One Last Time

Chapter 8

Abe

I got the okay from Brooklyn, and then I was grinning to myself like an i***t. But I was already home, and alone, so it wasn't like there was someone there to see and criticize me for it.

Tickets, I reminded myself, jumping up. Not to mention I needed to pack.

I went to my study where I still had my lap top open, though the screen had gone to sleep. I'd known about the wine tasting even for a couple weeks, and I'd planned on going solo because I didn't have a date to bring to this one. Now that Nora was going with me, though, I couldn't be happier. I sat down at my laptop and opened up the airports website, with my cell close by. On such short notice, the flight might have been filled, and I was ready to negotiate a deal.

Besides I told Brooklyn a little white lie. If I told her that we're really going then she would never agree and I had a chance to make things right. I had been a coward until now, pretending that she didn't mean this much to me. The setting had to be right to make up for six years of being a f*****g fool.

Ten minutes later, I sent Brooklyn a text that I would be picking her up in half an hour. A minute later, she let me know where to pick her up. I frowned, wondering why she couldn't just let me pick her up wherever she was staying. The place she wanted me to pick her up was close to the bridal shop, where we met, and I was f*****g sure she didn't stay anywhere near there. There were no hotels close by, and if I recalled that, Nora was about half an hour away from there.

Whatever. She agreed to go, so that was all that mattered.

I went to my bedroom to pack a suitcase. I hurried, and in fifteen minutes, I was done and heading out of my place. I'd called a driver already, and the limo was waiting for me outside. As soon as I stepped outside, the driver picked up my suitcase for me, led the way to the car and opened the back door for me. I sat inside and told him where to pick up Brooklyn from. Luckily, it was on the way. It was a little late in the afternoon, but we still managed to beat rush hour traffic.

My eyes were looking outside as the limo came to a stop, and I saw her. My breath hitched, and my heart started beating fast in my chest. I let the driver get her suitcase, and slid over as the door was opened to her. She sat inside, and I grinned over at her.

"Looking sexy as always."

The dress she was in today was different from the last one. It was in a dark blue that reached down to her knees, showing off her sexy legs, and a pair of black strappy sandals on her feet. She had on a jacket that she'd had wrapped around her, but as she sat in the car, she let it go to fall around her. The neck of the dress was a low V-neck that showed off her cleavage, and my eyes naturally fell on it.

"Thank you," she said with a coy smile.

"We're going to be in Cali soon and it's so much warmer over there.."

Fuck!

I planned on telling her at the airport.

"I can't go all the way there. The wedding and everything. You told me Long Island, there's a big difference between Long Island and New York. We'll arrive at night, right?"

"I know, but even at night the air there is still warmer than it is here."

"Seriously Abe, you think that's the only thing I'm worrying about right now. How long are we going to be over there?"

"Only for tomorrow. We'll be coming back Monday morning, and we'll be in wine country for most of tomorrow."

She nodded pensively, crossing her legs. "That's good, then. I have enough outfits. I thought I'd have to pop back home to get more or that I would miss the wedding." She turned her head to look at me. "Where exactly are we going?"

My eyes had been glued to the length of her legs, but at her question, I looked up.

"I would have loved to take you to Silicon Valley," I said with a sigh. "It's really beautiful there at this time of year, but the event is in Napa Valley. It doesn't fall short, though, so I think you'll love it there. Or have you ever been?"

She arched an eyebrow at me. "My family is nowhere near the level of yours, of course I've never been to a wine tasting event. I've wanted to go to one for a while, though. I could never find the time, anyway. And it's not like I'm that crazy about wine so I don't exactly cry over it."

"I think you're going to like it, though. Besides the wines, there'll be plenty of food to eat, and the view is amazing. Not to mention it will definitely be warm. Have you ever had wine before?"

She narrowed her eyes. "I have, I guess, at company events back at work, but I can't tell you anything about them other than the taste wasn't terrible."

I chuckled, throwing an arm behind her on the seat, and sliding closer to her in the process. "Then let me tell you all you need to know."

Brooklyn listened attentively as I told her all I knew about wines. The truth was, she didn't need to know so much just to enjoy the wine event, but I liked telling her things, because she had her attention on me the whole time.

When we arrived at the airport, the driver opened the door for the both of us to step out, and brought out our luggage. We got through the process with no problem and by five ,we were seated on the plane.

"Did you have to get first class tickets?" Brooklyn asked, arching an eyebrow. "I've never taken first class before."

