“Do you want the chili or the ketchup?” Rachel placed two sauces in front of Justin and let him pick. “I’m fine with either.” “Ketchup, then.” She passed him the ketchup sachet. “You can’t really have spicy food.”
She remembered that he had always had indigestion. It had been years since he last had a beef pie, and the last time he had one was six years ago. Back then, Rachel had always liked to get hot food from the convenience store, and he happened to see her there once. One day after work, he got Frankie to stop the car by the road, and he went in to get a pie. It tasted rather bland, and the beef was quite chewy. It didn’t taste good, and it wasn’t a taste that he was accustomed to. He thought it was absurd after taking a taste and throwing it into the bin.. Come to think of it, it was probably then that he had fallen for Rachel, but he was in denial.
“I like the mushrooms and carrots in the filling. Try some.”
“Sure.” Hot steam escaped as they cut into the piping hot pie The collar of her pajama peeked out from the neckline of her coat, and it seemed to be a mother-daughter-matching pajama set, similar to Charlotte’s. It had adorable tiny bunny prints all over. Some chili sauce got onto the corner of Rachel’s mouth as she ate.
Surprisingly, she seemed different from usual when eating, and she was very focused as she savored the food. After spending some time with her, Justin noticed she wasn’t as shy or quiet as he had imagined, discovering the cheeky side of her. She would joke, tease Jolly, banter with Gloria, and even have high expectations of Victor, who had a rigid personality. But, at the end of the day, she was a kind woman who was always full of surprises. Noticing that, he passed her a tissue. “The corner of your mouth.”
“Thank you.” She thanked him. “I heard that Mr. and Mrs. Carter are leaving for vacation early tomorrow morning. Will you be sending them off?”
“Yes. They normally spend their holiday elsewhere. Initially, I thought that this year would be an exception, but it turned out that the exception was that they would be having dinner with me on New Year’s Eve. Jolly told me that they purposely planned the dinner just for me. If it was just Jolly who was at home, Richard and Marilyn would have left for vacation right after the company dinner.”
“Everyone in the industry knows how lovey- dovey Mr. and Mrs. Carter are.”
“No doubt. Oh, right, has Ria tried on her wedding gown?”
“She hasn’t.”
“Oh? Didn’t she and Victor go over to your place?” “I asked them not to come since they don’t stay nearby. Also, Ria must be jet lagged since she just got back.”
“But still, she had to try on the gown because they are getting married in roughly a week. At least she can get it altered if it doesn’t fit well. It will be hard to get a tailor during the holiday. season.”
After a short pause, Rachel added again, “In that case, get her to go to your place tomorrow so that she could take a look at the wedding. decorations.”
“Alright.” Gloria and Victor’s wedding was the highlight of the holiday season. They had almost finished eating their beef pies after chatting for a while. Since she had to wake up early the next day to send Richard and Marilyn to the airport, Justin urged her to return to get some rest. As they walked in the alley toward the Carter Residence, Rachel wanted to ask him something but halted.
“We are here. You should go in.”
“Justin, Julian came to see me last week.” Rachel turned around. Upon hearing that, Justin furrowed his brows.
“He mentioned that Burton Group will be segmented into the northern and southern divisions. I heard that you will be in charge of the northern division.”
“Yeah.” Seeing how impassive he was, Rachel decided not to ask him the question she had in mind. “Alright, let’s talk about work after the holiday season.”
“Happy New Year.”
“Happy New Year.”
The sound of the car engine outside the villa faded as the car drove off. When Rachel got into the bedroom, she smiled when she saw Charlotte sleeping with her limbs. stretched out. Her blanket was on the ground, so the little girl grabbed onto Samuel’s blanket. She tucked the little ones in and sat by the bed while looking at Charlotte’s face.
Actually, Charlotte resembled Justin. Although she was still a child, she had her father’s eyes and brows. If not for her long hair, she would look more like a boy compared to Samuel. The question that she didn’t get to ask Justin earlier was whether he would leave Riverdale after the holiday season. If he really left, it would be hard for Charlotte to see him in the future.
On New Year’s day, Rachel sent Richard and Marilyn to the airport. Marilyn hated to leave Rachel, so she gave her a big hug. “Chris, it must be hard to take care of the two children at home.”
“There are three children at home.” Richard corrected her. To them, Jolly was more like a child than an adult. “I don’t know when Jolly is going to grow up.” Marilyn sighed.
“Marilyn, don’t worry. Jolly is actually very sensible.”
“You don’t have to make me feel better. We won’t have to constantly worry about her if she’s half as sensible as you. Richard and I wouldn’t have spent the holiday season elsewhere if she was well behaved instead of always making our blood boil.”
Rachel tried to hold in her laugh as she glanced at Marilyn’s long brunette hair. She suddenly realized that Jolly got her drama queen gene from her mother.
“It’s almost time. We should leave for the boarding gate.” Richard reminded her. Marilyn then reluctantly let go of Rachel’s hands.
Before Marilyn left, she turned and looked over at Rachel before saying, “Right, regarding her relationship with Leroy, if possible, could you please talk to Jolly on my behalf? Tell her not to lose herself in the relationship.”
“Alright, let’s not make it hard for Rae. I’m sure that you know Jolly’s personality well.” “Rae, you should go home,” Richard said as he held Marilyn’s hand. “Richard and Marilyn, have a safe flight!” After saying goodbye to them, Rachel left for home.
She felt unsettled as she recalled Marilyn’s words. But since Jolly had asked Leroy to go back to attend Gloria’s wedding, she would clarify things with him by then.
When Jolly finally got out of bed, it was almost noon. She walked down while still half asleep and saw Rachel preparing to leave. “Aren’t you going over to Justin’s house? Why are you bringing so many things over?”
“I got some pastries, cakes, and samples of wedding favors.” “I see those are for Gloria’s wedding. It seems like you are going to attend a wedding tasting. By the way, where are my parents?” Jolly asked.
“They had left since early morning. They would’ve missed their flight if we had to wait for you.” “You should hurry and wash up. Even Charlotte and Samuel aren’t as lazy as you are.” Rachel rolled her eyes at Jolly.
“I’m offended.” Jolly grumbled. The next moment, her phone vibrated. “My morning is getting off to a bad start!” she grumbled after taking a look at her phone as she frowned.
“What’s wrong?” Rachel looked at her puzzledly. “Here. Isn’t this bad luck?” Jolly stretched her hand and showed her phone to Rachel. “Don’t you think she’s doing this on purpose just to ruin my mood?”
All Rachel could see was a short text that read ‘Happy New Year, and it didn’t seem anything out of the ordinary. But when she noticed that it was sent by Estelle, she furrowed her brows.
