A Jar of Hearts (15 page)

Anne picked up the purring cat winding about her ankles. “Stop that, Boots or you’ll have me tripping over.”

She sat down on a bar stool with the cat cradled in her lap while Julia continued to tinker in the kitchen.

“Can I ask you why you didn’t come back home from your dinner or should I just pretend you were sleeping in bed?” Julia teased.

“You can ask.” Anne grinned.

“You sound happy with how things turned out. Quite the contrast from your last… um…. date.”

“Dinner was wonderful and then I spent the rest of the night at James’ house.”

“I assumed as much.” Julia smiled. “And I suppose your opinion of Mr Connelly has changed a tad bit?”

“That he’s not the arrogant, scheming and deceptive bastard that I thought he was?” she asked with an arch in her brow.

“Something like that.”

“No,” Anne said, lifting Boots up to hold him against her chest.

“No? Is that all you’re going to tell me?” the housekeeper asked with disbelief.

Anne laughed. “What do you want to know?”

“I presume you sat up with him the entire night playing snap,” she replied cheekily.

“Oh, we played snap alright. Just not with cards.” The cat nuzzled its head into her neck and Anne cherished its warmth and softness. She was missing James, but was she close enough to drop in and see him again so soon? The fact still remained that she didn’t know him well enough to gauge when he would want to be left alone. She hated the thought of moving down the scale from love to cumbersome in his charts. The least she wanted was to be a bother to him.

“Well, whatever he did, he should do it more often.” Julia sighed. “I haven’t seen you this happy in a very long time.”

Boots meowed anxiously, obviously feeling smothered by the tight cuddles she was giving him and she finally let him off. “His girlfriend dropped by this morning.”

“His girlfriend?”

“Or an ex-friend with benefits as he described it. He said he never loved her.” She stopped and picked up an orange from the fruit basket. It citrusy scent rose to her nostrils and she wondered if it was that that was stinging her eyes.

“Do you believe him?” Julia asked slowly.

“I… don’t know. I know I want to, but sensibilities… They can be such a nuisance sometimes.”

“Oh, honey.” Julia gathered Anne’s hands in hers. “If it helps, I’ve seen the man look at you. And when he does, it’s as if nothing else matters in the world. It’s just you and him. He has this longing in his eyes to hold you forever. I sometimes think he is madly in love with you. But I’m a romantic by nature and probably am imagining things.”

“He said he loved me.”

“He… did? Damn, that man seems to fall fast and hard. But it is not inconceivable. There are people like that who do exist. Love at first sight, fall in one glance kinda people.” She leaned back against the kitchen bench dreamily. “He’s so perfect and you are so lucky. I wish I’d find someone who could fall in love with me like that.”

“When was the last time you were in a relationship?” Anne asked carefully. She hoped she wasn’t intruding. Julia would talk about many things with her, but love and boyfriends was a subject she tended to avoid.

“Ashley’s father,” Julia put simply.

“I’m sorry.” Anne bit her lip. That was definitely a memory Julia wouldn’t want to visit.

“It’s okay. I was young and stupid. It didn’t help that he was stupid as well.”

“You’re still young, Julia.”

“And stupid?”

Anne grinned. “Certainly not. Honestly, I think you are one of the bravest women I’ve met. How do you get on with your life and with a smile on your face each day while at the same time raising an intelligent little girl all on your own?”

“Like the way thousands of good single mothers do.” She leaned closer to Anne and tenderly touched a wisp of her hair. “You’ll be a great mother too one day, Anne. Because when I see you, I think
you
may be the bravest woman I know.”

“A toast then to us both for battling the world and winning?” Anne tilted her head to the side cheekily.

“Let me grab a bottle from the cellar,” Julia replied excitedly, her footsteps clicking into the distance and then disappearing into the cellar room.

A knock at the back door interrupted their jovial chatter.

“Anne?”

“James?” Anne mumbled.

“Go on,” Julia urged. “He must be missing you already.”

Anne smiled and worked her way to the door. “Hey, do you want to come inside? Julia just opened a bottle of red wine.”

“I… uh… could you come out for a second instead?”

She opened the door anxiously. His voice didn’t share their cheery spirit. He sounded tensed and melancholic. Could he perhaps have changed his mind about her?

