Chapter 7 Humbling
Chapter Seven
HUMBLING
Griffin
After a night of tossing and turning, I still hadn’t reached a decision about Jessa. Early morning meetings pulled me across town. Brock made sure she got Theo off to school. Not seeing her again put me on edge—like a junkie denied his next hit.
“They got it wrong again.” Sam vehemently threw the society section of the Times on my desk in front of me when I returned to the office for lunch. Its pages steeped in the smoke of his Cuban cigars. “You told me Atlas wouldn’t be a problem. What do you call this?”
I glanced over the photo of my brother leaving Club Neon, a place of a rather risqué nature, hand in hand with a rising starlet. The caption beneath it got it wrong, as usual, saying it was me.
I scrubbed a hand through my hair. “He said he was staying in last night with an old girlfriend.”
“His definition of staying needs adjusting. My team has already called the paper and forced them to print the correct details. I threatened to sue if they didn’t call me first before printing any future photos to see if it was you or Atlas. But you need to deal with your brother. Now.”
“I’ll pencil it in somewhere between world peace and the IPO,” I snickered.
“At least tell me you decided my marriage of convenience plan is at the top of that list?”
“I’m… working on it.”
“What’s that mean?”
“It means the idea has merit. I might have a candidate in mind.” And after this debacle with Atlas, I needed to put the plan into action immediately. How would Jessa take it?
“Who?”
“No one you know. Don’t worry. I have it under control.”
“Fine. But if whoever this mystery lady is doesn’t take the deal, you call me and my team will find you the most classy, sophisticated, perfect woman to be at your side through thick and thin… or at least through the IPO.” He chortled and left my office.
I spent the rest of the afternoon pretending spreadsheets could drown out thoughts of one curvaceous blonde.
Hours later, when I finally resurfaced from under the pile of work I’d buried myself in, the moon shone outside my office windows.
“Shit.” Way past Theo’s bedtime. Way past when I told Jessa we’d talk. I rushed home as fast as I could. I texted on the way with no response.
When I got there, I’d expected Jessa to be waiting, pissed even, that I’d left her hanging with Theo all night long. Why didn’t she text me to see if I was still alive and making an appearance tonight? Her communication skills lacked; something we’d have to work on.
Only when I opened the door, I realized why I hadn’t heard from her. Atlas greeted me from my plush couch in my expansive living room with a “Shh…” and pointed at his side.
I scowled and kicked off my shoes, hanging my jacket in the coat closet. I expected to see Jessa on the couch beside him. Instead, as I got closer, I realized it was Theo. He snoozed away with his head against Atlas’s shoulder.
“What are you doing here?” I whispered.
“I stopped by and had dinner with Theo and Jessa. She looked tired, so I let her go home. Theo and I watched the game together.” He turned off the TV.
I gently shook my little boy. “Wake up, buddy. Time for bed.”
“Daddy? Who won the game?” He stirred and rubbed his eyes.
“Not the Ice Dogs,” Atlas muttered.
“Go brush your teeth. I’ll be back there shortly to tuck you in.” I waited until Theo treaded down the hall and into the bathroom before I turned on Atlas.
“Wish you had texted to tell me you were letting my employee go home.”
“I figured Jessa did.” He stood and stretched his limbs.
“Nope. Would have been nice if one of you had kept me in the loop,” I snarled and then rolled my shoulders. I desperately needed a massage.
“Jesus, dude. Theo was home and well-cared for. You had nothing to worry about. Then again, you’ve always been a little too controlling for my tastes. Like Dad.”
He actually believed I took after our asshole of a father?
“Don’t compare me to him. You can spend time with Theo as much as you want. I’ll deal with Jessa tomorrow. I insist on lines of communication staying open; that’s all.”
“Don’t fire her over it. She’s really good with Theo. And man, can she make one helluva pot of macaroni and cheese with hot dogs in it. Reminds me of the dish Sophie’s mom used to make us. Remember the old days before money ruined us all?”
A pang of jealousy hit me. Over the fact he got a good batch of homemade noodles—or because he was here with Jessa and my son when I should have been?
“I’m just saying, go easy on her. You got lucky to find and hire a good nanny, for once.”
“I didn’t exactly find her.” I scratched the back of my neck, debating about sharing. “We sort of… met up this summer.”
He jerked his head back, side-eyeing me. “No wonder you’re possessive of her.”
“I’m not.”
“Can I date her then? We’ve always had similar tastes in women. I took one look at her tonight and had to bite my tongue not to flirt. Did you see that plump ass—”
Before I realized it, I’d shoved him. He landed against the wall, hard enough to rattle a framed piece of art.
“I said, stay away from her.”
He snort-laughed. “I knew it. You got it bad for her.”
“Is everything a game to you?” I marched straight over to my bar.
“Hello, look what family we come from. West Games.”
“Can you leave now? With a stiff drink or two and I might be able to forget this conversation happened.”
“So you fucked her one night? Big deal,” he howled.
“Can you keep your voice down?” I pointed down the hall. Where Theo hadn’t emerged from the bathroom yet.
“Where’d you meet her?” He stepped closer to the bar.
