“I never thought about it that way. I tried to put myself in her shoes, but apparently I didn’t do a very good job.”
“How could you?” Jessivel asked, having an aha moment of her own. “You’ve never been that low.”
Jessivel considered telling Paige about Jason but decided against it, not with Kayla in the car. And Paige had enough on her mind without this anyway.
“And what did you two girls do?” Jessivel asked.
“There’s a mall not too far from here. We window shopped, got to know each other. Stopped for a sundae. You’ve got a good kid, Jess,” she whispered.
“Yes, I know.”
Chapter 53
“What are you doing here?” Paige asked Leland when she arrived home.
“I tried your cell, but it went to voicemail. And I sent you a text.”
She glanced down at her phone and saw she had multiple voice and text messages. “What’s going on?” she asked.
“Can we talk inside?”
Paige opened the door and led him in. They settled in at the kitchen table.
“Now, what’s all this about?” she asked him.
“Those two Indian guys.”
“What about them?”
“They’re fakes. They think those stones of your father’s are worth a lot of money, including the one in his ring.”
“How do you know this?”
“Do you have any beer?”
“No. Wine okay?”
“Will you join me?”
With some reluctance, Paige opened a bottle of wine and poured them each a glass, his a little fuller than hers. They sat across from each other, a bottle of red zinfandel between them.
“I couldn’t get those two characters off my mind after hearing about them, so I called Natalie… How is she, by the way?”
“She lost the baby.”
“Oh, no. I’m so sorry. How is she feeling?”
“She’s in a place where she can get the help she needs. Why did you call her?” she asked. Why not me, she thought.
“And she’s receptive to it?” he asked.
“Receptive to what? Why did you call her?”
“The treatment she’s receiving.”
“Is there something going on between you and Natalie?”
“Of course not. Why?”
“Well, she did call you ‘honey’ at Mom’s funeral.”
“She was drunk, remember? So she’s okay being in this place?”
“So why did you bring Natalie to the funeral anyway?”
“Because she asked me to, and I thought if I ran it by you first, you’d say no.”
“I wouldn’t have said no.”
“Well, I didn’t know that. So, how’s she doing?”
“For the time being, she’s there and doing okay.”
“That’s good. She needs help. Anyway, back to why I’m here, I called Natalie and told her I’d do a little nosing around to see if I could find out who these two guys really were.”
“Again, without checking with me first.”
He shot her a sheepish grin. “Well, you have to admit, you haven’t been very receptive of me, and…”
“And what?”
His face turned solemn. “I care about you, Paige. I figured maybe if I…wait a minute. Can I finish my story first?”
“Go ahead.”
“Anyway, I didn’t get very far trying to track either one of them down—of course, I didn’t even know if they’d given you their real names—but I got lucky with their photos when I did a reverse image search for them on the Internet.”
“How did you get a photo of them?”
“From Natalie’s phone.”
She had forgotten that Natalie had snapped a couple of photos of them when they were in their home.
“Where did you learn how to do that?”
“Ever watch the TV series Catfish?”
“No.”
“That’s where I got it from. Good show.”
“So what did you find?”
“That they weren’t who they said they were like I thought. The one who called himself Tamir is really Ivaan Bhoir, a man with a police record that includes identity theft. And the other one is really Dhruv Kahl. I couldn’t find any dirt on him.”
“Are you sure about this?”
“Look up their real names on Facebook and Instagram. You’ll see their pictures. So I found Ivaan’s phone number and called him.”
“When did you get to be so gutsy? You wouldn’t have done that when we were married.”
“I didn’t know how much I— Hey, you keep trying to get me off track.”
“Sorry, go on.”
“Anyway, I told him that I knew he was impersonating Tamir and if he wanted the police to stay out of it, he would tell me what he was after.”
“You’re incredible.”
“Thank you. Wait…was that a compliment?”
“I’m not sure.”
“That’s when he talked about your father’s ring, and that’s when I took a risk.”
“Dear God, do I want to hear this?”
“You tell me.”
“Go on.”
“I told him I wanted to be in on what he was up to, that I could probably help him. That you were my ‘ex,’ a real bitch, and—”
“Leland!”
“Hear me out, Paige. I actually did you a favor, and some day you’re going to thank me for this…I think…I hope. Anyway, I told him that I wanted to get back at you at any cost. So the idiot falls for it and tells me what he knows about the stones.”
“Which was?”
“That the real Tamir told him the stones had legitimately belonged to his mother, that she had inherited them from her rich uncle who had made a small fortune in the pharmaceuticals industry.”
“And that pretty much matches what you told me my father had told you, right?”
“Yes. But I guess once the word had gotten out about her inheritance, friends and family hounded her to sell them so they could share in the wealth. After her house had been broken into several times, she sent them to your father for safekeeping.”
