Only One for Me (8 page)

“
I thought you’d be happy
for me,” he said quietly. “We can get married any time. This is a
once in a lifetime opportunity for me.”

“
No, marrying
me
is the once in a
lifetime opportunity.”

“
And we will, just not as
originally planned.” He hesitated, knowing his next words would
sting. “It’s just a lot going on right now, and I think we should
wait on getting married …” He trailed off as the hurt on her face
emerged even more.

“
Cannon, my mother and I
have already put deposits down. They’re non-refundable.”

“
I’ll receive half of my
trust fund from my parents when I graduate. I can pay you
back.”

“
So you just don’t want to
marry me anymore.” Her voice cracked and tears rolled down her
face. He felt like crap.

“
I didn’t say
that.”

“
You know what? I’m tired
of this. Since we’ve been together, your work has always been more
important than this relationship. You’ve cancelled dates and
vacations because you’re always off somewhere doing whatever the
hell Cannon wants to do. You’ve never once considered my feelings,
even though I’ve been supportive of you and your endeavors every
step of the way, including that damn grant.”

“
Yasmine, I’m not saying I
don’t want to marry you, just not now. We can get married anytime
after I return.”

“
I’m so sick of you saying
we can get married anytime, as if marrying me is something to
scratch off your extremely long to-do list.”

“
That’s not what I meant.”
Sliding his hands down his face, he said through clenched teeth,
“This isn’t easy for me ...”

She walked toward him
while slipping off her engagement ring. “I’m going to make it real
easy.” Her voice choked on the words. “You don’t have to worry
about marrying me,
and you can go pursue
your
once in a lifetime
opportunity
.” She slapped the ring in his
hand and turned back toward the bathroom, unzipping her dress. “I’m
done.”

“
You’re calling off our
engagement?” he asked in shock as he walked behind her. He grabbed
her to him, searching for some type of familiarity on her face, but
all he saw was the pain and frustration that he had caused
again
.

“
No,” she screamed in a
tone he’d never heard before. She pushed his chest, and he let go.
“I’m calling off this relationship that you’ve barely been
in.”

“
That’s not true. I love
you very much.”

“
I can’t tell.” She opened
the drawer to the vanity that held the things he used when he spent
the night and began tossing them into a bag on the counter. “I
suggest you get your things out of the dresser drawer before I burn
them Bernadette style from
Waiting to
Exhale
.” She turned toward the
closet.

“
Yasmine, don’t … don’t do
this.” He felt the emotions in him rise. She came out with his
clothes and started throwing them at him. They hit his chest before
landing in a puddle at his feet. However, the second batch of
clothes confused him. They were sundresses, shorts, and tops.
“These aren’t mine.”

“
I know, but you bought
them for me to wear on our honeymoon, and I don’t want or need them
anymore.” She threw them with the rest of the clothes on the
bathroom floor.

Grabbing her by the wrists, he pulled
her hard to him. She tried to squirm away, but he held her firmly
to his chest. She huffed and puffed with her eyes fixated on the
wall behind him.

“
Look at me, woman!” He
held both of her wrists in one hand and turned her face up to his
with the other. “I love you. Don’t do this, Angel face,” he
pleaded.

“
Let me go,” she screamed
at the top of her lungs with tears rolling down her face. She
pushed her body hard against him, and he let go of her wrists.
“Please leave.”

“
You don’t mean
it.”

“
Just go save the world,
Cannon,” she said sarcastically.

Grabbing the bag on the counter, he
gathered up his clothes on the floor, leaving hers there. He turned
to look at her and the hurt on her face was too much for his heart
to bear. Tears stained her cheeks, and she shook uncontrollably. He
wanted to reach out and hold her, console her, but the expression
on her face screamed stay away from me.

“
You’ll regret this one
day,” he said as he walked down the stairs with her following
him.

“
The only thing I regret
is wasting two years with you.” Her voice was cold with no emotion.
She picked up the vase of red roses from the foyer table that he’d
sent that day to her school and threw them just as he closed the
front door. He heard it crash on the other side and a loud, sobbing
scream from her.

Chapter One

12 years later
…

Yasmine dropped her briefcase and
purse on the couch on the way to the ringing phone in the kitchen.
She grabbed it and saw Sherika Williams, her best friend’s name on
the caller ID.

“
Hey, lady!” Walking to
the refrigerator, she noticed a note under a magnet from her
mother. Yasmine shook her head. Why didn’t her mother just text
her? They both had iPhones. She pulled out a chicken and vegetable
stir-fry she’d made yesterday and raked it into a plate. She hadn’t
eaten since that morning. It was now late evening, and she was
famished.

“
Yaz, I had the best
Valentine’s Day ever yesterday!” Sherika squealed.

“
What romantic thing did
Doug do now?” She glanced at the note.

Will be home late. Out on
a date with you know who.

“
He asked me to marry
him!” Sherika squeaked, and Yasmine imagined her friend jumping up
and down at the same time.

She closed the microwave door and
pushed two minutes on the panel. “That’s wonderful! I knew it
wouldn’t be long before he did. You two have been great friends
over the years, and have always had a crush on each other. I was
glad when you finally reconnected in the same city last year. I
knew it would only be a matter of time before he popped the
question!”

“
Me too! I never wanted to
do the long distance thing, but I’m glad we’ve always remained
friends. But when he moved here, it just felt right.”

“
How did he propose? I
want all of the details.”

“
He surprised me in my
classroom at the end of the day and whisked me off to Montreal. He
got permission from my principal so I could be off for the rest of
the week. We’re here now.”

“
In Canada?”

“
Yep. He’s here for
business, so he’s actually in a meeting at the moment. I just
couldn’t believe it.”

