Suzanne smiles at me. “Isn’t it obvious? Brodie traded up.”
“Get out. Get the fuck out of here!”
Suzanne sneers. “Not a problem. This party sucks anyway. Come on, Becky, let’s get back to the city and leave the hicks to their little lives.”
As soon as they leave, Brodie approaches me. “It’s not what it looked like.”
I shake my head. My eyes were not deceiving me. I know what I saw. “Please leave.” Darn it all, I can feel the tears forming in my eyes. I will not cry. I won’t! He reaches for me, but I take a step back and his hand drops. “I let you see my scars,” I whisper. His face crumples, but I stand strong.
“Young man.” Grandpa pushes his way through the crowd I hadn’t noticed gather behind me. Oh goodie, there’s a crowd. “It’s time for you to leave.” He grabs Brodie’s shoulder and starts hauling him away.
“Show’s over, folks,” I hear Shelby announce as I make my way to my bedroom.
I have to make it behind closed doors before I fall apart. I knew Brodie was too good to be true. What is someone who looks like him doing with me – a deformed freak? I should have protected my heart. But no. I jumped in with both feet and now look at me. Heartbroken and friendless.
Chapter 30
A lady should never act surprised.
Please talk to me. Yeah, right. Like that’s going to happen. I stuff another spoonful of ice cream into my mouth. Unlike every other man in my life, Ben nor Jerry have never let me down.
Let me explain. Nope. No explanation necessary, thank you very much. I have eyes in my head. I know what I saw. Damn, I thought Brodie was different. Why do all men go stupid when a beautiful woman shows them a bit of interest?
Suddenly, my ice cream is snatched from my hands. “What the hell?” I shout at Shelby. “How did you get in here?”
“Enough wallowing. I gave you a day to wallow. Your day is up.”
A day to get over a broken heart? I need at least a month and twenty gallons of ice cream before I even consider getting out of my pajamas and leaving my bedroom. Yep, I’ve been in the same pair of pajamas for two days. Spoiler alert: I don’t care.
“You’re now my best friend. Your job is to support me no matter how stupid I get over a man. And here’s an expert tip: You never ever take ice cream away from a heartbroken woman.” I shake my spoon at her. Melted ice cream drops onto my pajama top. No sense letting it go to waste. I grab my shirt and pull it up, so I can lick the spot of deliciousness. A small stain is left behind. It joins the other stains from the past day.
“This situation is worse than I thought. You’ve turned into one of those girly girls who like to discuss touchy-feely stuff.” She shudders.
“Give me my ice cream back and I won’t say a word.” I zip my lips. “Not a word,” I mutter between closed lips.
Shelby stares at the ice cream before plopping down on my bed beside me. She motions me to hand her the spoon. I glare at her but hand her the damn spoon. Not like I can do anything with only a spoon anyway. “Carrie said you cancelled today’s PT session.”
“I couldn’t care less about PT right now.” I try to grab the ice cream back from Shelby who’s now shoveling my ice cream into her mouth.
“You should. Spending the day in bed is not doing your leg muscles any favors.”
I roll my eyes. “What are you? On the payroll of the hospital?”
“Nah, they couldn’t afford me.” She sticks the spoon in the ice cream and sets the carton on the nightstand on her side of the bed. “I gotta tell you. Your friends are total selfish bitches. Bailey’s all right, but the other two – dumb and dumber – are total bitches. They take the whole bitchy friends forever a bit too seriously.”
I close my eyes and lean my head back on the headrest. “I’m starting to realize that.” How have I spent the past five years being friends with women who think it’s a game to steal a woman’s boyfriend? Didn’t we leave high school behind over a decade ago? Hold up. Was I a bitchy friend forever, too? I hate to ask, but the question slips out before I can stop it, “Was I that bad when you met me?”
When Shelby doesn’t answer, I open my eyes to stare at her. She’s looking anywhere but at me. Crap. She’s supposed to be denying I was a bitch.
“Well, you weren’t a bitch or anything, but selfish? Self-absorbed?” She shrugs. “A bit.”
