The Inheritance (Forever Bound #1) (22 page)

“Oh.” Derek closed the envelope back up. “Then I guess it is Jenna I need to speak with.”

Victoria threw up her hands. “Good luck with that. She doesn’t want to see you. You didn’t follow her, Derek. What kind of man are you?”

Charity saw the anguish on his face as he quickly glanced at Charity. “I’m not getting into this, Victoria. Just tell her I stopped by.”

“Whatever!” Victoria replied, closing the door in their face.

Charity looked up at him and shook her head, before spinning on her heels and heading back to his car. “Charity, wait!” he argued, rushing after her.

She waited until they got to the car, before she turned to him and demanded answers. “Jenna Bradshaw is your ex? Why am I here, Derek?”

“I needed you here,” he replied softly.

She shook her head. “I don’t believe that. Am I here so that she believes you’ve moved on? Are you trying to make her jealous?”

“No!” he hissed. “Let’s talk somewhere else. Please just get in the car.” She reluctantly agreed and took her place in the passenger seat. Once he was in the car, he turned to her. “Where do you want to eat?”

“I don’t care!” she mumbled. He put the key in the ignition and started it, then pulled away from the curb.

***

He hoped he did get a call from Jenna, but really the most important thing was for him to get Charity to understand why he wasn’t completely honest with her. He chose a hamburger joint that was only a couple of minutes from their hotel. They went into the diner and took their seats. The menus were already at their table. They looked through the menus and had their orders placed when the waitress came to the table. When she brought them their drinks, she stayed around for a moment.

“New around here?” she asked them.

Derek nodded. “Business trip,” he answered.

The woman nodded, pouring his coffee into the cup. “I recognize everyone, and when I saw you, I could tell that you weren’t from around here.”

“Do we stick out that much?” Derek asked.

The waitress smiled. “I can sense these things about people. Enjoy the rest of your trip.” She left their table, and Charity took a sip of her water. When she put her glass down, Derek took the initiative to start the conversation.

“I know this looks bad and I realize that you probably think I only wanted to use you, but that’s the furthest thing from the truth.”

“So, you don’t have a past with Jenna and you brought me here so she would see you with another woman?”

“No…yes…” he argued. “Jenna is my past, but I didn’t bring you so you would appear to be my future.” His words rushed out and he hesitated. “That came out the wrong way. The truth is, I do like you Charity. I’m attracted to you and even though I wanted to fight it, I’ve discovered that it’s a losing battle.” She looked down at her drink, but didn’t reply to comment. “I didn’t think by having you come here, it would be using you. I would’ve never invited you if that was the case.” She looked up at him and it seemed like she believed him, if at least a little bit anyway. It encouraged him to continue. “I’ve been looking for Jenna so she would get her mom to sign these papers, but since it appears Victoria and Marcus were divorced, then I guess it’s Jenna that needs to sign them. This has been a long journey to find this closure, but I’m close and that’s all I’m look for.”

In the back of her eyes, he could tell she was thinking. After a few moments of silence, she did ask him a question. “So, you didn’t come to win her back?”

He shook his head. “Have I ever consider it? Yes…I have, but my whole attitude about Jenna has changed and that’s partly due to you.”

This time she blushed and he sighed with relief. “Victoria acted like you’re the problem and you broke her heart.”

He snickered. “Well, she’s a mother…can you blame her?”

Charity smiled, relieving him. “I suppose you’re right.”

“The truth is…she came to me and told me she wanted to leave Maine. I told her that I was happy living the small town life. I didn’t think I’d follow in my father’s footsteps, but if I had to go back again and rewrite history, I wouldn’t change anything. I’m happy with my decision, but she didn’t want to stay and fight for our relationship. She had aspirations for something bigger all her life and being a wife wasn’t something she wanted.”

Charity listened to him more intently than most people had listened in their life. “Relationships are hard,” she quietly admitted.

