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16
Jared
“Mister St. James?”Audrey, my personal assistant, strode in with her electronic calendar as she gave me a pointed look. Her cat-like eyeglasses made it much more severe. “I’m here to remind you it’s Peter’s daughter’s nineteenth birthday tomorrow. Her father’s arranged flowers for all special occasions, but I’m also wondering if you want me to send an arrangement addressed from you since you’re her guardian,afterall?”
Tomorrow’s her birthday. “Yes, that’d be lovely. Thanks for reminding me, Audrey.” How had this escaped my mind? I supposed I wasn’t as keen as I had thought I was. Setting my pen down, I glanced towards the determined woman situated across from me, brows furrowing as her fingertips busied with the tapping nonstop on the screen. “Do you think I should give a presentaswell?”
Without looking up, she shrugged. “She’s a teenager. Teenagers lovepresents.”
Teenager. Well, there you go. A bloody fucking teenager! I cringed each time the wordteenagercrossed my mind. If there were any doubts, this surely cleared whatever qualms I’d had for the past month. Setting her free was the right and onlychoice.
“Do you have anyrecommendations?”
“Jewelry?A car maybe?A trip somewhere? I imagine she has everything, so it’s tricky. You have to think outsidethebox.”
A car, but I had no idea what she’d like. What if she preferred her Ranger Rover, anyway, so it’d be wasting a present? More importantly, what made me think she’d even welcome anything from me? We parted on not so friendlyterms.
After dismissing Audrey, I sat back and pondered about the woman who hounded my thoughts consistently. Work had been a great distraction, but coming home to an empty house without Gisele’s body to warm me at night had been rather lonely for me. My body had gotten so used to having her close to me that sleep was a rarity these days. I craved her scent, her warmth, even though I knew it was wrong to do so. It was an unending battle, so on the nights that tempted me to drive to Peter’s home, seek her out, and ask for forgiveness, I’d drown myself in liquor until it knocked me out ofconsciousness.
Rose and I had been in constant communication. Although, I hadn’t seen her since I had moved back into my old home. I had every intention of seeing her again. For me to achieve that, I had to get Gisele’s out of my systemfirst.
It had been a month and three days since I’d seen her last. After she walked out of my room, Gisele had ignored the text message I sent her precisely a week after that fated afternoon. It was merely to inquire how she was doing, but she stubbornly ignored it, shutting me out of her life completely. Although I communicated with the security team in charge of the compound, I hadn’t spoken to any of the household staff. I’d been informed about Gisele’s daily ins and outs. She went out every single night without fail and would come home in the wee hours of the morning. Partied, she did, but she hadn’t missed a class, either. The report also stated she brought people into the house. I didn’t feel the inkling to probe if they were men, too. The idea of her responding to Wyatt the way she did with my touch sent me to a hellish place, and I’d rather not go there, not when I’d made great progress in staying awayfromher.
It was past midnight when I entered my home. Since Audrey had made sure the caterer sent me dinner in my work suite, I didn’t need to worry about meals and so forth. Had I been in charge of my daily intake of food, I’d most likely skip meals since I didn’t like to be bothered when I was in the middle of breaking ground in projects. Food wasn’t truly high on my priority list. It was a good thing I had hired competent people around me to shove it down my throat, or I’d be starved todeath.
Strolling towards the bar, I pulled the phone out of my pocket and answered my mother’s call. “Women your age should be asleep at this hour. What are you doing up and about, mum?” A smile played about my lips. Hearing from my mother always brought one. She’d been a rock, raising me on her own, supporting me througheverything.
“Times have changed; have you not noticed? Women in their sixties once upon a time were stuck in their deathbeds or planning out their wills. These days, my lot hunts for men in their late twenties for a quick tumble in bed. Exciting,isn’tit?”
My hand let go of the bottle’s nozzle, carefully setting it back on the counterpane as I let my mother’s words sink in. “Are you bloody shagging someone close to my age, mother?” The very idea of it made me want to laugh and yell at thesametime.
“Oh, dear, did I forget totellyou?”
“You well bloody did!” My nose flared as I raked a hand through my hair. “And who is this lucky man? I need informationonhim!”
She chortled. “Son, if the time ever comes I have a man in my life, I won’t give you his details. Calm down, bossy pants. I’m watching this show online. It’s rather difficult to think of sleep when the next episode calls upon you to keepgoing.”
I snickered at the thought of her passing out on her couch with an empty bottle of wine in her hand. “If the time ever comes you meet a man worthy enough of you, then I won’t meddle…but until then, mother, count on your son to pry into yourbusiness.”
“I’ll bemoan to your wife until she persuades you to stop snooping about.” She delightfully chuckled. “How is Gisele? Have you been treating her well,myson?”
My wife. My mother knew we entered an arranged one, but she saw Gisele as ‘my wife,’ nonetheless. “I believe she’s well…probably mourning Peter still.” Amongst other things. One need not guess she’d inevitably surrounded herself with lapping men inherwake.
“Youbelieveshe’s well. Did you two break up,Jared?”
This would’ve been the case if she and I ever were together. But we never were. I made sure of that. “We’re living our lives as we see fit. I see no harminthat.”
“The only harm here is you letting go of someone who only has eyes for you. How could you leave your young wife when she’s so in love with you? You left her so soon after Peter’s death, too. That’s quite heartless of you to punish her like that. It’s too harsh even for you, Jared.” My mum was distraught, almost angry even. “Poor child, she must be soheartbroken.”
“Christ, she’s not in love with me, mother!” I gritted out. “I had to leave because she’s too…too young…too determined and fucking too much of everything I vowed to avoid. Gisele deserves better—she does. Why must she endure my presence when I have nothing to offer her? She’s better off. Someday, she’llunderstand.”
“You’re obviously blind! And what do you mean by too much? It’s been ten years since Paige died. Don’t you think it’s high time you moved on and found someone to settle with instead of hopping from one woman to the next? It’s time to forgive yourself. It’s not your fault they died, my love. Stop blaming yourself. I know youstilldo.”
My mum would never understand the eternal guilt I endured. No one ever did. So, I stayed tight-lipped whenever she brought Paige and Penny into the conversation. Tonight was noexception.
“You’re going to regret letting her go,” my mom continued her spiel after a prolonged silence onmypart.
“There’s nothing to regret when there’s nothing between Gisele and me, mum. She and I mean nothing to each other. I beg of you, stop harping on the bloody fuckingsubject!”
