Trust (27 page)

Chase
is breathing heavily now, keeping his emotions under control.  I wish he
’
d stop holding back, I really want to
see him let her have it.

“Fine,”
he finally says. 
“
Are we all set then
?
”

“
Yes, there are just a few things for you
to sign. 
I’ve
marked them on each page.
” 
She slides a pen forward and he snatches
it up.  Without another word he begins to sign each page until
he’s
finished.  I look over at Denise who
meets my gaze with a
smug little smile.  If we were
eight years old, I expect she would stick her tongue out at me.

When
he’s
done, he pushes the papers back toward
her. 
“
Is that all?
”

“
Yes, that
’
s it.  With your acceptance of the
inspection, all purchase conditions have be
en met. 
Other than waiting for your closing date,
there’s
nothing left standing in the way of you
and this house.  Congratulations.
”

Chase
stands up and turns to the door.  He
’
s still seething.
“
Fine then.  Lila, let
’
s go.” 
He yanks the door open and st
rides
out without another backward glance. 
I’ve
never seen him this angry, and I
’
m only glad
it’s
not directed at me.

This
time
it’s
me who turns and flashes a smug little
smile as I too get up to leave. 
“
Looks like your little plan to sabotage us backf
ired again,
” I snark. 

Denise
purses her lips as she looks up at me. 
“
I don’
t need to sabotage anything, dear.  Chase and I are
inevitable.  Unlike you, I can accept him for who he is, I don
’
t judge his lifestyle or his past. 
I’ve
seen girls like you c
ome and go from his life.  You think the two of you are
going to end up living happily ever after, but you still have no idea who he
is.  He won
’
t marry you.  He can
’
t.  So go and have fun. 
I’ll
be here for him when you guys break
up.  He
’
s been mad at me
before. 
It’ll
pass.  Just like you.
”

I
open my mouth to respond, but instead just shake my head and turn away, walking
through the door after Chase.  S
he’s
just trying to hurt me.  I can
’
t let anything she says bother me or she
wins.  No one ever said a
nything about marrying Chase
anyway. 

But
what did she mean,
he can
’
t?

“
I know, I know, you were right.
”

We
’
re standing outside the real estate
office, but Chase is pacing back and forth instead of getting into his car.  I
haven
’
t ever seen him thi
s upset.  His hands are tightly bunched balls and he looks
ready to punch a hole through the brick wall next to us.

“I
’
m sorry, Lila.  We should have stayed in
Macau, it was silly to come back for this.  We can go back if you want.  We can
head right to t
he airport again.
”

The
last thing I want to do right now is get back on another plane, but he knows
that after a quick glance at my face. 
“I
’
m
sorry,”
he
repeats.

“It
’
s not your fault,
”
I shrug. 
“
How could you know?
”

“
You knew.
”

“
I suspected.
”

“
You
knew.  I
’
m sure the whole story about the
inspection is a load of crap.  Denise has really gone too far this time.
”

“
So what are you going to do?
” 
I know what I want him to do, but it can
’
t come from me. Not directly.  Anyway,
he offered it in the past.
 Back in my apartment in
Toronto.

“
There’s
no point in waiting anymore.  The house
doesn’t
close for another couple of months, but
I’ll
be damned if I
’
m going to give her that much time to
think of new ways to fuck with our relationship.  This needs to en
d now.  She can have some other agent in the firm handle
the house details until
it’s
over.  Let them argue over who gets my commission.
”

I
hold back a smile of satisfaction because I know the whole thing pains him.  I
know he has no romantic feelings for
Denise, but he
definitely saw her in a different light than I did, and it hurts to find out
that a person you care about
wasn’t
really who you thought they were. 
Harrison was a different kind of person than Denise, but it still hurt when he
cast me aside
so cavalier
ly.  I
had kno
w
n we were having problems before that,
but it was still a shock to watch him gamble me away out of the blue.  Denise
has always been a bitch, as far as I can tell, but Chase always refused to see
it.

Were
there signs that Harris
on thought so little of me
before he gambled me away that I missed as well?  Love truly is blind.

We
turn around and go back into the building, stopping in reception as we
’
d done the first time.  This time, Chase
is the one to ask me to stay behind instea
d of
Denise. 
“
I think this would go over better if I
do it alone,
”
he says.  I know
he’s
right, but I would still love to see
her reaction when he tells her.  Instead, I resign myself to just being
satisfied that she
’
ll finally be out of our lives for goo
d and I take a seat back in the comfortable leather chairs
of the waiting area. 

Chase
walks past reception on his way to the conference room we had just left and the
woman behind the counter looks up as he passes. 
“
Sir, do you have an appointment?
”

“
W
e just left
our meeting with Denise Parks.  Chase just forgot to tell her something
important,
”
I explain with a genuine smile.  Very
important.

The
woman pauses and then nods, returning her attention to her computer.

A
woman like Denise likely won
’
t acc
ept what Chase has to say
without an argument.  I wonder whether or not
I’ll
hear her yelling from where I
’
m sitting, and then I wonder whether or
not I would enjoy it if I did.  On the one hand, the bitch deserves it.  On the
other, who can really blame h
er for wanting Chase all
to herself.  I can totally understand that.

Still,
I would never stoop to the level that s
he’s
gone to, and that
’
s what sets us apart.  I may understand
wanting to hold onto a relationship that you think is worth holding on to, bu
t at some point you have to accept when something is over. 
Harrison still
hasn’t
truly accepted that he and I are over, and I probably owe
it to him to tell him
I’ve
moved on and there is no chance the two of us are ever
getting back together.  He may cla
im his texts and
phone calls are just being friendly, but I know him well enough to
tell
he’s
trying to slowly worm his way back into
my life.  I wonder whether it would have worked if Chase and I
hadn’t
come together that first night.  I
’
d like to think i
t
wouldn’t
have, that I would have had enough pride in myself to walk
away from him completely.  But
there’s
no denying that getting into a relationship right away
with Chase made leaving Harry behind a lot easier.

There
really never was a future with Har
rison.  We fought
almost from the first day we met, and sometimes I wonder whether or not we were
simply with each other while we were looking for someone better.  Chase is
certainly someone better, and I can see a long term future with him much more
clear
ly than I ever did with Harry.  Not that I have
been considering marriage yet.  Hell,
we’ve
barely started to say we love each
other, so
it’s
far too early to think about marriage.

Y
et
since Denise brought it up, now
it’s
in my head.  Can I see myself mar
rying Chase Anderson?  Could I live this lifestyle of
chauffeured cars and exotic travel, with hotels and room service and spas? 
Even though a smile touches my lips as I think about it, I know that I would
actually get tired of all of that if that was all
we
ever did.  In a way, the trip to Cuba was what finally made me realize how much
I really did care about him, how truly right he is for me.  Not just because
the two of us got to spend a week together alone, but because I got to see a
side of him that I
only got glimpses of when we were
back here.  He has a good and generous heart, and that
’
s much more important to me than money. 
That’s
why Harry and I would never have worked
out.

But
then, what was the crack that Denise made about him never marrying m
e?  What did she mean saying that he
can
’
t
?  It
’
s hard to take anything the woman says
seriously, since anything could simply be a ploy or plot to drive a wedge
between us.  To implant some bothersome thought that would eventually cause
stress and argument
s between us.  Still, there must
have been some reason for saying it, and I can
’
t help but wonder what it was.

“You!”

My
thoughts are interrupted by the shrill voice of Denise coming from down the
hall.  I look up to see her storming toward me, eyes abla
ze with anger and Chase following closely behind.