“You’re telling me,” he mumbled. He had briefly heard about how her relationship had ended so quickly. While he most of the time chose to not get into her business, he found himself wanting to bring it up. “Your fiancé broke it off right before the wedding, right?”

She looked up, wide-eyed and like she wanted to bolt. Then suddenly her expression lightened. “A week before the wedding. He ran off with his best friend.”

“Um…this best friend…is it a woman?”

Charity snickered and nodded. “Yes, it’s a woman.”

He sighed. “I thought maybe he decided to swing the other way.”

Charity laughed, her eyes brightening up and he found himself joining in. He enjoyed hearing her laugh and seeing the expression on his face made him not worry so much. It was a better version of her, than the one had only a few minutes earlier. “No…he didn’t,” she replied softly.

“Well, that’d be the only way I could understand why he did what he did. He’s a fool,” he slowly replied.

A tint of red hit her cheekbones. “You don’t regret letting Jenna walk out your life, yet you say something like that to me? I don’t know if I’ll ever understand you, Derek.”

He smiled at her. Janet brought them their food, but neither one of them made an effort to eat. When Janet left the table, he replied to her question. “Jenna and I were so young and following after her, didn’t seem practical at the time. However, if I were at the point of asking someone beautiful to marry me, I wouldn’t be so stupid to risk it all by having an affair. He’s the one that lost out, and you should be grateful you dodged that bullet.” He looked down at his food and started to eat his hamburger and French fries. After what felt like an eternity, she started to eat her own food, and he relaxed again. Any awkwardness between them faded, and it became two people that were friends…no longer boss and employee.

***

“Was everything to your liking?” Janet asked them as she laid the bill down on their table.

“Absolutely. Thank you, Janet!” He removed his wallet and handed her a twenty, then told her to keep the change and she nodded, waving to them and leaving them. Charity laughed and he inquisitively at her. “What’s so funny?” he asked.

“That just reminded me of the time you came into Bill’s Diner. The only difference you gave me a fifty dollar bill. Did you just feel sorry for me? That is a question I’ve always wanted to ask.”

His mouth opened, and he appeared embarrassed, then a smile slowly landed on his lips. “I almost forgot about that day. No, like I said…you were just an exceptional waitress.” He winked at her, and she caught a breath in her throat. He didn’t appear to be giving her a line, but it seemed all too easy for him to say something like that. “Besides, I suppose I was little taken back by the beautiful waitress.”

“Janet is pretty,” Charity replied.

He rolled his eyes. “You’re right. I wonder if she’s available later,” he teased.

His phone rang, interrupting their flirtatious banter and completely killing the mood. He seemed discouraged by the call, as well. “This is Mayor Worthington.” There was a long pause, then his face went white, and he shot her a look. “That’s right.” The longer he talked, the surer she was who he was talking to. She hated feeling slighted by him talking to his ex, but she couldn’t get past the jealousy that rushed through her. “I understand. I’ll be there in thirty minutes. Right. See you then!”

He hung up the call, and Charity asked him the inevitable. “Was that Jenna?”

He nodded. “She wants to meet.”

“Great!” Charity replied, hiding her less than enthusiastic reaction.

He nodded. “There’s one more thing. She wants me to come alone.”

Charity chuckled. “It’s like a ransom, and they don’t want the cops involved.” She shrugged. “It doesn’t bother me, as long as you’ll take me back to the hotel.”

He nodded. “Of course!” She was disappointed. Even though she didn’t want to see Jenna, she honestly didn’t want Derek to see Jenna and leaving him unchaperoned could easily make him fall back into her. She couldn’t believe how much she didn’t want him to get back together with her. Charity wanted him and each minute that passed, she was reminded just how much. Yet, she couldn’t tell him and find herself in a situation where he didn’t feel the same way. Even if he admitted to her that there’s attraction, didn’t mean he would be up for a sexy tryst with her.

They stood up from the table and things inched towards even more than awkwardness. Their interaction between one another was no longer there. He drove her to the hotel, and it was like they were two strangers caught in a painful situation together. When they got to the hotel, he offered to walk her up to the room, but she quickly denied him that option.

