by Claire Adams
As I got ready for a shower, I glanced at my phone to see if Emmi had called. She hadn’t, and my stomach continued to turn as I put the phone back down in total disappointment. This wasn’t like me, the waiting around for a girl to call, or even caring at all if they called me. I was used to being the one who called them, who let them go, I wasn’t at all comfortable with the feelings I had stirring around inside of me at that moment.
After a quick Uber ride to the bar, I found Justin already at the bar with two young ladies. He’d done the legwork for us and had a blonde and brunette primed and waiting for me to flirt with.
“Hello there, everyone,” I said as I tried to put my best happy face on.
“Sarah, Cinnamon, this is my friend I was telling you about, Declan.”
“Hello, ladies,” I said and reached out to shake each of their hands. “You both look lovely tonight.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Declan,” Cinnamon said as she pressed her chest toward me and seductively let her hand glide down my body.
If I wanted to take her home at that very moment, I probably could have. But taking this girl home was far from the top of my list of things to do that night. In fact, all I really wanted to do was get rid of the girls so I could talk with my friend in peace.
“It’s nice to meet you too, darling.”
“The girls were just telling me they are visiting from Georgia,” Justin said with a huge smile.
“Well, I hope you enjoy your visit to Los Angeles,” I said as I grabbed Justin and pulled him away from the girls. “We have some business to talk about. Enjoy your evening.”
“If you are not dying, I’m going to murder you,” Justin said seriously as I pulled him toward a booth in the corner of the room.
“I need to talk to you. It’s serious. Hugely serious.”
“Shit, it must be if you’re willing to give up on a girl named Cinnamon.”
“Teddy wants to pull out of all of our deals. All of them. He’s really pissed off, and it’s my fault, but it’s going to be so bad for me if he does.”
Justin looked utterly confused as he sat across from me with a blank look on his face. I couldn’t blame him, though; Teddy wasn’t the type of guy to get angry, so it probably didn’t make much sense unless I explained what had happened.
“You slept with Emmi, didn’t you?” he asked out of the blue.
“What? Why would you ask that?”
“Because that’s the only thing in the world that I can think of that would make Teddy angry enough to threaten to cut off all business ties with you. Declan, how could you do it? You knew he was going to get pissed. There are a million other women in the world; geesh, man.”
“It’s not like that, Justin. We were stuck at the chalet in Breckenridge. It was a long week, we spent a lot of time together and really got to know each other. It’s different. I care about her.”
Justin sat there without saying a word as our waitress came and we ordered our drinks. The silence wasn’t uncomfortable with Justin; it was needed as I processed what I had done and if there was any possible way I was going to be able to save the partnership I had with Teddy.
“Well, the company is diversified enough that you could buy out some of his projects and he could buy out some of yours, if you two really wanted to go your separate ways, but I’d advise against it. Your names are tied together now. People look for his hotels because of you and your equipment because of him. Can’t you two work this out?”
“I really don’t know. He seemed pretty angry, and I’m sure he’s already got his lawyers working on ways to liquidate his portion of the company. The problem is, he doesn’t need me at all. He’s a billionaire. Teddy could literally retire today and be just fine. I’m the one that needs him. I’m the one who needs the new hotel business in order to keep our company afloat.”
“Why? I thought the equipment sales were going pretty well.”
“They are, but I’ve extended a lot of money in these hotel projects. I’ll be cash poor for sure if Teddy pulls out. I don’t know if we would be able to put out any new lines next year, and that would be the death of us.”
“Declan, this is stupid. All this for a girl?”
I knew exactly what he was saying. I’d have said the exact same thing to him if he was the one who had kept the company and fallen for Teddy’s daughter. It wasn’t like me. None of this was what I was comfortable with, but I did have feelings for Emmi. I did want to date her and see where things led us. I wasn’t ready to give up on what was going on between us, and I also wasn’t willing to give up on my partnership with Teddy.
“I’m sorry, I know you’ve got a lot of your money invested in the company as well.”
“Yeah, Declan, I’ve got everything in this company. I know you bought out my portion officially, but I’ve still got the loan for the company, and that’s a lot of cash. If you were to go bankrupt, that would ruin me.”
“I know.”
“So what are you going to do about it? You can’t just sit here and cry in your pina colada.”
“Actually, that’s exactly what I planned on doing tonight. Just sitting here and complaining about everything while I get drunk on fruity Caribbean drinks.”
The bar was the perfect place to be when you were depressed. The island music made it nearly impossible to feel bad for myself. It was upbeat and fun, exactly like the music I’d always heard while on my trips to the beaches of the Caribbean and Mexico.
We sat for awhile without talking, and I found myself looking over the crowd to see if Emmi and Jessica had happened to stop by. There were tons of people in the club and it was impossible to see them all from our table, but I definitely didn’t find Emmi in the crowd. I even checked my phone again to see if she had called, but she hadn’t.
“What’s Emmi say about all of this?” Justin asked after we had both finished our second drinks and started in on some appetizers.
