Chapter Twenty-Five Jasmine
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Jasmine
I had enough money in my savings to keep my apartment, but somehow moving back home with my parents, and of course, Claudia, was a soothing balm for the burns of the dumpster fire my life had become in the past two months.
Cassie narrowed the leak to her assistant, Michelle, who had decided to use the opportunity as a power grab.
Michelle’s story didn’t have a happy ending because she ended up getting fired and blacklisted when a very true rumor about her made the rounds in the very small world of corporate assistants.
Cassie also resigned from MasonCorp and had spent the last few weeks in the French Riviera, but not before deleting all of the research we’d collected on Miller’s Cove that wasn’t included in the proposal.
It wasn’t enough to keep MasonCorp away forever, but it was enough to create a delay, and it made me feel better.
I considered accepting Cassie’s invitation to join her in Europe a few times, but I still wasn’t ready to paste on a smile and pretend to be human.
My mother has been surprisingly supportive after I showed up on her doorstep with my suitcase, still packed from Miller’s Cove.
She didn’t utter one expertly delivered I told you so when I gave her almost every detail of the most confusing month of my life.
She had my old bedroom made up and arranged for my apartment to be packed up and my belongings moved into storage.
These are not where her miracles ended, because my father never questioned why I had moved back home.
He only told me that he was happy to have me there.
That was a feat only my mother could accomplish, and I was grateful.
On a random morning—that might have been a Tuesday, I wasn’t sure because I hadn’t left my room or showered in a couple of days—my mother came in holding a tray laden with my favorite breakfast foods with her furry triplets nipping at her ankles.
She placed the tray on my nightstand before sitting on the edge of the bed.
The dogs leapt up after her and began licking my face.
“Good morning,” my mother said in a singsong voice.
“Good morning,” I replied against the onslaught of furry affection.
“How long are you planning to hibernate in this room?” She slid a piece of bacon off my plate and broke it into pieces to feed Wynkin, Blynken, and Nod.
“Until it stops hurting.”
“That might take a long time, honey.” She patted my leg through the blanket. “I hate to see you like this.”
“I thought you’d be happy.” I took another piece of bacon and began to nibble on it.
“Why would you think I’d be happy?”
“Because you hated my job, and you told me to stay away from Derek Carter. Everything you told me to do, I did the opposite, and look where it got me.” I gestured around the room.
“I only told you those things to spare you pain. This is the last thing I wanted for you.”
“Is that why you told me to stay away from Derek Carter? You wanted to protect me?”
My mother stared at me for a long moment before she sighed and took my hands.
“I told you to stay away from Derek Carter to protect myself.”
“What?” I stared at her in confusion. “Protect yourself from what?”
“The truth about me and Christopher Carter.”
“Uncle Chris? Derek’s father?”
“The reason the company dissolved and the reason Janet and Chris divorced was because of”—she paused and looked down at my duvet before looking back at me—“an affair.”
“An affair?” I gasped, almost inhaling a piece of bacon and had to cough a few times before I could speak. “You had an affair with Uncle Chris?!” I screeched. “When? Wait, is he my—”
“Jasmine! Lower your voice,” my mother hissed. “And no, Christopher Carter is not your father. Our affair happened years after you were born.”
“I can’t believe you cheated on Dad.”
“Sometimes I can’t believe it, either.” She shook her head.
“Why?”
“That’s a very long story.”
“Well, I’m heartbroken, unemployed, and living with my parents.
” I lifted my hands and let them fall on the bed.
“I have time.” I glared at her. My mother pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes at me.
Confusion, disbelief, and rage were waging war in my chest, and I struggled to make sense of the words that tumbled from my mother’s mouth.
“The first time I met Christopher Carter, I was a nineteen-year-old sophomore at Princeton. We were in a study group that would meet in the library a few times a week. We were always friends, nothing more. Then he invited me to a party, and that was where I met your father. It was love at first sight. He and Chris were best friends, so we saw a lot of each other.”