“I’ll see you when you get back.” She jumped out of the car and nearly sprinted into the hotel and into the elevator. When the elevator opened, she ran in. The door closed, and tears started to fall. “Oh my God…” she breathlessly exclaimed, covering her mouth. She was in love with him, and she didn’t want to lose him.

Derek sat in his car. He stared up at the hotel. Charity’s attitude had changed so suddenly, and he wondered if it had something to do with the phone call. He considered running after her and making sure she was alright, but as his hand was on the door handle, he slowly released it. He had to take care of business and then he would worry about why Charity was so upset.

He put the park’s name into his GPS and drove out of the hotel parking lot. He only had ten minutes to make the meeting time, but the park was only six minutes away. When he pulled into the parking lot of the park, he spotted Jenna right away. She was sitting at a picnic table. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a bun on the top of her head. When he got out of the car, she stood up. He walked over to the table and greeted her with a hug.

“Hello, Jenna,” he slowly said, parting from the hug.

“Hello, Derek.” She looked around and smiled. “Thank you for coming alone.”

“Of course.” He sat down on the other side of the table, and she slowly sank down onto her bench. “This won’t take long. I just need a signature, and I will write you a check and be gone.”

She frowned. “What do you mean?” she asked.

He looked up at her. “You are the new owner of your father’s property at Elm Street, are you not? Since your father is deceased and he was divorced from your mother, then that makes you the owner.”

She raised an eyebrow. “My parents aren’t divorced.”

“What do you mean? I talked to your mom and she said that she divorced him.”

She shook her head and casually glanced around the park. When she turned to look back at him, her face had clouded over. “No one knows the truth.”

“What truth?” he asked.

“Was it easy to locate us?” she asked nonchalantly. He shook his head. She nodded her understanding. “Shortly after I left town, my mom made a confession to me. My dad was abusive to her. It started right after graduation. He took to drinking and started physically hitting her.”

“I’m sorry,” Derek slowly stated.

She shrugged. “It happens. Fashion wasn’t making me the money and I had to support my mom, so I went into modeling. I got a stage name and asked my mom to stay with me. We moved around a lot, trying to make it so my dad wouldn’t be able to find us. Mom started doing pills and drinking almost as much as dad ever did, but at least she went and got help. She’s been in several rehabs, mainly so Dad wouldn’t find her. Every time we figured someone was closing in on us, we went somewhere else. When I got word Dad had passed away, I wasn’t sad and I know that’s horrible but he made our lives miserable, so I don’t want anything he has.”

Derek listened to her story, feeling pained that she had to go through that, then feeling relief, because if she didn’t want anything then she wouldn’t even want to fight for the building, but now it came back to being Victoria’s decision and he didn’t know how she’s feel. He pulled the papers from their envelope and presented them to Jenna. “I’m sorry for what you and your mom had to endure and I promise that if you get her to sign these papers, then I will leave you be and you can go back to living your life.” He told her how he planned on building a mall out there, and it was holding back productions. He needed the signature on a contract, and he would pay for the property. “It’s the only property holding the project back. A simple signature will allow us to proceed.” He withdrew his checkbook from his pocket. “I will pay your mom two hundred and fifty thousand dollars if she signs the paper.”

She looked it over. Her brow furrowed. “That’s what this is about?” she asked. She looked up at him.

He nodded. “It’s business, Jenna. I need her to sign this paper, and due to uncontrollable circumstances, you both made it hard to locate you.”

She laughed, looking down at the paperwork. “I’m sorry to make your life hard.” Her words were quiet, but he heard them.

“I didn’t mean it that way, Jenna.”

She sighed. “Whatever…I’m going to have my lawyer look them over and then we’ll negotiate a fair deal.”

“Jenna, you know me. I wouldn’t try to rip you off. You don’t use that property, and there’s no reason why she can’t sell it to us.”

She shrugged. “And I might tell her that, but not until my lawyer looks them over.”

