"I was beginning to wonder about your definition of forever." Jean said answering her cell, with a smile on her lips that Lucien could hear and see.
He explained about the phone being left behind, briefly let her know how the day went and was happy to hear that her sleepless night had her last pieces finished. And, she was quite happy to hear, Chris not only remembered meeting her, but that she had liked her. Something told Jean that the opinion of his daughters would mean an awful lot to him, just as Lee's would to her. It was a very brief meeting the two artists had had, but she too had not forgotten it. Christina was an absolutely stunning young woman for one thing, with her father's bright blue eyes in the shape of her mothers, and Mei Lin's beautiful jet black hair. But more importantly, she had remembered her sweet energy. A Blake trait inherited from her grandmother, she had thought at the time. But now that she met Lucien, she knew it was her father's influence as well.
Once their initial conversation took a good pause, he went for it, "So I know we said it would be a few days, but…" He began.
"Unfortunately, I have a thing tonight." She said sounding disappointed. "And this proves my point yet again, I should never commit to things too early. This concert has been planned for months, no way I can cancel."
He explained that he absolutely understood and wouldn't want her to, it was just wishful thinking on his part. They continued to chat comfortably for a while. He asked about the friends she was going with, they touched on her son, and then she had to go get ready.
"I hate that I have to let you go." She was laying on her bed, looking at the ceiling, two seconds from cancelling regardless of any fallback.
"Me too, but I do hope you have a wonderful night." His deep voice, with that faint French accent holding on from his childhood, was doing things to her.
"I'm free tomorrow." He said full of hope. "If you have any time at all, I would love to fit myself into your day."
"At this particular moment, I have absolutely no idea what I have on tap tomorrow." She gave a deep giggle. "I just know I will cancel all of it to fit you in Lucien." And the way his name fell from her lips did things to him.
She agreed to call once she was up and about tomorrow. As in their all to brief conversation, he had learned that she was not an early riser. He however, admitted to seeing the sunrise most days, to which she told him she would love to see the sun rise with him.
Hanging up was painful for them both. She was off to her concert and he turned on some music, poured himself a scotch and was determined to finish up patient notes from the week before. High hopes for losing the rest of the weekend with Jean spurring him on.
Two hours later his phone rang, "So there's this guy I met who lives in the area…" She could see his smile on the other end.
"Where are you?" He asked praying for a certain answer.
"Outside of your building, if your google page is accurate Dr. Blake." He could see the smirk on her face.
"I'll come down and get you." He was grabbing his shoes.
"Don't be ridiculous, just tell your man Jeffrey here to let me in. I can see myself up mister fancy door man building." She winked at Jeffrey
"Hand him your phone." Which she did.
"Right this way." And Jeffrey showed her to the elevator.
When the door opened on his floor he was standing in the doorway across from it. She approached with caution as every cell in her body was reacting to the sight of him in his bare feet.
He met her halfway and grabbed her hand to show her in. Miles Davis was playing and his apartment smelled just like him. Infinitely so. She was immediately dizzied by the whole thing. What was she doing? She was not this woman who ditched her friends for a man. Let alone one she had just met the day before. She was determined to go slow with this, because it somehow felt like it deserved that kind of reverence. That plus, she was enjoying this dance they were doing. It was delicious, and if they had forever, why rush. The last time she rushed, it ended so badly. She didn't want this to end, in any way, ever.
"This is the best surprise ever." He was guiding her to the kitchen. "Can I get you a drink? Something to eat?"
She asked if he had a glass of wine to spare and he went to get a bottle. As she looked around, she saw a bottle of scotch out on the counter and began thinking that his mouth was probably covered in the taste of it. Familiar. He was opening the bottle of wine, innocently talking away, asking about her night and she couldn't take her eyes off his lips as they moved. They were full, looked so soft and the way they moved over his teeth was somehow, mesmerizing. He placed the glass on the counter to pour and she was then struck by how beautiful his hands were. Tan, strong and thoughtful as he dealt with the delicate crystal. The hands of a doctor and a father of pretty little girls, she thought. She could picture them tying bows in their hair, soothing pain away, and at the same time able to bring so much pleasure.
He excused himself to grab his tumbler, giving her a view of his backside as he went. She was coming unhinged, so she took as many deep breathes as she could while he was gone. He returned and gave it another pour before coming to her side, glass lifted, no words, and touched his glass to hers before taking a sip, their eyes locked in the silence. Putting an arm up, he cued her to hop off the stool, and led her to the living area.
He sat back lazily crossing his long legs, placing an arm on the couch behind her shoulders which naturally caused him to encircle her as she sat next to him, legs tucked under. They were both resting their drinks on their knees. She looked up at the speakers, "You weren't kidding about this obsession." She nodded up to the sound referring to the Miles Davis playing and his self-professed obsession with "that girl who lived in her area" who listened to him too.
"I can't have words when I'm going over patient records, it's too distracting." He said honestly. "Miles is in heavy rotation here, but he did somehow sound better tonight." And he gave her that winking smile she was growing to love as she got to know him.
They were relaxed, talking more about jazz and what it's like working from home. Sharing stories. But their eyes were having a different conversation alltogether. He was engrossed in her lazy blink and bedroom eyes. Jean was once again transfixed on Lucien's mouth. When she snapped out of her trance, she found Lucien now staring at her mouth. She smiled weakly, he took her glass and reached in front of her to place it on the end table. She could feel his warm breath as he moved across her. Moving back past her, he paused, placing a light kiss on her cheek. Then another on the other side, the tip of his slick tongue just touching the spot before his lips closed there. It was the most loaded, seemingly innocent kiss she ever had. Every fiber of her being was tingling.
