Competing.
* * *
Alex fell to the floor and let out a hearty laugh. Zach threw his racquet and cursed.
Again.
“Tell me again how you’re not out of shape,” Alex said as he caught his breath. “Because that, my friend, was almost embarrassing. I’ll tell you what. I won’t even count that one as a game. We’ll call it practice.”
“It was our third game,” Zach said angrily. “You can’t have a practice game after you’ve already played two.”
“I’m trying to be gracious here.”
“Yeah, well…screw you,” Zach grumbled. “And your graciousness.” He sat down next to Alex and let out a weary sigh. “Okay, so maybe—just maybe—I’m a little off my game. It has been a while.”
Alex rolled to sit up and grinned. “You know that’s all on you, right?”
Zach glared at him. “Excuse me for being concerned about my wife’s health.”
“And there is nothing wrong with that. Seriously, I’m not harping on you for that. I just think you got a little…obsessive about it. Gabriella is in great shape. She had some morning sickness—most women do—but she hasn’t had any other complications. You need to relax a bit. That’s all I’m saying.”
“You sound like her.”
“Then maybe you should listen.”
“Screw you.”
Laughing, Alex climbed to his feet and held out a hand to Zach. “Need some help, old man?”
Ignoring his hand, Zach immediately jumped to his feet and stormed over to pick up his racquet. “One more game, and then let’s hit the treadmills.”
“I’ve already beat you three out of three,” Alex said with a smart-ass grin. “That’s our typical game time. Best of three.”
“I thought you said the last one was just practice?”
He shrugged. “And you said it wasn’t.”
“Shit.”
“I’ll tell you what. I’ll agree to one more and give you a chance to at least try to win. Either way, I’m still the ultimate winner here.”
“Nice of you to be such a good sport.”
“I have my moments. But…”
Zach cursed as he got into position. “Now what?”
“Just admit that even if you win this one, I am still the reigning racquetball champion.”
Groaning, Zach bounced the ball in front of him. “What if I just said you are the reigning pain in my ass and I know I can run longer and faster than you on the treadmill?”
Alex laughed. “You’re on.”
Twenty minutes later they were jogging side by side and Alex was telling Zach about his weekend.
“So did you hook up with her?” Zach asked.
“Hell no. I just wanted to get out of there.”
Zach looked at him like he was crazy. “You said she was beautiful and interested. Why not take her up on her offer?”
Damn. Alex had stepped into that one.
Two years ago when he had hooked up with Megan, he had promised her he wouldn’t tell her cousin. Little warning bells had gone off in his head because, really, what difference should it make? Especially when they started seeing one another beyond that weekend. But he had honored her request, and then…it never came up. So how was he supposed to explain to his friend—whom he shared pretty much everything with—why he was suddenly so dissatisfied with hookups?
“Alex?”
Oh, right. An answer.
He started off with a sigh. “I don’t know. I think I’m at the point now where everyone I know is married, and…” Another sigh. “I never thought I’d be the last one standing, you know?”
“I hear ya. Although for me, I never thought I’d be the kind to get married. I thought I’d enjoy being single, traveling the world doing whatever the hell I wanted until I was too old to do it anymore.” He paused. “And then came Gabriella.”
“She’s amazing.”
“Don’t I know it.” They jogged in silence for a couple minutes before Zach turned to him again. “So is that why you’re done with the hookups? You’ve met someone?”
Now what? Another long breath escaped, and Alex kept his gaze straight ahead. “I met someone a while ago. I thought we clicked, but…” He shrugged. “It didn’t work out. Met her at one of the weddings, and we had a great weekend together. We kept in touch for about three months, and then…”
“Damn. That sucks.”
“Yes, it does,” Alex agreed. “But here’s the thing…I can’t stop thinking about her. Why can’t I move on? Clearly she has, because she hasn’t contacted me, but—”
“Does she live around here?”
Alex shook his head. “That was the main reason I never saw her again. Our work schedules kind of prevented it, and, really, I could deal with a little bit of a distance, but not other-side-of-the-country long.”
“Maybe call her again. Send her a text and feel her out. A lot can change. For all you know, she’s no longer at that job or living in the same place. What have you got to lose?”
Alex shrugged. “I’ll think about it.”
Alex began to push the buttons on the treadmill to pick up his speed and incline.
“Great. Now let’s see if you can beat me in this last sprint. Loser buys breakfast.”
Zach immediately began to push his settings and grinned. “You’re on!”
Chapter 2
It was hard to feel good about being comfortable when you worked with a supermodel.
Okay, Gabriella wasn’t a real supermodel, but she certainly looked like one.
All the time.
Megan looked at her reflection in the mirror and sighed. Back home, she wouldn’t think twice about wearing a pair of black yoga pants and an oversized sweater to work. Occasionally, she’d even pair the ensemble with a pair of boots rather than sneakers.
Another sigh.
Her hair was pulled up in messy bun, and while some women could totally rock that look, Megan felt like she looked more like someone who was too lazy to do her hair.
