“You want a new pair?”
I shook my head. “These are really comfortable, and they’re barely broken in. Don’t take it the wrong way, but I’d rather keep them. Thank you, though.”
“Are you sure?” he asked. “They’re there for the asking.”
“You don’t like mine?”
He smiled and spoke in a low voice. “I like everything about you. Even your boots.”
“Then let’s get out of here. We’ve bought enough stuff for one day.”
We retrieved the duffel and packed our purchases in it. On the sidewalk, Jared glanced up at the slice of blue sky between the rows of skyscrapers and looked to me. “Let’s walk up Broadway, okay?”
“Sounds good.”
We walked hand in hand, soaking in the sights and sounds of the city. Roller skaters and bicyclists rushed by alongside an unending procession of cars. When we hit Forty-Second Street, Jared’s face lit up, and he half dragged me to a display window featuring a lavish spread of jewelry.
“See anything you like?” he asked.
“Oh, Jared, it’s already been too much,” I protested.
“Nonsense.” He smiled at me. “Let’s go in.”
“I don’t know–” I started, but he cut me off.
“Come on. We don’t have anything better to do.”
We entered the store, and I was immediately intimidated by the cool stares of the salespeople, all of whom looked like they’d just stepped off the catwalk in Milan. I swallowed hard as a young woman in a fitted black suit approached and beamed at Jared before turning to me. “Well, hello. Is there something I can help you with?” she asked with a bleached grin.
“We’re just looking, thanks,” Jared said.
She focused her attention on him and her smile broadened. “Well, let me know if you see anything you like,” she said flirtatiously.
I stiffened, but Jared squeezed my hand. I’ll have to get used to this sort of thing, I guess.
“Thank you. We will.”
We moved along display cases filled with gold bracelets and bangles and necklaces, and Jared walked to another case as I eyed the watches, all of which looked far too expensive for me to ever wear. I was turning to tell him I didn’t see anything I was interested in when he called to the saleswoman. “Can we get a look at these?” he asked.
I crossed the floor to where he was standing, trying not to feel like a trespasser in the sort of store I would never have dreamed of entering on my own. My heart sank as the clerk held up a pair of gem-encrusted earrings that just oozed luxury. What am I doing here?
“What do you think?” Jared asked, appraising them with a keen eye. “They’d look perfect if you wore your hair up.”
I swallowed dryly, and my heart began racing. “No. No, thank you, Jared.”
“You don’t like them? They’re beautiful, aren’t they?”
I shook my head helplessly. “Yes, but…”
He took the earrings from the salesgirl and, before I could react, swept my hair up and held it in a knot at the back. My birthmark must have shone like a beacon. The salesgirl didn’t flinch, she didn’t lift an eyebrow, but something passed over her face. Something I’d seen before, on so many other faces.
And suddenly it was just all too much. I jerked out of Jared’s grasp, gasped like a wounded animal, and was out the door in a flash, leaving Jared standing in the store with the clerk, stunned expressions on their faces. I nearly bowled an old woman over as I dashed from the entrance, and then I was running, tears streaming freely as I sobbed in ragged gasps.
Chapter 26
I was sitting on a park bench across the street from the Plaza Hotel, my face streaked with tears, when Jared found me. He sat down beside me and spoke in a low voice.
“I’m so sorry, Lacey. I didn’t mean to embarrass you or anything. It wasn’t intentional, I swear. I just wanted to get you something to remember New York by.”
I sniffed and looked away.
He studied me for a moment. “This is about more than just earrings, isn’t it?”
Oh, perceptive! I tried to calm down. How could I ever explain? “It’s not your fault. You think…I mean…I know you have all these memories, you think you know me, but…maybe I’m not who you think I am.”
Jared frowned. “I thought we’d been through all that. When Madame Véronique–”
I cut him off. “I know. That I’m the reincarnation of…of Alicia. But that’s my point. I’m not her. I’m me.”
“You are her, though. There’s no difference!”
“Yes – yes, there is, Jared. She lived a whole lifetime – maybe even more than one, I don’t even know – that I didn’t. Everything you see and do and experience – those things affect you, Jared, they change you. I don’t have those memories. You do.”
“But all that is inside you too.”
“Is it? We don’t know that. I didn’t burst from the womb a fully cognizant adult woman, did I? You have this whole” – I gestured wildly about me, indicating the city at large – “lifestyle and habits and…and…and women, and that’s never been a part of my life.”
“Women?” he asked, sounding confused.
“Jared, I saw the way the girl at the store looked at you. And Lindsey. And the hostesses on that stupid show. They’re perfect, and we both know those are the kinds of girls you should be with, not…not someone like me.”
“You mean I should place more value on superficial qualities? That I should be after the prettiest face I can find, and forget the rest?” he asked, remarkably calm.
“That’s not what I’m saying,” I snapped, feeling suddenly dumb at his mirroring my statement back to me. It sounded stupid when Jared said it. And I hated his calm tone. How dare he patronize me! “I’m saying that I’m not enough for you, Jared, not your equal, and I know it. I’m not some rich city girl, never have been. Not in
