Chapter fourteen
Later that day, after leaving Mia at school, Rose went to the library. It was a calm day and she didn’t had much work so she sited on the computer and was happily surprised to see that Jack was online.
“Good morning baby…” she typed first
He took a couple of minutes to answer.
“Good morning sweetie! Where are you?” he typed back
“Working…but today I don’t have much work so I can stay here…and you?” she typed back
“I’m at my father’s office. He needed me to replace him while he’ll be out for 2 weeks…”
“Are you busy?”
“No…or I wouldn’t be here…”
“Are you alone?”
“Yes…my father’s secretary is in her office and your father is in his office…so I’m alone in mine…”
“Have you talked to my father? I mean about me…”
“No…do you want me to?”
“No…please…don’t even tell him you know me…”
“Okay I won’t…what are you wearing?”
Rose smiled confused. Why he would want to know what she was wearing?
“Lol! Just my old favourite jeans and a white sweater. What about you?”
“I won’t tell you…”
“I bet you’re wearing a tuxedo…”
“How do you know?”
“Well if you’re in the office you must wear one…”
“Okay you won…I forgot how smart you are…”
“See? You can’t fool me…”
“It was never my intention…so our lunch is still up?”
“I’m afraid not…Mia’s teacher called me and she wants me to go to the school to talk to her…so I’ll work my lunch time and get off earlier so I can go to the school…what time to you end over there?”
“Around 5:30…if I don’t have any boring client over here maybe I can go earlier…”
“I’ll go to Mia’s school at 4:30 and then I’ll go home…”
“I was thinking in passing over there to see you…”
“Sure…Mia will love to see you…”
“Just her?”
“Try and you’ll see…”
“Baby I’m sorry but I have to turn off…there’s a client here and I must talk to him…see you at night then…”
“Okay…I’ll be waiting for you…”
Jack went offline. Rose turned her off too. Actually there was not a client arriving his office but Alicia. He didn’t told to Rose because he didn’t wanted her to know.
“Hello Jack…can we talk now?” Alicia asked
“Sure…sit down…” he said
Alicia sat right in front of him.
“What brings you here?” he asked
“We have to make some things clear…” she said
“Like what?”
“The reasons why we end this way…you must have a strong reason for leaving me…”
Jack raised up and walked to the window.
“Alicia…we’ve talked about this before…I don’t know which part you didn’t understood…” he said coldly
“Are you in love with somebody else?” she said walking to the window
“I think yes…but we can still be…” he started
“…don’t say the word friends…” she angrily said
“It wouldn’t be fair to you if I continued with you thinking in somebody else…”
“I don’t believe in a single word of what you’re saying…a love like ours can’t just end…Jack we know each other since we were kids, you were my first love, the first man in my life, the first in…everything…how do you expect me to accept your attitude? A first love is something we never forget…” she said
“I’m not saying that I forgot all we had…I’ll remember it for the rest of my life…”
“I love you Jack…” she started crying
“Please don’t start that again…” he begged
“What does she have that I don’t have? I know I’m beautiful, I’m rich, I have studies, I’m a future lawyer just like you, and I have a great hair, perfect skin…all men dream of a woman like me…”
“Alicia stop!” he yelled “I know you’re beautiful and a dream to every man, but I need something else…something I know you can’t give me…”
“What? I’m sure I have all you need…”
Suddenly somebody knocked on the door.
“Enter…” Jack said
The door opened and a young girl entered the room. She should be around his age; she was his father’s secretary, Leila.
“I’m sorry Mr Dawson…but there’s a phone call for you…” she said with a shy smile
“Who is it?” Jack asked
“It’s Miss Rose…” Leila answered
“You can pass the call…I’ll take it here…thanks…” Jack said
Leila exited and closed the door. Jack returned to his desk and took the call.
“Hello…” he said
“Jack…are you busy?” Rose asked over the phone
“No honey…tell me…” he said smiling
“Look I won’t work this afternoon because my boss is off the town and my colleague don’t mind staying here alone…so if you still want we can have lunch together and do anything…if you don’t have much work of course…”
“I’m out in half an hour…”
“I’ll go take you there…I just finished here with a client and I’ll be there…”
“Okay so see you soon…”
“Sooner than you think…”
Jack turned off the phone.
“You’re afraid to tell your new girlfriend that your ex-girlfriend is in your office?” Alicia said locking the door
“What are you doing?” Jack asked
“Just giving us some privacy…”
“For what? I don’t have anything else to tell you…now if you excuse me I have to go…”
“No you don’t…we still have something to settle here…it will be quick…she won’t even notice…” Alicia said with a naughty voice
“Alicia…”Jack warned her
Back to the library Rose was daydreaming with Jack that she didn’t saw her colleague Melissa coming.
“Earth calls Rose…” Melissa said laughing
“Uhm? What? Melissa…” Rose said embarrassed
“In which planet were you?” Melissa asked
“Not very far from here…just a few minutes…” Rose said
“You can go if you want…I’ll stay here…don’t worry…”
“Okay…I have to wait because somebody is coming to take me…”
“Secret boyfriend?”
