The Lost Boys by Karina Bliss

Author:Karina Bliss
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Karina Bliss
Published: 2019-08-01T08:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-one

“We’ve been looking for you.”

Jordan opened his eyes and squinted against the afternoon sun. Christian and Luke stood gazing down at him, two slicks in designer suits and sunglasses.

He should have known his friends would track him down. But then it wasn’t rocket science. Whenever he had a thorny problem to think through, he would cross the road from their offices and find a bench among the trees in Victoria Park.

“Shit. I forgot that meeting,” he said, registering the significance of their attire.

“We managed without you,” said Luke. “What’s wrong?”

“Kate won’t take me back.” He’d returned to work because he couldn’t stand to be alone with his thoughts, but the office chatter was worse. His life had fallen apart; he didn’t give a damn that Triton had successfully signed the Queenstown deal.

His friends sat on either side of him. “I’ve been tearing my hair out for the past hour,” Jordan said, “trying to think of a way to prove I’m ready for love, marriage, the whole kit and caboodle. Nothing. I don’t know how to fix this.”

“Give up, then,” advised Luke.

“That’s it?” Jordan snapped. “That’s your advice?”

“Luke’s right,” said Christian. “It’s way too hard.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” he roared. He got up and started pacing.

“Make him mad,” said Luke. “Always works.”

Jordan ignored them. “A gesture she can’t argue with…something that removes every doubt about my ability to make a commitment. A gesture as big-hearted as hers.” He glanced up. “Speaking of which, I read what you wrote about me and I just wanted to say—”

Christian turned to Luke. “It’s so great being with the guys, isn’t it? You don’t have to do postmortems on stuff like feelings.”

“You’ve got that right,” said Luke.

Jordan grinned. “I knew you’d be embarrassed.” His spirits lifted, and he felt hopeful again. “Okay, I’ll leave you two to talk manly stuff—like Christian’s bridesmaid dress.” He started down the path.

“Are you that confident of getting the girl?” Luke called curiously.

“No,” replied Jordan. “The only thing I know for sure is that I’m prepared to die trying.”

* * *

“These are for you.” The receptionist walked into Kate’s office with a long elegant box, lavish with red ribbons, and shook her head at the clutter of empty coffee cups and papers. “What time did you get here this morning?”

“Five,” Kate admitted, rubbing her eyes. Work was normally a panacea, but this time it was failing her. Still, it had to be better than tossing and turning.

“Where shall I put these?”

“I’ll take them.” Did Jordan honestly think he could change her mind with flowers? Depressed, Kate pushed the box aside and kept working, but it was harder to ignore the gilt-edged card. She resisted for another thirty minutes, then gave up and opened it.

Remember the conversation around the campfire when I said I’d never met the right woman and Mike said, “Maybe you were never the right man?” We were both right.

Intrigued now, she undid the ribbons on the box and lifted the last of the tissue paper.

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