Fiance by Fate

by Jennifer Shirk

  Maddie stuffed the magazine back in her purse. “I have to hand it to you. You must be head over heels in love to ignore someone like that.”

  “I definitely am. David is worth the wait.”

  “Well, if I were you and anything happens with your engagement to David—or maybe I should say doesn’t happen with him—I’d zero in on this guy in a heartbeat the next time I saw him.”

  Sabrina laughed. Yeah. Right. Get mixed up with a playboy like Jack who ate up women who threw themselves at him like they were chocolate bonbons? No. Thank. You. There was no chance of that happening, even if she and David never got back together. Which was highly unlikely in itself.

  But she knocked on the wood table for luck anyway.

  Maddie eyed her. “All I’m saying is keep an open mind. Don’t get your hopes up that David will be ready to commit just because of a few superstitions and the premonition of a cross-dressing psychic.”

  “I am keeping an open mind. I may not be Madame Butterfly, but I can safely predict that Jack Brenner is one man who will never, ever be a part of my future.”

  …

  Jack Brenner walked across his father’s penthouse and stared out the window into the night. The Boston skyline was illuminated before him and he felt content being back in the city he grew up in. This was where he belonged. It took some time, but he’d paid his dues and was ready to make the next step in eventually taking over control of Brenner Capital Investments. He assumed that was why his father had transferred him back to Boston—to make the transition easier. Jack couldn’t wait to get started. He loved his job and he did it well. Aside from his family, this company was the one thing he could say he was truly passionate about.

  It was a part of him.

  The front door suddenly opened and his father walked in. Leonard Brenner smiled and extended his arms wide as soon as his gaze landed on Jack. “I’m glad you finally made it, son. You look great.”

  “Thanks. It’s been a while,” he said, giving his father an extra clap on the back. He stepped away and tried not to appear obvious as he assessed his father ‘s appearance. At least on the surface, his dad looked fit and healthy.

  Taking a deep breath, Jack hesitated, not sure he wanted to hear the answer to his next question. “So…how do you feel?”

  His dad gave him a crooked smile as he rubbed his chest. “The old heart’s still ticking, if that’s what you want to know. I’m sorry to tell you that it’ll take more than a little angina to force me to retire.” His smile grew wider, and he looked at Jack with a thoughtful expression. “You know, I’m really glad you’re back. Maybe it was worth getting sick to have you home where you belong.”

  Jack tried to smile, too, but a part of him was still worried about his father. He wished he could have been at the hospital when his father was admitted last month. He would have liked to talk with the doctors personally. Since his mom’s death, his dad was everything to him. Unfortunately, his former girlfriend didn’t quite have the same attitude when it came to family matters and neglected to pass on the message until he’d already been discharged from the hospital.

  “Yeah, I’m glad to be back. The traffic here is crap as per usual, but, all in all, I’ve missed Boston. And you and Laurie, of course,” he added with a dry grin.

  His dad gestured to the living room and took a seat on the white leather sofa. “Well, your sister and I appreciate that. It’s partly why I changed your territory. I assume you know the other reason.”

  Jack sat, too. Anticipation coursed through him as soon as his father mentioned business. This is it, he thought. The National Sales Manager position had opened up and now with his father’s health not what it used to be, the time was growing closer to pass the baton.

  He leaned forward, friction barely keeping him in his seat, but he willed himself to stay in control. “I know exactly why you changed it,” he stated evenly.

  “Good.”

  “I’ll take it.”

  His father paused, deep lines creasing his forehead. “What exactly will you be taking?”

  “The National Sales Manager position. I’ll take it.”

  Leonard blew out a long breath, drumming his fingers on the arm of the sofa in a nervous gesture that made Jack grow wary. “I don’t know how to tell you this, but I’ve decided not to give you that promotion. At least for now.”

  Jack almost fell off the sofa. “What are you talking about? How can I ever take over as president some day if I don’t make this move up in the company now?”

  His father’s sudden silence had him breaking into a cool sweat between the blades of his shoulders. Jack narrowed his eyes. “I am going to take over this company someday, aren’t I?”

  Leonard cleared his throat. “You might be getting ahead of yourself.”

  “Ahead of myself? The position just became available. Plus, I’m your son.”

  “True. But I could easily give the job to Laurie,” his father countered.

  Jack snorted. He knew that wasn’t going to happen. As much as he loved his sister, she wasn’t the type to run a company. Besides having no financial education whatsoever, she loved being a stay-at-home mom and having her house to run. “Come on, Dad, you have to start training me to take over.”

  “There’s nothing I would like better than for you to take over for me someday,” his father stated in a somewhat reassuring tone, “but I think you still need a little maturing.”

  Jack stared at him blankly. “Maturing? I’m thirty-four years old.”

  “Now, that’s just a number,” his father said with a chuckle. “Nothing else.”

  “What are you talking about then?”

  His dad’s expression quickly sobered. “Well, the stockholders seem to have some…issues with your reputation and how it could affect the company in the long run.”

  “My reputation? There are no problems with my reputation. I’m your number one wholesaler on the east coast.”

