Page 71 of Falling for My Ex Next Door

“It is clear you are heartbroken again. It was inevitable for both of you to fall in love again,” Mom said, her eyes fixed on me, full of maternal insight.

“What do you mean, Mom?” I asked, leaning forward.

“Well, you love her, and she loves you,” she said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

“She loves me?” I asked, taken aback.

“Of course,” she stopped eating. “Isn’t it obvious?”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Clara, in love with me? I couldn’t imagine, especially after everything.

“She doesn’t want me, Mom.”

“When you’re after a new client and your sales pitch doesn’t convince them to trust you with their money, do you give up?” Mom asked, her eyes twinkling with amusement.

“No.”

“If you don’t give up, what is your next move?”

“I review my sales pitch and the client’s response. Then I ask for a second chance to re-present my sales pitch, and 90% of the time, I convince them.”

“Why are you giving up on Clara so easily?”

“This situation stands out from the rest. When I’m with Clara, my entire world centers on her. My emotions are involved. Her rejection hurts much more than a potential client’s rejection.”

“Jacob. If you can convince a stranger to trust you with enormous sums of cash, you can convince a woman who loves you to trust you with her heart,” she said, smiling.

“Oh, Mom,” I sighed.

“I think you’ve heard what you came here to hear,” she said, her smile knowing as she resumed eating.

As I sat there, mulling over her words, my phone buzzed. A text from Daisy: ‘Are you well? Can you talk?’

I picked up my phone, fingers hovering over the screen. ‘Not at the moment,’ I typed. ‘I’m with Mom. I’ll call you later.’

Chapter Twenty-one

Clara

Days rolled by without him, and I could not see myself enjoying Christmas without him. I tried to forget him, but I could not, and I felt miserable.

I wiped the mist off the mirror and stared closely at my reflection.

Who was I? I asked myself. But why did he do that?

Was I still the woman who couldn’t hurt a fly?

I must have hurt him, but then he was the first to hurt me.

I felt so pathetic. Several questions I could not answer were about to wrench my heart into pieces.

I let my body sprawl in the bathtub as the recollection of Jacob’s pathetic eyes tormented me. But then, I couldn’t wholly blame myself. I couldn’t have opened my mouth to say the words that were not readily there. I couldn’t have spoken when my mind had gone entirely blank.

And the kiss that led to all of these.

The kiss, though I should be held responsible for not refusing, was the fuel that powered the fire between us. Until then, we had been latent. I had been vulnerable at that moment and let my emotions sway me. I couldn’t be blamed for that. I was barely capable of controlling my feelings. No one is capable of perfectly controlling their feelings in different situations. It is a general flaw.

At the recollection of the softness of his lips against mine, my fingers traced my lips.

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