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She laughs, “Never you mind about my age. You're only as old as you feel.”
I must admit that there’s something we agree on, the fact that they were both intoxicated and played a teenage game says it all.
“Anyway, so Wendy dared me to go down the stair rail.”
“How?”
I’m intrigued now because I may be a lot younger than Ms. Young but I never imagined her to have so much fun especially with her strict business regime. She’
s a shrewd business woman like me, but listening to her story, I can tell that not only does she have time for love, but fun too.
“Down the rail. I could either go face down or on my butt?”
“Which way did you choose Aunt Betty?”
Wendy seems to have woken up as she joins in the conversation laughing, “Butt down. It was so funny until the end when she fell.”
I address my question to Wendy, “And you brought her in?”
Wendy sighs, “Yes, but then I got in the car and realized that I couldn't drive because I was drunk.”
Scarlett asks, “So what did you do?”
They both look at each other, “She called the ambulance to pick us up because at that point I was wailing in agony. I thought that at my age. I must have broken something.”
“I’m the one who nearly broke my back carrying you from the staircase.”
I sigh as I think that this is funny, but I need to put things into perspective, this will be the first and last time that I see Scarlett.
She’s laughing as well as everyone else in the room. But I know that it will come to a dramatic end.
“Well, seeing as the contract was for taking Scarlett for the weekend, but with the hospital phone call it’s been put to an end. I take it that you’ll still be able to keep to your side of the bargain?”
I’m looking at Ms. Young, but I can feel Scarlett’s eyes on me. I know that soon they’ll be filled with tears, but this was the agreement. I don’t want her back in my house. Or anywhere near me right now.
Wendy asks, “What contract?”
“The land on Westfield, Ms. Young said that if I took her niece to my house for the weekend and showed her a good time she would sign it over to me.”
Scarlett’s standing up, her eyes are moving from her aunt to me as if she’s watching a tennis match. I don’t say a word as the tears start to flood from her eyes.
“Scarlett dear, just know that I did this for you. Gretchen told me that you'd been down since that rat threw you out. I did it for you…”
Ms. Young calls after her as she runs out of the room.
I stand frozen thinking that I should be pleased with myself. The result was exactly what I wanted, but as I turn to leave the room and Ms. Young tells me to take the land. I wonder why I don’t feel proud?
After all I’ve achieved exactly what I wanted to do.
I walk out knowing that the best woman that I’ve ever been with has just left the room, because not only did I end up breaking her heart, but mine too.
Chapter Twelve
Scarlett
I decide to go to the house and wait for Daniel to come back. I could get a taxi or even on a train, but after what happened last night. I feel even worse than I did when Sam broke up with me. I don’t know if it was because I connected with Joshua? Or the idea that he’d only slept with me because he was going to get something out of it.
Either way, I knew one thing for sure. I wouldn’t see him again. That’s what he was after, he wanted to end it and he did that in the worse possible way. I hope that he's proud of himself.
