Moments passed, the first few filled with anticipation from Blake, and then disappointment as he realized she wasn't answering him.
"I know it's not as romantic as you probably expected it to be. I should have set up something better." He offered lamely his apologies as he watched her eyes well up with tears. She bit her bottom lip and he wanted to kiss away the hurt he knew was there.
Finally, as if she'd snapped back to reality, Aiyana looked up at him with watery eyes and gripped the hem of her nightgown. "I know your mother hates me," she whispered, feeling guilt wash over her.
Blake was stunned into silence as he felt the box lowered to his lap. He didn't want to lie to her, tell her that his mother loved her and that it was all okay, but he didn't want to give voice to the reality either, that she'd be marrying him when his mother didn't approve. But how could she know?
"Did she say something to you?" he asked as he felt his heart smashing into tiny bits. It hurt, like someone had just stuck a hand in his chest and squeezed hard. His breathing was shallow but he tried not to show her how much her obvious refusal upset him.
"No, but I didn't need to hear it from her lips to see it in her eyes. She doesn't like me, Blake. In fact, it's a little more than that. She doesn't approve of me, and I don't know if right now is a good time to think about, well, this." She couldn't bear to look down at the ring. Her throat was constricting and she felt one of the stray tears sliding down her face. This wasn't how she'd imagined the night going.
"Just give her some time honey. When she sees how much I love you, adore you, she'll come around. She's just set in her ways and needs some time to-to-" he didn't know what to say. Was she going to leave? He couldn't tell. He'd asked too soon, and now he feared he was going to lose her because of his impatience. "Just forget about it. I shouldn't have asked like this. Can we just forget I asked?"
When he looked up, Aiyana could see the raw pain etched across his face and saw it down in his soul. She'd created a fissure she was afraid she couldn't repair with this refusal. If only she'd been more tactful. If only she'd told him she knew sooner. The conversation she'd had with Briana flashed back into her mind and she grimaced.
Blake took it the wrong way and she saw him emotionally withdrawing from her. There was an invisible wall in between them all of a sudden, and she didn't know what to do to break it down. "I love you," she told him quietly as she tried to reach him again.
"I love you," he told her and then closed the ring box and slipped it into his pocket. She watched him stand and begin to loosen his tie. He stepped away from her and into the bathroom in order to continue getting undressed, and she could feel that fissure growing by the second.
By the time he came back to bed she was already under the covers. He smiled at her as he always did and wished her goodnight, but there was something missing from his eyes. Aiyana swallowed hard when the light flashed off and rolled over onto her side, her back facing him. She lay awake until four or five in the morning, and then sleep finally gave her two hours of rest before she was awakened by sunlight hitting her face.
The terrible event from just a few hours beforehand seemed like a terrible dream, but she knew it was true when she padded out to the kitchen and saw that Blake had left her a note.
Went to the office. ~ Blake
No, I love you, I'll see you later, nothing at the end of it to tell her that he wanted her to be there when he got back. Aiyana felt her chest cave in and sat down hard on one of the breakfast bar stools. Her bare feet felt the cool tile beneath them and she pulled them up onto the stool with her to keep them warm. But the ice cold feeling wasn't coming from the outside; she felt it creeping through her veins. She'd done something stupid, and she wasn't sure she could make it better.
Minutes that felt like hours passed before she could put her feet on the floor and grab a cup of coffee. She took it in good stride that he'd made enough for her. Maybe he was hurt over her refusal, but perhaps there was a chance she could fix it. She went to the room she shared with him and picked up her phone.
Briana answered on the second ring. "It's seven in the morning," she said groggily on the other end of the line. "Who's dead?"
"No one, not yet."
"You mean someone is going to be dead?" Briana quipped.
"No, no. It's just, I screwed up, Bree. I just-" she felt the tears clogging her throat again and tried to swallow away the lump.
"You're at his place?" Briana asked, and Aiyana nodded. Then she realized her friend couldn't see her.
"Yes, I'm here." She said before the line went dead. She sat down on the edge of the bed and sipped her coffee like a zombie. Repeatedly, she told herself it would be okay and that he just needed some time to think.
But he was supposed to take the day off. They were going to spend it eating at the Chinese restaurant she'd taken him to first, and then they were going go ice skating before they went out for a romantic dinner. He'd told her so, and he'd chosen to go to work that day instead. She felt a flash of jealousy as she wondered if his business partner would be there.
Would he seek comfort with her? Before she could call him to see if it was all over and she should be packing, the doorbell rang and she knew Briana had come to rescue her. When she opened up the door to let her friend in, she caught a whiff of bagels and eggs.
"Breakfast is here," Briana said before she swept into the apartment and her mouth dropped. "Holy-"
Chapter Five
"Oh good, you're here. You must have gotten my text." Julia pursed her lips as she settled into the chair across from Blake. She still had her receptionist desk and covered those duties, and Blake had offered her a desk in his office so they could share, but she'd refused.
"I'm here," he told her as he continued to face out the window and not look at her. She could tell he was distracted, but assumed it was because she'd sent him a text about his cousin.
"So Jonathan thinks he might have a good idea for the next line of televisions, Blake, are you listening?" he swiveled in his chair to look at her and she could see a haunted look in his eyes before he blinked and look like all business again.
"I'm listening," he assured her with a smile to let her know to proceed.
"Well, he thinks you should team up with a video game company he's been working with. They're thinking about a new three-dimensional system and he thought you might want to talk to them about some advertising campaigns together. Now, if you ask me, I think it sounds like a solid plan, but then again, I'm no advertising expert." He frowned at her as he drummed his fingers. Of course she was an expert on it, she'd half designed most of the campaigns already.
"You have reservations and you're afraid to tell me because Jonathan is my cousin." The deadpan tone of his voice tipped her off that something was wrong and she refrained any answer. Suddenly, as if something had taken him over, he stood from his chair and his fist slammed down on his desk. Julia visibly jumped and glared at him. "Damn it! Why does my family have to ruin every relationship I have? First Aiyana, then you! Who's next?"
His cheeks had flushed red and his pulse was racing in his neck. Julia stared at him, watching the nervous tick in his jaw. She saw the moment he realized he'd made a fool of himself, and then the moment when he resolved to the teasing he thought was going to come next. She felt pity for him, but still, she wasn't going to sit there and be treated in such a disrespectful manner without a reprimand.
"You're buying me a Frappuccino for that, Mr. Hanley." The flush disappeared from his cheeks and she saw his chest rise and fall in a deep sigh. "Now, you're going to tell me what's wrong and why you've just cracked your desk. It's expensive, by the way, and I'm not happy about it."
"Not happy about it?" he asked incredulously as he looked down at the hairline fracture. He wondered if that's what his heart looked like last night. Now it felt like it'd turned to cement.
"The cost, of course. We're going to have to buy you a new desk and now that I have a stake in this business, I don't like frivolous spending on furniture that shouldn't have been damaged in the first place." He felt a twitch on his lips and his fists relaxed as he rested his hands on his thighs. "Now, tell me what happened."
Blake took a few deep breaths and wondered if he should really tell Julia about it. Shouldn't he be talking to Aiyana? He thought about it a moment and decided that if Julia were a man, he'd tell a male friend in a heartbeat. It was something friends shared, and there wasn't anything wrong with being friends with a woman. Still, people talked.