On the other side of the Italian restaurant, Beck Gillam faced his most challenging patient.
“So you’re just going to let her walk out of your life?”
“Hell no.”
Beck offered a skeptical smile in response to the fierce admission. “Sounds admirable, but I can assure you she’s gonna think that’s what you want her to do.”
“Is that your professional opinion?” Alex snapped, fixing the man with a sour look.
“Hey, we just had out last regular session this week. Today I’m speakin’ as a concerned friend,” Beck stated, using a clearly indignant tone.
Alex couldn’t argue. The man had a made a valid point, and gradually his hard demeanor began to melt. “She’s too fine a woman to go through all this,” he sighed, massaging his square jaw while shaking his head. “The last thing I ever want to do is hurt her. Seems like that’s all I ever do.”
Beck leaned forward. “Have you ever considered that in your quest to keep from hurting her, you may be doing exactly that?”
Alex looked away from the man’s hard, jade stare and muttered a curse. “After everything I told you, how I reacted to that damned offer Carlos made, how I decided to walk away from her—you can still ask me some mess like that?”
“Hell, man, you still human, you know? Any man would want revenge against someone who threatened the life of the woman he loved—and that’s not my professional outlook either.”
“I need more time before I go to her... .”
Beck nodded. “I see, and you just figure she’ll be there once you’re ready?” he probed, his heavy brows rising when Alex’s head snapped up. “’Cause, news flash, brotha, women like Topaz Emerson don’t remain alone for long.”
Alex’s stare narrowed, his features relaxing with confidence. “She loves me. In spite of everything, I know she still loves me.”
“But you won’t be around, remember? You off some place taking ‘more time.’ Look, Xan, you’ve bared your soul to this sista. You’ve probably told her things I don’t even know about.”
That was certainly true and Alex couldn’t help but grin over the look of mock disapproval on Beck’s brown face.
“Xan, all I’m sayin’ is that the woman knows all this and she still wants to be with you. Now, you’ve done a lot to get yourself together. Maybe you can start thinkin’ about what she needs and less about what you want.”
Alex inhaled deeply as Beck’s point drove home. He spotted Cicely Woods across the room then and excused himself from Beck to go speak with her.
Topaz left the ladies’ room with a sheet of facial tissue clutched in one hand. She had a feeling the tears would be more abundant in the coming days. She had already decided to spend a few days with Cicely and her husband in Raleigh. Then she would be off again to her parents in New York. Then ... perhaps another nice long vacation some place far away from North Carolina and Alexander Rice, she thought. She was so absorbed in thought, she almost walked right past the man who was calling out to her. Finally, she tuned in and turned in the direction of her name.
“I’m sorry if I scared you, Ms. Emerson. My name is Beck Gillam, I’m—”
“Alex’s therapist.”
Beck grinned in spite of himself and took a step closer. “That’s right.”
Topaz pressed her lips together, debating momentarily before speaking. “I pray you can help him,” she whispered, wringing her hands as she shared her concerns. “Something happened before we left New York after our ... engagement party. Alex said it was business, but ... I know there was more to it. He’s been talking all this nonsense about talking to the police ...” she continued, watching Beck through the fringe of her heavy lashes. She prayed she wasn’t saying too much, but she felt too desperate to stop. “He shuts me out and I know he can’t help it, these ghosts of his ... I’ve seen the man behind them, Doctor. He’s wonderful and I love him. I don’t think he’s fully capable of opening himself up to what that means, though. Just help him, ’cause he’s gonna make some woman very happy.”
Beck squeezed her hands then and Topaz looked away, hating the fact that she’d allowed her emotions to affect her so. Across Beck’s shoulder, she could see Alex approaching. Her heart flew to her throat, but she managed to avert her gaze and prepared to walk away.
Alex switched paths easily. He blocked her way. Topaz kept her head down, her eyes riveted on his hand, which smothered her wrist.
“Come with me,” he said, tightening his grip when she tried to pull away. “I need to talk to you.”
She couldn’t speak.
“Topaz, please.”
Finally, she cleared her throat, her eyes still focused on his hand. “Alex, it’s over between us. Can’t you just let it end where we left it six months ago?”
Alex’s eyes narrowed to thin slits as he leaned close to her. “Is that what you think I really wanted?”
“Yes, and I think it’s what you need. I think it’s what I need.”
“Topaz ... please come with me.”
“I’m here with Cice,” she sighed, rolling her eyes in toward the direction of her table.
Alex glanced across his shoulder. “I just spoke with her. She promised to take care of your car.”
Topaz looked up at him then. What she saw in his extraordinary eyes removed what little remained of her resistance. Slowly, she nodded and followed him from the dining room.
“Where are we?” Topaz asked, pulling a hand through her tousled hair and away from her face.
Alex was leaving his SUV. “Don’t you recognize it?”
Topaz studied the dark, remote stretch of land along the rural road. Her expression was both curious and suspicious as she peered out the passenger window. “I haven’t been here since that day ...” she breathed, finally recognizing the area. “That day we took out my ’Vette,” she recalled, when Alex assisted her from the vehicle. “Seems like that was a lifetime ago.”
Alex watched her hair whipping against the night breeze. The glossy midnight locks appeared as strands of black ribbons against the moonlight. “It was a lifetime ago,” he agreed, and caught a few of the tendrils between his fingers. “Topaz—”
