“You don’t understand.” I shake my head. “She wants to build her business to make you proud of her. Jules may have received her inheritance, but after damaging her relationship with you, she’s devastated. She spent the entire night crying, and I would bet everything I own that it’s because she wants her relationship back with you. She’s grievingyou, Mrs. Lannister, not the money.”
The suspicion on her face deepens. “What’s it to you? What do you get out of this?”
I give a little shrug. “I just want Jules to be happy. I want her to have everything she desires. It’s true that our marriage didn’t start from a place of integrity, but for me, things have changed. Your great-granddaughter means so much to me now. It hurts to see her hurting, and if I can do something to fix it, I’m going to try.”
Jules’s great-grandmother stares at me for a long time, sizing me up. It’s hard not to fidget.
“If you care as much as you claim, Mr. Raines…” the aging woman starts, her voice sharp. “Why are you trying to fix Julissa’s relationship with me, when you haven’t fixedyourrelationship with her?”
On that, she rises out of her seat, taking her walking stick as she wobbles toward the door.
“See yourself out.” And I’m left there alone.
50
LINCOLN
Mrs. Lannister’s words live in my mind all day.Why are you trying to fix Julissa’s relationship with me, when you haven’t fixed your relationship with her?But I still don’t act on them.
Instead, I hide behind the excuse of needing to mentally switch gears and focus on my business.
My new associates are still in town after yesterday’s disaster of a party, and they’ve asked me to join them for lunch.
Long story short, the goddamned deal is off.
After all that work. After all that ass-kissing. After marrying a woman I didn’t even know and falling head-over-heels in love with her. The assholesstillcalled off the fucking deal.
“We just can’t move forward with this,” Paul is saying. “We witnessed the blow-up first hand.”
Bob nods. “And while we’re impressed by the lengths to which you and Jules went to cheat the system, we refuse to do business with someone who’s not legitimately married.”
“And we won’t be tied to a man who’s got ‘public scandal’ stamped on his forehead,” Eric says. “We’d be putting our own reputations at risk.”
Dale leans across the table with a slimy grin, “We prefer private scandals only.”
I laugh out loud at the ridiculousness of the whole situation. The level of hypocrisy from these buffoons is truly mind-blowing. Not to mention that my feelings for Jules are clearly more genuine than anything they have with their own wives.
You know what? I think the thing that scares these men most is the influence Jules has had on their lonely, miserable wives. So if nothing else comes from this whole business mess, at least she’s made a mark on those women.
Hell, maybe one will even be brave enough to file for divorce.Then the associates will have to try to backpedal themselves out of their ridiculous ‘married men only’ rule.
After the business lunch, I get stuck at the train crossing for a good fifteen minutes. I pass the time, trying to comfort myself with the fact that, at least I got one last free meal out of this mess. Then I take my time driving home. Cameron is still in school for the next few hours, so I’m not in a rush, already dreading the quiet emptiness of my house.
As I approach my cul-de-sac, there’s a small part of me that feels a wave of relief at not having to pretend to respect those chauvinistic pigs for the next ten years. I value my sanity, after all. So I might have dodged a pretty big bullet there.
But my more calculating side is worried about the financial consequences of this deal falling through. This was my last ditch effort at saving the sports agency I worked my ass off to build. My last chance at bailing myself out. My last chance to stay out of the unemployment line.
And what about Jules? What about her T-shirt business? Maybe I can come up with some way to help her get the funding she needs, even if I can’t save myself. Maybe I can figure something out for her. I have to.
Even more importantly, maybe I can convince her to give me a shot. A real shot. Maybe I can convince her to let me love her.
A tiny flicker of hope crawls into my chest.
When I get home, I’m surprised to find Jules in the living room. My instant thrill at seeing her here fizzles quickly when I realize that she’s packing her stuff.
This day can’t get any worse. It just can’t.
“You’re leaving?” I say dumbly, watching her fold the last of her clothes and drop them into a black garbage bag.
