AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You won’t,” Isaac replied.
“Can I shower with it on?”
“Of course,” replied Isaac. “In fact, I insist on it.”
He tried not to picture Peach in the shower, naked except for that huge diamond. He tried… and failed.
“So… I guess we’re officially engaged now,” said Peach quietly.
“I guess we are,” replied Isaac.
Peach looked again at the contract and then signed it with a trembling hand.
Isaac was surprised to feel his own anxiety spike too. They were really doing this. After a pause, he said: “Well. You go explore your new house. Let the dog have a look around too. Hopefully, you’ll both be at home here.”
“We definitely won’t be at home,” Peach replied, still staring at her ring. “But that’s kind of the point.”
*
It didn’t make sense really. For years, Isaac had been the only one living on his compound. Now that there was another occupant, suddenly he felt even lonelier than usual.
As he sat looking over the beautiful waters of Biscayne Bay, the sunset making the sky a deep, blushing pink, he wondered whether Peach was doing the same thing at her place. Two of them, looking out at the same view from different houses.
Peach probably wasn’t downing martinis right now, though. And she didn’t have a stray kitten jumping all over her furniture either.
“Give it a rest, would you, Itchy?”
The kitten stared at him defiantly. She’d left little scratch marks over every surface of the house already. The walnut desk. The ebony handrail on the grand staircase. The rosewood floors. It had been a deliberate design choice to add all this expensive wood to the house, and within a matter of days, the kitten had made it all look like trash. It had probably caused thousands of dollars of damage already, if not more.
He was still trying to find an owner for the cat. The problem was, the local rescue centers were full and nobody he knew was in the market for a dirty, flea-bitten animal. His PA had sent him some allergy sprays and tablets, but even with all that stuff, Itchy was still making him feel, well, itchy.
Isaac took a long draft of his drink and then set it down, picking up a fishing rod cat toy instead. He shook it around and laughed as Itchy jumped for the little orange fish dangling on the end of it.
“You really are a funny cat, Itchy,” he told it. “It’s a shame that nobody wants you.”
Obviously, giving the kitten a name hadn’t been the best move. It felt like he was developing some kind of emotion toward it now. Like it was becoming a family member. But that was probably just all in his head. Itchy was acat, after all. And he was allergic to cats. That would never change. Would it?
He looked back out at the calm waters of the bay.
Nobody wants you.
It had felt so good giving Peach her tour earlier. Slipping that ring on her finger. Telling her about his rules. He couldn’t help fantasizing about what arealengagement might feel like if he ever found the right woman. How wonderful it would be to do all those things with his future life partner.
But what if nobody wanted to be with him forever?
For so long, Isaac had buried himself in his work. He wasn’t well practiced at romance or love. Would it ever happen for him? Would anybody ever want him?
He tried to think of himself as a commodity for sale. Being a businessman, that’s kinda how he thought about everything. Forty-one-year-old man for sale. Offering financial independence and a life of luxury. Looking for a Little who’s nottooLittle. Who can put up with the fact her future husband sees everything in financial terms. Who struggles to show his emotions and is still torn up with grief over his dead parents. No pets.
Ha.
Not exactly the offer of the century.
Isaac put down the toy and went over to his shelves, opening up a box he almost never looked at. The box contained old photographs, mostly from when he was a boy.
He took the box back over to his armchair, then he began rifling through the pictures. There was one of his mom and dad’s wedding day, three years before he was born. They looked so young and happy. His mom was wearing this ridiculously frilly white dress. His dad’s arms were wrapped protectively around his mother’s waist, pulling her in close to him. You could see how in love with each other they were.
And then there was a photograph of the funeral. His family, all dressed in black. Not a single smile, but no tears either. Looked like everyone was all cried out. He wasn’t in the photograph because he was just a boy. Everyone said he was too young to go. It would have just upset him. But it wasn’t the funeral that would have upset him, of course. It was the fact his parents weren’t around anymore. At least if he’d have gone to the funeral he might have been able to process that a little better.
