Second Chance - 02 - When Dreams Cross

by Terri Blackstock

  “I’m talking about you on your little pedestal, making me out to be the grantee of your good graces. A lowly staff member.” With a flip of his wrist, he tossed the tie on top of his coat.

  “As usual, Justin,” Andi said, planting her fists on her hips, “you are blowing things way out of proportion. I never called you my subordinate because I know better than to puncture that outrageous ego of yours.”

  A sarcastic laugh cut from Justin’s throat. “You think it’s my ego that’s outrageous? You’re the one who can’t abide the fact that I’ve agreed to work with you, not for you.”

  “Your acceptance of my offer gives me some rights where you’re concerned, Justin. Like it or not, it’s a trade-off.”

  “Fine,” Justin said stridently, stepping toward her. “Then let’s just make it a little clearer what it is we’re trading off. As far as I remember, there was nothing in our agreement about my becoming your doormat …”

  “Where are you getting this stuff?” she threw back. “What did I say in that press conference that sounded like you were a doormat?”

  “The stuff about your not dating staff members. Come on, Andi. Number one, we’re each fifty percent partners in Pierce Productions, so I’m not a staff member, and number two, who asked you to date me anyway?”

  “The press asked,” she said, her face reddening. “They were trying to latch onto a new romance that would have wound up in the tabloids by tomorrow morning. You fed it, Justin, and you know you did. And you did it out of spite, to show me that you couldn’t be harnessed!”

  He knew that was true, but he didn’t want to admit it. He turned away with his hands on his hips and strode to the big window of her office. How did this always happen between them? Why did he act like a child with her? Like an angry little boy bent on proving something? He turned back to her.

  “You’re right,” he said. “I shouldn’t have fed the rumor mill. I guess I just wanted to see you squirm.”

  “At what cost?” she asked, stepping toward him. “You’d deliberately try to make me look stupid in front of the media just so you could feel more important? Lines have to be drawn, Justin. This isn’t like old times. If we’re going to be working together, you need to keep your hands to yourself. The familiarity you demonstrated out there was false, and even worse, it was inappropriate. My reputation is important. People want to find something about my life that isn’t right, so they can say that Promised Land is just a scam that preys on families’ sense of morality. They can’t believe the Shermans could really be devoted to spreading the gospel.

  They want to shake it all down, Justin. I get it from every angle, every single day. Why do I have to get it from you, too?”

  She could see from his face that he hadn’t meant to be that to her. His face twisted as he looked down at her, and she saw the honesty, the reality, in his eyes. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I really didn’t mean to contribute to that. There’s just something about you that … rubs me the wrong way.”

  She swallowed the emotion in her throat and looked quickly away.

  “No, that’s not what I meant,” he said. He reached out to touch her reassuringly, but remembering her words, he stopped himself and dropped his hand to his side. “I just meant … well, tonight, when I got off the elevator and saw that icy rage in your eyes, it was like all my reason flicked off, and the barriers came up.” He closed his eyes, and shook his head slowly. “My pride is gonna really get me one day.”

  When his eyes opened again, she was gazing up at him with eyes sadder than he’d ever seen. “So we’re both eaten up with pride. What else is new? We knew that eight years ago.”

  “Yeah, I guess we did.”

  “Is it going to ruin us this time?” she asked. “Is it going to keep us from having any harmony … or peace?”

  “I hope not,” he whispered.

  They stared at each other for a long, volatile moment. Justin felt a stronger desire to kiss her than he remembered ever feeling before. If he could just brush his lips across hers one more time, to convince himself that she didn’t move him like she once did, that their love had died, that it didn’t have to keep stalking him like something from which he could not escape.

  But she had drawn the boundaries, and he supposed he deserved them—needed them. No touches. No familiarity. No hope.

  Still, as his sad gaze swept across hers, he found himself being swept on a raging rush of memory. He had loved her. And he had loved her love for him. There had been nothing like it since.