Which…she was.
This was her third day at her new job, and the first two days she had put a bit of an effort into her appearance, but today it seemed like too much of a pain. And now she was regretting it because once she opened the restroom door and met up with Gabriella, she’d be feeling like a homeless person in comparison to her cousin’s wife.
Not that she was begrudging Gabriella anything. After all, if you had it, you should flaunt it, right? It was just…Megan wasn’t used to seeing a woman in her seventh month of pregnancy walking around looking quite like that. She looked at the tennis shoes on her feet and frowned. No doubt Gabriella would have on mile-high stilettos. How she managed to walk around in those things was still a mystery. And her wardrobe looked like something off a New York fashion week runway—and she was pregnant!
After another look in the mirror, Megan realized that her sweater made her look like she was pregnant.
And not in a fashionable way like Gabriella.
“Damn,” Megan murmured. It was blazingly obvious she was going to have to do something drastic like…gulp…go shopping. The thought was almost more than she could bear. With a little luck, maybe Gabriella and Summer would go with her. She’d bring it up later that day when she met her cousin for lunch.
Knowing there was nothing she could do about her choice of clothing at the moment, she made quick work of fixing her hair a bit and putting on some lip gloss. Feeling mildly appeased, she zipped up her purse and decided she couldn’t stay in the bathroom forever. She looked okay, but it was a far cry from what she knew was waiting for her on the other side of the door.
And it was only slightly better than how she had looked five minutes ago.
Pulling open the door, she stepped out into the massive reception area and made her way to
ward her office.
“Good morning,” Gabriella called out when Megan walked by her desk. “Coffee’s made, and there are blueberry muffins if you’re interested.”
“Blueberry, huh? What’s the occasion?” she asked even as she looked around for them.
Gabriella laughed softly. “I was never a cake person, but this baby craves it. So I try to compromise and at least make ones with real fruit to ease my guilt.”
Following Megan’s gaze, Gabriella pointed toward the platter of muffins.
Megan took one and bit into it, nearly groaning with pleasure. “You made these?”
With a nod, Gabriella replied, “This morning. Zach had an early meeting in Vancouver, and once I was awake, I realized what I wanted to eat. I swear, I never thought pregnancy cravings were real, but this baby of mine is proving me wrong.”
Pouring herself a cup of coffee, Megan smiled. “A friend of mine had her first baby last year. I remember going out with her and watching her order some strange things. We’d been friends for years, and I couldn’t remember her ever eating most of the stuff she ate during her pregnancy. And you know what? She hasn’t eaten any of it since.”
For a few minutes, they ate in companionable silence, and then Megan decided to broach the subject of her wardrobe instead of waiting for lunch—and Summer.
“So I have a favor to ask,” she began hesitantly.
“Okay.”
“And I feel weird because you’ve all done so much for me already. I mean, the job, Summer letting me live in her guesthouse, and now you making me yummy food… I should probably just say thank you and work my own crap out for myself, but…”
“Megan?”
“Hmm?”
“You’re rambling. What’s going on?”
She sighed. “I think I need a new wardrobe.”
Gabriella’s face lit up. “Really?”
Megan nodded.
“And when you say a new wardrobe, you mean everything, right?”
She nodded again. “And I figured I’d ask Summer to help out too. Maybe we could make a day of it on Saturday or something.”
Gracefully, Gabriella turned and put her coffee mug down before looking at Megan again. “I think that is the perfect plan. We’ll talk to Summer about it over lunch, and since it’s for you, Zach can’t possibly have a problem with it.”
“He’s been a bit of a—”
“Nervous Nelly?” Gabriella said with a grin. “Yes. If it wasn’t so incredibly sweet, it would be annoying. Don’t get me wrong, I love the attention, and I love how concerned he is, but there are times when I need to go off by myself and shop or get a pedicure, and he’s always right there with me.”
Megan laughed so hard she almost choked on her muffin. “Please tell me he just sits with you when you get a pedicure!”
Gabriella smiled as she shook her head. “In the beginning, I think he figured he’d sit and watch. Then he tried it. Now he comes with me because he enjoys it!” She laughed. “Please don’t tell him I said that! He’d die of embarrassment!”
With a zipping motion across her lips, Megan winked. “Well, whenever you need to escape without him, feel free to use me as an excuse. I have no problem covering for you.”
“You have no idea how much I appreciate that or how much I am going to take you up on your offer.”
They laughed as Megan finished her muffin and refreshed her coffee. With another word of thanks, she waved and made her way to her office, and before she knew it, she was up to her eyebrows in emails and phone messages from employees who were having issues with some of the new programs they were installing.
“If only they realized this is just the beginning,” she murmured as she went to work. No one liked change, and learning a new operating system was even more of a challenge than some people could handle. Megan thrived on learning new things; she had worked with Zach remotely over the past month to get him ready for the transition, and she knew she’d have to work equally as hard to put the employees’ minds at ease as she would to get the new system in place.