“And that also matches what Dad had told you. But why did she smuggle them into the country in the teddy bear? Why so clandestine?”
“I don’t know. To avoid declaring the value of them with customs and such. So there would be no paper trail for them maybe? So her relatives couldn’t find them? I’m not sure.”
“So they’re not actually his…legally.”
“Wait, there’s more. After she did this, she was still getting harassed by others, and she told Ryan to just keep them, told him to do whatever he wanted with them.”
“This all sounds so far-fetched. But let’s backtrack for a minute. Neither one of them is my father’s son, for sure?”
“Right. The one guy who claimed to be Tamir Noor was impersonating Ryan’s son, the real Tamir, someone he’d met in a bar in San Francisco, I found out from him later in the conversation. Tamir had, after several drinks, told him all about the stones, who had them, and how he’d chickened out coming here to claim them.”
“So Tamir Noor is the name of my father’s son, for real? But not the guy I met.”
“Right.”
“What about the other guy?”
“He just came along for moral support, pretended to be another son.”
“So how did you leave it with him on the phone?”
“After he spilled his guts, I told him if I ever caught wind of him pursuing this any further, he’d have to deal with the FBI.”
“And he bought this?”
“Well, he may have thought I was an undercover cop.”
Paige laughed. “Really. And why would he think that?”
“Well, I may have given him that impression. Anyhow, I don’t think you’ll have to worry about him anymore. He seemed really scared, begged me not to pursue it any further. Said he was on probation. I told him the stones were long gone, including the ring, a
nd he said that was fine with him.”
“You’ve changed.”
He gently shook his head. “I’m still the same man,” he said.
“More wine?” she asked, her head feeling pleasantly light.
“Don’t mind if I do.”
When they had finished discussing the two imposters and their attempt to get their hands on the stones, and while the wine flowed freely, Leland asked questions about her post-divorce life.
“I continued selling real estate, obviously. Ended up doubling my clientele and income in four years.”
“I’m impressed.”
“And then when the Garretts decided to retire, I bought them out. Went from being an agent to owning my own brokerage firm. I have seventy agents right now, most of whom averaged over $10 million in sales last year.”
“That’s a hell of a lot of commissions.”
“My business model calls for high-performing, established agents.”
“Of course, it does.” He tilted his head and smiled. “So it looks like you have it all now.”
“No. I may be the number-one woman-owned brokerage firm in Chicago, but I’d like to make it into the top ten of all Chicago firms someday. That would be having it all.”
“Would it?”
“I just said it would.”
“There wouldn’t be a next goal? You’d be satisfied being, say, number eight in the city?”
Paige stared into Leland’s eyes until it became uncomfortable.
“Just remember, it can get lonely at the top,” he said.
“Okay, if you say so.”
“Can I change the subject?”
“Please do.”
He paused as a look of tenderness spread across his face, one that she’d never witnessed before, or at least not that she could remember. “I never stopped loving you,” he said.
“Leland, we—”
“Look into my eyes. Tell me you don’t see the love there.”
She met his gaze, sardonically at first, but then with growing curiosity. The affection was there. She looked away, not wanting to see any more of his emotion and be pulled in by it, suddenly realizing that the door on this chapter of her life had never been completely closed. When her eyes met his again, she knew they may have been separated by the years, but they were still bound together by…something.
The next morning, Paige glanced at the chair on which her turtleneck sweater and jeans lay entangled with Leland’s clothes. She closed her eyes and mentally recreated the moment when their naked bodies became one. During their lovemaking, there had been no past or future, only the moment. No self-consciousness…just pure ecstasy that had unraveled all of Paige’s bedroom insecurities. Nothing felt forced or rehearsed as it had in their marriage. Nothing felt awkward. He was there with her because that was foremost on his mind. And vice versa. She stretched her arm over to his empty side of the bed to see if she could still feel his warmth, and then traced her finger across her lips as if his kisses still lingered there.
Paige allowed the soft pool of warm memories to continue until she was reminded of something Leland had implied during their conversation—that no matter how well she did in her business, she’d never be satisfied. His assertion bothered her, but not enough for her to stress over it now, not while he was here, not while she was still on high from the previous several hours.
The sweet smell of pancakes drew her into the kitchen.
“You used to always be the first one up,” he said without turning around from his task at the sink, the atmosphere of the kitchen changed by his presence.
Paige fixed her gaze on his backside—one of her good Ralph Lauren towels lazily draped around his hips. His legs were more muscular than she remembered. The urge to creep up behind him and press her body up against his pulsed through her.
“What time is it?” she asked.
“Seven-thirty, sleepyhead.” He turned around with two bowls of cut-up fruit and placed them next to the plates of pancakes on the kitchen table. “Hungry?”
She sat down. “Starved. When did you learn to cook?”
