Part III

As if time couldn’t proceed any slower, the 14th finally rolled around. CLHQ was decked out in Valentine’s Day decorations. Red, pink, and white covered just about every surface imaginable.

The women of the house, although they tried not to show it, hovered around the main living area, hoping the doorbell might be rung by a delivery man carrying flowers, balloons, candy, or any other gift.

Nahla would’ve joined them, but she had a full meal to get cooked. Not to mentioned cleaning the apartment so that it would looks its’ best.

She had a tossed Caesar salad chilling in the fridge, along with a bottle of champagne. Chicken breasts had been marinated in Italian dressing and were waiting for the grill to heat up. Then there were English potatoes, green been casserole, and rolls to be warmed later. For dessert she had made her grandmother’s infamous three-layer coconut cake.

Glancing at the clock, Nahla realized she barely had enough time to get ready. An hour later she stood in front of the full-length mirror, turning this way and that to make sure she looked her best. She had borrowed the green velvet dress from Curlly that she had worn when Jace had taken her to see "Phantom of the Opera" for their first date.

Another fifteen minutes later, Nahla had placed the chicken on the grill and had taken the champagne out of the refrigerator to chill in a bucket of ice. She then moved to the living room to hit play on the CD player, which filled the room with strains of Edward McCain. Lighting a match, Nahla then moved around the room lighting several candles, creating a soft glow of light in the room.

She then lit another match and lit the pair of tall candles sitting on either said of the dining room table’s centerpiece. Blowing out the match, she situated the china she had just purchased this week, giving the table a touch of elegance.

Again glancing at the clock, she wondered what was keeping Jace. He should’ve been there by now. Maybe something had kept him late at work. Grabbing the cordless off its base, she hit the speed dial programmed for MedLab.

The phone rang and rang, and was finally answered by a technician. "Is Dr. Jamison around?"

"No ma’am, there’s only a skeleton crew here given the holiday."

"Oh, ok." Nahla replied, "thanks." Nahla then chided herself for being silly. Surely he wasn’t standing her up, he was simply caught in traffic or something, that had to be the reason for his tardiness.

**

Three hours later, the food had grown cold, the candles burned out, and the music turned off. Nahla sat on the couch, her shoes and hose long gone, sipping from a flute containing champagne.

"Valentine’s Day still sucks!" she exclaimed to no one in particular, giving a little hiccup. Glancing to the flute in her hand, she had lost count at how many times she had refilled it … 4? 5?

The one year she finally had a boyfriend, and she still didn’t get anything. Granted she had thought Jace would bring flowers or something when he came to dinner, but he hadn’t even bothered showing up for that! The jerk!

Unwanted tears filled her eyes, causing her vision to blur. Drinking down the last of the glass, she leaned forward to pick the bottle up off the coffee table in front of her. Then the front doorbell buzzed.

"Lousy, no good son of a gun. Can’t believe he’s even bothering to show up now." she muttered to herself, weaving her way unsteadily towards the front door. "How dare you …" she began before she saw the person on the other side of the door, "Oh .. hey Sherry .. Sorry, thought you were someone else."

Sherry became concerned as she took in Nahla’s appearance. Tear stained cheeks, flushed skin, a bottle of champagne in one hand, and bare feet. "Nahla, is everything ok?"

"Oh yea sure .. Nothing like getting stood up on Valentine’s Day!" Nahla replied, taking a long glug from the bottle.

"Here, I think you’ve had quite enough of that young lady." Sherry said, taking the bottle from Nahla and steering the younger woman back into her apartment, closing the door behind them.

"Now you want to tell me what’s going on?"

"What’s there to tell. I sent Jace an invitation for dinner, said for him to be here at 8 p.m. He even sent me a note back saying he couldn’t wait. Now here it is after 11 and he’s a no show! By the way, you look nice."

"Thank you. Michael is meeting me here in just a minute. I have to admit I was curious to see how the dinner was going." She explained.

"Oh just dandy can’t you tell? Nahla replied, picking up her invitation with his reply on it.

Sherry read the note, and it seemed Jace was excited about the dinner, and sure enough it said the 14th at 8 p.m. "Maybe he got caught up at Section?"

Nahla shook her head. "I called, there’s only skeleton crew. You know, this just proves yet again why I shouldn’t trust men!" Nahla said, snuffling a little as the tears returned.

