Chapter 12
Alec met with Joni once today, but she asked if they could meet again. It was late, he was tired and didn’t trust himself to go to True’s house and not tell her what he’d been working on. The only thing that stopped him is he didn’t have all the facts and they weren’t verified. It was life changing info but he didn’t want to tell her about something and it not be correct.
“I finally met True,” Joni said with excitement in her voice as she slid into the seat at the all night coffee house. She was beaming from ear to ear like she’d met a celebrity. Well True really was one even if she’d never gotten out of their small town.
“How did that come about?” Alec was the most senior Haught and was known for staying ice cold under pressure but he could feel the steam building in his soul. Why did she go and meet True? He knew he wasn’t going to like the story she was about to tell. Alec wasn’t the best at staying cool when his current lover was the subject, but when it was about an interaction from his former lover with True he hoped he wouldn’t blow his top.
“I don’t know if you follow her newsletter but she sent out an invitation to her subscribers for 80 pieces of art that she marked down. I mean these were crazy prices.” Joni acted like they were dishing on gossip and he wasn’t sure just what to say to that.
“Did you speak with her?” Alec didn’t know how hard he could pray to himself until this very moment. Say no…say no…he willed with his mind.
“Of course, and when I walked up to her she knew who I was. She even asked me if we had lunch today.” Joni made a squeal like this was truly a life changing moment and for him it may have been. “She gave me a signature piece that she has never sold. Just gave it to me. Ha.”
Alec had no words. He wasn’t sure if he should run to True and find out what happened, make sure she was okay or if he should just act like this wasn’t a problem and ignore it.
“I know you told me earlier why you broke up with me but I think True is with someone else. She was with a well dressed man who had a French accent and I overheard him saying he flew in from France when he heard she was having a massive sale. I was trying to listen, but they were sitting close and talking low. I believe he’s trying to get her to do a tour with her art.”
Thinking of Joni speaking with True had upset him a little but knowing that pretty boy from France was here and was flirting it up with her had him ready to roar. He’d ordered a coffee for her before she got there and now he was hoping she’d pick it up and drink the damn thing because it was getting worse and worse. Maybe it was another Frenchman who’d shown up for Trues sale…one could hope. “Luc’s here?”
“Yes. I think that was his name.”
He would approach this topic with True since there was no need to talk to Joni about something she had less than second hand information about. “I’m sure you didn’t bring me out here to talk about what you said to True. I don’t want to know what happened with that. I just want to know if you have more information for me.” Alec looked at Joni’s face and tried to scale back his attitude. This was one of the reasons he’d broken up with her. She was afraid of him. Not that she would say that she was but deep down where it counted she was. It was the comparison against True that made him re-evaluate all that was their relationship. When there was a problem True would confront him. If he said in a loud voice that now wasn’t the time she’d scrunch her beautiful face, put her fists on her hips, get in his face and tell him off – and that’s the kind of honesty he wanted. If he got off on scaring the crap out of someone when they did or said something he didn’t like, then Joni would have been perfect.
“I do have some information. Excuse me if I got excited about meeting your friend. I always said I wanted to meet her and you never introduced me to her. I thought since you had connections it wouldn’t have been that hard and I hinted about meeting her constantly.” She stirred her coffee and he wanted to get her to focus on the issue at hand. He had a date with his bed tonight and a baby shower he had to attend for tomorrow.
“I know you wanted to meet her. I’m very good with hints and yours were far from subtle, but True and I had a history that didn’t make me comfortable making introductions between you.” Little did Joni know but he did bring it up to True and the look she gave him made him want to wither up and crawl away. He’d felt so guilty about the whole situation. From wanting to marry someone who wouldn’t command his whole heart to treating the person who owned his whole heart like she didn’t matter…he was glad he’d ended it when he did but he knew he’d damaged both Joni and True.
Joni cowered a bit and nodded her head that she understood before getting out the papers from her bag. “It’s not a done deal but I should have some of this verified in a few days.” She sipped her coffee and stared into the cup.
“Look I didn’t mean to be so rash with you. It’s just been a long day.” This is what we were back to…apologies…guilt…feeling like a monster. He just didn’t like the way she made him feel about himself or her.
“I get it. I was so excited about meeting True and getting one of her signature pieces I wanted to share it with someone who would understand how amazing she is. I hope I didn’t get you into any trouble.”
“Don’t even worry about it.” Alec confirmed as he placed his hand over hers on the table.
“Would you like to see it?” Joni sounded shy when she asked her question and although he really didn’t want to see it he nodded. She moved her hand out from under his and picked up her phone. She must have taken a picture of it since she didn’t have to scroll far. Joni’s huge smile when she showed him the picture made him uneasy somehow but that was probably because he didn’t want to talk about True with Joni…even if this was the reason for their meeting.
“Very nice.” He looked closer and could make out what it was. “It’s a man’s neck…right?”
“Yes it is.” She turned the phone back her way to beam again at the picture before putting her phone back on the table.
Joni had that odd look in her eye again even though he told her the whole situation earlier today. He looked around and prepared to get up. “Let me know when you get the full story as soon as it happens.”
Joni nodded and looked up to him with her heart in her eyes. Alec stood up and put a few bills on the counter before leaving. He wasn’t sure about Joni and he wondered if he should have gotten another private detective to find what he wanted. The thing is she was good at what she did and he needed someone of her caliber to find out what he wanted to know.