Total pages in book: 36
Estimated words: 32431 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 162(@200wpm)___ 130(@250wpm)___ 108(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 32431 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 162(@200wpm)___ 130(@250wpm)___ 108(@300wpm)
I tried keeping myself busy but my concentration was shot. Instead I sat in a daze for the rest of the afternoon until it was time to go home. It would be the first time I was leaving the office this early in a long time for any reason other than to service Jonas.
I felt despondent and desperate when I left the building, going as slowly as I could in the hopes of catching a glimpse of him. It wasn’t like he was going to give me an explanation for him not being here, But at least if I saw him I would know…what? I would still be no wiser.
I pulled into the garage and for the first time didn’t want to be here. I’ve always felt close to him here. This was our place, the place he’d chosen for me, for us to share.
I dragged myself out of the car because there was nothing left to do but enter the empty house and face another night of ennui. I didn’t have the strength to put a meal together so I put the kettle on to boil.
Three months, was that the new cutoff point? Had I used up my time with the precious Jonas Harp? The cup of soothing tea wasn’t any help it only helped to fuel my anger. I walked around the rooms of the house feeling the anger build.
I went over our relationship in my head from start to what may be the finish. I’d been hired a few months before our official meeting. Just one of many in the secretarial poo. I’d just been happy to have landed a job after months of searching.
Yes it was way beneath me, but in the current market it was better than nothing. Besides, the company paid at the higher end of the spectrum. My plan was to work my way up when given the chance.
I’d heard all the whispers within days of being hired. No one knew too much since the man himself was so private, but what little they did know was enough to keep the rumor mill churning for a good long while.
I’d learned about his wife and son then. I’d been so busy with my own life the last year or so that I didn’t have time to read the society pages so I’d missed the story. I’d gone back through the archives and found more than I wanted to know.
His wife had been sideswiped by a drunk driver, on the way home from picking up their pre-school son from swim class. The last traffic photo as they crossed the bridge showed a smiling woman and a young boy strapped into his seat behind her, clapping his hands.
It was sad and tragic. I’d spent way too much time looking at that picture. Feeling pain for a man I didn’t even know. To have lost that, I couldn’t imagine. I’d become obsessed with the family they must’ve been.
She was a very beautiful woman, and the boy was all Jonas. What had their life been like before it was ripped apart? My imagination ran wild and before I knew it I found myself weaving tales of romance and immense love around them. Along with the rumors about his loss were the newer ones about his conquests. While others saw it as a man sowing wild oats, I saw it as something more.
I saw a man shielding his pain the only way he knew how. That was no man enjoying his newfound freedom that was a man drowning his sorrow.
Some people turned to the bottle Jonas had turned to sex. I still didn’t know or understand the psychology behind that, but it wasn’t for me to delve into his psyche.
I’d spent way too much time studying him in those first few months. My interest had only grown with each new development. There was no shortage of gossip and the bets were something I steered clear of.
No one ever knew who he was sharing his bed with from one day to the next since he kept everything so quiet. But it wasn’t long before I could tell. It always started with the woman in question dressing just a little differently, and ended with her despondence a few days or weeks later.
I kept track, none of them had ever lasted more than a couple weeks at most. He didn’t keep his exploits to the office pool either. He was getting it from outside as well, and there was no end to the bevy of interested females just waiting to hop into his bed.
While I was spying on the big man, others were watching my progress. Things were being said in the right ears. There was a rumor that the big man was looking for a new assistant. I never knew what had happened to the old one, maybe she’d retired she was of that age after all. But it was said that he didn’t trust anyone the way he trusted her.