I gave her a sheepish smile, but the truth was I'd never not been in first class every time I was on a plane. Actually, since I finished college, I'd been flying around on the family's private jet, so it had been a while for me. But the seats were comfortable and I didn't want to make the difference between Brooklyn and I so obvious.

"Don't worry about the ticket," I said, patting her hand. "We're going out to have fun, so just focus on that, okay? What would you like to do until we get there? Maybe sleep?"

She shook her head. "No, I can sleep once we get to Cali, it shouldn't be too late." Then she paused. "Wait, I didn't ask anything about this flight."

"It's an express flight, so no need to worry. The flight should be maybe six or seven hours to San Francisco, sorry I couldn't get any faster."

She rolled her eyes. "Seriously, I'm going to be exhausted by the time I get back. Abe, I hate the idea that you lied to me. But it doesn't mean that I'm not excited, but just bad timing you know."

I patted her hair gently in apology. She didn't move away from my touch. If anything, she leaned closer, and it made me smile.

Flight attendants started walking around, making sure the passengers had their seat belts on in preparation for take-off. I helped Brooklyn put hers on, then put on mine. Several minutes later, while the plane was in the air, the food and drinks were brought out.

I wasn't feeling hungry myself, but I watched Brooklyn eat with delight, smiling at her the whole time. I wondered, not for the first time in the past six years, why on earth I ever let her go.

I can't make the same mistake again, I thought, losing my smile.

"Hey," Brooklyn asked, pulling me out of my thoughts. "Do you have a pamphlet or something so I can see where we're going to be?"

"Do I?" I mused. "I think I did receive one with the invite a while back."

I went through my coat pockets. I had the invite in a folder in my pocket, and when I pulled it out and looked through it, I found what I was looking for. I handed the pamphlet over to Brooklyn so she could look it over. She looked absolutely delighted, and I imagined what she would look like when we actually got there.

This was the sort of thing I'd wished we'd had more time to do. My parents didn't cut me off or anything while I was in college, but I was trying not to act like the son of a rich family that I was, so I always felt like I didn't give Brooklyn all that she deserved while we were dating. I still loved the memories that we made back then, but to have the chance to make more meant the world to me.

Still, my heart was uneasy, because I couldn't help remembering Maria's words from earlier. When we'd finished lunch and gone our separate ways, she'd told me again to stay away from Brooklyn. Clearly, though, I couldn't do it, because not long after that, I sent her a message, and here we were, going out on a date, even if she didn't know it.

I had some documents I'd brought along. I had some work to do while I was in California. The wine tasting event wasn't something I was doing purely for the pleasure of it, after all. There were a few people in attendance that I would need to talk to, so it was a convenient prop. I had been working on the deal for a month already, so even with Brooklyn there as a distraction, I could not allow things to go badly.

While I was in the middle of looking over the documents, though, I felt something land on my shoulder. I looked over, surprised, and then amused, to find Brooklyn had nodded off on my shoulder with the pamphlet still held in her hands. I sighed and reached for it so she wouldn't drop it, then I raised the arm of the seat to get it out of the way and wrapped my arm around her shoulders, holding her closer to me as she slept, leaning back in my own seat so she would be comfortable. There was still a long way to go before we landed.

With my other hand, I held the papers and tried to read them. But soon, I couldn't even focus because all my attention was on the woman sleeping in my arms. I ducked my head and closed my eyes as I buried my face in her hair, breathing in her scent.

She's hardly changed, I thought, the feel of satisfaction warm in my chest.

I put the documents away, trying to jostle her as little as possible, then wrapped both my arms around her, laid my head against hers and closed my eyes. I didn't think I could sleep, but I still felt relaxed.

When was the last time I actually relaxed? I had no idea. Usually, my days consisted of work, work, and more work. When I wasn't working, I was eating or sleeping, or meeting other people, for a drink or whatever, and still talking about work. Taking care of a family empire wasn't a simple thing after all.

In that moment with Brooklyn, though, where I could lay back and relax, and not think about work, it was the happiest I remembered being in a long while.

Brooklyn, I am really not going to let you go. The thought was filled with some anxiety, because no matter how much I wanted it, whether or not it would actually happen was still up in the air. I would do what I could, but if she didn't meet me half way, then there really would be no more between us. She was clearly only in New York temporarily, and once she went back home, meeting up again might become impossible.

Always, I was used to getting the things I wanted, because I didn't know how to give up, and I didn't like giving up. Brooklyn was nothing like that, though. If, at the end of everything, I really couldn't win her back...then I would have to watch her walk away from me again, and I wasn't sure how I would survive it intact a second time.