Chasing Miss Conner •OLD VERSION•

Twenty Seven

|Song: Kiss Me Slowly By Parachute|

Twenty Seven

"So, where did you get this little place?" I asked before stuffing my face with another spoonful of delicious pasta. Juliette's eyes smiled at me over the candles she'd placed on the table.

"It used to be my grandfathers. I used to love coming here as a kid, so when he kicked the bucket and people were trying to buy it to tear it down, I bought it and basically the whole property."

My mouth dropped open. Jesus how rich is she? There were woods in every direction.

"So uh, how much property is that exactly?" Her mouth quirked up into a smirk.

"Relax, I only bought 80 acres."

I'm pretty sure my jaw hit the floor this time. "Only 80?! Well damn, why didn't you just buy the whole freaking forest?" I stared at her incredulously.

She laughed. "Shay, I can't buy the whole forest. Most of it is government property, and besides, there's too many stupid campers and I really don't want to be susceptible to fire danger."

She spoke so specifically and purposefully I couldn't contain my smile.

"So, did your parents bring you here a lot?" Her face immediately darkened and took on an expression that spoke of years and years of pain and loneliness.

"My parents were never home. My mother is the owner of a world-wide pharmaceutical company that originates from Italy. And my father was-is busy expanding his billion dollar casino business. I was suppose to be the heir to my father's company as I was the first and only born, but I didn't want it. I wanted to have a choice in my life. When I expressed this to my parents, they weren't especially supporting. Eventually I left, with a small inheritance my grandfather had left me before his passing, and came here." I could sense her sadness as she told the story in the way that her shoulders drooped and became heavy, as if she was shouldering a great weight.

I fought to hold my jaw together. I wanted to comfort her but at the same time I felt like I should bow or something. Wow, who knew my high school English teacher would be a billionaire?

"So, you're um.....a....you're.." Damn it why won't my mouth work? She took pity on me and laughed.

"Yes, mio caro, I happen to have a lot of money." I'm not sure what my face looked like, but I couldn't help but think about the time she'd carried me upstairs and proceeded to dig out my dirty laundry and put the rest away. She was nothing like the snobby rich people you normally see on tv who care more about their publicity than anything else, she was kind, outspoken, wonderful.

"What's that look for?" She asked, raising an eyebrow and taking a sip of her rink. I blinked dreamily and sighed. "It's just.....you come from this high-class background where you're given everything you could ever want but it's not what you want. And I think it's amazing that you expressed that to your parents and pursued what you loved despite their disapproval. Most people would've just given in for the sake of not embarrassing the family, but.....not you."

Her face had broken into the biggest smile I'd ever seen and it seemed to light the room. "My grandfather was always telling my parents to let me carve my own path, he would've loved you." Her hand came up and caressed the side of my jaw, leaving my skin tingling.

I shrugged, fighting off my blush. "My grandfather was a crotchety old man with anger issues and a drinking problem." It's true, the man could drink and smoke and he still lived to be about 90. He was the grumpiest man and basically traumatized me as a kid. I'd been three and was intrigued by the accordion. So he got it out and proceeds to scare the living shit out of me by sneaking up behind me and playing it.