Her CEO Stalker and Her Second Chance Mate Chapter 61

Briar

I had arrived home, unsurprised to find Rosie sitting on the front porch, and Tucker curled up in the rocking chair. I let them in and locked the door before grabbing a large glass of water. Drinking meant I needed to hydrate. I picked up around the house and found myself sitting on Uncle Jake's bed. It had been a while since I had talked to the ghost of the man who raised me as his own from afar.

“I really wish you were here right now. I don’t know if I should be going tonight,” I found myself saying out loud. Uncle Jake had been the one I told my deepest troubles, ones that I didn’t want to worry Mom about. “I feel like I’m just going to kill everyone else's mood. I dunno how to have fun anymore. He stole everything from me: my peace, my joy, my body. I don’t know how to be who I was, or know who I’m meant to be anymore. What do I do? How do I find myself again?” Silence filled the room. Tucker jumped up on the bed and started playing with a watch on the side table. I got up and went to slide the watch into the drawer, but when I opened it, I noticed the drawer was shallower than it looked from the outside. I pulled it out and dumped the random contents on the bed, flipping the drawer over. Tucker meowed, then purred, walking across the strewn items to find a comfy spot. Rosie jumped up on the bed, staring at me expectantly as she sat down. Mama had a drawer like this, she hid money in it. I pried it open from the bottom, and a pile of letters fell out. Letters addressed to Jake, but in my mother’s handwriting. I sat on the bed and picked one up.

Skimming over the contents, she was cryptic in how she worded things, and it didn’t make sense. 

J,

We are settled here, and though things are hard, we will be fine. You need to stay away for a while; I know this will be hard. I know you are conflicted in our situation. Know you have done the right thing. Time will tell if other arrangements need to be made. For now, thank you for everything you did, and continue to do, for us. We are sorry for putting you through this. In the end, if anything goes awry, know that I understand she must go back. Until then, she belongs with us. Let his ignorance be his bliss. Our silence is a golden ray of protection.

love,

E

What was that supposed to mean? Who was he? And who were we? By the date, I was just a baby, not even one. My father died before I was born. I picked up another letter.

J,

I understand your desire for her to meet her people, especially considering what you saw while you were here. She has dreams, Jake. Let her live a little before she enters that world. I know you would never force it on her. She’s a strong girl and a smart one, too. You are right, she deserves the opportunity to know where she comes from. My days are numbered, and inevitably, my say won't matter anymore. I know we argued while you were here about it, but watching her as I often watch you doing, makes me realize, she is her father's child, but she has her mother's heart. I’m being selfish now, but when I’m gone, you have my blessing to take her home. Let her decide which world she belongs to. Over the years, I overlooked her struggles as those of any common child. However, I see now, she's much more extraordinary than I have given her credit for over the years. Where I have reared her, you have been her confidant. Maybe she never belonged with me, but I do know she would have never shone this brightly if she were raised otherwise. Maybe she needs to be among her own now to shine brighter.

love,

E

Why was Mom signing with the letter E? Her name was Alice. What mysteries was I missing here? Mom thought I should be here too? They had meticulously made sure I got here, whether Uncle Jake was alive or dead, after Mom died. What did they know before the end? My head swam with possibilities I didn’t have the mind space for. I put the letters back into the hiding space, along with the drawer.

Maybe she needs to be among her own to shine brighter…Maybe I should give it a try? She was right, I never fit in, always pushed against the mold. For mom, I’d do this. If I hated it, I just wouldn’t go out again. I was always the girl with few friends, if any. I’d go back to keeping to myself, but Carter wasn’t going to miss out on life just to babysit me. I made my way to the kitchen and grabbed a beer, and took it with me into the shower, where I cleared my head. I’d leave the mysteries to another day; keep them to myself until I could make sense of them later.

Rosie stared at me as I tried to decide what to wear after my shower. This felt like meeting Carter’s parents for dinner instead of drinks and pizza. I had tried to go light on the makeup, but I hated looking back at the ghost of corporate Analaide in the mirror. I darkened it up, and flared the wing with jet black liner over the soft brown I had started with, a burgundy on my lower lid, and blurred that out to a soft glam goth look, and  immediately felt better. Boyfriend jeans and a loose pink sweater? It was something I ordered in case I needed to be ‘presentable’, I had laid it out on my bed and cringed internally. 

A knock came at the door, and Rosie wagged her tail and circled excitedly. Tucker roused from his place on my pillow in the now mostly put-together room. The boxes of things to keep; photos, momentos, and random things I wasn’t sure if I wanted to part with were up against the wall with the random bike parts I hadn’t lugged over to the shop.

I walked through the house, knowing who was there, but out of precaution and Beck’s warning to always be sure who was at the door, I peeked through the peephole and found Carter standing there.

When I opened the door in nothing but a towel, my hair was wrapped up in another one. Carter bit his lip. I hated it when he did that; if I were wearing panties, they would have melted right off. He was too sexy for his own good. He made me wonder what real sex was like, and for me, right now, that was a no-no. What was wrong with me? Carter, that's what, he was sex on a stick. It didn’t matter what he was or wasn’t wearing; sometimes his eyes bored into me like they did now, like a hungry animal, and I wanted to satisfy his appetite. Down girl. I told myself as I let him in and he followed me into the bedroom. 

He looked from me to the clothes on the bed and frowned. “You're nervous, aren’t you?” I crossed my arms across my chest and refused to answer. He cupped my cheeks and looked down at me, tilting my face up to look at him. “Be yourself, Briar. They will love you, trust me, my friends aren’t trying to judge you. They’re just trying to figure out who you are, so show them the real you.”

Now that was a big ask, after my thoughts today. I gave him a sheepish smile and looked down. He saw right through me; he never missed much. He tilted my chin back up, his thumb resting in the cleft. “Surprise me,” he said, before walking out. I stared at my closet, and a smirk crossed my lips. Surprise him, he said, so I did.