41. Daniel
41
DANIEL
A lex has organized a boys’ weekend at my cottage this weekend as the girls have flown to Dubai. I’m heading down with Louis as Emily has headed for a girls’ weekend in Paris with Georgia.
“Have you been down here since it’s been decorated?” Louis asks. I shake my head. “What happens if you hate it?”
“Doubt it,” I add.
“Are you going to be in a mood all weekend? I’m looking forward to a boys’ weekend.”
“I’m surprised you could pull yourself away from Emily enough to do it.”
“Fuck you. I’ve been in my love bubble with her for a while, I know that. But when I’ve been in such a dark place for so long, and now I’m in the light, I want to stay there. So, shoot me for wanting to stand in her sunshine for a little longer.”
Now I feel like a dick. It’s not his fault that I’m jealous of his happiness. “I know.”
“Have you spoken to Rosie?” I shake my head. “Have you texted?” Again, I shake my head.
“She looks like she’s having fun there,” I say.
“Are you really going to let her move to Dubai and not do anything about it?” my brother asks me.
“I can’t stop her.” I turn and glare at my brother.
“You could join her. It’s called DuPont Gallery for a reason. You don’t have to be in London, you just choose to be.”
“My business is there.”
“Yes, and still will be if you are in Dubai.” My brother glares at me. “Are you thick? I thought you were the smart one. Dubai is a huge market for the art world. It’s one of the biggest buyers of my art and yet there isn’t a DuPont Gallery there.”
“What are you saying?”
“I moved to fucking London for my woman,” Louis says.
“That’s a skip across the pond,” I say, shaking my head at him.
“Fine, die alone. I tried to help.”
“How did you help? You haven’t said anything,” I grumble. Louis flicks my ear. “Ouch, what the fuck!”
“You’re a dumbass. Why don’t you think about moving to Dubai, it’s not like it would be bad for business.”
“Move to Dubai?” I start to argue with my brother, but then I shut my mouth.
“See, I’m brilliant.”
“You’re fucking annoying is what you are.”
“Don’t get shitty with me, just thank me in your groom’s speech at your wedding.” He grins.
Fuck him. But also, he’s right. I choose to ignore him and brood for the rest of the journey.
I’m filled with trepidation as I drive into my home. The last time I was here was with Rosie, and we had fun by the pool. I thought I would get to do the same thing once it was completed, but now, I’m arriving with my brother when it should have been Rosie showing me around. I suck in a deep breath as I step out of my car, grab my bags, and then walk toward the door, where I leave my bags to unlock the door. I step in, and I can smell the tiniest hint of her perfume through the house, and that damn ache in my chest comes back.
“This place is amazing,” Louis states in awe as we walk through the home. Everything that I asked for and more she has poured into this place. My eyes fall on individual items that we chose together, taking me back to a time when we were happy. “Are you okay?” my brother asks. I nod, unable to speak as I stare at every inch of my place that she has turned into a home. Everything is exactly what I wanted as if she was able to look into my mind and pull the images out of it. Fuck. “Let’s get a drink,” Louis says, clocking my inner turmoil as he heads over to the bar area. I see the pool table and dart boards, but not standard pub-style, they’re sophisticated and elegant, in dark tones to match the bar.
“I haven’t had time to stock the bar,” I say, realizing as I stare at the onyx space.
“It looks pretty full to me.” Louis grins. I walk over and see that it’s fully stocked with my favorite drinks. Each little thing Rosie has thought of is another arrow to my heart.
“I need to get messed up,” I tell my brother.
“Lucky, I know how to do that.” He grins, holding up the whiskey, and pours me a glass.
I’m not sure how long Louis and I have been drinking, but somehow, we have now ended up in the spa.
“Guess you guys got the party started early,” Alex says, walking in with Alistair, Jasper, Nate, and Sam.
“Brotherly bonding time,” I say.
“Lies, he’s drinking his heartbreak away,” Louis shouts out to them.
“Guess we better join him ‘cause we’ve all been there before,” Alex says, and next thing I know, the boys are in their boardshorts and jumping into the spa with us. Alex switches our glasses from glass to plastic when he gets us all a drink.
“The place looks amazing,” Jasper says, sliding into the spa.
“Thanks.” I huff.
“We only got this far, and it was too much for him,” Louis adds. I punch him in the arm. “Ouch, fucker,” he curses.
“That games room with the bar is insane. I’m going to need to know the details,” Alistair adds.
“I’m sure Ivy can tell you,” I say, slurring my words. Alistair side-eyes me but I don’t care.
“Ignore him, he’s in his dick era.” Louis chuckles, and I flip my brother off. The boys drop the subject of Rosie for the moment.
It must be hours later and I’m a little hazy when dinner is delivered.
“I’m here. Sorry I’m late, the weather out of Paris was shit. Luckily Emily was able to arrive,” Matthieu says. Louis perks up. “Easy, tiger, she’s fine.” He looks my brother up and down, whips out his phone, starts filming us laughing, and then types away and clicks send. “Your woman is going to love that.” He chuckles as he says hi to the guys and he’s introduced to the others.
