Redesigning Happiness

by Nita Brooks

  “W.E.W.”

  The Weekend Warrior channel. Yvonne was familiar with the network that featured syndicated television shows, movies, and some instructional programming related to gardening, home remodeling, and crafts. A popular network. W.E.W. had a diverse selection of shows that pulled in a wide array of viewers.

  “That’s a great channel.”

  “I know.” Judy said the words as if she hated to admit them.

  Yvonne leaned against the window and shifted the phone to her other ear. “What’s the problem?”

  “Nothing big, it’s just the owner of the network wants to meet with you before finalizing the deal.”

  “Oh . . . well, I guess that’s cool. Have you talked to Nathan? When do they want to meet?”

  She hadn’t expected to meet with the owner of the network. Some of the executives and producers, maybe, but not the actual owner. Was that typical? She thought over what she knew about selling a show to television and only came up with the things she’d seen on television and in the movies. This was all new to her.

  “No, you don’t get it. The owner wants to meet with you. Not you and Nathan.”

  “What? Why?” She and Nathan were a package deal. There was no reason for the owner to meet with just her.

  “I don’t know. I have to ask . . . Yvonne, were you planning to go solo on us?”

  “Really Judy? I didn’t even come up with this idea, now you think I’m trying to break up my partnership with Nathan before it’s even started?” Frustration tightened her fingers on her cell phone. She loved Nathan, they were a team, Judy should know that.

  “Hey, I have to ask. He was insistent that he talk only to you.”

  “He who?” Yvonne snapped back.

  “Richard Barrington. The third, not Junior. His father died about a year ago.”

  Yvonne’s knees buckled. She placed one hand against the window. Her heart pounded like a herd of terrified elephants. Sweat slickened her face and palms until her hand slid down the window. No, her entire body was sliding down. She stumbled over to her chair and fell heavily into the leather cushion.

  “Richard Barrington,” she asked in a trembling voice.

  “Yes. Do you know him? Do you know why he would want to meet with you?”

  She did, but she couldn’t tell Judy. She couldn’t tell anyone that Jacob’s father was suddenly back in their lives.

  Chapter 4

  She’d been in her second year at the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design when she’d met Richard. After an intensive round of finals, she and a few other friends had headed to a coffee house that switched into a jazz bar by night to enjoy spoken word poetry, drinks, and celebrate surviving another year. She’d noticed him almost immediately. He’d stuck out just that much. Amidst all the artists, musicians, and free spirits, a guy at the bar wearing a suit and tie, frowning into his drink, who looked like he’d just stepped over from Capitol Hill was hard to miss.

  She’d been intrigued immediately. A fault of hers. Wanting to know what was going on with other people. The need to figure out how she could help if someone looked sad. Valerie said she was too nice for her own good. That her the-glass-is-half-full outlook on life made her too tenderhearted. Yvonne hadn’t cared. A hot guy was at the bar and he looked like he needed a smile.

  She’d slid up next to him and said hey. He’d looked up from whatever brown liquor he’d been studying. Their eyes met, and her breath got stuck somewhere between her mouth and lungs. He was handsome from a distance. Up close he was hot. In that grown man, I’ve-got-myself-together kind of way. Dark, dark eyes. Walnut brown skin her fingers tingled to touch. His suit was expensive and tailored, his cologne equally impressive.

  Her romantic’s mind had rushed to imagine an outdoor wedding, in the mountains maybe, two kids, and a cute little bungalow. Her heart had screamed you-could-marry-this-guy. Instead of blurting out that she thought they might be soul mates, she leaned her arm against the bar and smiled.

  “Buy me a drink,” she’d said. She’d been an unrepentant flirt. She’d reveled in the back-and-forth game of attraction. Seeing who would come out on top.

  His dark eyes widened. She’d surprised him. His gaze dropped to the V-neck of her sundress then immediately popped back up. She swore embarrassment flashed in his eyes before he glanced away. Mr. I’ve-got-myself-together was uncomfortable with her cleavage. “I shouldn’t.”

