Fred looked astonished to learn Susan wasn’t enjoying all their togetherness either, and Damien found himself smiling. Susan was still a beautiful woman, just like Jessica had been. He set the box down on the end table next to the suede sofa.
“What’s in the box, honey?” Susan sat down and patted the seat next to her. “Come sit by me so I can look at you. You look tired, sad. I’d hoped the next time I saw you there would be a smile on your face.”
Damien tried to force one, but it fell flat. “I brought you some of Jessica’s things…her swimming trophies, her yearbooks, and photo albums from college. It really should all come back to you, and I’m sorry it took me so long to do it. I just couldn’t go through her stuff.”
He wasn’t even sure what had possessed him to do it now. But when he’d decided to come to Chicago, he’d pulled out the taped boxes in his closet and had quickly sorted out some things for Jessica’s parents. It felt right to give pieces of Jessica back to them.
He had needed to do this, see them.
“Are you sure?” Susan’s hand was reaching for the box, but she stopped.
“Yes. These are from before we met. I kept some other things.”
Susan opened the box, and a half an hour later, Damien was finding that it wasn’t as hard as he had imagined to watch Jessica’s parents go through her personal possessions. Susan only teared up once, when she found a grade school report card, but for the most part, she and Fred smiled, laughed, reminisced about the items they pulled out.
They had healed. Damien could see it. They missed Jessica, they loved her, but they had accepted their loss and were prepared to focus on the good times.
He wanted to be able to do that, but he wasn’t there yet. Wasn’t sure he’d ever be.
“So, are you seeing anyone? Is there a special woman in your life?” Susan asked casually, her reading glasses perched on her nose.
“No.” He shook his head. There was no explaining his relationship with Mandy. He was her boss, her resort fling, and he hoped her friend.
“I’m sorry to hear you say that,” she said quietly. “I’d hoped by now you would have moved on, found happiness.”
“No,” he said, because again it was the simplest answer.
“Cutting yourself off from family and friends—not being happy—that’s not what Jess would have wanted for you,” Susan said, stroking his arm.
That statement gave Damien pause. He ran his finger over the edge of Jessica’s yearbook, squeezing the tip of his finger between the pages until he felt pain. “You think so? Because I was never really sure what Jessica wanted.”
Susan shrugged. “That makes three of us. Fred and I always marveled at how she could never be content. Just neverbe.”
Fred gave a genuinely amused laugh. “Ain’t that the truth. Our Jess wasn’t easy to live with. She liked drama.”
Damien didn’t think it was anything to laugh about, but for the first time ever he allowed himself to think that maybe all their problems hadn’t been his alone. Maybe no matter how much he loved her, it never would have been enough to make Jessica happy. They hadn’t been right for each other.
Maybe if she hadn’t died, they would have gone their separate ways.
Maybe none of that mattered because he was the one alive and she was dead, and hopefully Jessica was at peace.
Damien nodded and stood up. “Well, I need to take off. I haven’t even seen my parents yet.”
Then he had one more stop to make before he met up with George to sign the listing papers.
He had to visit the tattoo parlor.
Chapter Twenty
Mandy picked at her chicken Caesar salad and worried. Caroline stared at her as she wiped her lips on a napkin. “You’re really worked up over him. You’ve fallen for Demon Sharpton, haven’t you?”
Her head snapped up, and Mandy glanced around the restaurant. They were just across the street from their office and anyone could be listening. That was the last thing in the world she needed, rumors running around the office about her and Damien. Not seeing any secretarial spies, Mandy waved away a fly and dropped her fork. “Is it that obvious?”
“I’ve never seen you like this.” Despite a summer breeze blowing around Midtown as they ate outside, Caroline looked cool and put together.
As usual, Mandy felt as though she’d run an obstacle course on her way to lunch. She was hot, blown, and sticky.
And she was certain her deodorant had given way on the elevator down.
