Outside, Jared looked up from his truck to see the light in Alix’s window. He’d calmed down from this morning enough to see that she was right. He’d promised Tim that he’d be back in the office on Monday and he planned to be there. Then after that, well, he would start working toward keeping Alix with him forever. He smiled at that idea. It would take a while and they’d have to work out some things together. For one thing, there was New York. His office and his work life were a big part of him and Alix needed to realize that.
He glanced back up at the window and saw her shadow moving about. Who was he kidding? Alix could probably run his office better than he could. And she got along with people better than he did, so that wouldn’t be a problem.
The truth was that he couldn’t think of any aspect of his life that Alix wouldn’t improve.
His question was how she felt about him. She certainly hadn’t seemed upset about his going off to New York while she stayed here on the island.
Jared picked up a wrench. Tim was going to be furious because in the coming year his business partner was going to be out of the office a lot.
Chapter Thirty
It was two days later when Victoria saw Jared walking up the path to the kitchen door. It looked like he had just stepped out of the shower and he had a big bouquet of flowers in his hand. Obviously, he was coming to apologize.
Ken said Jared had been out on his boat all day yesterday. “The chapel’s almost done but we could have used his help. And what have you done to Alix to make her look so gloomy?”
Victoria put her hand behind her back and crossed her fingers. “This time it wasn’t me. Jared and Alix had a rip-roaring fight.”
“I can’t imagine that,” Ken said. “They act like they’ve known each other forever.”
“You’d like to think that they’re clones of you,” Victoria said in disgust, but Ken smiled.
“So what did they argue about?”
Victoria shrugged. “He told her he’s going back to New York and Alix is staying here. Looks like it’s over between them. Actually, she’s so down she’s hardly speaking. You think I should take her to a doctor to get her some pills?”
The hot blood of anger crept up Ken’s neck to his face. “I’ll murder that boy!” he said under his breath, then turned and stomped out of the house.
As Victoria watched him go, she could only shake her head. “So now you listen to me? I lie, you listen. I’m honest and you run off to play tennis with Toby’s dad. Men!”
Now, coming toward the house with his arms full of flowers was a contrite-looking Jared. Maybe Victoria should be glad of the sight but she wasn’t. What happened next? He and Alix would make up? That would change nothing. After the wedding Jared would go to New York and Alix would still remain behind. Stay to read Valentina’s journals to her mother?
Deliver me! Victoria thought. She’d never be able to concentrate with someone reading aloud, and besides, Alix would be lovesick. She’d be looking at her phone constantly, waiting for HRH to call.
No, it would be better if Victoria hurried this whole thing along. Jared was nearly at the door, so she opened it a bit so it wouldn’t make any noise, then she went into the family room.
Alix was standing by the window looking at some house plans, but when she heard her mother’s footsteps she shoved them under three bridal magazines.
“You must be relieved to be done with a man like Jared,” Victoria said rather loudly.
“We just had an argument. Nothing is ‘done.’ Mother, sometimes I think you don’t really like him.”
“But, darling,” Victoria said, as she saw Jared come to a halt, flowers in hand and just out of sight, “I adore Jared. I always have, but do you think he’s right for a girl like you?”
“What does that mean?”
“He’s a man of the world, dear. He’s used to yachts and all-night parties and those plastic girls who remind him that he’s famous.”
Alix felt the blood rushing through her body, and just like her father, it was moving upward to her face. “Jared also likes to work and I do too. And that man who sails on yachts also takes care of a lot of people on this island. If anyone needs help, Jared is there to give it.”
“But how do you fit into this?” Victoria asked, an eyebrow raised in skepticism. Her tone implied that Alix didn’t know what his life was really like.
“He needs me,” Alix said, half shouting in her anger. “I see the person underneath the public man, behind the famous one. You know something? I think that before me Jared led a very lonely life, with people wanting him for what he could give them or do for them, not for who he is.”
“But isn’t that what you want from him? To further your career? To become a great success on his coattails?”
“No!” Alix shouted, then just as suddenly the anger left her. “I did. When I first met him all I wanted was to work for his firm, but not now. Now I want to share my life with him. If he wants to go build huts in Africa, I’ll go with him.”
“And give up setting the world on fire with your designs? Do you love him that much?”