Helen shook her head in disagreement at that last line, but she kept the look of worry on her face.
“No more clubbing this week.” Kim clasped her hands together. “We’ll still drink tons, but we’ll stick to the lame ass activities we were doing before. We’ll even take you shopping for a whole new wardrobe today...Jonathan will never find out about this. Your secret is safe with us...”
Chapter 12
Claire
I sat in the middle of Starbucks, sporting a brand new tan and a light grey dress the girls had picked out for me on the last day of the trip. It was short with a deep V-neckline and it hugged all my curves perfectly.
It was the type of dress that Jonathan would love, at least I hoped he would when he saw me later tonight for our date.
He’d told me he wanted to take me somewhere special as soon as he picked me up from the airstrip the other day. He’d left little reminder notes in my closet, in my purse, even in my car: “Tonight will be the best date you and I have ever had.” “No...I’m not shutting down the Golden Gate Bridge again...but I can if you want me to.” “I’m looking forward to seeing you later. You are always the best part of my day.”
“Miss Gracen?” My high profile client cleared her throat, snapping me out of my trance. “Is that all? Do I need to sign anything else?”
“I’m sorry. I’ll have my secretary forward you a copy of the contract tomorrow morning. Do you have any other questions for me, Lisa? I mean, Miss Kane?”
“Not at all.” She stood up. “Thanks for treating me to coffee today. This was... different.”
I laughed and watched her walk out of the store.
Thanks to my employees—who had failed to shut off the air conditioning the entire week I was gone, my store’s ventilation system had crashed and I’d had to reschedule all of today’s appointments outside of the office.
I looked through my planner to make sure I didn’t have any more meetings for the day, and suddenly heard my phone ringing. Ashley.
“Hello, Ashley.”
“This is Caroline.” She scoffed.
“You’re using Ashley’s phone, Caroline. How am I supposed to know it’s you?” I could practically see her shrugging her shoulders and rolling her eyes.
“Ashley and I would like to know why we weren’t invited to your bachelorette party. We are in the wedding, your maids of honor at that.”
“Because you can’t take off a week from school and my friends didn’t think it was appropriate for you two to come. And after going there, I’m completely sure they made the right choice.”
“Right...Anyway, I’m just calling to let you know that we got your email. We love it and we think Jonathan will love it too.”
“You didn’t tell him anything did you?”
“No...” She sighed. “Although we are finding it a bit strange that we hear from him more than we hear from you these days.”
“What? That’s not true!”
“It is true. He calls or texts us every day.”
“And he sends us care packages every Monday!” Ashley yelled in the background.
“I’m sorry...” I realized that they were right. Lately I’d only been checking in on them once or twice a week, but I thought that was what they wanted. “I’ll do better. I promise. I’ll start calling you more often.”
“No, no, no.” Caroline clucked her teeth. “Just send us some care packages. Actually, now that we’re on the subject of care packages... Jonathan gives us three hundred dollars a week in his boxes, in addition to a bunch of other nice gifts. Now, we both know you don’t make as much as he does, but we know you make enough to give us two hundred a week without breaking a sweat. So, we’re thinking—”
I hung up and sent them both an ‘I love you’ text.
Laughing, I started to put my things away. I felt something brush against my table, and when I looked up I saw Ryan sitting in front of me with a smug expression on his face.
“Busy day, huh?” he asked. “You’ve met with lots of clients...”
“Fuck off.” I stood up to leave, but he grabbed my elbow. “Please, Claire. Two minutes...That’s it.”
I looked into his eyes—those familiar green and grey irises that I used to love, and saw a world full of pain. I wanted to walk away—knew I should’ve walked away, but the look in his eyes made me feel sorry for him.
“Two minutes. That’s it.”
“Thank you...” He waited for me to sit down and slid a cup of coffee towards me. “Does Jonathan Statham make you happy?”
“He doesn’t make me cry.” I rolled my eyes. “I didn’t give you two minutes for a discussion.”
“You’re still incapable of small talk?”
“With my philandering ex-husband?”
He sighed. “Fair enough, Claire...I’ve been trying to get your attention for the past few weeks because...Amanda’s ill...”
“So?” I shrugged.
“So?”
“Yes. So. As in, what does that have to do with me?”
“It’s fatal, Claire.” It looked like it hurt him to say those words, and for a half second I felt bad for her—for both of them. “She wants to talk to you...”