One Weekend with the Billionaire Chapter 72

*Julia*

My phone is lighting up like a Christmas tree. Not the new phone that Braxton gave me, but my old one. It’s Jeff. He’s called and texted more times than I can count, and I'm not sure what to do about it.

It’s only been a few hours since Braxton left to go to work. I’m trying to paint, the picture on the canvas starting to take shape more than it had the day before. It’s clear now what direction the figures want me to go in, and I’m doing my best to be true to them, letting them speak to me with every stroke of my brush. The colors are bold--red, blue, purple, on a field of black and navy--and it’s quite clear that the two people who are filling up the center of the canvas are in love. They compel me to tell their story, to let the world know just how it feels to finally find one’s soulmate.

But interruptions keep dragging my eyes away. I know i don’t have to have both of my phones in the room with me. In fact, it would probably make more sense for me to just throw my old phone out. I could transfer all of my old numbers to my new phone and text the few people I want to have my new number so that they know how to get a hold of me, but I haven’t done that yet, and I know there’s a reason for that.

Getting rid of my old phone is cutting a tie to who I was before, and I’m not sure I can do that yet. I’m not sure I can step away from that old life completely and say that the old Julia is dead and gone. Not because I don’t want to but because I am afraid.

I’m afraid this is all a dream. Not a real, “I’m asleep” right now dream, but something I’ve just wished into existence, something that can’t last, that won’t last. I’m afraid Braxton will come home any day now and tell me that it’s over, that he doesn’t really love me, that I’m not the woman he thought I was or this has all been an experiment to see if a man like him could fall in love with a woman like me, and it turns out he can’t. I know it’s wrong for me to doubt him, to cast a shadow on the love he’s proclaimed for me, but I can’t help it. Never in my life have things worked out this way for me, so it’s difficult for me to believe that it’s real. I keep thinking, in the back of my mind, that eventually, I will be back with Jeff, in our dingy apartment, making him dinner at night and bracing myself for him to use me in the morning. It’s enough to bring tears to my eyes.

So… when I see Jeff’s text that says, “It’s for your own good, Julia. Talk to me!” I pick up the phone and text him back, rather than just tossing the phone across the room.

“I don’t want to talk to you,” I say. “Whatever you want to say, just text it.”

He has never been one for texting, rather than calling. My phone rings. I should ignore it. I don’t. “What?” I say, pulling it to my ear, regretting it the second I hear his familiar voice.

He sounds on edge, desperate, and maybe a little sad. “Julia!” He says my name like I am the only one that can keep him from plummeting off of a fifty-story building to his death. “Thank God you answered.”

Again, I ask him, “What do you want?”

“I need to speak to you,” he says. “In person.”

“No!” There’s no question in my mind that that’s not happening. I will not see Jeff again, hopefully ever, if I have any control over it.

“Julia, listen, I don’t think you understand the amount of trouble Braxton is in over this. He’s going to lose everything. Everything! That fancy house you’re staying in, that speedy jet you use to vacation all over the world, all of those cars and pieces of art… it’s all going to be mine soon enough. He’s really screwed up this time. And my lawyer is the best. He’ll get it all from him. All of it.”

I listen to what Jeff has to say, not sure how true it is. The thought that Braxton could actually lose everything over me makes my stomach knot up. I know, if I asked him, he’d say that he would trade it all for me, but I don’t know how that could be true. Wouldn’t he resent me for costing him his fortune? Eventually? I know I’d feel guilty about it forever. Still, I have to wonder what it is that Braxton’s done that could make Jeff be able to claim everything he owns. “I don’t believe you,” I say.

“Well, I guess you will when you see it in court, baby. Listen, Julia, I’m sorry. I really am. I know I didn’t treat you right. I took you for granted. That will never happen again, I promise. But you've got to remember. We made a promise to each other. We’re married, Julia. You’re my wife. Mine!” His anger gets the better of him with that last word, and he has to take a moment to rein it back in. “I love you, Julia. You need to come home.”

I don’t believe a word he’s saying, but it brings a tear to my eye. The thought that maybe he really did love me once has me tearing up, thinking about how much I used to love him. But it’s been a couple of years since I felt like he loved me, too. I’ve learned so much about how to love someone from just the short amount of time I’ve spent with Braxton. I can’t let Jeff’s lies poison my thoughts anymore.

“I have to go,” I tell him.

“Julia… please.” He is begging me now. Not just to stay on the phone, but to come back to him.

“Don’t call me again,” I say and then I hang up, swiping angrily at the tears that have clouded my vision.

I am not surprised when my phone rings again, immediately, and it is Jeff. Not giving a damn about what I just said.