“I have to finish Hope’s Halloween costume, so I’ll be over at the table while you two watch it.”
Chapter Forty-Two
Lorelei
I put in the DVD and walked over to the table where I had my sewing machine set up. I couldn’t deny that what Jack did for Hope wasn’t sweet. It really was, but I still had my guard up where he was concerned.
As I was working on Hope’s costume, I silently smiled at the laughter and light conversation that was coming from the couch. Suddenly, the sound of sniffles took over. I turned around and saw Jack put his arm around Hope and pull her closer to him. I had no choice but to see if Jack was all choked up as well over Charlotte’s death. I called out to him.
“Hey, Jack?”
He didn’t turn around. He simply spoke, “Yeah.”
“Can you come here for a second?”
“Sorry, Lorelei. It’s going to have to wait.” He brought his finger up to his eye.
“Okay.” I smiled as I turned back around and continued working on the costume.
It wasn’t too long after that the movie ended and I could hear the subtle conversation between Hope and Jack.
“Jack, what was the point of Charlotte dying? She could have lived and they all could have been happy.”
“I agree, Hope, but the story of Charlotte and Wilbur was about true friendship. Even after Wilbur’s best friend passed away and she could no longer help him, he still helped her. Make sense?”
“I guess. You’re really smart, Jack.”
I rolled my eyes.
“Not as smart as you. Are you ready for bed?”
“I think I need my medicine.”
I stood up from my chair. “Yes, you do need your medicine. Go get in bed and I’ll bring it to you.”
“Can Jack tuck me in too?” she asked.
“Yes. Jack can tuck you in.”
Hope scurried off to her room and I went into the kitchen to get her medicine from the refrigerator.
“Yuck. I remember that stuff.” Jack made a face when he saw the bottle.
“It’s pretty bad, isn’t it? The good thing is Hope doesn’t seem to mind it.”
After pouring the medicine in the medicine cup to the correct dosage line, Jack grabbed the glass of water on the counter and we went to Hope’s room.
“Mommy, my head hurts again.” She pouted.
Jack placed his hand on her forehead. “She feels warm.”
I handed Hope the medicine and told her to take it while I went to the bathroom and got the thermometer. It read 101 degrees.
“Fevers always get worse at night. Hopefully, by tomorrow, it’ll be gone. I’ll go get you some Tylenol.”
“I can get it,” Jack spoke. “It’s on the kitchen counter, right?”
“Yeah. Thank you.”
After giving Hope some Tylenol, I kissed her head and told her good night. When I walked out of her room, Jack followed and pulled the door enough to where it was opened a crack.
“Thank you, Lorelei.”
“For what?” I asked as I sat down at the table.
“For letting me come in and give Hope that movie.”
“Like I had much of a choice. You were standing outside my building already.”
“You called me over earlier during the movie. What did you need?”
“Never mind. I did it myself.” I silently laughed.
He took a seat in the chair next to me. “My mother took off for Paris today.”
I looked up at him from my sewing machine. “What? Why?”
“Apparently, she had a talk with the girl this morning that Joshua is shacking up with. Come to find out, she was the one who she hired to spy on Flourishing and she just so happens to be the one that told Joshua everything. My mother paid her off and then fled the country. According to her, now that the girl has her hush money, Joshua doesn’t have a leg to stand on.”
I looked at him in confusion. “But why did she leave to go to Paris, then?”
“To escape the limelight of what’s about to come. Even though people will think he’s making the story up, she didn’t want to be here to answer any questions from the press.”
“So she ran and left you and Coco to handle it?”
“Yep. Mother of the year again. I have a bad feeling about all of this and I feel like there’s something she isn’t telling us.”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t figured it out yet.” He sighed.
I could see the anger and worry that consumed his eyes. Even though he’d never admit it, I could tell he was hurting.
“Enough about that. You seem to be feeling better.”
“I’m am. I’m still really tired, but overall okay.”
“I should get going so you can finish Hope’s costume.” As soon as he got up from his chair, his phone rang and he answered it.
“What!” he spoke in a panicked voice. “When? My God, I’m on my way over.”
He ended the call. The look on his face was terrifying.
“What happened?” I asked.
“That was Coco. Joshua was murdered.”
I cupped my hand over my mouth in shock.
“I need to get to Coco’s house. The police are there, questioning her.”
“My God, Jack. I’m sorry.”
“I’ll talk to you soon, Lorelei.” He walked out the door.
****
Jack
This was unbelievable. I hailed a cab and went straight to Coco’s brownstone where the flashing lights of a police car lit up the normally dimmed area. After stepping through the door, I headed straight to the living room and found my sister sitting on the couch crying while two male police officers questioned her. I ran to her side and she threw her arms around me, sobbing.
“Clearly, you can see she’s upset. Can you please come back tomorrow?”
“I’m sorry. You are?”
“Jack Sutton, her brother.”
“We apologize, but we have to ask where she was around six p.m.”
“What? Are you serious?”