“I don’t know…I mean we haven’t talked about that yet…for now it’s just a special friendship…” Rose said
“Good luck for it then…”
Rose went to the door to wait for Jack. Half an hour later she was still waiting but he didn’t came. She was almost giving up waiting for him when she saw his car coming. With a smile she run to it, opened the door and entered, anxious to kiss him, but Jack was strange, looking nervous or guilty.
“Jack…” she smiled and leaded to kiss him
“Hey…” he said and kissed her cheek
Rose was disappointed. On the phone he looked excited to be with her and now he was very different.
“Is there any problem?” Rose asked
“No…everything is fine…” he said
“If you have to work I understand…I just thought that…” Rose started
“No, no…I don’t have to come back today…” he said and smiled
He was feeling guilty for what he had just done. The situation was still confusing for him; although he was in love with Rose, he wasn’t capable of avoiding Alicia and had just made love with her, knowing that Rose was waiting for him. It wasn’t necessary a betrayal, because he had no commitment with Rose, but at the same time he knew he had to tell her. She was not going to know, but he had to tell. The problem was he didn’t have courage to tell her the truth.
“Would you forgive someone very close to you if that person had done something that she shouldn’t?” he asked
“Well...I don’t know…it depends on the case…maybe if you tell me what’s the problem, I can help” Rose said
“Is…my best friend…he’s interested in my ex-girlfriend…and I think that there was already something happened between them…” Jack lied to her
“I don’t see a betrayal there…if she’s not your girlfriend anymore and if they like each other…unless you still feel something for her…” Rose said afraid of his answer
“But my sister likes him…and he’s always giving her hope…”
“If he doesn’t have any kind of commitment with your sister he’s not betraying her…but he should talk to her and tell her the truth…”
“I know he loves my sister…that was probably just a thing with no importance…”
“I think he should tell her…if you truly love someone I don’t see how it is possible to get involved with somebody else…”
“Maybe he’s just confused…”
“You talk like if you were that person…”
“No…I mean…he’s like a brother to me…I know exactly why he acts like that…I’m sure he don’t want to hurt my sister…”
“He’ll have to choose…he can’t have both…or he chooses what his heart wants or what his body desires…”
Alicia was following them in her car. She wanted to be sure of the girl that was with Jack. When they arrived the restaurant, and Rose exited the car, Alicia recognized her from the dinner.
“So she’s the one who wants to take my Jack from me…” Alicia said
She stopped her car where she could see them. It was a sunny day so Jack and Rose stayed outside. A waiter took their orders and then returned to the restaurant. Jack and Rose looked happy and when Alicia saw that they were very close, looking like he was going to kiss her, she called to his cell phone. It was just to ruin the moment, and she quickly turned it off. Jack saw her number and turned off the phone.
“Who was it?” Rose asked
“I don’t know…it doesn’t show the number…I’m getting without battery…” Jack said
“Jack…we need to talk about last night…”
“Are you sorry?”
“No…not at all…I just think we should talk…”
“Okay…about what?”
“Well…you know…how we get now…that it happened…and what we are going to do about it…” she tried to say
“Mmm…as what we are going to do about it…I don’t know because there’s nothing else we can do…it’s done…
and well done I must say…” he said smiling
He took her hand and she blushed.
“Can we please make this less embarrassing?” she asked blushing more
“I didn’t knew you so shy….” he said laughing
“I’m not! It’s just that…this is not a subject I’m used to talk about…”
“I’ve made a decision…” he said serious
“About what?” she asked with a scared look
“I want you to come live with me…and Mia of course…I think she’ll like the idea…” he said happily
Rose was shocked; she expected all but not that. Jack was waiting for her to say something was she was mouth open and speechless.
“Rose…I love you…” he said in hope she said something back
She was looking really scared and surprised. Jack was freaking out, not having a reaction from her.
“Rose…I guess this is the time when you say something…” he said now getting scared
“I don’t know what to say…” she said completely scared
“Me neither…I mean…I’ve never done this before…but I’m trying…just say yes or no…” he said
“I feel something very strong for you too, I can’t deny it, but I think it’s too early for we to have a life together, to live together, we’ve know each other for such a short time, I feel that we need to spend more time together and know each other better…” she said
“That’s why I want you to come live with me…at my house we’ll have all the privacy we need, where you live is different you have Linda always around and we can’t ever be alone…” he insisted
“I don’t know if I should do this…if it’s fair with Linda…”
“If she’s your friend she’ll want to see you happy…with me…”
“I can’t accept it…unless before I tell you the truth…”
“What truth?” he asked surprised
“There’s something about my past that I need to tell you…”
“I don’t wanna know about it…I know enough about you…and all I want is to start a new life with you and erase all that’s behind…”
“You don’t understand…it’s very important…” she insisted
“Rose look…I just want an answer…yes or no…it’s simple like that…or you want or you don’t…”
“Can I have some time to think?”
“Sure…all the time you need…just don’t take too long…”