by Tina Martin
“Hey, you don’t have to worry about me saying anything. I’ll just quietly sit back and hope you change your mind.”
“That’s not going to happen.”
Chapter 29
On Thursday when Royal couldn’t take Gemma’s unresponsiveness to his calls and texts, he issued her this message:
Royal: If you do not respond to this text, I’m taking the first flight back home.
Gemma: Don’t do that. I’m fine.
Royal: You’re not fine. You’re ignoring me and I want to know why.
At 8:30 in the morning, Gemma was at the children’s cancer center. She’d gotten Carson to drop her off for a face-to-face interview with the head of the volunteer department and while she waited, she saw the texts from Royal.
It was 2:30 in the afternoon in Paris and Royal was heading into a meeting with the third vendor he was scheduled to meet. Before the meeting started, he had to check in with his woman. Something was definitely off.
Gemma: I’ve been busy.
Royal: So have I, but I make time to call you. Why can’t you make time to answer the phone?
“Hi. Are you Gemma Jacobsen?” Gemma looked up at the woman and slid her phone back into her purse, once again leaving Royal hanging. “Yes, I’m Gemma.”
“I’m Ramona. Nice to meet you.” She extended a hand to Gemma and Gemma accepted her handshake.
“Come on back,” Ramona said.
When they were in her office and situated, Gemma began, “Um…before we get started, I have to say that I was really looking forward to being a volunteer with the children and I would still like to work with them in some capacity, but I need a job—one that actually pays. I’ve seen some open positions on your website and—”
“Wait—let me stop you right there, Ms. Jacobsen. I don’t oversee those positions and I do believe most of them require some sort of certification which, according to your volunteer application, you don’t have.”
“No, I don’t but there were several positions that only required a high school diploma. I do have that.”
“Which position were you looking at?”
“The part-time nutrition associate position. I’ll still be working with children and making money to support myself. And in addition to working, I’d be willing to volunteer for two hours a day to start out.”
“But—”
“Sorry to cut you off, Ramona, but just hear me out,” Gemma said. “I was ready to give up on life, and if left up to my former doctor, I’d be dead by now. Fortunately, I was surrounded by people who believed in me. People who wouldn’t allow me to give up on myself. So, I didn’t give up. Every day was a struggle for me, but I didn’t give up. And now I’m trying to figure out my life and determine what it is I want for myself. I want to give these children hope. I want to be a positive voice for them to hold on to their dreams and their futures. Working as a nutrition associate would allow me to see and interact with them on a daily basis as well as offering my time to volunteer. And when I go to college and decide what career path I want to take, I will have some experience already under my belt. I apologize that this is out of left field, but I really would like to work here.”
A smile grew on Ramona’s face. “One thing I know is, people like yourself who start off as volunteers usually have a much easier time transitioning to employees, and I can tell you right off—I love your demeanor. You present yourself well—I think you would make an excellent addition to our volunteer team. As for the part-time position, here’s what you need to do. Go online, apply specifically for that position and call me when it’s completed. I will personally refer you to the head of that department.”
Gianna smiled. “Oh my God. Thank you soo much.”
“My pleasure. I will call you one day next week about the hours we need you to volunteer.”
“Okay. I will have submitted the application by then. Thank you for your time today, Ramona.”
“You’re welcome, Ms. Jacobsen. I look forward to working with you.”
Chapter 30
Royal boarded the plane at six in the evening. He’d called and texted Gemma and still, she wasn’t responding. He even went so far as to call Gianna to find out what could be the cause of Gemma’s sudden attitude change but even she was acting strange like she was withholding information. He couldn’t take it any longer. He had to go see for himself.
Halfway through the flight, he called Ramsey.
“Royal...got good news for me?”
“Yeah, Ram. We got two new vendors. Wait until you see these products. They are of exceptional quality that I’m sure will be up to your expectations.”
“Did you email them to me?”
“No. I want to show you these diagrams when I get back, and speaking of that, I’m on the way back now.”
Ramsey grinned. “Couldn’t stand being away from her, huh?”
“I couldn’t, and then there’s the fact that something’s wrong.”
“Something like what?”
“I can’t put my finger on it. Ever since the family dinner, she’s been…different.”
“That’s weird. Seemed like you two were having a good time at dinner.”
“We were, but then she—I don’t know. Something happened.”
“I’ll feel Gianna out. Maybe Gemma said something to her. Gianna’s sitting beside me right now with her beautiful self.”
Royal smiled. “A’ight man. Later.”
Chapter 31
Gemma was glad Carson could keep a secret. She’d enrolled herself in a driver’s education course, but deciding it was too embarrassing to tell anyone, she told Carson to keep it between them. Plus, she had to tell him since he was her ride there.
“I don’t know what you’re embarrassed about, madam,” Carson said. “I wish we had this luxury when I was growing up.”
“So, how’d you learn how to drive?”
“My father taught me.”
“Oh. I wish I had a father to teach me some things. According to my mother, my father doesn’t want anything to do with me.”
“Your mother sounds bitter to me.”
