~JASON~

It's been five years since I've seen her why can't I get her off my mind? She just left the lake house less than two hours ago.

I needed to clear my head so I went down to the lake for a swim. I grabbed a pair of athletic shorts and walked to our private beach and slowly walked into the cold water. To be honest it felt super nice. I waded in til the water was just above my waist and just stood there for about five minutes before grabbing the towel I laid on a lawn chair and headed back to the house.I went into the guest room where Annalee had stayed and gathered the sheets. She had made the bed nicely before she left but my mother always changed the sheets after each visitor to assure the next visitor that they were sleeping on clean sheets. The room smelled so good, Lee, had a certain scent, she smelled like home, which comforted me. "Come on Jason, pull it together, you're a full-grown man you can't act like this over a girl," I thought to myself shaking my head, recalling our embrace just hours earlier.

Once I pulled the bedding off I balled it up into my arms and took it to the laundry room down the hall, one by one I un-balled the monstrosity I'd created putting items into the washing machine when I noticed a round hoop earring fall to the ground.

"This had to be Lee's," I thought to myself.

But when was I going to see her again... Plus would she even want to see me again?

If I had left something though at a place I'd stayed at I would want someone to return it if they had found it. I was going to Naperville anyway next month and I could drop it off with her at the radio station.

After I did laundry I hopped into the shower and rinsed the lake water off of me, I decided to keep the shower somewhat short as I wanted to get back to New York City before the sunset.When I got into my pickup truck, I rushed to get on the interstate so I could get back to the city. I have a big business meeting tomorrow morning and I wanted to get a good night's sleep in before it.

I kept thinking about Annalee, how she would feel when she noticed her earring missing, or if she felt anything still toward me in general.

I didn't know exactly what lured me to her but I was attracted to her, her smile, her scent, her long brown wavy hair. I loved her cheesy jokes, her generosity, and her kindness, I loved HER, didn't I?

She was over me for sure though... "Stop thinking this Jason, get it together" I scolded myself at the thoughts I was having.

It's not like we're in high school anymore, I need to get over it. No, I have to get over it.The rest of the drive went smoothly as I drifted away from the thought of Annalee and focused on what my business meeting was tomorrow.

I had a huge business meeting with Black & Co. After Mr. Putnam retired from law, he told Jacob Black that I was an up-and-coming lawyer and hired me to be his new lawyer. But, a wealthy man like Jacob Black doesn't only have one lawyer. No, Jacob has 4 lawyers just on standby! Mr. Tyler Reynolds, Harrison Nicholson, and I are just the ones on standby.

Tomorrow we are discussing how much press release we want on our new project introducing a new brand of steel for contractors to use.

We want to keep a lot of the information on the down low until it's on the shelves but we also want to advertise our product, so we have some decisions to make since the lawyers help decide what makes a bad name and helps avoid us from getting sued.

It didn't seem like much time had passed when I arrived in the city and pulled up to my studio penthouse. I grabbed my duffel bag out of the back seat and went inside to be greeted by my doorman.

"Good evening, Mr. McGregor, I hope you have had a good evening," my building's doorman Carlton greets.

"Thank you, Carlton, it's been great, how was your evening?" I asked politely."Good sir, thank you" Carlton answered.

After I wished Carlton a good night I went up to my penthouse studio apartment, dumped my stuff in the door, and made my way to the kitchen. I had just now realized I hadn't eaten anything since the reunion last night.

My housekeeper Melanie left some chicken alfredo in the fridge for me so I reheated that and sat down at the bar in my kitchen. It didn't take me long to eat, I scarfed it down and got another bowl too.

Then I decided to text Annalee to make sure she arrived home safely with no more tire trouble.📱ME: Hey Annalee, it's Jason, just wanted to see if you made it home safely.📱 LEE: Jason, I have your number saved still silly. But, yes I made it home safe, and may I say I highly recommend the new Guardians movie.

📱ME: I'm glad you enjoyed it and made it home okay.

📱ME: Did you happen to lose an earring? When I changed the sheets on the bed in the guest room I noticed there was a hoop earring on it.

It took her a few minutes to respond. "Did I say too much?" I wondered.

📱LEE: I didn't even notice but I just checked my purse where I thought I had put the earring and noticed one was missing, so yep that's mine. You can mail it to me if you want, I can send my address.

📱ME: No need I'll be in Naperville in about a month and I can drop it off, it's the same amount of time basically as mail, plus then we can catch up and grab a coffee maybe.

📱LEE: Ok, sure. I'd Like that. See you then.

📱ME: Have a good night Lee Lee.

📱 LEE: You too Jason, thank you.

When I shut off my phone I smiled, the things she did to me that she doesn't even know she does.

"Well, that was a long shot reaching out to her and seeing if she wanted to get coffee," I thought to myself.

I walked back to the entrance to my apartment grabbed my duffel and took it to my room. I took a long hot bath and relaxed the rest of the night, I decided to turn in early too because I wanted to be well-rested for my meeting tomorrow.

A/N: DID ANYONE NOTICE A FAMILIAR NAME FROM ANOTHER BOOK OF MINE IN THIS CHAPTER??? COMMENT THE NAME IF YOU DID!!!

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EDITED 1/1/2024