Chapter Four
“Free for breakfast?”
Caroline’s phone beeped with a message. An unknown number. Who the heck is it? Momentarily she was distracted from the shock of what had just happened. She hadn’t done much since she came back from her run.
“Who is it?” She messaged back.
“Your the-perfect-is-the-enemy-of-the-good friend.”
There only a few people who would know about that kind of phrasing. Maybe four. Plus the handful of faculty who were on the committee to select graduation speakers with her. She had advocated fiercely for one person. And exchanged professional emails. All that she could tell from those exchanges was that she was dealing with a man of few words. Agreeing to the invitation without putting up a fight.
“??” She texted back, assuming it was a prank from friends.
“Jack Reiner,” responded the sender.
Oh my God! Caroline screamed. Jack Reiner?? The same Jack who had just made her lose her bearings. Her thoughts and focus were quickly transposed from the messages she had been responding to regarding her ‘disappearance.’ She had no idea why they continued to obsess about her safety when she was barely recognized. She had just sent a message to Alex reassuring about her well-being once again when Jack’s message arrived.
In her phone, Caroline was looking at the messages from the same Jack Reiner who had been out of college for less than ten years and had already done more with his life than most would dream to accomplish in a lifetime. A Top Ten golf professional, who has had tremendous success with numerous ventures turning his money into an entrepreneurial gateway into biotechnology. All of Jack’s accomplishments ticked through her mind. Including his reputation for being a bad boy on the Tour. Rumor had it he had slept with almost all the wives of his peers. In her faintest of hopes, Caroline had hoped all that was an exaggeration. He couldn’t have possibly slept with so many…
And then she remembered the morning in more vivid and physical terms. How he had rendered her weak by the mere touch of his hand. His long fingers wrapping around her forehead and pressing the side of her head gently. And that sneak peek under his shorts. The mere recollection of the moments caused her to perspire. Maybe the rumors are all true… The hole-in-one expert, as she has come to learn, he is infamously nicknamed. Wasn’t that some kind of golf thing?
“Is this a prank?” She wrote back.
It was no time to fight off. They would soon meet face to face whether she liked it or not. A dinner scheduled for the guest speakers. Would she wait until then? It can’t possibly be him anyway. Unknown number?
“Unless you suffered a concussion on your run this morning…”
This is not a joke. Oh God! She whispered. Holding her phone with both hands as if it was too hot and could burn her skin. How did he know it was her? Where did he get her private cell phone number? All that she had been computing in her mind assuming she had her anonymity was quickly thrown out the window.
Did he know about her before their accident in the morning? Did he already know who she was before he smiled at her and looked at her with his mesmerizing aqua blue eyes? She paced around her apartment, rising from the mat where she was stretching and nursing the pain on her forehead. She hadn’t yet looked in the mirror for fear of seeing the wound. It will pretty much destroy her. It was hard enough to still feel the burning sensation of his hand touching her, seconded by the swelling she was sure was getting worse by the minute.
So, what was she to do about it? Does she say yes? If she does, what will he think of her?
“Hope you didn’t pass out, Caroline McKenzie,” another message arrived.
He knew her and remembered her name and all that. Without fully intending to do so, she walked into her bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror while squeezing the phone in her hand. Wracking her brain for the right answer.
If she said no, he could simply move on… And then what? What would Caroline stand to gain from it? A hostile meeting at dinner? Then she would sit there with her peers, the graduating class, looking at him as he gives his speech with such charisma… The images formed in her mind. She gasped. And he would probably look at her and wink again…
The ring on her phone shocked her more than the swelling she saw on the right side of her head. Bulging out like a sore thumb. Her face flushed red. Feeling like she was burning in 100 degree heat. What if he called? She took more than a second to bring the phone into her field of view. It was Ella. Thank God, she sighed before picking it up.
“Oh my God! I just found out! Andre was taken to jail. Did you know?” Ella said, without saying any greetings.
“Yea, I tried to call you earlier. You won’t believe what happened.”
“What?”
“He was here. In my apartment. Two cops came and took him… It was so scary.”
“Seriously! Are you shitting me right now?”
“No, I swear. It was the weirdest thing. They said nothing to me and just stated that they came to get him. I have no idea what he did wrong. They said something about assault and attempted homicide. Been trying to call you all morning long. The security guy told me I have nothing to worry about. Maybe he did something. I don’t know.” Caroline said, realizing she had already moved past the incident in the morning.
“So, you don’t know about…” Ella started.
“About what? It has already been one crazy morning. I gotta tell you something that happened to me.”
“The rumor is he did something to Aly. She is unconscious, apparently. This is so messed up. It’s gonna ruin our graduation.”