  He shouldn’t. Not a no, and not a he didn’t want to buy her a drink. Which meant he was interested. “Why?”

  “Because, I’m not available to buy beautiful women drinks.” He lifted the glass and took a sip of his dark drink. She’d bet it was cognac or bourbon. He looked like the type. The words had come out with regret. He wasn’t happy to turn her down, but he was under some obligation to do so.

  “Wife or girlfriend?” Not that she would pursue a man who was with another woman, but she had to know if he was completely off the market before succumbing to the disappointment already wrapping cold fingers around her heart.

  The corner of his mouth tilted up. He had a sexy mouth. Lips evenly sized, not too big or super thin. Perfect symmetry. Please, don’t have a girlfriend, she’d silently pleaded.

  “Neither. An ex-fiancée,” he said. “I broke off my engagement.” He checked his watch. “Exactly two hours ago.”

  Yvonne hadn’t known what emotion to go with. No girlfriend. Score! Literally just out of an engagement. Bummer. Either way, the cold fingers of disappointment loosened their hold.

  “If you broke things off, why are you sad?”

  “It just didn’t feel right, you know?”

  She smiled and shrugged. “Sorry, I don’t. Never been engaged. Do you mean the engagement or the break up?”

  The corner of his mouth kicked up again. Her stomach did a funny flip. Two minutes in and she had it bad for the guy.

  He frowned into his drink. “The engagement. Everyone said we were perfect. My parents like her. Her parents like me. Our companies are merging. I’ve known her forever. We’ve dated for three years.”

  “But, let me guess, you didn’t love her?”

  “I do like many things about her. We’ve been friends forever. I just don’t want to marry her.” His dark eyes met hers. Conflicted and pleading for some type of understanding. “Does that make sense?”

  Yvonne nodded. “She wasn’t the one.”

  “The one? What does that mean?” he’d asked, sounding like a cynical businessman instead of the recently unengaged and conflicted guy he’d been a few seconds before.

  “It means that if you weren’t ready to marry her, then you made the right call to break things off. Who knows? Maybe the universe has something better in store for you.”

  “I’ll try that line on my dad. He’s going to be pissed when I tell him I broke off the engagement.” He’d grunted and sipped his drink.

  “Hey, it’s your life. My philosophy is do what makes you happy. Your dad isn’t the one who’d have to spend forever with her. Besides, engaged isn’t married. Better to break an engagement than pay for a divorce.”

  The tension around his eyes and mouth melted away. “I guess you have a point.”

  “Of course I do.” She’d drummed her hands on the bar. “So, how about you buy me that drink, and I’ll try to keep you from looking like you want to drown in that... cognac?”

  He’d laughed. Low and smooth and the sound warmed her body like the summer sun. “Bourbon, and I don’t look like I want to drown myself.”

  “Yes, you do.” She ordered a tequila sunrise, and they’d sat and talked. She stopped flirting and listened as he said he’d always wanted to try his hand at spoken word and that’s why he’d chosen this location to have his post-breakup drink. He never told her exactly what he did, he had some big-time corporate job, family business, stressful. That’s all she got. She talked about school, finishing finals, poetry.

  He left without getting her number. She’d known he had baggage with a two
-hour fresh breakup and conflict in his eyes. So, she’d tried to tell herself him not getting her number was for the best. Even though she’d thought about him for weeks after. Then he’d been in the bar again another night. He remembered her. They’d talked again. And before long, he showed up more, they talked more, and pretty soon, she started thinking of him as a friend and not just the hot guy who’d given her fantasies of mountain weddings and cute kids.

  Now, she sat in the Atlanta W.E.W. offices and thought back on that first day, when she’d instantly been drawn to him. She still couldn’t regret her decision to talk to him. After all the love, the bitter heartbreak, and the way her outlook on life was forever shattered after him, she would never regret that day. She had Jacob, and he was worth every moment.

