Jonathan held the door open for me and I walked around the store in utter awe. The walls were painted in stripes of white and silver—stripes that complemented the displays that stood right in front of them.
In front of the white backdrops, brightly colored macaroons and pie pops were standing at attention. In front of the silver ones, baby cheesecakes and tuxedoed strawberries looked as if they had been made minutes ago.
“Come here. Look at this.” I motioned him over to a fountain that spewed white chocolate. “Look at how those cookies are floating. And they’re all in the shape of the letter S. How cute is that? The director actually prepared for our meeting.”
“It’s very creative. I like it.”
I walked over to the “Sugary Hors d’ oeuvres Station” and inspected the cherry cupcake and miniature pie spread.
“I have a really good feeling about this.” I smiled. “The presentation is perfect and she doesn’t even have any fruit examples out here. I bet those are phenomenal.”
The doors to our left suddenly opened and a blonde who looked like she was my daughters’ age came out and cleared her throat.
“Good afternoon, soon-to-be Mr. and Mrs. Statham.,” she said. “Welcome to Happily Ever After Catering. Our manager is finishing up an emergency call right now, but I would love to walk you through our gallery until she’s able to personally assist you.”
I nodded and we followed her into a huge room where mirrors covered the walls and shimmering chandeliers hung low from the ceiling.
“This is where we keep most of our fruit displays. By contract, we’re able to accommodate weddings of up to five hundred people—anything over that requires an additional per person charge and we can only increase up to two thousand due to our permit.”
“This is amazing...” I picked up a small ice sculpture that held dove shaped pineapples and caramel covered cookies. “You know what? I don’t need to see anything else.” I clasped my hands together. “This is it. This is who I want to book with.”
The woman blushed. “Really? I’ll be right back with my manager!”
Jonathan pulled me into his arms and kissed me. “Finally...What else do we need to do?”
“Well, we need to meet with the invitation designer this evening...Then I need to schedule my dress appointment and we need to—” I spotted a chocolate cookie display that spelled “Mrs. Statham” out the corner of my eye. “Give me one second. I have to try one of those...”
I walked over and stuffed one into my mouth—then another and another.
God, I’m in heaven...
As I was eating my fifth one, I heard a raspy voice behind my back.
“Jonathan Statham? As in the Jonathan Statham?” The woman said. “My husband and I are both huge fans of your cell phones! Congratulations on your engagement! It’s an absolute pleasure to show you our gallery today.”
I tried to swallow down one last cookie before I turned back around to greet her.
“It’s a pleasure to do business with you as well.” He wrapped his arm around my waist and spun me around. “This is my fiancée, Claire Gracen. She was just talking about how much she loved—”
“I don’t want anything from here.” I could feel the blood draining from my face.
“What?” He raised his eyebrow. “I thought you just said...”
“Claire?” Amanda’s eyes widened as she looked back and forth between me and Jonathan. “You’re engaged? To him? Well, I...Congratulations...That’s wow... I—”
She said something, something that sounded like “I hope you won’t let our personal past interfere with doing business with one another,” but all I could do was stand there and stare at her in shock. In disgusted disbelief.
And the more I stared at her, the more I tried my hardest not to lunge at her and give her the beat-down she deserved.
She hadn’t changed much since the last time I’d seen her. She still had long, flowing auburn hair and soft brown eyes that would make it hard for anyone to believe that she was a home-wrecking bitch.
“I’m only the part time manager,” she whispered. “You don’t have to work directly with me if you don’t want to.”
“I don’t want to.” I narrowed my eyes at her. “I don’t want to work with anyone that even fucking knows you.”
“Claire, you don’t have to be like this. A lot of time has passed and if you would just give me a chance to—”
“You’re not carrying a baby anymore, Amanda.” I snapped. “And since I still owe you an ass-kicking for what you did to me, I suggest that you simply shut up and let me and my fiancée walk out of that door without you saying another word to either of us.”
Her face turned white and she stepped back, allowing us to walk past her and out of the store.
I was shocked at how well I’d kept it together in front of her, because as soon as I made it outside I lost it.
“Am I in the twilight zone?!” I screamed at Jonathan. “Did that really just happen? She works in San Francisco now? Why couldn’t she and that bastard live someplace else? And why didn’t Ashley and Caroline tell me that they’d moved here? They could’ve at least warned me—they’re smarter than that...”
“Calm down...” He put his hands on my shoulders. “Neither of them had any idea. There was no way you could’ve known about her being here either. You’ve always thought she was still—”
“In Pittsburgh! Where she and Ryan belong! What the hell is this, Jonathan? Both of them? Here? I see them in the same week?”
He stared into my eyes, and it looked as if he was about to speak, but he pulled me into his arms and held me close.
“I don’t want to lie to you, but it still makes me sick...” My voice cracked. “I can’t stomach either of them. I just can’t do it. I’m really happy now and I...I don’t want them anywhere around my happiness... I don’t like knowing that they still exist.” I kept shaking my head, but I didn’t allow a single tear to fall. I wouldn’t dare.
