Jack stared at his mother as though she had grown two wings, “You don’t mean it, Mom, do you?” He chuckled while shaking his head as though he couldn’t believe what she had just suggested or worse, he couldn’t even believe how she could talk like this.
She looked at his with eyes that were so very close to shedding tears and he clenched his eyes shot. This was what he hated so much about this woman, she knew his greatest weak point was seeing her tears but then every time she kept on using them to get to him and he was always gotten even if he had promised himself that time would be the last time she would lure him with her tears. “You know what’s at stake in your life, Anna, this is the only way to save you, please.”
He threw his head back and laughed, even though it was a numerous laughter. “Why are you making it sound as though I'm a criminal that going to face his first trial? Mom, it’s not as worse as you’re making it seem, please!” He whined and slumped on the chair, because the last thing he wanted for him to faint in front of his mother because she had reminded him of what he had been trying so hard to forget. Even though it stuck to his heart like breathing did to the lungs.
She was unbelievably staring at him as though he had grown two horn on the crown of his head, “Are you alright, Jack? Losing both your job and license is worse than a criminal offense! And I hope you know what your Dad said? His condition before he gets you a job in his company?” Could she please stop talking about this? He sincerely hated the fact that she kept on reminding him that he had no other choice now but to rely on his father for his future to be a beautiful one. Just like Anna wanted, he was going to work under his father.
“I won’t do what he wants the time, I've told him already. I'll take care of that myself and he can give me the job if he wants. But I won’t be a slave to him like Willa did, Mom.” He knew she hated being remembered of what Willa was going through even if he couldn’t see her making any effort to make sure she had taken the poor girl out of her current position. Even the last day they had gone to her house, all they did was cried while Willa narrated everything that had happened and when he got furious and wanted to react, Mom cried bitterly until he promised her he wouldn’t act rashly.
“Your case and Willa’s case are a lot different.” She stood up and was staring directly into his eyes. “I'll be gone by now, but make sure that you’re ready before the end of this week because if you aren’t, my little boy has to agree to what I want...” He cut her off even before she finished her sentence, and he could see a smile that was beginning to etch at the edge of her lips.
“I'm not a boy, Mom, and you know!” He wanted that to sound as manly as possible but somehow, he sounded like the boy she had referred him to be.
She chuckled and nodded her head, “I know, my boy is all grown up, that’s why I want you to take this huge step in your life, and it’s just a dinner. It’s like you’re having a dinner with your family with just a little more guests, I won’t force you on something, you know? You won’t even let me force you on something you hate with everything in your soul.” He only closed his eyes out of exasperation because arguing with Mom was never the best option to do, that was why he let her have her way almost every time so long as he wasn’t going to be forced to do something he hated.
When she walked out of his room, he sighed and pulled his phone out of his break pocket, there was one thing that remained, letting Clara know that he had lost his job even though he was still contemplating on whether to tell her who was behind it or not. But she loved Anna Brayden, and there were times when if they went outside, she made sure she showed the people they had met outside a picture of her and Anna Brayden in Spain, she had known and spent a ‘very good’ time with her. Did he have to burst her bubbles?
“Hey, darling.” He called out softly, feeling the way his heart was already melting when he heard her voice. She was a cure to everything that bothered him, and he didn’t know what he would do if he hadn't seen her now. He was already on his feet as he searched for his car key even before he asked her where she was.
“Hey, Jack. First, I've missed you. Second, I want to see you. Third, can you come and get me out of this place please?” She whined and Jack didn’t know when he grinned from ear to ear, how did she know what he wanted to do to her?
“Just send me your address and I'll come and get you right away.” She chuckled happily before she ended the call, and it wasn’t even up to a minute before she sent him the address. Jack smiled, so she was at work. She worked in an Italian restaurant, he smiled at the thought. There were times when he went there and sat as though he was a customer just so he could see the way she worked and when he watched her worked, he got jealous of all the guys that saw her every day. Each move of her screamed enticement and Jack wanted to shout out to everything that ‘Hey, she’s mine!’
He got there in no time and when he called her that he was outside, it took her less than five minutes before she ran toward his car with one of the most beautiful smiles he had ever seen on her face. She opened the door and placed the nylon she had been carrying, “I'm sure you haven’t eaten lunch yet, so I have something for you.” He stared at her but instead of him to answer to what she was saying, he leaned down and passionately kissed her lips.