  Frightened of that realization, he dropped his head. “You win, Andi.” His voice was rough, hoarse, tremulous with alarming emotion.

  “I don’t win, Justin,” she whispered. “We both lose. Neither of us can win when we’re together.”

  The sorrow in her words made him hate himself. “If I’ve made that true, I’m so sorry. I might not see you as such a threat if the memories weren’t so …” His voice faltered, and he caught himself, sighing with resignation. He raised both hands and raked them roughly through his hair, closing his eyes with frustration and self-recrimination. “I’ll try not to let it invade our business relationship.”

  Her eyes changed, grew harder, and for a moment, he wondered if, once again, he’d said the wrong thing. “That’s all I ever asked of you,” Andi said, her voice hard and controlled. “As a couple, we’re a nightmare. But as business partners, we can do a lot together.”

  She moved to the door as if to dismiss him. “I think we’ve said enough for tonight,” she stated coldly. “Tomorrow we can start fresh. And we’ll work together as if we were friends. I’ll work on my temper.”

  “And I’ll work on mine,” he agreed quietly. Without waiting for her reaction, he gathered his coat and left her standing there, cold, beautiful, and inconceivably alone.

  Just the way he felt.

  Chapter Ten

  Blowing a wisp of hair out of her face, Andi watched the ice cubes bob in her Coke and pushed her untouched lunch tray away from her. Absently, she glanced up at the men sitting with her, deep in discussion about when the lake should be filled and the first test run launched for the whales in the Jonah ride. For the past three days she had been supervising the artistic development of the underwater city, making absolutely certain that no details were forgotten or neglected from laziness. Although she had people to oversee each project, she could never resist being there herself when it neared completion. She had learned long ago that there was no substitute for hands-on participation.

  Besides, that niggling voice inside her head taunted, she’d do just about anything to stay out of that office while Justin and his people were settling in. The activity on the sixteenth floor, the one she had given to Pierce Productions, had been nonstop for over a week. He was hiring new people and buying new equipment, yet the work on the cartoons continued around the clock. She had been waiting for the chaos to settle before she approached him to start working with her on the park. Unfortunately, she hadn’t yet seen a lull in the commotion. Whether she liked it or not, they would have to get down to business soon.

  She dreaded their inevitable encounters. Since the night of the press party, Justin had avoided her as much as possible. And, she admitted ruefully, she had been avoiding him—against her better judgment, since her attempts to stay away from him were delaying some of the work on her park.

  For heaven’s sake, she thought, setting her glass down too roughly. She was letting her authority slip because even the thought of him intimidated her. The realization infuriated her, for she had never let anyone undermine her position before, and it had taken her a long time to earn respect as the one at the helm of Promised Land.

  “Have you read this, Andi?” a construction worker asked, cutting into her thoughts. Looking up, she saw that he brandished a newspaper that bore a bird’s-eye photograph of Promised Land on page one.

  “No,” Andi said with a moan. The articles that had come out since the press party, elaborating more on her past
relationship with Justin Pierce than with his present relationship to Promised Land, had given her a new distaste for the media. Wincing, she said, “Read me the headlines.”

  With an amused half smile, the young man leaned back. “Electrical Problems in Promised Land Water Rides.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding,” she said wearily. “Let me see that.”

  The man handed her the paper, and she set it on the table so the two men on either side of her could read with her. The article hinted at possible problems in the wiring and suggested that several accidents had occurred in test runs as a result of the malfunctions. “Wonderful,” Andi said in a dull monotone. “The next thing you know they’ll be labeling our whales electrocution chambers.”

  “You think some of the building inspectors are behind this?” the contractor next to her asked.

  “Of course they are. They can’t find anything wrong so they make it up. I’d revoke my offer to let them in if I thought it wouldn’t be read as an admission of guilt.”

