Cherish Me Read online

  He returned to his iPad, where he’d been scribbling notes for this afternoon’s summons before the judge. He made it a point to be as prepared as possible whenever he went to bat for a client, but this time his normal preparations wouldn’t cut it. Harrison wanted to be more than just prepared. He wanted to stomp the opposing council in the ground and walk all over his head.

  Hard feelings were to be expected when a ten-year professional relationship blew apart like one of those controlled building demolitions on TV. Getting the best of his old firm wasn’t just a desire, it was a necessity. He wanted those bastards crying at night. He wanted each and every one of them to go to their graves wondering why they’d ever made the mistake of not giving Harrison Holmes his full due.

  There was a knock at the door a second before Jonathan poked his head in. “You done with MacMahon?” his law partner asked.

  Harrison nodded and motioned for him to come in. “Yeah, we’re done.”

  “What’d he offer?” Jonathan asked as he took a seat in the leather wingback chair that faced the desk.

  “Fifteen million,” Harrison answered, unable to curb the excitement in his voice. He could see Jonathan doing the math in his head. Thirty-five percent of fifteen million dollars was more than Campbell & Holmes had cleared all of last year. It would provide enough capital to bring in at least four new associates, a half dozen support personnel, and lease office space on the Northshore.

  Even better? He would be the one bringing this one home. It was his chance to thank Jonathan for taking a chance on him. A way for him to prove to his law partner that he’d made the right choice.

  “What’s Luca Delmonico’s price?” his partner asked.

  “Fifteen,” Harrison answered. “But I can get them to offer more.”

  Jonathan’s brows rose. “And what makes you so sure?”

  “Because Bayou Land Dredging just leased the rights to dredge more than ten thousand acres of marshland, but the new coastal restoration guidelines require they use a specialized hopper, one that’s half the size of the smallest they currently use. Delmonico Machinery has the proprietary rights to the design.

  “Once Bayou Land owns it, they can do more with that hopper than a small outfit like Delmonico’s could ever hope to.”

  “But they have to own it first.”

  “Yep.” Harrison nodded. “And it’ll cost them.”

  “Take some advice. When you go in front of Judge Rubin today, don’t go in there looking so damn gleeful.”

  Harrison couldn’t hide his smile. “I’ll try.”

  With a chuckle, Jonathan sat back in the chair and rested his folded hands over his chest. “Are you sure you’re up to facing the judge today?” he asked. “You were looking a bit shabby when I left this morning.”

  “So you didn’t drive home last night?” Harrison remarked. He’d wondered, but he should have known his partner was too responsible to drive home after the amount of bourbon they’d both consumed last night.

  “Of course not,” Jonathan answered. “I camped out on the couch downstairs. I left around five this morning. I wanted to make sure I was gone long before LaKeisha came in. She always gives me this look if she gets in and finds that I’ve had to spend the night here, especially if I’m not in the middle of a big case.”

  Harrison could only imagine what their receptionist thought about him staying here for the past three weeks. She hadn’t said anything, but he’d been the subject of some curious—sometimes even sympathetic—looks.

  LaKeisha Lawrence had been with Jonathan long before Harrison had joined the law firm. She kept this place running like a finely-tuned instrument, orchestrating every client meeting and courtroom hearing with the efficiency of a seasoned conductor. Harrison learned early on that it was better to stay on her good side, because a pissed off office manager could make a lawyer’s life hell.

  Having worked for a big firm for most of his career, he’d been used to asking for something and having it waiting for him within a matter of minutes. That’s how things worked when there were over one hundred associates and twice as many support staff on the payroll. But a two-man law firm with a single office manager who also functioned as the receptionist, HR rep, social media specialist, courier and whatever else needed to be done, didn’t operate that way.

  Despite their rocky start, Harrison and LaKeisha got along just fine now. But, like Jonathan, he didn’t want her to walk in one morning and find him the way Indina had earlier today. He was instituting his own personal rule: no more bourbon shots during the work week. Or maybe ever.

  He waited to see if Jonathan would bring up any of the stuff they’d talked about last night. Harrison wasn’t surprised when he didn’t. The only time his partner ever seemed to talk about his ex-fiancée was on the rare occasion when he’d had too much to drink. Like last night.

  “I’ve got my own date with a judge I need to prepare for,” Jonathan said, rising from the chair. “Good luck with Rubin. Any hope that it’ll get worked out today?”

  Harrison waved off that possibility. “That’s not happening. Too many big egos in the room—including my own,” he willingly acknowledged. “But based on the frustration I heard in Phillip’s voice when I ended the call, it should make for an entertaining afternoon. By the way, I’m going straight to a doctor’s appointment with Athens once I leave Judge Rubin’s chambers.”

  “Everything okay with him?”

  Harrison nodded. “Just a checkup. We’re still hoping to stem the tide on his pre-diabetes. Today we find out if the increased exercise and change in his diet have made a difference. At least that’s one thing Willow and I have been able to agree on, despite…well…you know.”

  His throat tightened.

