*
Jillian stepped out on the balcony to look at the ocean as she recalled what happened after that. She had been excited when she’d boarded the plane for Portland, Maine. She couldn’t wait to tell Aidan of her decision to end the secrecy surrounding their affair and to celebrate his birthday with him.
Due to stormy weather in Atlanta, her connecting flight had been delayed five solid hours and she didn’t arrive in Portland until six that evening. It had been another hour before she’d arrived at his apartment complex, anxious to use the door key he’d given her a year ago for the first time.
The moment she’d stepped off the elevator onto his floor she knew a party was going on in one of the apartments. Loud music blasted and boisterous voices made her ears ache. She hadn’t known all the noise was coming from Aidan’s apartment until she’d reached the door, which she didn’t have to unlock since it was slightly ajar.
Jillian walked in and looked around. The place was crowded and there were more women in attendance than men. The women were wearing outfits that probably wouldn’t be allowed out on the streets.
Jillian wondered what had happened to Aidan’s decision to come home from work, watch TV and go to bed. It seemed he’d decided to throw a party instead and it was in full swing. In the center of the room Aidan sat in a recliner while some scantily dressed woman gave him a lap dance. And from the look on his face, he was enjoying every single minute of it. Some of the guys on the sidelines, who she figured must be Aidan’s friends, were egging on both him and the woman, which prompted the woman to make the dance even more erotic.
When the woman began stripping off her clothes, starting with the barely-there strap of material covering her breasts, Jillian was shocked. She knew she’d seen enough when the woman’s breasts all but smothered Aidan’s face while she wiggled out of her panties.
Not able to watch any longer, a shaken Jillian had left, grateful Aidan hadn’t even noticed her presence. What hurt more than anything was that he’d appeared to be enjoying every single minute of the dance. Aidan Westmoreland had seemed in his element. She couldn’t help wondering if they had stopped with the dance or if he and the woman had ended up doing other things later.
When he’d called her a few days later he hadn’t mentioned anything about the party at his apartment and she hadn’t said anything about being there to witness what had gone on. And when she asked how he’d spent his birthday, he angered her even more when he gave her a smart aleck answer, asking, “Why do you care when you didn’t care enough to spend it with me?”
He was wrong. She had cared enough. But he hadn’t cared enough to tell her the truth. It was then that she’d made the decision to end things between them, since it was apparent that he missed his life as a womanizer. When he called later in the week and made another excuse for not flying to New Orleans to see her as he’d planned, she decided that would be a good time to break things off with him. She would give him his freedom, let him go back to the life he missed.
Deciding the less drama the better, she told him the secrecy of their affair was weighing her down, making her lose focus, and she couldn’t handle it any longer. She didn’t tell him the true reason she’d wanted to end things.
Her declaration led to a huge argument between them. When he told her he was flying to New Orleans to talk to her, she told him she didn’t want to see him. Then she ended the conversation.
He had called several times to talk to her but she’d refused to answer and eventually blocked his number. She knew that was the reason for the angry looks he’d given her when she’d attended the last couple of Westmoreland weddings. The last time she’d seen him was a few months ago at Stern’s ceremony.
There had been no reason to tell Pam about the affair that had been a secret for so long, so she hadn’t. The last thing Jillian needed was for her sister to remind her that just like a tiger couldn’t change its stripes neither could a womanizer change his ways.
It had been a year since their breakup. At times she felt she had moved on, but other times she felt she had not. It was so disappointing and painful to think about the future they could have been planning together now that she’d finished medical school, if only things had worked out the way she’d hoped they would.
Jillian wiped the tears from her eyes, refusing to shed any more for Aidan. She was on this cruise to have fun and enjoy herself, and she intended to do just that.
* * *
“Yes, Adrian?"
“I’m glad I was able to reach you before ship left port. I just want to wish you the best. I hope everything works out the way you want with Jill.”
Aidan hoped things worked out the way he wanted, as well. “Thanks.”
Like Paige, Adrian and Aidan’s cousin Stern had figured out something was going on between him and Jillian a couple of years ago. “I will do whatever I have to do to get her back. When this ship returns to port, my goal is to have convinced Jillian to give me another chance.”
“Well, Trinity and I are cheering for you.”
“Thanks, bro.” Trinity was Adrian’s fiancée and the two would be getting married in a couple of months.
After ending his phone call with Adrian, Aidan crossed the suite to step out on the balcony. Barcelona was beautiful. He had arrived three days ago and taken a tour of what was considered one of the busiest ports in the Mediterranean. He had eaten at the finest restaurants, some in magnificent buildings etched deep with history. He had walked through the crowded streets wishing Jillian had been by his side. Hopefully when they returned to this port in fourteen days she would be.
He could just imagine what Jillian had assumed when she’d seen that woman giving him a lap dance last year. He had worked that day, as he’d told her he would, but he hadn’t known about the surprise birthday party a few of his fraternity brothers had thrown for him.
And he definitely hadn’t known about the lap dancer or the other strippers they’d invited until the women arrived. He couldn’t get mad at his frat brothers for wanting to make his birthday kind of wild. All they knew was that for the past few years, the man who’d once been one of the biggest womanizers in Boston had taken a sabbatical from women. They’d had no idea that the reason for his seemingly boring lifestyle was because he was involved in a secret affair with Jillian.
So, thinking he’d been working too hard for too long and hadn’t gotten in any play time, they thought they were doing him a favor. He would admit that after a few drinks he’d loosened up. But at no time had he forgotten he was in love with Jillian. The lap dance had been just for fun, and after the party all the women had left.
Yes, he’d made a mistake by not mentioning the party to Jillian. And he would be the first to admit his attitude had been less than desirable for the last year of their relationship. But he knew why. He’d had the best of intentions when he thought he could keep their secret without any problems, but as time went on, he’d become impatient. While she hadn’t wanted anyone to know about them, he had wanted to shout the truth from the highest mountain.
It hadn’t helped matters when some of his siblings and cousins began falling in love and getting married. It seemed as if an epidemic had hit Westmoreland Country when five of his relatives got married in a two-year period. And some had been relatives he’d thought would never marry. It had been hard being around his happily married kinfolk without wanting to have some of that happiness for himself. He would admit he’d spent too many months