  She’d asked Judy to wait until after her meeting with Richard to say anything to Nathan. Judy hadn’t wanted to go along with it. Yvonne said she wanted to make sure Richard wasn’t being a creep and trying to lure her away. If that was the case, she’d turn down the offer and they could let Nathan know afterwards. Judy reluctantly agreed. Regardless of what came of today’s meeting, she was going to go back and say they needed to turn down the deal. There was no way in hell she’d let Richard anywhere near her or Jacob. Not after he tossed them aside.

  “Ms. Cable, Mr. Barrington will see you now,” the pleasant young receptionist said from behind her desk.

  Yvonne stood, straightened her shoulders, and lifted her chin. She didn’t know what kind of game Richard was playing, or why he’d chosen to play it now, when her life was finally back on track after he derailed it, but she wasn’t going to put up with anything he tried to dish out.

  She entered the large office. Windows took up one wall overlooking a man-made lake in the busy office park. Richard stood at the window. His back to her. When the door closed behind her, she thought she saw his broad shoulders flinch. Two heartbeats passed before he slowly turned and faced her.

  A second of eye contact was all it took for a plethora of emotions to seize her. Memories flooded her brain like the Chattahoochee River after a massive rain storm. The heat of his rich dark skin. The firmness of his muscles beneath. The demand from his lips when he’d kissed her. For a fleeting moment, the happiness that used to infuse her every blood cell when she’d see him enter the bar where they’d meet and talk about books and poetry bubbled up.

  “Richard,” his name came out as a disbelieving whisper. He was really here. Back in front of her. Did he live in Atlanta now?

  Richard’s eyes were full of the wary aloofness that had made her want to slip beneath his designer suits to find the real man beneath. He wore one of those suits today, blue and tailored perfectly. The tailoring didn’t really matter. His clothes always fell across his body as if they were made just to pay homage to his sex appeal.

  “Hello, Yvonne.” His cold, angry tone snapped her back to the present.

  He’d dismissed her easily. Thrown away her love and their child for someone more suitable. Paid her off as if she were an escort who’d overstayed her welcome. Her heart may have fluttered at the sight of him but, judging by his icy stare, he felt nothing similar.

  She shifted her weight to one foot, cocked her head to the right and gave him her best disdainful stare. “I never expected to see you again.” Later today she’d have to give herself a pat on the back for sounding so unimpressed by his request to see her.

  “I find that surprising.” Resentment laced his deep voice.

  His anger set her teeth on edge. She fought to keep her composure cool. “How’s your wife? Does she know you’ve summoned me?” She said in a mocking tone.

  Richard’s jaw clenched. “My movements don’t matter to her anymore. We’re divorced.”

  She wished she were surprised. He probably thought she’d do an I-told-you-so dance. Instead, she felt empty. She’d suspected Richard wouldn’t be happy with the perfect socialite he’d married. The woman he’d described to Yvonne back when they’d slowly gone from friends to lovers. Richard had rattled off the qualities of his former fiancée with a forced cheerfulness that reminded her of kids who got socks instead of a puppy for Christmas. She also remembered Richard talking more about how much his father loved his fiancée than how much he loved her. When he’d gone back to Natalie, she’d said he wouldn’t be happy. After six years and a payoff for her to disappear, she couldn’t muster up any feelings of satisfaction her prediction had been correct.

  “I suppose that was hard on you. She was your perfect woman. More suited to your lifestyle.”

  “Natalie is a good woman. She just isn’t the right woman for me.” His gaze bore into hers. Briefly, she thought she saw some of the heat that once flared in them. So briefly, she was sure it was just her overactive imagination. The fact that she would even imagine that after all these years pissed her off.

  Yvonne glared at him. “If you’re here to go slumming again now that your marriage is over, forget it. Don’t play with my livelihood because you’re feeling lonely.”

  He slowly shook his head. “I never considered my relationship with you as slumming. If anything, you considered everything between us as meaningless.”