I stared at her in disbelief, and it took all of my energy to stay quiet and listen to her story because I was afraid if I opened my mouth, I would scream.
“After graduation, your father and I got married. Chris was supposed to be his best man, but he was chosen for a study abroad program in the Caribbean at the last minute. After that, we lost touch for a few years.
“Chris and your dad reconnected, and we found out that Chris was married with a beautiful family. Before I knew it, it was like old times, and Janet was so sweet. Jasper and I had infertility issues, and Janet was there for me more times than I can remember. We decided to start a company together, and life was just perfect. God finally blessed us with a baby”—she patted my face—“and we felt like one happy family… for a while.”
“So why did you do it?” I whispered.
“There’s no excuse for what Chris and I did, but my marriage wasn’t always perfect.
We struggled to have another baby, we worked too much and spent too much time apart.
I’m not sure how it started, but Chris and I began spending more and more time together.
One night, he confessed that he’d always been in love with me and that his biggest regret in life was not telling me when he had the chance. ”
My jaw dropped.
“Your father and I were growing more distant, and you were a teenager developing your own life. I felt lonely, neglected, undesirable. And here was this man I’d known my entire adult life telling me everything I thought I needed to hear.
I didn’t think about the consequences until it was too late.
” Her eyes welled with tears, and she looked to the ceiling and furiously tried to blink them away.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I was ashamed. We were ashamed. Once your father and I decided that our marriage was worth saving, we thought it was best if you never knew the truth. Janet didn’t want the embarrassment of a public scandal. We owed her that much.”
“How did you and Dad get past that?”
“It wasn’t easy. He was angry and hurt for a long time, but we love each other, and we fought for each other. He chose me over his anger and pain. I work every day to make sure he never regrets that choice.”
Once my mother left my room after dropping that thirteen-year bombshell in my lap, the first thing I wanted to do was call Derek and tell him everything.
Not just because I loved him or because I thought it would change things between us, but because Derek was always the first person I wanted to share things with.
I thought about my mother’s words about fighting for relationships that were worth saving. Eleanor’s face immediately popped into my head. I missed her almost as much as I missed Derek and Tora.
After a breakfast of cold waffles and my remaining bacon, I took my first shower of the week. I stepped out of the bathroom completely prepared to get my life back on track, or at least to put on pants and leave my room.
I dragged my work bag to the dining room, intent on picking up where I’d left off in my Miller’s Cove research, except when I opened my file folder, all of the papers I’d copied from the library were missing.
Any hope I had of finding anything that could keep the town away from MasonCorp was in those papers, and there was only one way to get them, but after what I’d done, I wasn’t sure if I could bring myself to step foot in Miller’s Cove again.
After a run around Central Park and about three cups of coffee, I decided that I’d procrastinated long enough. My pride was less important than doing whatever I could to fix what I’d done. I held my breath as the phone rang.
“Jasmine?” The tone of Eleanor’s voice told me that I was the last person she’d expected to hear from. Oddly, she didn’t seem upset.
“Yes, hi,” I stammered and then went silent. I’d spent most of my time while running rehearsing this conversation, but almost all the scenarios I’d imagined involved shouting and insults. The rest involved getting hung up on. None of them involved this.
“How have you been?” She sounded concerned, and my confusion intensified. I decided to launch into my well-prepared speech.
“Eleanor, I’m so sorry I lied to you and betrayed your trust. I know I don’t deserve your forgiveness, but I want you to know that I will do everything in my power to make sure that MasonCorp doesn’t take any part of Miller’s Cove.
Before I left, I went to the library and pulled every single legal document involving the town’s founding, and I know there’s something in there that can—”
“Jasmine.” I was rambling, and she cut me off. “If you’re sincere about what you’re saying, then I think you should come back to Miller’s Cove.”
“—help. I just need to come back so I can—What?”
“Why don’t you come back? We should talk.”
My hands shook for the entire flight to Miller’s Cove. My mother had surprised me again by not only encouraging me to go, but chartering a private plane for me, something that I couldn’t do for myself even if I weren’t unemployed.