The Revenge of the Mute Wife by Melanie Paulson

Extra 37: A Late Talk Part 1

"I'll ask you again. What are you doing here?" James questioned, frowning slightly.

"James... I..." Roger stammered nervously, his words catching in his throat and refusing to come out.

"Are you here to apologize on behalf of your daughter?"

"Something like that," he said, finally managing to speak, though he made a face. "Would you let me talk to you?"

"To me?" James asked, confused, pointing to himself. "About what?"

"Can I invite you for a drink so we can talk?"

"What do you want with my son?" At that moment, Roger saw his longtime rival approaching and standing next to the young man.

"Jayden, please let me talk to James," Roger pleaded.

The now platinum-blonde looked confused at his rival. It was the first time Roger had called him by his name, and he could see that Roger seemed genuinely sorry and defeated. Jayden let out a sigh. "James, go with him."

"What?" James looked at him, surprised and confused.

"Are you serious?" Roger said, a note of hope in his voice.

You're an adult now, son, and I think your mom would agree that you should talk to Roger, listen to h apologies, and then decide what you want to do," Jayden said, patting his son on the shoulder before slowly walking back into the company.

James watched these actions in confusion, but as he thought about his father's words, he understood what he meant. He let out a sigh. "Come on, there's a place across the street that serves good coffee," he said, looking Roger in the eyes and pointing to one of the shops across from the company.

Roger nodded and followed him to the place.

It was a typical coffee shop, quite busy at that time of day since it was still early and many people were having breakfast.

"Hi, James," greeted a redheaded waitress upon seeing the young man walk in. "The usual for you and your dad?" she asked with a slightly flirtatious tone.

"Hey, no, Lorey. Could you get us a table for two?" James replied, smiling at the girl.

"Oh, sure, right this way," she said, leading them to a table and leaving them the menu. "I'll be back in at few minutes to take your order.

"Thanks," James said, watching her walk away.

"You seem to be quite popular," Roger commented, noticing what was clearly happening.

"I let her flirt with me because I like her," James said, amused as he watched her attend to another table.

#

"Does Deborah know?"

"Uh... nope. Mom's really overprotective with me, but I think she suspects."

Roger laughed, imagining Deborah getting jealous and hugging her son protectively from any woman who wanted to steal him away.

After ordering their drinks, they both fell into silence... rather uncomfortable silence.

"So...?" James said, trying to break the silence.Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g

"Well... I... I want to start by apologizing."

"For what?"

"Well... for being an absent father, and..."

"You don't need to apologize for that," James interrupted him. "You're just the one who fathered me, but I've never seen you as my dad."

These words hurt Roger, but he understood he deserved them.

"Maybe when I first found out the truth, I was a bit confused about it, but Dad and Mom explained everything to me and spoiled me so that the truth wouldn't affect me or change who I am." "I see. Did you find out the first time we saw each other at the park?"

"Yes, I learned about it from your fight with Uncle at that party. In fact, Elizabeth and I misunderstood those words at the time; we thought we were both your kids."