“Jack, I’m—”
“Save it, Lorelei. I’ll see you after I pick Hope up from school.”
****
Lorelei
I spent the day lounging around and, to be honest, I was bored. The only thing on my mind was Jack’s attitude because he didn’t get his way with me. Just because he was taking care of Hope and me, didn’t mean he was entitled to sex. As I was pondering my feelings, my phone rang. I smiled when I saw Stella’s picture pop up on the screen.
“Hello.”
“Hello, my friend. How are things going back in New York?”
“Things are...well…interesting, I guess.”
“What do you mean? What’s going on that you’re not telling me?”
“Nothing.”
“Bullshit, Lorelei. Whenever you say things in that sort of tone, it means you’re hiding something from me. Don’t forget; I’m the only person who knows you inside and out.”
I sighed. “I’ve been sick with pneumonia and was in the hospital for a couple of days.”
“WHAT! Why didn’t you call me?”
“Because you were with Sebastian and his ailing father. I’m on the mend now, so everything is fine.”
“Wait a minute. If you were in the hospital, who took care of Hope?”
“Jack.”
A shriek came from the other end. “WHAT! He hates kids.”
“He felt he had no choice. He’s the one who took me to the hospital and then he brought Hope back to his place and has been taking care of her since. In fact, I’m here now until Sunday.”
“You’re staying at Jack Sutton’s place and he’s taking care of both of you. I’m so confused, Lorelei. My brain can’t grasp what you’re telling me.”
“I’ll explain it all when you come back. When are you coming back, by the way?”
“We’ll be home on Sunday and you better believe the first place I’m heading is to your apartment.”
I laughed. “Okay. Hope and I will be there.”
“Take care of yourself. I have to go. We’re at the funeral luncheon and I just snuck out for a minute.”
“Give Sebastian my condolences.”
“I will. Love you, friend.”
“Love you too.”
I set my phone down and walked into the kitchen to make a cup of tea. Glancing at the clock on the stove, I noticed that it was almost time for Jack and Hope to be home. I hadn’t heard from him all day and I wasn’t surprised, considering his juvenile behavior. I heard the elevator doors open, so I took my tea and walked to the foyer. Hope stepped off the elevator with a sad look on her face.
“Hey, baby. How was your day?”
“Not good.” She pouted. “If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go up to my room.”
As Hope walked up the stairs, I looked at Jack.
“What’s wrong with her?”
“I don’t know. She wouldn’t tell me.”
“Did you talk to your mother?”
“No.” He walked into the kitchen and I followed behind. “She was in meetings all day. She’s avoiding me and Coco. I know she is.”
I could tell how stressed Jack was. I couldn’t imagine finding out something like that about my mother.
He placed his hands on the counter and his eyes grazed over me. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m doing much better.”
“Good. Then you’ll be able to get back to your apartment in a couple of days.”
Ouch. That stung.
“Yeah.” I gave a small nod and went upstairs to check on Hope.
Chapter Forty
Lorelei
Sitting down on the edge of Hope’s bed, I tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
“Why don’t you tell me what happened today.”
“Addison is moving and changing schools,” she spoke in a sad voice.
“Where is she moving to?”
“Her and her mom are moving in with her mom’s boyfriend. All she talked about was how they were going to be a family.”
Damn Addison’s mom. “I’m sorry she’s moving, baby, but you can still keep in touch with her.”
“It’s not the same and I don’t want to talk to her anymore. She said some mean things.” A tear fell down her cheek.
“What did she say?”
“All she talked about was how they were going to be a family and do family things and that I was jealous of her.”
“Why would she think you’re jealous of her?”
She looked down and another tear fell from her eye.
“Because I told her I didn’t care. I don’t care.” She folded her arms.
“That’s not nice, Hope. She’s very excited about something and you just dismissed it. That’s not being a very good friend.”
“I don’t want to talk about this anymore. Can you please just leave me alone for a while?”
“Sure, baby.”
I walked out of her room and saw Jack coming down the hallway.
“How is she?”
“Upset because her friend Addison is moving and switching schools.”
“That’s too bad. I’m sure she’ll get over it. I have some work to do in my office and I don’t want to be disturbed.” He walked down the stairs.
About an hour and a half later, Jack walked into the living room where I was sitting down working on one of my designs.
“I’m going out for a while. I’ve ordered you and Hope a pizza and salad for dinner. It’s already paid for, so don’t worry about that.”
“Where are you going?” I asked as I followed him to the elevator and the scent of his cologne drifted back and crossed my face.
“I have a date. I’ll see you in the morning. Tell Hope I said good night.”
“You can tell her yourself.”
“I’m going to be late as it is.” He stepped into the elevator.
A date? He had a date? Was he kidding? A flood of emotions filled my body and tears sprang to my eyes. Tears that I couldn’t explain. Tears that never should have crept up in the first place. He was nothing to me. Jack Sutton was nothing but my boss and a couple of nights of hot sex. I was nothing but the mistake he made. The more I heard his words in my head—“I have a date”—the angrier I became. I stomped over to the couch, grabbed my laptop from the coffee table, and brought up Match.com. Maybe it was time I dove back into the dating world. If Addison’s mom could meet Mr. Right, then so could I.
