Page 103 of Security and Submission
The feeling of rightness settled into his gut. Did he know exactly how they were going to move forward? No. But if Yas was still interested, so was he.
“What if it causes more problems with the team?” He braced himself for Lincoln’s answer, but his boss just shrugged.
“Then you figure that out, too. Or let Claudia handle it.”
“But you’re okay with it?” He hated the uncertainty that leaked into his voice. Didn’t even know why he wanted Lincoln’s approval so badly; he just knew he wouldn’t feel right without it.
A slow smile spread across Lincoln’s lips.
“Son, my wife is almost the same age as my daughter, and I met her because the two of them were best friends. And then my daughter married her father, and I met Ashley at their wedding. I’m the last person to judge you for who you fall in love with.” He shook his head.
“I still judge my daughter a bit, but only because Ashley’s dad is a terrible human being, and Rebecca married him, anyway. But the divorce is going through now, and Ashley and I are happy, so that’s really all that matters in the end. Just… go be happy, Zeus. The team will sort itself out.”
Go be happy. He wasn’t entirely sure he knew how to do that, but he was willing to give it a try.
Chapter 36
Yasmine
There was nothing like trauma dumping on a near-stranger to make a person realize how low they had fallen. Yasmine hadn’t even put on makeup or changed into her jeans to go over to Sarah’s. Not that Sarah seemed to notice. She was also dressed comfortably, with a yellow fuzzy robe belted over the silky blue pajama set. Her wispy grey hair was pulled back into a clip, a few strands escaping to frame her face, which barely changed expression, remaining thoughtful through the entire drama of Yasmine’s story with Zeus.
“They should make a movie out of this,” Sarah said when Yasmine finally finished. “Have you heard any updates on Pete James?”
“Not yet.” Yasmine glanced down at her phone, which remained quiet in her hand. After she’d updated Veronica and Amara, texts had started coming in from her friends, wanting to check on her and make sure she was okay. Apparently, they’d all agreed not to bother her until ten this morning, giving her time to sleep in after last night.
Which was so very sweet and thoughtful. She did wonder if she detected Claudia’s hand in that agreement. If she’d been doing it because she hoped Zeus and Yasmine were working out some stress relief with each other, she’d been very wrong, but it had been nice to have a breather. She’d also texted the school she taught her weekly class and let them know the situation, just in case they wanted to cancel class for the upcoming week. They weren’t making a final decision yet, but she was supposed to keep them updated.
Once Yasmine was done with all of that, she’d gotten in touch with Sarah, who had been delighted at the idea of company.
That was how she’d ended up on Sarah’s couch, drinking tea, and telling the older woman everything she couldn’t tell her friends. Well, she could have told Claudia, she supposed, but she wasn’t sure what her friend would think. Even after she arranged for Zeus and Yasmine to go off together last night.
It helped that Sarah was extremely nonjudgmental.
“And nothing from Zeus?”
“No.” Yasmine sighed, mournfully looking down at her phone again. She kept thinking that maybe she should text him first… but if he didn’t want to hear from her, then she didn’t want to annoy him. “He’s going to text when it’s time to go get Hope, then I’ve got to figure out what to do. I have no idea how to make him forgive me.”
“Oh, honey. You can’t make anyone forgive you. Though you can try to earn their forgiveness.”
“Where would you suggest I start?” Yasmine smiled sheepishly at Sarah’s look. “I’m kind of desperate. I have no idea what I’m doing. Normally, if things went this badly with a guy, I’d just cut my losses.” Not that anything like this had ever happened before, but she couldn’t imagine trying to keep any of her exes if something like this had happened with them. She would have just let them go on to their next girlfriend, sure that the curse would give them the happy ending with her.
“Has it occurred to you that cutting your losses is why you never end up moving forward with your previous relationships?” Sarah asked, bemused. “Maybe you weren’t cursed. Maybe you just didn’t see anything worth fighting for in them. And no one can blame you for that.”
“How do you explain them marrying the very next woman they date then?”
Sarah shrugged.
“Marriage isn’t always a happily-ever-after, dear. Maybe some of them were. But maybe some of those women were willing to settle when you weren’t.” Sarah gave her the kind of look that could only come from a woman with experience. “Did you ever wonder whether they felt like they were living happily-ever-after? Or did you just decide they were since they got the wedding?”
“I…” Yasmine’s voice trailed off. Sarah wasn’t the first one to say something like that recently. Zeus had said something similar. Her friends hadn’t put it quite that way, but she knew that they all felt as though she perpetuated the curse by matchmaking for her boyfriends. As if it was her fault that she could see who they would be better suited with, or at the very least who they had more chemistry with.
“Is it possible that you kept dating the wrong men because you didn’t feel you were actually ready to be married?”
Yasmine stared at Sarah. The other woman smiled gently.
“Why do you want to be married, Yasmine?” she asked.
“I… because it’s what you’re supposed to do.” Except Yasmine had never been one to do what she was ‘supposed’ to do. Heck, she was a romantic who believed in prenups, which most of society would call extremely unromantic. They called it ‘preparing for the divorce.’ But Yasmine knew she would never get married without one.