“Up in Holly Creek this summer. I never expected to see her here in the city. She just showed up yesterday out of the blue.”
“Oh, shit. Maybe that’s by design.” His face fell, devoid of the previous jokester he had displayed.
“How so?”
“Have you taken a good look at yourself? A handsome, wealthy, virile man steps into a small town upstate and you don’t think women notice? Some might do anything to take advantage of you.”
My stomach knotted. Was she capable? No. “Not her. She wouldn’t.”
“You fully trust her?”
“Of course. I let her watch over my son, didn’t I?” Crap. Doubts multiplied in my head that hadn’t been there before. I pumped the brakes on the whole fake marriage plan.
All of a sudden, he broke out into a laugh. “I’m just messing around. You should see your face. Pale and worried.”
“Asswipe.” I brushed him off, debating about throwing my good glass of Macallan in his face. “How much longer do I have to suffer your being in town?”
“Until I get bored. And right now my ex is making it worth my while to stay.” He winked. “I’m on my way to her place now.”
“Wait. Is this the chick who had mild success in that family sitcom, and then broke up with you so she could appear on Celebrity Love Islanders?”
“Yeah. I figure a few more blow jobs from her and I might forgive her for pretending to fall for a douche canoe on TV.”
“What are we talking about here? Is she potentially Mrs. Atlas West?”
He guffawed. “Hardly. She’s Miss-A-Lot-of-Fun-Right-Now. That’s it.” He slipped his shoes and hoodie on.
“Well, it’s been fun tormenting each other.” I opened my front door for him to leave. “Can you keep Miss-A-Lot indoors tonight? Sam will have a stroke if another photo surfaces of you from anywhere in the tri-state area with a woman on your arm.”
“Sam can go to hell. Last I checked, he worked for you. Not the other way around. But yes. For you, anything. See ya later.” He saluted me and shut the door behind him. How on earth did we become total opposites? We grew up in the same household, with the same father.
I sauntered down the hall wondering whether Atlas would ever settle down. Hell, at the rate my brothers were going, Theo might be the only member of the next generation to carry on the West family legacy.
Speaking of which, his bathroom door was still shut.
I knocked. “Kiddo, are you okay in there?”
“No,” came his very weak reply.
“I’m coming in.” Worried, I entered and was not prepared for the mess assaulting me. One look—and whiff—and I could tell he had a bad case of the runs. Some has missed the toilet completely. I held my nose. “Not feeling too good?”
He sat on the tile, arms around his middle, eyes watery with embarrassment.
“Sorry, Dad.” His bottom lip trembled.
“Hey, it’s okay. Nothing to apologize for. Jump in the tub and take a bath.” I flushed the toilet and pulled out the bleach wipes. I removed my Brioni shirt and my slacks and hung them up on the hook on the back of the door and then got busy wiping everything down.
No matter how much money I had, sometimes I needed a humble reminder that first and foremost, I was a single dad trying to survive day to day while raising a boy to be a good man.
“Do you think it was the ice cream last night? I should have told you my stomach hurt bad when I went to bed, but I was afraid you wouldn’t let me celebrate after the games with the team anymore.”
“Are you kidding? Theo, you had your first hat trick. You deserved it. I would never keep you from celebrating the wins. I might suggest you eat something other than a huge banana split next time, though.” I chuckled, and he relaxed, a huge grin on his face.
I reached over and ran the bathwater for him. “Uncle Atlas tells me Jessa made macaroni and cheese, your favorite. How was it?”
“Yummy. You never let me have that, though. Why not?”
“Depends how it was made. The box stuff has some pretty questionable ingredients. I try to make sure you eat a healthy diet, with the occasional treat. But to my knowledge, I didn’t have a box in the pantry.”
“She made it from scratch with those screwy red and green noodles in the pantry, and she let me help her. She said every man needs to know how to cook.” He shrugged.
“So she’s good in the kitchen?” Some men might think that could be a bonus for a fake marriage.
“Yeah. She said she kept her sisters alive all these years.”
“Sisters?” Never heard her mention any siblings before. And that sent me down the rabbit hole, chasing every memory of our flirtations to see what I really knew about Jessa. Combined with Atlas’s comments, even if in jest, doubts crept in again. Who really was Jessa Cole?
By the time Theo crawled into bed, it was late. He’d be tired and cranky in the morning. I’d be interested to see how Jessa dealt with his moods because so far, she’d been lucky to see the angelic side of him.
I went to my den to think. Set up as my home office, I often seamlessly carried on my work from the day to here, working all night once Theo slept.
I had another look at the Times. Atlas was going to be Atlas, no reining him in.
He was probably sticking around the city longer just to torment me.
I loved my brother, but he could be a royal pain in the ass.
Flashes of future society pages showing him involved in a scandal of some sort were a distinct possibility.
I tossed things over in my head. On paper, a convenient marriage made sense. But real life was messier. If I were to do this, I didn’t want just any stranger. As the nanny, though, Jessa would certainly be around to easily play the role when needed.
I initiated a message to a private investigator I kept on retainer. I needed to know everything he could uncover about her.
My thumb hovered longer than it should have before I hit send.
In my world, trust wasn’t earned. It was verified.