  “Look Harrison, I know this shit is hard, but you can’t beat yourself up,” Jonathan said. “You’re good parents. Forget about everything else that’s going on. Just know that, if I’d ever had the chance to have kids of my own, I would have looked to you and Willow as the example of parenting that I wanted to model.”

  The naked regret he detected in the other man’s eyes before he walked out of the office made Harrison feel even worse for him than he had last night. That regret, coupled with some of the things Jonathan had said after four fingers of bourbon, left no doubt. The carefree smile his law partner usually wore was nothing but a mask.

  Even though he and Willow were going through a rough patch, it was nothing compared to what Jonathan had faced three years ago, when his fiancée all but left him at the altar. Anyone who took the situation at face value would swear Jonathan had put his past with Ivana Culpepper long behind him. Given the amount of women he’d been attached to in the three years since Ivana had picked up and left the country, one would question whether Jonathan thought about her at all.

  He did. Based on what he’d drunkenly shared last night, Harrison would say he thought about her a helluva lot.

  Yesterday would have been the three-year anniversary of their wedding day. The milestone had left Jonathan in the worst headspace Harrison had ever found him in, and it made him even more wistful for the marriage he and Willow had once shared.

  Dammit. He’d tried his hardest to keep thoughts of his own marriage from seeping into his brain for the rest of the morning. The phone call with Phillip MacMahon had helped, but his and Willow’s separation was never far from his mind.

  He didn’t want to be like Jonathan in three years, drowning his sorrows about what might have been in tumblers of bourbon. Harrison knew better than to expect that their problems would get solved overnight, but after three weeks he thought at least something would have changed. It was too easy for this to all go sideways on them. Each day he stayed away from his family meant another day of Willow and him not talking about whatever had caused them to drift apart this past year.

  Why in the hell had he agreed to leave his home?

  The answer to that one was easy. It’s what his wife had wanted, and from the moment he’d first met
her, Harrison had vowed to make her happiness his top priority. Never in a million years did he think Willow’s happiness would one day require him not being in her life.

  Harrison rubbed the hurt that had taken up permanent residence within his chest.

  He picked up the stylus and returned his attention to his electronic tablet, swiping his forefinger across the notification on the locked screen. When he tapped the iPad to open up his calendar, the throbbing in his chest became unbearable.

  Pick up the wine and flowers.

  Harrison set the tablet back on the desk and ran both hands down his face.

  He’d set a reminder months ago to buy a bottle of Italian wine and a bouquet of irises—Willow’s favorite flower—to accompany the gift he planned to give her for their anniversary. He’d been so damn excited when he’d booked the weeklong trip to Italy. Willow’s heart had been set on visiting the country for as long as Harrison had known her. In fact, their very first date had been a late-night showing of Roman Holiday at the Zeitgeist Theater on Prytania Street back when they were both in college.

  He’d wanted to take her for their honeymoon, but his fear of flying and the fact that he’d just started law school at the time, had stopped them. He’d considered surprising her with the trip multiple times over the years, but had always come up with an excuse about why it wasn’t a good time.

  Pictures an old college friend had posted to Facebook from their trip over the holidays had planted the idea in his head once again. He damn near suffered a panic attack at the thought of that flight across the Atlantic, but Harrison was convinced the excitement he was certain to witness in Willow’s eyes when he presented her with the plane tickets would make it worth it.

  Now here he was, contemplating whether he should even tell her about the trip.

  Funny how drastically things could change over the course of one year.

  He never would have expected that just a couple of months after booking this trip they’d lose his mother to the heart disease she’d suffered with for years, or that his own marriage would set out on this downward spiral that he couldn’t seem to spin them out of.

  But maybe this trip to Italy could be the thing to set them back on the right track?

  He wasn’t naive enough to believe that whisking Willow away on an Italian vacation would solve all their problems, but at the very least they’d have the opportunity to talk. So far, whenever they communicated, it was about the kids, or the house, or something else not related to the elephant in the room: the impending implosion of a more than twenty year relationship.

  There was something else Harrison knew he needed to consider. This acquisition deal between Delmonico’s Machinery and Bayou Landing Dredging was the biggest thing he’d taken on since joining Jonathan’s firm. Taking off for a week to flit about Italy wasn’t the most responsible thing he could do at this juncture in his career. But when it came down to a choice between this and his marriage, there really wasn’t a choice at all. No deal, no matter how lucrative, was worth losing his marriage over.

  Harrison pulled up the itinerary he’d sent to the travel agent, where he’d outlined exactly what he wanted them to do while in Italy. He’d planned to give Willow the tickets the day after tomorrow, on the eighteenth anniversary of the day he’d proposed.

  He closed his eyes and rested his head against the headrest, ruminating on how he’d envisioned the night going down. He’d planned to prepare chicken carbonara, Willow’s favorite Italian dish, and serve it with a nice bottle of Italian wine. After that, he would hand feed her tiramisu and those little Italian wedding cookies she loved so much from Angelo Brocato’s in Mid-City. After their feast, he’d tell her to pack her bags because they were finally taking the Roman holiday she’d always dreamed about. Then they would spend the night making love the way they used to do before they had kids.

  A low groan escaped his lips.

  God, but that would have been sweet.

