Emerald Fire (Christian Romance) (The Jewel Series) (16 page)

BARRY
stood staring out through the patio door. He wore dark blue jeans and a cream colored sweater that stretched across his strong back. His feet were bare, and Maxine felt a little flutter of warmth at the intimacy of that. She thought back over the last several weeks, amazed at how the events transpired to bring them to this place, this here and now. Had it only been three weeks since Jacqueline’s funeral? Since their shared dinner after fleeing from the church?

Barry turned as soon as she opened the door and their eyes met across the room. Maxine’s smile froze at the stoic look on his face. “Hi.” His voice sounded low, scratchy, thick. She wondered if he had slept at all.

“Hi.” She smiled. She noticed the cup in his hand. “Is there coffee, too, or just tea?”

Using the cup, he gestured at the room service cart sitting next to the table and chairs. “I didn’t know how to make the coffee, so I just ordered you some instead.”

Warmth flooded her heart at his thoughtfulness. “Thank you.” She crossed the room and poured herself a cup of coffee. Her hand shook a little bit. What did they do now? What did they talk about? How did she handle this first full day of being Mrs. Barry Anderson?

When she turned back around, she saw that he had silently moved and now stood next to the couch.

“Obviously, we need to talk.”

She didn’t like the sound of his voice. No warmth, nothing she had felt from him the night before existed in his tone. She gripped the cup so hard she was surprised it didn’t shatter. “Yeah.” Needing to ease her own tension, she teased, “Kind of a little late for that, isn’t it?”

His bark of laughter signaled his agreement with her statement and she smiled a stiff smile as she crossed the room toward him. As soon as she sat on one end of the couch, with her back to the arm, he sat down, too, closer to the middle.

In a way, she was glad he didn’t sit at the other end of the couch thus leaving a huge expanse of leather between them. In a way, she wished he had, so maybe she wouldn’t actually feel the warmth of his body and want to scoot closer to him. He set his tea on the coffee table and turned his body toward her. “I don’t know what came over us last night – what came over me.”

Maxine tilted her head and looked closely at his face. He had circles under his eyes. It didn’t look like he’d slept at all. She put her cup down next to his and slid forward, fighting down years of survival instinct to take his hand. She cared about this man. She had cared about him for a long time. He was a dear friend, and considering the things that he had experienced over the years, she hated to think that she had added to any pain in his life.

“Shh,” she said. Heart pounding in fear of being the first to move toward any kind of intimacy, she knelt next to him, one knee on the couch cushion while she planted her other foot on the ground to brace herself. Placing a hand on his cheek, she leaned forward and rested her forehead against his. “Last night was wonderful.”

Barry groaned and gripped her hips with his hands. He closed his eyes and sighed. “Getting married wasn’t the right thing to do.”

“It’s done, though.”

When he opened his eyes, she leaned back away from the resignation she saw there. “I can undo it.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Can you? It’s legal, binding, and consummated. What can you undo?”

He smiled for the first time since she came out of the bedroom. “I’m a lawyer, Maxi. I can undo it.”

She wanted to scream, “No!” but instead started to shift back, to break the physical contact with him while she asked, “Do you really think we should?”

Before she could completely withdraw, he gripped her wrist to hold her still. “I value your friendship, Maxine. I’ve lost so much. I can’t lose that, too.”

Cupping his face with her hands, she gave him the gentlest whisper of kisses. “You haven’t lost my friendship.” She pushed away fully and straightened, pulling her wrist from his hand. She felt her pulse accelerate and her heart start to flutter. Panic made it hard to breathe, and she put a hand against her stomach. “What time do we need to leave for the game?”

Barry opened his mouth, then closed it again. He cocked his head and looked at her, then looked at his watch. “We have some time.”

Maxine nodded. “Good.” She rubbed her hands together, trying to stimulate some warmth. “Then let’s eat, and I’ll call one of the girls and see what everyone’s plans are this morning.” She froze when he reached out and gently took her left hand in his large grip. She looked down at him and saw him staring at her face. As soon as they made eye contact, he looked at her hand. “While you’re out, I’ll see about returning the ring.”

How had she forgotten the ring? Wouldn’t that have been the kicker? To go home with a wedding ring the size of Rhode Island on her finger? She felt a small tremble in her hands as she took the ring off and surrendered it to him. “Of course. I hope they’ll take it back.”

“I’ll take care of it.” His fingers closed around it and his hand formed into a fist. “Go ahead and make the phone call and I’ll set out breakfast.”

After breakfast, which ended up being the most tense, silent meal the two had ever shared, Barry went to his room. Maxine turned around in a circle in the middle of her huge suite, gripping the sides of her face, feeling as if the room would close in on her at any second. She wanted to scream and wail, but feared someone would hear, so she fell to her knees and sobbed, silently, heel of her hand pressed against her mouth to keep the sound down to low groans.

As soon as she felt like she could function, she rose to her feet and stumbled to her phone. Fingers quaking, she clumsily maneuvered the internet and worked the buttons until she found a flight out for Boston that morning. She called down to the front desk and requested a shuttle to McCarran, then very quickly packed.

She scanned the room for any rogue articles of clothing, and found Barry’s shoes, socks, sweater, and jacket on the floor of the bedroom near the patio door. As much as she wished she could just sneak out without saying good bye, she knew that was the wrong thing to do.