“But but…” I sputter. “I’d had this huge accident. It changed my entire life. Wasn’t I entitled to be a little selfish?” Oh god, I sound super selfish. “Never mind. I get it. I was a self-centered jerk. Check.”
“You’re not now. You know that, right?” I shrug. “No, seriously. You’re way cool now, freak. Which is good since I only hang out with the cool kids.”
A smile slowly spreads across my face. Only Shelby could get me to smile today. “You’re pretty rad yourself, nerd.”
“Now, let’s talk about Brodie.”
I glare at her. “Nope. I’m not talking about him.” I sound like a petulant child. Guess I have yet to completely eradicate my selfish gene. What can I say? It’s an ongoing process.
The door to my bedroom opens and in walks Grandma. She’s holding a tray piled high with cookies. “Gimme, gimme,” I grab the tray and stuff a cookie in my mouth. “Thank you,” I mumble around the chocolate chip deliciousness.
Grandma pulls the chair out from my desk and takes a seat. My eyes widen. This can’t be good. “What are we going to do about getting our girl back together with Brodie?” Oh no. This is not happening. No, no, no. I shake my head and cookie crumbs fly from my mouth.
“I’m working on it. But the girl is stubborn.” Shelby huffs.
“Should we do an intervention? Those seem to work on television. I can gather my girlfriends together.”
My eyes widen at the idea of her girlfriends getting any more involved with my love life. Haven’t they and their progeny done enough damage? “Enough!” I shout a bit louder than necessary. “It’s my love life. I get to decide what to do about it. Not you two.”
“Well.” Grandma stands. “Do something about it. This eating ice cream in your pajamas thing is not solving anything.” She wrinkles her nose at me before leaving.
I watch her exit before glaring at Shelby. “Look—” Before I get a chance to explain to my new friend how ganging up on me with my grandma is wrong in about a gazillion different ways, my phone rings.
“Your phone’s ringing.” Shelby points to the offending item buzzing across my nightstand.
“Thank you, Captain Obvious. Ignore it. Probably Brodie.” Oops. I shouldn’t have mentioned his name. Shelby’s eyes light up. “If I’m not talking about him, I’m definitely not talking to him.”
She dives over me and grabs the phone. I try to stop her but for a tiny thing, she’s fast. She’s standing near the bedroom door answering the phone before I have a chance to blink let alone try to get off the bed and follow her. “Frankie’s phone. Shelby speaking.” Her eyes get big as she listens to the caller’s response.
“Give me the phone, Shelby.”
She shushes me with a furious shake of her head. “Of course, Mr. Ward. Let me check to see if Ms. McMillan is available for your call.”
My eyes widen upon hearing the name, Ward. Why the heck is he calling me? I motion for the phone. “Mr. Ward. How can I help you today?”
Five minutes later, I’m pretty sure my mouth is still hanging open as I set my phone down. Shelby jumps up and down on the bed. “What’s going on? Tell me. Tell me. Mr. Ward is the big wig from the cosmetics company, right? Right?”
“Um, yeah. He wants to be my first customer.”
“What?” she shrieks.
“Keep it down in there, girls,” Grandma shouts. I roll my eyes. The woman is going to drive me crazy. I need to find my own place soon. What am I thinking? I have my own place. In the city. Where I belong.
“Seriously,” Shelby asks interrupting my thoughts, “what did this Ward guy have to say?”
Shelby jumps off the bed. “Come on. Get showered. Get dressed. Maybe wash your hair.”
I don’t move. “Why? What’s going on?”
“I have the perfect place for your office.”
Now, she has my attention. “What?”
“You’re going to love it. Come on, get dressed,” she wrinkles her nose, “and make sure you shower. I’ll call the agent. I’m sure we can get a viewing today.”
“I’ll need to call Jackson. I’m not starting any business without him.” Did those words seriously come out of my mouth? Am I genuinely considering starting my own business?
“Not a problem. I’ve got his number.”
I narrow my eyes at her. “When did you get his number?”