“Nothing yet. She left Breckenridge with her father and said she’d call me tomorrow.”
“Wait, did Teddy actually catch you in bed with Emmi while you were in Breckenridge?” Justin said as he winced as if he was in actual pain.
“Yep.”
“Oh, God, Declan. Really?”
“Yeah. We were asleep in bed when he came into the chalet to get us. He’d been worried about us because we hadn’t called him, but the power was out and we were snowed in for days.”
“Then how’d he get to you?”
“Apparently the roads had been cleared the day before, and we had been, um, too busy to notice.”
Justin laughed at the picture I was painting for him. No matter what was going on with the business, we were friends, and he had heard many of my stories over the years. Justin always took joy in the stories that ended with me getting in some sort of trouble.
“Wow, this has got to be the best story ever. Did he hit you?”
“No! We were naked in bed, though, and he stormed out of the chalet with Emmi.”
“While she was naked?”
“No,” I laughed. “We got dressed and went downstairs. He yelled about me being a liar and a few other things and then asked her to come with him. I told her to go. I thought it might be easier for her to talk to him and work things out.”
“Man, Declan, I don’t know how you’ll get out of this. But seriously, I think you and Teddy need each other to keep the hotels running. He’s not interested in retiring. You should talk to him, try and smooth things over. Tell him you’ll stay away from Emmi and maybe the two of you can just go back to how things used to be?”
The idea of purposely staying away from Emmi was outrageous. I couldn’t even respond right away as I ran through what that would do to me. I’d finally found a woman that I was willing to have a real relationship with and I was supposed to give her up because her father disapproved of the relationship? No, there was no way I could do that.
“I don’t know,” I managed to mutter.
My head was sp
inning with the idea, and the alcohol was doing a really good job as well. I wasn’t diversified in my investments, that was 100 percent true. If my company went under, I didn’t have many other investments that could keep me wealthy. I’d bet my entire livelihood on my company, and I did need to make sure I was making wise decisions when it came to my business dealings.
“What don’t you know? You need Teddy. You’ll need to go to him and suck it up. Tell him whatever he needs to hear so things can get back to usual.”
“You know the funny thing?” I asked.
“What?”
“I’m not going to have an assistant when I show up for work tomorrow, and that’s going to make everything worse. Shit, I really need her around.”
“Hire a temp or something. You’ll figure it out. What you need is to make nice with Teddy and fix what’s going on here. He’s a reasonable man; he’ll see that it’s best for both of you if you stick together.”
“Or, he will cut his losses, sell off everything, and retire to some tropical location with the money he’s got already.”
“Okay, Declan, that’s a real possibility. But I don’t know; Teddy has worked so hard for his company his entire life, I just don’t see him being willing to throw it all away and sell it off.”
“I guess we will just see how the day turns out tomorrow,” I said as I ordered another round of drinks by raising my hand as the waitress walked by. “Tomorrow is going to be one hell of a day.”
My chest was tight with anxiety when I showed up to the office the next morning. I’d stayed out way too late with Justin and drank more than I should have as well. None of it was helping me feel in control of my day as I pulled up my calendar and tried to figure out what had to be done.
“Rosa,” I called as she walked by. “I’ve got some sketches for you.”
“Oh yes, Emmi sent them to me already. I love the ideas, and I’m having my team work on freshening them up.”
“Okay, great. That sounds perfect.”
As she walked toward her office, the phone rang at Emmi’s desk. I didn’t know how to answer it from my office, so I ran out to her phone and picked it up.
“Hello,” I said.
“Hello, who is this?” a man’s voice said.
“This is Declan McMillan,” I answered, as it dawned on me how unprofessional I must have sounded when originally answering the phone.
“Oh, hey, Declan, this is Morgan. I got some interesting papers from Teddy’s lawyers, and I think we should talk about this.”
“Crap, what did he send?”
“Are you two splitting the company up? I’d highly advise against it. There’s a huge downside for you if he pulls all his money out of your projects.”
“Morgan, I don’t think I have much of a say in this. Teddy is making his own decisions on this one.”
“I’ll come over tomorrow so we can talk about this. But be forewarned, if he’s pulling his money out, I’m not sure you’ll be able to keep running. We can talk about it more tomorrow, though. Does noon work for you?”
“Yes, that will work.”
I swallowed hard at the realization that Teddy had indeed gone through with his plans. Not only had he gone through with his plans, but he had paperwork filed and sent to my attorney in less than 24 hours; Teddy was serious, and that scared me to death.
Chapter Twenty
Emmi
“Daddy, he’s your friend. I don’t know why you’re getting this upset,” I yelled as we pulled into the driveway of his house.
“You know exactly why. He’s a liar, and I don’t do business with liars.”
My father had used that same argument for our entire trip home. He’d used it all night long as I stayed at his house and tried to reason with him and he was continuing to use the same argument even after we went out for breakfast and I tried to sweet talk him into being nice to Declan. Nothing was working, though.
“I like him, Daddy. Don’t you want to be supportive of the man I like?”