“Is everything alright, James?”

But he was no longer at the door. She heard him descending the steps, breathing heavily.

“James, you still there?” she asked worriedly as she walked towards him.

She felt him grab her waist as he buried his face between her breasts.

“I don’t know what to do anymore,” he said, his voice muffled by her skin.

“What is it? Is it work?” She ran her fingers through his hair, trying to comfort him.

He sighed. “Yes, kinda. I think I screwed things up, Anne.”

“Come on, now. It can’t be that bad. Do you want to talk about it? We could sort it out if we rammed our great minds together.”

“I don’t think we could,” he mumbled.

“I am a businessman’s daughter and you may be surprised with what I may have inherited from my father. Still don’t want to talk?” she teased.

“Let’s just stay like this for a while,” he replied instead, tugging her closer to him.

“On the steps of my verandah? What will passersby think?” she said with a soft chuckle.

“I don’t care. I have you and I never want to lose you again,” he whispered, planting his face further into her bosom.

“Where is he, Casey?”  Mark asked her through his phone.

“Number 252. Two houses down Eric’s,” she replied.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” he muttered. “She moved next door?”

“That’s right, Captain. Talk about twisted fates.”

“You’re fucking right it is,” he said, staring at the house from inside his car. “I can’t believe they didn’t plan this.”

“You sure they didn’t?”

“Eric claims she magically popped around the corner. I guess I’m gonna just have to hop out and find out for myself.”

He disconnected and sat hesitantly in his seat, still staring at the house through his dark tinted windows. The coincidence was far too eerie to not contemplate. How can a man be dealt the same cards again? It was as if life was deliberately throwing the pair together.

He stepped out of the car and straightened his blazer. Eric had left the office in a fit of rage. It was then that he realized that he was fighting a losing battle when Anne was thrown into their plans. Eric would sacrifice himself for the sake of protecting Anne.

He ran a hand over his hair, smoothening down any strays. Eric had worked two years on this case and in that time, he was the only one who had managed to come so close to Juan. If the bastard quit because he fell in fucking love, he’d put an end to the entire operation.

He pressed the doorbell, reciting a script in his head. The door opened a tad bit.

“Can I help you?” a brunette asked.

She was pretty with a very feminine figure. But her deep set eyes and hard lines told him she hadn’t had an easy life.

“Hi… um… I’m looking for James Connelly. I’m his friend, Mark Dane. He told me he was going to meet me here.”

“Oh.” The woman smiled. “Yes, he is in the back. I’ll guide you through the house.”

He stepped in through the door and was immediately confronted with the emptiness inside it despite the vastness of space. Other than the bare essentials, there weren’t any adornments which usually hinted the presence of women in the house.

He caught sight of Anne and Eric embracing each other through a window and he stalled, their sincerity touching him slightly. He must be growing softer with age. The objectives of his mission must take priority over pithy emotions.

The brunette coughed, interrupting the couple. “Someone’s here to see you, James.”

“Me?” James asked with a frown. “Who…?”

And when Mark stepped out from behind her, he darkened. Mark shifted uncomfortably. He was an uninvited guest and definitely unwanted. But so was Anne in this mission and he needed to deal with that first if he ever wanted to see the end of this operation.

“Hey, man,” Mark said cheerfully. “You said you were going to be here, remember? Is this the beautiful woman you intended to introduce me to?”

James narrowed his eyes. What was Mark on about? And why was here?

“Yes, this is Anne,” he replied cautiously, deciding to play along. “And this is…”
Did he come as himself or did he have a pseudo identity too?

“Mark Dane,” Mark said quickly as he extended his hand.

James put an arm around Anne’s hip, subtly digging his thumb into her side. Her face grew pale but she quickly extended her hand.

“I’m sorry, Mark,” she said. “I can’t see so you’d have to grab my hand instead.”

He clasped it with a chuckle. “Of course. It’s nice meeting you finally. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“Well, it’s the first time I have met any of James’ friends, so it is awesome meeting you too.”

“Honey, Mark and I have business to catch up on,” James said softly. “Is it okay if you gave us a moment?”

Anne turned around and felt her way back into the house. James descended the steps and led the way towards the white picket fence separating the luscious green lawn from the pristine white sands of the beach.