That was why she ended up working so many hours over the past few days.
“Hey! You ready for lunch?”
Megan turned to see Summer standing in the doorway. For a minute, she was confused. Ready for lunch? Glancing at the clock, she saw it was almost one.
She stood and stretched and then laughed when Summer hugged her. “Have I mentioned how happy I am that you’re here?”
Megan hugged her back. “About a hundred times, but I love hearing it.”
“I have to admit, there was a very real possibility of me not being here, but I’m glad Ethan and I compromised.”
Looking at her curiously, she asked, “You mean the whole moving to North Carolina thing?”
Summer nodded. “Originally, we were moving there full time. But after we got married and talked about it, it was obvious how much he loved it here—not just Portland but working with Zach. So the house in North Carolina is our vacation home now. Plus, I found I kind of like being with this branch of the family for a while.”
“It’s really just Zach—”
With a smile, Summer grabbed Megan into another hug. “And now you.”
That’s probably one of the nicest things anyone has ever said to me, Megan thought.
“Come on—Gabs is waiting, and she’s cranky.”
“Uh-oh,” Megan said as she grabbed her purse. “How come?”
“She’s hungry and we’re keeping her waiting,” Summer said with a grin.
Together they walked to meet up with Gabriella, and as they rode down in the elevator, they talked about lunch options and eventually agreed on a small café around the corner from the office. Megan waited until they were seated and looking at menus to ask Summer about going shopping.
“Oh my God, yes!” Summer said with a huge smile. “I need a good shopping day!”
“Oh no,” Gabriella murmured.
“What? What did I say?” Summer asked.
Putting her menu down, Gabriella looked at her patiently. “You are probably the last person who needs a shopping day. The last time you went to the mall, what happened?”
Summer played with her silverware and adjusted the napkin on her lap. “I…shopped.”
“Really?”
Rather than respond to Gabriella, Summer looked at Megan. “I bought some dresses for Amber.”
Megan was confused. “And that’s wrong? Why?”
“She’s barely three months old, and she doesn’t need fourteen dresses,” Gabriella said with exasperation. “Summer, your daughter is beautiful. Stunning. She looks completely adorable in everything you dress her in.”
“But?” Summer prompted.
“But whenever you get within ten feet of a baby department, you tend to go a little crazy.”
“That won’t be a problem,” Megan said, trying to defuse the situation. “I promise we’ll pick places that don’t even have a baby department. If anything, I’m the baby,” she added quickly. “If you need to dress someone up, dress me! Seriously, I’m desperate. I normally wear yoga pants to work. It’s been two years since I bought a new bra. I’ve never once been to a Victoria’s Secret, and I wear old T-shirts to bed.”
As she let out a sigh of relief at her fashion confession, she missed the nervous glances exchanged between Gabriella and Summer.
“Two years?” Summer asked. “Really? How is that possible?”
Megan shrugged. “I don’t know…the one I have fits fine. I didn’t need another.”
“Everyone needs new lingerie,” Summer countered. “We’re girls. It’s what we do.”
“No one was seeing it except me, so…”
“Oh,” Summer said, and then it hit her. “Ooohhh…”
What was the point in denying the truth? “Yup. So now y
ou know why I need help.”
“We’re here for you,” Gabriella said, reaching across the table and patting Megan’s hand.
“This is going to be an all-day event,” Summer said. “I can’t guarantee I’ll be able to stay away from home for that long—Amber will need to be nursed—”
“You can pump beforehand and bring the pump with you, right?” Gabriella asked. “Ethan won’t have any problem feeding her while you’re gone.”
“She’s fussy about taking the bottle,” Summer explained.
“It’s all right,” Gabriella said. “If we schedule and plan it right, we’ll stop for lunch, and you can run home while Megan and I eat, and then we’ll meet up again when you’re done.”
“That will work. And I’ll let Ethan know where we are, and if he needs to, he can bring Amber to me while we’re shopping.”
“Wait,” Megan said as unease crept its way up her spine. “How long do you think this is going to take? I figured we’d hit Macy’s or something and get everything there. We can be done by lunch.”
Gabriella and Summer looked at each other and started laughing.
Megan wasn’t sure whether she should be offended.
“Megs,” Summer began, “trust me. There is no such thing as getting everything in one place. If you’re going to do this, you’re going to want to do it right.”
“I don’t need that big of a wardrobe. I do have some outfits I can still use.”
The look both of them gave her said otherwise.
“Don’t worry,” Summer said soothingly. “We won’t go too crazy, but we will need to cover the basics—a couple pairs of nice pants, some skirts, maybe some dresses, shoes, underwear, and then a couple casual outfits and sleepwear.”
“I don’t mind the T-shirts,” Megan grumbled.
“And you’re going to want some fun outfits for when you start dating,” Gabriella said with a smile.
“Um…that won’t be necessary right away. I mean, I work a lot of hours and—”
“Maybe your last job was like that, but I can tell you right now Zach won’t allow you to live at the office,” Gabriella said.
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