Across the dining room, Alex’s gaze was focused solely on Topaz.
After weeks of planning, the highly anticipated party date had arrived. Proprietors of the businesses that had once existed along Briarcliff began to arrive at Horace White’s beautiful estate. Though the event promised to deliver more than one bittersweet moment, the group was determined to enjoy a wonderful evening.
Topaz arrived on the arm of Casey Williams. Also joining them were Scott and Cicely Woods. The newlyweds were visiting from Raleigh.
“I’ll be damned ...” Scott breathed, his deep-set onyx stare narrowing. “Alex! Yo, Alex, man!” he called, having spotted his old friend among a crowd just outside the foyer.
Alex frowned and looked in the direction where he heard his name. His grin deepened when he saw Scott Woods waving and calling for him to join them.
Topaz muttered something below her breath and squeezed Casey’s arm. “I see some people I want to speak to,” she whispered close to his ear. She had no idea Alex would be there, then cursed her own stupidity for the oversight. Of course he’d be there! He knew everyone she knew! Praying fervently that she could enjoy the party without seeing or speaking with Alex, Topaz left Casey’s side to find Horace and his partner.
Topaz had barely finished greeting Stan and Horace when they pulled her with them to the bandstand.
“Excuse me! ’Scuse us! Could we have everybody’s attention please?” Horace called into the microphone.
“Horace?” Topaz whispered, dreading that she was about to be thrust—quite unwillingly—into the spotlight.
“Thank you, all. Just a few words please, and then we can get back to havin’ a good time. Um ... I think we all knew there would be some less than ‘happy’ moments here tonight. Well, this is one of ’em. This gorgeous lady here,” he said, waving one hand toward Topaz, “she’s decided not to rebuild her shop in Charlotte. She’s movin’ on to seek her fame and fortune elsewhere. We’re gonna miss her a lot, but I think I can speak for everyone when we say thank you and we wish you nothing but success,” he toasted, leaning in to kiss her temple. The rest of the group raised their glasses in a silent salute.
Stan ushered her close to the microphone, intending for her to say a few words. Topaz could barely see the crowd through the blur of tears pooling in her eyes. Overwhelmed by emotion, she could only whisper a hushed “excuse me” into the microphone. Then she fled the room.
She ran to the kitchen, grateful that the staff was out working the party. Relishing the solitude, she walked across the room to brace her hands along the stainless steel double sink. Bowing her head, she allowed herself to give in to the sobs swelling inside her chest. She stood there, until a knocking sound rose from some place inside the kitchen. Topaz cleared her throat and reached for a glass—pretending to get water.
“Topaz.”
Alex’s familiar, canyon-deep voice stilled her movements, and the glass almost slipped from her hand.
“Hey,” she whispered, turning away from the sink. “I was just getting some water,” she said, tossing her hair across her shoulder when she went to move past him.
Alex refused to move from the doorway. Instead, he stepped inside and forced her back into the kitchen. Topaz looked everywhere but his face.
“Was Horace telling the truth in there?” he questioned, his startling blue-green gaze boring into her. “You’re leaving town?” he asked, closing what distance there was between them.
“Mmm-hmm. He sure was,” she lightly replied. “Places to go, people to see ...”
“What about your life here? Your friends? You’re just ready to walk away from that?”
Topaz shook her head. “I just can’t stay here.”
The lost, defeated tone in her voice rendered Alex speechless. He felt his chest constrict as a sudden feeling of helplessness overcame him. She was going and he was powerless to stop it from happening. It had been over six months since they had been so close to one another. Of all the things that had changed, his feelings for her had changed most of all. Now he was even more in love with her.
“I have to go,” Topaz was saying. She turned to set her glass aside, then left the kitchen.
Alex swallowed past the emotion that was surging up through his chest and causing his head to ache. His breathing grew labored, and after a while he reached for Topaz’s glass and swallowed the tepid water.
“Sweetie, didn’t you at least want to hear what he had to say? I don’t think he would’ve come in there unless he wanted to change where things stood.”
“Cice, I wanted to hear what he had to say so much. I don’t know ... with him standing there after all that time, I—I just couldn’t ...”
Cicely Grays-Woods lowered her wide brown gaze to the dining table. Her heart ached at the pain she heard touching her best friend’s voice.
“The engagement is off. Maybe it was never in the cards for us. Maybe we were just fooling ourselves.”
“Topaz, how can you say that after everything y’all been through?”
“I don’t want to say it!” Topaz hissed, her light eyes glittering with frustration. “I don’t even want to think it, Cice. It’s been almost six months and I still don’t want to face it.”
Cicely reached out to rub her friend’s shaking hand. “Honey, you know Alex better than anyone, but even I know the man don’t say things he don’t mean. If he said he loved you and wanted to marry you, I know he meant it. No matter what’s happened, he wouldn’t say those words lightly.”
“I wanted to believe that, but now all this time has passed... .”
“Well?” Cicely challenged. “In light of that, don’t you think someone should make the first move?”
Topaz pushed her hands into the bell sleeves of her tan sweater and looked down into her lap. “It’s got to be Alex, Cice. He’s got to allow himself to accept what I’m offering. I can’t force it. I just can’t.”
Cicely leaned back in her chair. “Doesn’t make sense,” she said, chewing her thumbnail as she spoke, “but Alex Rice is a complex man and I don’t have to tell you that. He seems to keep so much of his pain inside.”
“And it’s eaten away at him as a result. He’s opened up to me before ... maybe he can’t do it again,” Topaz softly acknowledged, her long hair curtaining her face when she bowed her head. Tears pressured her eyes when Cicely patted her hand again.
“Um, Cice, I’ll be back, all right?” she said suddenly, leaving the table before her friend could reply.
