Chapter 11—Vanessa
I polished off my second bottle of wine as I sat on the floor in what used to be my house. Boxes packed full of my stuff were stacked around me. I was so pathetic. And I was out of wine. Wonderful. My cell phone rang, and I grabbed for it, hoping against hope that it was Connor.
“Hey, Vanessa. I was just thinking about you. How are you?”
My shoulders slumped with disappointment. “Hi, Jess. I’ve been better.”
“How’d the hearing go?”
“It amazes me how a man in a black dress can just bang his little wooden hammer and my life disappears. Poof. It’s just gone. Everything,” I said as more tears fell. I didn’t realize I had any tears left to cry. God, I wanted Connor. I wanted to hear his soothing voice and feel his strong arms around me.
“I’m sorry, sweetie. Wanna tell me about it?”
“Not much to tell. I’m selling the house to pay off my creditors. Guess that’s what I get for not incorporating. All of the business assets will be auctioned to pay my creditors, too. I had to lay off my entire staff. That was fun.”
“Why don’t you come back here for a while, Vanessa? Take some time to clear your head and figure out what you want to do,” Jessica said.
“Thanks, but I can’t afford a plane ticket.”
“I’ll pay for it,” she offered.
“I know you mean well, Jess, but taking charity from you is the last thing I want to do.” I tipped the wine bottle against my lips, hoping I could get another drop or two, but the bottle was bone dry.
“It’s not charity. It’s one friend helping another.”
I contemplated it for all of half a second. Going back to Paradise Falls meant going back to Connor. It’d been almost four weeks, and I hadn’t heard from him. No phone calls, no text messages, no emails, nothing. My life was in shambles. I wouldn’t let my self-respect go, too. And if I went running back to Connor that’s exactly what would happen.
“Have you given anymore thought to my offer?” Jessica asked.
All I’d wanted was for Connor to ask me to stay. Granted, I wouldn’t have been able to, but it would’ve been nice to know he wanted me for more than just sex.
“Vanessa? Are you still there? Did you hear me?” Jessica said.
“Huh? Yeah. I appreciate the job offer, Jess, I really do, but—”
“Okay, that’s enough. I’ve been where you are, and I know better than anyone just how much it hurts to have everything you’ve worked for ripped away from you.”
I cringed at the anger in her voice. In my own self-pity, I’d forgotten she’d lost just as much as I had.
“It sucks,” she continued. “But sitting alone in your house drinking cheap wine isn’t going to make you feel better.”
“How do you know I’m alone? And that I’m drinking wine?”
“I know you, Vanessa.” She laughed.
“Well, you were wrong about one thing. It’s not cheap wine.” It was the one thing I’d splurged on. I probably shouldn’t have, but I’d walked into the liquor store during a moment of severe weakness.
She sighed, and I knew she was probably rolling her eyes at me. “Stop feeling sorry for yourself, Vanessa. This is only the end if you let it be.”
I didn’t know what to say about that.
After a moment, she said, “Look at this as a fresh start, a new beginning.”
“The first day of the rest of my life,” I said sarcastically.
“Exactly! Now you can either let it pass you by or you can grab ahold of it and fuck it senseless.”
I laughed for the first time in weeks. What would I do without her? “Thanks, Jess.”
“Anytime. This is what I’ll do; I’ll purchase an open ticket for you and leave it under your name at the airport. Please consider my offer. Seriously consider it.”
“I will. I promise,” I said before hanging up. Maybe Jessica was right. Maybe I needed a fresh start. That’s what she’d done and look how well it’d worked out for her. She was now happily married and well on her way to starting the family she’d always wanted. But there was one glaring difference between us—the man of her dreams actually returned her feelings. Mine didn’t. If he did, he would’ve called by now.