Chapter 5
Katie
What the fuck just happened? Did I just say yes to a date with Richard of all people? Richard, the guy who royally screwed me five years ago? Have I gone crazy? Yes, that must be it. I’ve either gone crazy or this is a nightmare, because I really can’t be that stupid, now, can I?
And he offered to pick me up. Like I’d ever let him do that! I can’t let him into my house and see my son. Richard’s smart as fuck. He’ll immediately make the connection, and then what would happen? I was scared of him taking my baby away from me when I thought of him as just another rich kid.
But now that I know that he’s a Cartright heir, I would never in a million years risk him finding out about my son.
I mean, there is a huge chance that he just wouldn’t care, but I know about these rich types.
They might not care about the women, but they care about their blood, and they most certainly wouldn’t want one growing up in the ‘gutters’, as far as they’re concerned. So now, I’m not letting him pick me up.
How could I be so stupid? How could I risk everything just because I couldn’t say no to a guy I was in love with five years ago?
I worked so hard to get where I was, to give Connor the life he deserves.
I’m not going to let that blow up no matter how good Richard looks in a business suit, and how much his bright smiles still affect me.
Connor comes first, and he doesn’t need Richard’s flakiness in his life. My boy is too sensitive for that.
I practically ran out of his office before he insisted on picking me up, like I knew he would.
What was he trying to accomplish here, I don’t know.
He was the one who broke up with me. He had no problem NOT picking me up when he wanted to break up with me.
Is he trying to show me he’s changed by offering to do one decent thing? Bullshit.
Sure, he was a great client to work for.
He was patient, understanding and he didn’t mind explaining things more than once.
He didn’t let his position go to his head, that much was true.
His employees adore him. At first, I thought Joyce was scared of him or something, but I later realized that she respected him, and they had a good enough relationship where eye contact was all they needed to understand the other’s message.
Not for a moment did he act like he knew me in any other capacity than work, and I was so grateful for that.
He was professional to the core, and he made my work easier.
He even paid me 20% more than he promised, citing how satisfied he was with the work.
So overall, everything went well, until now.
Why would he want to change things now when he didn’t approach me on a personal level for the past six months?
It wasn’t like I was hoping he would. I honestly didn’t want him to, and I was glad he didn’t.
To be honest, I wasn’t very welcoming of him when we started working.
It took me a few weeks to warm up to him, and that was on a professional level, so on a personal level, I made sure things stayed with just good mornings and good nights.
Well, what can I say. I just couldn’t forget or forgive.
Every time I looked at him, I remembered driving my car back to my small apartment, tears streaming down my face in utter heartbreak.
He callously broke my heart that day, and my life two months after that, and I can never forgive him for that.
Why does he even want to go out with me anyway? While we’re on that topic, why did he date me in the first place?
A week after our breakup, I couldn’t help but go back to the club we first met in.
I don’t know what I was expecting to see, a hint of nostalgia maybe?
But what I saw broke my already broken heart into a million more pieces.
There he was, my boyfriend of two years until a week ago, dancing his heart away, a drink in hand, surrounded by scantily-dressed blondes and brunettes.
What I saw that day proved to me that he was a complete liar who just used me and tossed me away when our relationship became inconvenient.
Why he even bothered with me, I don’t know, and I don’t want to know, but I’m not going to let him just waltz into my life and ruin it for the second time.
I have too much at stake now to let that happen.
And that brought me to today. I can still back out of the dinner if I wanted to.
It wasn’t like I owed him anything, and since our project is over, I won’t even have to worry about awkwardness at work the next day.
But my mom has raised me better than that.
I accepted his invitation, so I’ll honor it.
But I’m going to make it perfectly clear to him that it was a one-time thing and that I was not interested in getting involved with him again.
I don’t even know why he’s bothering with me.
Now that I know the sheer extent of his wealth, I kind of understand the posse that was always around him.
Add his god-like looks to the mix, and no matter where you go, you have a bunch of gorgeous women falling all over themselves to get your attention.
So why come back to an old flame you literally threw out of your life?
Ah whatever. I don’t care what’s going on in his mind.
Maybe he felt nostalgic. Who knows? I’m just not ready to play his games all over again.
Ah, stop it Katie! You’re thinking in circles again.
Let’s just go home for now. I lied to him when I said I had another appointment.
I was free the rest of the day. I thought I’d spend my rare half-day off with my baby.
By the time I’ll have to leave for the ‘date’, Connor would be in bed anyway, so I won’t have to explain anything to him.
But my mom’s a different matter altogether.
I’ll have to call her to stay at the house until I come back, and she’s going to have questions.
I don’t have a social life outside of my family, and she knows that fact better than anyone in my life.
She despairs about the lack of a man in my life literally every single day, after all.
So, the minute I tell her that I’m going out for dinner, and the minute she sees me decked out in formal wear, she’s going to want answers.
And I can’t tell her I’m going out with friends anyway, because I don’t have any.
Well, who can blame me for my dull life?
I was raising a baby and then a toddler while building a million-dollar business.
I was busy! But ask my mom, and she’ll say I’m using those very, very valid reasons as ‘excuses’.
I shook my head. I was so not looking forward to the conversation I was going to have with her.
A few hours later
“What?!!”, a voice exclaimed loud enough to echo throughout the house.