He sighed. “Fine! When will that be?”

“I’ll call him tonight, but since it’s the weekend, it might be Monday or later.” Derek didn’t want to argue about it. As long as she got back to him, he would accept that. He started to stand up, but her words halted him. “You do look good, Derek.”

He nodded. “Thank you…so do you.”

He said it to be nice as a courtesy since she said it to him, but he was surprised how much time had changed him. He thought he’d been pining away for the girl next door and in a way…he had, but Jenna wasn’t the same girl he fell in love with and seeing her now made him realize the truth. “Thanks!” she whispered, responding to him. “I’m seeing someone, you know.”

Derek nodded. “I do.” She opened her mouth, then quickly closed it. “I got a text from someone anonymous. Was it you?” At first he didn’t think she would do something like that, but the more he considered it, the more he figured she just might.

She frowned and shook her head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He opened his cell phone and showed her the text message he got, along with the picture. “Oh…that probably came from Jordan. He’s pretty jealous, and you kept looking for me and what were we supposed to think?

“Jenna, you were supposed to think that I moved on and wasn’t pining for you after twelve years. You were supposed to expect that along the way I fell in love with someone, too.”

She crossed her arms. “You talking about the woman that was at my house earlier?”

He was stuck, and he didn’t know how to dig out of the hole he put himself in. He finally nodded. “Yes. You aren’t the only one to fall in love with someone else.”

“Good. I’m glad you’re happy,” she quietly stated.

“Well, we’re both happy,” Derek replied as he stood up. “Now, if you don’t mind…I want to get back to her. Talk to your lawyer and get back to me as soon as you can.”

He turned around and before he got out of earshot, she stopped him. “Derek…”

He turned around. “Yes?”

“You are happy, right?” she asked.

He thought about it, and the thing that was stuck inside him was if he had answered that question a few months ago, he would’ve been unsure how to answer it. Yet, somewhere along the way he could honestly say he was happy. He smiled. “As happy as I’ve ever been. Call me, Jenna.” Her blue eyes seemed to hide sadness beneath them. He turned around and headed back to his car. He wanted to get back to Charity, and he didn’t care who knew that.

***

Charity wiped away another tear that trekked down her cheek. The minute she got back to the hotel room, she changed into her bathing suit and got in the hot tub. She had questioned bringing the bathing suit along, as it didn’t seem practical at the time, but now she was grateful she had. She lowered herself in the hot tub, letting the hot water float over her chest. Derek was already meeting up with Jenna, and she wanted to know what was going on there. She had left the car so quickly, that she didn’t even really say goodbye.

She tilted her head back and closed her eyes. Derek showed up in her mind. He was handsome, no doubt and now she was tempted by how kind and generous he was as a person. He wasn’t the same person he was when she first started working for him. He was the person he wanted her to see, and it drew her in. She sighed. “Grant me the strength,” she mumbled.

“Charity?” Her eyes shot open. Derek’s voice entered her mind. He was back already. When she opened her eyes, she heard his voice from the living room. “Charity?” he called again.

“In here!” she called. She quickly scrambled out of the hot tub, but not before he had already reached the room.

“Oh…I’m sorry.” Their eyes met, but only for a split second before he lowered his gaze over her bikini and shamelessly stared at her half naked body. She reached for a towel but took extra time to wrap it around her body.

“No biggie,” she nonchalantly stated. She enjoyed watching him sweat and at that moment he was sweating profusely, and his face was red…beet red. “You should really take a moment in the hot tub later. It’s to die for,” she replied with an overly eager attitude.

His redness on his cheeks grew deeper, and he nodded. “Maybe.” He looked up and timidly smiled at her. “We need to talk.” He exited the room, and she just stood there. Seeing how uncomfortable he was, she stayed in the room and pulled her shorts on over her bikini, then slipped her t-shirt back on. She dropped the towel in a pile to gather later, then went out to meet him in the living room. He had his head down like he was praying and she wondered what was so important to have him on edge.