"Now now, don’t go judging the whole barrel by a few bad apples." Sherry said as the doorbell buzzed again. She went to open it and let Michael in, quickly explaining the situation.

"We can postpone our plans for another night if you want to stay with her." Michael said, seeing for himself that Nahla probably shouldn’t be left alone.

"Nonono .. don’t do that. Please. I’ll be fine. Just going to go to bed and slept it off. Promise." Nahla said.

Sherry eyed Nahla, looking to see if she meant it. "I don’t feel right leaving you alone, but if you promise to go straight upstairs…"

"I promise. See ... I’m going as we speak … lock the door on your way out?"

Michael lightly grasped Sherry’s elbow. "Let’s go." he said, watching Nahla slowly climb the staircase to her loft.

As soon as she heard the latch click, Nahla returned downstairs. Knowing what kind of headache champagne usually gave her, she was going to at least take a couple of aspirin ahead of time.

*

Sherry and Michael ran into Jace on their way out of CLHQ. Jace was quite surprised to see the look of astonishment and anger he saw on both their faces. And especially by the words that came out of Michael’s mouth. "Finally decided to show?"

Sherry had her hand on Michael’s arm and felt the muscles tense. She tightened her grip in a silent effort for him to keep his calm.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Jace asked

"Um Jace, I think there’s something you should know." Sherry said hesitantly.

"What?"

"Nahla is upstairs probably crying herself to sleep because she thought you stood her up."

Jace blinked twice. "Stood her up? That’s not possible, our date isn’t until tomorrow night."

"We were just at her apartment. According to her, it was tonight. She visibly upset about it." Sherry said, not mentioning the fact she was drunk as well.

Jace visibly deflated in front of their eyes. "Damn. At this point it’s really not going to matter which day is correct. Right now all that matters is that she is probably royally pissed at me."

Sherry didn’t add that Nahla was probably hurting more than pissed, but that would definitely come later.

"Guess I better go up and begin damage control."

"Good luck." Michael said, not envying the man for what he was about to walk in on.

*

Jace knocked for what seemed like 20 minutes at Nahla’s door. Inside, Nahla had opted to lie on the couch as opposed to her bed. Eventually the knocking at the door woke her up.

She was a sight when she opened up the door and Jace got a glimpse at the damage. She still had on the velvet dress, but her makeup was gone. From washing her face or crying he couldn’t determine. Her hair had probably been pinned up, but now straggled down in pieces.

When Nahla’s vision focused, her first instinct when she saw Jace standing there was to slam the door in his face and lock it. However she winced at the noise it created, the headache was already starting and the aspirin hadn’t done a bit of good.

"Nahla, let me in, please."

"Go away Jace, I’m don’t want to listen to your excuses."

"It’s not excuses, it’s the truth. Right here in your handwriting."

When she didn’t respond, he knew he was talking to a brick wall. Literally and physically. For Nahla had walked back to the couch, laid down, and promptly passed out.

Part IV

Nahla awoke to the worst hangover she could remember in recent history. Sitting up as slowly as possible, she tried to clear her head of the morning fog.

With a hand holding her aching head, she stumbled into the kitchen to get a glass of water and to take some aspirin. The first sight that greeted her was both of her cats sitting on the counter top eating the food that had been left out overnight.

"SCAT!" she hollered, wincing as she did. Both cats looked at her like she’d grown horns but didn’t budge. "Oh what the hell, not like I’m gonna eat it now anyway."

A glance at the dining room table brought back the pangs of hurt and anger from the night before. She still couldn’t believe that he had stood her up, and not even called or anything. ARGH!

The phone ringing interrupted her thoughts. "Hello?" she whispered.

"Morning sweetness, you planning on showing up to work anytime soon?" Walter asked from the other end of the line.

"Oh shit Walter, I’m sorry. I um .. overslept."

"Things get a little wild last night after all??" he asked, and she could just picture the grin on his face.

Nahla gave an unladylike snort. "Hardly, especially since he was a no show."

"What?" Walter exclaimed. "Why that lousy …"

"Walter, drop it, please." Nahla interrupted. "Look, I’ll be there in an hour, just hold down the fort for me."

*

Walter took one look at Nahla when she arrived and wished he had the authority to tell her to go back home. It wasn’t like her to come into work with her hair in a ponytail and wearing sunglasses.