  He had the audacity to sound angry at her. Six years of pain stiffened her spine. Her eyes narrowed, and a hand landed on her hips. “Me! You blocked me. Sent me away like nothing but . . .” Yvonne took a deep breath and pressed a hand to her forehead. She wasn’t this person anymore. She wasn’t in love with him anymore. He didn’t deserve an excess of any emotion from her. She was a businesswoman now. A mother Jacob could be proud of. Calm, poised, above the petty. “You know what, forget it.” She dropped her hand and met his eye. “I don’t know why you insisted on meeting with me. We both know you’re not going to purchase our show. We’re done. I’m done, and you get no say in my life anymore. You got what you wanted. Now that it’s over, don’t come back for a refund. I don’t accept used returns or exchanges.”

  She turned to walk out of the office, not caring about whatever reason Richard thought he could tempt her to think about selling her and Nathan’s show to him.

  “I asked you here because of my son.” The hard snap of his voice whipped across her very last let’s-remain-calm nerve.

  Angry and heartbroken Yvonne came roaring to the surface. She spun on her heel and wished the bite of her glare was something he could physically feel.

  “Your son?” All pretense of calm was lost in the near snarl of her voice. “Now you want him. After you made it perfectly clear you wanted nothing to do with him or me.”

  “What are you talking about? You kept your pregnancy a secret from me. Kept my son from me.”

  “The hell?” Yvonne staggered back a step. “Are you serious right now? I have the emails from your account. I saved them after all these years. I’ve got the words memorized. I don’t want you or the kid. Get rid of it if you want. I’m starting my life and my family with the woman better suited for me.” She deserved a Tony Award, hell an Oscar, for keeping the pain ripping through her chest out of her voice.

  His brow crinkled, and confusion filled his eyes. “I didn’t send that.”

  “Don’t come at me with that bullshit. The email came a day after I showed up to tell you I was pregnant. Two months later your father came to me with a check for fifty grand signed by you.”

  “Fifty grand you took and ran with without a backwards glance.”

  “I did what I had to do for my son.”

  He took a step forward. His body rigid and gaze frigid. “You didn’t even talk to me.”

  “You. Blocked. Me.” She bit out the words. “I left voice messages and sent emails even after your hateful messages. Too stupid to realize you weren’t worth it.”

  Bitterness crept into his expression. Richard closed his eyes and shook his head. “It wasn’t me. I didn’t know about our son until two days ago. The day my divorce was finalized.”

  “Your name was on the check. You signed it.”

  “I didn
’t know it was for you.”

  “Bullshit.”

  “Dammit, Yvonne, you know me—”

  “I thought I knew you.”

  His nostrils flared. He ran a hand over his mouth and took a heavy breath. “You knew me,” he said slowly, deliberately. “You know I wouldn’t have ignored my responsibilities.”

  “Which is why when your father came to me with a check, signed by you, I knew what Richard would do. He’d give me money to move on, so he could marry the woman who’d help him secure his future. I knew I’d get nothing else from you. I knew you were taking care of your responsibilities by fixing the little mess you’d made.”

  “I didn’t know,” he said quietly.

  “That’s what you’re going to go with?” She couldn’t believe his audacity. He looked sincere, but she remembered that day, remembered the bold lines of his distinct signature on the check. How could he not have known?

  Richard’s dark eyes shot up to hers. “I’m not going with anything. I’m telling you that I had no idea.”

  She took one step forward. “I came to you the day I found out. She refused to let me see you even after I told her why I was there.”

  Richard took a deep breath. “She told me you’d come by once. She didn’t say what you wanted.”

  Yvonne crossed her arms over her chest. “I called you. I left voice messages. You didn’t respond. You can’t tell me you didn’t get those either.”

  “I saw the messages. I never responded because I—”

  “Deleted them.” The two words landed between them heavy with disappointment. “That’s what I thought,” Yvonne’s voice was flat, disappointed. “You deleted every message. I wasn’t even worth that much of your time.”

  “I promised Natalie I’d cut all ties with you. I was marrying her. I owed that much to her.”

  “You owed me the right to at least be heard. But I guess what I had to say didn’t matter. I was just the side piece.”

  His eyes snapped to hers and he stepped forward. “You were never just a side piece.” Raw emotion made his voice rough. His eyes were dark with pain and regret.