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“Shoot.” He eyed me suspiciously.
“What does it mean when you used to enjoy the pleasure of many women, bedding a new one every couple days and suddenly you're not interested in that anymore?”
He laughed, patted me on the back. “Bad news for you.” He said no more, and I was left to wonder what he meant by that.
I cleared my throat. “Come on, explain yourself. I can’t talk to my brother’s because they will somehow use it against me.”
Together we stood side by side in front of the limo. I was getting impatient but wanted my answer, so I kept cool. I trusted Victor completely as my right-hand man, and anything he said to me I would take as valuable information.
“Maybe you're just bored with your lifestyle and it’s time for a change.”
I smiled, satisfied with his answer. “See, I thought that’s what it was. With Eloise carrying my baby, I feel like I have to change my life, it’s time to shape up and be the kind of man I should be, like my father. I just want to make sure I’m not making any mistakes here.”
Victor was a man of few words. He nodded his head and said no more. Satisfied with our little conversation I took my leave and headed for bed. Thoughts of Eloise were with me every second of the day.
At night I thought about her, my body rigid with need to hold her, taste, and tempt every inch of her body. First thing in the morning I wondered if she was awake, what she was eating, if she was sick and thought about calling her.
It was unlikely she would answer my calls, so I started texting her every day at different times. I never got a response. I knew where she lived and debated stopping by but scared, I might have the door slammed in my face.
After a few days of this I was frustrated and knew I had to make some grand gesture to woo her.
Oddly that felt misplaced, like I was trying to win her over, which I never did with a woman. I felt lost and confused, women always pursued me until I grew tired of them and threw them back into the fishpond for another man to catch.
Confused, I called my brother Danny to see how he was doing. “Hey brother, how is Tahiti?
Have you found any enchanting women to chase away those blues?”
“Wes, good to hear from you. No, no women, just spending some time relaxing and enjoying myself, clearing my head. I am heading to England at the end of the week for business. How are you and Eloise?”
“Not so good, she wants nothing to do with me but I’m not having any of that, I’m the father of her baby. I think I will have to pul out the big guns and start wooing her with gifts and trinkets.”
“Are you sure that’s the only reason you're not leaving her alone? You don’t do that for any woman Wes, it makes me wonder what you're al about?” He laughed.
I ignored his prodding, until I figured myself out, I wasn’t going to say anything. “Hey, I forgot to mention, Eloise mentioned something to me in Aspen that I never got to tell you. I thought considering we all were so bad to her, especially me, we should do something nice to make her feel better.”
“Really? What’s that?” Danny was humored, I heard it in his voice.
“She mentioned her grandfather’s watch, that’s one of the reasons she came to your engagement party, she wanted it back from you and said you never gave it back to her. She said you were keeping it as punishment for what she did, but I think maybe we should give it back. She broke down and cried when she told me about it, apparently, it’s the only thing she has left from his memory.”
Danny was silent for a few seconds. “Hmm, let me think for a moment.” I heard a woman laugh in the background and knew he was lying. Danny was busy sowing some oats and getting physical with some woman and not sharing the details. Who was I to say, it was none of my business.
“Oh, hel , that watch, I forgot all about it. I have it at home in that locked case beside my desk.
You know where the key is, if it will help you with Eloise and make her feel better after everything we put her through, by all means give it back to her. I didn't really think it was that important, it’s a cheap watch, but please give it back to her. I’m sorry I forgot.”
With a new mission in mind, I grabbed the watch, and a few other trinkets and headed for Eloise’s place. She had a tiny apartment in a nice section of the city.
“Give me a few minutes Victor.” I headed up the two flights of stairs to her apartment. It was mid-day and people were coming and going. Feeling nervous I knocked on the door.
When she opened the door, I couldn’t speak for a moment. Eloise looked so beautiful, the only thing I could think of to do was hold out the red rose in my hand while I gathered my wits. “Can I come in?”
My gesture, the rose must have surprised Eloise, she opened the door wide so I could come inside and closed the door. “Thank you.”
She walked to the kitchen and put it in a tiny vase. I was nervous as hell as all my emotions were coming to a head. I kept myself busy by checking out her apartment, and admired how eclectic and usual it was, with swirls of color and chaos everywhere.
Plants on table, two cats that danced around my legs, books, magazines, clothes, pictures, and a crazy mixture of things at every turn.
She sat down on the couch after putting the vase on the coffee table between a bunch of photo albums and angel figurines. Unsure of myself I sat down beside her.