“You can do whatever you want with him, but I’m not staying in business with the man. In fact, I called my lawyers last night and they should already have the paperwork together and be sending it over to him today.”
“Daddy! Really? That’s ridiculous.”
“Oh, no it’s not. I told him I wouldn’t keep working with him if he did something like this. I’m a man of my word, even if he isn’t.”
“I can’t believe you would do this to someone who you have mentored for years,” I said as I tried the guilt approach.
My father’s eyes narrowed in on me as he thought for a minute about what he wanted to say. He was choosing his words carefully and methodically, which wasn’t like him at all. Typically, he just said whatever it was he wanted to say.
“You should stay away from him, Emmi. He’s not a good guy. I won’t go into every little detail, but he’s a womanizer and no one you should be spending time with. That’s why I asked him to stay away from you. And he promised he would.”
“Daddy, we all have pasts. I didn’t know him before, and I don’t care what he was like. I want to get to know him now. He’s a good man. He’s someone I care about. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”
My father stewed for a minute and then stormed off to the living room, where he grabbed the paper and pretended to read it so he didn’t have to talk to me anymore. Instead of continuing to argue with him for another night, I decided to head back over to Jessica’s house and talk things through with her.
“I’m going to go over to Jessica’s. Don’t do anything rash yet, please. Let’s talk again tomorrow.”
“I’ve already made my decision. There’s nothing to talk about.”
“Okay, Daddy, well, I’ll be at Jessica’s house if you need me. But I’m not going to work for Declan again; I think it’s time for me to find a new job.”
“That’s the smartest thing I’ve heard from you all day,” he said snidely as I turned to leave his house.
I wasn’t used to my father being angry with me. Typically, he might get annoyed at something I had done, but never this all out angry. It hurt me to know that I’d hurt him by my actions even if I thought it was silly that he was angry at all.
As a grown woman, my father really didn’t have a say in the men I was with or who I chose to spend my time with. Him getting upset with Declan was so childish that I could hardly wrap my brain around it. The next thing I knew he’d be telling me I was out of his will or something dramatic like that if I didn’t agree to stop seeing Declan. I really didn’t know how far he was planning to take this whole thing, and I wasn’t sure I could handle it if he continued to be angry.
On the drive to Jessica’s house, Declan sent me a text message.
DECLAN: Call me when you get a chance. How’s your father doing? Has he calmed down?
I didn’t respond. My father had not calmed down at all. He actually seemed even angrier as the last 24 hours had unfolded. I really thought he was exaggerating his anger to prove his point; I hadn’t imagined that he would actually get his lawyers to draw up papers and have them sent over to Declan.
It was a relief to see Jessica sitting on the couch when I got back to her place. I really needed someone to talk to, and didn’t want to go chasing after her at one of the clubs she might be working at that evening.
“Wow, you look like shit. I suppose your father still hasn’t come around?”
“Thanks for texting me last night. I really needed someone to talk to while Dad was going crazy. I just don’t see how he can take this all so seriously. Why does he even care?”
“From what I know about your father, he cares about you and must think that Declan isn’t a good guy for you.”
She was right; my father had spent the last 24 hours going on and on about all the women Declan had been with. He’d tried to paint Declan in a horrible light, but I knew better. I knew my father was just bringing these women up in an effort to turn me off from Declan. But what I didn’t kn
ow was why my father thought Declan was good enough for him to be friends with and for him to do business with, but not good enough for me?
“He says he actually sent the paperwork over to Declan about dissolving their mutual interests. I just can’t believe he’s willing to take things this far.”
“What did Declan say?” Jessica asked as she pulled the blanket back and let me sit with her on the couch.
“I haven’t talked to him since I left Breckenridge. I don’t know what to say. He sent a text asking how Dad was. How do I tell him that he’s about to get some paperwork that will finalize his entire relationship with my father? All because the two of us decided to get together? It’s insane.”
“Yeah, but your dad is old. He’s set in his ways. He’s never going to change his mind now. Unless maybe you promised to stay away from Declan forever or something like that,” Jessica said as she laughed. “That’s the only thing I can think of that might make your dad happy.”
“I don’t know if that would even make him happy at this point. He keeps saying it’s because Declan lied to him and he can never trust him again.”
“Oh, please. Like your father has never told a lie when it comes to a woman. I know he was married to your mother forever, but when he was young, I bet he told a few whoppers in his day.”
“Yeah, I think he and my mom used to lie to her parents about their relationship.”
“See, he’s not so perfect,” Jessica said as she went to the freezer to get us some ice cream for our evening of talking.
The more I thought about it, the more the memory came back to me. My mother had told me about when Daddy and her first started dating, and they were trying to bring it up to her parents. My dad didn’t even go to her father for permission until months after they had already been seeing each other. But of course, those were different days, and my father would still go back to the idea that Declan had outright lied to him.
“Maybe I should just find a new job and move on. I could try to convince my father it was all my idea and Declan was just unable to say no to me. Maybe that would work?”