Page 60 of Loss and Damages
A door squeaks open.
“Yes.”
She pauses and the line is so silent I think the call dropped until she says, “Why did you leave this morning? You didn’t even say goodbye.”
I could tell her I wanted to get to the office early but that’s only a half-truth at best, and if I want to start a relationship, I need to do better than that.
“Leo, maybe. You were...wewere thinking about him, what our relationship meansin relation to his death...you were struggling to come to terms with what you were doing with me and I was trying to figure out why he never wanted you that way. Jemma, all I can say is I’m sorry. This is new territory for me, never mind Leo was my brother or that he’s gone. I’ve never met a woman I’ve cared about like I care about you. Let me see you this weekend and I’ll stay the entire night. I promise.”
“I’ll have to think about it. This is going too fast, and I need to catch my breath. This morning, if you had stayed, I would have told you that I’m falling in love with you. Maybe you did me a favor not spending the night.”
“Jemma.” I can’t think of what else to say. I didn’t think she’d accept me, in my totality, so easily. “You know what I am.”
“I know what you are. I also know what you could be, if you wanted to be. Leo had hope you’d change, and I have that same hope. I need to go. Stay safe, for me. I lost Leo, and I can’t lose you too. Bye.”
She disconnects, and I drop my phone onto Leo’s desk, my throat burning, my heart trembling.
I try to work for the rest of the evening, the numbers wavering in front of me. The 1100 block is mine to do with what I will. The spark of admiration in my father’s eyes means everything, and before Jemma, there hadn’t been room for anything else in my life. Now she’s wiggling her way in, but I can’t lose my father’s approval. I have to go through with the plans for the 1100 block.
I have no choice.
Chapter Sixteen
Jemma
I held it together better than I thought I would when we spoke. I wanted to cry and scream and ask him what in the hell he thought he was doing. Was the sale and destruction of the 1100 block so important he’d risk his life for it?
After going back to bed and crying myself to sleep, I turned the TV on while I made coffee and ate a bowl of cereal. I almost threw it up too, when the news bulletin came on, the bomb squad and their German shepherds searching the Milano Management and Development building.
I crumpled up the note he left laying on the breakfast bar and threw it in the garbage. It was sitting on top of old coffee grounds for all of two seconds before I smoothed the paper out and saved his number in my phone. I hadn’t wanted to, but Dominic Milano doesn’t give his number to just anyone and I didn’t want to literally throw it away.
I was assisting two early-morning customers when he texted, offering to chat during my lunch break, and I debated for several minutes whether to message him back. I was hurt, angry he left in the middle of the night after so many discussions about Leodoing the same. He knew it worried me that Leo never stayed, tired and melancholy, driving alone to the city, yet he couldn’t be bothered to spend an extra four hours in my bed to avoid doing the same. I put my phone away, the text unanswered. For the rest of the day I tried not to be needy and text him back, tried to give myself space so I wouldn’t grovel.
Tara called the gallery’s landline and asked if I’d heard from him. I lied and said no. I didn’t want to go into details about how he slept with me and then cut and run. She’d tell my brother, and Jeremy already hates I went to the homeless benefit with him. The news of the sale won’t help Dominic’s cause, and even my parents who are usually easygoing won’t approve of our budding relationship. Dominic could have all the money in the world, but if he doesn’t have a good heart, my parents won’t want us together.
I disconnect before Dominic can talk me into anything and pour a large glass of wine. I down most of it. I told him I love him. Okay, not that blatant, but I put it out there further than it had been. If he’d just woken up in my bed, I would have given him my heart then and there.
Maybe he doesn’t want it.
But that’s not what it sounded like when we spoke. It was cute that Dominic Milano, one of the richest men in the United States, was jealous enough to ask if I have a date tonight. I stifle a smile. I’m not glad he’s sitting somewhere in the city wondering what I’m doing, but I think it’s a fair amount of payback for letting me wake up alone.
I pour more wine and bring the glass into the bathroom to sip on while I shower the day’s grime off me. I need the liquid courage because it’s not my family business that I’m busy with tonight, but his.
I’m meeting Dominic’s mother at the penthouse she shares with his father. I’m more than a little apprehensive aboutmeeting on her turf, but it was the only choice she gave me when I called and asked if she could spare an hour of her time. I thought getting her number would be difficult, and I was surprised her penthouse’s landline was listed with directory assistance. All I had to do was identify myself to the housekeeper who answered the phone, and she transferred me to Athena without even putting me on hold to see if she was available to talk.
It was easy.
Too easy.
She sounded intrigued I had the guts to call her, but I’m not doing it for myself. I want to find out the rest of the story, and I can’t leave it alone until I do.
I dry off, and at a loss, stand in front of my closet. What do you wear to meet the wife of a land development tycoon? Raphael Milano is worth billions of dollars, just like his son. Athena’s gorgeous and her aura of a heartbroken woman drives men to her in flocks. From what the news says, her husband has a mistress he prefers, but I don’t know if Athena sees anyone on the side.
Time is running out if I don’t want to be late, and I choose a blue and white maxi dress and twist my wet hair into a bun. I add hoop earrings and reapply my makeup using a light hand. It’s hot, and the air conditioning in my car doesn’t work very well. I don’t need to look like a melting mess when I see Dominic’s mother again. I wonder what she’d say if I told her I was falling in love with her son. I wonder if she’ll be able to see it on my face.
On the drive into the city, I try to calm my nerves and blast Taylor Swift’s newest album all the way. It’s not so much I’m seeing Athena again, it’s that her power play is working and I’d feel a lot better if she’d said we could meet in a public place.
There’s no point in worrying about it. I’m not canceling.
