"Elaina! You know Allie put this trip together to spend time with you," Angie scolded.
Elaina shoved a sweater into her duffel bag. "Angie, there's nothing I could do about this. We're talking about twenty-three million dollars here."
"We're talking about Allie's feelings here," Angie retorted.
Elaina glared at her. "Twenty-three million dollars, Angie. I think Allie will understand. Besides," she went back to packing, "if this deal goes through, I'll be able to take her vacationing in the south of France if she wants to!"
Angie watched Elaina in disbelief, ignoring her smart remark. "You know, it's rather convenient, isn't it?"
Elaina stopped suddenly and looked up. "What are you talking about?"
"You know exactly what I'm talking about."
"Try me."
"Being around Jeremy is making you rethink what you're doing, and the guilt is killing you, so you're running again."
"You know that this has nothing to do with him!" Elaina was irate. "I mean, there's no way I could have set this up, even if I'd wanted to. It's a company emergency, Angie. It's not dependent upon my vacation or my personal life or my friends' feelings, nor does it care, nor will it be affected by them. I can't believe you would even think that!"
"Emergency or not, you're still running, Elaina, and I can't believe you don't see it." Feeling tears welling in her eyes from the hurt of her friend's disregard of her sister's feelings as well as her own, Angie turned to leave. Before she stepped out of the room, however, she turned her head to the side to make one last comment. "I just hope you realize you can't run forever." She stood in the doorway for a moment before finally walking away, leaving Elaina to her thoughts.
Elaina closed her eyes and sighed, sinking back against the bed. As she sat there for a moment fighting of an impending wave of guilt, she became aware of someone watching her. When she opened her eyes, she was startled to see Jeremy leaning on the door frame. She quickly looked down at her hands. "Why are you here, Jeremy?" She had had enough cordial visits for one evening.
"Oh, I thought you could probably use this." He stepped into the room and held out a mug of coffee.
She managed a wry smile. "You mean I don't look perky already?" she joked. She took the coffee and sipped it, allowing the liquid to permeate through her body. "Mmm. Now that's good."
"Colombian blend," Jeremy smiled, "Your favorite. You didn't think I'd forget, did you?"
For a moment, she thought to comment on that, but she quickly changed her mind, taking another sip of the coffee instead. She felt her muscles relax as she closed her eyes and let her body be warmed by the drink.
"So what were you and Angie fighting about?" Jeremy asked, stepping into the room and taking a seat in the big stuffed chair next to her bed. "I didn't think you two could ever disagree."
Elaina thought quickly. "She's just mad at me for leaving like this." Perfect cover.
"Oh," Jeremy commented, but Elaina could find nothing in his tone to indicate what he was feeling.
Elaina writhed for a moment, then looked up at him. "You don't think I'm wrong for leaving, do you?"
Jeremy's countenance produced a look of shock. "Of course not!" he reassured her. "You can't afford to lose your whole career over a little reunion, no matter how they might feel about it now."
"But I feel so guilty." Elaina felt her eyes begin to burn. "I know how much this meant to Allie."
"Elaina, it's not your fault." Jeremy reached out and touched her hand—-deliberately, her right hand, and Elaina noticed his choice of the "ringless" one. "If I'd have been scheduled for a tournament—-or even an endorsement-—I'd have had to show there rather than come here, and there's no saying that someone isn't going to try to contact me while I'm here and drag me away." She stared at him wide-eyed as he rationalized. "No matter how much we enjoy our work, we can't always control its demands. We just have to roll with the punches sometimes."
"I know, Jeremy, but—-" she stopped herself and took a deep breath as she felt tears surging for her eyes. Letting the breath out in a sort of regulated sigh, she asked him, "Why can't they understand that?"
"Because our jobs are different, Lainie. You know that, and you knew that when you started." He paused, and he looked at her sincerely. "But they will understand…in time, anyway. Right now, they're just angry, but when they calm down, they'll realize you're just doing what you have to do."
Though she was staring at the ground, Elaina's face contorted a bit on those last words, and Jeremy picked up on it.
"You are leaving because you have to, right, Elaina?"
You can't run forever, echoed in her head. You're running.
"Elaina?"
She looked up at him, shaking off her friend's chastisement. "Yes, of course. I've got to go to Switzerland."
"Then let it blow over, and it will all be fine," Jeremy encouraged.
Fine... Though his look was reassuring, Elaina somehow felt that things would never turn out fine. Not now... Not after things had gone so far off track...
"Aaron!" Alex signaled the bartender. "Two shots of Cuervo!"
Elaina giggled. "Alex! We've already done shots to my degree, to our health, to tonight, and to our friendship—-" she thought for a second "—-not to mention the shots I've already forgotten! What are we drinking to now?" The two friends sat together at their favorite college bar, celebrating the end of Elaina's senior year of college. She had finished her exams that afternoon, and Alex, as one of her best friends, had offered to take her out for drinks.
"Let's make a pact," Alex stated, taking her hand and pouring a dab of salt on it. "Let's say that if we both sign with Fortune 500 companies in the next four years, we get married."
Elaina picked up her shot of tequila in one hand and a slice of lime in the other. "In four years?" she double-checked, attempting to think about when that would be.
"In four years," he confirmed.
She smiled mischievously and lifted her shot in the air. "You've got yourself your first deal, Mr. Scarpelli."
Alex matched her gesture. "To the future Mrs. Scarpelli." They touched glasses and did the routine: salt, shot, lime. The two slammed their glasses down in unison.
"So it’s set, then," Elaina reinforced.
"But it hasn't been sealed yet," Alex returned her mischievous grin.
"It hasn't, eh?" Elaina questioned. "And how does one seal a marriage proposal?"
"Oh, something like this." And Alex leaned over and kissed her solidly on the lips.
Elaina, at first surprised, then reciprocated, and the two sat locked together for a moment. "So that's how you do it!" The two laughed. "You know, I always wondered what kind of a kisser you were," Elaina remarked.
"Oh? And how do I rank?"
Elaina touched his cheek with her forefinger. "I think I'll need to do more research." With that, the two embraced and kissed again...
That had been the night their relationship had changed, though their so-called "engagement" had only begun as a barroom pact. Before long, Alex and Elaina were always together, and Elaina finally realized that it had gone far beyond a drunken agreement. Elaina began to spend time with his family whenever they visited, and she and Alex even began to act like they were married. When Alex had signed with a Fortune 500 Wall Street broker, the situation had become much more serious, and when Elaina also achieved her part of the arrangement, Alex hadn't waited long to ask her officially to marry him. She already felt as if she were a part of his family, so the ceremony seemed only a formality.
Still, there was always something in the back of her mind telling her she was only going through the motions with Alex. Something wasn't quite right, even though everyone else thought they seemed perfect—including Alex himself. There was no way to back out now and still save face. She would either marry Alex and finish what she'd started, or she would destroy a family, her relationship to them, and many other friends and companions who would be torn in the middle.
Sitting here with Jeremy, she wanted to believe him. She wanted everything to just wind up turning out right, but things could never go back to being fine. Too much had changed, and Jeremy couldn't see that.
"I hope you're right," Elaina commented.
"I know I am," Jeremy stated.
"Hello?" Elaina pulled her cellular phone out of her pocket.
To be continued...
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