  Now, Harrison wasn’t sure if they would even spend their anniversary together. The thought tore a hole through his very soul. His throat throbbed, his muscles tightened, and a wave of nausea washed over him. The possibility that the woman he’d cherished for more than half his life might actually choose not to celebrate their wedding anniversary with him unleashed a tidal wave of distressing emotions.

  “We have to fix this,” Harrison said in an aching whisper.

  Why couldn’t he come up with a damn solution already? He’d always been the fixer. That was his role. If his younger brothers got in trouble, Harrison was the one they ran to for help. Whenever there was an issue at his old law firm that no one else was willing to take on, he was the one who came to the rescue. When he met his soul mate and learned about her rough childhood, he had been the one to promise Willow that she would never want for anything ever again. Solving problems was etched into his DNA.

  He saw this trip as a litmus test. If Willow chose not to fulfill her lifelong dream of going to Italy, it would tell Harrison more about the state of their marriage than any words she could ever speak. He wasn’t sure he was ready for her answer. Would he be able to handle it if she turned him down?

  She wouldn’t. The Willow he knew would never pass up this opportunity.

  Then again, the Willow he knew would never have suggested they “take a break” from their marriage either. She wouldn’t have stood by as he walked out of that house three weeks ago. The Willow he knew wouldn’t allow him to continue sleeping on a futon above his law office while his kids got ready for school in the morning without their father there to wish them off.

  Maybe he didn’t know his wife as well as he thought he did.

  Harrison cradled his head in his hand. He wouldn’t make a decision on the trip just yet. He needed to make certain his wife’s answer wouldn’t be the first nail in the coffin where their marriage potentially resided.

  On a day when her nerves had already been put through the wringer, Willow could think of a dozen other things she’d rather be doing right now than sitting in the doctor’s office. Anxiety danced along her skin like someone auditioning to be an extra in a Rhianna video. She figured it was due in equal parts to waiting for the doctor to return from the exam room with Athens, and the fact that her husband was sitting in the chair next to her.

  Okay, so maybe not in equal parts. Her concern over Athens far outweighed anything else, but being in this room with Harrison while he sat there looking like an afternoon snack was not helping matters. She’d always loved the cut of that gray suit. The way it accentuated his broad shoulders and fit waist had a mouthwatering affect. Hours later and her body was still trying to recover from the shock of this morning, when her knees had turned to the consistency of banana pudding after she’d first noticed him standing at the base of the stairs.

  But the enticement of that dark gray suit, and the man who resided underneath it, had only served as a distraction to stop her from obsessing over the true matter at hand, the fact that Athens was in with the doctor and she was out here. Willow couldn’t find the words to describe the emotions that swelled inside her when the nurse came in to escort Athens in the back for his blood work, and her son had told her he was big enough to do it on his own. She hadn’t been ready for that little display of independence.

  Her baby didn’t need her.

  Okay, she was being ridiculous. He was only ten years old. Of course her son still needed her. Both of her children did. Although Lily would gnaw her own foot off before she ever admitted it.

  Yes, Lily and Athens still needed her, but for how much longer? Willow could have sworn she’d just taught her little girl how to tie her shoelaces yesterday. Yet, here Lily was, a soon-to-be sixteen-year-old who’d just gotten her first mailer from a college asking her to submit for admission.

  A mournful gasp escaped her lips before she could stop it.

  “What? What’s wrong?” Harrison asked.

  “Nothing,” she said, glancing over at him with a sheepish smile. Conce
ntrating on her husband seemed to be the safer bet at the moment.

  Willow studied him under the guise of examining the model airplanes displayed on the doctor’s desk. He’d only arrived a few minutes ago, and immediately had to take a work call. But at least he’d taken the time to text, letting her know he was running late. The fact that he was here at all was a demonstration of the type of father Harrison had always been. Many of the wives in her little circle of quasi-friends couldn’t count on their husbands to cut their workday in half in order to show up for a doctor’s appointment. With Harrison, it hadn’t been a question. When it came to their children, there was never any doubt that he would be right here at her side. Even if he was a little late getting there.

  Without thinking, Willow reached over and smooth her thumb under his eye. “You look tired,” she said.

  She felt him stiffen, as if shocked by her touch. It shocked her too.

  How could something that had come so naturally to her suddenly feel so…not natural? It had been weeks since either one of them had shown any kind of overt affection to the other. The impact of that, of how far they’d grown apart, startled her.

  Touching him was a good thing. It’s when she got used to not touching Harrison, or not craving his touch on her own body, that she should be worried.

  After a moment, he visibly relaxed, and then shrugged. “I didn’t have the best night’s sleep,” he said, rolling his shoulders. “The futon at the office isn’t the most comfortable thing I’ve ever slept on.”

  Guilt and regret battled for dominance in Willow’s psyche, with guilt winning out over the other emotion by a landslide. He shouldn’t be sleeping on that miserable futon. Three years ago, when Harrison started working for Jonathan, they’d updated the furniture in their master suite, spending weeks shopping around for the perfect mattress. She was the one who posited that a good night’s sleep was essential to his success. They’d spent more money on that mattress than she had on her first used car.