Of course, he didn’t.
“Oh, um, did you get my birthday card?” he asked before he covered the phone with his hand from the sounds of it. She heard him mumble to someone, probably his secretary, to send her birthday card out right away.
It looked like she’d be getting three grand in a few days, Haley thought, biting back a sigh. She’d keep the money this time since she already knew what she could use it for.
“Look, sweetheart, the reason that I’m calling is that your mother is having a dinner party next week and we’d like you to come,” he said, not surprising Haley that her mother hadn’t bothered to call her. It just wasn’t worth getting upset about.
“I’ll think about it,” Haley said, not really sure that she wanted to put Jason through that again.
“We’d really like you there. Robert is very excited to see you again. You know he’s been trying to call you, don’t you? I really think that you should give him another chance, Haley.”
Since Haley doubted that her father knew that his precious Robert had been calling and leaving messages offering to take Haley away for a weekend and “have some fun and prove that his theory that she was wild between the sheets was correct,” she didn’t bother arguing. Then again, her father would probably just laugh it off if she did because it was someone he approved of.
“I’m not interested in him, Dad,” Haley said firmly, hoping he’d just let it go. “If I can make it, I’ll be bringing Jason.”
“He’s not good enough, sweetheart,” he said, sounding tired.
“Then, neither am I,” she said, hanging up.
She took one last look at the couple going inside Jason’s house before she walked over to her stereo system and turned it on. She found a heavy metal station, and cranked it up all the way until she could actually feel the bass vibrate throughout the house. She pulled off her shirt, threw on a very revealing bikini top, grabbed a bottle of beer and dumped half of it out before heading for her front door.
After mentally promising herself aspirin for the headache that was already forming, she slapped a huge smile on her face and yanked open the door in time to see the realtor and the couple stumbling out of Jason’s house with their ears covered.
When they glared in her direction, she held up her beer and asked, “Who’s thirsty?”
“If anyone has a problem with the new computer system, please let my office know immediately,” Headmaster Jenkins said, reaching for his briefcase. “Have a good first day, everyone.”
Jason grabbed the handouts Jenkins piled in front of him and headed for the door. He wasn’t surprised when Haley jumped in front of him. She was a persistent little thing.
For the past two weeks, she’d been harassing everyone that he knew, looking for him. Nobody would tell her where he was, not because they were on his side. No, they were all on Team Haley and they made damn sure he knew that when they’d managed to get him on the phone. A week ago, he’d finally had enough and threw his phone out his car window somewhere along a back road in New Jersey.
When he’d left Haley, he’d been on the verge of a nervous breakdown. He knew that if he’d stayed, he would have gone back to Haley on his hands and knees, begging her to give him another chance, and he almost had. The only thing that stopped him was the knowledge that Haley would never want him the way that he wanted her.
“You put your house up for sale,” Haley said accusingly, pushing her glasses back up her nose as she glared up at him.
He simply stepped around her and walked out of the teachers’ lounge. Of course, that didn’t stop Haley. In seconds, she was walking right beside him.
“Jason, we need to talk.”
“I think we said everything we had to say two weeks ago, Haley.”
“No, we didn’t, Jason. You left before I could talk to you. Look, would you slow down?” she asked, doubling her efforts to keep up with him.
“No.”
He didn’t want to talk. Hell, he didn’t even want to look at her, but he had no choice in the matter. Until his house sold, he was stuck working here and seeing her every day.
“Jason, we really need to talk.”
“No.”
She somehow managed to catch up with him and jump in front of him just as he reached his classroom.
He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. “Move.”
“No,” Haley bit out stubbornly.
He didn’t have the patience for this shit. “Move out of the way, Haley.”
