Chapter 29 Julian
JULIAN
The coffee is strong for a filtered drip.
That’s fine. I was up late working and taking calls, as I don’t have the luxury of my office, and working remotely can have its drawbacks.
But I’ll take it if it means I’m a step closer to reclaiming Savannah, and I can’t seem to think of another way of looking at it.
The other week, she was gone before the sheets even cooled.
She’s running away, but I’m certain, deep down, she believes we can overcome this obstacle; it’s just taking her a while to get there.
I take a longer sip before setting the mug down on the antique dark wood table.
Today’s breakfast is a plate of scrambled eggs, bacon, and a lone pancake because I can’t handle any more full-on breakfasts complete with cinnamon rolls and sausage.
This is considered light, and I didn’t want to offend Glenda, the inn owner.
The sun seeps through the lace curtains, and I’m debating whether to make my not-so-casual walk along Main Street and face Savannah on the other side of the street, throwing me a token glare, or to continue working from my room, hoping she shows up to talk.
Other guests haven’t bothered me. They come and go, and I usually have my breakfast before or after they all leave.
I have been going back and forth to the city for the last two weeks.
The other day, I felt it. Her glare softened, and yesterday her eyes lingered on me a few seconds longer than usual.
“More coffee?” Glenda comes through the swinging door from the kitchen carrying a porcelain pot with an overdone yet honest smile. She’s in her sixties, and this place is her love and joy.
“No, thank you.” I glance at the front page of the local newspaper on the table. I chuckle to myself. Not an ounce of world news, only a picture of the local high school graduation and a column about the upcoming festival. That sends a wave of fondness through me.
Maybe Glenda notices. “Everyone is excited that Savannah will be back to fulfill the queen's duties. It’s a big deal.”
“I can get that. She is queen material.” My queen, to be exact. The sound of a ping indicates that I got a message, and I quickly flip my phone over on the table to see that a message came in from the investigator I hired.
Got what you needed. Sent digital. The physical docs were couriered to you.
That’s a relief, as he was a day away from being fired because this has been taking too long. I need something to help me solve the problem that pushed Savannah away in the first place.
“By any chance did I receive something?”
Her body bounces from the reminder. “Oh, I almost forgot.” She sets the pot of coffee down on a hot plate on the high side table against the wall, where there’s a basket with a napkin and donuts.
“This came for you. A delivery man bright and early. I was busy in the kitchen but noticed him lurking outside, and he seemed harmless enough.” She slides a big manila envelope off the table and hands it to me. “Seemed important.”
I accept it and quickly break the seal.
“I’ll let you be. The oven timer is about to go off.”
My eyes do a quick appraisal of the room, and I squinch my face at her. “More food? Breakfast is a little overboard today.”
She scoffs at me. “Not for breakfast, silly. I’m making a new batch of cookies for tea today,” she tells me in passing.
I grin to myself because that lady is pure hospitality, and she keeps to the preservation of the inn and spirit. She offers afternoon tea to guests. Typically, I take a pass. I’m not a tea drinker, but she leaves me cookies just in case.
All alone in the dining room yet again, I lift the seal and pull out the document. Instantly, my mood has been lifted, and a sly line forms on my mouth. I’m positive that I appear to be a man right now who received victory, and not by any means aboveboard either.
“Bull's eye.” I sort through the photos and receipts, looking for everything I need to get me closer to where my life should be.
I lift my sunglasses as I slide onto the booth bench directly across from my father at a diner, a town over from Everhope. I feel the lack of emotion for the man, except satisfaction that I’ll land on top, especially with the envelope by my side.
He ditched the tie today, and his unemotional facial expression has a glint of curiosity in his eyes. I don’t see anything of myself in him except a similar chin people say we have.
“Julian.” He’s curt. “Long time. Care to enlighten me as to why I find myself at a diner where there are grilled cheese sandwiches on the menu?”
“Too lowly for you?” I smile cheekily, only to let it fall.
“It was easy for you, as you have a driver, I’m sure.
And like a real man, I have my Jag to drive myself.
” I’m surprised he agreed to meet me here.
I didn’t want to head back to the city, nor did I want to have this conversation in Everhope, either.
Luckily, Lake Spark County has options. I guess when you say to your dad that it’s important and it’s been years since we’ve spoken, then his interest is piqued, and he would drive anywhere without question.
“Shall we cut to the chase? You don’t bother with any holidays, any board meetings, and you don’t even send a hello to your old man every now and then.
So why the sudden need to see me urgently?
” He glances briefly at the waitress who sets down a coffee for him, and I indicate for her to get me one too.
