Going Home Again

Excerpt

Excerpt 1:

Outside Jeremy’s Manhattan apartment, Rachel pounded so hard on the door that her hand throbbed. Her incessant knocking was bound to wake up the other tenants, but she didn’t care; she needed to see Jeremy and hear his side of the story. She knocked on the door again. “Open up! I know you’re in there.”
A drowsy Jeremy opened the door to find an irate Rachel. “What are you doing here? Do you know what time it is?”
Rachel shoved her way past Jeremy. “Who’s the girl?”
“What are you talking about? What girl?”
“The girl you were with at Kai, you know the one you were getting cozy with.”
“Who told you?”
“I refuse to say.” She folded her arms. “Now who’s the girl?”
“Let me explain.” He gestured to a sofa, “Please sit.”
She took a seat with him sitting beside her; he put his arm around her and rubbed her shoulder.
“The woman at the restaurant was an old friend, we went to college together. One day she called me up out of the blue; she said she was in town and wanted to get together for dinner and catch up on old times. That’s all there is.”
“Why did you keep it a secret from me?” She rose and made her way to the mantel.
“It slipped my mind. Besides I figured it wasn’t important.” Jeremy walked to Rachel and put his arms around her waist and nuzzled her neck. “I got an idea. Why don’t you spend the night?”
Normally, she would accept his invitation to stay the night, but tonight she wasn’t in the mood. She pried his hands away from her waist and made her way towards the door.
“Rach, you believe me don’t you?”
She didn’t know how to answer his question. Should I tell him the truth or should I lie? I’m having a hard time believing his story, sure it sounds like a reasonable excuse, but I still have my suspicions. How can I trust him?
“Do you believe me?”
She turned to face him, “I don’t know.”

Excerpt 2:

"Do you think Laney will like this?"
Rachel turned to see Jessica holding up a purple ruffled top. "No," she scrunched her face and shook her head.
"I didn't think so either." Jessica put the top back on the rack. "Are you finding anything?"
"Just this wallet, I thought I'd give it to Jeremy."
"Is that all you're getting?"
"For the moment it is."
Jessica made her way to the handbag section, and Rachel following closely behind. Usually shopping put her in a joyous mood, but not today, there were other things on her mind, mostly Cole and Jeremy. I love and care for them both, but I can’t keep leading them on. I have to break one of their hearts, but which one? Deep down I still have feelings for Cole, but how can we reignite our relationship when we live in different places. I’m not the type of person to have and maintain a long distance relationship. As for Jeremy, I love him too. We’re both on the same track in our lives, professionally and personally. We’re the perfect pair and are compatible, yet I’m still a bit skeptical. Even though we reconciled, I can’t help but wonder if our relationship is doomed.
"Oh, this is nice.” Jessica held up a black clutch.
"What?" Rachel looked at her sister.
"The clutch? What do you think?"
"It's nice. It's definitely you," she nodded
Jessica placed the clutch on the table. "Okay, spill it." She put her hand on her hip.
"Excuse me?" Rachel raised her eyebrows.
"Something's bothering you; now tell me what is it?"
"If you must know it’s Jeremy."
"I knew it," Jessica snapped her fingers. "So what's the story?"
"For starters, we've been having trouble."
"What kind of trouble?"
"I-I thought he was cheating on me."
"Juicy stuff," Jessica checked the price tag of a tote, let out a whistle, set it back down, and picked up a satchel.
"And I'm cheating on him."
Jessica dropped the satchel. "No way! You're cheating on Jeremy?" she whispered.
"Not in the, the physical way."
Jessica furrowed her brows and looked at her sister, “I'm not following."
"When Jeremy and I were on a break, I began chatting with a guy over the Internet."
"Is that all?" Jessica held up her palms. "You don't have anything to be ashamed of. Okay, so you've been chatting with a random stranger, it's not like the two of you are going to ride off into the sunset together."
Jessica strolled to the jewelry department, as Rachel lagged behind.
"There's one other thing. The guy I've been talking with is Cole."
"Your ex-boyfriend Cole?" Jessica’s eyes shifted from a gold necklace to her sister.
"Yes,” she sighed.
"So you're talking with your ex-boyfriend, there's no harm in that," Jessica said reassuringly, "besides, the two of you have moved on. There's no way you're getting back together."
Rachel rubbed the back of her neck; all the stress from Cole and Jeremy was taking a toll on her, she could hardly sleep and now had terrible aches. She’s was a wreck both mentally and physically.
Jessica took her eyes off the assortment of bracelets and looked at her sister, judging by her stance she knew something else was bothering Rachel. It didn’t take long for Jessica to put two and two together. "Oh—my—God!”
“What?” Rachel asked.
“You’re in love with Cole.”
"Shhh," Rachel put her finger up to her lips, she looked around the store hoping nobody heard their conversation.
Jessica rolled her eyes, "This is better than a soap opera."