Will to Love (29 page)

"Meg, I'm here," she said.
 

"Clarise!" Megan exclaimed.
 
"Are you sick?
 
You don't sound well."
 
Clarise's voice sounded like she had a really bad cold.

"No, I'm okay, Meg."

"Are you crying then?"
 
If she wasn't sick, then she must have been crying, Megan thought.

Clarise didn't answer her sister.

"Clarise, what happened?
 
Have you had a fight with Will?
 
Is that why you didn't pick up his calls?"

"He called you guys?" Clarise asked with surprise.

"Yes.
 
He called Rick's phone when he couldn't reach you.
 
He was frantic with worry.
 
He was scared something might have happened to you."

"Yeah, right," Clarise said sarcastically.

"Clarise, what happened?" Megan said more insistently.

Clarise relayed what transpired that afternoon as best as she could.
 
She heard her sister's gasps of shock as she repeated Gina and Karen's conversation.
 
She continued babbling, "He didn't tell me anything about her, Meg.
 
He didn't say he was meeting her in Europe.
 
She was the one who broke up with him.
 
And she's still wearing the engagement ring he gave her.
 
She wants him back!"
 

"Clarise, I'm a little confused," Megan said, sounding baffled.
 
"I saw the two of you together last Saturday at mum and dad's.
 
I saw the way he looked at you.
 
He couldn't take his eyes off you.
 
I saw those sweet little touches and gentle caresses he gave you all afternoon."

"So?
 
Karen said she made a mistake of breaking up with him.
 
Now she's going to Europe to see him!"
 
Clarise said with panic, hurt and anger all rolled into one.
 
Her chest felt so tight she thought she might explode.
 
The thought that she was losing Will was ripping her apart she couldn't think straight.
 
Tears started to fall again profusely.

Megan was silent as she gathered her thoughts while her sister sobbed softly.
 
While this Karen episode was indeed upsetting, she knew the look of a man in love.
 
And judging from what she saw last Saturday, there was no doubt in her mind that Will was in love with Clarise.
 
Plus, she heard the man on the phone when he rang a few minutes ago.
 
No one would be that frantic with worry from missed phone calls unless he truly cared deeply about the person.

"Clarise," Megan said gently.
 
"At this moment, you are Will's girlfriend.
 
Karen is still an ex.
 
Sure, Karen might want him back.
 
But the important question is does Will want her back?"

Clarise stilled at Megan's question.
 
It broke through the dense fog of her fears and tears, making her realise that what Karen wanted wasn't the real issue here, it was what Will wanted.
 
She made an assumption that Will would take Karen back when she came calling.
 
Why did she assume that?
 
She realised she just let her past experience with Nick dictate her reactions again.
 

"Has he told you how he feels about you?" Megan asked.

"Yes," Clarise said as her sobs quietened.
 
"He said he loved me."
 
She remembered her weekend with Will before he left Sydney.
 
She saw the sincerity in his eyes when he told her how he felt about her.
 
Surely that wasn't a lie?
 
Her pain started to ease as hope flared up in her heart.

"Well, then, don't you think you should talk to Will about this?
 
At least give him a chance to explain?" Megan asked her kindly.
 

"Yes, I think I should."

"Good.
 
Call him right now or he'll just call us back again in a couple of minutes to ask if we've heard from you."
 

Right that second, a phone rang in the background.
 

"Oops, that's Rick's phone," Megan said.
 
"Darling," she called to Rick.
 
"If that's Will tell him to hang up.
 
Clarise will be calling him in a minute."
 

Clarise heard Rick say 'okay'.

"Okay, Clarise?" Megan asked her sister quietly.

"Yes, thank you, Meg."

"I love you, sis.
 
And please update me after you talk to Will.
 
I'll worry otherwise."

"I will, darling.
 
I love you too."

CHAPTER NINETEEN

"Baby, are you okay?
 
I've been worried about you," Will said as he answered his phone on the first ring.

"I'm alright."

Hearing her sniffly voice, he asked, "are you sick, baby?
 
You don't sound well."

"No, I'm not sick."

"Then what's wrong, sweetheart?
 
What happened?
 
Are you crying?" he asked, concern evident in his voice.

Clarise almost laughed out loud.
 
That was exactly what Megan had asked.
 
But she didn't really feel like laughing.

"Why didn't you tell me about Karen Childs?" she asked him in a quiet voice.

Will froze and felt a cold hand clutch his heart.
 
"What do you mean, baby?" he asked in a low voice.

"Exactly what I asked, Will."

Will took a deep, disturbed breath.
 
Clarise was obviously very upset because of Karen.
 

"I didn't tell you about her because she isn't an important enough subject to just bring up out of the blue.
 
There hadn't been a good enough reason to talk about her," he answered softly.

Clarise was silent for a moment, digesting what Will had just said.

"So catching up with your ex-fiancee in Vienna and Budapest is not an important enough reason to tell me about her?"

"No, I'm not catching up with her.
 
She sent me an email telling me she planned to be there the same time I was there and that maybe we could have coffee.
 
I said I'll be very busy and wouldn't have the time.
 
I don't plan to catch up with her."

"So you have been communicating with her recently, Will?
 
You knew she'd be in Europe the same time as you?
 
