It hit me that I was mean, spiteful, and jealous. Daisy had worked very closely with Michael for a very long time. She was beautiful and came from his world. Goldie loved the woman.
Daisy clearly had strong feelings for Michael. I wonder how he feels about her and if there is anything between them.
I tried to work on my business plan for a while, but my thoughts kept returning to Michael and Daisy.
It doesn't matter if he and Daisy had a thing in the past. That was in the past and has no bearing on how he feels about you now. Just like your relationship with Jordan was in the past and had nothing to do with what is happening between you and Michael,I thought to myself firmly.
The words were logical and made sense. However, the mind can know the truth, but it can't convince the heart not to be jealous.
After Michael and I put Robin to bed, I decided to ask the question on my mind instead of stewing over it.
"Can I ask you something?"
He didn't look up from his computer when he replied. "Sure."
"Did you and Daisy ever have a relationship?" I asked.
He didn't even take his eyes off his screen. "No. She's some distant relative of my mother's. I hired her as a favor to Mom. I keep her because she is a very hard-working woman who knows everything there is to know about our company and what needs to happen to make my job run smoothly."
I waited for another kind of reaction from him, but nothing happened. He didn't ask me why I wanted to know or indicate that he was concerned with my thoughts regarding him and Daisy.
Heading to the shower, I told myself that it was best that he didn't have any questions about why I was asking about Daisy. I certainly didn't want to be seen as the jealous girlfriend – even if that might be the case.
30
Michael
The next morning I woke up to the smell of coffee. That was unusual because I normally beat everyone up.
Jade barely acknowledgedmy good morning, which told me something was bothering her.
I started to ask what was wrong when a sleepy Robin made his way into the room, rubbing his eyes.
Turningaround to face our son, Jade plastered a fake smile on her face. "What would you like for breakfast, baby?"
"Pancakes, please,"he said sleepily.
"Coming right up,"she said.
"With chocolate chips?"he inquired hopefully.
"I thinkwe can manage that for breakfast," she told him. Then, almost as an afterthought, she asked, "Michael, would you like some pancakes?"
I raised an eyebrow."That would be terrific," I slowly said. I wasn't interested in eating chocolate chip pancakes, but I liked having meals with Robin.
The tension emanatedfrom her so strongly that even Robin felt it. He ate faster than he normally did and wasn't full of his usual chatter. "May I be excused?" he asked as soon as he took his last bite.
Jade nodded,and Robin took his dishes to the sink before making a beeline for the television.
"Jade, what is bothering you?"I finally asked once Robin was out of earshot.
She didn't sayanything for a moment as she eyed me. "Yesterday, I was a little surprised to see Daisy at the door," she finally said.
"I figuredthat if I told you she was coming, you wouldn't answer the door," I half-joked.
She ignored my comment."She came in, sat at my desk, and started changing things. She didn't tell me what she was doing or what changes she was making until I started asking questions. Then, I could tell she wasn't very happy about me asking, at least at first."
"Daisy was trying to help,"I protested. "I know you want to get your bistro going, and Daisy knows her stuff."