I let out an audible breath. “No need to pretend that we have a happy family. We let that go years ago when you showed your true colors. However…” I hold my finger up. “Some things never change. For example, your lack of commitment.”
He scoots closer to the table. “You’re the one who didn’t want a relationship,” he bitterly reminds me.
I quirk my lips out and hum a slight sound. “Hmm. Was there even a relationship after you backstabbed your own family?”
“Cut the crap and grow up.”
“Oh, I have. You know, Haven Crossroads has been named one of the top companies in the country, and I must have missed it, but I didn’t see yours there. Either way, let’s not play a game and get right to it, shall we?”
With pleasure, I toss the manila envelope onto the table, and it lands with a thud.
“What’s this?”
“A present.” I offer him a cunning smile.
He hesitates for a moment, looks at me skeptically, then grabs the envelope and begins pulling out photos.
“I guess old habits are hard to break. How does wife number three feel about that?” I pretend to think as his face turns pale. “Oh. She doesn’t know, does she?”
My father’s sight is set on the photos of him and his bikini-clad twenty-year-old intern, who is a board member’s daughter, in a compromising position on a beach in the Bahamas.
“Really failed on discretion there. Then again, you prefer indiscretions, right?”
He zooms his gaze to me, and he isn’t impressed with today’s antics. His jaw tightens, and his silence says a thousand words because he doesn’t have the upper hand, but a concerning-to-me sly smirk forms on his face.
“Pot kettle, no? You’ve done a shitty job of hiding the fact that you’re screwing your assistant.”
My body tightens from a protective instinct that he is dragging Savannah into this, and a bit of anger that he’s trying to compare me to him.
I don’t want us to have any resemblance, and deep within, he might have stung me with partial truth.
I keep my face unfazed because I don’t want him to see an ounce of unease.
“No need for such language. We might have met while working together, but Savannah and I are more than that. I’m not afraid for the world to find out about Savannah, and I know it’s clearer than ever that we most certainly aren’t a fling.
Besides, I don’t have a wife that I’m cheating on, let alone sleeping with the daughter of the board member who has a sole interest in making money off a river. ”
“The owner of that restaurant, isn’t she related to your girlfriend?” he counters, and it’s evident that he is trying to spin this.
“Not the same. Wanting to preserve a perfectly established location is the opposite of greed.”
“Well, Son, you were not so smart letting your sister use your vote.”
I lift my shoulders, still unnerved. “Unlike you, we live, and we learn. Oomph, I hope that pre-nup of yours is strong.”
“Anything else? Throwing this at me is the oldest trick in the book.” He’s agitated; I’m breaking him down.
“I mean, I would say ensure the deal doesn’t happen and the photos will be burned.
One problem with that…” I slip out of my seat and stand, taking pleasure in the fact that I’m towering over him.
“The photos were already sent to the board, and yikes, apparently, the investigator found a video of you two. I’d say you might want to call your wife, but that might have already been done.
” I hold my hands up in surrender. “That one wasn’t me.
You can thank one of the women on the board for reaching out to her in your wife’s time of need.
Of course, there is the optics of why you are pushing such deals.
” I cluck my tongue. “Yeah, nobody wants to be involved in the mess of an agenda getting pushed, all because of the owner’s shitty behavior.
And oops, a few decided even to leave the company because they disapprove of the morals.
They’re expecting your resignation as a parting gift. ”
My father shuts his eyes, then opens them, his teeth grinding. His downfall all happened in one minute with me.
I set my hands down on the table and stare him straight in the eye.
“Getting the rug pulled from under you doesn’t feel so great, does it?
This is how it’s going to go. Enjoy your resignation, take whoever the hell you want on a long holiday, and stay the fuck away from Savannah.
You so much as go near her, and I’ll find another way to ruin you,” I threaten.
It clicks in a moment of pure protectiveness. Savannah is the only thing that matters. The future is her. She’ll take me back, and one day she’ll be my wife.
I can hang onto a cliff about to fall, holding on to whatever tiny piece I can to stay alive.
But I come to the conclusion that I need more stability, something long-standing, strong, and that grips me so hard that I can’t go anywhere.
And I don’t want to go anywhere because she is actually someone who gives me all of those things.
It's her.
My dad stifles a chuckle. “You’ll screw up somewhere. Love and marriage are the biggest bullshit they feed us.”
A gruff sound comes from deep in my throat.
“I guess you and I are looking at two different menus. Stay away. I don’t ever want to see you or hear from you,” I warn with almost a snarl.
Straightening my posture, a tiny smile of gratification forms. “You can keep those. I have copies. We all do.” Smirking, I turn around and walk away.
Knocking that domino down, I need to reach my ending.