“Mom! Keep your voice down. Connor is sleeping!”, I whisper-shouted at her, and she rolled her eyes back at me.
“Nothing can wake that boy up once he’s asleep, you know that”, she waved my concerns away. “So, am I hearing this right? You’re going on a date with Richard? Connor’s father?”, my mom was really bad at hiding how very excited she was at hearing this news.
“Seriously mom, where’s your sense of loyalty. You know what that man did to me. As my mom, shouldn’t you be more furious than me?”, I asked dryly.
“And I am. When I finally meet him, he’s going to get an earful, trust me”, she said seriously, and I believed her.
She’s famous for holding a grudge when she wants to.
“But baby”, her voice softened. “You’ve been alone for so long.
You’ve been taking care of all of us, but who’s going to take care of you?
If you were even remotely interested in dating at all, I wouldn’t even encourage this date, believe me.
But you’ve put me in this position. I’ll take what I get.
All I care about is your happiness. I don’t want you to be alone anymore”, she finished, tears springing up in the corners of her eyes, and I melted.
“Oh mom”, I couldn’t help but hug her tight, my head on her frail shoulder like I was a teenager again. “You don’t have to worry about me. I’ll be fine. I’m just 30. I have plenty of time yet”
“I know”, she sniffled. “I just worry…”
“I know you do”, I smiled down at her indulgently.
“But believe me, dating Richard is not the answer to my loneliness, as you describe it. He’s bad news.
He’s flaky and he’ll leave us hanging again before you know it.
Imagine what that’ll do to our poor baby?
So, it’s best for us both if I just go and end things right now.
He’s probably only looking for novelty anyway.
It’s not like a guy like him has any shortage of women”, I scoffed.
She looked down contemplatively, and I knew I’d won. Connor was always her weak spot. Sometimes I wonder if she loves him more than she loves me.
“Alright, fair enough”, she finally conceded, and it took me everything I had to keep my smug smile off my face. My mom would not appreciate that.
There was a lull in our conversation and I tried to use that to escape the house before my mom started asking questions I didn’t have answers to again. But my mom was faster than me.
“Wait”, she called out, and I sighed. I was this close to escaping. Ughhhh.
I turned around, my irritation palpable on my face, but true to character, she didn’t give my displeasure any mind. She had a goal to accomplish.
“Just tell me this before you go. I know you hate him, I know you’ll never forgive him, and I know you’re just going on this date, decked out as you are”, she gave me a pointed once-over that made me squirm where I stood, “just to let him know that you can’t date him, whatever that means.
But, why bother at all? You could have told him that right in his office and saved yourself all this trouble.
Tell me the truth. Do you like him? Did you feel anything at all after seeing him, and after working with him all these months?
What’s going on baby, because something doesn’t add up”.
And there you have it, the exact questions I dreaded answering, in the exact order I knew my mom would ask them. I know she wouldn’t take excuses, so I just told her the truth.
“I don’t know”, I told her with a defeated sigh, and now it was my mom’s turn to console me.
“Oh baby”, she immediately walked to me and pulled me into a hug. “What’s going on honey?”
“You’re right mom. I’m behaving like an idiot.
Look at how I’m dressed. I’m wearing the best dress I have in my closet.
I have makeup on, I spent two hours styling my hair just right, and all for what, to reject the man?
I know I’m lying to myself, I know I want to go on this date, and I feel so ashamed about myself.
I shouldn’t be feeling like this, right?
Where’s my self-respect? That man threw me away like yesterday’s trash, and at the first sign of attention, I’m running back to him, tails wagging?
What does that say about me mom?”, I finished, trying so hard to not cry and ruin the makeup I spent an hour on.
“It says you’re human honey. You loved that man, and he hurt you sure, but those feelings don’t just go away, and I don’t think you should blame yourself.
But tell me this baby. Forget about the Richard of five years back.
What about him now? He runs one of his father’s companies, am I right? ”, my mom asked.
“Yeah?”, I answered, unsure where she was going with this.
“And he was the perfect client during your work together, wasn’t he? I mean, I never heard you complain about him, and you always complain about a problematic client”, she gave me a meaningful look.
“Yeah…”, I reluctantly agreed. Okay, now I can see what she’s trying to arrive at, and I’m not thrilled about it.
“So there you go. He’s a changed man. He’s not the spoilt brat he was when he was 25.
He’s 30, he’s responsible for the livelihood of thousands of people.
His employees love him, your words not mine, and he didn’t for a single moment make you feel uncomfortable while working for him.
He waited six months before he asked you out because he didn’t want any conflicts of interest while you were still working together.
Seriously hon, I understand your history is making you hesitate, but what’s the harm in just trying?
Just…give him a chance hon, please?”, she pleaded.
Oh God, my mom was practically begging by the end of her monologue, and it made me feel really bad. I didn’t know my lack of a love life was worrying her so much.
“I hear you mom, I really do. And believe me, I’ll try. But that’s all I can promise you. For me, Connor comes first, and if I get even a whiff of the old Richard, I’m immediately out.”, I promised her.
“And that’s all I ask baby”, my mom practically squealed, obviously happy that she’s made me concede.
“Yeah yeah. I’m just gonna go now. Bye you manipulative shrew”, I muttered, and speed walked out the door, her delightful giggles following me to the driveway.
Alright then, let’s do this. Let’s give the man who broke my heart a second chance.