“She is bitter. A bitter psycho. You should’ve heard how she was talking to me. I wish I had recorded it.”
Carson chuckled. “People have their issues, madam.”
“Stop calling me madam.”
“I’m afraid I can’t do that, madam.”
“Why not? Because Ramsey wants you sounding like a freakin’ robot?”
Carson laughed.
Gemma continued, “I’m sure he has enough money to buy a robotic butler if he wanted one. Remind him that you’re human.”
Coming down off of a chuckle, Carson said, “It’s how I was trained. I don’t call people I work for by name—at least I try not to.”
“Aha! Loophole. You don’t work for me.”
“I feel like I do. Royal calls me so much, I may as well be your personal bodyguard.”
A soft smile touched her lips.
“Is everything okay on that front?” Carson inquired. “He’s been calling me for updates.”
She looked at him. “And what did you tell him?”
“I told him the truth—that you’ve been sad ever since he left for Paris.”
“Oh, no. Why’d you tell him that? Now, he’s gonna worry.”
Carson pulled into the parking lot of the driver school. “He won’t worry if you would call and talk to him. You can’t solve problems by ignoring them, Gem—I mean, madam.”
“Right,” Gemma said.
“Well, we’re here. Go knock ‘em dead.”
“Thanks for the lift, Carson.”
“Anytime.”
* * *
Later in the evening, Gemma sat in the kitchen eating shrimp fettuccini for dinner while Gianna and Ramsey enjoyed their dinner in the dining room. While she was in driver’s education class today learning about yellow road signs, she had come to a few conclusions. One – she wasn’t ready to begin the process of
meeting her father. One crazy parent was enough, and she didn’t know what she would be getting into with Logan. Two – some things weren’t meant to be – like having a relationship with her mother. Three – she loved Royal, but like her relationship with Geraldine, maybe it just wasn’t meant to be. She needed time to grow and mature in order to know how to love a man. Besides didn’t she risk losing a man like Royal if she didn’t know how to be the woman he needed?
When the doorbell sounded, her heart sank. The last time the doorbell rang during dinner, Royal had made a surprise visit. But it couldn’t be him this time, could it? He was still in Paris, right? She hoped so. Maybe it was Regal. No, Regal was in Paris, too.
When she heard Carson talking to their guest, heard the deep voice of a man even from the living room, she knew it was Royal. Her heart pounded irregularly when he stepped into the kitchen – all tall and domineering, his eyes fixed on her, seeking answers. He was dressed nice too, wearing a plain white shirt, blue jeans and a black sports coat. The hypnotic scent of his cologne grabbed her by the throat. The confusion in the depths of his eyes had her looking away from him. She couldn’t even bring herself to speak.
He didn’t speak. He quietly moved closer to her, pulled out the barstool next to her and sat down, looking at her. The first thing he noticed was she was wearing a scarf again, and that was possibly because she usually went to bed right after dinner and would always wear a scarf to bed – but still, she had it on and it bothered him. The second thing he peeped was something he could feel – a painful disconnect from the woman he’d given his heart to. Where was she, because this wasn’t her? He didn’t feel any vibes – no desire (on her end) to embrace him – welcome him back home, kiss him or show any displays of affection. She just sat there, chewing slowly, almost like she was sick to her stomach and couldn’t take another bite.
“I’ve figured out something is wrong,” Royal said. “I’m not sure what, but it’s something. Talk to me, Gemma.”
Gemma took a sip of water then twisted her body towards him. She knew this day was coming. She didn’t expect it would be this evening, but here they were.
“Talk to me,” he said in a pleading way. A loving way.
She had to disconnect from his eyes for a moment in order to find the strength to say what had been on her mind. Pulling herself together, she said, “Royal, I’ve had time to think about us and this relationship and I—um—I don’t…I don’t think it’s right. I—”
“What’s not right about it?” he asked.
“It’s—”
“It’s what, Gemma?” he asked, frowning.
“I can’t be with you.” She glanced up at him and saw the moment her words injured his soul.
“You can’t be with me? I don’t understand that. It’s vague.”
“It’s not vague, Royal. It’s how I feel.”
He was frowning as he tried to make sense of what she was saying by repeating her words. “You feel like you don’t want to be with me?”
“I’m sorry, Royal.”
“Give me a reason.”
“Royal, I—”
“Give me a reason,” he repeated, his face darkening. Features disturbed. “Why do you feel you don’t want me when everything—everything inside of me wants you? And where is all of this coming from? I leave for Paris and you cease communicating with me and now, you want us to be over?”
“I think it will be for the best.”
“Best for who?” he said, raising his voice. “Because I thought you loved me.”
“I do love you, Royal.”
“Then how do you explain this?” he asked, standing.
And then Gemma forced herself to conjure up a lie to avoid telling him the truth. She placed a hand over her heart and with a tear sliding down the length of her face, she said, “I just feel in my heart that this isn’t right.”
Royal frowned, hurt washing over his face. He threaded his fingers behind his head and paced the floor.
“We can still be friends,” she said.
