An Irresistible Bachelor(105)

Well, first thing tomorrow morning, he was going to take care of his mother.

Jack stopped in front of Callie's door and tried to prepare himself for whatever was going to happen. He knocked, and when there was no answer, he went to open it. The knob didn't turn.

Unable to comprehend the problem at first, he jiggled the brass with a curse.

And then he slowly released his hand.

He couldn't believe it. She'd locked him out.

He was about to start pounding the door down, had raised his fist and leaned forward, when he stopped himself.

Jack dropped his hand to his side. Sat back on his heels. Stared at the door.

Not only didn't she trust him, she clearly had no faith in him, either. She hadn't even bothered to let him explain that his mother's announcement had been rash, unexpected, and wrong.

Abruptly he felt as though he couldn't breathe. With an uncoordinated hand, he undid his bow tie, loosened his collar. Opening his mouth, he dragged some air into his lungs.

So this was how it ends, he thought.

How appropriate that it was with him being locked out of her room.

Jack laid his palm against the door.

He wasn't sure how long he stayed like that, but eventually he resurfaced and knew he needed to face up to reality.

No matter what she said, Callie didn't love him enough. She'd made her choice. She didn't want him in her life.

So be it.

Jack let his hand fall from the door and walked away.

He wasn't sure where he was going or why. The only thing he was certain of was that standing in front of her locked bedroom wasn't where he wanted to be when the sun came up.

When he found himself downstairs, there were waiters' still milling around. The men and women were carrying trays of dirty glasses into the kitchen and stripping the dining room of the remnants of the food. It dawned on him that he'd missed saying good night to the guests.

Probably just as well, he thought, heading for his study. He wouldn't have been able to stomach all of the good wishes for his candidacy.

Gray was in the room by himself, packing up papers.

"Hell of a night, huh," his friend murmured.

You have no idea, he thought.

He stared at Gray for a minute and then spoke sharply. "Tomorrow morning, I want the committee members downtown in my office early."

"Fine, but it shouldn't take more than a couple of hours to hear the reports—”

"Tell them it's going to go all day long. We've got a campaign to launch."

Gray looked up from the folder he was holding. "What the hell are you talking about? I thought you were still on the fence. We told everyone you were on the fence."

"Not anymore."

"Jesus Christ, Jack." Gray slammed down the folder. "We missed a prime opportunity tonight!"

Jack marched over to the desk. "I don't need this from you right now, okay? Do your job, call those goddamn people, and let's get this candidacy started."

He sat down and watched Gray compose himself.

"You mind telling me why the change?" His friend's voice was even now.

But Jack had no intention of exposing his pain to anyone.

Because how he felt was no one else's f*cking business, he thought.

"I don't have anything to lose. Not anymore."

Jack was still sitting at his desk when the sun came up. As the first rays of dawn fell across the lawn, he shifted in the chair and moved his cast to another position. He felt a sturdy ache in his shoulder, but it was the pain in his chest that held his attention. He figured it was either angina or a broken heart and it was hard to decide which would be worse.




Although that was probably because he was all alone, watching a beautiful sunrise, and feeling pathetically melodramatic.

"Hey, Governor."

Jack looked over and saw Nate standing in the doorway. He smiled even though he felt half-dead. "Don't jump the gun with that title. It's a long way to the finish line."

"Yeah, and when have you ever failed at something? "

Jack couldn't bear to entertain the joke! "I'm surprised you're up this early considering what you and Thomas pulled off last night. The food was fantastic." Eyeing the duffel bag hanging off Nate's shoulder, he asked, "You headed out?"

"Yeah, I want to be up in Canada before nightfall. Spike, Louie, and I have an appointment to see a restaurant that's for sale."