Читать книгу Love Is Blind - Rodney Suggs - Страница 9

Chapter 5

Deep within my intuition, I knew Janet still loved David, but was she in love with him was the bigger question. Janet called my cell several times, and each time, I sent her to voicemail. There had been enough arguing for the night, and all I wanted to do was find a nice hotel close by to get some sleep. I was so close to telling Janet to get the fuck out of my house, but realized if I had done that, she would have taken Iliana too out of spite just to hurt me even more.

After checking into a hotel, I ordered room service before directing my attention to the stocked bar that sat next to the window overlooking the city. I indulged in several drinks before passing out across the bed.

The next morning when I woke up, I sat on the edge of the bed with a slight hangover contemplating on getting dressed. In the midst of all of that, I noticed my cell phone was dead.

“I’ll take that as a sign,” I muttered as I leaned toward the desk phone to call the office to let them know I’d be working from home for the day.

Later on that day, once I got my faculties in order, I decided to head home. When I pulled into the driveway, I pressed the opener to watch the five garage doors open simultaneously. I took a quick inventory from left to right of what cars were there: Aston Martin, Mercedes-Benz CL550, Range Rover, and Cadillac Escalade were all parked in their respective slots. Damn it! I was hoping she’d be gone! Still nursing my hangover, the last thing I wanted to deal with was a damn argument. Féch had already come and gone leaving breakfast for everyone to eat. I had no outlet to decompress before the battle. She left a note on the table that read:

Sorry I missed everyone this morning. Dinner has been prepared in advance and is in the fridge. I’m catering an executive banquet this evening, so I will be unavailable. Sorry for any inconvenience.

Féch

It seemed like it took forever just to walk up the stairs to the bedroom because I knew the moment I saw Janet, there was going to be another blowup. I noticed the light was still on in Iliana’s room, so I opened the door to shut it off. To my surprise, there she lay in bed doing what appeared to be homework.

“What are you still doing here?”

Startled, Iliana damn near jumped to the ceiling like a cat out of a cartoon.

“Dad, you scared me!”

“I’m sorry, sunshine,” I replied, slightly chuckling. “You should be in school right now. So what are you doing here?” I asked in a much more stern voice.

“I went downstairs for breakfast this morning, but you weren’t there. So I waited a while once I was done because I thought maybe you were running late to take me to school. Mom came down and told me that you were gone. She called the school and told them I was sick and then told me to just hang out in my room for the day,” she explained.

“What?! Why the hell didn’t she just take you to school herself? You know what, don’t answer that. Just forget it. You have a science test today, right?” I asked.

“Yep. You remembered?” Iliana responded puzzled and a little worried.

“It’s my job to, and we worked off your study guide just the other day, so I know how much you wanted to ace it. Why do you ask me like you are not prepared for it?” I asked with irritation all in my face.

“Dad, I reviewed a little when I got to my room, but after last night I just went to bed. So no, I’m not totally ready,” she said.

How could I be mad after an honest response like that? She could have easily lied to me. Hell, I even called off work because of last night. “You’re right. You should be able to take your test with a clear mind so you can be successful,” I said as I sat down at the edge of the bed next to her. “Now, let’s talk about what actually happened last night between you and your mother. How are you doing with everything that’s happened?” I asked.

“I’m okay now, but I still don’t want to see him, Dad. Mom said I have no choice, but I shouldn’t be forced to,” she said. Iliana began to breathe heavy as tears rolled down her face. I felt as if I had torn the wound back open again.

“I’ll talk things over with your mother to see how the three of us will handle this. How does that sound?” I said as I wrapped my arms around her.

“I’m good with that.”

“There’s one last thing that I need to address before we end this conversation, and that’s you calling your mother a bitch,” I said as I released her. Iliana put her pen down, then closed her book, and looked directly at me. “Sweetheart, no matter how mad you get, no matter how old you are, you never disrespect your mother. You only get one, so you must cherish her through the good, bad, and the ugly.”

“You’re right, Dad. I’m sorry.”

“Study hard for me, and I’ll check back in on you in a few. Make this right and apologize to your mother as well,” I said before leaving the room.

Moving toward the master bedroom like a soldier ready for battle, I was fuming from what I’d just found out. How in the hell could Janet allow this child to miss school because she didn’t feel like taking her? I was more than ready to argue at this point, and that feeling grew stronger with each footstep. I pushed the door open harder than necessary and stepped inside only to find the bedroom empty.

“Fuck it,” I said, then changed into my workout gear, and headed off to the basement to blow off some steam.

Once I finished my workout, I noticed the lights in the sauna were on. I didn’t leave those lights on, did I? I thought to myself as I walked down the hallway to turn them off. Once I opened the door, I saw Janet lying face up on top of a towel, completely naked. She was totally relaxed with earbuds in her ears listening to music as I stood there caught in the moment gazing at her beautiful body. She finally opened her eyes and slowly turned to face toward the door. I supposed it was the cold air coming from outside into the sauna that woke her.

“Do you need to come in here and be by yourself? If so, I will leave. If not, please join me,” she said once she pulled her buds out. I continued staring. I was lost in a trance admiring her figure. The stream of sweat that rolled off the side of her breast was quite a sight.

“No, you’re fine. I’ll leave. I thought I left the lights on, so I was going to shut them off. Sorry for interrupting,” I said, closing the door.