Take My Breath Away

Debbie would have been thrilled if Hayden had told her this before.

But things had changed and she had already moved on. She was not used to the new cologne he was wearing, and the man before her was, for all intents and purposes, a stranger. True, she hadn't seen him in awhile, but the man whose arms she was in now was so alien, so changed from whom he once was when they had first met. Although she was in his arms, she felt there was a huge chasm between them. And that chasm was indeed hard to bridge.

Time does change everything.

Debbie pushed Hayden away from her and told the driver, "Stop the car!"

The driver looked at Hayden through the interior rear-view mirror, hoping to get some indication of whether or not he should do this. But Hayden was silent, and gave no cues, verbal or otherwise, that he should obey the girl's orders. He wouldn't do as Debbie asked without Hayden's say-so.

Instantly, Debbie figured it out. She fumed with rage and shouted at Hayden, "I said, stop the car!"

Hayden was not angry at her behavior. Instead, he coaxed her, "It's freezing outside. Let me send you home." There was a time and place to be angry, and now was not the time.

However, Debbie didn't buy it at all. She yelled at the top of her lungs, "No! I'm not going home. Let me out!" She put her hand on the door handle, ready to unlock the door and open it. "I'm not kidding. I'll jump!"

Besides, she was at the end of her rope. Her already frayed nerves had snapped. She had seen Megan and Carlos together, when he should have been away on business. Her heart hit rock bottom. What was worse, Megan had told the boy that Carlos was her boyfriend. And before Megan and Carlos had left the restaurant, he hadn't even cast a single glance at Debbie. Debbie was so mad she could explode at any time.

Sighing in defeat, Hayden told the driver to pull over. Debbie pushed the door open and left without even turning her head.

Hayden watched as the stubborn girl walked off. He rubbed his aching temples and wondered, 'What can I do to make her come back to me?'

Debbie trotted along the road, and then started to run.

Finally, she arrived at Jared's housing community and rang him on the phone. "Hey, Jared. Where are you? I really need a drink—and a friend."

"Tomboy? Drink? No, no, no! Your husband will beat me to a pulp if he finds out."

"Dammit Jared! Do this for me! Forget him; he's not worth worrying about!"

Jared could tell from her tone that Debbie was mad right now. "Tell you what, I'm at a friend's birthday party right now. Give me some time to say my

w he'd at least have a taste of the good life.

Jared entered Room 888 before Debbie was able to take a sip. "You're so fast!" she exclaimed.

He nodded and had a look around. He'd never been here before. "Your husband is so rich! Look at this! It's a porcelain vase from the Yuan dynasty. I heard some rich dude bid 200 million for it at auction. I'm guessing that's Carlos. And now he just hides it here! What a waste! Oh, look at that! The painting is called...er...I can't think of it right now. But this guy was a famous painter. It must have cost Carlos a pretty penny..."

Debbie rolled her eyes and poured a glass of wine for him. "Dude, come on. Your family is by no means poor. So why are you playing the broke card?"

Jared took a sip of the wine, and his eyes went wide. He took the bottle on the table and checked it carefully. "Oh my God! This wine is from a private winery in Bordeaux!" Debbie was getting a little tipsy now. "So?" she asked. "So, if you look at where it was made, when the grapes were picked and made into wine, etc, it's more expensive than Chateau Lafite Rothschild 1982. It costs at least $500, 000."

"What?!" Upon hearing the price, Debbie coughed and almost choked on the wine. While Jared was looking around, she had gulped down three glasses of wine. She had filled the glass with the expensive wine, and gulped it down in one go!

'I almost drank half the bottle, so that means I just drank $250, 000! Oh my God!' Debbie was at a loss for words.

"Hey, why is there only half a bottle left?! How long have you been here?" Jared asked in disbelief.

With an embarrassed smile, Debbie stammered, "Er... I've been here... more than ten minutes. But I didn't start til you got here."