Chapter Nine
Jonathan
I sat re-reading the email in my inbox from Jess, her angry words emblazoned on the screen in front of me:
‘Jonny, what the hell is going on? We still need to talk about Evan and what happened at Haselini three weeks ago. Are you ever going to return mine or mom’s calls? You know she’s worried sick about what’s happening to you.
I’ve called your cell, been to your apartment, and I’ve been turned away at your office, too. Call me as soon as you get this. Jess.’
As much as I didn’t want to, the truth was that I owed them both an explanation. I owed it to Jess to explain just exactly why I’d punched Evan and what we were even doing out without inviting her along.
I ran a hand down my face, sighing as my phone rang and Helen’s line flashed up.
“Yes?” I answered.
“It’s Jessica again,” she said gingerly.
“Tell her I’m in a meeting with Carlton.”
“Jonathan, I think…”
“Helen, can you just tell her I’m busy, please?”
She paused momentarily.
“Very well, I’ll tell her now. Thanks.”
She hung up, and I slammed my fist down on the table. The whole messy situation had spilled out from my personal life and was now affecting my work relationships.
I picked up the phone and dialed Kate’s number, as I had done over the past few weeks, but it rang and rang, and just as her voicemail clicked in I slammed it back down again, angry because there was so much I needed to say to her and so much to explain.
I’d made a promise to Anna that I wouldn’t say anything to her until she was ready, but I had to wake up and realize that her secret wasn’t worth losing Kate over. It wasn’t worth risking the wedding we’d planned.
I spun my chair around to the window to look out at the skyline. Everything had been so damn easy when Kate had just been another business partner, when she’d been someone that I could have just easily walked away from and replaced, but the thought of walking down the aisle with anyone other than her wasn’t an option now. Now it wasn’t just an arrangement.
I’d been given a taste of how amazing she was, and no one was ever going to compare to her.
I heard a heard knock on the door and Helen walked in before I could say anything.
I turned to her, sighing at the scowl on her face.
“What now?” I asked, resting back in my chair.
“You’ve got to snap out of it!” she scolded, approaching me. “It’s a busy week for DavenCorp, you can’t lose your head!”
“If you hadn’t…”
“No!” she cut me off, holding her hand up in front of my face boldly. “You only knew her for a fleeting second, Jonathan. She’s not worth losing your company for. Evan made me arrange a little blind date for you with one of my friends from the church and…”
“Oh that’s just great!” I mocked. He’d somehow forgotten to add himself into the mix...
“Hey!” she frowned in false offence, “my girls aren’t that bad. I think you’ll find them loving and loyal in all areas.”
“Well, seeing as it was Evan’s idea initially, I’m not going alone. You’ll have to arrange for him to come along or something…”
“So it’s a yes?”
I thought about it and thought about how the press, and not to mention my mother, would react if a photo broke out of me with some other woman when I was supposed to be marrying Kate.
“I don’t know…” I sighed, shaking my head.
“It’ll be good for you,” she pushed. “I’ve never known you to go so long without dating someone or going out for dinner with a woman or…”
“How do you know I haven’t been out with anyone?”
She laughed.
“Jonathan, you’re here till late almost every night and I haven’t had to send anyone any ‘sorry you woke up and I was gone from your life’ flowers in a long, long time.”
I nodded, it was true but somehow I felt like I’d changed, like I’d finally woken up to real life and put an end to the games.
“Fine, I’ll do it!” I announced. “What harm will one evening of drinks do? As long as you stress that we’re just going out as friends and you arrange for Evan to come along too!”
“Yes, yes… got it!” she wrote everything down before chewing the end of her pen looking at me.
“Any choice of venue? I have a swanky new bar in the center that are dying to have you visit?”
“Somewhere slightly more out of town. I don’t want paparazzi to take photos and get the wrong end of the stick and I want to stay pretty anonymous.”
“Are you sure? There are countless places that would pay you to go there.”
“Positive.”
She nodded and closed her notepad.
“To get over someone is to do exactly that… move on. I’ll be in my office if you need me.”
She left the room and I sat for a moment pondering on her last words.
Move on? I wasn’t sure if I was ready to completely give up and walk away from Kate yet. Moving on would mean that I would need to forget about her and welcome someone else into my life. It was easier said than done because the woman I was supposed to ‘get over’ wasn’t just someone ordinary. She was the only woman in the world that I had dated and couldn’t get enough of.
I had to see her one last time before I could confidently say that there was no chance of ever bringing back what we had, and to do that I had to bring Anna in because it was time that Kate knew the truth. Only then could we potentially put this bad situation behind us.