Chapter 36: Chapter 1: I’m Back

Book Two: Penelope

Mason

I walked out of the airport and into the waiting black Mercedes. It was July, almost a year and a half since I’d left London and my life behind me.

Everything still looked the same to me as it had before I left, yet life was completely different.

I was different. At least that’s what I’d been telling myself. All that time I’d spent trying to find myself again wasn’t for nothing. I wouldn’t be back if I wasn’t a changed man.

“It’s been a long time, son,” my father said from the other side of the back seat. “How have you been? Where have you been?”

“Everywhere. I didn’t stay put for too long.” I turned my head and looked out the window.

It had been a long time, but that didn’t change the fact that I found it difficult to hold a conversation with my father.

Like I said, I’d changed. But I still dealt with a lot of feelings when I was around him. Mostly shame for the type of son I’d been all those years.

I’d done a lot of things to make him ashamed of me, yet he’d stuck by me no matter what.

He was the type of father I’d never deserved. There was a conversation I needed to have with him, a conversation long overdue.

~Today is not the day. I’ll work my way up to it.~

“Well, I’m happy to have you back home. Now, you didn’t give me much notice that you were coming back, so I wasn’t able to get you your own place in time.”

I’d given him a couple of hours’ notice. I’d called him from the airport in Venice. I didn’t want a fuss.

“I can handle that myself. I’ll stay at a hotel for now.” I pulled out my phone, already checking for hotels that I could check into until I got situated.

“Nonsense. Why stay at a hotel when you can just come home for a couple of weeks?” He said it so casually, like the place he lived had been my home before I left.

It wasn’t my home—it hadn’t been my home for a long time.

“We don’t want to push things.” I turned my head and looked at him. “You and I under the same roof isn’t a good idea. I’ll stay at a hotel.”

He smiled lightly, deepening the crow’s feet around his eyes. My father had aged quite a bit in the time I’d been gone. He looked tired.

“If that’s what you want, son. We will drop you wherever you want to go.”

“The Ritz. That’s where I’m staying.” I turned my head and looked out the window again. Surprisingly enough, I didn’t hear any more from him until we pulled up outside the hotel.

The driver handed me my bag from the back. My father stood waiting by the car door. “I’ll clean up and see you in the office in a couple of hours.”

“The office?” he asked. “But you’ve only just arrived home. I thought you might want some time to get sorted before coming back.”

“I’ve had enough time. I’m ready to come back.” I slung my bag over my shoulder. The bag held very little, only what I’d needed on my travels. “You want me back, right?”

He smiled. “Of course I do. Knight & Son is yours, and it always will be. I’ll see you in a couple of hours.” He turned around and slipped back into his car.

I walked into reception and was checked in in a matter of minutes. The Parkview suite was costly, especially for the length of time I would be staying. A week at the very least.

I glanced down at the time, noticing that it was after one.

“I’m going to need someone to pick me up a suit at Armani. I’ve already called ahead, so it just needs to be picked up.”

“Of course, Mr. Knight.” The woman in her thirties smiled politely, hanging on my every word.

“I’ll need shoes too. Black, preferably.” I paused, distracted by the clicking of a woman’s heels on the floor.

I looked around and found myself unable to say another word once I saw who the woman in heels was.

Jamie Harris.

~Fuck! Not now.~ Of all people to walk through this lobby today, it had to be her.

I wasn’t prepared to see her yet. I’d had a long time to think about how I wanted our first conversation to go, but now I was jet-lagged, and my brain wasn’t working. I hadn’t shaved in months.

She hadn’t seen me yet. She was too busy looking at some papers she was holding and talking to the man she was walking with.

I could get away without her seeing me. Despite that fact, I found myself walking closer.

“Jamie.”

Jamie

When I looked up and saw his face, at first, I thought my eyes were deceiving me. That was until I pinched myself hard enough to leave a mark.

~He’s here. He’s really here. Why?~

It had been so long, so much time had passed, and so much had changed. I’d put him behind me, but now he was back.

He had only spoken one word, but seeing his face was enough to drag all my anger to the surface. Already I felt like a kettle on the stove, almost at its boiling point.

“Mason Knight,” I whispered.

“~The~ Mason Knight, the breaker of your heart?” Sam asked, and all he got was a slight nod of the head in reply.

“I’ll see the Montgomerys. Meet me upstairs when you’re done.” He made himself scarce quickly before Mason reached me.

I wasn’t ready to talk to him. I thought about running, but what good would that do? It looked like he had just checked in, and I basically ran this place. It was inevitable.

“This is weird. Running into each other, I mean. It’s been a long time, Jamie.” He rubbed the back of his neck, giving me the impression that he was just as uncomfortable about the situation as I was.

~Sixteen months, but who’s counting?~

“How long have you been back?” Harry and I were close. He’d never mentioned that Mason was coming back. I’m guessing he didn’t know.

“I landed an hour ago. I was going to call you, but we ran into each other first.” He glanced down at the binder in my arms. “You don’t work for my father anymore, do you?”

“I thought it would be a little awkward to work there after everything. I work here now.” Every time I looked at him, all I could see was her—in the eyes most of all.

“Lucky for me. We should catch up. We should talk!”

