20. Julia
20
JULIA
I left Gray’s with a stormy feeling resting over my heart.
I knew he saw me with Jared, but Nick chose not to bring it up.
Was it because we were in a business meeting? No. We’d had sex the first meeting—well, the second meeting—but maybe he was feeling embarrassed about the fact that he was at my house when I’d asked him not to come?
I shrugged to myself. I wasn’t in the mood to try to sort out any games right now. If he thought I was with another guy and didn’t have the good sense to ask me, I couldn’t be bothered with it.
Plus, I did have to go to another meeting.
It was probably too fresh. I was probably reading into things when I shouldn’t be. I didn't know why he was at my house the other night or why he chose to come over after I told him I had plans.
Maybe he was more like Jared than I was giving him credit for, and I was just too blind to see it because I did have feelings for him. Still, his not bringing up the fact that he was at my house that night did set off a few fire alarms in my head.
I just couldn't figure out if it was because I was scared he thought I was dating someone else or if it was because of red flags I was choosing to ignore.
I got into my car, buckled up, and started it.
If I had told Nick the truth about Jared, it would have been opening up a can I wasn’t sure I wanted to open yet. Fucking Jared. Ugh. I wished he would just leave me the hell alone.
I'd thought I’d never have to see or hear from him again, but he was insistent on ruining the small piece of happiness I’d carved out for myself.
I grunted, pulling out of the parking lot and heading down to the bakery.
It would’ve been a nice walk when it was warmer, with no snow or ice.
I hated to admit it, but a small daydream popped into my head about walking from Gray’s to the bakery with Nick. It would’ve been nice if we could do that together from time to time, like on a Sunday morning or on a nice spring day before his restaurant had opened.
No, I needed to let that thought die away. If I didn't pursue it anymore, we’d get time and space between us, and I’d stop feeling so wretched. I only had one month to go.
I walked into the office happy with the way the meeting at the bakery went. They were hiring my company to do a new marketing blitz for the change in their menu.
Mia was out for the rest of the afternoon. Her note said she was schmoozing another potential client and that we’d have to get an assistant because she was becoming my partner. I smiled at the idea and released a happy sigh.
Placing my briefcase on the desk, I sat down and pulled out the information for the bakery.
I wouldn’t be doing much for them except preliminary details.
Once Gray’s opened and was situated, I wouldn’t have to do as much with them, nor would I have to see Nick as often, either. My hope perked up a little because that meant I wouldn’t be bogged down with heavy emotions.
Which was what I really wanted to be free from.
My phone rang as I was looking over a document for the bakery. I hit the accept button and said, “Hello, Julia Day here. How can I help you?”
“Julia…”
Dammit.
“Leave me alone, Jared.”
“No, I need you to come here next Tuesday. Things have taken a turn for the worse and I need you to fix it. I’ll pay whatever you want, but I can’t wait until March.”
I closed my eyes and chewed on my lip. He was always pushing against my boundaries to see how much I would bend.
I wasn’t happy that the idea of a huge lump sum of money from him wasn’t enticing, but I was sure he would promise anything to get what he wanted and would back out of it the second he actually needed to pay it. It wasn’t just because he’d be giving money to me, though. I had it on good authority—from one of my own clients—that he’d backed out of paying money to someone else too.
It was going to bite him in the ass in the long run. I just wanted someone to record it when it did so I could watch it on YouTube or something. That would be fun.
“Plus, you need to apologize to that woman you insulted.”
Yup. There it was.
Any thought of how much a chunk of cash would help my business flittered out of my head when he tried to blame the whole thing on me. But… “Why is that woman even around you?” I asked. I did, in fact, react badly the first time Jared told me he was getting slapped with a lawsuit for sexual harassment. It was definitely not one of my better moments, but I did owe her an apology.
“We’re finalizing the settlement on Tuesday. I figured you could come here and you can apologize to that woman, then we could go out for dinner and talk more about us,” he said.
My moral compass told me I needed to apologize to the woman, even if she wouldn’t accept my apology. I knew that she at the very least deserved it from me because I was an ass.
“Fine,” I said. “But I’m not going to dinner with you and I’m not talking about ‘us’. There is no ‘us’, Jared, and if you continue to bring it up, you’ve already heard what I told you what will happen. I wasn’t making idle threats,” I said.
When he said, “I know,” with a patronizing tone, I almost hung the phone up on the spot, but I listened for him to finish. “You always stick true to your word. I remember.” He said it with almost a defeatist attitude that made me think maybe something I said actually stuck around in his overinflated ego. I wasn’t going to comment on it one way or another because it wasn’t going to help get him out of anything, nor would I even consider doing business with him again, so there was nothing I would gain from it.
A weight lifted from my chest when I realized I didn’t have to give in to Jared to make me respect myself. That was a nice feeling.
“I’ll meet you at the courthouse on Tuesday, Jared. Text me the time, please. I’ll see you then.” I hung up the phone, not waiting for him to respond or give me any other kind of hard time. He’d used up his chances with me. I was tired of listening to anything he had to say.
When I saw his text to meet him at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday morning, I got back to work on the ideas I would have for the bakery and then jumped into the next phase of marketing for Gray’s.
It was going to be good.