Rediscovering Love - A Billionaire Romance Novel (Romance, Billionaire Romance, Life After Love Book 5)

by Nancy Adams

  “Yes, I do. She was Mommy’s friend.”

  Sam shuddered and then repeated, “Yes, she was your mommy’s friend.”

  “So Mommy was dying and you were cheating behind her back with her friend?”

  “It wasn’t like that, Jess. I didn’t feel great at the time. My head was in pieces. The love of my life was going to die in less than a month. I’d only ever known her. I didn’t have friends, only Mommy. She was the only friend and love I’d ever had. But with her disease and the drugs she was on, I couldn’t talk to her. So I began talking with Claire. At first, we were just friends. She was someone I could talk to, someone who wouldn’t judge, would listen to me and be a confidante, let me get it all off my chest. But soon we both fell in love.”

  “Then why didn’t you stay together?”

  Sam closed his eyes and paused for a moment as he recalled both his split from Claire and losing Marya, all in the space of a day.

  “We decided to end it straight away because we both felt bad for betraying your mom. Our relationship was starting out upon deceit and guilt, and we felt that it was doomed to end badly because of it. Then your mother died and I couldn’t think of Claire anymore. I had to think of you.”

  “You said you told mom. Why?”

  “I guess I felt bad for holding a secret from her. I’d never held one secret from your mother the whole time I’d known her. So I told her.”

  “What did she say?”

  “She was very sick at the time, so she didn’t say anything, but she was very upset. It haunts me every day that the last thing your mom ever thought of me was that I’d betrayed her.”

  They both sat in silence for a moment, Jess sitting on the stool contemplating what her father had just told her and Sam trying to read what she was thinking through her expression.

  “So that brings me on to the next part,” he began after a moment’s reflection. “Three weeks ago, I was performing at the T7 here in New York when I bumped into Claire again. I won’t go into everything, but we talked and began meeting up.”

  “What about Jenna?” Jess suddenly put to her father. “Did you even love her?”

  “Jess, love’s a very complicated thing and one day you’ll understand. All I can tell you is that I don’t love her enough. I do love her but not in the way I did with Mommy or do with Claire. And even without Claire, Jenna and I have been moving toward breaking up for the past year anyway.”

  “But only a month ago you were telling me that you might marry Jenna one day.”

  “Because I believed that I owed it to her. I was merely doing what I thought I should and not what I wanted.”

  “But you always tell me that life’s not about what we want.”

  “It is in love. When I saw Claire I realized that I could never love Jenna the way I love Claire.”

  “I still think you’re cruel.”

  “Then I hope that when you’re older you’ll understand my reasons.”

  Jess was quiet for a moment.

  “I spoke to Jenna last night,” she said after her initial pause.

  “How was she?” he immediately inquired.

  “She was very upset, but she told me not to hate you and to forgive you.”

  “Did she say where she was?”

  “I think she’s gone to stay at her friend’s house in Malibu. She was at the airport when I called her, about to get a plane back to Los Angeles.”

  “She say anything else about me?”

  “Just that she was really hurt and needed some time to get over it all.”

  Sam sat musing on this for a moment. He hoped that Jenna’s anger had abated and that she would move on from this. In a few days, he would call her up and speak things over. He wished to help her in some way, but knew that it would be too impudent of him to expect her to accept his help. However, he still wished to offer his hand, even if it was instantly struck away.

  “So is this Claire woman going to move in with us?” Jess asked him as he sat in thought.

  Sam pondered what to say, knowing that it could be a revelation too far for the young girl. But there was also the fact that last night when he was awake in bed he had decided to be as truthful as possible to his daughter this morning.

  “She’s training to be a doctor here in New York, so I’m going to stay here.”

  “What!? Then where am I going to be?”

  “You’ll finish this year at school and then I’m going to move you out here with me and Claire in New York.”

  “No!” the girl exclaimed almost in a scream, jumping down from her stool and frowning at her father. “What about all my friends in L.A.? I don't know anyone in New York.”