  With muttered remarks and whispered expletives at specific inspectors with whom they had collided at one point or another, the contractors cleaned their places and went back to work. Picking up the paper, Andi wondered if she should call another press conference to answer the allegations. No, she thought. It was too soon for that. Press Day, the preview day she had planned for media people from all over the country, was not that far away. If she could wait until then, she could let the park speak for itself.

  Givens was obviously responsible for this. He owned the newspaper, a television station, a bank, and most of the town’s other larger businesses, as well as the mayor, the city council, and various officials who had tried to make her life miserable. He had tried to own her too, she thought with a wry smirk. Thinking she’d be an easy target because of her youth and gender, he had approached her with a heavy-handed offer of “protection” at what he considered a reasonable price. When she had added threats of her own to her refusal to comply with his extortion attempts—threats of exposing him nationally as well as locally for his tactics—he had seemed to back down. She wondered now if that was just an illusion.

  Her reverie was broken when the woman she had met at Justin’s house the other night pulled out the chair next to her. “Thank goodness for a familiar face,” she said, plopping down. “It’s kind of weird walking around here with all these people I don’t know. Guess it’ll get worse, huh?”

  Slightly taken aback by the familiarity, Andi struggled to remember her name. “I’m sorry … I know I met you at Justin’s the other night, but … what was your name?”

  “Madeline,” she said. “Still is.”

  “Oh, that’s right. And you’re on Justin’s staff.”

  “That’s right. You should have stayed and had pizza with us the other night. It was great. A sweep-the-kitchen. Had everything on it. Even anchovies.” She leaned forward conspiratorially and lowered her voice. “Listen, don’t hold what happened the other night against Justin. He really couldn’t help it.”

  Andi stared at her for a moment as every muscle in her body grew tense. “What night are you talking about?”

  “The reception. You know, when he was late? It was kind of my fault he was late. Well, at least partially …”

  Andi hadn’t yet heard an explanation for why he was late, and now she wondered if she even wanted to know. If it had something to do with Madeline …

  “Look, all I’m saying is don’t be mad at the guy. He’s trying his hardest, in spite of the fact that it’s a little weird what with your history and all.”

  A flicker of anger flashed like lightning through her mind, but she tempered her voice. “I appreciate your concern. If you’ll excuse me …” She got up and turned to leave but ran smack into Justin.

  Frustration blended with the rage in her eyes, and she stepped back, glaring up into his face.

  “Are you and Madeline getting to know each other?” he asked, casting his friend a worried glance.

  Refusing to satisfy him with an answer, Andi pushed past Justin and started out of the little restaurant, feeling the heat of the sun warming her outside as she seethed within. Before she could get very far, Justin caught up with her. “What are you so mad about?”

  “You!” she said. “I don’t want you talking about me to your employees. About our history and how ‘weird’ it is to be working here. I try to maintain a certain authority over the employees here, and it’s hard to do when people are gossiping about my old flame.”

  He let out a Herculean sigh. “I think Madeline drinks phenobarbital for breakfast. She spills out everything she knows all the rest of the day. But she means well.”

  Andi held her ground. “I’d appreciate it if you’d not talk about me from now on. I don’t like people knowing about my personal life.”

  “They’re my friends, okay? I share my life with them, and all my frustrations. They know I used to be close to you, and they know how it went wrong. I can’t take it back, and if I could, I wouldn’t. So get over it. As a matter of fact, you might try making a few friends of your own.”

  The comment made her even more furious. Without another word, she went to her electric car and drove rapidly out of his sight.

  Chapter Eleven

  Justin stewed in his office, slamming things down and kicking chairs, when Madeline came ambling in. “Hey, boss. What’s ruffled your feathers?”

  “Andi Sherman,” he said. “And you! Where do you get off talking to her like you did today?”

  Madeline looked genuinely surprised. “Talking to her how? I was trying to make friends.”

  Justin raked a hand through his hair. “Look, from now on, if you talk to her, don’t mention me at all. Okay? In fact, just stay away from her entirely.”