After washing her face and carefully applying makeup, Maxine took his folded clothes and left the sanctuary of her suite. She went to his door and lightly tapped.

He answered very quickly, opening the door as if expecting her. She noticed he’d showered and changed clothes.

“I, uh, didn’t want to bother you,” she started to say, but he cut her off.

“You’re not bothering me.” He stood back and opened the door wider. “Come in.”

No. No way. She couldn’t go into his room. Chances are good she’d end up throwing herself at him, begging him to love her just a little bit, cherish her and protect her like Elvis had made him promise. Her heart stopped and she wondered where that thought had come from. “No thank you. I just wanted to bring you these things.” She held out the neatly folded stack of clothes with his shoes carefully perched on top. “I decided to go on home. I’m not up for the game.”

His eyes widened and he reflexively took the clothes from her. Before he could speak, Maxine pivoted and rushed back to her room.

“Maxi, wait!”

She turned as she unlocked her door and watched as he tossed the clothes into the room behind him before rushing toward her. “What, Barry?” Her voice sounded tired to her own ears.

“I’m going to get a flight out tonight right after the game. I’ll bring paperwork by tomorrow or the next day. Hopefully tomorrow since Friday’s Christmas Eve. I’m not positive what hours the clerks at the courthouse are working Friday.”

She almost asked him what he meant then realized he was talking about the annulment. For some reason, that made sadness overwhelm her again. But she knew it had to happen. “Sounds good,” she said. “I’ll be at Robin’s. I just got a text from Sarah. Tony has some fire somewhere he has to handle out of town and won’t be back until Friday. So I’ll just go straight there and stay through Christmas.”

He nodded and she opened her door. He stood there, looking down at her. She waited several heartbeats before she spoke. “I had an amazing time, Barry. Thank you for inviting me.”

Somberly, he nodded, his lips tight. “See you tomorrow, I guess.”

She stepped into her room and shut the door in his face. The smile she’d forced faded away and her knees felt weak. Leaning against the door, she slid down until she sat with her back against the door and her face buried in her knees, silent sobs wracking her body.

BARRY
brushed ice and snow off his overcoat as he stepped into the lobby of Tony’s apartment building. A security guard at the big circular desk looked up from his computer monitor and welcomed him by name. “Mr. Anderson, Mrs. V said to tell you that she and Miss Bartlett are running late, but to please go up and wait for them.” He pushed a button on his console and an elevator door apart from the bank of elevators opened.

Barry nodded his thanks and shifted his briefcase to his other hand as he entered Tony’s private elevator. It only went to the top floor, so the ride up twenty stories took no time.

He should have brought the annulment paperwork yesterday, but he got bogged down with work that accumulated during his brief absence. Since he couldn’t ask his secretary or any of his paralegals to prepare the documents, he did it on his down time and didn’t finish until late last night. Now here it was, not only Friday, but Christmas Eve. So even if she did sign tonight, they wouldn’t be able to do anything with them until Monday.

What he ought to do, he thought, is just leave and make a lunch date with her for Monday so that she didn’t have to associate Christmas Eve with annulment paperwork. Still, getting it done as quickly as possible seemed better for all parties involved.

The elevator door slid open into Tony and Robin’s apartment. He stepped out of the elevator into a small entryway. A coat stand beckoned. Out of habit, he removed and draped his coat on a spare hook. He set his briefcase on the small bench next to it and then walked fully into the apartment.

Stepping down a step into the living area, his feet sank into the plush carpet. The smell of gingerbread spice from the flickering candles on the fireplace mantle warmed him, and the glow of the huge Christmas tree standing next to the far window gave the room a loving, intimate feel. He had always felt as “at home” in Tony’s apartment as he had in his own home, sometimes more-so. When Robin moved in after marrying Tony, that feeling had only become more intimate.

A large circular black leather couch surrounded the living area. Barry sat down and closed his eyes, weary to his bones. He hadn’t slept much the last few nights. He scooted down and propped his feet on the coffee table, intending to doze until Maxine came back. Something pushed against his back and he shifted again, trying to get comfortable.

He winced and reached behind him, pulling a sketch pad out of the cushions. He glared at it, as if it were the cause of all of his problems, and started to toss it to the table but paused.

After some hesitation, he opened it, feeling a little like a kid sneaking a look at Christmas presents, or the pesky brother reading big sister’s diary. Without permission, it would be wrong to look at this, but Maxine was the only artist in the house and the temptation overwhelmed him. So, with an ear tuned for the sound of the elevator’s hum, he started flipping through the pages.

He had very little actual exposure to any of Maxine’s work. He had only ever seen the pieces Tony owned. Only what he saw in the sketch pad stunned him. He didn’t know it was possible to create the details he saw with a mere pencil. He didn’t know that moods and entire depths of emotion could be portrayed in plain black and white. Reaching over to the lamp next to him, he flipped it on for better light by which to see.

The first sketch portrayed Robin, laughing and grinning, holding a pair of baby booties behind her back while Tony tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, looking at her with such an expression of love that the page nearly sizzled with it. Barry smiled, remembering that was how Robin had told him she was pregnant, by handing him a pair of baby booties. Another one showed Sarah in her nursing uniform, her curly hair barely contained by the clips that secured it back, her eyes serious behind her trim glasses.