A Summer to Remember(40)
“Ha. Don’t knock it. As you said, it’s a guilty pleasure just like you enjoying your James Patterson novels.”
We stared into one another’s eyes before we laughed.
It was a simple conversation that could have easily turned into a lover’s spat but it hadn’t and it was times like this, I was more than convinced Paul and I were meant for one another. I had no unrealistic expectations and knew there would be some knock-down, drag out fights between the two of us but as long as we had communication on our side, we would always be okay.
Chapter Fourteen
The rest of the weekend flew by and before we all knew it, we were driving back to Manhattan. We’d left early Sunday morning to beat most of the traffic and we still didn’t get home until almost one in the afternoon.
True to what I suspected, I hadn’t seen or heard from Talia since the day I saw her walk off with Seth. Both Jude and Paul assured me she was fine and Savannah pulled me to the side during a rest stop on our way home to let me know she’d heard from her and not only was she okay but she was happy.
“Are you satisfied now? You can’t pretend to be her keeper forever. She’s a grown woman and she can do what she likes whether you approve or not.”
Life slowly returned back to normal the moment I was back at work and the memories of Martha’s Vineyard became less vibrant as I became marred down by arriving paintings and sculptures, appointments with important clients and keeping up to date with finances courtesy of Alastor.
I sat in my office on a gorgeous Wednesday looking out of the window as Paul and I tried to pick out a restaurant for that evening.
“You love that little Japanese place and it’s also only a block from your loft’s building,” he murmured in a seductive voice.
“Yes but you don’t share your spacious upper Eastside two bedroom with anyone,” I whispered into my Bluetooth as I surfed on my Facebook page on my Samsung Note II. “I can meet you at CDG Investments. We can leave from there together and go to that really expensive and highly delicious French restaurant that is less than half a mile from where you live.”
“Why do I get the feeling this is an argument I am not going to win?”
“Because you aren’t.”
He laughed on the end of the phone before he sighed loudly. “Fine. Meet me at CDG and we will leave together and go to the obnoxiously expensive Chez Jourdan de Restieu.”
“That’s much more like it…especially if you plan on getting any more sex out of me.”
“Now that would just be cruel and unusual punishment if that is how you propose to punish me. Cutting off sex seems highly unfair,” he replied.
“Yes, I know. Now be a good boy and get back to work!” I exclaimed in an authoritative tone before I ended the call with him.
I laughed to myself as I removed my Bluetooth and turned around to face Talia who had quietly walked into the room and sat down on the beige sofa I had in my personal office.
I knew I had to be cordial because I wasn’t aware how much of the conversation she’d heard between Paul and me. At the same time, I was so angry with her, it was completely irrational and I understood that. Her personal life was her own and I wasn’t her mother but I always thought we were best friends and she would tell me what was going on in her relationships with the men in her life. I had never once lied to her about what went on between Kevin and I and somehow I’d expected the same courtesy yet had not received it.
“Listen, I know you’re pissed off at me because Savannah called and disclosed to me about how she told you the truth about the whole ‘incident’ at Vassar. I didn’t lie for the reasons you think I did so I wish you would stop looking at me like that,” she explained without a hint of a greeting.
I crossed my arms against my chest in a defensive position. “I don’t know why I would be pissed off. You only told me Seth wanted nothing else to do with you and college was more important than having a child. I went to that abortion clinic with you because I thought you were doing what was best for your future. Never in a million years did it ever occur to me you were doing it to get some guy out of you life.”
“Stop being so self-righteous, Jerrica, because it doesn’t really mesh with you and your new cheerful personality…thanks to your regular ‘hot beef injections’ courtesy of Paul. You know as well as I do my mother would have murdered me if I bought home a baby by someone like Seth. They weren’t the Winter’s Regret they are now and you know damn well my mother would have flipped her lid. She left Boston and married my step-father to get out of poverty and here I would be: her only daughter stepping right back into her old shoes.”