Chapter 95: Chapter 95

"You married into such an interesting family. When I said we needed to gossip, I had no idea that the gossip would be so interesting." Charlotte told Carol, pretending to be amazed while thinking to herself how gullible this woman was.

"I'm telling you. So, anyway, to the real gossip, and the reason why I need advice... It's that Jessica woman." Carol said, feeling horrible about bringing this up, but unable to help herself.

"What about her?" Charlotte asked, pretending not to really care when in reality, her heart was beating a mile a minute at the mention of Jessica's name. That girl had the power to make everything go to shit once she regained consciousness ... if she ever did, that is, and she was one of the major reasons that Charlotte was here. She needed to get as much information about her, such as which hospital she was admitted to and stuff like that.

"Well ... I mean ... I don't know how to say it, and I feel horrible even thinking it, but I don't like her at all."

"What's so horrible about that?" Charlotte asked, shaking her head in amusement. What sort of a person was this woman?

"It irks me that Sebastian spends all his time with her and does not even have the time to look at me these days. Stupid, huh?"

"No, it's not stupid. It's natural. You're in love with the man, after all. It is bound to annoy you that he is suddenly spending so much time with his very beautiful and sexy ex. I would have been surprised if you were okay with it."

"Ah. Thank God. I was beginning to think that I'm an awful person." Carol breathed in relief. It was indeed nice to have someone to talk to about these things. Maybe this woman wasn't so bad, after all.

"So, she's still in a coma, I take it?"

"Yes. There have been no improvements, and neither has her case worsened according to what I heard. I ..."

"According to what you heard? You haven't been to see her yet?"

"Um, I don't know and have never met her, so I just didn't think that it was in my place to go see her. Although, I'll admit that the thought of doing so has crossed my mind. If nothing else, it would be a way of being supportive to Sebastian. At least, that was the excuse I gave to myself. If I'm being very truthful to myself though, I know that it is because I want to see what she looks like and just get a feel of her that I'm thinking of visiting her. Jeez! You must think that I'm so creepy or crazy." Carol finished self-deprecatingly.

"I really wish that you would stop putting yourself down." Charlotte chastised gently, not that she gave a flying fuck what Carol did, but she had to act like a supportive friend, a role that was greatly inconvenient as far as she was concerned.

"I keep thinking to myself, if she has this much power over Sebastian even when she's unconscious, I wonder just what will happen when she gets out of her coma. You know, we've not even had sex since we came back from the vacation. If she had not been in the picture..."

"I really think that you should visit her, even if it is just once." Charlotte cut in impatiently, not in the mood to hear about Carol's sex life or the lack of it. Besides, she needed to cut to the chase before Carol diverted from the topic at hand. "Okay, tell you what... I'll go with you if you're feeling nervous to go by yourself. After all, it's not as though I'm doing anything or have anything to do."

"Oh, I don't know..." Carol began unsurely.

"In my very honest opinion, I think that it does not speak well of you that she had been in the hospital for over a month and you have yet to visit her even once. You might want to rectify that as soon as possible to save face. Sacramento is not far from here, which is the more reason why you should go. Forget the fact that she is Sebastian's ex-fiancée. She's also a friend of the family, which is obviously why Sebastian keeps going there to visit her. You're a part of the family now, and so their friend is also your friend, or so it should be if you want to get in their good graces. I'm sure that if not for Mr. James's health, he would have visited her too."

"You're right. Even though they are not on good terms, he did visit her. In fact, he was visiting her when he had the heart attack, according to what I was told."

"You see what I'm saying. Besides, apart from showing that you bear no ill will towards her, visiting her will let you see what she's like. I'll go with you so that I can give my honest opinion on what I think about her."

"Okay. You've managed to convince me. We'll go visit her." Carol said, stopping what she had been about to say next when her phone began to ring. Rummaging in her bag for the phone, she saw that it was Sebastian who was calling her. She was torn between taking the call and not. After all, he had ignored her since yesterday, blatantly ignoring her request for her to call him back. She was still debating with herself when the call ended. Making a decision, she put her phone on silent and dropped it back into her handbag. Let him see how annoying it was to be ignored.

"Let's go, then," Charlotte said with a weird sense of urgency to her voice that made Carol look up at her in surprise.

"Go where?"

"To visit Jessica, of course," Charlotte said impatiently, but Carol burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?"

"I didn't mean that we were going now. I meant maybe tomorrow or next. Don't worry. We'll use one of Sebastian's planes to go so that we won't waste time or energy driving all that way and back, okay?"

"Hmm. You're talking like a rich man's wife." Charlotte said in envy. "No wonder you do not want the contract to end."

"It honestly is not about the money, although, I have to admit that that aspect is not in the least bit bad at all. I don't know what is so special about Sebastian. I just can't explain my feelings."

"Anyway," Charlotte said, sick of hearing Carol gush about Sebastian. "I think you shouldn't tell Sebastian or anyone else for that matter about our visit. Let it be a surprise."

"If you say so. I don't see what difference it makes." Carol said, shrugging. "So what do you think that I should do?"

"About what?"

"About Jessica and Sebastian, of course. I need your advice on how to stop feeling so jealous. Imagine if Sebastian continued to act this way after she becomes conscious and does not want me in his life again."

"You want my candid opinion? Snuff the life out of her with a pillow when we go to visit her and you will not have to worry about it any longer. Of course, your dear Sebastian will be devastated but should get over it with time, and you will be right there to comfort him ... after which he will be all yours again." Charlotte said only partly joking. How wonderful will it be if it happened just as she had said?

"I'm serious, Charlotte." Carol groaned.

"I'm also serious. I can do it for you if you're too chicken to do it. It's nothing, actually." Charlotte said, winking at Carol, but her tone sounded a little too serious for Carol's liking. Even though Carol was sure that she was joking, she did not like the turn that the conversation was taking at all.

"I mean something reasonable, Charlotte. Stop goofing around."

"Visit her first, see what your competition looks like, and take it from there. You might actually want to tell Sebastian how you feel about him, or at least, probe him to know how he feels about you too."

"Oh, no. I don't want to do that. The..." Carol began.

"Oh, shoot. I have to go now. You know, you should invite me to your house, sometime. I would like to visit dear Mr. James and see if he's as nice as you said that he was, although I would have preferred to meet him when he was not bedridden. All the same, better late than never, not so?"

"Yeah. You're right. I'll invite you over some time." Carol told her, having no intention of doing such a thing.

"Okay. Let's go. I'll drop you off at home, okay?"

They left the restaurant, and Charlotte drove her to the house, dropping her by the gate, where a driver, not the one from earlier picked her up and drove her to the main house. Surprisingly, she felt much better than she had when she left the house and she realized that it was always a good thing to have someone to vent to now and then. As soon as she got out of the vehicle and proceeded to go towards the house, she found an irate Sebastian waiting at the door for her, his face an angry mask.