“I didn’t expect you back so soon,” she admitted, approaching the couch.

He looked up, and his eyes lingered slightly on her outfit. It looked like he wished she still had the bikini on. She ignored that thought as he spoke. “I wanted to get back here so we could talk.”

“Oh…” she solemnly replied. “Everything alright?”

He pointed to the couch, to the position next to him, and asked her to take a seat. She slowly obliged. She was nervous sitting there and not knowing what he was about to say. “As you know, I saw Jenna today, and I want to be completely honest with you. At least, I’ll do my best. She settled back against the back of the couch, and he continued. “Jenna and I were high school sweethearts. In our senior year, we were voted most likely to marry.” His eyes lifted up to Charity, but she didn’t move to respond. “I suppose I did always think we would get married, but as things would progress and she chose to leave Maine, then those ideas slowly drifted from my own mind.” He paused and pulled out his cellphone. She quietly waited for him to recover what he was looking for. Once he did, he held up a picture of a woman and man kissing. “Yesterday I received this picture from an anonymous number. Whoever sent it told me to leave her alone.”

He put his phone away and looked down at his hands. “I didn’t come here to see how Jenna was doing. I truly had business with her and her mom. However, I suppose a part of me wondered how she’s been. After all, she was a huge part of my life. When I saw her today, she confirmed that she’s happy and I…” his voice fell off. He looked up, and his eyes bore deep holes within Charity’s eyes. “I told her you and I were dating, and I thought you should know.”

Her mouth opened, but she couldn’t find the words. Suddenly everything was so clear. “I see,” she quietly stated.

“I know this contradicts everything I told you, but honestly I never intended on telling her that, but she asked if you were the person I was in love with and I could back down.”

“You told her you love me?”

He slowly nodded. “I had to tell her something and it just happened.”

She snickered. “It just happened. She was bragging about how happy she was and so you just happened to say that you were equally as happy. How convenient.”

He shook his head. “That’s not exactly how it happened.”

She crossed her arms. “I call bullshit. You used me and you’re just too chicken to admit it.” She jumped up from the couch.

He stood up and grabbed her hand, but she quickly pulled back. His eyes continued to grow dark. “Why are you so angry?” he asked. His words were forceful, but tender, if that was even possible.

She looked away from him. “I hate being used,” she mumbled.

“I understand that,” he gently stated. “I truly am sorry, but I wanted you to know. It did just happen and the moment I said it, I wanted to take it back. It doesn’t have to go any farther than this. The next time I talk to her, I’ll tell her that I made it all up.”

She wanted to laugh at that. If he confessed he lied, then Jenna could weasel her way back into his life, and Charity didn’t want that. To answer his question, she was angry because it wasn’t true. She was angry that he didn’t love her and he was only using it to benefit himself, but the more she felt betrayed, the more she realized that it didn’t even matter. Derek held concern in his eyes and the sound of his apologetic pleas did sound genuine. She turned her head to look at him. “Did she sign the papers?” she asked.

He sighed. “Actually, she told me that her mom lied and she never got a divorce from Marcus, so it’s back in Victoria’s hands. That’s a long story for another day,” he quietly stated. “Plus, she’s having her lawyer look at it. It might not be until Monday so we could be here another night.”

“Which means I need to cancel your Tuesday appointments.”

He nodded. “I’m sorry.”

She shrugged. “Not a big deal…what’s one more night?”

“Right!” he softly replied. She turned away to grab her laptop, and he stopped her. “I really am sorry, Charity.”

Charity nodded. “I know.” She grabbed her laptop and carried it to the desk. As she sat down, she felt a small smile appear on her lips. It wouldn’t be the worst thing to happen if she had to pretend she was his girlfriend. She could definitely handle that.

***

“I’ll call you back later to reschedule. Thank you, Mr. Johnson.” She hung up the phone and marked off his appointment. He watched her every move. He had every intention of telling her everything…including how he expected to feel something when he saw Jenna again and yet…he felt nothing. However, she didn’t really give him a chance.