“I’m sorry, Mr. Sutton, but we have to check all possible leads.”
“Coco, where were you?” I asked her.
“I was at the office.”
“Were you alone, ma’am,” one of the officers asked.
“No.”
“May I have the name of the person who was with you?” The officer took a pen from his pocket.
She hesitated for a moment and looked at me.
“Garrett Sullivan was with me.” She turned to the officer as she spoke.
“Why was Garrett at the office on a Saturday?” I asked.
“Thank you, Miss Sutton. We’ll be in touch if we have any more questions. We can see our way out.”
Coco stood up and took in a deep breath. “That’s a lot of work trying to make myself cry and fake being upset.” Dabbing her eyes with a tissue, she walked over to the bar area in her living room and poured a glass of wine.
“Would you like some?” she asked.
“No. What I would like is for you to answer my question.”
Chapter Forty-Three
Jack
I threw back my glass of scotch as Garrett walked into the living room. I slammed my glass down on the bar and pointed my finger at him as I walked towards him.
“How fucking dare you!” I yelled.
“Jack, stop!” Coco screamed.
“You’ve been sleeping with my sister and you didn’t tell me!”
“Jack, calm down.” He put his hands up.
“Don’t you dare tell me to calm down!” I threw a punch at him.
He stumbled back and held his jaw.
“Do you feel better now, friend?” he asked in a calm tone.
I went to throw another punch.
“Jack, no!” Coco grabbed my arm and held me back. “I swear I will never talk to you again if you don’t stop.”
“She’s my sister, man. My fucking sister. You’ve
known her your whole life.”
“And I’ve been in love with her my whole life!” he shouted.
I closed my eyes and slowly shook my head. Taking a seat on the couch, I cupped my face in my hands to try and process everything that was going on.
“Jack.” Coco sat down next to me. “Do you want me to be happy?”
I looked over at her as the tears streamed down her face.
“Of course I do.”
“Garrett makes me happy. He always has. Sometimes, the person you’re meant to love is standing right in front of you the whole time.”
“Coco, he’s like a brother to us.”
“But he’s not our brother. He makes me feel alive and whole. You can’t understand that because you never let anyone in. I’m in love with him, Jack.”
I looked over at Garrett, who was still standing in the same spot, holding his jaw.
“Do you love her?”
“Yes. I do.”
I got up from the couch and poured another drink.
“Why did you stay with Joshua if you were seeing Garrett?” I asked. “Which brings me to another question. How long has this been going on?”
“We’ve been seeing each other for a little over a month. Why do people who are married cheat and still stay married?”
I shook my head as I took a sip of a scotch. After downing it, I looked at Coco and then at Garrett.
“I’ll see you two Monday morning at the office. I need to get out of here and think.” I grabbed my coat and walked out.
As I was on my way home, I sat in the back of the cab and thought about what Coco said about me not letting anyone in. She was right. I had never let anyone in except one woman: Lorelei. The one woman I brought into my bed that was off limits to everyone. The only woman who I held in my arms all night. And what happened? She withheld a vital part of her life from me.
****
Lorelei
My mom and Stella sat at the table with shocked expressions as I told them about my week; being sick and Jack taking care of Hope. They couldn’t say anything because Hope was right there. My mom reached over and took hold of my hands.
“I wish you would have called us, sweetie.”
“Why, Mom? You were on a boat in the middle of the ocean. There would have been nothing you could have done.”
“Still. I’m so sorry we weren’t here for you and Hope.”
“That’s okay, Grandma. I liked Jack taking care of me. He’s fun.”
“He is?” Stella gave her a look with a twisted face.
“Yeah. He read to me and we watched Cinderella. He took and picked me up from school. He came to my spelling bee when my mom was in the hospital and he cooked. He’s not a good cook, though. He burns everything.” She giggled.
“That was very nice of Mr. Sutton to take care of you, Hope.” My mom hugged her. “And I’m happy you’re feeling better.”
Hope went to her room to take a nap and my mom left to get home and unpack from their trip.
“Okay. What’s going on with you and Jack?” Stella asked.
“Nothing.”
“Nothing, my ass. Why would a man who fully admitted to you that he hates children take care of your kid while you’re lying helpless in a hospital bed?”
“Because he knew there was nobody else who could take care of her.”
Again, she twisted her face. “I think Mr. Sutton has a heart and I think he’s madly in love with you.”
“No, he’s not, Stella. He left me and Hope the other night to go on a date.”
“Oh.” She bit down on her bottom lip. “Why would he do that?”
“Who the hell knows. Probably because he needed to feed his sex addiction.”
“He has a sex addiction?”
“Let me rephrase that. Probably because he needed to feed his sexual appetite.”
“He’s a man. They’re always horny.” She smiled. “I see a possible relationship here.”
“I can’t and I won’t.” I got up from the table and walked into the kitchen.
“Why not, Lorelei? It’s obvious the man has deep feelings for you or he wouldn’t have taken care of Hope the way he did. That little girl adores him.”