“Place is looking great, Daniel,” he says, piling his plate up with food. I ignore him. “It’s much bigger than I thought it would be,” Matthieu continues, yapping on.
“He’s not interested in hearing about Rosie,” Louis tells my cousin in French.
“Too soon?” my cousin asks, my brother nods.
“Everywhere I fucking look she is here. I can smell her,” I tell them. They stare at me. “Fuck you both.”
“I told him he should go to Dubai,” Louis says. I shake my head.
“Guessing he did not like that idea.” Matthieu smirks.
“No, you told me to open a DuPont Gallery in Dubai.” I sneer at my brother.
“That’s a great idea,” Alex adds. I still. Shit, I forgot that man speaks French.
“What’s a good idea?” Alistair asks.
“That Daniel opens a gallery in Dubai. That way, he can be with Rosie,” Jasper adds. That fucker speaks French, too. Shit.
“That sounds like a great idea. Let’s go,” Matthieu says.
“I’m sorry, what?” I glare at my cousin.
“We have a huge clientele in the Middle East, it seems silly to make them travel to our Europe offices to pick out art when we could work directly with them. The Middle East is the fastest growing market,” Matthieu adds.
“The complex where Ivy’s office is has a couple of office spaces available. Let me grab their details,” Alex says before pulling out his phone and tapping away.
What the hell is going on? “Are you telling me to pack up my life in London and start again in Dubai?” I ask the entire table.
“I did when I moved to New York,” Nate calls out.
“I’m in fucking London,” Louis adds.
“I have no ties to Dubai,” I argue with them.
“Yes, you do. Rosie,” Alex states.
“She doesn’t even want me.”
Alex shakes his head. “That’s not what Ivy has said.”
“The girls are rooting for the two of you, Lauren told me,” Jasper adds.
“Even I heard about it. I had to listen to the entire run down. Sounds like she’s trying to protect herself because you left her,” Nate adds.
“Has everyone been talking about us?” I stare at my friends. They all nod and murmur.
“Ivy said Rosie still loves you, but things went off course and now you both don’t know what to do,” Alex confesses to me.
Wait, she loves me? “She told me she never loved me.”
“Rosie broke down on the plane when the girls asked her about you,” Alex says. She did? The first flutters of hope light inside me. “She told them everything, from the night you met at that party in the garden to you ghosting her, then you returned asking for another chance, but she had just spent the past week watching your socials of you partying with models in Greece which seems pretty damning.”
Not my finest of hours.
“Been there,” Alistair adds.
“I’m breaking girl code telling you all this. But you haven’t lost her, she’s afraid to let you in. You leaving her, especially after she worked so hard on this house, hurt her. She lied to you when you asked her to make the choice that night, to protect herself,” Alex says.
Fuck.
I run my hand through my hair. I’ve been so stupid.
“Shall we move this boys’ trip to Dubai?” Jasper asks. What? “I mean, your place is nice, but …”
“We could check out offices, make it a work trip,” Matthieu adds.
“I can’t crash the girls’ trip?” I tell my insane friends and the table falls silent.
“My plane is fueled and just sitting at the airport.” Nate smirks.
“We’ve been looking at expanding our hotels into the Middle East,” Sam Rose adds.
“I have clients I could catch up with,” Jasper adds.
“Dubai is the hot spot for clubs, so I wouldn’t mind checking out the scene and looking at expansion,” Alistair adds.
“You are all insane.”
“We also miss our women, but they aren’t going to say that,” Alex adds, chuckling.
“What if I get there and she doesn’t want to see me?” I ask them.
“Or what happens if she sees you and realizes how much she’s missed you?” Alex suggests.
“Fine. Fuck it, let’s go,” I say.
The entire table erupts.
Guess tomorrow we are heading to Dubai.
We’re all sitting around the fire pit drinking and talking smack when Alex’s phone starts ringing, then all the others. It has me on high alert. Then when Alex turns to me, I can see it on his face.
“What?”
“It’s Rosie, there’s been an accident,” Alex says.
I stand up. “No, no,” I scream at him.
“They were quad biking in the sand dunes and Rosie’s flipped and rolled.” I shake my head. This can’t be happening. “She’s been rushed to hospital.”
“No,” I scream.
“Pack up, guys. We’re going to Dubai,” Alistair calls out.
Everyone is on their phones, and there is a lot of talking and movement around me, but I’m left standing there frozen.
“She’s going to be all right, okay,” Alex says, trying to console me.
“I can’t lose her, I can’t,” I yell at him.
“You won’t, I promise you,” he says, grabbing my shoulders and giving me a shake. “Nate is organizing the plane. We’re all packing up. Matthieu is messaging Delphine to let her know what’s going on, she will get her to organize cleaners for the house as it’s a mess after us partying. We’ve got you, man, okay.” I nod as he leads me away in a daze.
It doesn’t take us long to pack up. Someone has organized for a bus to pick us all up and take us to Gatwick as it has a twenty-four-hour runway, and we can launch Nate’s plane which is thankfully still there as soon as we arrive. All I can think about is getting there. My mind keeps running over worst-case scenarios.
I can’t lose her.