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“Well…” Rene started, but then bit her tongue. “Of course, be my guest.”
“No, no, no,” Alice kept on laughing, “you hesitated.”
“I was just considering the boy,” Rene was quick to reply.
“Sure you were.”
“He really is the sweetest boy you could imagine. I’m so sorry he has to go through this kind of hardship. Divorce is always the hardest on the kids.”
“Well, then it’s lucky he has you for his nanny,” Alice stopped teasing. This one came straight from the heart.
“Thank you,” Rene smiled, taking a sip of her wine.
“I’m just teasing, you know that,” Alice continued. “All I want for you is to find the man who will treat you the way you deserve to be treated.”
“That is easier said than done,” Rene sighed.
“I know,” Alice nodded, “but, I’m sure he’s out there, just waiting for you to find him.”
“You always make everything seem so easy,” Rene snorted.
“That’s because it is,” Alice informed her importantly. “We make it more difficult for ourselves, instead of just accepting the natural flow of things, and going along, instead of fighting it.”
“You’re an incorrigible hippie, you know that, right?” Rene laughed, and Alice joined in.
They spent the following hour in a relaxed atmosphere and then Rene wished Alice good night, retiring to her bedroom. She felt exhausted and yet, somehow, sleep wouldn’t come to her, no matter how hard she tried to relax and count sheep. The moment she would close her eyes, she saw Hyde. His smile burned an imprint deep inside her mind and she knew that she would never forget him. She would always recognize the sound of his voice, even after fifty years, even if she never saw him again.
Then, she would open her eyes and scold herself. The last thing she needed right now was to fall in love with her current employer. The mess that could create… but, the heart wouldn’t listen. The moment she would close her eyes, again and again, she would see the brightness of his smile, she would hear the melodious sound of his voice.
Chapter 4
It was about a month later, that Rene found herself in front of Hyde’s door, knocking at their usual, arranged time. Things had become routine by now and she managed to calm herself down every time she had to exchange a few pleasantries with Hyde.
She knew she felt something for him. Her heart didn’t allow her to neglect this realization even for one second, but she was reasonable enough to know that she could never act on this. So, every time she would talk to him, she would breathe deeply, neglecting the heavy beating of her fluttering heart, as she stood before him, gazing at him straight in the eyes, pretending that everything was alright.
As she waited in front of Hyde’s door, she knew that her heart would awaken once again when she saw him. It would flutter about, skip a beat, and go all crazy. She was prepared for that.
What she wasn’t prepared for was the fact that someone else opened the door.
“Hey there, you must be Rene,” a man addressed her casually, as if it was his house.
She swallowed heavily, feeling a sudden dryness of throat. She had never seen this man before and here he was, opening the door only Hyde should be opening. Was there a change of plans she wasn’t informed about? Who was this guy who pranced about as if he owned the place?
“I’m sorry and you are?” she asked, a little more defensively than she wanted to.
She was confused and she hated being confused. It made her feel weak. And right now, she felt unprepared, which made her feel angry.
“Oh yeah, sorry, I’m Jesse,” he grinned, offering her his hand.
She thought about it for a second and he noticed her hesitation.
“I promise I’m not a psycho or anything,” he kept on smiling, “I’m a friend of the family. Hyde should have informed you of this.”
“Of what?” she asked, forgetting that she still ha
dn’t accepted his hand, which stood hanging in the air between them, like a bridge she was supposed to cross, and yet, she was somehow reluctant to do it.
“He had to go to work early, because he’ll be flying to Chicago today, and that’s why he needed me to be here before you…”
