Trying Not To Love You

Part Sixty Three

Chapter Sixty Three

         “Can I get you a birthday drink?” A voice purred from Sonny’s left, glancing he saw Jade smiling at him. She was wearing a dress that left nothing to the imagination, red, tight, clinging to her curves. Her long blonde hair was teased to within an inch of its life, and her eye lashes were thick with mascara. “To make up for the lack of gift this morning.”

                “I don’t need gifts, honestly.”

Her eyes widened and she tilted get head coquettishly, “that’s not what you said this morning.”

Rolling his eyes he ordered a drink for himself then got her one, “you’re a nice girl Jade. I like you...”

She grinned, “I know, I know you don’t want a relationship. But there’s no harm in testing that theory, is there?” 
Giving a flirtatious wink she flaunted off across the room, leaving Sonny to wonder if he’d bitten off more than he could chew...again.

Martha had kept a low profile, they’d thought of and planned this night since before Sonny had destroyed her life so callously, and despite it all, he deserved this. She looked across at him, he was talking to Paul and Leo the chef from the restaurant, laughing about something and he looked happy. She sighed, she knew he’d not had times like this, and she was pleased for him. That didn’t mean she liked him. Or understood him. Quite the opposite.

Jade was circling the room with her gang of friends; she wasn’t as easy a thought to digest. Martha was still finding it more than hard to believe that he’d sought her out within weeks of ending things with her. As much as he told her he loved her, that he was splitting from her because he wanted to do right by her, she couldn’t help but doubt that she’d never meant as much to him as he had to her. That was what saddened her, that he could move on so easily.

                “Penny for your thoughts?” The voice made her turn with a smile.

                “Aunty Lucy, have I told you that I am SO glad that you’re home?”

The older woman smiled, “a couple of times! It was worry for you that did bring me back, that’s the only reason...that and the public displays of affection between two people too old for all that!” When Martha chuckled she asked, “how are you coping?”

She shrugged, “I feel like I’ve been put through one of those old fashioned clothes mangles, you know?” She gave a half laugh, “I thought he loved me. But he’s moved on already, and I’m just not ready to see the evidence of that.”

Lucy nodded knowingly, “you know I disliked him when he arrived, but the more I get to know him, the more complex I realise he is.”

She stared at the older woman, eyes wide in shock, “So it’s ok to treat me as he has?”

Lucy covered a hand with her own and shook her head, “no. It’s not ok. But I think Sonny isn’t used to emotions, he doesn’t express himself well.”

Martha was still angry, “So him screwing all and sundry is ok?”

              “Of course not,” she turned over her niece’s hand and held it. “That never is, but I do think he’s broken, and that’s some sort of screwed up way of coping.”

Martha humphed, “really? Sex is his way of dealing with life?”

Lucy shrugged, “is it so difficult to believe? Look what he was like a few months back. We had more women under our roof than Hugh Heffner. He doesn’t have anyone, never has. He doesn’t know what relationships are, until he met you. Now he’s going back to what he knows, for safety. And that’s anonymous women and him being in control.”