“I don’t think so, Shannon. I was obligated for one afternoon. That’s all.”
“So, is that what our date was to you? An obligation?” The woman’s tone was quickly brimming with tension. Jericho could feel the hostility beginning to spill across the telephone lines.
“It was your twenty grand, Shannon, and you got what you paid for. I was just upholding my end of the contractual agreement.”
“I still love you, Jericho. Why are you being so hateful?”
Jericho sneered. “There isn’t an ounce of love between us, Shannon. A woman doesn’t do what you did to a man she claims to love.”
“I made one mistake, Jericho. I deserve another chance.”
Jericho scoffed at the thought. “Is that what we’re calling what you did? A mistake?” He shook his head into the receiver. “Don’t do this, Shannon. You know that there is never going to be anything else between us. Don’t make this difficult.”
“I’m trying to make amends, Jericho. I want to show you what you still mean to me.” The woman’s tone was beseeching as she whispered loudly into the telephone, tears outlining her words.
Jericho refused to be moved by the display of emotion. “I have to hang up, Shannon. I have things to do. Thank you for calling.”
“Jericho—” Shannon started before the dial tone filled her ear.
Jericho was annoyed by the rise of anxiety that had suddenly filled the pit of his stomach. As he stood with the telephone still pressed against the palm of his hand, the phone cord pulled from the wall, his body shook uncontrollably.
At the Atlanta airport, Jericho sat waiting for his British Airways flight to Entebbe, Uganda. He had a six-fifteen departure time, so his plane wouldn’t land until seven twenty-five the next morning. With an extended twelve-hour layover at London’s Heathrow Airport, he wouldn’t see Africa until Monday morning, after a second overnight plane flight. He would have more than his fair share of time to while away, thinking about things that did nothing but cause him anxiety.
At that particular moment, Shannon Porter and Talisa London were both on his mind. So deep in thought, he barely noticed the flow of passengers gathering in the hard seats to the right and left of him. When a young child brushed against him, the little boy racing from his mother’s side to his father’s, the touch against his pant leg caused Jericho to jump with surprise. The child gave him a cautious stare, and then lifted his small hand to wave before scurrying off to peer out the large glass windows to the aircraft parked outside.
Jericho heaved a deep sigh. He had no interest in spending his entire two-day journey to Africa thinking about any woman, especially one who wasn’t interested and one he surely didn’t want. Unfortunately, the memories of both females seemed intent on haunting his spirit. He sighed again, swiping the back of his hand across his forehead as he finally looked up, taking in the view around him.
A newspaper stand caught his eye and he rose from his seat, shifting his carry-on bag against his shoulder. Pulling a copy of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution from a wire rack, he dropped a dollar bill against the counter and headed back toward his seat, not bothering to wait for his change.
As dark as his mood, the paper’s headlines were dismal at best, and the drab surroundings of the airport did little to lift Jericho’s spirit. He dropped back into a seat, tossing the paper onto the chair beside him. An airline attendant caught his eye and smiled, mouthing hello as she gave him a come-hither look. Jericho gave her a quick bend of his lips, then dropped his gaze back into his lap. He still had over an hour to wait before the airlines would start boarding flight # 0062 and he had no desire to make small talk. He closed his eyes tightly, crossing his arms against his broad chest.
He flashed back to the night of the auction and Talisa’s warm smile. The woman had been a breath of fresh air and Jericho had inhaled the essence of her like much needed oxygen. The connection between them had been instantaneous, Jericho had thought, reflecting back on the waves of energy that had spun like a raging fire between them. He had been out of control, his mind lost in the brilliance of their connection. When she had bid, countering each offer, he had taken that as confirmation of his emotions, confident that she, too, was feeling the same things he was.
He bristled at the memory of Shannon’s exorbitant bid, the flagrant display of the woman’s wealth nothing but an acute irritation. Shannon had always placed far too much emphasis on her father’s money, almost to the point of belittling anyone who had less than she did.
Since they’d been in first grade together at Marietta’s The Walker School, Shannon had played by rules few others would ever understand. Even at the tender age of six, she’d imagined the world revolved around its axis for her alone and that the sun and moon set and rose as she willed them to. At The Walker School, Jericho’s had been the only dark face in the small class of twelve students. The friendship between him and Shannon had been established at birth by virtue of their two fathers both being Yale University alumni and their mothers building an alliance on the demands of their elite social circle. By third grade, Irene Becton had insisted on a school with a more diverse student body and Jericho and Shannon’s camaraderie was reduced to weekend gatherings and holiday vacations.
In junior high school, Jericho had become smitten with puppy love and Shannon had found a viable boy toy to manipulate and control. With much instigation from both sets of parents, they had allowed his infatuation and her obsession to define their romantic relationship. Despite both of them dating other people off and on during high school, once in college they’d been easily drawn back into the possibility of forever that their parents had seen for each of their futures. The Porter family had welcomed the prospect of their only daughter marrying a surgeon. Jericho’s parents had seen resounding potential in Shannon being an ideal doctor’s wife. Shannon had cleverly masked her idiosyncrasy to be self-absorbed from both families, and only Jericho had true knowledge of the woman’s propensity for coldhearted antics.
A chill ran through him and he shivered in response. He clasped his arms tighter around his upper body, stealing a glance up at the attendant who was still cutting her eye in his direction, hopeful for his attention.
There had been a part of him that had truly loved Shannon. He’d reconciled her flaws and had learned to turn a blind eye to her deficiencies, focusing as much attention as he could muster on her strengths. His sophomore year in college she’d shown up unannounced at his dorm room door, paying him a surprise visit for his twentieth birthday and the two had become lovers. Shannon Porter had taken his virginity, but the loss of her own was still a mystery to him.
His first taste of heartbreak had come six months later when he’d flown to Vassar College, only to find her in bed with a fellow history major. Shannon had sworn the relationship was nothing special, just a momentary lapse of judgment for a quick minute of sexual release. He’d believed her heartfelt plea for forgiveness, her long lashes batting back the rise of tears. Things between them had improved and he’d actually found himself believing in the possibility of him and Shannon Porter living blissfully in love for the balance of their lives.
His surgical residency had been taxing on the relationship, but they’d endured. Both of their mothers had massaged the strain, rallying support to get them through the bouts of aloneness his intense schedule placed on their time together. But Jericho had seen the signs of their demise, choosing instead to ignore the warning signals that Shannon was clearly not the woman he was meant to spend the rest of his life with. The reality of that fact was made clear the last night the two of them had spent together.
The
