As soon as Coco left, I turned and looked at Lorelei.
“Jack, I’m—”
“Save it, Lorelei. I’ll see you after I pick Hope up from school.”
****
Lorelei
I spent the day lounging around and, to be honest, I was bored. The only thing on my mind was Jack’s attitude because he didn’t get his way with me. Just because he was taking care of Hope and me, didn’t mean he was entitled to sex. As I was pondering my feelings, my phone rang. I smiled when I saw Stella’s picture pop up on the screen.
“Hello.”
“Hello, my friend. How are things going back in New York?”
“Things are...well…interesting, I guess.”
“What do you mean? What’s going on that you’re not telling me?”
“Nothing.”
“Bullshit, Lorelei. Whenever you say things in that sort of tone, it means you’re hiding something from me. Don’t forget; I’m the only person who knows you inside and out.”
I sighed. “I’ve been sick with pneumonia and was in the hospital for a couple of days.”
“WHAT! Why didn’t you call me?”
“Because you were with Sebastian and his ailing father. I’m on the mend now, so everything is fine.”
“Wait a minute. If you were in the hospital, who took care of Hope?”
“Jack.”
A shriek came from the other end. “WHAT! He hates kids.”
“He felt he had no choice. He’s the one who took me to the hospital and then he brought Hope back to his place and has been taking care of her since. In fact, I’m here now until Sunday.”
“You’re staying at Jack Sutton’s place and he’s taking care of both of you. I’m so confused, Lorelei. My brain can’t grasp what you’re telling me.”
“I’ll explain it all when you come back. When are you coming back, by the way?”
“We’ll be home on Sunday and you better believe the first place I’m heading is to your apartment.”
I laughed. “Okay. Hope and I will be there.”
“Take care of yourself. I have to go. We’re at the funeral luncheon and I just snuck out for a minute.”
“Give Sebastian my condolences.”
“I will. Love you, friend.”
“Love you too.”
I set my phone down and walked into the kitchen to make a cup of tea. Glancing at the clock on the stove, I noticed that it was almost time for Jack and Hope to be home. I hadn’t heard from him all day and I wasn’t surprised, considering his juvenile behavior. I heard the elevator doors open, so I took my tea and walked to the foyer. Hope stepped off the elevator with a sad look on her face.
“Hey, baby. How was your day?”
“Not good.” She pouted. “If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go up to my room.”
As Hope walked up the stairs, I looked at Jack.
“What’s wrong with her?”
“I don’t know. She wouldn’t tell me.”
“Did you talk to your mother?”
“No.” He walked into the kitchen and I followed behind. “She was in meetings all day. She’s avoiding me and Coco. I know she is.”
I could tell how stressed Jack was. I couldn’t imagine finding out something like that about my mother.
He placed his hands on the counter and his eyes grazed over me. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m doing much better.”
“Good. Then you’ll be able to get back to your apartment in a couple of days.”
Ouch. That stung.
“Yeah.” I gave a small nod and went upstairs to check on Hope.
Chapter Forty
Lorelei
Sitting down on the edge of Hope’s bed, I tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
“Why don’t you tell me what happened today.”
“Addison is moving and changing schools,” she spoke in a sad voice.
“Where is she moving to?”
“Her and her mom are moving in with her mom’s boyfriend. All she talked about was how they were going to be a family.”
Damn Addison’s mom. “I’m sorry she’s moving, baby, but you can still keep in touch with her.”
“It’s not the same and I don’t want to talk to her anymore. She said some mean things.” A tear fell down her cheek.
“What did she say?”
“All she talked about was how they were going to be a family and do family things and that I was jealous of her.”
“Why would she think you’re jealous of her?”
She looked down and another tear fell from her eye.
“Because I told her I didn’t care. I don’t care.” She folded her arms.
“That’s not nice, Hope. She’s very excited about something and you just dismissed it. That’s not being a very good friend.”
“I don’t want to talk about this anymore. Can you please just leave me alone for a while?”
“Sure, baby.”
I walked out of her room and saw Jack coming down the hallway.
“How is she?”
“Upset because her friend Addison is moving and switching schools.”
“That’s too bad. I’m sure she’ll get over it. I have some work to do in my office and I don’t want to be disturbed.” He walked down the stairs.
About an hour and a half later, Jack walked into the living room where I was sitting down working on one of my designs.
“I’m going out for a while. I’ve ordered you and Hope a pizza and salad for dinner. It’s already paid for, so don’t worry about that.”
“Where are you going?” I asked as I followed him to the elevator and the scent of his cologne drifted back and crossed my face.
“I have a date. I’ll see you in the morning. Tell Hope I said good night.”
“You can tell her yourself.”
“I’m going to be late as it is.” He stepped into the elevator.
A date? He had a date? Was he kidding? A flood of emotions filled my body and tears sprang to my eyes. Tears that I couldn’t explain. Tears that never should have crept up in the first place. He was nothing to me. Jack Sutton was nothing but my boss and a couple of nights of hot sex. I was nothing but the mistake he made. The more I heard his words in my head—“I have a date”—the angrier I became. I stomped over to the couch, grabbed my laptop from the coffee table, and brought up Match.com. Maybe it was time I dove back into the dating world. If Addison’s mom could meet Mr. Right, then so could I.
I created my profile, and when I was finished, I closed my laptop. What the hell was I doing? The pizza was delivered and I went upstairs to get Hope for dinner. When I walked into her room, I noticed she was sleeping. I walked over to the side of her bed and gently called her name. She opened her eyes and then closed them again.
“Baby, what’s wrong?”
“I don’t feel good and my throat hurts.”
I placed my hand on her forehead and she felt really warm. Oh God, what if she had caught my illness? Jack was out on his date and I was here alone with nothing. No children’s Tylenol. Nothing. I wanted to go home. It wasn’t like asshole was here taking care of us. I stood up from the bed and put all of Hope’s things in her bag, then walked across the hall to my room and did the same. Running downstairs and grabbing my phone from the table, I called a cab. After ending the call, I went back upstairs to get Hope.
“Come on, Hope. We’re going home,” I spoke as I sat her up.
“We are? Where’s Jack?” she sleepily asked.
“He had to go out for the night. I can take better care of you at home. Come on; the cab will be here soon.”
She wrapped her arms around my neck as I picked her up and carried her down the stairs. I told her to sit down on the couch while I wrote Jack a note.
Jack,
Hope is sick with a fever and there was nothing here for me to give her, so I packed us up and went home.
Lorelei
My phone rang and it was the cab calling to let me know he was waiting for us.
“Hope, you have to walk to the cab because I have to carry our bags.”
“I don’t feel good, Mommy.”
“I know, baby, but we’ll be home soon.”
I held her hand as we took the elevator downstairs to the lobby and climbed into the cab.