by Harper Bliss
“I’m his eldest child and rightful heir to the throne. Or do you think Sebastian should get it just because he is male?” Ali’s definitely not one to take anything lying down. She has the Lennox fighter spirit. And she’s much feistier than Sebastian.
“Heavens no, Ali. That you would even think that.”
The elevator dings and we arrive in the lobby.
“I don’t suppose you want to grab dinner?” She flashes me a wide smile.
“No,” I’m quick to say.
“Maybe later this week?” She is relentless—and not used to the word no in response to any of her questions. “Think about it, Jill. Will you?”
I shake my head and walk out the door, leaving her in the lobby. On the drive home, I try to make sense of what that was about. Maybe Ali is so complex, I won’t ever be able to make sense of her. But she’s not like her brother and her father. For all his faults, Jeffrey is always straightforward and direct. Sebastian is a schemer but I’ve always managed to read his plans right off his face. Ali’s more complicated. I don’t know what she wants. Or maybe I don’t want to know. If what she really wants is to kiss me again, then I definitely don’t want to know.
15
Ali
I’m in West Hollywood, at a party at the Mondrian, and, as my gaze skims the blue surface of the pool, I’m reminded of Jill’s eyes. They’re the color of a pool—the same unnaturally bright blue.
Since Jill didn’t want to have dinner with me, I decided to come here for my daily dose of evening entertainment. Asking her was a spur-of-the-moment decision—going to her office and trying to get under her skin wasn’t. Ever since Madison uttered the thought that, perhaps, Jill might have enjoyed being kissed by me, I haven’t been able to get the idea out of my head. Earlier, she certainly didn’t act as though she wanted it to happen again, but if there’s one thing Jill must have gotten used to over all the years of working for my father, it must be hiding her true feelings.
I sip from my cocktail. I don’t even know what it is. Someone thrust it into my hand earlier and maybe these days it’s unsafe to drink whatever you’re given, but I don’t much care.
Even though I’ve been away, and most of the people here are at least five, if not ten years younger than me, it feels as if I know at least half of them. Or they’re pretending to know me. That’s what I liked about being abroad. The name Lennox didn’t mean anything there and it didn’t come with any expectations. All I got asked was if I was related to Annie, to which I always replied, “I wish.”
“Ali?” A woman has sidled up to me, pushing into the circle I’m physically part of, but to which I’m not contributing anything conversationally.
“Who’s asking?” I manage to pull my lips into a smile.
“Hi, I’m Virginia.”
“Ouch,” I say. “What was it like going to high school with that name?”
“Exactly as you’d imagine.” Virginia smiles back at me and pushes her bangs out of her eyes.
The circle of acquaintances seems to disperse a little, as though everyone’s in on something I’m not, and they’ve decided to give me privacy. I don’t mind at all because, despite her name, Virginia is absolutely ravishing to look at. And she’s only wearing a skimpy bikini.
“Good line,” I say, amping up the smile. “Do you always go up to girls calling them Ali?”
“Only you.” Virginia fixes her gaze on me and holds it.
It could be this easy, I think. Pity I’m not much of a fan of easy.
“What do you do, Virginia?” I can’t help but put some emphasis on her name.
“Sound effects.” Only in L.A. can you say something like that and have it completely understood.
“Been working on anything fun of late?”
“We do a lot of action movies. Bullets and the screeching of tires and stuff like that. The Hard Man franchise and the likes.”
“The Hard Man franchise?” I’ve genuinely never heard of it.
“Just another derivative, misogynistic, very successful Hollywood product.” She puts her hands on her waist, dragging my gaze to her taut belly. “I love that you’ve never seen a Hard Man movie.”
“Well, it does sound kind of porn-y and hard men aren’t really my jam, either way.”
“I get it. You’re L.A.’s most eligible lesbian.” Virginia’s smile has turned into a seductive grin.
I have to chuckle. “Is that so? I’m hardly the only lesbian heiress in Hollywood.”
“Of course not. Some of them even introduce themselves with the title ‘heiress.’”
“As though it’s an actual accomplishment to be born in a family with money.”
“You’re different. I can tell,” Virginia says.
Ah, the forwardness of L.A. girls. Having traveled all over, and having been chatted up by people from all walks of life and all areas of the world, none of them have ever displayed the easy confidence of Americans, and especially SoCal women who look like Virginia. Being a quintessential L.A. girl myself, I can relate to her.
“How can you tell?” I put my empty glass on a nearby table.
“You don’t walk into a place as if you own it.”
“I don’t own the Mondrian.” In fact, I think, I’m getting a little too old to hang out by the Mondrian’s pool on a Monday night.
“You know what I mean.” Virginia suddenly looks coy.
I try to gauge her age. Her skin is smooth and there’s not a wrinkle to be found on any patch of skin I can see—and I can see a lot—but in L.A. that doesn’t really mean anything. “How old are you?” I might as well be direct as well.
“Ooh. That’s a loaded question.”
“Is it?” I arch up my eyebrows. “I’m thirty-five.” I half-expect Virginia to run for the hills upon learning my age.
“The hell you are,” she says.
