Chapter 5 #2
I shrugged. “Her uncle was there at lunch and she had her girls with her at the park.”
Jesse didn’t say anything for a second. Then he stood up from the desk and crossed back to the bar cart, reaching for another glass. “You’re going to want this.”
He picked up the bottle and started pouring another drink.
“I said I didn’t want one, Jesse.”
“Just take it,” he said, handing it over before setting the bottle back down.
Against my better judgment, I took it, already knowing that alcohol was going to make what I was feeling so much worse, but maybe that would be a good thing. Maybe I just had to let myself feel it again and get it out of my system.
The gossip surrounding the Morris/Weatherby divorce had died down months ago. Just like it always did. That was the thing about stories like that. They were loud at first, plastered everywhere for everyone to dissect like it affected them directly, but then eventually, people lost interest.
Because it did not, in fact, affect anyone except the people being gossiped about. The news sites and the tabloids had gone quiet, and even though I’d been tempted, I hadn’t looked into it. Even if it had kept me up at night.
“I heard…” Jesse started, then stopped and winced slightly. “Never mind.” He took a deep breath, cocked his head like he was reconsidering, then looked at me again. “Actually, I think you should know.”
I stared into my glass instead of at him. “I don’t know if I want to.”
“You don’t, but you should.” He shifted on his feet and set his drink down. “You’re mad at her, aren’t you?”
Instead of answering, I knocked back the entire drink.
Jesse sighed, leveling me with a look. “I’m not saying this changes anything. I’m just saying you should know what actually happened.”
I shook my head. “I already know what happened. She chose her family. End of story.”
“Not exactly,” he said. “The way I heard it, she didn’t have much of a choice. Adeline was roped into the same kind of deal Dad and Uncle Harlan have been pushing on all of us our entire lives. That match was all business, Zach.”
And yet, I should’ve been an option.
That was what hurt. We’d been young, sure, but I’d had a ring. I’d been ready. She’d just pulled the rug out from underneath me before I could stop it from happening. Before I could save her from all this heartache and embarrassment.
I strode over to the bar cart and poured myself a drink this time. “It doesn’t make any difference now, Jesse. It’s done.”
“I also heard that her husband is a real piece of shit,” he said, passing me his glass for a refill after he’d knocked it back just like I’d done with mine. “East coast money. He owns an estate in the Hamptons and his office is in New York. That whole situation.”
“Yeah, I know the type,” I said dryly. “Fun times.”
“Word has it that he’s been having an affair and that he’s having a baby with someone who isn’t Adeline.”
I drained the new glass without thinking and reached for the bottle before I could reconsider. Jesse didn’t even try to stop me, simply accepting his refilled glass back when I handed it over without looking at him.
“It’s good they’re no longer together, then,” I said, choosing the only safe response I could think of. “He’s a prick.”
Jesse resumed his perch at the edge of Dad’s desk and watched me over the rim of his glass. “She’s in town, though.”
“Yeah,” I said. “Apparently, she came back to ride out the divorce.”
He nodded slowly, dragging in a deep breath and still looking at me like he was trying to develop X-ray vision. “Maybe you could, I don’t know—”
I barked out a laugh. “What, Jesse? What do you think I should do now that she’s come back to town only because she got a job here and she’s obviously working again because she can’t afford not to?”
He snorted. “Well, you could talk to her.”
“Right.” I shook my head and scoffed. “Talking. That’ll fix her husband fucking someone else behind her back and knocking the woman up. Sure. I’ll do that. First thing next century.”
He sighed. “Okay, fair point. Or maybe you could—”
“Swoop in while she’s down and vulnerable?” I cut in, finally looking back at him. “That’s what you were going to suggest, right? That I take advantage of the fact she needs someone to save her.”
“That’s not what I said.”
“Trust me, I tried that once.” I straightened up and moved back toward the door. “Look at where it got the both of us.”
I downed my new drink too, set the glass down hard, and didn’t wait for him to say anything else. All along, I’d known someone would pitch that idea. I just honestly couldn’t do it.
“Zach,” he said, but I ignored him, yanking open the door and walking right back out of the study, not turning even as he called after me. “Hey, come back. Zachary!”
I didn’t respond or slow down. Adeline Morris had fucked up my life and my future once. If they thought I hadn’t already considered going after her again, they were delusional, but the fact of the matter was that I couldn’t go there.
I’d already been down that road once, and returning there just wasn’t an option for me. Never again.