The Inheritance (Forever Bound #1) (9 page)

“I know that this comes as a complete shock to you, and I am obviously wasting my breath, but listen to me carefully. I. Don’t. Need. A. Woman. Just drop it.”

They reached the courthouse, and Jesse held the door open as Derek entered. “Can’t I have a little fun with you?” Jesse asked. “Geesh!” He laughed, stopping as he reached the hallway leading to his office. “It’s been fun, Derek. See you tomorrow night?”

Derek frowned. “Tomorrow night? What’s tomorrow night?” He smirked and headed to the elevator, hearing Jesse’s words behind him. He could joke with his friend, too. He got into the elevator and punched in his floor number, then rode it to the top of the building. Once he got off, he approached Lily’s desk. “Like pie?” he asked.

She smiled, eyes wide. “Of course!”

He handed her the box. “Enjoy!” He left her desk as she quickly opened the box.

“What’s this?” she asked.

He turned around to find her holding up a piece of paper. She unfolded it and a grin appeared her lips. “Who’s Holly?” she asked.

He walked back to her desk and snatched the paper from her hand. The note simply read, call me sometime, Holly. Her number was scrawled on the piece of paper. “No one!” he replied, turning away from her.

She laughed. “Your face says otherwise! It’s red.”

He rolled his eyes. “Whatever!” He quickly walked towards his office, with Lily laughing in the background.

Once he was in his office, he started to toss the paper into the trash, then changed his mind and tossed it in a desk drawer. The only thought was that it could get people off his back, and he would do just about anything to make that happen.

***

Charity got out of work right on time. She had a change of clothes she could change into, so she didn’t have to wear her grungy work clothes. She was out the door in record time. Not so much because she couldn’t wait to get to Jesse’s house, but because she figured the sooner she got there, the sooner she could leave.

She hated having that feeling, but she wasn’t interested in mingling with Jesse and Ana’s friends. She punched the address of Jesse’s, which Ana had texted her, into her phone and waited for it to calculate the directions. According to the phone, she looked at a drive of ten minutes. That wasn’t nearly enough time to unravel her thoughts. She pushed her way to Jesse’s house, and when she got to his street, she took a right. She drove down the road until it said
your destination is on the right.
She stopped up against the curb and stared at the driveway. “This can’t be right,” she mumbled. She glanced up at the house address and frowned when it said the address she was given. Plus, she noticed Ana’s car in the driveway. It just didn’t make any sense. The house seemed like a lawyer would live in it. That wasn’t the problem. She was just confused as to why there were only three cars in the driveway. “Maybe everyone else just happens to be coming later than me,” she stated to herself.

She got out of the car and locked it, then walked up to the door and knocked. When no one came after a couple minutes of waiting, she rang the doorbell. The door swung open, and Ana greeted her. “I’m so glad you’re here.” She welcomed her in, but Charity remained cautious. Ana noticed the reaction. “Something wrong?” Ana asked.

Charity entered the foyer. “Where is everyone? I thought the party started five minutes ago?” She whispered so no one would hear her.

Ana shrugged. “Didn’t I tell you? Hm…I thought I told you.”

“Tell…me…what?” Charity asked.

Ana smiled. “It was so last minute, and we tried to get a party together, but unfortunately you and Jesse’s friend are the only ones coming. Follow me!” She giddily left Charity standing there. Charity tried to catch up to her, but before she could, she was already in the backyard. That’s when she noted something she didn’t expect. Standing next to Jesse, he casually sipped on a beer. Mayor Worthington was the other guest.

Charity glanced at Ana and Ana watched her. No words were needed; the message was loud and clear. “Hey, Charity!” Jesse called from the grill.

Mayor Worthington looked up, and his eyes went straight to Charity’s. At first, she thought maybe he didn’t recognize her, but then it seemed to hit him. Jesse put the cover on the grill, and they both walked over to her. “Charity Parker, I’d like you to meet Mayor Derek Worthington. Derek, this is Charity.”