“It’s not a big deal,” she claims but I can see the blush on her face. “Come on, get up and get going. I know your high maintenance ass needs forever to get ready.”
I drag myself out of bed and hop towards the bathroom. I might as well have a look at the property. There’s no harm in looking. It doesn’t mean I’m ready to start a business. Or does it? Shower first. Life-changing decisions later.
Chapter 31
A lady should always answer when opportunity knocks.
Thirty minutes later, we’re heading out in Shelby’s car. I barely had time to wash my hair and get dressed with Shelby shouting through the door ‘to hurry your freak ass up’. I forced my wet hair into a French twist. No way am I going to a business meeting with wet hair dripping down my back no matter how pushy Shelby is. I also took the time to make sure I dressed the part of a future business owner – a simple black pencil skirt with a white button-down blouse paired with a dark gray blazer – although merely thinking the words ‘future business owner’ makes me break out in hives.
“Where is this awesome place I’ve just got to see?”
“You’ll see.” At this rate, I should probably be grateful she didn’t blindfold me. I won’t tell her that, though. Don’t want to give the crazy woman any ideas.
Fifteen minutes later, Shelby parks in the historic downtown area. I have to admit it’s quaint. The street is lined with unique and interesting shops – everything from antiques to bookstores to handmade fudge. Most of the buildings have old-fashioned striped awnings, making the entire downtown look cute and retro.
“Well, what do you think?” Shelby points to the building we’re parked in front of. It’s a two-story building sandwiched between other similar looking buildings. The downstairs is a wall of windows with a double door smackdab in the middle. The upper floor is brick with three tall and narrow windows. It’s freaking adorable. “When I saw the ‘For Rent’ sign, I knew it’d be the perfect place for your business.”
I climb out of the car to get a closer look. The sidewalk is crowded but I ignore the crowd and stand still staring at the historic building in front of me. “I love it.”
“Good.” I spin around to see Jackson has arrived. How did he get here so fast? “I think the location is perfect and with two stories, there’s plenty of room for us to grow.”
“Hang on.” I hold my hand up in the universal sign to stop. Things are careening out of control. “I only agreed to come and look at the place. I didn’t say I was ready to start a business.”
“You will.”
Lucky for Jackson, a woman waves and rushes toward us before I have a chance to let him have it. The man is cruising for a bruising if he thinks he can tell me what I’m going to decide. “You must be Ms. McMillan and Mr. Schmidt.” She quickly shakes our hands before pointing to the building. “Shall we have a look?” She doesn’t wait for a response before pushing her way through the crowds to the front door. “The downstairs has two offices and a meeting room,” she says as she ushers us in. “The upstairs has four offices.”
Four offices I have no plans to see today. I’ve been working on climbing stairs at therapy and can probably manage one flight. It may take me half an hour, but I can do it. In this skirt, though? Yeah, not happening. I pull on the waistband to give myself a tiny bit of breathing room. I really need to stop eating Grandma’s cooking before I rip more of my clothes straight down the backside.
“Let’s let them have a look around, shall we?” Shelby states before pulling the agent out the front door.
“I talked to Mr. Ward today,” I tell Jackson as soon as the door closes. I still can’t believe he called.
“Oh, yeah?”
I feel my eyebrows pull together. Just You is potentially our first client – a huge client at that – and his response is a mildly uttered oh yeah. “Why are you not more excited? This could be our big break.” I slap my forehead when I realize what’s going on. “You’re the one who told him I was leaving the firm, aren’t you?” I should have realized he was behind the out-of-the-blue phone call, which was not of the blue after all.
Jackson shrugs. “What’s the big deal? You’re thinking about leaving. That’s all I told him.”
I stomp my foot but regret the action immediately when my left leg is forced to take my entire weight. I wobble and pitch forward. Jackson catches me before my face meets the floor. I grab onto the first thing I can reach to steady myself. He squeals and releases me. I squeeze my handhold harder as I once again careen towards the floor. It takes a second, but then I realize what exactly my handhold is. Oh shit. I’ve grabbed Jackson by the balls. Literally. By the balls. Oh my god! I can feel the heat emanating from my face as I blush. I unclench my hand. Without a handhold, I have no chance in hell of staying upright. My face is on a one-way collision course with the floor. Jackson grunts but steadies me before I can face plant.
