Chapter Twelve #2
Jago was staying back at work to go through the fine details of a property deal contract, but the words were blurring in front of his eyes.
He had thrown himself into work just as he had two years ago when Mollie jilted him, but like then, nothing could fill the emptiness of his life now.
He used to feel a sense of satisfaction when he signed off on a deal.
The chase and the catch were once everything to him.
Now he was left with a feeling of Who cares how big the deal is?
Who cared what he achieved? Who cared how much money he had made?
He certainly didn’t. He didn’t care about anything, couldn’t think about anything but Mollie.
She had filled the hole in his life for the weekend of his grandmother’s birthday, but since she had rejected his second proposal, he was left feeling worse than he had when she jilted him.
He had harboured such anger towards her for two years, anger that was now directed at his grandfather.
But even that was pointless. Maxwell was hardly likely to change, and Jago had to move on with his life.
He couldn’t stay in this morose state forever.
But he had also directed a load of anger at himself.
He could have prevented this last two years if he had gone after Mollie, instead of allowing his wounded pride to stop him from pursuing her.
He had gone as far as finding out where she was but did nothing to contact her after a few attempts via phone and text.
She had blocked him on her phone, and he had taken it to mean she didn’t want any further contact with him.
He was furious and frustrated with himself for not trying harder.
For not seeing what was there if he hadn’t been so blinded by arrogance and pride.
He was the one to blame for losing Mollie.
Yes, his meddling old grandfather was a huge part of it, but Jago should have trusted her, should have trusted his own heart.
There was a firm rap on his office door, and Jack came in carrying a bottle in one hand.
Typical, Jago thought. Jack wasn’t one to wait to be invited; if he wanted something, he took it.
Jago couldn’t imagine his brother languishing for a couple of years over a woman who had left him.
He would fill her place with another as soon as he could and not have a moment’s conscience about it.
‘Hey, got a minute for a drink?’ Jack said, strolling over to plant the bottle on Jago’s desk and then sat on the chair opposite the desk, legs spread wide in his customary confident pose.
‘Since when do we have after-hours drinks together?’ Jago asked, narrowing his eyes in suspicion.
‘Yeah, I know. We’re not that sort of brothers, are we?’ Jack said it without any note of regret, simply as a statement of fact.
‘So what’s up?’
‘Have you heard anything from Jonas?’ Jack asked.
‘No. You?’
A frown pulled at Jack’s brow, and a flicker of worry moved through his ice-blue gaze.
‘I know he’s worked on secret commissions before, but it’s been months now.
Did I tell you the wedding cake designer he was dating called asking me to tell him to call her?
She called me several times. I had to fob her off because before he left, he said he wanted to cut all contact with her.
She didn’t seem the stalker type. And I thought he had a real thing for her. ’
‘Since when were you an advocate for relationships? I thought you were the biggest cynic about falling in love?’
Jack gave a lopsided smile. ‘Yeah, well, I see too many supposedly in-love couples tearing each other apart in a divorce to be a true believer in happily-ever-after, but Jonas dated Tess longer than he dated anyone else.’ He rose from the chair in a fluid movement Jago silently envied.
He hadn’t exercised in weeks and felt lethargic and listless in comparison to his brother’s virile and agile movement.
‘Where do you keep the glasses?’ Jack asked.
‘Third cupboard on the left,’ Jago said. ‘But what are we drinking to? I’m not in the mood to celebrate anything.’
‘Yeah, I got that impression.’ Jack took two glasses out of the cupboard and put them on the desk then unscrewed the red wine bottle and poured two half glasses, pushing one towards Jago. ‘Here. Get that into you.’
Jago looked at the ruby liquid and screwed up his nose. It was undoubtedly top-quality wine, but he had no appetite for it. ‘Sorry, Jack. It’s wasted on me.’
Jack took a sip of his wine, then put the glass back on the desk. He folded one ankle over his bent knee, his gaze assessing. ‘You don’t know what you’re missing.’
What Jago was missing was being in a relationship with Mollie, but he didn’t want to discuss it with his cynical older brother. He deftly changed the subject. ‘How’s Gran doing?’
Jack swirled the contents of his glass into a tiny whirlpool, then he met Jago’s gaze. ‘She’s made a miraculous recovery. She’s up in town having dinner with Mollie as we speak.’