“Well…the day after you left me, I was sort of hungry. Correction. Several days after you left me, I was sort of hungry.”
“Would this be the time for me to get out the violin?” she asked, regretting it when she saw the hurt look on his face. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to be insensitive. I thought you were joking.”
“Just so we’re clear here, I don’t joke about our broken relationship. Never have.”
“Sorry.”
“Can we talk about last night?” he asked.
Paige wasn’t sure whether she wanted to talk about it and didn’t respond.
“Is that a no?”
“No, it’s not a no,” she said. “It’s just that I—”
“Did you mean what you said last night?”
“Of course I did.” She was a little fuzzy on some of their nighttime conversation given the amount of wine they drank and the passion that had ensued. “Look, last night was good, really good, but I need time to think things through.”
“I love you, Paige.”
She wanted to verbalize the internal conflict she felt, but not understanding it herself, she didn’t know quite what to say.
“Here’s the thing, and I’m being brutally honest with you. If you and I were in our twenties or something and had just met, there wouldn’t be even a shred of hesitation on my part. But we’re not in our twenties, and we have history with each other. I’m not saying there isn’t the possibility we can start over and make this work. I’m saying maybe we need to slow it down.”
The color drained from his face. “There’s someone else, isn’t there?”
“No. There’s no one else. I’ve been in a few relationships since we divorced, but never anything serious. I’ve been on my own ever since then. And maybe that’s part of the problem—you get used to it.”
“I never did.”
“Can you give me some time to think this through? The last thing I want to happen is that we get back together and, for whatever reason, I pull out and hurt you again.”
“There are never any guarantees.”
“I know that.” She paused for a moment, breathing in the delicious scent of the maple syrup. “Lee?”
“Hmm.”
“Last night was good.”
Leland left. Paige took a long hot shower, wrapped herself in a comfy fleece robe, and curled up in a chair with a cup of tea, comforted by the warm steam wafting up from it. She took a sip and let the hot liquid trickle down her throat.
She wished she had been able to relay to Leland in a more insightful way her reservations about starting up a relationship with him again but couldn’t think of any better way she could have handled it. She had tried to be honest, with him and herself.
Being honest with herself—about her feelings and knowing what she valued and wanted in life—was something she hadn’t learned to do until years after she’d left him. Or so she thought. At the time, she knew she didn’t want to be in the marriage any longer but didn’t understand why. Leland hadn’t done anything wrong, hadn’t treated her badly, nothing like that. All she knew was that she believed being a whole person instead of half a couple would be better. Being a third of a family unit when Briana was alive had been gratifying. But being half of a couple hadn’t been.
And then, of course, was the difficult question he’d asked last night—would she ever be satisfied when it came to her work? She admitted to herself that as she achieved more success in her business, her self-expectations rose in tandem.
“It’s lonely at the top,” he’d said.
Now, as she reflected upon her life while married to Leland, compared to her current life, Paige understood for the first time why she had divorced him. She couldn’t live with someone she didn’t understand, and she couldn’t understand him without understanding herself first. But that was then. Today was different. She dialed his number.
“Coul
d you come over tonight?” she asked him.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Nothing. I just…”
“You just what?”
Something in her stomach fluttered. “I just want to get to know you better.”
Chapter 54
Jessivel cooked dinner for herself and Kayla before changing into her pjs and lounging in a chair in front of the TV. Her visit with Natalie earlier had left her with mixed emotions. On the surface, she had to feel sorry for her. She’d just lost a baby and was going through detoxing herself from alcohol and drugs. Each one in itself would be difficult enough to go through. The combination had to be overwhelming.
Her mixed feelings stemmed from not knowing how involved she should get with Natalie’s problems. Shouldn’t that be Paige’s responsibility? She didn’t know if she’d gotten through to Natalie that staying at the rehab facility was the best thing for her to do, and that had been her goal.
Natalie and Paige were her half-sisters. Jessivel still had a difficult time getting her head around this. They shared genes but were completely dissimilar when it came to physical appearance, personality, and lifestyle—not unlike she and the two of them. She definitely felt a bond with them, but not as strong or as meaningful she thought it would be had she grown up with them.
She went to bed agonizing over thoughts of Natalie, and later reminded herself that she had to talk to Paige about Jason before too much more time elapsed. Finding just the right time with her wasn’t that easy.
“When did you become an adult, Mom?” Kayla asked the next morning.
“Why on earth would you ask a question like that?”
“I have a paper due on Monday.”
“On what?”
“When people transition from an adolescent to an adult.”
“Why don’t you Google it?”
“I did, and I know what the experts say, but I want to know when it happened to you?”
“When is it supposed to happen…according to the experts?”
“Biologically or psychologically?”
“What grade are you in?”
“Mom…you know I’m in seventh.”
The Ring Page 30