I created my profile, and when I was finished, I closed my laptop. What the hell was I doing? The pizza was delivered and I went upstairs to get Hope for dinner. When I walked into her room, I noticed she was sleeping. I walked over to the side of her bed and gently called her name. She opened her eyes and then closed them again.
“Baby, what’s wrong?”
“I don’t feel good and my throat hurts.”
I placed my hand on her forehead and she felt really warm. Oh God, what if she had caught my illness? Jack was out on his date and I was here alone with nothing. No children’s Tylenol. Nothing. I wanted to go home. It wasn’t like asshole was here taking care of us. I stood up from the bed and put all of Hope’s things in her bag, then walked across the hall to my room and did the same. Running downstairs and grabbing my phone from the table, I called a cab. After ending the call, I went back upstairs to get Hope.
“Come on, Hope. We’re going home,” I spoke as I sat her up.
“We are? Where’s Jack?” she sleepily asked.
“He had to go out for the night. I can take better care of you at home. Come on; the cab will be here soon.”
She wrapped her arms around my neck as I picked her up and carried her down the stairs. I told her to sit down on the couch while I wrote Jack a note.
Jack,
Hope is sick with a fever and there was nothing here for me to give her, so I packed us up and went home.
Lorelei
My phone rang and it was the cab calling to let me know he was waiting for us.
??
?Hope, you have to walk to the cab because I have to carry our bags.”
“I don’t feel good, Mommy.”
“I know, baby, but we’ll be home soon.”
I held her hand as we took the elevator downstairs to the lobby and climbed into the cab.
****
Jack
I arrived home at one a.m. and headed to the kitchen. That was when I saw the note that Lorelei had left. FUCK! I never should have gone out. I slammed my fists on the counter. I had met Holly, a girl I occasionally fucked, for dinner. She had called earlier and asked if I wanted to go out. I figured why the hell not. It wasn’t like Lorelei would give me the time of day. The problem was that I couldn’t stop thinking about her. Holly would be talking and I would zone out. I would try to act like I was interested in what she had to say, but I wasn’t. I could have cared less about Holly. This went on for over three hours. After we finished dinner, I put her in a cab to go home, and I went and sat in a bar, kicking back a couple of drinks and thinking about Lorelei and this mess of a situation Sutton Magazine was in. I never dreamed that I would come home and she and Hope would be gone.
A worry swept over me for Hope. She had a fever and I wasn’t here. I desperately wanted to call Lorelei to find out how she was, but I couldn’t very well call her at this time of night. Damn her for leaving and damn her for walking into my life and turning my whole fucking world upside down.
****
Lorelei
The next morning, as I was in the kitchen getting Hope some more Tylenol for her 102 fever, my phone rang and it was Jack. I debated whether or not to answer it, but I did anyway.
“Hello.”
“How’s Hope?”
“She’s sick.”
“Does she still have a fever?”
“Yes,” I replied in a short tone.
“I was not happy when I came home last night to find you and Hope gone.”
Was he serious? He went out on a fucking date and then took an attitude with me for leaving?
“I needed to get my daughter home to where her medicines were. This is her home, Jack, and this is where she’s most comfortable.”
“You should have called me.”
“And interrupted your date? No thanks. I did what was best for us and that was going home. I have to go and give Hope her Tylenol.” Click.
Yep. That’s right. I hung up on his dumb ass. How dare he! After giving Hope her medicine, I called her doctor’s office, and luckily, they had an appointment available in an hour. I helped her get dressed and we headed out the door.
Chapter Forty-One
Jack
I threw my phone across my desk after Lorelei hung up on me. Who the hell did she think she was after everything I’d done for her? As I leaned back in my chair, staring at the empty desk that sat outside my office, Coco walked in.
“I’m surprised you’re here. It’s Saturday,” I spoke.
“I kicked Joshua out and broke up with him.”
“What?” I quickly sat up.
“I told him last night that I knew about the woman he was seeing and to get the hell out.”
“What did he say?”
“He said good riddance and that he didn’t even know why he bothered staying as long as he did because he was never in love with me.” She started to sniffle.
I got up from my chair and walked to where she was standing and pulled her into me.
“Don’t, Coco. He’s a scumbag. You know it. He’s not worth a single tear.”
“I know he’s not worth it. I’m crying because I didn’t break up with him sooner.”
I broke our embrace and handed her a tissue.
“Things with him fizzled fast, Jack. I haven’t been in love with him for a long time.”
“Then why did you stay with him?”
“Because I was afraid nobody else would want me. Every guy I had met over the years was intimidated by me and my career. Joshua was the first man who wasn’t because he had that same craving for success. I still can’t believe he’s blackmailing our mother.”
“Have you seen her yet today?”
“No. I haven’t. I tried calling her and she didn’t answer.”
“I’m right here,” my mother spoke as she stepped into my office and shut the door.
