“Things with him fizzled fast, Jack. I haven’t been in love with him for a long time.”

“Then why did you stay with him?”

“Because I was afraid nobody else would want me. Every guy I had met over the years was intimidated by me and my career. Joshua was the first man who wasn’t because he had that same craving for success. I still can’t believe he’s blackmailing our mother.”

“Have you seen her yet today?”

“No. I haven’t. I tried calling her and she didn’t answer.”

“I’m right here,” my mother spoke as she stepped into my office and shut the door.

She looked tired and weary. This whole thing was taking a toll on her.

“Where were you?” I asked.

“I was running some errands. I want both of you to sit down. I’m leaving the country in a few hours and I’m going to Paris.”

“WHAT!” I shouted.

“Sit down and be quiet, Jack.” She pointed her manicured finger at my chair. “I’m not paying Joshua the money. That slimy, spineless coward can go to hell.”

“So you’re just going to leave and leave us to clean up your mess?” I asked in a stern voice.

“I’ve already taken care of it. I didn’t tell you this before, but that woman that he’s seeing is Shae, the woman I hired to go work for Flourishing. He’s using her, and I told her that. I also told her that as soon as he gets the money, he’ll dump her. So I offered her two and a half million dollars to keep quiet and deny everything. She accepted and she’s leaving town tonight.”

“How can you trust her?” Coco asked.

“I can. More so than Joshua.”

“I broke up with him last night,” Coco spoke.

“I know. That bastard called me last night to tell me that I had twenty-four hours to give him the money or he was going to go public. I made Shae see that Joshua is only using her. I planted ideas in her head and got her thinking about a couple of things. So if Joshua does go public with the information, he doesn’t have proof and it will look like a revenge thing, so to speak, because you, my darling daughter, kicked his ass to the curb.”

“If it’s settled, then why are you going to Paris?” I asked.

“Because, darling, I need to hide out until all of this blows over. Bradley is closing out the accounts as we speak and the money will be put back into our accounts first thing Monday morning.”

“Tell me, Mother, why were some creditors not paid?”

She waved her hand in front of her face. “Pish, I told Bradley not to pay a few vendors because they were screwing with me. I can play just as dirty as they can. Anyway, I spoke with them and called off that lawyer girl you hired. We reached an agreement and all is good. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a couple of things to do before I leave.”

“You’re just going to walk away as if it’s no big deal?” I spat.

“Stop overreacting, darling. Everything will be fine now.”

She hugged and kissed Coco goodbye. As she began taking steps towards me, I held up my hand. Her brow arched right before she strutted out of my office as if she didn’t have a care in the world. A bad feeling crept up inside of me. A shit storm was rolling in and she was seeking safety in Paris while she left us behind to ride it out.

When I slammed my fist down on my desk, Coco flinched.

“You heard what she said, Jack. She took care of the situation.”

“The hell she did, Coco. I have a feeling this is far from over.”

****

After spending the day trying to calm down and get some work done, I headed to the toy store to pick up something for Hope. I had texted Lorelei earlier in the day and the doctor said that Hope had strep throat. As I was walking through the store, not knowing what the hell I was going to buy her, I stumbled across a wall of children’s movies. My eyes scanned the rows and then fixated on one particular movie that caught my attention: Charlotte’s Web. I smiled as I picked it and looked at it. She would like this. After checking out, I had Tony drive me to Lorelei’s apartment.

“Does she know you’re dropping by?” he asked.

“No.”

“Don’t you think you should tell her?”

“No.”

“After the recent events that took place, she may slam the door in your face. Or you may not even make it through the security door.”

“She may and maybe I won’t. But I am not leaving until I give this movie to Hope and I see how she’s doing for myself.”

“She’s not your responsibility anymore.” He glanced up at me through the rearview mirror.

“Doesn’t matter. I still need to make sure she’s okay.”

He gave me a small smile and didn’t speak another word.

Hope wasn’t the only reason I wanted to come over. After the clusterfuck of a day I had, I needed to see Lorelei. I didn’t necessarily need to talk to her; just seeing her was enough to make everything okay. I rang the buzzer to her apartment.

“What are you doing here, Jack?” Her voice came through the intercom.

“I want to know how Hope is doing.”

“You could have just called.”

“I have something for her, Lorelei, and I would like to give it to her.”

The door buzzed and I let out a sigh of relief. When I reached her apartment door, she was standing there with it open.

“You didn’t have to get her anything,” she spoke as she moved to the side so I could come in.

“I know. I wanted to.”

“Jack!” Hope leaped up off the couch and wrapped her arms around my legs.

“Hi there. How are you feeling?” I bent down and picked her up.

“Not really good. But I’ll survive.” She smiled.

Carrying her over to the couch, I handed her a pink gift bag with a picture of Cinderella on it and pink tissue paper inside hiding the DVD. She reached her small hand in the bag and pulled out Charlotte’s Web. Her eyes grew wide with excitement.

“I didn’t know there was a movie!” she exclaimed. “Thank you, Jack.” Her arms wrapped themselves around my neck.

“You’re welcome.”

“Will you watch it with me?”

“Of course I will. That is, if it’s okay with your mom.” I glanced over at Lorelei as she stood there with her arms folded and her narrowing eye glared at me.

“Please, Mommy,” Hope whined.

She hesitated with a response for a few moments as her eyes never left me.

“I guess. But as soon as the movie is over, it’s bed time.”

“Okay. I promise.”

“Are you going to watch it with us?” I asked, trying to cut through some of the thick air that was around the room.

“I have to finish Hope’s Halloween costume, so I’ll be over at the table while you two watch it.”

Chapter Forty-Two

Lorelei

I put in the DVD and walked over to the table where I had my sewing machine set up. I couldn’t deny that what Jack did for Hope wasn’t sweet. It really was, but I still had my guard up where he was concerned.

As I was working on Hope’s costume, I silently smiled at the laughter and light conversation that was coming from the couch. Suddenly, the sound of sniffles took over. I turned around and saw Jack put his arm around Hope and pull her closer to him. I had no choice but to see if Jack was all choked up as well over Charlotte’s death. I called out to him.

“Hey, Jack?”

He didn’t turn around. He simply spoke, “Yeah.”

“Can you come here for a second?”

“Sorry, Lorelei. It’s going to have to wait.” He brought his finger up to his eye.

“Okay.” I smiled as I turned back around and continued working on the costume.

It wasn’t too long after that the movie ended and I could hear the subtle conversation between Hope and Jack.

“Jack, what was the point of Charlotte dying? She could have lived and they all could have been happy.”

“I agree, Hope, but the story of Charlotte and Wilbur was about true friendship. Even after Wilbur’s best friend passed away and she could no longer help him, he still helped her. Make sense?”