  “Yes, but the stockholders have more of an issue with your, ah, personal reputation. In short, you change women like you change underwear. I happen to agree.”

  “What?” Jack shot out of his seat and began pacing the room. He reached up and roughly worked loose his tie, which now felt like a hangman’s noose around his neck. “That’s ridiculous. But even if it were true, it’s my personal life. That has no effect on my business life.”

  “Well, when your personal life becomes front page news, it does have an effect,” Leonard said, sweeping his arm in the direction of the coffee table where the recent issue of Boston magazine lay.

  Jack winced. “You, uh, saw that article, huh?”

  “Yes, and I’m sure the Board saw it too. The single life may be all fun and games to you, but to them, instability in your personal life translates to instability at work. Managing a company is like managing one giant relationship. And you, my dear boy, according to that article, have never been in a relationship longer than a month.”

  “That’s not…” Is it true? He gave it some thought. He had just broken up with Brianna before he was asked to do the interview. Then before that there was Rachel. Then Mila. Giselle. Hmm…perhaps there was a grain of truth in there somewhere.

  His father sighed tiredly. “That’s what I thought.”

  Jack rubbed a hand over his face. “I don’t understand any of this. If you have no plans to promote me, then I’m not sure what I’m doing here.”

  “Being closer to your family was something I thought would be nice for you, Jack. I even entertained the idea you’d like to be home again.”

  Jack looked away. A part of him had only agreed to come back because he thought he was going to get that promotion. And now, he’d turned his life upside-down for nothing. “I do like being home again. It’s not that, but—”

  “Maybe you could even find a nice girl and settle down here now. Sabrina Cassidy—”

  “Sabrina Cassidy?” He didn’t mean to snap at his dad, but just the sound of that woman’s name had
his blood pressure skyrocketing. “What does she have to do with anything?”

  Sabrina was one of the internal wholesalers at Brenner Capital, which meant she worked as an assistant to one of the senior wholesalers who, like himself, did the actual traveling to brokerage firms. She was an excellent worker but the kind of woman who thought she was always right. Jack had even secretly dubbed her “Little Miss Perfect.” Unfortunately, most times she was right—which was one of the reasons why his father adored her. Jack, however, did not share that feeling.

  His father raised his eyebrows. “I wasn’t going to suggest you settle down with her—although you could do worse.”

  “Well, forget it. She’s engaged already anyway.”

  “Rumor has it she’s not engaged anymore. But someone as smart and hardworking as she is would be a huge step up from the supermodel airheads you seem so accustomed to parading around with. It wouldn’t hurt to look for a woman with some family sensibilities. You know, I would like grandchildren someday,” he added with a smile.

  “You already have grandchildren.”

  His father’s jaw tightened. “Not from you.”

  Jack heaved a frustrated sigh. He hated to burst his father’s bubble, but it had to be said. “Look, Dad, I’m sorry, but I’m not going to suddenly get married and have kids just because it will look good to the Board and will somehow make me a better executive. Not going to happen. Plus, I don’t have time for a family. It’s not in me. I like—no, love—the way things are right now.” He’d given that life up to move back here. He paused and grinned without guile. “I’d love it even more if I was the National Sales manager.”

  “There’s more to life than this company.”

  Jack remained silent. There was no use arguing about it. He wasn’t about to change his father’s or the stockholders’ minds, so it seemed a moot point.

  “Jack, no one is forcing you to get married. But I think there are other ways—like keeping your personal life out of the spotlight, for one—that could highly influence them. Once I’m convinced you’re ready to get serious and start acting like a responsible man, I can go to the stockholders and we can talk again about that promotion. Fair enough?”

  Jack stared at his father. Just like that, he felt as if he were a teenager who broke the neighbor’s window with a baseball and now had to figure out how to make amends. It was humiliating, to say the least. He was a grown man—and dammit, he already was a responsible man. “Dad, you have to hear me out. I think if you went to the Board now and—”

  His dad raised a spread hand. “I don’t want to hear anything else from you. Go out there and show me instead.”

  Knowing all too well his father’s adamant look, Jack wisely shut his mouth. Without a glance back, he stormed out of the penthouse.

  Great. Just great. He came back to town and the first thing that happened was his personal life going under a microscope.

  There’s more to life than this company.

  No. Not for him there wasn’t. Work filled Jack’s life and had never let him down through all these years. He couldn’t give up on it now. It was his lifeblood. But he needed this company not only for himself, he also needed it for his father. Jack had already failed his mom. He couldn’t fail his dad, too.

  Jack hadn’t realized how his reputation with women had preceded him—or that it would be perceived as something bad. Women were a weakness to him, but not so much that he couldn’t change. He could. He had to. Desperation was not an emotion he was used to feeling, and he didn’t like it one bit. Who knew what his father’s health was really like? The Board could even force him to retire early. Time could be running out. Jack needed to change people’s opinion of him. And fast.

  Perhaps his father had a point. Maybe it was time for him to settle down and…

  No. The thought made him queasy, but it also made him wonder. Maybe he could convince his father and the stockholder board to reconsider quicker than he originally thought if it looked like he was ready to settle down. All he needed to do was find himself a nice, girl-next-door type of girlfriend.