  “You’ll make new friends, Jess. You made them quickly enough at Sierra Canyon, you’ll make new ones here in New York. Plus, you can invite your California friends to stay here with us in New York. They’d love it here.”

  “It’s not fair. Why should I have to change everything so that you can live with her?”

  “Please, Jess, don’t be angry.”

  Tears were welling up in the girl’s eyes as she cast her father in a glowering look of fury. Having bore her gaze into him for several seconds, she ran out of the kitchen and back to her bedroom, slamming the door behind her in dramatic fashion.

  Sam sighed, feeling despondent about the situation, but realizing that eventually she would come around. The girl was stubborn, but she wasn’t so stubborn that she couldn’t find it in her heart to forgive him.

  Having mused over his daughter for a while, Sam called Claire. He was glad when she answered within a few rings. A part of him feared that she wouldn’t answer at all.

  “Hey, Sam.”

  “It’s so good to hear your voice,” he replied softly, closing his eyes as he did. “I half expected you not to answer.”

  “No. I was always going to answer. I haven’t gone through this much to let it all go now.”

  “Where did you go to last night?”

  “I went to Annabel’s. I was in a bit of a mess.”

  “Yeah. I feel I need to apologize for that.”

  “It’s okay. It was upsetting, but the main reason I left was because I didn’t really feel that I should have been there then. It would have been awkward for your daughter. How is she anyway?”

  “She’s angry at me. I had to tell her everything just a moment ago and I can tell you it wasn’t easy.”

  “That’s dreadful, Sam. How did she take it?”

  “Not well. But that was to be expected. She especially didn’t like the part when I said that we were moving to New York.”

  “Oh, Sam,” Claire breathed softly into the phone. “When will we ever be able to get to a normal level?”

  “I don’t know. We still have to deal with the media getting wind of this. I’m not sure what Jenna’s next move is. Jess spoke to her last night. It sounds like she may have calmed down. But that doesn’t mean she won’t leak this early.”

  “My God!” Claire groaned. “That’s the next part I dread. I haven’t even told Annabel about us yet. I keep telling her that your name is Ted.”

  “Ted!?”

  “Yeah! It’s stupid isn’t it? I told her about last night, but not who the people were. I feel like when this gets out, she’ll be cross at me for not telling her the whole truth. The media are going to swarm around Faith Hospital when this gets out.”

  “That’s why we need to get a handle on it all early. I know Gary Scott the PR guru. I’ll fly him out here and he’ll prepare everything. But there is one thing?”

  “What’s that?”

  “We may need to do a television interview.”

  She didn’t say anything for a while, and Sam could hear the thud of his own heartbeat in his ears. He knew that this would be very hard for Claire’s sensitive nature and he awaited her reply with angst.

  “I don’t know, Sam. I can’t imagine going on television and telling the whole world about us. What do I say when they ask us how we met?”
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  “We’ll lie and say that we met three weeks ago—”

  “No!” she interrupted. “No more lies, Sam. I’ve lied to so many people already. I can’t handle anymore.”

  “You can’t tell people that we had an affair all those years ago. I can’t have the world know that.”

  “But they will, Sam. What if we tell them one thing and then Jenna tells them another?”

  “She wouldn’t.”

  “How do you know that, Sam? You said it yourself that she could.”

  “No, she wouldn’t tell them everything. She’s not that vindictive. She’ll tell them about the affair, but she’ll keep the rest out of it.”

  “How can you be sure?”

  “I know her, Claire. I know that deep down she is decent and that she has honor. That’s why she was so angry last night, because I hurt her honor. She wouldn’t lower herself to fall into gossip.”

  “We still can’t lie.”

  “Claire, if you think the media fallout will be bad from this already, imagine if they know about our affair in 2000. They’ll tear you apart. What about your work at the hospital? At the moment all they’ll do is hang around for a week or two until they have a little blood to sate them. But if they know the rest, they’ll want every drop.”