Derek placed his hand out to her, and she momentarily stared at it, then slowly responded with a handshake. “Mayor Worthington…I wasn’t expecting to see you here.”

“Please…call me, Derek, tonight.” He casually glanced at Jesse, and he didn’t look pleased. “You’re not the only one surprised.” He paused. “Where do I know you from?” he asked. She started to open her mouth and say he gave her that ridiculous large tip the other day at the Diner, but he corrected himself. “Actually, I remember. You work at Bill’s Diner, right?”

She nodded and looked at Ana, who seemed rather invested in their conversation. She smiled, and Charity quickly looked away. “You are correct. I just didn’t know you were friends with Jesse.”

He hit Jesse on the shoulder, and Jesse pretended he was hurt by uttering
‘Ow.'
Jesse and I go way back. What about you and Ana?” It was like they were the only two people in the backyard, carrying on a conversation as if they were on a date and getting to know one another. Jesse and Ana remained quiet throughout the whole encounter. In fact, shortly after Derek asked the question, Jesse went back to the grill to make sure the burgers and hot dogs weren’t burning, and Ana left to prepare the condiment table.

“We have been best friends most our lives,” she responded. She looked past him, then brought her eyes back up to his. “I’m going to go see if Ana could use some help. Excuse me!” She walked past him and went to the table where Ana was displaying the plates, cups, ketchup, mustard, and other necessary things to have a great barbecue. “You didn’t tell me that Mayor Worthington was Jesse’s best friend.”

She looked up, and her eyes went over to where Derek had walked back to Jesse. “Didn’t I? It must’ve slipped my mind.” She shrugged and went back to working on the table.

“Slipped your mind? How convenient,” Charity mumbled.

She helped Ana with the rest of the table, then Ana said something else. “He’s handsome…don’t you think? Even cuter than on television.” She whispered the words, so Charity was the only one to hear her.

“Maybe, but there’s an obvious reason he’s still single,” Charity huffed.

Ana stopped and looked at Charity. She smirked and shook her head. “I won’t even say it.” She turned away from the table and headed back to the house. Charity quickly followed behind.

Once inside, Charity forced her to look at her. “You won’t say what?” Charity asked.

Ana looked her in the eye and didn’t hold back as she explained what that meant. “There’s probably a reason he’s single, just like there’s a reason you’re single. You’re a beautiful girl, Charity, and you could have any guy you wanted, but you don’t. You want to be miserable, and that’s fine, but don’t judge someone else that’s single. He’s a good guy, Charity. I might have only met him today, but I can see he has a good heart. Maybe I should’ve been honest and told you that you guys were going to be the only people here, but what does it matter? Try to have some fun and not be so serious. Otherwise, you just might let an opportunity pass you by.” Ana grabbed the relish dish and left the house. Charity couldn’t move, and she couldn’t believe Ana said the things she did. She didn’t feel like she was too serious. She had a great life and wasn’t missing anything.
What opportunity is she referring to?

Like an answer to all her questions, she heard a text ding on her cell phone. She withdrew it from her pocket and found the message from Damian.

Damian: I want to see you tonight. I’ll pick up a pizza and meet you at my house at 8:30?

Charity stared at the message, then started to reply to him, explaining that she had plans, and she needed a raincheck, but as she read the message she wondered if maybe she could cut the strings now. She reread her words.

Charity: I’d love that, but already have plans tonight. Raincheck?

She slowly erased every letter and every word and stared at the blank message. She cleared out of the text message and slipped the phone back into her pocket. It was best to ignore it, and that’s exactly what she chose to do.

***

Derek felt the evening would be awkward. It was obvious they both were thrown into a situation neither one wanted to be in. However, as they sat at the table and talked, things started to become less awkward and more normal. He even found himself engaged in a conversation with Charity. Whether it was discussing the weather or ideas she had about what she wanted to see come out of the new mall project, it was real. Again, he found himself drawn to her appearance on the outside. She was a beautiful girl, with long flowing dark hair and big blue eyes, but she didn’t act like she even knew it. When she smiled or laughed, he found himself captivated and it strangely confused him.