A few minutes earlier, I was thinking this was easy, but this conversation is starting to annoy me. Then again, if I didn’t want to get complimented on how I look younger than my age, I shouldn’t have come here tonight. Maybe I shouldn’t have come back to L.A. at all. But Daddy called; and I came. This reminds me of the question Jill asked me earlier about the relationship I have with my father. Because he’s the only parent I’ve had for most of my life, a part of me does want his recognition. Maybe that’s why I came back. I’ve never gotten much else from him, except, of course, the best care money can buy—as long as he didn’t have to get involved himself.
“I’m twenty-six,” Virginia says.
I’ve never had any qualms about taking home someone almost ten years younger than I am, but tonight, it doesn’t seem to entice me very much. If anything, Virginia’s youth puts me off. I’m not interested in what she has to offer, nor am I interested in being the kind of person I would pretend to be with her: easy, playful, carefree. I’ve pretended to be all of those for far too long. Now that I’m back, it shouldn’t just be for business reasons. Maybe it’s time to find out who I really am—and Virginia isn’t going to help me increase the depth of knowledge that I need.
I let her down easy—another skill perfected over the years—and go home. After all, I have work tomorrow—and another chance to ask Jill out to dinner.
16
Jill
“How’s Ali doing?” Jeffrey asks.
“Good.” Much better than you, I think, when I scrutinize his face. The whites of his eyes are yellowish and his skin is gray. “How are you, Jeffrey?” I’ve always assumed if there was something seriously wrong with his health, I’d be the first to know. But I should really stop assuming.
“I have a very persistent chest infection.” He coughs weakly, then waves off my question. “Can we fast-track her?”
“How fast are we talking?” My suspicions about his health flare up.
“I’d like to introduce her next month. Can you get her ready?”
“Next month?” I start pacing around his office. “Why so quickly? That’s not what we agreed on.”
/>
“I know it’s not, but I want to do it next month. All I need to know is if you can make it happen.”
“It doesn’t just depend on me, Jeffrey. Have you talked to Ali about this?”
“I wanted your opinion first.”
“Next month is problematic, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be done.” In a way, this is good news for me. In fact, Ali could be introduced as Jeffrey’s successor next week, it wouldn’t make that much difference, because she has me. “Are you thinking of stepping down earlier than planned?”
He glares at me from behind his desk. “I might have no choice.”
“What’s really going on, Jeffrey?”
He just shakes his head. I will have to find out another way. There must be a reason he’s not telling me. Or perhaps him asking me to fast-track Ali for the announcement is his way of telling me.
“I’ll get it done. Don’t worry.”
He nods and I take it as my cue to leave.
When I’m back in my office, I call Ali. She’ll have to rush through her tour of the departments. It’s time for us to shift our plan into the next gear.
“Yes, Boss,” she says, sounding very upbeat.
“I’ve decided to take you up on that offer for dinner this week,” I say.
“Have you now?” Her tone has a triumphant note to it.
“Tonight would be good. We need to discuss business.”
“You’re on. How private does the conversation need to be?”
“As private as possible.” I’m sure Ali knows the most private dining spot in Los Angeles.
“How about you come to my house?”
“Your house?” A red flag goes up immediately. “Next thing you’ll tell me you’ll cook for me.”
“Uh, no, don’t be silly, Jill. I’ll get one of my father’s chefs to come over.”
“Can you ask them to come to my apartment instead?”
“Of course.” She sounds as though I might regret my decision to invite her into my home again—but I need her to help me find out what’s really going on with Jeffrey. She might not be very close to him, but she’s his daughter.
“Your place it is,” Ali says, as though she has just scored a major victory in a battle I’m somehow also a part of.
Ali arrives with four people in tow. Once we’ve set them up in the kitchen, I pull her aside and ask if we can trust them.
“That really depends on what your plans are, Jill,” she says, sounding every bit the obnoxious brat she can be. But I’ve seen a different side of her and it’s that side I focus on. I have no choice. At this time, in our brittle equation, I need her more than she needs me.
We take our drinks outside and I close the sliding doors to the patio.
“Have you spoken to your dad?”
“Not today,” she says. “And not yesterday either, nor during the weekend. You’d think for a guy whose position I’m being groomed to take over, he’d keep me closer, but he doesn’t. Have you?”
“He wants to announce you next month.”
Ali keeps her composure. She does it better than most, but I notice the slight shift in her posture and the crease that briefly deepens between her eyebrows. “Why?”
“That’s still a bit of a mystery to me. Do you know if his health has taken a sudden turn?”
Ali shakes her head. “I really don’t know anything.”
“It would be really good if we could find out.”
“And by ‘we’ you mean ‘me’?” I appreciate how things don’t have to be spelled out for Ali.
“Yes.”
“I’ll try, but I’m not exactly my dad’s confidante… I’ll try Sebastian first. He may know more. And I can go by the house. If something’s seriously wrong, the staff must know.”
“Is he… seeing anyone at the moment?”
“Your guess is as good as mine.”
“It’s time to kick things into gear. I’m going to have to pull you from your rotation through the different departments and you’re going to have to learn as you go along.”
“But you still have my back.” She locks her gaze on mine.