  “I still can’t face them, Sam,” she said a little frantically. “This isn’t me at all.”

  “I know. I know. I’m sorry. Look when do you next have some time off?”

  “I have four days off starting Friday.”

  “What do you think if we go out to my place in the Hamptons? We could chill out there, have some time together just you and me. And while we’re out there we can think about what we’ll do next. Or not. Just get away. Would you like that?”

  “That sounds great.”

  “We’ll put everything to one side for the time being. Okay?”

  “Okay,” she replied, her tone filled with relief.

  “Can you stay at Annabel’s until Friday?”

  “Of course. She enjoys the company.”

  “Okay. Well, I’m gonna spend the next few days with Jess here, see if I can’t resurrect my relationship with her. Then we’ll meet up on Friday, okay?”

  “That would be amazing.”

  “And, Claire?”

  “Yes, Sam?”

  “I love you so very very much. So much that it makes me shiver to say it now. I just want you to know that whatever you want us to do in this we’ll do. If you don’t want to go to the media, you won’t. I’ll deal with everything myself and tell them exactly what you want me to tell them.”

  He heard Claire let out a trembling sigh on the other end of the phone and imagined that tears were welling up in her eyes.

  “I love you too, Sam,” she exclaimed tearfully. “The only thing in all of this that I’m sure about is that: that I love you with every ounce of my being.”

  The air in Sam’s kitchen suddenly got warmer and the light brighter at the sounds of her words. Hearing her declare her love for him in such strong terms invigorated every cell in his body. For the first time that morning, he was gifted with a smile upon his face.

  “Anyway, I have to get ready for the hospital,” Claire said. “I have to leave in ten minutes and I haven’t even showered.”

  “Okay, you go. I love you, Claire Prior.”

  “I love you too, Sam. I’ll call you later.”

  The phone went dead, and the kitchen dimmed a little to his eyes. He did, however, feel better than he had before he’d phoned her. Merely the sound of her voice had been enough to lift him up above his gloom. Now she was gone though, he was left with the pressing thoughts of his daughter, how he would deal with the media, Jenna’s next move and how he was going to protect Claire from it all.

  As he sat in the kitchen, Sam had much to deliberate.

  CHAPTER NINE

  “Jenna? Oh, Jenna?” came Donna’s whispered voice through a gap in the bedroom door.

  Jenna slowly turned herself over, her head aching and a terrible taste in her mouth. When her eyes came into contact with the blade of light that flooded in though the gap in the door, she recoiled, raising her forearm over her face, before throwing herself back under the covers.

  “I got coffee,” Donna continued. “And with the way you were slamming the rum back last night, I guess you could do with a nice cup of java.”

  “What time is it?” Jenna asked groggily from within the covers.

  “It’s twelve.”

  “Really!? Uh! What time did I pass out last night?”

  “Pretty late. I went up to bed around three and left you in the kitchen with the rum.”

  “Ugh. Rum. I was drinking rum?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Why’d you let me drink rum?”

  “You were upset and I didn’t have any whiskey or vodka, so we drank rum. Or at least you drank it.”

  Neither spoke for a moment, Donna standing in the doorway with the coffees and Jenna groaning under the covers.

  “Look, honey, I’ll take your coffee downstairs and you come join me when you’re ready.”

  “Okay.”

  Donna left the doorway and went down to the kitchen, leaving Jenna to groan all on her own.

  A quick explanation of Donna would be to say that she was a successful family psychiatrist who was in her early forties, twice divorced and lived on her own in a beachside apartment in Malibu County. She and Jenna met at UCLA when they were both students there and she amounted to Jenna’s best friend.

  Jenna eventually swung herself out of the bed, but as she sat her body up, her stomach began to sway and bubble as though it were a washing machine. The very moment she was upright, she jumped off the bed and ran to the bathroom, instantly vomiting down the toilet when she got in there.

