Del Monte's

Chapter twenty

"Ruby, Dennis! You're gonna be late " Diane shouted from the kitchen as she prepared peanut butter and jelly sandwich and ham sandwich for them.

"Coming Mama" Dennis replied as he walked into the kitchen with Ruby trailing behind him.

"Here your lunch" she handed the peanut butter and jelly sandwich with an apple juice to Ruby and the ham sandwich with an orange juice to Dennis. " C'mon we have to get going, the school bell is going to go off very soon"

She hurriedly walked outside to see Daniel holding the door open for her and the kids. That was exactly a good time for Ruby and Dennis morning competition as they ran to the car, of course with Ruby as the winner, always.

"Thanks Daniel. When did you return?"

"Good morning ma'am. Last night" he greeted with a large smile.

"It's Diane" she corrected " so how was the surgery?"

"It was successful and she's getting better" Daniel replied

Daniel had been the first person she spoke to when she moved in with Dario but a week later he was called home because his mother had an accident and was rushed to the hospital.

"I'll be taking the kids to the school" she said and got into the car not waiting for his reply.

She pulled out of the long driveway and zoomed off. The drive from the mansion to the school was a short one and luckily for them they got there exactly when the bell went off.

"Hurry!" She told them as she opened the door for them to leave.

"Remember no fighting Dennis" she chided with her hand on her hips

"What am I supposed to do, they wanted to bully Ruby" Dennis countered.

"Report to an elderly person" she said sternly.

"Fine" he replied and took Ruby's hand in his as he pulled her towards the school building.

"And no drawing on people's face" she shouted and Ruby turned to show her a wide grin. and then waved at her.

She watched as the got into the school without any problem. She climbed back into her car and sat there without moving....there was a main reason she decided to take Dennis and Ruby to school today, she scheduled a meeting with Jason and she knew going with the driver means Dario would know about her movement.

She texted Jason to let him know she was on her way there and then she zoomed off.

Dario sat in his regular coffee shop, the Del Monte's coffeehouse as he sipped from his cup of black coffee. He was waiting for his business partner, being a punctual person he was five minutes before the said time.

"Good morning. You're early" his business partner, Stanley Morgan said as he undo his suit jacket and sat down in front of him.

"Morning. You can make your order, they make nice coffee" he waved at the waiter present.

"I'll have a cup of mocha" he ordered when the waiter stood before him, Dario waved him off with a flick of his fingers and turned to Mr Morgan

"I take it that all the papers are ready and the staffs are aware of the merging"

Morgan gave a toothy grin "yes of course everyone knows better than to delay a business movement with Mr Simpson"

The waiter returned with his cup of macho just as the door to the cafe opened, Dario's countenance changed instantly as he stared at Diane taking a sit close to the door, he watched as she checked her time like she was expecting someone. He could clearly see her but she couldn't because of the glass between them

Diane checked the time again to be sure her meeting with Jason wasn't clashing with Lena working time. She didn't know what came over her to schedule a meeting with Jason at the Del monte's coffeehouse and it was already late when she came to her senses. She had called Lena earlier to make sure Lena was not on duty this morning.

The door to the cafe opened and Jason walked in with his infamous smile same one Elena fell for. When he spotted Diane his smile widened and he took large strides to get to her, she stood up at the same time he reached the table and hugged him.

He kissed her cheeks and pulled away to check her out " wow you look gorgeous"

"Thanks" she smiled " you don't look bad yourself" she moved away from him and took her sit.

He waved for a waiter, when she arrived he ordered a cup of cappuccino and caffe latte with coffee cake.

"How's Ruby doing? I was so happy when I saw your call"

" She's fine, she's in school" she replied but not with same enthusiasm as his.

"What's wrong? Is Ruby ok? Are you ok? Did Dario...I swear I'll kill that bastard " he fumed attracting people's attention to them, almost standing up, she placed her hand on his to calm him down.

"Calm down Jason. I'm ok and Ruby is fine "

"You sure? I mean it you guys can come live with me if anything goes wrong"

"I'm hundred percent sure of it" she paused when the waiter came back to serve them. When she was out of ear shot she continued. " What happened between you and Elena?"

His demeanour changed but then he plastered a fake happy face.

" Let me rephrase my sentence. What changed? Why did you ask for a divorce?"

"It's nothing Anne " he replied avoiding her eyes and instead focused on the coffee cake like he had never seen a perfectly shape coffee cake in his entire life.

"You can't tell me that Jay, you two were the best, you were the ultimate couple, everyone wanted a relationship like you guys own back in college, people were jealous. Heck! I was jealous." She ranted

The last sentence picked his curiosity and he moved his eyes away from the coffee cake to her face.

"You were jealous" there was a tinge of hope in his sentence.

"Yes Jay, yes!! I wanted you guys relationship but I got that one" she stated careful enough to not mention his name, the name she had made sure not to say for the past three years. " Why Jay?"

He shook his head. If he knew she called him for this he would have made up a silly excuse not to show up.

"Jason, I'm not leaving here and you're not either if you dont tell me the reason" she stated sternly with folded hands.

"Fine!! You want to know why I can't be with Elena?! Why my perfect relationship isn't so perfect?! Why I asked for divorce?!"

Diane nodded finally she was going to get an answer but she didn't know it wasn't the answer she had expected.

"It's all because of you. You, everything was you." He said and Diane paled. " You're the reason I can't be with her, you're the reason my perfect relationship isn't perfect, you're the reason I asked for a divorce. I'm in love with you Diane"

Stupefied by the revelation, she composed herself to ask a question that bugged her. "Why did you propose to her? Why did you get married to her just to break it?"

" You. I wanted to get closer to you" he stretched his hand out to place it on hers but she pulled it away slightly. She didn't miss the sad smile that grazed his lips.

"I...I " she couldn't have anything with him. Yes Jason is a good guy but she just can't accept him when she's slowly falling for him, Dario.

He shook his head and bent it down casted " you love him already"

She didn't need to explain anything to him. Did he expect her to jump on him once he proclaimed his undying love for her...for Christ sake he's married to Elena.

"I did not expect anything from you. I wanted your heart but I knew it was impossible. I'm sorry for breaking your friends heart" he stood up took a long stare at her and then walked out without even touching his coffee or cake.

Diane sat in silence as she took in everything Jason just said. What did she do to get him fall for her that bad? How did she not notice it? Is she that clueless?

She raised her head up to check if Jason was still around the coffeehouse through the glass when she saw someone she didn't expect to see.... someone she thought she had locked away for the past three years

"Morgan" she muttered the name for the first time in three years as colour drained from her face.