She knew most of her furniture would end up being donated and that was fine with her. The things she wanted to keep she was keeping and there was nothing he was going to do to stop her.
The next morning Jacob came rushing back into her room first thing in the morning. She was starting to get used to it.
“Why don’t you and dad sleep in the same room? I thought when moms and dads were married, they wanted to be together?” he asked her.
“Your dad and I have been apart for a long time, that’s all,” she told him.
“Does that mean he won’t stay?” he asked with his big scared eyes.
“No Jacob, I’m not going anywhere, your mom just has too girly of a room, and too small of a bed for your big dad. We’ll share a room in the new house,” Derek said, as he walked in to join them.
She didn’t like how he kept walking into her room, as if he had every right to. Once again she wasn’t going to argue in front of her son, though.
“Okay, Dad,” Jacob said, as if everything the man said was gold.
They all got ready together and Derek insisted on taking his car in the morning. He told her it was ridiculous to take two vehicles. She once again just went with it, since Jacob was so excited to be taken to school by both of his parents.
“I need to go by my place and gather a few things, since there won’t be time tonight before we have to pick Jacob up,” he told her.
They pulled up to the luxurious condo complex, which even had a security guard at the front door. Jasmine was ever intimidated by the amount of money Derek had. She missed the boy who used to wear second hand jeans and always had a smile on his face. This new man was so much more cynical of the world around him and took for granted things that the young teenager would have been awed by.
They walked into his huge condo and though it was nice, it was so cold. There was only one picture in the entire place and it was a much younger version of him with his arms slung around his two cousins. She remembered them well from when they were teenagers. They’d always been able to make her laugh. She smiled at the fond memories.
“How are your cousins doing?” she asked him. She imagined they were doing as good as him, because the three had been almost inseparable and there was no way he wouldn’t share his success with them.
“They’re doing great. I just saw Drew the other day and Ryan is off in some other country right now. We all need to get together, it’s been too long,” he said, letting his guard down for a moment.
“They always made me laugh,” she said with a fond smile, still looking at the photograph.
“They’re great guys,” he agreed. He packed up some clothing and then led her back down the elevator. They went out to the garage and instead of getting back in the Porsche; he walked up to an SUV. She was a bit jealous as he unlocked it and opened the back end to put his things in. It was a really nice vehicle. She didn’t understand why the man needed two expensive cars when it was just him.
“I figure we should switch vehicles. The sports car is fun but this has far more room for Jacob,” he said. “Do you mind driving. I have some work I could do on the commute,” he asked, as he tossed the keys to her. He asked but he expected the answer to be yes. She wanted to drive it really badly though, so she didn’t complain. She stepped inside the luxurious interior and noticed there were hardly any miles on it at all.
“You must have gotten this pretty recently,” she told him.
“I had it delivered yesterday. I figured we would need it for Jacob and my office manager said this was rated at the top for safety,” he said as if it was no big deal.
“You purchased a vehicle without even looking at it?” she asked him.
“I trust my staff,” he simply said and then buried his head in his lap top. Jasmine just shook her head at how truly different the man was. Money did not concern him anymore at all but when he was a teenager he had talked so much of his dreams and what he planned to do with his life. Times really changed, she thought sadly.
They arrived at the office and spent the first couple hours going over the applications Jasmine had pre-screened. Derek then had her spend the next couple of hours setting up interviews for the rest of the week. He said he wanted to get things settled quickly, so the company could do as well as it should’ve been doing all along. His statement was offensive but she let it go. She actually agreed with him on a lot of things. Her father had hired some questionable people and the company had been run into the ground.
The end of the day arrived before she knew it and for once Derek didn’t complain when it was time to leave. It seemed he liked having a son and was eager to pick him up.
“Derek, when Jacob isn’t doing sports, he gets out of school earlier. I was able to take some of my work home with me before, so I didn’t have to put him in day care. I know you run business differently but I really do work well from home and would like to continue doing that,” she asked him, afraid he was going to go off on her about her not being the owner’s daughter anymore and being entitled to special favors.
“You can quit all together if you would like, of course our son comes first and there’s no need for you to work,” he said matter-of-factly.
“I don’t want to quit. I enjoy working and I want to make my own money. Just because you have more than any one person needs, doesn’t mean I’d ever be comfortable spending it. If you don’t want me to work here, then I can begin searching for other work,” she said stubbornly, with her arms across her chest.
“I didn’t say I wanted to fire you, I just offered for you to be able to spend more time with our son. He will be grown before you know it and I don’t want you filled with regrets,” he said, exasperated. She decided not to respond, because she felt a tightening in her chest at the thought. She really would like to be able to go to the school more often. She’d always been slightly jealous of those room moms helping at the school during the week with their kids. She spent plenty of time with her son and was there for all of his special events but Derek was right that she was also missing out on a lot.
Jacob came running outside of the school as they pulled up and looked around with an eager expression on his face. He looked right past the SUV, so she stepped outside and called to him. He walked over, with his brows puckered, disappointed the Porsche wasn’t there.