Something About Lorelei (16 page)

Jack

The next morning, I got up, showered, and woke Hope up to get ready for school. I headed downstairs and made a pot of coffee. A few moments later, she walked into the kitchen.

“What’s for breakfast?” she asked.

Oh shit
. “Umm…what do you want?” Of all times for Madeline to be gone.

“Pancakes,” she spoke as she climbed up on the stool in front of the island.

“I don’t have pancakes.”

“What do you have?” She propped her elbows on the counter.

“Let me look.” Opening the pantry, I found it was pretty bare. I walked over to the refrigerator and opened it. “I have eggs.”

“Okay. I’ll have scrambled eggs and toast.”

“I only have wheat bread.”

“Yuck.” She made a face. “Just eggs then.” She sighed.

I took out the carton of eggs and grabbed a frying pan from the bottom cabinet. After cracking them in a bowl, I heated the pan and poured them in.

“Coffee?” I asked as I held up the pot.

“I don’t drink coffee.” She giggled.

“You don’t? I thought all kids drank coffee.” I smiled.

“I’ll have orange juice please because I’m sure you don’t have apple.”

A burnt smell suddenly filled the air. “Oh shit! The eggs!” I ran over to the pan.

“You said a bad word.”

“Sorry. Don’t tell your mom.” I tried to scrape the eggs from the pan.

“Did you put butter in the pan before pouring the eggs in?” she asked.

“No.” I sighed and looked at my watch. “Grab your school stuff. We’re going out to breakfast.”

“But I’ll be late for school.”

“No you won’t. Hurry up.”

I threw the pan in the sink and grabbed my phone from the counter.

“Hello, Jack.”

“Tony, I’m taking Hope down the street to that diner for breakfast. Pick us up there in about forty-five minutes. We have to hurry or she’ll be late for school.”

I heard snickering on the other end. “I will be there.”

“Ready,” Hope said as she walked into the kitchen with her coat on and her backpack over her shoulder.

We walked out of the building and down to the diner. When we were seated, I told the waitress that we were in a hurry and I slipped her a twenty-dollar bill to expedite our breakfast. Hope got her pancakes and orange juice and I just ordered a bagel and coffee.

“I’m going to pick you up from school today and we’ll go visit your mom, but we have to go to the grocery store after to get some food.”

“Okay. Mr. Sutton?”

“Yes, Hope.”

“You didn’t pack me a lunch.”

“Shit!”

“You said a bad word again.”

“I’m stressed, Hope. I can say that when I’m stressed. Just don’t tell your mom. Can you buy lunch?”

“I don’t like the school’s food.”

“Just this once? Please?” I begged.

She sat across from me shaking her head no.

“Okay. Don’t worry. I’ll make sure your lunch is delivered. What do you like?”

“Peanut butter and jelly is fine. Or I like ham and cheese.”

After rushing through breakfast, I told Tony to step on it.

“We’re going to be late,” Hope said.

“No, we aren’t.”

“Yes, we are.”

“Hope, we won’t be late.”

We were late. Just as Tony pulled up to the building, the doors shut and we were locked out.

“Ugh!” I placed my hand on my head.

“Told ya we were going to be late. Just push this button.”

I did and the door unlocked. As we stepped inside, there was a manly looking woman standing at the entrance with her arms folded.

“I apologize. Traffic was bad.”

The woman glared at me and then looked down at Hope. “You may go to your classroom, honey.”

“Bye, Mr. Sutton.” Hope smiled as she waved.

“Bye, Hope. Have a good day.”

****

By time I got to the hospital, I was exhausted. I had no idea how Lorelei did this full-time and by herself. I carefully opened the door to her room and saw she was awake. As I stepped inside, she looked at me.

“Jack,” she softly spoke.

Walking over to her bed, I placed my hand on hers. “How are you feeling?”

She shrugged. “Like shit.”

I gave her a small smile.

“How’s Hope?”

“She’s good. I just dropped her off at school.”

“Thank you.” She picked up Luna. “I’m sorry I missed you both last night.”

“Don’t apologize. You need your rest. I’ll be bringing her by after school.”

“She isn’t giving you a hard time, is she?”

“Nah. She’s a good kid.”

“Good. Words can’t express how grateful I am that you’re looking after her. I don’t know how I’ll ever repay you.”

I gave her a tender smile as I lightly squeezed her hand.

“It’s the least I can do since you do so much for me.”

“What do I do for you, Jack?”

“God, I don’t think there’s enough time to list everything. You get my coffee every morning, you put up with my yelling, you pick up my clothes from the cleaners. Hell, Lorelei, you even buy my condoms.”

“All those things are part of my job.”

“Maybe so, but this is my way of repaying you.”