  Or at least a fake one.

  Chapter Two

  Sabrina spent a good fifteen minutes searching her kitchen cabinets for coffee and almost wailed when the only thing she came up with was chamomile tea. How was this possible? She usually had a perfect methodology to her grocery shopping. Yet somehow her organization and timing had failed her. Monday morning and she was completely out of coffee. Talk about bad luck.

  For a split second she actually entertained the idea of going to the third floor of her apartment building and borrowing some from David. Having her fiancé living above her had been extremely convenient when they were dating. A little awkward now that they were broken up—even if temporarily.

  But she figured going up there could accomplish two things: 1) she could get the coffee she so desperately needed and 2) she could ever so casually bring up the topic of seeing him with that woman on Saturday night and find out who she was. Just to make sure she understood where things stood between them.

  It seemed like a good plan until she glanced at the clock. At seven thirty in the morning, David would already be at the hospital. So she went with her next, if not always reliable, option: her landlady, Mrs. Metzger.

  Sabrina walked two doors down and knocked. Mrs. Metzger wasted no time and quickly stood opposite her with a wrinkled nose and an almost pained expression. “Honey, a little eye shadow would do wonders for you,” she said in way of greeting.

  Sabrina brought a hand up to her face. She’d forgotten she hadn’t put on any makeup yet. “I’ll get right on that. But in the meantime, do you have any coffee I could borrow? I’m, uh, kind of desperate here.”

  Helen Metzger lived alone with her cat, Theo. The woman was attractive and in good shape for sixty-eight, if you could get past the high platinum beehive hairstyle and the George Hamilton tan. Her husband had been in real estate and had owned various properties along the north shore area. When he had passed away almost five years ago, she had sold them all, except for this one apartment complex in the old shore town of Swampscott. The woman had grown children of her own, but she’d recently appointed herself Sabrina’s surrogate mother when she’d heard how Sabrina had grown up never knowing her parents.

  “Oh heavens, no,” Mrs. Metzger said, laying a spread hand over her heart. “Never touch the stuff. Palpitations,” she whispered.

  Sabrina’s shoulders slumped. Strike two. Her day was on quite a roll. “Okay, thanks anyway, Mrs. Metzger.”

  She was about to turn away, but her landlady grabbed her arm. “Hold on, hon.” The older woman looked around anxiously, then licked her bright pink stained lips. “I need a favor.”

  “A favor?”

  “I’m having the apartment painted this weekend, and I was wondering if Theo and I could stay with you while it’s being done. Those paint fumes give me terrible migraines.”

  “Oh, uh…” It’s not as if Sabrina didn’t like the woman—in fact, Mrs. Metzger was one of the few friends, besides David, that she had in the building. But she was a bit eccentric. “Why don’t you stay with one of your sons?” she asked.

  Mrs. Metzger looked appalled at the idea. “Are you kidding? The holidays are coming up soon enough as it is. That will give me all the family time I can stand for the next couple of months.”

  “At least you have a family to spend the holidays with,” she murmured, feeling that familiar sickness settle in her stomach.

  Mrs. Metzger patted her arm. “I’m sorry, hon, I wasn’t thinking. But if you knew my little devil grandchildren, you’d understand.”

  The truth was Sabrina would never understand. Her landlady’s attitude toward her sons was unfathomable. Sabrina would give anything to have a family. Growing up, she had been placed in some very nice foster homes, but in the end it never seemed to matter. Just when she was starting to grow attached to them, she’d be plucked out and moved to another family. After a while, she’d cl
osed off her heart to them. It hurt too much to be abandoned like that over and over again. Always alone. Unconnected. Unloved. Even when she tried so hard to be perfect. She didn’t think she could survive if she lost David now, too. Not when she was so close to finally having it all.

  Sabrina’s vision blurred with unshed tears, but she quickly blinked them away. “Of course you can stay with me,” she told the woman. “David won’t be coming by anyway. He’s been keeping himself pretty busy lately.”

  The older woman nodded sympathetically. “I know.”

  She frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “I know exactly how he’s been keeping busy. I saw the doctor and his new friend the other night.”

  “Really? When? Did they go up to his apartment?”

  The woman pursed her lips in thought. “Briefly.”

  “Oh, well, that must have been business then.” She hoped.

  Mrs. Metzger patted Sabrina’s shoulder. “Look, I was thinking, why don’t you spend Thanksgiving with the boys and me? I mean, just in case you haven’t made up with David by then.”

  “Thank you, Mrs. Metzger, but no thank you. I’m sure I’ll be spending Thanksgiving with his family.”

  “You know, hon, not all men are like my Wally. Some men are never ready to settle down.”

  “Oh, David is,” she stressed. She and David would talk for hours about what their children would look like and where they would live someday. Surely a man who wasn’t ready for marriage wouldn’t bring up topics like that. “But most of all, he loves me,” she added.

  That was no assumption. David did love her. He told her he did whenever he spoke to her, even since their separation. So why wouldn’t she hold out hope that they’d eventually get back together?