Page 166 of The Bet
Chapter 47
The weeks crawled by miserably, and the air of gloom that hung around her didn’t lighten.
College and her studies kept her busy, as did her jobs on the side. Savannah had asked her to babysit Jacob a few times lately, which was a good thing because she no longer worked for Xavier anymore.
It had taken one short email to let Xavier know she couldn’t work for him any longer, and to her surprise he had accepted her reason and told her he understood. In the beginning, he had sent her emails and messages, had even left long, rambling voicemails for her when she refused to answer his calls. But she had purposely ignored all his attempts to get in touch.
She didn’t want to hear more excuses and lies. She didn’t want to be duped again.
A consequence of severing all her ties to him was that she missed the extra money, and what she had earned from him was a generous amount. His work had been simple enough to do, and she had been hoping to ditch the online courses guy whose work demands were getting ridiculous. She would go weeks without anything from him, and then he would want a heap of stuff done within a day or two. She’d had to pull all-nighters a few times in order to get his work done. It had been hard, and her studies had suffered, and the man was a pig. Demanding and rude. She’d been hoping to ditch him, but with Xavier’s work gone, her choices were limited.
There were times when she now looked back and examined everything Xavier had given her, and wondered if he had ever really needed any of the reports and charts which she had put together for him. He’d owned up to his little lie about the bar charts, and now she questioned everything he’d ever told her about his VAs. It drove the knife deeper, to know how much he had conned his way into getting her to work for him.
This weekend she was taking Jacob out for the day again. A movie and some pizza, Savannah had said. She made her way to the Upper East Side once more and hoped she wouldn’t run into Xavier.
Everything about looking after Jacob was linked to Xavier in some small way, and it was painful, trying to erase him from her mind when there were snippets of conversation, or reminders of him everywhere. Looking after Jacob meant having a continual link to Xavier.
When she arrived, Tobias told her that Savannah was in the pool. Relieved to not have to wait in the apartment, she made her way downstairs and sat on one of the recliners by the pool.
Savannah finished swimming her length and climbed out of the water, smiling when she saw her. Izzy stared at her curvy figure, and at the baby bump which was now so noticeable.
“I must have been in the water longer than I thought,” said Savannah, grabbing a towel and sitting.
“No, it’s me. I’m early,” Izzy explained. “I had to escape my over-excited roommate.”
Savannah looked at her expectantly. “Escape?”
She explained that Cara was going away with friends to Cancun, and how she didn’t want to.
“Why didn’t you want to go?”
Because she was feeling miserable and preferred not to be surrounded by a group of happy people. It was the weekend she would have been free to go to The Hamptons, with Xavier, only she’d never gotten around to telling him.
“I wanted to stay behind and study,” she told Savannah, instead.
“You’re a bright girl, Izzy. You need to take a break sometimes, have fun, and not be cooped up inside all the time.”
“I’m having a break today,” she replied. “Jacob and I are going to be out all day, and we’re going to have fun.”
“Jacob’s looking forward to it. He said there’s a new Marvel movie out.” She put the towel on her lap. “Is it me, or is therealwaysa new Marvel movie coming out?”
Izzy grinned. “It’s not you. There’s always a Marvel movie coming out.”
“At least it will keep Jacob entertained, and I need him to be busy, especially now that we are finally going to be moving.”
“You’re finally moving?” She’d heard Savannah talking about the new place Tobias had bought, and how he seemed to be getting carried away with its refurbishment.
“It should be done by Easter time, I hope.” Savannah made a groaning sound. “I need it done by then, because…” she rubbed her swollen belly. “I’m going to have to start preparing for the birth.”
“You’ll have your hands doubly full.” The news about the twins had broken recently in the press, angering both Savannah and Tobias in the process.
“And I thought last year was crazy.”
Izzy didn’t want to imagine what sort of a crazy life Savannah now led. “Don’t worry about me,” she said, making herself comfortable on the recliner. “You go ahead and finish off your pool lengths. I’ll wait.” Easier to wait down here, where there was no danger of Xavier turning up.
“I think you might be waiting longer than planned. Tobias called to say they got sidetracked. He took Jacob out on the scooter this morning, but somehow they’ve ended up in a Ferrari showroom.
“I can see how that might happen,” replied Izzy. Knowing Tobias, it was completely understandable.”