I’d let myself come this far and I didn’t want to go back. Ever.
“Can we cancel today’s meeting with the invitation designer and reschedule?” I looked up at him. “I just want to be at home with you for the rest of the day.”
“Of course.” He walked me to the car and helped me inside. Before he joined me, I heard him say something to Greg: “There’s a catering business in Pittsburgh called Stella’s. Find a way to fly the director and her team here this weekend so we can talk to them.”
Chapter 4
Jonathan
I looked over the confirmation files for our honeymoon trip, double checking each flight’s time and each pilot’s flight history. Claire was a lot more comfortable with flying now, but whenever we didn’t use my personal pilot, she insisted on having a copy of the new pilot’s safety record before stepping onboard.
She’d been asking me where we were going after our wedding everyday—even attempting to withhold sex to get it out of me, but I wanted everything to be a surprise. I wanted her to love every single second of our trip.
“Everything looks great.” I nodded at Hayley. “Thank you very much. Make sure Claire gets a copy of these pilot records in the next few weeks.”
“Will do, and you’re welcome.” She took the papers and placed them into her folder. “You know, I honestly never thought that you would get married.”
“Why not?”
“I did come live with you once you started building this company, remember? Before I got smart and went away for college...There were a lot of women in and out of that condo...”
“No, there weren’t.” I sighed. “I never brought any woman near you and you know that.”
“I didn’t see them, but I found all their panties underneath the couch cushions—the little mementos they left behind so you could remember how amazing the night was. They even left little notes on the inside tags—‘Last night was the best night of my life,’ ‘You’re the best fuck I’ve ever had,’ and my personal favorite�
��Oohhh call me anytime, Jonathan. I’ll drop whatever I’m doing if it means I get to fuck you again.”
“Get out of my office, Hayley.”
She laughed. “I looked through the Berkstrom account earlier. I don’t think we should sign with them, but the board thinks differently so make sure you read over everything tonight. There’s also a meeting with the accounting division at three to discuss new ways to track executive spending, and oh yeah—you need to make sure you have that buyout file for your international call in a few hours.”
“Angela briefed me on all of this hours ago because you weren’t here on time today. For the fourth day in a row. Care to explain why?”
“I can be late.”
“You can be unemployed.”
She crossed her arms. “Are you this strict with Ashley and Caroline? Do they get the overprotective treatment too?”
“You’re avoiding my question.”
“I am.” She smiled and flipped her blond hair over her shoulder. “I’m also thinking about putting in a complaint to HR about the CEO being excessively hard on me, so watch it.”
“Can you at least make sure you’re on time for your dress fitting next week? Claire stresses out about anything wedding-related if it’s more than a second late.”
“I’ll be there early. I still can’t believe she asked me to be a bridesmaid! I am so honored to give you and your craziness away to someone else. Does she even know how crazy you are yet? Have you shown her your true colors or are you saving them for later?”
“Hayley...”
“Mr. Statham?” Angela’s voice came over the intercom.
“Yes?”
“One of your security advisors is here sir. He says it’s urgent. Should I tell him to wait until you’re done meeting with Hayley?”
“No.” I shook my head. “We’re more than done here. Send him in, please. Oh, and Angela?”
“Yes, Mr. Statham?”
“On little Miss Statham’s way out, could you please hand her the employee policy on tardiness and order her a Cartier watch—with the biggest numbers available please? Have it shipped overnight.”
“Yes, sir.”
Hayley shook her head at me pursed her lips. “You are the worst.”
“I love you, too.”
I watched as she rushed out of my office, as she nearly collided with my second highest security chief—Clive.
“Where’s Greg?” I motioned for him to sit in front of my desk.
“He’s training a new member today. Would you like me to bring him up instead?”
“No, that’s okay. What’s going on?”
He removed a small brown box from the inside of his jacket and handed it to me. “We found this outside of Miss Gracen’s store this morning.”
“Mail?”
“No. It was found at six a.m. There’s no return address and mail doesn’t run overnight. We believe the small red initials of “R.H.” belong to Mr. Hayes, the man we’ve been keeping tabs on.”
“Have you found any new information?”
“No, but he knows we’re tailing him so he’s giving us the run-around. We do have a reservation at an executive condo building in his firm’s name though. I’ve seen him go inside a few times, but he never spends the night. It’s always in and out. He’s still paying the mortgage on a house in Pittsburgh, so we assume his visit here is temporary.”
“Thank you, Clive.”
“My pleasure, Mr. Statham. I’ll let you know the moment we find anything else.”
I nodded and waited until he left my office. I immediately let Angela know that I didn’t want to be bothered for the next thirty minutes.
I stared at the small brown box that was sitting in front of me, wondering why the fuck Ryan would attempt to give Claire anything, and then I ripped it open: A picture. And a letter.
The picture was a faded one of Claire, Ryan, and Amanda. It had to have been at least ten years old because they were all dressed in outdated clothing. One of Ryan’s arms was around each of them, and they were all smiling widely and holding their thumbs up.
