Chapter 96 - Sort Of

Once Tom picked up his cell phone, he noticed he had about three missed call notifications. He smiled when he noticed two out of the three missed calls were from Lucy. Why was she calling him? It wasn't like she was in trouble or anything, right? He had planned on not reaching out to her until it was time for their dinner, but seeing how she had called him, he decided to return her call.

When he saw that the last call he had missed was Jade's call, he dialed her line immediately, since she wasn't the type to call, especially not during the day.

"Hey! Are you okay?" He asked immediately the call connected.

Jade smiled, "I'm fine. I just wanted to find out how things are going with you and your neighbor girlfriend since I stopped hearing from you," she said, and Tom sighed.

"I'm sorry about that. I figured you would be very busy, and I didn't want to be a bother," Tom said apologetically as he sat by the edge of the bed.

"Well, you bothered me by not keeping me updated. What's going on? Any progress?" Jade asked, brushing off his excuse.

"Well... for starters, I'm having dinner with her tonight," Tom announced, making Jade squeal in excitement.

"So fast?" Jade asked, unable to believe how fast things were going.

"Well, a lot has happened in this sort while...." Tom said and started filling her in on everything she had missed.

"Hold on. Do you mean to tell me that she is best friends with Bryan's fiancee? Are you serious?" She sounded very surprised.

"Yeah. We were equally surprised."

"If you ask me, I will say maybe this is actually fate. You both were destined to meet one way or the other," Jade said thoughtfully.

"Maybe."

"Go on with the story," Jade urged him.

"Did I already tell you she works in my office as my personal assistant now?" Tom asked, and Jade burst into a peal of laughter.

"Are you kidding me?"

"I'm not. She wanted to get me fired, so I had to make my move, first" Tom explained, while Jade giggled at the absurdity of the whole thing.

"Let's just hope that she will be as forgiving as she is decent, cause I won't forgive you if you make a fool of me this way. When do you intend to tell her the truth, anyway?"

"Once I'm convinced beyond reasonable doubt that she is not like the others. You know when it comes to someone to marry, I can't afford to make a mistake," Tom said, taking in a deep breath, as he contemplated on whether or not to tell Jade about Anita. He decided to leave that for some other time.

"I don't think anyone can afford to make I mistake... But I understand what you mean," Jade said with a nod.

"Enough about me. Sup with you? How is that case going? Have you been able to locate the missing witness?" Tom asked, recalling that Jade had mentioned something about her only witness going into hiding.

Jade sighed deeply, "Not yet..."

"Do you want me to help you? I could ask Harry to contact some persons to look into it," Tom offered.

"You think he can do that?" Jade asked doubtfully.

"If there is any person who can do that, it is Harry. Why do you think he is my right-hand man?" Tom asked, and Jade sighed yet again.

"Alright. I will appreciate it if he can. But I will be grateful if he can also keep it a secret. I don't want anyone to spook my witness," She pleaded.

"I understand. I will tell him that," Tom said before remembering to ask something that has been bothering him, "Are you seeing anyone yet?" He asked hopefully.

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"Judging by how busy I am, when do you think I have the time to meet anyone?" She asked dryly.

"Is it because you don't have the time that you are not going out with anyone, or you don't even have the time because you don't want to go out with anyone?" Tom asked knowingly.

"Did mum ask you and Bryan to hound me? Why are you both so interested in my love life? I guess it is true what they say that once people find love, they start hounding others around them to do the same," Jade said, sounding amused.

"Don't try to change the subject. It's been four years already since..."

"Can we not talk about that?" Jade asked, cutting him off very quickly.

"It's unfair of you to ask me not to talk about it when we know that if the situation was reversed you would try to have my back this way," Tom said sadly.

"I found out that the girl that died in that accident with him wasn't his cousin as his parents claimed. She was someone he was planning to get married to," Jade confided, with glazed eyes.

"What? He was planning to get married to someone else?" Tom asked incredulously.

"Apparently she was pregnant with his child. He didn't want to tell me about it, and his parents tried to keep it from me too," Jade said with a burst of humorless laughter, "So even though I feel sad that he is dead, I'm also mad that he not only was cheating but was planning on getting married without informing me. How do you express your anger at a dead person? Honestly, Tom? I'm not interested in getting into a relationship with anyone. I will rather lick my wounds alone," Jade said in an emotionless voice that tore at Tom's heart.

Tom was tempted to ask her when and how she found out about it, but he figured that satisfying his curiosity wasn't the most important thing at the moment. His baby sister was hurting and he needed to comfort her, "If you don't have anything doing at the moment why don't you take a break and come down here so we spend some time together, while we find your witness? I could send a jet to pick you up, and take you back if something urgent comes up, what do you say?" Tom asked hopefully.

Jade smiled, "Thanks for the offer, but I can't leave while the case is still on, and my witness is missing. But don't worry, once this case is over, I will come immediately. I promise."

"Alright then. I will let you know after I talk to Harry."

"Thanks, Tommy. I love you," she said, making the sides of Tom's lips pull up in a smile when he remembered how she used to refer to him as Tommy when she was still a toddler.

"I love you too, Jady," he said and Jade giggled since that was the name Tom used to call her when she was a kid and always called him Tommy.

After hanging up the call, Tom dialed Lucy's line, but she didn't take the call. He tried again, and when she still didn't take the call, he decided to get busy with other things and just see her during dinner.

Meanwhile, at the clothes shop, Lucy moved around with Anita from one dress line to the other, while Anita kept finding faults with all the dresses she was handed. After a while Lucy got tired, "Where are you wearing the dress to? Is it a party?" She asked, trying not to let her impatience show in her voice.

She didn't understand why Anita had to be so picky for something as simple as a dress. She didn't see any reason to be shopping for a single dress for over thirty minutes when she spent less than that time shopping for more than ten clothes.

"Not exactly a party, but it is a very important meeting that I need to attend. I need a gown that looks corporate, and sexy at the same time," Anita said with a smile while her eyes kept moving around.

Lucy sighed, wondering what kind of a meeting it was, and why she would need to look sexy to attend a meeting. Was she involved with someone already? No. She had said she was waiting for the right man. Was there someone she liked, then? Someone she was planning to get involved with? "I guess the person you like will be attending that meeting?" Lucy asked, trying not to sound too curious, or sound like she was prying into Anita's life.

"Sort of," she said, choosing not to give Lucy too much information until after her first meeting with Thomas Hank.

Sort of? That meant she didn't like Tom? No. Lucy thought with a slight frown. Even though she wanted to keep her distance from Tom, she also wasn't sure she wanted to see him heartbroken. Besides, if Anita didn't want him, that would mean she would be stuck with Tom, and that wasn't a part of her plan in any way. She had to make sure Anita likes Tom too. She was sure that Anita would like Tom if she spent more time with him, and got to know him. Tom was a cool guy after all, especially when he wasn't being too bold and coming on to her very strongly.

She needed to come up with a way to throw them both together without being too obvious about it. Perhaps she could suggest they all go see a movie together? And then halfway through the movie, she would excuse herself? That could work. She just wouldn't tell either of them that the other person would be tagging along.. Surely, Tom wouldn't mind seeing a movie with her since they were friends, especially when he wasn't talking crazy stuff about her undies and sex.

Chapter end