Chapter 2 – Scott
“Good to see you up and around, Scott. I don’t know where your wife went, but I’m sure she will be around in a little bit. How are you feeling?”
Shaking my head, I tried to figure out what he meant about my wife and her being back. My head hurt, and when I felt the top of it, I knew that I’d hit something. I was starting to think that I was either hearing things or I’d really messed up my head, because I couldn’t for the life of me remember who my wife was. If I had one, I was sure that I would remember her.
“I’m not married, doc.”
He looked at me as if he was concerned that I would forget something as important as that. I couldn’t help but feel the same way about it. If I’d forgotten a wife, there was surely something wrong with my head.
“Well, there was a woman in here, pretty young thing who said she was your wife. Come to think of it, she didn’t stay long, but she asked how you were doing and everything.”
“Did she have red hair?” My heart was pounding in my chest. I knew that I didn’t have a wife, but I knew who I would want it to be if I did have one.
“Yeah, so you know who I’m talking about, right?”
His concern was leaving his face. I was sure that it was because he thought I was remembering her. I didn’t want to tell him that it wasn’t my wife, but the girl that I’d dumped a month before. So instead I just kind of nodded my head and told him that I did know who it was.
“I don’t know if she’ll be back tonight. So am I ready to get out of here, doc? I’m not going to say that this isn’t a comfortable bed, but I don’t want to stay here any longer than I have to.”
“Well, we’re going to make sure that all of your tests come back okay and that you’re mobile, but that won’t take more than a couple of hours. You’ll be in our own bed tonight. I’m sure yours will be far more comfortable than what we offer here in the hospital. If I were you, I would want to get home to the wife as well.”
I tried to ignore the last comment, but it was hard to because a surge of jealousy went through me. I didn’t want to think about the doctor looking at Jesse in that way. I didn’t want anyone to ever look at her like that, and it suddenly occurred to me then that having her as my wife was the only way that I was going to have her completely. I needed her, and as soon as I was out of the hospital, I was going to find a way to make sure that she forgave me, my father be damned.
The tests were irritating, but after it was concluded that I wasn’t going to keel over forthwith when I left the place, I was released. I called the office and had a car sent to the hospital to pick me up. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do to win Jesse’s heart and convince her to forgive me, but the fact that she’d come to check up on me told me that she still cared. I still wasn’t sure how that could be, but the very fact that she’d told people that she was my wife made me feel a whole different way about it.
When I got home my phone had several messages on it, from my father I assumed, and I was about to listen to them when I got a call from the man himself. I didn’t really want to talk to him, but when he mentioned Jesse I finally started to actually pay attention.
“Why did she call me, Scott?”
I wasn’t going to tell him about the wreck. I was going to be fine, and there would be a lecture involved if he knew. My head was still hurting too much for that.
“There was a mix-up and I wasn’t able to take care of something.”
“I thought you were done messing with her, Scott. Don’t you remember the conversation we had, where you agreed that it was for the best?”
The conversation he was talking about hadn’t gone like that at all, but it was pointless to argue with him. “I didn’t really have a choice, did I, Dad? You made it seem like I was going to take the company down if I dated her. You failed to mention that you’d bought out her property. Were you even going to tell me about that, or was I going to have to find out later when she came to me with it?”
“If you’d gotten rid of her like I’d told you to, we would not have any problems. She would have never contacted you, and we could go on like it never happened.”
He was just so sure of himself and how horrible she was. It made me mad. I didn’t want him to think about Jesse in that way. “She called you tonight because I was in a car wreck, and since she was the last call on my phone and I was out of it, they called her. She wanted to make sure that I was okay and that I had someone there. She actually came down there to see me, which is more than I can say for you.”
“I didn’t know what had happened. Her voice was rushed and sounded strange on the recording. I figured that she was upset about the shop, and you know that I don’t have time for that kind of thing.”
His words made me sneer. There weren’t too many things that he had time for. My whole life I’d never been one of them, and I didn’t see the point in pretending that it was any different now. I was going to choose love over money, if for no other reason than to not end up like him. He was proof of what that choice could lead to. I was a lot like him, but I didn’t want to be like him on that front. I was going to be different.
“Yes, I know. Well, I’m fine. Is that why you were calling, or was it only to tell me that Jesse called?”
There was a silence on the other side of the phone. The longer it got, the more nervous I became. Why was he calling me?
“I wanted to talk to you, son. It’s been a while, and with everything going on, I just wanted to. To see how the business is going. I don’t like how things have come between us in the last month or so. Ever since I sent you to that bistro, it has been nothing but problems. Something is going on, and I need to know that you can still handle your job.”
“If I can’t, will you replace me or will you take the reins back yourself? We both know that you’re dying to take over again.”
“Why wouldn’t you handle the job? You have the schooling and the experience. You just have to get it together, Scott, and whatever it is that you’re letting bother you has to stop. You have to let her go. She was never meant for you, son. I’m glad that she cared for you and tried to get a hold of me, but her heart doesn’t change her bloodline. You come from good stock, and I want our next generation to as well.”
It didn’t make sense, him talking about the family like he cared. What had gotten into him? Was something wrong and he was just trying to let me down easy? I shook my head. As long as I’d known my father, he’d never been the sentimental type. He was all business. This was actually the first conversation that we had had that wasn’t purely business topics.
“I got to go, Dad. I’ll talk to you later when I’ve been awake a little longer.”
There was a disapproving sound on the other end of the line. I knew he was mad, but I didn’t care. I had bigger things to do than worry about him. I had to go get the girl.