“We’re doing this together. That’s why you’re here tonight.”
A knock comes on the glass door. A guy dressed as a waiter slides it open.
“Would you like us to set the table outside?” he asks.
“That would be lovely.” I send him a warm smile. “What’s your name?”
“Neil,” he says.
“Thanks, Neil.”
Ali and I look over the balustrade, to the city below us, as our dinner table is being prepped.
“It feels quite extravagant to have four people in my home preparing dinner.”
“You can’t do it with less.” Ali looks at me as though she knows very well that she’s exaggerating. “One chef, one sous-chef, one sommelier, and a waiter.”
“A sommelier?” I burst out laughing. “He couldn’t have picked the wine beforehand?”
Ali shrugs. She’s not used to occupying herself with such details. In that respect, she’ll make a good CEO—as long as she does what I tell her.
I hold up my glass of, it needs to be said, excellent white wine. “To our partnership.”
“Yeah.” Ali sucks her bottom lip into her mouth and I swear she’s looking at me the way she did just before she kissed me, even though the moment was so brief I barely remember it.
17
Ali
Talking to Jill is light-years removed from being chatted up by Virginia last night. And not just because we have an already existing partnership to discuss.
We’re halfway through dinner and I’d like to sit on Jill’s deck forever, with the mountains in the background, dusk slowly settling around us.
“Are you nervous?” I ask. “About the whole CEO thing?”
“It will be a big change for me. I’ve been COO for quite a few years and Jeffrey has always been my boss.”
“How much time between the announcement and me actually becoming CEO?”
“That depends on the board and on him, but I have to tell you, Ali, he really didn’t look good this afternoon.”
Maybe my father being unwell should make me feel all sorts of things, but it’s hard to care for someone you barely know. For a lot of years, he’s only been my father in name and by blood. After Mom died, he was always working. He’s got one of the largest breweries in the world to show for it, but also a lousy relationship with his children. Even though Sebastian stayed around and that makes their rapport different, it’s not any less complex.
“I’ll get to the bottom of it.” I don’t feel like talking about my father or the company any longer. It’s bad enough that I’ll have to carve out some time to spend with my dad and Sebastian.
“Now that you’ve been back in L.A. for a while, are you happy you returned?” Jill asks.
“Very.” I drop my cutlery and glance at her. “L.A. will always be my home. It’s strange, you know? I lost so much here and I’m not close to what remains of my family, yet, there’s something about this city that feels so profoundly like home.”
“Your roots are here.” Jill stops eating as well. “That was really delicious. Can you send these people over to my apartment again soon?” The light outside is getting sparse, but I can see the skin around her eyes crinkle when she smiles.
“Any time. It should be a company perk, really.” I take another sip from the Sancerre the sommelier poured earlier. “Where are your roots? You’re not from L.A. originally, are you?”
“I’m from the other coast. I grew up in upstate New York. Moved to the city as soon as I could. Went to NYU. Came out west more than twenty years ago.”
“Did the Big Apple lose its crunch?”
Jill chuckles. “Many reasons, but a change of scenery was definitely one of them.”
“Have you never wanted to return?”
“I go to New York often enough and I see my parents regularly.”
“I mean, more
permanently. Like I did, coming back to my roots.”
Jill looks relaxed and as though she doesn’t mind my probing questions too much.
“Not yet. And you can’t beat the L.A. weather. I don’t miss East Coast winters.”
“No brothers and sisters or nieces and nephews that would like for you to live closer to them?”
“I’m an only child, so…”
“Don’t you miss your New York friends?”
“Not anymore. And New York isn’t that far away. I haven’t moved to the other side of the world.”
“Are you still in touch with people in New York?”
Jill takes a while to reply this time. “Not really. I left under… difficult circumstances. You might say I had to reinvent myself in L.A. And I did. If some of my former friends could see me now, they wouldn’t believe their eyes.”
“Why?” Even though Jill is sharing, there still something very reticent about her.
“I was a different person in New York. Much more, I don’t know, naive and radical and foolish.” She takes her glass of wine and looks into the distance.
“Sounds like how I was when I left L.A.”
“Maybe, but your circumstances were very different, Ali.” She turns to me and offers me a warm smile. “What was your favorite place on your tour abroad?”
“That’s a tough one, because each city had its own particular charm. I loved Paris, even though I couldn’t really do a lot of work there because my French isn’t exactly fluent and the French love their French. And even when they spoke English, I could barely make out what they were saying.” I pause. “I know my father hasn’t always taken my time working abroad for Lennox seriously, but it was very serious to me. Yes, I partied, because what else was I going to do in the evenings? Sit at home and think about Leah and how she was no longer there and how everything would have been a million times better if she had been?”
I scan Jill’s face for any signs of disapproval. I’m sure she’s been thoroughly briefed on my accomplishments of the past decade—and all the targets I didn’t meet. But she looks at me with an open gaze, no judgment in her glance at all. “Anyway, everyone always cut me a lot of slack because of what happened to Leah, and I did take advantage of that. And, well, my dad must have changed his mind about me at some point, otherwise he wouldn’t have asked me to come back. Did he… ever talk about me to you?”