"Jean, I…" was all he got out and she swallowed the rest of his words.
All at once they were in orbit again, just like in the studio the night before. Their mouths set to a perfect pace of push and pull, sucks and nibbles. Playful. His large hands running over her back, making her feel tiny and delicate. Her arms instinctively reaching over his shoulders to hold on and pull herself closer, her hands moving through the hair at the base of his neck. They got infinitely lost in the moment, causing it to go on forever.
They were leaning into each other, their mouths and hands expressing an urgent need. Then suddenly she pulled back, and he mirrored her. They sat staring for a moment. And Lucien was struck... more than feeling like they had known each other forever, me was truly wishing they had spent their whole lives together. She felt like home.
They were still panting when she dropped her head to rest on his chest. "Lucien, I want to take this slow." She said into his body.
"I can do that." He kissed the top of her head and she looked up at him.
He leaned back, keeping an arm around her shoulders, grabbing her hand with the other. She was looking past his eyes and into his soul. Placing a hand on his face, she kissed him again, lightly. It was like their lips were meant for each other, she thought. The taste of the scotch on him was almost too familiar though. Christopher. She didn't want to let the memory of him overshadow the present moment, so she decided to be honest about it. To talk about it. She was sure he had googled her the same way she had googled him, so he must know.
"My husband was a scotch drinker." She said it with soft eyes that matched her voice.
Lucien's eyes immediately went from eager to concerned. He took his arm from behind her to capture both her hands with his. "I'm sorry, I…"
"No Lucien, I didn't say that to make you feel bad, it just struck me, so I'm being honest." She was rubbing his hands with one of hers. "And I haven't felt like this since I met him a lifetime ago." Her eyes filled with tears.
Lucien remained quiet, wanting to take in whatever she was moved to share, hoping her dead husband wouldn't end this before it began. Lord knows he had ended many a budding relationship because Mei Lin showed up in some way. But his had been a loss of trust, more than a love lost, as seemed to be the case for Jean. And he wasn't sure how to look for what he never had, so he had failed at looking for love most of his life after his wife. Before now, that is. He hoped.
He and Mei Lin had fought visciously the night before she left on her last trip. She was cheating, and he was sure they would divorce when she returned. But then she didn't, and he was left trying to make sense of the lies of a ghost. Questions that would never be answered. His sense of trust tangled and lost forever. He vowed to keep the best of her alive for their girls though. Even if that made their tale a fiction. A story of love that even he began to believe, as his mother and Alice continually pointed out to him. But love was the only thing he ever wanted Chris and Jacq to feel about her. He now strangely envied the broken heart he saw on Jean's Face.
"I'm sorry. This was not my intension when I left my friends to come see you." She wiped tears from her cheeks and Lucien got up to get her tissue. "I'm not sad really. Maybe just shedding a few tears because I know I'm about to let him go." And she looked pointedly at Lucien.
He didn't know what to do. If she was a patient he would, but being this invested, he was at a loss. And so, he decided to meet her at her honesty.
"Don't apologize. I'm glad you're being honest about what you're feeling." He took a deep breath, "I believe we have very different reasons for our difficulty in letting them go." He said giving her a sad smile, and she scooted closer.
"I can feel it, you loved him very much." Their gaze got heavier.
"Yes, I did." Her tears returned. "And I never thought I would find another love like that in this lifetime. Much less one even more… comfortable." She saw the quizzical look spring to his eyes.
She reached an arm around his middle so he would turn to face her more directly, bringing her hand to rest on his chest. "What I mean is, it took time for me to feel that love for Christopher. I was so young when we married and had Lee. This is, well… I felt a knowledge of you the very first time I saw you." His brows raised.
She knew she wasn't making any sense, so decided to be direct, "Lucien, I fell in love with you the moment our eyes met for the first time. And if I doubted it at all, seeing you yesterday morning and all that has happened since, has only further proven it. I've known you before, loved you before, it's the only thing that makes sense." She expected a man of science to have a hard time understanding what it was that she was trying to say, but of course Lucien was right there with her.
"I know exactly what you mean. I feel it too. And it's the most natural thing I've felt in a long time." He placed a hand over hers on his chest. "I feel like we've already had a forever, because you feel like home. My first home. My first love. I never had this kind of love with my wife. The only thing we grew into was a greater divide."
That filled her with a special kind of sadness for him, she leaned up and gave him a kiss. "But you got your girls."
"That's very true. I don't mean to minimize their place in my life, they are my life. Have been since the day they were born." He said softly. "For all the unhappiness I had in my marriage, I know my life's purpose was to bring up those beautiful young women. Selfishly I'm actually glad I was a single father, they were all mine. But of course, I wouldn't have had it at the expense of their mother if I could have helped it. That, I would change." And he meant it.
He was tempted to go on, but there was time. Touching on their pasts seemed to fit the moment. It felt organic to be shearing this… foundation of sorts. They both removed any doubt and made it clear that they had both fallen in love. A sweet gift from this trip to the past. But he felt like getting back to the present, was important too. To touch back in the present day, before continuing. He felt like this was going to be a long night of kisses and conversation.
"So, love at first sight." He said reaching for his drink. "It does exsist."
She reached for hers, "Yes, it does. I'll cheers to that." They were both back to their loaded smiles, and she was glad she decided to leave her friends early.
"Chin-chin."