Jago’s jaw dropped open. ‘What for?’
‘Presumably to eat.’ Jack lifted his glass to his mouth in an annoyingly casual manner.
‘Damn it, Jack. Why’s Gran getting involved? Mollie has made it clear we don’t have a future together.’ He shoved back his chair and stood, sending a hand through his hair in a distracted manner. ‘I can do without any more meddling from either of our grandparents.’
‘Listen, mate. You stuffed up your relationship with Mollie, not our grandfather. If she had felt more secure with you back then, I’m sure she would have come to you first instead of allowing Maxwell to manipulate her.
You asked her to marry you and put a damn expensive ring on her finger, but the only thing she wanted—which is what most of my female clients want, and my male ones, too, for that matter—is for someone to love them and commit to them. ’
Jago gave a scornful laugh. ‘So you’re an expert on relationships now? The playboy celebrity divorce lawyer who has never dated anyone longer than a couple of days?’
Jack gave a negligent shrug. ‘I might not want it for myself, but I can see it can work for other people. You act like you’re in love—you did two years ago and even more so now.
It was a good ploy to get Mollie to come to Gran’s birthday, but at the root of it was your desire to be with Mollie again.
It was also a good plan to sponsor her conference in your hotel. You want her back in your orbit.’
Jago held on to the back of his ergonomic chair until his knuckles showed white. ‘So what if I want to be with her? I’m not with her now because she doesn’t want what I’m offering her.’
Jack leaned forward to put his glass back on the table, flicking Jago a glance. ‘Have you told her you love her?’
‘No.’
‘Why not?’
Jago worked his jaw for a moment, his chest feeling like it was in an industrial crusher.
He wanted to deny it, to say he didn’t love her in a romantic sense, but the words just wouldn’t come.
He didn’t want to lie to himself any more.
He did love her. He had always loved her, but admitting it opened up the possibility of losing her.
But hadn’t he already lost her out of his stubborn refusal to own his emotions?
‘I can’t. It’s a thing I can’t seem to push past.’ He shook his head and let out a whooshing sigh. ‘I said it to Mum and Dad when they left for that weekend away, and look how that turned out.’
Jack rubbed at his jaw, the raspy sound of his stubble against his palm overly loud in the echoing silence.
‘At least you said it to them. I never did, and I’ve regretted it ever since.
’ There was a heaviness to his tone that Jago had never heard in his brother’s voice before.
Jack the joker. Jack the quick-witted sarcastic one.
Jack the cynical and jaded celebrity divorce lawyer who helped hundreds of clients end their relationships.
Jack being gravely serious was something Jago had rarely, if ever, seen.
A light bulb went off in Jago’s head, shining a light on his mistaken beliefs about himself, about love, about allowing himself to be vulnerable.
What would have been worse? Saying I love you and never seeing the loved one again, or not saying it and never seeing them again?
At least he had told his parents he loved them.
Surely Jack had a much tougher regret to weigh him down.
‘I’m sorry, Jack. That must be hard to live with. ’
Another shrug. ‘Life sucks sometimes, hey?’ Jack picked up his glass again and took another sip. He lowered the glass from his mouth and looked at Jago. ‘As far as I’m concerned, Jonas is the one who missed out the most. He can barely remember Mum and Dad. At least we had a few years with them.’
‘Yeah… I guess…’ Jago unlocked his hands from the back of his chair.
‘So what’s the plan? Should I dust off my best man’s suit?’ A crooked smile lifted the edges of Jack’s mouth.
‘You mean you still have it?’
‘It’s a bespoke design. It cost me a freaking fortune. Of course I still have it.’
Jago smiled, a weight coming off his shoulders that made him feel light-headed and excited in a way he had never felt before. ‘You’d better bring champagne the next time we catch up.’
‘Will do.’
‘Now, how about we have some champagne?’ Elsie said as she and Mollie sat in front of a sumptuous feast that had just been delivered to Elsie’s room.
Mollie gave the old lady a concerned look. ‘Should you be drinking alcohol with your memory problems?’
Elsie’s eyes twinkled. ‘There’s nothing wrong with my memory. Not since the before party.’
Mollie stared at her wide-eyed. ‘Before the party? But I thought—’