I take a breath as I straighten and make sure I’m steady on two feet. There is no way in hell I’m ever discussing touching his balls. Never ever. Instead, I return to our argument. “I’m not thinking about leaving. I’m thinking about whether I should think about leaving.”
“What’s the difference?” I growl. Jackson, obviously not having learned anything from having a long-term girlfriend, continues to speak. “Look, you’ve been bitching and complaining since the accident how your career is over. And now this opportunity to start your own business has dropped in your lap. You know how much the Just You account brings in. We could survive on the one account alone.”
“Um, no, we couldn’t.” Jackson opens his mouth to speak again, but it’s my turn now. “We will need to hire help in order to manage the account. There’s no way the two of us are enough manpower.”
He chuckles. “I already calculated those costs in.”
Oh crap. I forgot he’s some master business plan genius. “Fine. Let’s have a look at this place. If we both like it, we’ll talk numbers with the real estate agent.” Jackson smiles, prompting me to shout ‘if’ once again for emphasis before I go off to explore the place.
The reception area greets you immediately upon entrance. The area is large and bright due to the wall of windows facing the street. I continue through the area to the hallway off of which are four doors. Two doors lead to bathrooms. I quickly check to make sure the rooms are acceptable. They look pretty standard and – bonus! – both of them are handicap accessible. The other doors lead to two offices. One office is absolutely huge. It nearly takes up one-half of the entire ground floor. The other office is about half the size. At the end of the hallway, the area opens up. On the left side is a kitchenette with room for a table and chairs. On the right side is a meeting room.
I’m not sure about the meeting room being close to the kitchen. And I’m really not sure about fighting Jackson for the larger office. I’m used to him being my assistant, but if we’re business partners, we’re going to be equals. Thus, equal sized o
ffices are required.
With a start, I stop my perusal of the meeting room. I’m considering this whole business idea. Really, truly considering this. My heart starts to race at the idea of leaving the firm and a steady paycheck behind. Can I do this? I stare at my leg and shake my head. Medical insurance premiums alone may cripple me. Ha ha. No pun intended.
“Frankie!” No, no, no. I do not want to talk to the owner of that voice. I stare at the back entrance to the place and wonder if I have time to escape before he finds me. “There you are.” Damn. I’m cornered.
“How did you know where we were?” Brodie just looks at me. I scowl. “Grandma.” Of course. Who else would it be? That woman needs to keep her nose out of my business. I won’t be holding my breath for that to happen, though. “If they gave out PhDs for meddling, the woman would be a doctor.”
“I love your grandma.” He would. “Can we talk?”
Shelby sticks her head in the room. “We’re going to head to the coffee shop across the street.”
Jackson and Shelby disappear, but not before Shelby manages to give me a thumbs-up behind Brodie’s back. And then I’m alone with Brodie. The man I’ve been avoiding for the past two days as if my life depended on it. Oh crap.
Chapter 32
A lady should refrain from raising her voice.
Brodie barely waits for the door to shut behind Shelby and Jackson before speaking, “Before we start the fight I know we’re going to have, I just have to tell you I’m fucking proud of you.”
Proud of me? For starting my own business? My brow wrinkles as I scrunch my nose. I haven’t decided to start my own business – yet. “Why?”
“Going out of your house without your scar covered.” His smile lights up his eyes. “I thought it would take weeks if not months to get you this far.”
He steps forward as if he wants to pull me into his arms. I step back and open my mouth to scream. An honest to goodness horror movie scream. How the hell did I leave the house without a bandage on? Since the moment I woke up in the hospital and forced the nurse to give me a mirror, I’ve been religious about making sure my scar is covered. Fucking Shelby. If she hadn’t rushed me out of the house, I wouldn’t have forgotten.
About Face (Love in the Suburbs Book 1) Page 15