Page 46 of Falling for the Wife

It had been a month and three days since I’d seen her last. After she walked out of my room, Gisele had ignored the text message I sent her precisely a week after that fated afternoon. It was merely to inquire how she was doing, but she stubbornly ignored it, shutting me out of her life completely. Although I communicated with the security team in charge of the compound, I hadn’t spoken to any of the household staff. I’d been informed about Gisele’s daily ins and outs. She went out every single night without fail and would come home in the wee hours of the morning. Partied, she did, but she hadn’t missed a class, either. The report also stated she brought people into the house. I didn’t feel the inclination to probe if they were men, too. The idea of her responding to Wyatt the way she did with my touch sent me to a hellish place, and I’d rather not go there, not when I’d made great progress in staying away from her.

It was past midnight when I entered my home. Since Audrey had made sure the caterer sent me dinner in my work suite, I didn’t need to worry about meals and so forth. Had I been in charge of my daily intake of food, I’d most likely have skipped meals since I didn’t like to be bothered when I was in the middle of breaking ground in projects. Food wasn’t truly high on my priority list. It was a good thing I had hired competent people around me to shove it down my throat, or I’d be starved to death.

Strolling towards the bar, I pulled the phone out of my pocket and answered my mother’s call. “Women your age should be asleep at this hour. What are you doing up and about, mum?” A smile played about my lips. Hearing from my mother always brought one. She’d been a rock, raising me on her own, supporting me through everything.

“Times have changed; have you not noticed? Women in their sixties once upon a time were stuck in their deathbeds or planning out their wills. These days, my lot hunts for men in their late twenties for a quick tumble in bed. Exciting, isn’t it?”

My hand let go of the bottle’s nozzle, carefully setting it back on the counterpane as I let my mother’s words sink in. “Are you bloody shagging someone close to my age, mother?” The very idea of it made me want to laugh and yell at the same time.

“Oh, dear, did I forget to tell you?”

“You bloody well did!” My nose flared as I raked a hand through my hair. “And who is this lucky man? I need information on him!”

She chortled. “Son, if the time ever comes I have a man in my life, I won’t give you his details. Calm down, bossy pants. I’m watching this show online. It’s rather difficult to think of sleep when the next episode calls upon you to keep going.”

I snickered at the thought of her passing out on her couch with an empty bottle of wine in her hand. “If the time ever comes you meet a man worthy enough of you, then I won’t meddle…but until then, mother, count on your son to pry into your business.”

“I’ll bemoan to your wife until she persuades you to stop snooping about.” She delightfully chuckled. “How is Gisele? Have you been treating her well, my son?”

My wife. My mother knew we entered an arranged one, but she saw Gisele as ‘my wife,’ nonetheless. “I believe she’s well…probably mourning Peter still.” Amongst other things. One need not guess she’d inevitably surrounded herself with lapping men in her wake.

“Youbelieveshe’s well. Did you two break up, Jared?”

This would’ve been the case if she and I ever were together. But we never were. I made sure of that. “We’re living our lives as we see fit. I see no harm in that.”

“The only harm here is you letting go of someone who only has eyes for you. How could you leave your young wife when she’s so in love with you? You left her so soon after Peter’s death, too. That’s quite heartless of you to punish her like that. It’s too harsh even for you, Jared.” My mum was distraught, almost angry even. “Poor child, she must be so heartbroken.”

“Christ, she’s not in love with me, mother!” I gritted out. “I had to leave because she’s too…too young…too determined and fucking too much of everything I vowed to avoid. Gisele deserves better—she does. Why must she endure my presence when I have nothing to offer her? She’s better off. Someday, she’ll understand.”

“You’re obviously blind! And what do you mean by too much? It’s been ten years since Paige died. Don’t you think it’s high time you moved on and found someone to settle with instead of hopping from one woman to the next? It’s time to forgive yourself. It’s not your fault they died, my love. Stop blaming yourself. I know you still do.”

My mum would never understand the eternal guilt I endured. No one ever did. So, I stayed tight-lipped whenever she brought Paige and Penny into the conversation. Tonight was no exception.

“You’re going to regret letting her go,” my mom continued her spiel after a prolonged silence on my part.

“There’s nothing to regret when there’s nothing between Gisele and me, mum. She and I mean nothing to each other. I beg of you, stop harping on the bloody fucking subject!”

“Don’t you dare curse at me, Jared!”

“I’m sorry,” I muttered, detesting how my temper was getting the best of me. “It’s been such a grave week. Forgive me. I didn’t mean to disrespect you.”

I wasn’t a mommy’s boy, but one thing my mother had taught me since the beginning of time was to never dare curse at her. And I never did…up until tonight.

“You have to get yourself sorted, young man, or you’ll end up like your father. Always onto the next best thing, never settling because he deemed himself too good for anybody,” she somberly said, aching for her son’s chaotic life choices.

“That isn’t the case with me at all—”

“So, are you telling me there’s no other woman in your life apart from Gisele?” she pressed on, clearly unconvinced.

Damn. “No, you know me too well to even ask me this.”

“I pray she finds someone else, then. She’s too precious to be alone at a difficult time of her life. And if that day ever comes, I hope you won’t intervene in her affairs. Promise me that you won’t, Jared.”

“I promise,” I half-heartedly said, feeling the full impact of her words hitting me where it hurt most.

My mother and I chatted for a few more minutes before ending our conversation. Though she was displeased with my decision pertaining to Gisele, it couldn’t be denied how she became fond of her as well.

My mother’s words rung into my mind.How could you leave your young wife when she’s so in love with you?