Silence.
“Darling?”
“Yup?” She sniffles.
“Are you okay, Lo?”
What’s going on with her lately?
She blows her nose into the phone receiver, so I pull it away slightly. “Ahh, the lovely sound of boogers.”
“Oops, sorry,” she mutters. “I’m so happy for you. I just want to make sure though… are you ready for more, Annabelle?”
“Yeah, I think I am. It’s strange because, from the outside, we’re still just Jack and Belle; not much has changed. We’ve always been close like this. I’m telling you, though, it’s different. I feel it. Things are good.”
I hear her rustling in the sheets to get comfortable.
“I’m so happy. Tell me more,” she whispers.
“Not much more to tell.” I sigh. “It’s only been a couple of days. I’m only hoping I don’t fuck this up with my insecurities.”
It’s always been a worry of mine.
I’ve dated on and off for years and, of course, long-term with Trey.
However, even before he became a lunatic, I never let him in enough to make a future together.
Not that he noticed. He comes from a loveless family, so it worked perfectly that companionship was all it was—guaranteed date nights and sex at the end was exactly what I was looking for.
Nothing more, nothing less.
“You won’t screw it up,” she says sternly. “Don’t let yourself. You’re stronger than you give yourself credit for. You won’t let your mind take over.”
“You’re too young to be so wise.”
“This will be his first relationship, so you’ll work at it together. Who cares about all the other stuff? Your past is in the past. Keep it there.”
She’s right.
It doesn’t matter if we start later in life or have had many partners. If we’re both committed to making it work, it should be all that matters.
“Shit. Shit, shit, shit,” Lola grits, breaking me out of my thoughts.
I instantly sit up, on high alert. “What’s wrong?”
“Not that I want to burst your Jackson bubble—trust me—but I should tell you, Victoria is sniffing around again. I just got an email from one of our clients who I’m close with, and she said Victoria reached out to her.”
“What the actual fucking fuck!” I snap. “What is wrong with this girl? I know she’s a lot younger and needs to learn the business, but I’m so sick of her unprofessional shit. People are going to catch on soon. And why is she singling me out? I’ve never done anything to her except be her competition.”
This is exactly what happens when you’re barely thirty and running your own business without knowing zilch about how to do so. She only started it because she had nothing else to do with her inheritance.
“Do you think it’s because of Sadie?”
I crinkle my face, confused. “What do you mean?”
“You know Victoria has always wanted Wills. So, maybe because of the upcoming wedding, her jealousy is at an all-time high, and the only way to act out is to hurt Sadie’s best friend if she can’t get to Sadie herself.”
I think on it for a second.“That would be so insane. What respectable adult would do something like that?”