  Once she’d cleaned herself up, Jenna ventured downstairs. Moving gingerly down the steps, she shielded her eyes with her forearm as bright sunlight radiated onto her through the large bay window to her side, scolding her eyes. When she reached the kitchen, Donna, who was sitting at the breakfast bar reading a newspaper, looked up at her with a knowing smile. With her eyes squinted, Jenna sheepishly entered.

  “You look absolutely dashing this morning, darling,” Donna remarked mirthfully.

  Jenna gave her a frown as she sat down on the other side of the bar in front of her coffee, rubbing her sore temple with her hand.

  “I can’t even remember getting here last night. What time was it?”

  “You took a taxi straight from LAX and arrived at my door in a terrible state at about one AM”

  “So I told you everything then?”

  “Oh yeah! You told me all about Sam cheating on you with some girl he met nearly six years ago when his wife was dying.”

  “Oh God!” Jenna let out, throwing her face into her hands.

  “I’m glad you told me. Now I know what a cheating asshole Sam Burgess really is. I certainly won’t be buying a new Techsoft Pro.”

  “I shouldn’t have told you all of that, D,” Jenna commented from within her hands.

  The two sat in silence for a moment, Donna watching her desolate friend from across the bar while sipping her coffee.

  “You figured out what you’re going to do?” Donna asked.

  Jenna looked up from her hands with a frown.

  “I guess I’ll go get my stuff from the mansion and move back into my apartment. I guess I could just call Karl and have him drop it all off for me.”

  “But I mean after all of that. What are you going to do next?”

  “I don’t know, D. I’ve been getting some notes together lately and I’m gonna write another book. It’s about time.”

  “About what?”

  “Psychology, obviously.”

  “Really!?” Donna raised her eyebrows

  “Yes, really. It’s good to see that my best friend believes in me.”

  “It’s not that, Jen. It’s just—speaking as your friend—this guy has wronged you in a
serious way. You sacrificed your life for him. Gave up your career. Had your naked body plastered all over the world—you haven’t forgotten that, have you?”

  “No.”

  “Anyway, you’ve done all of that for him—been through all that humiliation, putting yourself second all the time—and he couldn’t even do the decent thing and stay faithful. Or at least have the balls to end it when he realized it wasn’t working. He’s left you naked in the world. How much cash have you got?”

  “Not much, but I have enough in my bank account to spend six months researching a book and then have a proposal for the publisher.”

  “But what if you don’t? What if after six months you have nothing, or only something that the publisher doesn’t want to go ahead with? Then what?”

  “I keep trying. I can still do consultancy work. I’m not completely dead in the water.”

  “Jen, you’re thinking all wrong. You have to come out of this with your head held high and something to show for it. He owes you everything, and yet he’s left you with nothing. You need to take what’s rightfully yours along with your pride.”

  “What do you suppose I do?”

  “I say sell your story, tell them everything, including his earlier affair with this girl. Get yourself a PR agent. Sell the story to the highest bidder and do a circuit of interviews. Then, afterward, write a book about your five years with him, warts and all. Give the baying public what they want. You’ll be a millionaire within six months. Then you’ll have amassed enough money to write any damned book you like.”

  “I would never be taken seriously by the psychiatry profession again if I did that. One day I’m writing steamy gossip books and the next I’m writing on psychology!? I’d be laughed at.”

  “You’d be rich. And I’m not being funny, but I’ve been doing this for twenty years now and I’ve sold hardly ten thousand books. I survive on my clients, just like you did before me. You got a few breaks on Oprah and sold a few more copies than me, but it didn’t make you rich.”

  “Maybe I want more than money.”

  “That doesn’t sound like the class president, champion debater that I met all those years ago. Back then when we shared a room, you would tell me how you were going to be the next great celebrity psychiatrist. And you would have been too, if it hadn’t’ve been for Sam Burgess. He made you famous alright, but not in the way you always dreamed of. I think you should forget about psychiatry, Jenna, and focus on making money from what he has left you with.”