“No!” he snapped. “I told you we weren’t going back to being just friends, and I meant it.” He paced the floor more. He knew something was wrong, but he hadn’t expected this. “I—I was ready to spend the rest of my life with you, Gemma.”
“Royal—”
“I was ready,” he said, taking a velvet black box from his coat pocket, placing it on the table in front of her. “There’s the proof.”
Gemma was completely stunned as she stared at the box. She already knew what was inside.
“And now—you drop this on me?” he said, feeling his eye twitch. Feeling his heart ache. He forced back his emotions and squeezed out a reply. “You can keep it by the way, because no matter how you feel about me, I—” He stopped, took a much needed deep breath but still said throatily, “I still love you. Bye, Gemma.” With that, he walked away quickly before Ramsey, who was watching him leave, could say anything to him.
Gianna, walked into the kitchen when she heard Royal leave and found Gemma sitting at the bar with her head down. She covered her mouth when she saw the black box on the table. Without saying a word, she walked over to her sister and wrapped her arms around her. She’d heard the exchange between Gemma and Royal and she knew her sister was feeling sad and weak at the moment. She also knew why, and it wasn’t for the reason Gemma had told Royal.
“Come on. Let’s go to your room,” Gianna said, helping Gemma stand as they headed to the room.
Ramsey took the box off of the table and opened it. He hissed his frustration with the ordeal. His brother really was in love. Apparently, he had weighed all the options and possible scenarios that came with loving a woman like Gemma, and he chose her. But in a strange twist of fate, she didn’t choose him.
“She doesn’t want to talk about it,” Gianna said, returning to the kitchen where Ramsey was.
Ramsey looked up at Gianna, still holding the ring in his hand. “He was going to propose to her.”
“I know.”
“What happened?”
Gianna leaned against the counter and hid her face behind her hands.
“You know something, don’t you?” he asked.
Her silence told him she knew something. “Gianna, what’s going on?”
“I don’t want to interfere, Ramsey, and cause bigger problems.”
Ramsey placed the box back on the island and said, “Gianna, my brother had a rocky past. I don’t want anything or anyone throwing him back into that.” He wrapped his arms around her and continued, “And I don’t want you to be stressed out over whatever it is you’re keeping from me.”
Gianna sighed heavily. “Okay, um...at the family dinner last weekend, Gemma told me she overheard your mom telling your dad that she thought Gemma and Royal were too close and she didn’t want to watch another one of her sons love a woman who was dying of cancer.”
Ramsey immediately dropped his head since he knew what his mother was referring to – him and how he had to struggle through Leandra’s death – his former fiancée who’d died of cancer. Surely his mother wasn’t implying that Gemma would die and leave Royal in pain because it’s what happened to him. “So, Gemma heard her and decided she would end her relationship with Royal to appease my mother?” Ramsey asked trying to understand Gemma’s angle.
“Yes, but it goes even further than that,” Gianna said. “Gemma has taken the words to heart, and she truly feels like Royal would be better off without her.”
“That’s where she’s wrong. My brother has never bought an engagement ring in his life. I’ve never seen him this serious about a woman.”
“And I’ve never seen my sister so happy,” Gemma commented. “So, what do we do?”
“I’ll have to talk to Royal about mother’s comments. I’ll keep it as plain as I can, but give him enough so he’ll have no choice but to have a discussion with mother about this.”
“And what about Gemma?”
Ramsey smiled. “Don’t worry. Once R
oyal finds out the reason Gemma has been acting the way that she has, and especially after he talks to mom, Gemma’s all his.”
Chapter 32
Ramsey wasn’t surprised to see Royal had shown up for work. Like him, his brother liked to work to get his mind off of his troubles, but after what went down last night, Ramsey wasn’t sure how focused Royal would be at work.
Ramsey glanced up from the contract he was going over when he heard a tap at the door watching as Royal walked in with a portfolio in his hands – no doubt the samples from the vendors he’d visited.
“Ay, just dropped in to show you these. I was very impressed by Glasgow, but what do you think?”
Ramsey flipped through the images showcasing specific angles of buildings where Glasgow’s products were being used. He nodded. “These look good. Do they have a good chunk of inventory on these products?”
“They do.”
“Then I think we have a new vendor. I’ll reach out to them to make it official. Nice work, man.”
“Do you want to keep those or—”
“Yeah,” Ramsey said, closing the portfolio. “I’ll look through them in more detail later.”
“Alright, well I’ll be in my office if you have any more questions. Or problems.”
“I do have a question,” Ramsey said. “What’s going on with you and Gemma?”
“I don’t want to get into it.”
“It’s a little too late for that. I heard you two going back and forth in the kitchen last night.”
“If you heard the discussion, why are you asking what’s going on like you don’t know?”
Ramsey leaned back and swiveled in his chair. “Because I don’t know. I’m not in your head, man. What I do know is, if you love someone, you fight for that person like I fought for Gianna.”
“Well, Gemma told me she couldn’t be with me. I’m sure you heard that much. How does a man bounce back from that?”