“Can you do me a favor?” she asked.

“Anything.”

“Could you go back to my apartment and get my phone. It’s on my nightstand.”

“Of course. I’ll bring it by later. I better get going. You need your rest and I have to get to the office.” I leaned over and pressed my lips against her forehead. “I’ll see you later, Lorelei.”

“Bye, Jack.”

After Tony dropped me off at the office, I handed him the keys to Lorelei’s apartment and asked him to get her phone and bring it to me. I also asked him to grab her sketchbook. Maybe once she started to feel a little better, she would want it.

My first mission was to get Hope’s lunch to her. Sitting at my desk, I called the deli down the street.

“I need to order a ham and cheese sandwich on white bread. Also, throw in a bag of chips.”

“Is there anything else, Mr. Sutton?”

“Do you have any fruit?”

“We have apples.”

“Put an apple in the bag and one of your fresh baked chocolate chip cookies. I need it delivered to Hope Flynn at Sunnyview Elementary School in Harlem.”

“We don’t deliver that far.”

I sighed. “Okay. Have it delivered here to my office at eleven fifteen sharp.”

“Will do, Mr. Sutton.”

After ending the call, a text message from Coco came through.

“On my way to LA. I thought you like to have these. They’re sweet, Jack.”

She sent the two pictures she took of me and Hope. I closed out of it as Garrett walked in my office.

“How’s Hope?” he asked.

“She’s fine.”

“She’s an adorable little girl.”

I smiled. “Yeah. She looks so much like Lorelei.”

“Anyway, do you need me to call the temp agency to send over someone until Lorelei gets back?”

“Nah. Lorelei is such a good PA, I’m afraid she’s spoiled me. Anyone that would replace her wouldn’t be good enough and I’d end up making them cry.”

“Okay. That’s all I wanted to know.”

“How was dinner with my sister last night?”

“It was good. Why?”

I shrugged. “I was just curious. That’s all. It was odd running into the two of you there.”

He narrowed his eye at me. “We talked earlier in the day and I told her I was going to visit Lorelei. She said she was going as well and that we should go together. Neither one of us had eaten, so we decided to stop and have dinner after. Is that a problem, Jack?”

“No. No problem.”

Shortly after Garrett walked out of my office, Tony walked in with Lorelei’s phone.

“Ah, good. I’m going to need you to drop off Hope’s lunch to her at school as soon as it gets here.”

Tony gave me a small smile.

“What? What’s that look for?” I asked.

“Nothing, Jack.” He continued smiling.

Jack

Hope walked out of the school and approached me with a sad look on her face. Patting her head, I asked, “What’s wrong?”

“I’m one of the top ten students in the school who made the final spelling bee round. It’s tomorrow for all the parents and my mom can’t be there because she’s in the hospital.” She looked down and slumped her shoulders as we headed to the car.

I didn’t know what to say to her. She looked so sad.

“What time is the spelling bee? Maybe I can come and watch you.”

Tony looked at me through the rearview mirror.

She reached inside her backpack and pulled out a note, handing it to me.

“It says here that the spelling bee is at one o’clock. One o’clock is a good time for me. I’ll schedule you in.” I gave her a wink.

“Really?” she said in excitement. “You’ll really come?”

“Sure. Since your mom can’t be there, I will be. But do me a favor, let’s not mention this to her because she’ll feel really bad that she can’t be there and we don’t want her worrying about it.”

“Deal.” She smiled. “Will you study the words with me after we visit my mom?”

“I think I can do that. But after we visit your mom, we’re going to have Mr. Tony take us to the store. We need to get some food for the house.”

“Okay.”

We arrived at the hospital and Hope ran to Lorelei’s bedside and gave her a hug.

“I’ve missed you so much, baby.” She kissed her head. “Thank you for leaving Luna here to keep me company.”

“You’re welcome. How are you feeling?”

“A little bit better. How was school today?”

“It was great. Mr. Sutton forgot to pack me a lunch, but he sent one over to the school and it had a cookie in it.”

Lorelei glanced up at me and a small smile crossed her lips.

“He burnt the eggs this morning, so we had to hurry and get breakfast from a diner down the street. We were late for school.” She giggled.

“I see. Well, at least you made it there.”

Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out Lorelei’s phone and handed it to her.

“Thanks, Jack.”

“You’re welcome. Any more news from the doctor?”

“He said I’ll still be in here for a couple of more days.” She coughed as she rested her hand on her chest.

“It’s better that way, Lorelei. You need to get a hundred percent better. You don’t want a relapse.”

“That’s what the doctor said. How’s everything going at the office?”

“The office is fine. I don’t want you worrying about that. I brought you something else.”

“You did?”

