Total pages in book: 235
Estimated words: 227851 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1139(@200wpm)___ 911(@250wpm)___ 760(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 227851 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1139(@200wpm)___ 911(@250wpm)___ 760(@300wpm)
I laugh. I feel like I’ve heard this before. “I don’t know whether I can risk it.” I don’t look a John. I don’t need to. I can feel his concern. Poor guy is caught in the middle. It feels like only ever one of us—me or Sarah—can be okay. “And I could never ask Ava to accept your return to The Manor.”
“Let me talk to her.”
“No,” I say, horrified. “Never talk to Ava.”
“Jesse, please.”
I can’t stand her pleading. “Sarah, stop,” I order, getting up and going to the fridge, grabbing a bottle of water. “I can’t give you what you need.”
“I need my job, Jesse, and you can give me that.”
My bottle of water stops at my lips as I regard her. Then John. He remains silent. Then my eyes move to my desk. I can’t see the top for all of the paperwork. Sarah notices my direction of sight and gets up, walking over, gathering up all of the papers. “John needs the surveillance contract,” she says, fingering through the stack. “It’s here.” She pulls out a sheet and holds it up. “All of the medical assessments are in alphabetical order by surnames rather than date order like the invoices.” I feel my tense shoulders lowering. “You need me,” she whispers.
Such powerful words.
But not in the context Sarah needs them to be. My damn gaze falls to her wrists again, a bandage poking out from beneath the sleeve. Fuck. I didn’t mean to kill any of the people who have died because of my bad choices and judgment. Knowing my next words could be the cause for her harm? I swig my drink. But I’ll be signing my divorce papers if I agree to this. And therefore, causing myself harm. And Ava. “I’m sorry, I just can’t,” I say, hearing my regret. I hope Sarah does too. “I’m going.” I leave the office and close the door, falling against the nearest wall and resting my forehead on it.
“All right?”
“Dandy,” I quip, considering Sam as he approaches. “You?”
“Dandy. I was going to use the sauna but the spa’s closed.”
“Since when do you use the spa?” I ask, facing him.
“Since now.”
Or . . . I eye him, thinking. “Have you been active since you and Kate split up?”
A steel wall shoots up. “We weren’t together.”
“Have you been active?”
His jaw rolls. It’s the answer I need. No. And why would that be? “Go home, Sam,” I say over a sigh.
“I’m taking him for a beer.” Drew appears, holding Sam’s shoulder and massaging into it. “Coming?”
My phone rings, and I pull it out. “I’ll catch up with you soon,” I say to the boys, turning and taking the call as I leave them, too curious to let it ring off. “Jesse Ward,” I say formally.
“Dan O’Shea,” he replies dryly.
I push my way into the spa and head into the ladies’ changing rooms. “What can I do for you, Dan?”
“Are you free anytime soon?”
I pass the lockers. “Why?”
“To talk.”
“About what?”
“Things.”
“What things?” I’m not interested. I’m sure he senses it.
“Various things.”
Which tells me it’s more than just my wife. Kate? Sam? I’m now interested. Sam’s the lowest I’ve ever seen him. “What’s the situation with you and Kate?” I ask.
“Is that any of your business?”
I smile. There’s my answer. If he was still fucking Kate, he wouldn’t hold back telling me. “No, but neither is my marriage any of yours.”
“She’s my sister.”
“I know, because you keep banging on about it. So am I to assume you want to meet with me to discuss her well-being? Whether I’m looking after her?”
He sighs. “When are you free?”
There’s my answer again. He doesn’t want to talk about Ava, and he can’t want to talk about Kate with me. Unless he wants me to talk to Ava on his behalf, therefore make an ally out of me. Seems a stretch after how well we’ve kicked things off. “Tomorrow?” I expect Ava will insist on going to work, and I’ll need something to do. I better start filling my days. “Come over to The Manor. Say, two.” I hang up, spinning my mobile in my grasp. What the fuck is his game, I wonder, as I go to the pool entrance and pop my head around the door. Sarah, Sam, and Dan are forgotten in a heartbeat when I see my wife, the water calm around her as she swims, her hair piled high, the ripples reflecting off the glass surrounding her, making it look like serene, calming disco lights dancing around the pool hall.
Back to cloud nine.
I smile and take a picture, then back up and head into the men’s changing room, stripping down and leaving my clothes in a pile on the bench before going to my locker on the end and getting my shorts out, itching to get in that pool with Ava. I can count on one hand how many times I’ve been in my own pool. I’ve never been sober enough.