She looked tired and weary. This whole thing was taking a toll on her.
“Where were you?” I asked.
“I was running some errands. I want both of you to sit down. I’m leaving the country in a few hours and I’m going to Paris.”
“WHAT!” I shouted.
“Sit down and be quiet, Jack.” She pointed her manicured finger at my chair. “I’m not paying Joshua the money. That slimy, spineless coward can go to hell.”
“So you’re just going to leave and leave us to clean up your mess?” I asked in a stern voice.
“I’ve already taken care of it. I didn’t tell you this before, but that woman that he’s seeing is Shae, the woman I hired to go work for Flourishing. He’s using her, and I told her that. I also told her that as soon as he gets the money, he’ll dump her. So I offered her two and a half million dollars to keep quiet and deny everything. She accepted and she’s leaving town tonight.”
“How can you trust her?” Coco asked.
“I can. More so than Joshua.”
“I broke up with him last night,” Coco spoke.
“I know. That bastard called me last night to tell me that I had twenty-four hours to give him the money or he was going to go public. I made Shae see that Joshua is only using her. I planted ideas in her head and got her thinking about a couple of things. So if Joshua does go public with the information, he doesn’t have proof and it will look like a revenge thing, so to speak, because you, my darling daughter, kicked his ass to the curb.”
“If it’s settled, then why are you going to Paris?” I asked.
“Because, darling, I need to hide out until all of this blows over. Bradley is closing out the accounts as we speak and the money will be put back into our accounts first thing Monday morning.”
“Tell me, Mother, why were some creditors not paid?”
She waved her hand in front of her face. “Pish, I told Bradley not to pay a few vendors because they were screwing with me. I can play just as dirty as they can. Anyway, I spoke with them and called off that lawyer girl you hired. We reached an agreement and all is good. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a couple of things to do before I leave.”
“You’re just going to walk away as if it’s no big deal?” I spat.
“Stop overreacting, darling. Everything will be fine now.”
She hugged and kissed Coco goodbye. As she began taking steps towards me, I held up my hand. Her brow arched right before she strutted out of my office as if she didn’t have a care in the world. A bad feeling crept up inside of me. A shit storm was rolling in and she was seeking safety in Paris while she left us behind to ride it out.
When I slammed my fist down on my desk, Coco flinched.
“You heard what she said, Jack. She took care of the situation.”
“The hell she did, Coco. I have a feeling this is far from over.”
****
After spending the day trying to calm down and get some work done, I headed to the toy store to pick up something for Hope. I had texted Lorelei earlier in the day and the doctor said that Hope had strep throat. As I was walking through the store, not knowing what the hell I was going to buy her, I stumbled across a wall of children’s movies. My eyes scanned the rows and then fixated on one particular movie that caught my attention: Charlotte’s Web. I smiled as I picked it and looked at it. She would like this. After checking out, I had Tony drive me to Lorelei’s apartment.
“Does she know you’re dropping by?” he asked.
“No.”
“Don’t you think you should tell her?”
“No.”
“After the recent events that took place, she may slam the door in your face. Or you may not
even make it through the security door.”
“She may and maybe I won’t. But I am not leaving until I give this movie to Hope and I see how she’s doing for myself.”
“She’s not your responsibility anymore.” He glanced up at me through the rearview mirror.
“Doesn’t matter. I still need to make sure she’s okay.”
He gave me a small smile and didn’t speak another word.
Hope wasn’t the only reason I wanted to come over. After the clusterfuck of a day I had, I needed to see Lorelei. I didn’t necessarily need to talk to her; just seeing her was enough to make everything okay. I rang the buzzer to her apartment.
“What are you doing here, Jack?” Her voice came through the intercom.
“I want to know how Hope is doing.”
“You could have just called.”
“I have something for her, Lorelei, and I would like to give it to her.”
The door buzzed and I let out a sigh of relief. When I reached her apartment door, she was standing there with it open.
“You didn’t have to get her anything,” she spoke as she moved to the side so I could come in.
“I know. I wanted to.”
“Jack!” Hope leaped up off the couch and wrapped her arms around my legs.
“Hi there. How are you feeling?” I bent down and picked her up.
“Not really good. But I’ll survive.” She smiled.
Carrying her over to the couch, I handed her a pink gift bag with a picture of Cinderella on it and pink tissue paper inside hiding the DVD. She reached her small hand in the bag and pulled out Charlotte’s Web. Her eyes grew wide with excitement.
“I didn’t know there was a movie!” she exclaimed. “Thank you, Jack.” Her arms wrapped themselves around my neck.
“You’re welcome.”
“Will you watch it with me?”
“Of course I will. That is, if it’s okay with your mom.” I glanced over at Lorelei as she stood there with her arms folded and her narrowing eye glared at me.
“Please, Mommy,” Hope whined.
She hesitated with a response for a few moments as her eyes never left me.
“I guess. But as soon as the movie is over, it’s bed time.”
“Okay. I promise.”
“Are you going to watch it with us?” I asked, trying to cut through some of the thick air that was around the room.