“You can’t mention anything to Michael or Joshua, or anyone else. Promise me Charlotte.”
“I promise just get on with it. You know my patience is slim to none.”
I smile. “He was in the elevator when I got stuck downtown. I ended up with a really bad pain in my back.” I pause because I’m not sure I can go on without crying, and then the tears come anyway. “He rubbed my back, Charlotte. For the first time there was someone with me who cared that I was in pain and acted like he wanted to take it away . . . and you should have seen his face when he felt the baby kick.” I swipe at my tears.
Charlotte looks surprised. “I rub your back,” she mumbles and I roll my eyes and then think better of it.
“I mean who wasn’t you or the rest of our family. He was a handsome man and he cared.”
“Okay, and I was only teasing about the ‘I rub your back’. Do you know who he is? How to get in touch with him?”
I nod my head.
“Then what’s the problem?” Charlotte asks, confusion written across her face.
“I thought about getting in touch with him, but what do I say, ‘hey, I’m the pregnant woman from the elevator, remember me’?”
Charlotte lets out an exasperated breath. “Well that would be a start. I mean really Sirena, what is wrong with you?”
“I’m still married.”
Just saying those words, I know that if Garrett messages me to meet him, that I will. I want to see him again even though I look like I have a huge beach ball up my dress.
“Harry,” her lips twist in annoyance, “is a first class jerk and there is no way on this earth that I will ever let you get back with him if he should ever ask, or you should beg. None of us will. You have never had a marriage and Harry certainly doesn’t think you have, so I don’t see the problem.”
Charlotte sometimes is like a dog with a bone so I tell her the one bit of information that will shut her up, “He’s forty-nine.”
“What?” Charlotte whispers.
I shake my head and tug the blanket more snugly around me. “You heard me right the first time.”
“Mom’s fifty-two.”
“Charlotte that isn’t helping.”
“Dad’s sixty-four and even that’s closer to his age than yours is.”
I shake my head and cry softly into the blanket.
“Oh honey, I’m sorry.” She rubs at my arm. “I didn’t mean to make you cry. You just took me by surprise . . . please calm down.”
Charlotte gets to her knees between the two lounge chairs and wraps her arms around me, which is more awkward than comforting with my belly in the way. She doesn’t seem to care and brushes her fingers through my hair.
“I love you, Sirena, and if this man makes you feel things that you’ve never felt before then perhaps you should call him or send him a message. His age is but a number if he’s the one you want.”
I pull back and hold her gaze. “You mean that?”
She wipes one side of my face with her fingers. ”He obviously made an impression with you, and apart from Harry, you’re usually a really good judge of character . . . so yes, I mean that.”
&nbs
p; “He’s had my number just as long, Charlotte. Why hasn’t he contacted me?” I push myself up to a sitting position and grabbing the end of the blanket wipe at my eyes.
“Perhaps he has a problem with the age gap, and, didn’t you say you met him in the elevator, which means that he came from the McKenzie head office, right?”
I nod. “He had a meeting with Alexander.”
“What’s his name?” Charlotte sits back down on the lounger and waits for my answer, which I’m not sure I want to give. “I’ve already promised you that I won’t say anything, and all I really have to do is sneak a peak at Alexander’s schedule.” She grinned.