“Hold on a second and I’ll go grab it.” I walked out of the room and met Tony in the hall where he handed me Lorelei’s sketchbook.

Her face lit up as I walked back into the room and handed it to her.

“I thought you would like to have this in case you get bored.”

“Thank you, Jack. I can’t believe you brought this.”

After visiting Lorelei for a while, Hope and I headed to the store. I knew nothing about grocery stores because I never shopped. Madeline always took care of that for me. I grabbed a basket and Hope and I walked around as she threw some snacks into it.

“What do you want for dinner?” I asked.

“Hot dogs and macaroni and cheese.”

“A hot dog I can make. As for macaroni and cheese, I don’t know how to do that.”

She picked up the blue box of Kraft macaroni and cheese and handed it to me.

“The directions are on the side. All you have to do is follow them.”

I raised my brow as I looked down at her. “Is this stuff any good?”

“Yes. It’s one of my favorites.” She smiled. “You never had that before?”

“No. I haven’t. But if you say it’s good, I’ll take your word for it.” I winked.

When we arrived back at the penthouse, I grilled a couple of hot dogs and made the macaroni and cheese according to the box while Hope sat at the island and looked over her spelling bee words. I set our plates down and took a seat next to her while we ate and I helped her with her words.

Suddenly, I heard the elevator doors open, and when I turned around, my mother walked into the kitchen with a shocked expression on her face.

“What is going on here? And who’s that?” she asked.

“Mother this is Hope, Lorelei’s daughter. Hope, this is my mother.”

She walked over to the island and stared down at our plates.

“Are you eating hot dogs and macaroni and cheese?” she asked with a look of disgust on her face.

“Yes, we are.” I took a spoonful of macaroni and shoved it in my mouth with a smile on my face.

“Oh for God’s sake, Jack. May I ask why this child is here in your home? Where’s Lorelei?”

“My name is Hope and my mom is in the hospital with pneumonia.”

“Oh. Sorry to hear that.”

“Mr. Sutton is looking after me while she’s getting better.”

“He is?” My mother looked at me.

“I am.”

She slowly shook her head in disbelief and then asked to speak with me in my office. Following behind her, I shut the door.

“What’s going on?”

“Bradley didn’t steal the money from the company. I had him put the money in an offshore account for Joshua.”

“Joshua? What the hell does he have to do with this?”

“He’s blackmailing me.”

There was a light knock at the door. “Mr. Sutton?” I heard Hope speak.

“We’ll be finished in a minute, Hope. Go study your words.”

“Okay.”

I turned back to my mother. “You better tell me what’s going on now!”

She took in a deep breath and took a seat behind my desk.

“He found out about something I did.”

I cocked my head and narrowed my eyes at her. “And what did he find out?”

She looked down and crossed her hands.

“Mother?”

“He found out that I had hired someone to go to work for Flourishing Fashion Magazine. I had them spy on Dee Sanders and then report back to me about their plans for their seasonal debuts.”

“What?” I gasped. “You sent in a mole to steal their ideas and report back to you?”

“I’m not proud. But you need to understand that they were a new, upcoming magazine that was taking off way too quickly and Sutton magazine was suffering because of them. I wasn’t about to let my company that I built from the ground up go into ruins.”

Anger riveted throughout my body. “So you stole their ideas and made sure that Sutton Magazine’s issues went out first?”

“Yes, and I don’t have any regrets.”

“So you were responsible for Flourishing closing their doors.”

“Yes. I suppose so.”

“My God, Mother. How can you live with yourself?”

“This is a cut throat business, Jack. You know that. I’ve sacrificed my entire life for this company.”

“I know, and you also sacrificed your children.”

“That’s not fair, son.”

I ran my hand through my hair as I paced around my office. “So Joshua’s blackmailing you to keep quiet?”

“Yes. He said if I don’t pay him the money, he will go to the press.”

“I can’t talk to you about this right now. I have a little girl out there that needs me to help her study for her spelling bee. We’ll talk about this tomorrow.”

“Our company could be at stake here, and all you can think about is that child and a spelling bee?”

“Yes. Because her mom is in the hospital and she needs someone. Just like I needed someone growing up. But unfortunately, Coco and I were always pushed to the side.”

“That child isn’t your responsibility, Jack. She’s your PA’s child, for God’s sake.”

“It doesn’t matter whose child she is. Now I suggest you leave. We’ll talk about this further as soon as Coco gets back from LA.”

I opened the door and walked out into the living room. Hope was sitting on the couch with her spelling list in her hand.

“It was nice to meet you,” Hope spoke.

My mother turned around, frowned at her, and stepped into the elevator.

“She seems kind of mean,” Hope spoke as she looked at me.

“She is.”