.

She opened her mouth to say as much when a voice suddenly called out behind them, “We've just had a last-minute cancellation, folks! If anyone is interested in a ride, we'd be happy to grant you one. One hundred bucks!”

Cynthia and Korey looked at the young man with freckles and slicked-back red hair who stood near the dock.

“A cancellation?”
Cynthia asked.

The young man nodded. “Yeah, you guys interested?”

“If Jared and Clarissa aren't the ones who canceled, then maybe they're already out there on the canal,” Korey said, leaning toward her. The warmth of his breath along her ear combined with the tantalizing smell of his cologne sent chills up her spine. “We'd have a better chance of finding them out there.”

“I know that,” she snapped, not liking how her body was reacting to him. She was supposed to be angry. She preferred anger to the other emotion that was roiling inside her: desire. She turned to the guy in the polo shirt near the dock, who waited for their answer. “We'll take it.”

Minutes later, Cynthia and Korey were climbing onto one of the gondolas. Korey offered his hand to her as she boarded, but she shoved it away and instead decided to wobble along on her own before finally falling onto the velvet-cushioned seat. Korey took the spot beside her.

“Good evening,
signor
and
signorina,
” the gondolier in the too-tight, black-and-white T-shirt said after they finished boarding. Though he tried his best to tug it down over his hairy belly, the shirt made him vaguely resemble Baby Huey. He grinned down at Cynthia and Korey. “Prepare for a romantic evening.”

I wouldn't be too sure about that, honey,
Cynthia thought dryly.

The boat started to glide away from the dock.

“Oooooooooo, sooooooloooo meeeeeoooooo!”
the gondolier began to bellow seconds later, making Cynthia cringe and Korey wince.
“Oooooooo—”

“Could you please not do that?” Cynthia shouted.

The gondolier instantly fell silent.

“It's his job,” Korey whispered as they passed underneath another bridge. “Just let him sing the damn song.”

“His job is to steer the boat, not to murder our eardrums!”

Korey tiredly ran his hand over his face. “Okay, I get that you plan to be a bitch to me the whole night, but do you really need to torture this man too?”

“Well, I wouldn't be such a bitch if you had shown up at eight thirty like I asked!”

“Again . . . did I or did I not tell you to go ahead without me?”

She didn't respond, but instead turned her back to him and glared obstinately at the buildings along the canal.

“Fine,” he muttered, adjusting his suit jacket as he turned his back to her too. “Let's just keep an eye out for the kids. Maybe it's better if we don't talk anyway.”

The two fell into silence. The gondolier glanced down at them apprehensively.

“Umm, perhaps you two would like another song selection,” he ventured.

Neither of them answered. He must have taken their silence as a “yes” because he loudly cleared his throat and took a deep breath.

Cynthia sank lower in her seat, slapped her purse on her lap, and rolled her eyes.

For the next twenty minutes, she and Korey sat in the gondola, staring in opposite directions, refusing to look at or talk to one another as they were serenaded with horrible renditions from the 1950s Hit Parade.

Cynthia perked up when a couple approached them in an almost identical gondola. She got excited not just because the guy singing on that other boat had a much better voice. She hoped Clarissa and Jared might be on board. She stared as the gondola drew near. To her disappointment, it wasn't the kids. Instead, a black woman, who looked to be in her late twenties, was riding in the boat. She had her head on a young black man's shoulder and gazed up at him adoringly. The young man had an arm slung around her. He leaned down, and they shared a kiss that was both deep and passionate. In the movies, that would have been the moment when fireworks blasted overhead, when violins began to play.

I think I'm gonna be sick,
Cynthia thought flippantly. Everything—from the boat ride in the middle of a fake canal trailing around a Las Vegas hotel, to the dewy-eyed couple who would probably break up in a day or two—screamed cheese, more cheese than could
ever
be manufactured by Velveeta. However, twenty years ago she would have found this whole setting and moment very romantic. Twenty years ago it would have been Korey and her in the other gondola gazing into each other's eyes.

She took a furtive glance at Korey, who continued to ignore her.

But I'm a grown-up now,
she reminded herself.
We both are, and we know better.

Yet, at that moment, she didn't feel any more grown-up than she had when she made the fateful decision to see Korey one last time to say good-bye before she married Bill. She didn't feel any more self-assured either . . .

 

Cynthia tiptoed in the dark through the hallway and down the staircase, feeling like a cat burglar. The house was eerily quiet. Everyone was asleep upstairs and the staff had gone home for the day hours ago. Only the groundskeeper was still around, probably getting drunk in one of the sheds out back. She hoped he was drunk enough not to notice the car at the far end of the driveway. Cynthia had warned Korey to turn off his headlights when he drew near the house so he could stay hidden in the dark.

When Cynthia reached the second-to-last riser on the staircase, she tripped slightly on the runner and almost plunged face-first onto the marble tile below. But she grabbed the banister in just enough time to catch herself.

“Damn! That was close,” she whispered.

If she had fallen, who knows how much noise she could have made. She could have woken up one of her sisters—or, worse, her mother! She took a deep breath and tiptoed to the French doors. She gave one last furtive glance over her shoulder before unlocking the front door and stepping into the night.

She looked around her, squinting as she peered at the end the driveway, searching for Korey's Chevy Cavalier. The kelly-green lawn now had a dewy scent thanks to the rain that had stopped more than an hour ago. Fireflies twinkled faintly. The incessant melody of crickets played in the distance, but everything else was silent. Like her family, it seemed that the rest of the world was fast asleep—well, everyone except her and Korey.

Cynthia soon spotted his car. She ran toward the Cavalier, which waited fifteen feet away, feeling her heart race and her palms sweat. She was almost beside herself with anticipation. She pulled open the passenger-side door and climbed inside.

“Hey,” she said as she shut the door behind her.

He didn't return the greeting. Instead, he silently shifted the car into drive and did a slow U-turn, steering out of the driveway and onto the gravel road leading off the Gibbons property, using the light of the full moon to guide his way. When they were almost a quarter of a mile from her house, he turned on his headlights and picked up speed.

They drove in silence for several minutes. Meanwhile, Cynthia kept glancing nervously at Korey. She couldn't see him well in the dim moonlight, but from what she could see, he looked angry.

“Thanks for doing this. I know . . . I know it was probably a surprise.”

“Yeah, you could say that,” he mumbled, still staring at the windshield.

“How have you been?”

“How have I been?”
He shook his head with disbelief. “Cindy, why the hell am I here? We haven't spoken in weeks, then suddenly you call me out of the blue and—”

“Because I had to see you,” she answered honestly.

He turned to her, searching her face. “Why?”

Because she knew now that she couldn't move on with her life with Bill until she closed this final chapter with Korey, and the quick phone call she made last month hadn't cut it. But she couldn't tell Korey that. If she did, he'd probably do another U-turn, take her back to her home, bid her a “Fuck you,
adieu,
” and pull off. So instead she turned the question on him.

“You didn't want to see me?”

He slowly exhaled, looking more tired than angry now. “Of course, I wanted to see you. But I figured that was out of the question based on the last conversation we had. Remember?”

Their last conversation hadn't been pretty. She had kept it short and sweet that night after the fight with her mother, calling Korey and telling him that she was breaking up with him, that they would never work out. When he asked her why, she had stayed vague. She didn't want to tell him she was breaking up with him not only because her mother had found out about them, but also because things with Bill were starting to get serious and her mother warned her she was putting her chances with Bill at risk by continuing to see Korey.