She was flushed when they broke apart before he opened the nylon and there were his favorite snacks inside with a drink, “How can I be so lucky to have a woman like you, Clara?” He asked with a sweet voice and she giggled, as though a teenager bursting in love.
“You’re just lucky in life. Where are we going? Drive, and I'll feed you as you do.” And that was what happened, he felt on cloud nine, and all that his mother spoke to him about was the last thing on his mind. All he had on his mind right now was Clara, and he was going to have her.
“Your Mom is at our house; can I take you home?” He asked when they had drove quite a distance without a destination to reach. She knew which house he meant, and her cheeks flushed to pink because Jack only asked to take her home when Jack wanted something only Clara could give to him.
“Isn't it a bit homely outside today? Shouldn’t we go to the park or beach?” She had never said yes to him and he always took her expression as his answer. And now, she was blushing and a little bit shy.
“That’s a yes, then.” He laughed when she began to protest as he turned the steering wheel toward the direction of her house. He hardly waited until she unlocked the door and they walked directly to her room without leaving any trace of them just in case her mother returned. Before she reached her room, they might be able to know what had happened already.
They walked into her room and Clara was flushed, she began to stare into his eyes with a naughty expression on her face and when Jack pulled her closer to him, she giggled, for looking so serious had never been so hard especially when Jack was the one she was together with. He merged their lips together in a steamy kiss and she moaned into his lips, which made him even more wild than he was before she pulled him closer and that was it, they were both being shot by their desires and Jack knew he had to fulfill himself before he could leave. What had first prompted him to call Clara no longer relevant.
❦
Anna looked up from the laptop she was working on and dismissively shook her head, “I’ll be busy then, Mom. But you can leave without me, I promise not to cause any harm to myself. I'd rather sleep.” She went back to work even though she was aware of her Mother’s eyes that were piercing right through her skin. “Mom!” She looked up and whined, “Stop giving me that look, I'm not the one that killed Will Brayden, please!”
They were on the terrace in their house, she got bored at the company and told Julia that she was going to finish today’s work at home, but it seemed like that would be the first mistake she had done since she woke up now. If she had known that Mom will be at her feet when she came home, she wouldn’t have come back. “Mom, please. You said we were invited, right? It’s not a return of favor, and as it is, we have a lot of world-renowned chefs in our kitchen, I'm really okay. Just tell her I couldn’t make it.”
Daphne sat down on the chair opposite to Anna’s and she smiled at her, the kind of smile she always gave Anna whenever she knew that what she wanted had to be done and the most annoying part was, Anna knew the moment she gave her that smile, then she had nothing more to say or do. “We aren’t going to tonight, Anna Brayden, but it will be in two days, okay? You’ll be free by then, I'm sure.”
Anna stared at her Mother with her mouth slightly agape before she shook her head, “Please Mom, I really don't want to go.” She gave her her best puppy eyes, but she knew it would be so hard for Daphne Brayden to buy that bunch of cuteness when she was the one that brought it to the world. Other people will certainly fall for it, even Will Brayden did, but never Daphne Brayden.
“You know that doesn’t work on me, do you?” Mom asked with a sly smile and Anna pouted her lips at her. “Now, that’s my girl. Get ready because we’re leaving around 7:50pm. It’s a ten-minute drive from here.” Anna ignored her as though she didn’t hear what she said but they both knew she did, and she would likely do all that her mother asked her to do. The reason why she hated her Mother? That woman knew the way to control her without making it look as though she was controlling her.
She waited until she disappeared from the terrace and Anna called Kate, “Bring those cookies Mom said I couldn’t have, Kate.”
“But Ma’am, your doctor said you should stay away from...”
She rolled her eyes, was everyone hired just to rile her up today? “Are you the doctor or Mrs. Brayden now, Kate?”
“I’m sorry, Ma’am. I will bring it right away.” She put the phone down and waited until she saw Kate walking into the terrace with a tray carrying her cookies and a drink to gulp it down. She smiled, she wanted to fall sick, not seriously sick but just ill so that her Mom might change her mind about this even though Anna knew these cookies will not make her sick enough for her mother to change her plans for them.
“Can I have peanut butter, Kate?” She flashed her her best puppy eyes and waited what answer she had for her.
Kate slowly shook her head, “I’m sorry, Ma’am, but no. We don’t even keep peanut in this house.” A second version of Julia was growing in Kate, and she’d be damned if everyone was going to act the same way.