AllFreeNovel
Share Us
It wasn't him, though. It was my grandfather’s lawyer bringing me the last of the paperwork. I had talked to him about putting the house on the market, but now, once again, I didn't know what to do. Everything hinged on a conversation that I needed to have with Frank. Everything had been fixed with one conversation with the waitress. It didn't seem that hard to comprehend that one more conversation would change it again. Which way, though, I had no idea. Nothing was making any sense, now. Everything that I thought I knew, twice I'd been wrong. I didn't know if I was able to do it a third time.
After the lawyer left, I was still trying to figure out what to do. I almost hoped that it was Frank that had come over earlier. It would have been easier. I would have been forced to say something to him, especially now that I knew the truth. I also had to call Gemma and tell her that I would take care of my own plane ticket. I didn't know when I was coming back. I wasn’t ever this wishy-washy, but I had no idea what to do next. No plan.
Gemma was worried about the new deal that was just struck, but I wasn't. If I was going to stay in Hampton, I had more than enough room to set up shop. It would not be the idea that I was looking for, the great fashion house in Paris, but maybe...
That was the problem. All of it hinged on a man and I didn't like that. Leaving Frank, though, was just as bad of an option. It really did feel like there was nothing good that I could choose. Either way, I was going to mess it up somewhere.
So, instead of worrying about what was going to happen next, I needed to focus on the one thing that everything was depending on. Whether I wanted it to be hinged on a man or not, really didn't matter. If there was a way that Frank and I could be together, I wanted it to happen. I had wanted it to happen for ten years, and I felt like walking away again would have been a huge mistake. I almost had because I didn't understand, but now that I did, how could I just pretend like all of these feelings I had would just go away? Or like they already had? They certainly hadn’t for me, and if he could forgive me, I really hoped that his feelings for me hadn't gone away for him, either.
When I finally did get up the courage to call him, it was rather late and he didn't answer. I didn't know if he was sleeping or if it was because he didn’t want to talk to me. I can't say that I would have blamed him if it was the latter.
I left a message, though, I didn't say much in the message. I wanted to talk to him face-to face, or at least on the phone when he was on it. It seemed tacky and kind of cowardly to say all of it in another message.
I waited for him to call me back, but he did not before I went to bed. When I got up in the morning, there weren’t any phone calls from him then, either. Of course, my mind considered the worst. He was probably mad at me because I wouldn't let him get two words out the last time. I had just jumped to conclusions and made everything worse.
When he didn't call me for the third day in a row, I started to get a little antsy. I didn't want to just go over to his house, especially knowing that he had a child. I didn't want to be that woman. That crazy woman that couldn't let things go, but I at least wanted to say what I needed to say, for my own mind to settle. I needed to apologize for jumping to conclusions and I needed to ask for his forgiveness. Whether he wanted to give it to me or not was his decision. I can't imagine him being that easy on me, though.
I didn't leave another message because I didn't want there to be a bunch from me. I really hoped that first one would do it, but when he didn’t call back, I had to decide if I wanted to maybe appear crazy by calling him again. Instead, I found out where he was working and decided that maybe I should just stop by his office. Then, we could figure out what to do next.
Going there felt like I was taking a chance. He might not want me to show up. He might not want to see me. Of course, I didn't want to think that was true, but I definitely knew that it was an option. It wasn’t an option that I wanted, but I wouldn’t have blamed him if he wanted to go down that path. I really had been quite horrible to him, considering what I knew now.
I couldn't think about that, though. Instead, I just pushed ahead and hoped that I was making the right decision. I didn't want to give up whatever was going on between us. I felt like it was a good thing and all I had to do was apologize. Was it really that hard?
“Hi, is Frank in?”
“Do you have an appointment?”
Considering that I was talking to his secretary that had his schedule right in front of her, I think she knew that I didn't have an appointment. I wasn't going to let that slow me down, though. It had taken this much to get me to the door. Now, I wasn't going to walk away. Not until I had done what I came here to do.
“I don't, but he'll want to see me.”
I said it with the confidence like I actually knew what I was talking about, when in reality, I really didn't know if he wanted to see me or not. I didn't know if I would want to if I were him. That was really hard to acknowledge.
The short brunette kind of gave me a dirty look, but I stood my ground, and she finally got up and said that she would be back in a moment. Apparently, she didn't want to say anything on the intercom that was right in front of her. I had a feeling it was because she wasn't going to say something very nice about me.
As time ticked by, I was starting to really get nervous. Here I was waiting for him to come out and I had no idea what I was going to be faced with. He was behind her when she came back in. He didn't look mad, but Frank did look like he was a bit confused to see me. I had made myself clear, after all.
I followed him into his office and looked around. It was simple and masculine, just like he was. I also caught a whiff of his cologne when he passed me to shut the door. It brought back powerful memories of our time in bed, and it was really hard for me to focus on what I was actually there for. Instead, I probably stood there like an idiot for a good thirty seconds before I was startled back to the present when he asked me if I wanted to sit down. What must he think of me? I certainly didn't act rational when it had anything to do with Frank.
I sat down and I took a moment to smooth out my skirt. He sat down across from me and his desk was covered in stacks and stacks of papers. From what I could see, each stack of papers had just as many lines and lines of numbers. I really had no idea what he did with all of it, but from the obvious, he was doing quite well for himself.
It made me realize that I was being completely ridiculous, and I was going to waste a good opportunity. When would I ever get another man that I felt the same way about, not to mention such a quality man? Frank was the kind of man that I could depend on and that meant more to me than almost anything else.
“So, what are you doing here, Amber?”
There was a bit of a clip to his tone and I could tell that he wanted me to spit it out. That was a problem, though, getting the courage to do so.
“I just wanted to talk to you about something that came to my attention a few days ago. I was on my way out of town, and I heard about your daughter, Caroline.”
There was a change on his face. But it wasn't a good one. He actually tightened up a little bit, and I could tell that he didn't want to talk about it. Had I really been that bad about it?
The answer was pretty simple. I had. I didn't give him a chance to say anything. I just asked him if he had a daughter, and then when he said he did, I told him to leave. I was actually quite horrible, and I could completely understand if he didn't want to talk to me.
“So, you heard about Caroline? Where at?”
“At the diner. The waitress made a comment about it after your daughter came in.”
“That is probably Gail. She never shuts her mouth.”
