Chapter 11

“A couple girl friends from high school called me to remind me of our lunch meeting. Janice Cooper and Mary Lou Jennings. I’m sure you remember them,” Bella told Derek when he finally came out of the office.

Derek nodded. Of course, he remembered them.

“I think I had already told you we are having a get together for lunch today,”

“Have fun,” Derek said absentmindedly. His lips barely moved beneath his hood. Annabella could see several emotions move across his face.

She bit her lower lip and asked, “Would you come with me?”

“You want me to stand right in the middle of my enemies? No, thank you.” Derek remembered them from high-school, and they were two bitches. He crossed path with them since he got back in town, but he had no desire to socialize with them.

“I want them to get to know you. I want them to see the great guy you are.”

“I’m not that brave, Bella. Sorry.”

She swallowed. “Because ... of your scars?”

He nodded. “I’m pretty sure how your old friends will react when they take a closer look to my ‘pretty face’.”

Bella inhaled and decided to plow forward. “Derek you can’t live your life hiding your face under a hoodie.”

“I can try.” He reached up and, without realizing what he was doing, he touched the big scar on his face.

“Can ... cosmetic surgery help?”

“Maybe,” he shrugged.

“Why...?”

“Because I already had enough surgeries for a lifetime,” Derek snapped. “How much good is another surgery going to do, honestly? That costs money. Lots of money. And for what? I’ll never be Denzel Washington,” he interrupted her.

He stood up, went out of his office and went into the gym. Then he stepped onto a treadmill.

She’d upset him and it crushed her. It made her sound as if she thought he should get surgery and that’s not what she had meant at all. After months of knowing this man, his scars were just an after-thought to her now. Most times she forgot about them. Or they seemed so much a part of the kind man that she knew that they were no longer ugly to her. It was just Derek’s face.

She stood opposite him, forcing Derek to look at her.

“I’m sorry.”

She thought about the way it always made her feel when some agent, producer or photographer told her that she needed to lose weight or get bigger breasts or a rounder ass.

“I didn’t mean to insinuate that you should change anything about yourself. You are a wonderful man just the way you are.”

Derek shrugged. “Thank you for saying it.”

“I’m not just saying it. I mean it.”

He didn’t say anything.

“I’m going now, Derek. Are you sure I can’t talk you into joining me?”

He didn’t meet her eyes and just shook his head.

“Okay. I won’t push you. I might be back a bit late.”

“It’s okay. Take all the time you need. I used to run the gym by myself before you started working for me.”

Bella came closer and placed a hand on his arm. “Look Derek, we’ll talk about the kiss this evening, okay? I don’t want things to get awkward between us.”

He nodded. His eyes avoiding her gaze again.

Bella, Mary Lou and Janice spent the first hour catching up, remembering the old times, eating, drinking and laughing.

“You look great, girlfriend,” Mary Lou offered. “Very thin.”

Annabella twisted her mouth like she did every time someone talked about her weight.

“Thank you.”

“What have you been doing, Bella? Why didn’t you come to say hi?” Janice asked her studying her like a predator studies its prey before going for the kill.

“I’ve been busy settling back in town, working, doing my best not to kill my mother in the process ... She loves me but she can be really tough,” she explained.

They all laughed.

“I remember her,” Janice said, twisting her mouth. “I wasn’t her favorite person. She never let me set foot in her house.”

“Are you still living with her?” Mary Lou asked.

“No, I have my own place now, thank God.”

“What happened in California?” Janice leaned forward and smiled with a wicked smile at Bella. “I thought you would be famous by now.”

Bella shivered. Flashes of her life as a model danced in and out of her head.

“Things didn’t work out the way I hoped they would. Being a fashion model is harder than it looks.

“I remember once I was getting ready for a fashion show, and a makeup artist, hairdresser, stylist, were all equally horrified by my chipped nail polish and lack of waxed eyebrows. They were so appalled; it was almost as if I had raped a kitten in front of them. They were also none too impressed when I wanted more than water for lunch.”

“Achieving success is not easy,” Janice opined not taking her eyes from Bella. “You need to have what it takes.”