“Ana tells me that you’re looking for another job,” Jesse said, taking a bite of his burger.

Derek took note as he remembered Jesse mentioning that, and it was clear from the get-go this was the friend that Jesse had been thrusting upon him, but it didn’t seem to be the right moment to delve into that with her. They were having a nice meal and a friendly exchange, that he didn’t want to pull away from that to discuss something that had been stressing him out for the past week.

She just nodded. “That’s right. I’ve been working at Bill’s Diner since I was in high school and I think it’s time for a change.” She didn’t make note of the position he had open, so he questioned whether she even knew. However, again Jesse was quick to point it out.

“My friend here…he has an opening for his assistant. Interested?”

Derek wanted to jump across the table and strangle Jesse. Immediately the cool and collected evening turned into the awkward night he wanted to avoid. She seemed just as uneasy as she fidgeted in her seat a couple of times, before answering. “Interested? Sure, but…” her words trailed off, and he felt compelled to save her.

“I would love for you to drop off your resume,” he stated. He got the chance to toss an aggravated look towards his friend and Jesse just winked at him. Derek quickly glanced back at Charity so she wouldn’t notice.

She looked up at him, and a smile slowly appeared on her lips. “Thank you Mayor...” she paused. “I mean, Derek. I would like that. Can I drop it off on Monday?”

He nodded. “Whatever works best for you.”

“Great!” A soft breath escaped her lips, causing a strand of hair to go up like it was the wind.

He looked down so she wouldn’t see his smile. The good thing about taking control of the conversation at that moment was he could stop things from being any more awkward. Things went back to being more like four friends reminiscing about the good ol’ days and even though he didn’t know Ana and Charity well, he felt like that’s exactly what they were.

When they finished eating, they sat around in lawn chairs and continued to talk about small things. Nothing seemed off limit. He discovered the names of various fabrics to making a dress and Jesse and him excitedly discussed the New York Yankees season. He started off the evening expecting to not stay long, but the longer he stayed, the more relaxed things were.

He stood up from his chair. “I’m going to go grab a beer from the cooler, anyone else want anything?”

Jesse and Ana both said they were fine, but Charity looked at him. “I’ll take one.” He moved to the cooler and grabbed two ice cold beers, then went back to the circle and opened her bottle before handing it to her.

“Thank you!”

He nodded. “No problem.” He sat back down and opened his and found himself staring at her a little longer than he planned to. She seemed oblivious to it, as she went back to talking to Ana. He smiled, taking a drink. Maybe he was open to a relationship after all.

***

“It was nice getting to know you, Mayor Worthington,” Charity said, shaking his hand as they walked out to their cars.

“You too, Charity. Remember…call me Derek.” He smiled a genuine smile, and she was surprised by how a simple smile could make her feel. He was warm, nice, funny, and a typical normal man during the course of the night. He wasn’t at all arrogant, as she perceived him.

She turned to Ana and Jesse. “Jesse, you have a great house and I appreciate the invite so we could all get to know one another.”

He nodded, smiling at Charity as they stood on the porch. “You’re welcome. Thank you for coming! I look forward to more evenings like this.” He wrapped his arm around Ana, and she snuggled up to him. Charity smiled at their interaction. He made Ana happy, and that’s truly what mattered.

“Ana, give me a call when you need help moving this weekend.”

“I will. Thanks, Charity.” They waved from the porch as Charity stepped off the porch and headed back to her car. When she reached her car, she looked up to find Derek had gotten in his. She opened the driver’s side door and slid into the car. Once inside she glanced at her phone. It had made so much noise that she had to silence it during the evening. She didn’t even read the messages, because she figured they were all from Damian and when she glanced at the phone she was correct, except for one.