Chapter Twenty-Six

Charlotte

Graham sat across from me, his expression passive and difficult to read. One hand still clutched the stem of his wine glass, and the other was holding the box of jewelry that I’d brought him back. His eyes searched mine, and I tried to hold it together, not to show emotion and break down. I needed to stay strong.

“That’s it?” he asked.

I was taken aback, unsure of how to respond.

I had this all built up in my mind that he would be angry, or sad. He would be bitter and argue or cajole me. He would feel betrayed and let me know that, demanding that I find a way home myself and that I return the dress. I was expecting him to yell or at least be angry.

Instead, he just looked… disappointed. His kind eyes drooped a little, and a sad little smile curled up one side of his mouth. He shrugged and took a sip of his wine and set the glass down.

“What do you mean? I don’t understand.”

He sighed and looked away for a moment, then back to me. There was no anger there. No viciousness.

“I mean, you being in love with this Jesse fellow. That’s all? That’s what you are upset about?”

“Yes?” I said, my eyes squinting as I tried to figure out where he was going with this. “That’s… that’s kind of a problem, isn’t it? To be in a relationship with someone and be in love with someone else?”

He laughed softly and shook his head.

“My dear, we are in France , are we not?”

“What?”

I was completely lost, and his genial smile wasn’t helping. I felt like there was a joke going on and I’d missed the punchline.

“Look, Charlotte, you are a beautiful woman. You are smart and accomplished and have an incredible drive to improve yourself and your station. I admire that. It’s the sign of someone who succeeds that they never stop grinding. You are a grinder.

“The fact of the matter is, I have been single for twenty years. My first wife divorced me and took half of everything I owned, and in the last twenty years, I have gained all that back and more. Multiple times over. I am wealthy beyond my wildest imagination, and so is my entire family. But I have found it boring to be wealthy alone. You understand?”

“No,” I said. “No, I can’t say I do.”

He sighed again and took another sip of his wine.

“I need a wife, Charlotte. Someone who can accompany me to events, who can be my representative when I can’t be there, who can share in my wealth and success, and one day inherit it. But I don’t want just anyone. I want someone who deserves it. Someone who understands the business and knows how hard it is to build it up to where it is now. Someone trustworthy, with respect and ambition. Someone that if I left everything to, I would know they wouldn’t just be a silent partner, letting the company fall apart while they collected checks.

“You fit that bill perfectly, Charlotte. You are all of those things, plus you are… special. Everyone loves you. Anyone that meets you raves about you. And, like me, you have spent a long time working so hard that you also have not found a partner. We found each other because neither of us had time to find someone else, or so I thought.”

“I don’t quite understand,” I said. “You wanted to be with me because you wanted me to take over for you one day?”

“In a way, yes,” he said. “But also because of all those other things I said too. And you deserve to be in this position. You deserve to be taken care of and never have to worry again. It will free you to be even more creative, even more explosive and successful. I believe that. And if you need this Jesse fellow, well, bring him along. He can live in a guest house with us. You can spend every night in his bed, and as long as we keep it quiet, you can be with him as much as you want.”

I sat dumbfounded for a long moment. His expression had never changed much. Mild amusement perhaps. Disappointment. But nothing big, nothing moving. Just mild forays into emotion. I sat back in the chair as a waiter came by, bringing an appetizer plate and setting it on the table.

“Madame,” the waiter said, offering me wine. I really shouldn’t have, but I nodded anyway. I felt like I might need a drink. When the waiter had walked away, Graham shifted in his seat and cleared his throat.

“What I am suggesting is not so strange. I understand it might be odd for someone who isn’t accustomed to it, but this is how the wealthy live. Many marriages are more of a partnership. The veneer of an intimate relationship is all that’s required, just so we can play along for cameras and those who work for us and require we be like them. Board members like married COOs better than single ones. That sort of thing.

“It's not like you would be the only one enjoying fruit on the side of your plate. If I were to find a woman while out, I would be discreet as well. No one would have to know about our personal lives. It would be a secret between you, me, and our house staff.”

He laughed. “They tend to know everything. That’s why I pay them so well. For their silence.”

“I see,” I said, a pressure sitting on my chest being lifted by the moment. He wasn’t in love with me. He never had been and probably never would be. I wasn’t sure he was capable of it. “I hope you understand, that won’t work for me.”

He sighed again, this time with a note of frustration.

“I understand,” he said. “But I am a little confused.”

“About what?” I asked.

“Why are you here?” he asked. “Not to be rude, but why did you come? You had to know what I was planning. I wasn’t subtle. I’ve found that the best way to surprise someone is to give them hints what that surprise might be. Then they are never disappointed. You must have known from my text what I was hinting at.”

“I figured it out,” I said.

“So why didn’t you just tell me? I would have understood why you didn’t want to come. It wouldn’t have affected me more than just disappointment.”

“I…”

I couldn’t get the words out. A flood of emotions was coming up, and I grabbed a napkin to dab at my eyes. I was so hurt. So confused. Nothing seemed to be going the way that it should or that made sense.

“What is it, dear?” he asked, leaning forward. He put a gentle hand on my shoulder to comfort me, and I sobbed quietly, even harder, into the napkin.

“I feel like I might have lost Jesse forever now,” I said. “I shouldn’t have come. I should have stayed there. Instead I hurt everyone. Including myself.”

“Shh, shh,” he said soothingly. “It’s going to be okay. Here, Charlotte, here.”

I looked up through tear-stained eyes to see him offering me a handkerchief from his pocket. I took it and wiped away my eyes with the soft cloth.

“Thank you.”

“Of course,” he said. “Listen. I want you to do me a favor, okay? As a parting gift of our relationship, I want you to go find this Jesse. I want you to find him and love him as I know you would have tried to love me. I want you to be happy, Charlotte. And don’t worry about work. I hold no hard feelings. I won’t stop your meteoric rise in our company, and in fact, I will be your head cheerleader.”

“Thank you,” I said through sniffles, trying to get my composure again. “I really appreciate you being so kind.”

“Absolutely,” he said. “Do you think it is imperative that you get back right away, or can you enjoy one last meal with me? As friends?”

“Are you sure?” I asked. “I must look like a mess.”

“You look beautiful, as always. This Jesse, he is a very lucky man. Let us toast to him, eh? To Jesse and Charlotte. For love. And when you are good and fed, you can either spend the night in Paris or leave under the cover of darkness, but either way, you can take my jet back. And these. I don’t need them. I want you to have them. Keep them, sell them, whatever you like. They were a gift to you.”

He slid the box of jewelry across the table to me and smiled, raising his glass. “To love?”

“To love,” I said.

He clinked his glass against mine and took a deep sip, smacking his lips playfully afterwards and sitting up in his chair.

“Now let’s eat. I am absolutely famished.”