The next picture on my phone was of Natalie and me. She was wearing one of my t-shirts, and we were sitting in bed. She was snuggled under my arm, and we were both smiling at the camera. It was one of my favorite pictures because it was raw and unedited. That picture summed up our weekends perfectly, and it made me believe that marriage was not just possible for me – it might actually be pretty amazing.
I was looking through more pictures when the door opened abruptly, and Jason walked in. The sight of him pissed me off immediately, and I put my phone down and stood up.
“You’re supposed to knock first,” I hissed at him.
He shrugged without concern. “Didn’t feel like it,” he said.
I could tell from his smug expression that he was up to something, and I tensed instantly. It had been months since we’d heard anything from him, and Natalie and I had relaxed. Obviously, this had been his plan. He had wanted to lull us into a false sense of security, and I had to hand it to him, he had succeeded. I genuinely felt as though the rug had been pulled out from underneath me.
“May I sit down?” Jason asked, closing the door to my office behind him.
“No.”
“I’ll sit anyway,” he said pleasantly.
He sat down and cocked his legs. Then he regarded me with a superior expression that made me feel sick to my stomach. I refused to let him know I was worried, however. I stared him down and raised my eyebrows.
“What do you want, Jason?” I demanded.
“I came to discuss something with you,” Jason said. “Man to man.”
I wanted to make a joke aimed at his manhood, or lack thereof, but I suppressed the urge. “What do you want?”
“I came to talk to you about Natalie.”
I narrowed my eyes at him threateningly. “There’s nothing about Natalie you need to discuss with me. She’s not interested in you, she’s never been interested in you, and she never will be.”
“Thanks to you.”
I let out a bark of laughter. “You’re kidding, right?” I said. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t she reject you long before she got involved with me?”
I saw Jason’s perfectly constructed mask falter a little, but he managed to keep it in place. “Do you care about her?”
“How I feel about her is none of your business,” I said.
Jason laughed. “Of course, you care about her. You probably even love her… That’s good. I’m glad you do. It works out better for me that way.”
“Oh yeah? And how do you figure that?”
“Because I’m banking on your love for her.”
I felt my hands clench into fists and I knew I would have to demonstrate tremendous willpower in this particular situation. “Did you come here to talk in riddles or did you actually have something you wanted to say to me?”
Jason looked calm as ever as he reached into his jacket pocket and took out a large brown envelope. He slammed it down on the table in front of me. “I’m sure you’ll be interested to see what’s inside that envelope.”
Removed of choice, I picked it up and op
ened it. Inside were several large photographs. I took them out and looked through them, one by one. They were all pictures of Natalie and me. There were pictures of us holding hands as we walked through my neighborhood, pictures of us at the museum, the beach, and several different restaurants.
I paused as I came to a picture of Natalie and me walking down Prescott Lane. I could only see a hint of the stunning strapless embellished mini she had been wearing. The rest of the dress was covered over by the coat I had given her to protect against the cold night air.
I looked up at Jason in shock. “You’ve been following Natalie around since her birthday?”
He didn’t say a word.
“No,” I said, correcting myself. “Obviously you’ve been following her around way before that. You’re a fucking stalker.”
“What I am is none of your concern.”