His words made me angry. After all, I was the one who’d been waiting all this time to talk to him.

He said it so casually, like maybe he didn’t even mean it at all. If we hadn’t bumped into each other, he wouldn’t have reached out.

~That’s who he is. He doesn’t care. Not about anyone.~

“I, um…” I didn’t have the enthusiastic reply in me that I’m sure he wanted. I was trying too hard to control my array of emotions.

“I should probably go. I have a meeting.” I walked away from him, and it was obvious that he was frustrated by that.

Thankfully, he didn’t follow me. I was surprised to see him. I needed time to process all this. I needed time to figure out what this meant—not for me but for her.

“So, the Montgomerys are happy with the changes?” I asked Sam as he was getting ready to leave.

“Of course. Didn’t I tell you I could handle it alone? Trust me, this wedding anniversary party is going to go down without a hitch.”

“I hope so.” I loved my job at the hotel. I managed everything that went on, so my role was important. It beat being an assistant.

“They did say they wanted you to call them to go over the final details before the day. Mrs. Montgomery has taken a liking to you by the looks of it.”

Sam chuckled and slung his bag over his shoulder. “Shouldn’t you be getting ready to leave too?”

“Soon, I swear, I have a couple of more things that I need to do first.” Today of all days, I wanted to leave the hotel as soon as I could, but I don’t sleep if I have work I need to do.

“That ex of yours wouldn’t be one of those things, would he?” he asked.

I gave him some serious side-eye for that question. “Absolutely not! You know what I’m like when I have work on my mind. Get out of here already.”

He chuckled. “I’m going. I’ll see you in the morning.” Sam left, and I continued on with my work behind reception.

I overheard two employees chatting at the front desk while all was quiet and no one needed to be checked in. “I think he’s pretty hot. You know I like a man in a suit.”

“Hot he may be, but he’s a man with money. I’m sure he uses it to get what he wants. For example, sending me to Armani to pick up his suit. Why couldn’t he do it himself?”

Jenna with the shoulder-length blonde hair shrugged her shoulders.

“Maybe he was busy. Anyway, for important guests like Mason Knight, it’s all part of the service.”

~Hmm, I knew it.~ Of course, it was Mason they were talking about. He couldn’t go anywhere without being the center of attention.

“I’m sure you wouldn’t mind being of service to him in other ways too, if you know what I mean.” Monica with the black hair tied back into a ballet bun shot her a wink.

“Well, I certainly wouldn’t turn him down. He’s supposed to be staying for a while. Who knows what could happen?” She chuckled. “When I turn it on, I really turn it on!”

I was sure he wouldn’t need much persuading. She would be falling into his bed by the end of the week, I bet.

Just because he’d fucked off for all that time didn’t mean that he was in any way different from how he used to be.

Although the office door behind the reception desk was open, I still found it easier to concentrate since I couldn’t overhear every word of their sexual talk.

My checklist was ticked within forty minutes, and I was ready to go.

“Mr. Knight, how was your day? Can I help you with something?” I overheard Jenna say from her place at reception.

I didn’t look out, but I imagined she was flipping her hair around, trying to play it cool.

We were pretty used to seeing Jenna’s displays around men she was interested in spending the night with. Everyone around here knew what the signs were.

Jenna was just another Office Bitch Jen, although she wasn’t quite as bitchy.

“No, I’m looking for someone.” Mason sighed. “Is Jamie here, or did she leave already?”

I grabbed my bag and walked out of the office.

His eyes glanced over me, and he looked relieved that it was me. “I thought I missed you. Can we talk?”

It wasn’t just him that was looking at me. Jenna the receptionist was too. I was sure she was wondering what the link was between the two of us.

“Um, I was just leaving, actually.”

I walked around the desk and toward the entrance of the hotel. He followed me this time. He had clearly become more impatient as the day went on.

“Come on, Jamie. Talk to me.” He was following me through the hotel and out the door.

Once outside, Mason turned me around so I was facing him. “Look, I know I fucked up when I left like I did, but I’m back now, and I’d like to explain myself.”

“Oh, now you want to explain.” I was fuming and finding it hard not to embarrass myself in public by roaring at him.

“You left without telling anyone, and you didn’t even try to contact me. It’s a little late for explanations now, don’t you think?”

He sighed in frustration, and I thought, ~There’s the Mason I know.~ He was going to totally do his thing and try to tell me what to do.

“I know I don’t deserve it, Jamie. But I need to explain.”

He leaned against the wall of the building, contemplating his next words by the looks of it. I stood, arms folded across my chest, softening the more I looked at him.

Even with that amount of facial hair, he was still the best-looking man I’d ever laid eyes on.

~Damn it!~

“Look, I’ll be in the hotel restaurant at eight o’clock tomorrow night if you change your mind. And I really hope you do change your mind.” Mason opened the door and walked back into the hotel.

I stood and thought about his offer. For a year and a half, I’d been left wondering, would he ever come back, and if he did, would I even mean enough to him that he would get back in contact?

Meeting him for dinner, of course, could stir up old feelings, not that they’d ever gone away.

It was just… I guess I felt more anger toward him than I did anything else.

~If I do decide to meet him, then I’m doing it for her and not for me.~

She was what mattered here, not him. And not me.