Chapter 1 #2
“I need to remember how to enjoy life,” he muttered as he stood under the cool water and looked up at the bright sunshine.
Other than the incredible time he’d spent with Lizzie, he’d given everything he had to his work for so long he’d forgotten the simple pleasure of an early morning run on the beach.
It was quite possible that he’d never get over losing Lizzie, but there was no sense in letting what remained of his life be ruined by her rejection.
He’d recently reconnected with Jenny Wilks, a woman he’d known at UPenn’s Wharton School where he’d studied for his MBA.
Jenny had lost her fiancé, Toby, who Jared had also known at Penn, in the 9/11 attacks on New York City.
The reminder of Toby’s untimely death made Jared feel guilty for spending glorious summer days grieving for a woman who clearly didn’t love him as much as he’d loved her.
Jared sat on a lounge chair by the pool and let the warm sun dry him as he plotted his day.
First stop, grocery store. Second stop, liquor store.
When was the last time he’d been anywhere near a grocery or liquor store?
He couldn’t recall. In the city, he had a household staff who took care of such things for him.
Here on the island, his cleaning lady started bringing groceries with her when she realized he wasn’t eating much of anything as he nursed his broken heart.
“Enough with being a pathetic loser.” He got up to go get dressed and head out on his errands. He had a party to get ready for.
On the way into town, Jared’s attention was drawn to an Open House sign outside the Chesterfield Estate, which he’d read about in the Gansett Gazette.
The twenty-acre parcel had been for sale for quite some time, and he had to admit he was curious, especially after hearing Alex and Jenny talk about it.
Since he had all day before his guests were due to arrive, he decided to indulge the curiosity and pulled down the long driveway that led to the enormous stone house on the Atlantic coast.
Jared had seen some incredible houses in his time, had been a guest at some of the most exceptional seaside homes in the Hamptons, but he’d never seen anything quite like this one.
A blonde woman dressed in a sharp black suit worked the door.
Jared noticed she took a quick look at him, dressed in faded cargo shorts and an old polo shirt, and dismissed him on first glance.
Part of him wanted to tell her he could buy the estate a thousand times over if he so desired, but he resisted the urge to brag and took the brochure that she handed to him.
“Make yourself at home,” she said with a tight, disinterested smile.
“Thank you.” Jared had the house to himself as he wandered through spacious, airy rooms. In the brochure, he noted that Harold Chesterfield, an oilman, had built the summer house in 1932 as a surprise for his bride, Esther, who had died a couple of years ago.
A black-and-white photo of the happy couple tugged at Jared’s broken heart.
When he thought about all the things he could’ve given his beloved Lizzie…
Except she’d never wanted such things from him.
Her discomfort with his affluence and fondness for the finer things in life had been the only source of discontent in what had been an otherwise blissful relationship.
He’d wanted to give her everything, to shower her in diamonds and whisk her away to places she’d only dreamed of visiting.
Over and over again, however, she’d told him she didn’t want those things. She wanted him but had no interest in his extravagant lifestyle. The one comment that had permeated the fog after the proposal-gone-wrong had haunted him ever since: “I can’t live like you do. I just can’t.”
“Why are you thinking about her again?” Jared muttered to himself. He’d be a raving lunatic by the time he finally emerged from his self-imposed exile. That was what she’d reduced him to.
As he walked through one incredible room after another, an idea occurred to him and solidified when he reached the grand staircase in the center of the magnificent house.
“Are you finding everything all right?” the frosty blonde asked when she found him in the drawing room, staring at the brochure like he gave a damn about the Chesterfields and their “storybook” romance.
“What’s the asking price?” It was the one thing he couldn’t find anywhere in the literature.
“It’s listed at fifteen nine.”
Jared wondered how Jenny and Alex would feel about getting married here. They’d lamented that nothing was available on short notice for a wedding this summer. Ironic, right, to be thinking about another couple’s wedding when he’d expected to be planning his own. You’re not thinking about that…
“Would they take fourteen five?”
The blonde’s mouth fell open in shock and then closed just as quickly when she recovered her composure. “And you are?”
“Jared James.”
“Oh! Mr. James! I didn’t recognize you! I’m so sorry. I’m Doro Chase, representing the Chesterfields’ heirs.”
Jared shook her hand but only because she’d thrust it practically into his chest in her excitement.
“I can’t believe I didn’t recognize you!”
“Anyway, about the offer… Are your clients willing to negotiate?”
“I’m sure they’d be willing to entertain your offer. I’d be happy to discuss it with them if you’re serious.”
Jared took in the view of the ocean, the sweeping stairway, the incredible woodwork, the huge rooms, the hardwood floors. The place called to the businessman in him and filled him with the kind of enthusiasm he hadn’t felt in weeks. “I’m serious.”