She walked into Munitions and lowered herself onto the nearest stool. Walter walked around to stand in front of her, raising the sunglasses so he could see her eyes.

Make-up had been unable to conceal the dark circles under her eyes, not to mention the whites of her eyes were completely bloodshot. "Sweetness, sorry to be so blunt, but you look like hell. What happened last night?"

Nahla shrugged. "Just what I told you on the phone, Jace was a no show for dinner. No call, no nothing. So I proceeded to drown my misery in the bottle of champagne I bought for the occasion."

"Oh Lord woman, your head feeling like someone smashed it with a ten ton brick?" he asked. Nahla could only nod. "Well listen, I can’t send you home just yet, but I got an idea."

He pulled Nahla to her feet, letting her lean on him as he led her to a back room behind storage. Opening the door, there was a small cot. "I got this here in case I get stuck late and am too tired to drive home. Why don’t you lie down for a little while? Things should be kind of slow today."

Nahla kissed his weathered cheek, "You’re the best, Walter."

He chuckled, "So I’m told."

*******

Jillian was already seated at her desk when Jace walked in the next morning. "Good morning Dr. Jamison."

Jace glanced her way, looking a little out of sorts. "Oh. Good morning Jillian." he replied before going into his office.

Jillian smirked since it appeared her plan had worked, now was the perfect opportunity to turn on the charm 100%. If he and Nahla were on the outs, it was time for her to make her move.

Sitting at his desk, eyes closed, with his fingers rubbing his temples, Jace heard the tale tell clicking of Jillian shoes as she entered. "Is there something you need, if not, I’d like to remain undisturbed this morning."

"Well sir, I couldn’t help but notice you seem a little down this morning. If you’d like somebody to talk to?" she asked.

"No, but thanks. It’s something I’ve got to figure out on my own."

Jillian frowned when he didn’t take her up on her offer. Apparently more straightforward measures were going to be required. Setting her shoulders back, she walked around to stand behind Jace.

Jace felt the hands on his shoulders a split second before they began to lightly massage the tense muscles. "Feel better?" he heard Jillian ask.

He sighed, "Yes as a matter of fact." With his back to her, he missed the delighted smile that lit her features.

Sherry walked into Medlab looking for the good doctor. She wanted to see how things went last night. She was more than a little disconcerted to walk into his office to see a brunette standing behind him giving him a shoulder rub. "Am I interrupting?" she asked with an icy chill.

Jace’s head snapped up but Jillian beat him to the punch. "Not at all, I was just leaving." she replied, slipping by Sherry. Both women stared at the other with a look of disdain.

Sherry closed the door and turned her attention back to Jace. "Care to explain that?

"Explain what? She was just being nice, things are a little tense today."

‘Uh huh, sure!’ Sherry thought to herself. "So how’d last night go?"

"Nothing happened. She opened the door, took one look at me, and slammed the door in my face."

"Can you blame her? The invitation said the 14th at 8 p.m."

"The 14th?? No, that’s not right. My invitation said the 15th." Jace replied with a puzzled look.

"Yes, it is right, I saw the invitation last night."

"Sherry, I don’t want to argue with you, but I can prove it said the 15th. Here .. look." he said, turning her attention to his computer monitor. "Since I wrote my acceptance on the actual invitation, I scanned a copy onto my computer so that I wouldn’t forget."

"Forget Valentine’s Day? How in the world do you forget Valentine’s Day???"

"When it gets busy around here, it’s not too difficult to lose track of time. I’m good about forgetting what the date is if I don’t have a calendar handy or a reminder simply because my mind is on other important matters."

"Oh all right. But how it can it be that her invitation says the 14th and you’re invitation says the 15th?" Sherry asked.

"I don’t know, only she and I have had it in ours hands.. Oh wait.." Jace paused for a moment. "Jillian delivered the note to me and then took my response back to Nahla."

Sherry quickly put two and two together from the little scene she walked in on earlier. "Why that little witch."

"Who?’ Jace asked.

"Jillian, I bet she did it."

"Jillian?? You’ve got to be kidding, Sherry. She wouldn’t hurt a fly." he said incredulously. "Not to mention she’s the best assistant I’ve ever had."

"Yes, I just bet. I’m telling you Jace. She’s your culprit, now I’ve just got to prove it."