  “Well, how am I gonna do that? We work in the same—”

  The door flew open, and Gene came running in, breathless. “Justin! It’s ABC television on the phone.”

  Justin’s eyebrows arched, and he looked from Gene to Madeline, who had suddenly sprung to attention. “What do they want?”

  “I don’t know!” Gene said. “But we sent them a tape, remember? Our proposal for the Saturday morning spot? Answer it, Justin!”

  Justin looked down at the phone, then back at both of them. “All right, everybody out. I’ll let you know what it’s about when I get off the phone.”

  Madeline and Gene both groaned as they left the office, closing the door behind them.

  Outside Justin’s office, Madeline pressed her ear against the door, and Gene, B.J., Nathan, and the others all gathered behind her.

  “What’s he saying? Can you hear anything?”

  “No, nothing. Shhh. He’s talking!”

  Dead silence as everyone waited.

  “I can’t hear what he’s saying!” Madeline said. “This isn’t fair. Get me a glass. I’ve seen it work on Lucy.”

  B.J. scrambled to find her a glass, but only came up with a dirty coffee mug. She pressed it against the door and tried again.

  “Anything?” Gene asked.

  “Nothing,” she said. “Why won’t he talk louder?”

  Suddenly the door was opened, and Madeline and the rest of them fell in. Justin jumped back and looked down at them with a grin. “May I help you?”

  Madeline waited until everyone was off of her before she could pull herself to her feet. The coffee mug was still in her hand. “Uh … I just … was waiting to see if you wanted some coffee.”

  He glanced into the dirty cup. “In that?”

  She forgot about the cup and looked up at him. “Oh, Justin! Quit keeping us in suspense. What did they want?”

  “Oh, nothing,” he said, checking a hangnail on his thumb. “They’ve just decided … to give Khaki’s Krewe a half-hour on the Saturday morning line-up!”

  Madeline screamed, and the others began yelling with glee, jumping up and down, hugging each other, patting each other on the backs so hard that they almost knocked each other over.r />
  “We’re going to New York,” Justin said. “We have to have a meeting with the ABC execs and sign all the papers. Gene and Nathan are going with me.”

  “All right!” Gene shouted, and Nathan punched at the air.

  “Not fair!” Madeline said. “Why can’t I go?”

  “I need you and B.J. here,” Justin said. “We’re going to have to double up on work to do all we have to do to get the characters ready for Promised Land, and still make deadlines for ABC. We’re going to have to have twice the staff we planned, but that’s no problem. Between Promised Land and ABC, we can hire as many as we want.”

  Madeline screamed again, and the others joined her in delighted whoops.

  The smell of soap and shampoo-laced steam drifted into her office from the adjoining bathroom, and Andi opened a window to let it air out. She rarely used that shower, for she couldn’t stand having her work sanctuary filled with humidity, but today had been an exception. The Louisiana heat had been stronger than usual for April, and she had worked with a vengeance to escape her pain over her most recent confrontation with Justin. When she’d come back to the office to face the paperwork that had piled up in her absence, she had decided not to take the time to go home and shower.

  The phone rang as she unrolled one of the blueprints on her desk, and tossing a damp strand of hair over her shoulder, she answered.

  “Look outside that window and tell me what you see.” Georgia Sherman’s voice sounded tired.

  Andi did as ordered. “Just the sunset, Mom,” she said, stifling a yawn.

  “Exactly. And, although you might not know it by past experience, that usually means quitting time.”

  Andi smiled. “Where are you?”

  “At the hospital,” Georgia said, and Andi could tell from her tone that she was depressed. “I’ve decided that we both need to get out. I’m taking you to dinner.”

  “Mom, I really don’t—” she began, but cut herself off as she realized that her mother might need this. “I really don’t feel like getting dressed up. I’m too tired. If I can go in what I’m wearing, you’re on.”