Chapter 7
Nora was working in the kitchen, when her dad came in the next day. He had just returned from his daily jog.
“I just met Theo, he’s asked us to dinner,” he told her, gulping down a bottle of water thirstily. Nora felt her shoulders tense at the thought of seeing Theo again so soon.
“At his house? Just us?” she asked, trying to sound casual about it. Her father was milling about the kitchen, opening drawers to look for a knife to cut pieces of a Granny apple.
“Yeah his place. Not just us, he’s asked the Millers and Sam too,” he told her, referring to some of their other common friends. Nora fixed her eyes on the computer screen, refusing to meet the gaze of her father. The memory of orgasming to Theo was still burning in her, and just the thought of him made her skin tingle.
“Will Violet be cooking?” Nora asked and she looked up just in time to see her father rolling his eyes.
“Are you kidding me? That woman hasn’t boiled an egg in her life. As far as I could tell, she wouldn’t even be there. She never is,” he said, sitting down at the table with her with his apple. Nora tried to hide the flushing of her cheeks as well as she could, but he didn’t seem to notice either way.
“Is there trouble in paradise?” she asked him and her father rolled his eyes again.
“It was never exactly paradise for them. At least not for Theo,” he told her and Nora bit down on her lip.
“I’m surprised to hear that. He seemed so excited before the wedding,” she said as he chewed on his apple pieces.
“Well, that was seven years ago. Once the honeymoon was over, Theo saw her for who she really is,” he said, in a voice that sounded angered. She knew that her father rarely ever lost his temper. Whatever it was, he didn’t appreciate Violet’s presence in his best friend’s life.
“Why, what is she like, dad?” Nora asked, pressing down the screen of her laptop. Her father shrugged his shoulders and looked away from her.
“She’s a gold digger. I hate using the expression, but that is the only way I can describe her. She married Theo for his money, when he was most desperate to settle down and have a family. It was only after they married that he found out that she never wanted kids in the first place,” her father said and Nora’s heart was racing. She was already picturing Theo as a father.
“So, why are they still together?” she asked, trying to keep the rise of excitement in her voice at a minimum. He shrugged again and let out a huge sigh.
“I don’t know the answer to that question, honey. He doesn’t like to talk about it. I have my suspicions that it has something to do with his own parents. You know, they got divorced when he was a little boy and he saw how miserable it made his father. Maybe he thinks that staying married to Violet is his best option right now. Maybe he’s thinking about old age. I don’t know, honey,” he explained and shook his head dejectedly.
Nora stared at her father, trying to put the pieces together. Theo had always been the strongest, most powerful man she knew. She had idolized him all her life and now she was quickly realizing that he was only human and he had his weaknesses too.
“Can’t you talk to him?” she blurted out and her father looked up at her with a jerk. She regretted the tone of her voice, afraid that it would make him suspicious about her interest in Theo. “I mean, since you both are so close and you clearly have your opinions about their marriage,” she said and looked back down at her laptop, straitening the screen again. She heard her father sigh, but avoided meeting his eyes.
“I’ve tried. Over the years, I’ve seen his spirit deteriorate. He’s immersed himself in work while his wife spends his money, drinks like a fish and probably sleeps around as well. Theo doesn’t like to talk about it. He’s become a very different man than the one I knew when we were younger,” he said and she heard the tiredness in her father’s voice. He clearly cared and he genuinely seemed upset for his best friend.
Nora stared at the screen, trying to concentrate on the words she was typing. She had never spoken about Theo with her father before, trying to keep herself away from him as much as she could. Now that the dam was broken, there were torrents of questions she wanted to ask him, but knew that would be a bad idea. They didn’t exactly share the kind of relationship where they sat and gossiped about people.
“So, how is Jack, honey?” he asked and her brows crossed.
“Fine,” she replied coldly and her father stood up from his chair. Fine, was what she guessed. She hadn’t spoken to him since she got on the flight from New York. It was too much information to give to her dad.
“Anyway, dinner’s at nine, so we should leave the house by eight thirty?” he said and Nora nodded and started typing again.
It was only after a few minutes, when her father had left the kitchen that she looked up and took in a deep rugged breath. She was replaying the scene by the pool…the look in Theo’s eyes as he stared at her when she was undressing. How he had stared at her breasts. And then Violet, and how his expression had changed immediately and so had his mood.
Nora bit down on her lip. No matter how glamorous Violet was, now she was certain that Theo had no feelings for his wife.