“Of course she does. He’s the first man who has ever paid attention to her.”
“And whose fault is that?” She frowned.
“I gave in to my feelings once before and I won’t make that mistake again. Look at how he treated me when he found out about Hope. The things he said. If he truly had feelings for me, he wouldn’t have said those things. Brett would never have said those things to me.”
“Aw, honey. You have to stop living in the past. Maybe Brett never would have said those things to you. Hell, he didn’t even know you were pregnant, Lorelei, so you really don’t know for sure how he would have reacted. You’re a grown up now and you’re playing in the grown up world.”
“So you’re saying that it was okay for him to talk to me like that?”
“No. That’s not what I’m saying. But you also need to understand that he was hurt. He found out by accident one of the most personal things about you. He probably felt betrayed that you didn’t trust him enough to tell him.”
“How could I trust him when he flat out told me he hated kids? You even told me not to tell him. Hell, Garrett didn’t even tell him because he was afraid he’d fire me.”
“Okay. Okay. You have a point. But still.”
Taking our coffee over to the couch, I sat down and crossed my legs.
“I don’t want to talk about this anymore. You’re never going to believe what I did.”
“Oh my God, what did you do?”
“I created a profile on Match.com.”
“Shut up! You did not!” she exclaimed.
I grabbed my laptop from the coffee table and logged into my account. This was the first time I had done that since the night I created it. I had over fifty responses.
“Oh shit. Look at this.” I laughed.
We spent the next hour going through the profiles and laughing.
“This guy isn’t bad. He’s an ad executive. He has a daughter who’s eleven and his hobby is bird watching.”
I rolled my eyes. “He’s also forty years old. What the hell does he want with a twenty-five-year-old?”
“You really need to ask that?” Stella spoke. “Just think of all the different kinds of birds you could learn about. I wonder if he makes those weird bird sounds to them.” She laughed.
Chapter Forty-Four
Lorelei
I stopped at Starbucks to get Jack his morning coffee. I hadn’t heard from him since Saturday night and he didn’t respond to my text messages. As I walked down the hallway to my desk, many of my coworkers welcomed me back. I took in a deep breath as I walked into Jack’s office.
“Good morning,” I spoke.
He looked up at me from the papers he was looking over and mumbled, “Morning.” When I set the coffee on his desk, I waited for him to say something, but he didn’t. He looked back down at his papers and acted like I wasn’t even standing there.
“Did you get my text messages?” I asked.
“Yes,” he responded without looking up.
“Why didn’t you text me back?”
“I really didn’t have time.”
“Oh.” I stood there feeling like an idiot. “How’s Coco?”
“She’s fine.”
“Any more news about Joshua?”
“No.”
“Does your mother know what happened?”
He sighed and looked up at me as he grabbed his coffee cup.
“What is this? A million questions? If I wanted to talk to you about this, I would. You have a ton of work to do since you were out all last week. I suggest you get to your desk and start working.”
Wow. Wow. Wow. What the fuck was his problem? I quietly walked out of his office and sat down at my desk. Asshole. I pulled out the small framed picture I had of Hope and set it next to my computer.
A few moments later, Garrett walked up and I couldn’t help but notice the large bruise on his face.
“Ouch. What happened?” I asked with concern.
“Jack didn’t tell you?”
“No. Jack isn’t saying much to me these days.”
“He punched me.”
“Oh my God. Why would he do that?”
“I’d rather not get into that right now. How are you feeling? How’s Hope?”
“We’re both a lot better. Thank you for asking.”
“Good. I’m happy to hear that. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to talk to Jack. Let’s hope he doesn’t punch me again.” He winked.
Sitting there, I watched Garrett walk into Jack’s office and shut the door. What the hell was going on with him that would make him punch his best friend?
A few moments later, the door opened and Garrett walked out.
“Escaped without any assault.” He winked with a smile and then strutted down the hallway.
Garrett left the door open to Jack’s office and I couldn’t help but steal a glance from my desk. Jack was sitting in his chair, looking out the window.
“Oh shit!” he exclaimed as he jumped up and ran down the hallway.
I needed to know what was going on, so I followed him down to the lobby, and when I reached the doors, Coco was standing outside trapped by a bunch of paparazzi who were taking her picture and shoving small recorders in her face. Jack grabbed her and led her inside the building. I hurried and stepped into the elevator before they saw me. The shit storm had arrived and Jack and Coco were left to deal with it alone without any help from their mother.
I made it back to my desk and I saw Jack take Coco into her office. He was in there for about an hour. Before going into his office, he stopped at my desk.
“You are to field any calls that may come in from anyone asking about Joshua or the company.”
“Yes, Jack. Don’t worry.”
He picked up the frame from my desk and stared at the picture of Hope. Without saying a word, he set it down, walked into his office, and slammed the door. I flinched.
After working on a couple of projects, I glanced at the clock and saw it was lunchtime. Grabbing my sketchbook and my purse, I knocked on the door and told Jack I was heading to lunch.