At the bottom of the picture he’d written, “Remember this?”
Irritated, I unfolded the letter and read:
Dear Claire,
I’m sorry for showing up to your store unannounced last week, but I knew that if I contacted you in advance you wouldn’t agree to see me. It’s the same reason why I didn’t tell Ashley and Caroline about me moving here six months ago, why I told them we’d have to reschedule our last visit until this winter. (I know that even though they love us both equally, their loyalty lies with you.)
Like I said before, I really need to talk to you. Alone. One on one. It’s something I’d rather not put in a letter or say over the phone so I would appreciate it if you could just remember how things used to be between us—for just five minutes. If you could just remember how we used to be able to tell each other any and everything...I would really appreciate your time. I know deep down you still have some form of love for me.
Your first,
Ryan
I reread those last lines—“I know deep down you still have some form of love for me,” and “Your first”— and tried my hardest not to pick up the phone and put a hit out on this man’s life. My blood was heating to levels I never knew existed and I was seconds away from exploding.
I picked up my phone and called Greg.
“Mr. Statham,” he answered.
“Please tell me you know exactly where Claire’s ex-husband lives and you’re just keeping it away from me so I won’t murder him.”
“I do know, sir.”
I thought so... “Do you know why he’s in town?”
“We’re still trying to figure that out. I will make you aware when I know. Is that all?”
“No. I want all of Claire’s mail screened from now on. Nothing from Ryan Hayes, R.H., or anything without a return address gets into her mailbox. And I want you to give all of those things to me so I can personally get rid of them.”
“Mail tampering is a federal crime, Mr. Statham.”
“I don’t give a fuck. Do it.” I hung up and glanced at Ryan’s letter one last time before stuffing it down my shredder.
I’m going to kill him...
My alarm for today’s board meeting started going off, but I was too lost to reach into my pocket and turn it off.
I sat still at my desk—stunned. Angry. Annoyed. I couldn’t believe her ex-husband’s nerve after all this time, couldn’t believe he would even attempt to contact Claire—my Claire.
I was about to cancel all my meetings for the day and go down to Corey’s office to do another round of investigating, but the special ringtone I had for Claire began to sound.
I pulled out my phone and read her text message: “I still can’t believe that you send me flowers EVERY. SINGLE. DAY! You are completely over the top, but I enjoy every second of it. The bouquets you sent today are absolutely amazing and I LOVE them. I love you so much, Jonathan...Your last, Claire. :-)”
And just like that, my blood temperature began to cool and the ache in my chest slowly gave way.
I’ll deal with Ryan later...
**
“How about this one?” Corey held a mannequin’s hand in front of me, slowly waving it so I could see how the diamonds sparkled in the light.
We were standing in the only jewelry store I trusted—Valenti’s, and the store owner had shut it down so I could shop for Claire’s wedding band in private.
I slipped the ring off the plastic finger and held it in front of my face, shaking my head. “Claire wouldn’t like it.”
“Any woman would appreciate a band with rare pink diamonds—any woman. Trust me, I’ve been with enough of them to know.” He smiled.
“Speaking of any woman, didn’t you mention a threesome recently? It was with two actresses, right? You never told me if it worked in your favor or not.”
“Couldn’t do it...” He shrugged. “Wait a minute. Why
are you getting Claire another diamond ring? Her engagement ring is already eighteen carats. Isn’t that enough?”
“I want to do something special for her since she’s doing something special with mine.”
“Right.” He rolled his eyes. “I should’ve known that you would end up proposing. You were a goner the minute you told me about her.”
“That’s not true.”
“Of course it isn’t. You’ve always called me at one o’clock in the morning to tell me about some random woman you saw at a party, some woman you’ve never even spoken to. And you’ve always made me track her down four hours later.”
“It was six hours later.”
“That makes it far less stalker-ish, doesn’t it?” He pulled out his phone. “When exactly is the wedding? I need to make sure I don’t make any plans that week.”
“We haven’t set the date yet.” I spotted two diamond bands in the case; separately they were appealing, but together they could be stunning.
As if he’d read my mind, he picked up the two rings and placed them on another mannequin’s finger. “You’re getting married in less than three months and you haven’t set the date yet? You had the IPO ball planned six months in advance and you didn’t even want to go.”
“We’re meeting with the wedding planner next week.”
He raised his eyebrow, but he didn’t say anything.
“Is everything alright, Mr. Statham? Mr. Walters?” The store owner walked over to us. “Have you found something that you like?”
I slid the plastic hand across the counter. “I want the ring to be a mix of these two designs—not welded together though, it’ll be too thick. And I want the same engravings that we discussed before.”
“Of course, Mr. Statham. This should be easy.”
“Shit. I’ve got to go...” Corey’s eyes widened as he looked at his phone and started walking backwards. “Firewall breach for the second time today. I’ll call you later.”
Mid Life Love: Complete Series Boxed Set (Books 1 & 2 ) Page 48