“
So when’s the big day?”
Taking off her black suit jacket, Yasmine tossed it on a barstool
next to the island.

“
Well … we have to get
married really soon, like the first weekend in June. He’s accepted
a job in Madrid, Spain.”

“
Congratulations. I’ll
start looking for plane tickets to New York. Just tell me
when.”

“
Since my family is mostly
in Memphis and his is in St. Louis, we’re going to get married in
Memphis.”

“
Makes sense.” The
microwave beeped. Yasmine took out the plate, poured a glass of
Merlot, and carried the items to the couch, plopping down on
it.

“
And you have to be my
maid of honor.”

“
I would be
honored.”

“
Thank you, girl. And I
need a big favor. Because I’m in New York, there are some things
with the planning process that I can’t do, even though I just
secured a wedding coordinator in Memphis. I need someone there I
know and trust, and I trust you.”

“
Of course I will. Lucky
for you, my consulting contract with the school system doesn’t end
until the middle of June, so I’ll be here. Just email me the
information and a laundry list of assignments, and I’ll get on
it.”

Having lived away from her hometown of
Memphis since she was eighteen, Yasmine had moved back temporarily
six months ago from Atlanta to be with her mother, who was in
remission from stage one breast cancer after completing her rounds
of chemotherapy.

“
Perfect. Doug has asked
his best man to help with some things like the tuxedos and what
not.”

At the mention of the best man,
Yasmine’s heart dropped and the food on her plate no longer looked
appetizing. She took a sip of her wine before asking the dreaded
question.

“
Who’s the best
man?”

“
Relax, its Doug’s big
brother. He lives in St. Louis and will go with you to the first
meeting with the coordinator this Monday at three o’clock if you
can make it.”

Yasmine breathed easy again and took a
sip of her wine.

“
I can make it. I honestly
thought you were going to say someone else’s name.”

“
Nope. Doug did ask him,
but he’s speaking at a medical convention in Vegas that weekend and
won’t be able to come to the wedding.”

“
Why am I not surprised
that Dr. Cannon Arrington is too busy to attend his best friend’s
wedding?”

“
I can’t believe you
haven’t bumped into him since you’ve been back in
Memphis.”

“
Fortunately, no. Besides,
I’ve been with mother or doing consulting work for the school
system.”

“
Doug said Cannon has been
in Brazil the past few months doing business for Doctors Unlimited.
You know he’s the CEO of the organization. He’s in and out of town,
so maybe that’s why you haven’t run into him.”

“
Sherika, what is our
agreement?”

Her best friend since
fifth grade sighed. “That I never mention
him
or what he’s doing to
you.”

“
Thank you. Now back to
you and the fabulous wedding I’m going to help plan.”

The ladies talked for a few more
moments about the wedding details until Doug returned from his
meeting and Sherika happily got off the phone. Yasmine finished her
dinner in relief mode. The last thing she wanted to do was to run
into Cannon, much less plan a wedding with him. Even though she was
now thirty-six and not the naïve girl she was in her early twenties
when she thought she was in love, she still didn’t want to see him.
It took her years to get over their relationship that she thought
was perfect. Eventually she’d dated again, and even had a few
marriage proposals, but turned them all down. They had been nice
guys, but she’d guarded her heart to the point of never falling in
love again, dumping guys left and right when she thought they
wanted a permanent relationship.

Yasmine glanced over the notes for the
wedding she jotted down and breathed another sigh of relief that
Cannon wouldn’t be the best man.

*****

“
Make sure to give her the
medicine twice a day with food.” Cannon scribbled out a
prescription for strep throat on his pad and handed it to his
patient’s mother. “She’ll need to rest for the rest of the week, so
I’m giving you a doctor’s note for her school as well.” He handed
her another piece of paper.

“
Thank you so much, Dr.
Arrington. I’m glad you were able to squeeze us in
today.”

“
No problem. I’ve been
your children’s pediatrician for years. I care about their
well-being and your peace of mind.” He looked at the little girl
who sat on the exam table, leaning her head on her mother’s
shoulder. “Kailyn, make sure to grab something from the treasure
box by the door.”

The little girl smiled and slid off of
the table. “You’re my favorite doctor,” she said with a hoarse
voice as she sat on the floor rummaging through the box.

After they left, Cannon washed his
hands and headed back to his office. He checked his watch. It was
almost two o’clock, and he needed to head to the other side of
town. He chuckled. He couldn’t believe he agreed to be Doug’s best
man that morning, but since he’d gotten the week of the medical
conference mixed up, he was now available. Plus, Doug’s brother was
a truck driver and would be in and out of town, making it hard for
him to run whatever errands the groom needed.

Cannon hung his white coat on the back
of the door and retrieved his blue suit jacket from his desk chair
and took a deep breath. Today he would have to face Yasmine for the
first time in twelve years. His heart stopped for a second. Just
the thought of her still shook him. Even though he hadn’t seen or
spoken to her, she’d still entered his mind from time to time. Her
smile, her cute giggle, the sexy way his name rolled off her tongue
and how she glided her fingers over his chest, all still occupied
his brain. He’d hated the way their relationship ended and had felt
guilty about it ever since.

“
Getting ready to
leave?”

Cannon snapped out of his thoughts and
looked up to see his twin sister, Raven, standing in his doorway,
staring at him with the same almond-shaped, chocolate eyes he saw
every morning in the mirror. Her pink peacoat lay draped over her
arm, a huge black leather purse dangled on her wrist, and the gray
opera gloves lying in her hand matched the belt on her black sheath
dress. Her reddish-brown curls were swept up into a bun on top of
her head with a few escaped ringlets around her face. He smiled.
His sister was always classy and elegant even when she wasn’t
trying to be.