I still don't see why you haven't told me about her."

"I told you, baby.
 
She's not important enough to discuss."

Clarise couldn't grasp that.
 
Karen was someone he was with for four and a half years.
 
How could she be so unimportant?

"Maybe the real truth is that your girlfriend of only a few weeks is not important enough to disclose these things to." she said in a hurt voice.

"Clarise!
 
How could you say that?
 
I love you!" he said angrily.

"Do you?"

Will winced as sharp pain lanced his heart at Clarise's doubt that he loved her.

"Yes, damn it!
 
I love you.
 
I'm madly in love with you.
 
I love you more than I've ever loved anyone in my life!" he said forcefully.

Clarise was dumbfounded at the vehemence of his declaration.

"Really?" she asked squeakily when she recovered her voice.

Will sighed audibly and spoke with quiet sincerity.
 
"Yes, baby.
 
I really love you.
 
I'll do anything to prove it to you.
 
Anything.
 
What do you want me to do?"

Clarise's heart pounded in her chest, her eyes filling again with tears.
 
But this time, they weren't tears of pain, they were tears of relief and love for the man on the other end of the line.
 
But something still niggled her.
 

"Will, she said she was the one who broke up with you."

Anger at Karen bubbled in Will.
 
The woman had obviously approached Clarise and upset her.
 
But he pushed it away for the meantime.
 
He needed to fix things with Clarise first.
 

"Yes.
 
I was very relieved when she did.
 
She was my on-again, off-again girlfriend for four years.
 
Then her friends started getting engaged and I had this huge pressure to propose to her.
 
I was ambivalent about getting engaged.
 
But I did have a great social life because of her so I thought that was a good enough reason."

"But you must have been in love with her," Clarise insisted.

"I thought I was a little in love with her.
 
But feeling the way I feel about you, I know now that wasn't love.
 
What I felt for her was nothing compared to what I feel for you.
 
Please believe that, baby," he implored.
 

"She's still wearing your ring."

"What?" he said incredulously.

"She said she tried to give it back to you but you wanted her to keep it."

Will shook his head.
 
Karen could really be a super bitch when she wanted to.
 
"When she tried to give it back to me, it was with accusations that I didn't appreciate what she had done for my business.
 
She was a great networker and did introduce some people to me during our time together.
 
She tried to make me feel guilty.
 
I said to her to keep it as payment for all the referrals she gave me.
 
I fully expected her to sell it.
 
The ring and all the furniture and household stuff she took more than made up for whatever help she gave me in my business.
 
I didn't want to feel beholden to her.
 
I wanted a clean slate."

"Oh," was all Clarise could say.

"Is there anything else you want to know about her, baby?"

"She wants you back, you know."

Will snorted.
 
"I should have known she was scheming something when she turned up in my office unannounced a couple of weeks ago.
 
She said she wanted to refer more friends of hers that have a need for my company's services.
 
Now, I have to make sure I don't accept any more of her referrals.
 
I'm sure she only wants me back because I'll be good for her image.
 
But I'm not interested in getting back with her in any way, shape or form.
 
I don't care about her anymore.
 
But you...you I'm so fucking in love with."

Clarise silently cried happy tears.
 
She was so choked up she couldn't speak.

"Baby?
 
Are you okay?"

"Yes," she sniffed loudly and giggled.
 
"I'm okay."
 

"Are
we
okay?" he asked, his voice breaking.

"Yes," she whispered.

Will let out a huge sigh of relief.
 
She was back with him.
 
"Now can you tell me what happened?
 
She obviously spoke to you."

Clarise told him about Gina and Karen's visit to her office earlier that day.
 
He couldn't believe the gall of both women.
 
What they did was juvenile.
 
He didn't know how Chris put up with his wife.

"I'm sorry you had to go through that, baby,"
 
Will said.
 
He ached for her.
 
All he wanted to do at that moment was hold her close, comfort her and show her how much he loved her.
 
But he was on the other side of the world.

"It's okay.
 
I'm okay now."

"I love you, Clarise," he repeated.
 

"I know, baby," she assured him.
 
"I love you, too."
 

~~

Clarise was putting on her earrings when the buzz of the intercom startled her.
 
It was 7:55am on a Friday morning and she wasn't expecting any deliveries.
 
Who could it be?
 
She picked up the intercom phone.
 
"Hello?" she said warily.

"Hi, baby.
 
It's me."

"Will!" Clarise shrieked in disbelief and elation.
 
She pressed the button to let him in the building and ran to the door.
 
She stood there, holding the door open, waiting for him to round the corner to her corridor.
 
After what seemed like an eternity to Clarise, she heard the 'ping' of the elevator then he appeared, pulling his big luggage behind him with a wide, happy grin plastered on his face.
 
Just as wide and happy as the one on hers.

She would have run to him but she still had the presence of mind to hold the door open or they would be locked out.
 
The key was in the apartment.

But he was in front of her in no time.
 
He swept her up into his arms and gave her a hungry kiss which she returned eagerly.
 
When they pulled away, he dragged his luggage and they went inside.

"Why are you back so early, honey?
 
You're not due back 'til next Friday."

"I couldn't wait until then to see you again after our conversation a few days ago," he said as he put his arms around her waist and pulled her close to him.