Page 54 of Final Chance At Love (Chance At Love Duet 2)

Genevieve

“Here,” I showed him the text as I pressed the send button. “Happy now?”

“Yep,” replied simply. “You’ll thank me one day.

“I doubt that, but ok,” I answered exasperated as I hugged him one more time and kissed him on the cheek. “I’ll see you, Betty, and the boys in two weeks.”

He returned the hug and then I left him standing there as the girls and I walked through the security line, phone still in my hand. Before I powered it off, I went to my address book, found Kristoff’s name and made him a blocked contact. I didn’t want to hear from him. When I get back, I’d let him know and he could choose to be part of the twins’ life or not. The choice was his.

Chapter Seventeen

Twenty-four hours later, the girls and I were in a little town called Brsecine on the Dalmatian coast in Croatia. As we pulled up to our old stone house, I was in awe of this beautiful and dreamy dwelling that held so much history.

I fell in love with the 16th century old stone villa, which was a summer residence to a celebrated local Renaissance artist, situated in a valley-like spot on the way to Dubrovnik. The house had thirteen bedrooms and would be ridiculously too large for our family but I clung to this dream of one day turning it into a small beach rental as there was an exit right to the beach with a terrace to the sea. The beautiful courtyard reminded me of the story about Romeo and Juliet. The whole place just had so much character. From almost any point in the house or the yard, you could see the sea and protected beach in a secluded and quiet bay. Although a large and famous city was close by, you’d think you were all alone in the world. The little village had very few inhabitants.

The house was in pretty bad shape when I bought it so it was almost a steal. Big benefit was that it was completely paid off. But it has been undergoing renovation for the past ten years, and it’s been my little pet project whenever I could afford it. As the years went on and little projects were getting completed to restore it to its original state, it started looking more and more like the beautiful villa that it was back in the 16th century. Jack wanted nothing to do with coming to Croatia so I never told him about this place and bought it secretly. It was a project all of my own from the moment I laid my eyes on it.

Truthfully, all the major items that made this house now livable and beautiful got completed over the last three months thanks to Kristoff’s generous salary. This would be our first time actually sleeping in this house versus camping in this house for a few days. Usually we always stayed at the small house I inherited and came every few days to get work around the house done or meet workers. My childhood friend met the workers over the last three months, ensuring renovations were progressing along and getting completed

I sent a quick text to Rick and Betty letting them know we arrived at our destination. This place was my little secret that only a handful of people knew about. The place that I offered to Kristoff’s mom was the house I told people about. Never this one!

Everyone was tired, and the only thing we had energy for was to take quick baths and then get into bed. I showed Sienna into her own room, while Sierra and Saoirse shared another together. Once they were all tucked into their fresh beds, I settled into my own room that was a few doors down, on the south facing side with a large terrace overlooking the beautiful Adriatic Sea.

“Ah, Deila. You are the best,” I murmured as I glanced at my desk where converters for all my electronics were. Deila was a childhood friend that I met the first week when my parents moved back. I pulled out my laptop and cell phone to plug them all in. I sent her a quick note thanking her for ensuring the house was ready and for converters and extra chargers for all my electronics.

I jumped into the shower, and twenty minutes later, I was laying in my bed, with the door to the terrace open, listening to the waves crash against the rocky beach. The light summer breeze smelling of salt water swept through the open terrace door soothing my broken heart. I felt like Kristoff was just a memory, another lifetime, and as I laid my hand over my lower belly, I slowly drifted off to sleep with Kristoff on my mind.

On Sunday morning we all woke up late, adjusting to the new time zone and recovering from our long journey. I remoted into the company's email almost surprised it was still working. I thought after my text to Kristoff, he’d deactivate all my company accounts and access rights. I typed up a quick and short resignation letter effective immediately and emailed it to Kristoff. I knew the Human Resources department was a stickler for official resignations so I wanted to cover all my basis. As I quickly checked my last pay stub with W&W, I almost fell off the chair.

The bonus Kristoff paid out was beyond generous. It was large enough to keep us comfortable for a very long time, even by the U.S. standards. I quickly saved it and checked my bank account and sure as hell, all of it was there.

Instead of feeling happy that I wouldn’t have to worry about money for a while, all I felt was sadness. I missed him, his rare smiles, smell of his cologne, and feel of his hard body pressed against mine. I felt like I walked around with a constant ache in my chest.

The rest of our day was slow and lazy. The weather was beautiful. We went for a swim on the beach and the girls were having a great time. As I laid there admiring the reflection of sunshine rays on the surface of the waves, and sun on my face, I had a strange soothing feeling that things would be alright.

Sienna wasted no time to invite Jack. We’ve been in this country for less than a full day and she already invited him. I shook my head, smiling as I saw her jumping up and down on the beach that he wanted to come.

“He’s going to ask his dad!” she shouted across the beach. “Can you call his dad too, Mom? Please?”

I nodded my head in agreement, as I pulled my phone out. I scrolled through my address book hoping I saved his number from our last coordination when kids had their date out. Luckily, I had and pressed the phone icon next to his name.

“Hello?” Jonathan answered the call.

“Hi there,” I spoke into the phone as I watched my little ones splash each other in the shallow water. “It’s Gemma.”

“Hey,” he greeted me. “So Jack just told me you ladies are in Croatia and he wants to visit.”

“Yeah,” I told him. “Of course, it is completely up to you. Sienna and Jack seemed to like spending time together. She’d like to invite him to come over and hang out with us.”

“And you are ok with it?” he inquired.

“I really like your son,” I answered him, adding a bit uncomfortable. “I’d love for him to spend the summer with us here but I’m a bit worried about each one of them having their own bedroom and how I’d ensure to keep certain boundaries, if you know what I mean.”

To my relief, Jonathan agreed right away. “Yes, me too! They are teenagers after all.”

I chuckled. “Please don’t remind me!” We both laughed. “Anyhow Jonathan, I know Sienna will be heartbroken not to see him all summer and I thought maybe if you would come with him. It’s just an idea. I have plenty of bedrooms, so you two can share a room. That way we could both keep an eye on those two. I don’t think either one of us is ready to become grandparents.”

Jonathan laughed wholeheartedly. “I am in the same boat as you. I’d love to come if you are sure that’s ok. We could book a nearby hotel if that’s more convenient for you.”

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