Sisters in Bloom

by Melissa Foster

  Max swirled the straw in her drink. “I’m not that naive. I just thought it might...give her pause.”

  “Pause? You wanted to give Lea Carmichael pause?” Chaz shook his head. He saw her shoulders droop, and he reached out and touched her arm. “Hey, it was a great idea. Just one that’s hard to accomplish.”

  “I just thought that if she thought we were together she might back off of wanting you.”

  “Max. You did that for me?” Obviously, Lea hadn’t picked up on her vibe until the end, but Chaz hadn’t realized how far Max would go to protect him.

  “For you and Kaylie,” she said.

  “Oh, Max. You didn’t need to do that. Thank you.” Chaz tried not to let his expression reflect how stunned he was that Max would go to such lengths to protect his relationship with Kaylie. Her efforts touched him deeply. He wanted to take her in his arms and hug her, but adding a hug to a drinks date with any woman besides Kaylie felt wrong, and with everything going on, he didn’t have the strength to carry any more guilt.

  “I could tell something was up with you and Kaylie,” Max said. “Don’t worry. She knows she’s got the best man in all of Colorado.”

  “I doubt that.”

  Max held his gaze. “Don’t fool yourself. No other man even comes close.”

  They had a few more drinks, and Max pulled out her cell phone. “Do you wanna call Kaylie?” Her words carried the slow pace of one too many drinks.

  “It’s only” —he squinted at his watch— “four in the morning there. Too early.” He stepped from his stool. “Let’s walk on the beach.”

  “Now?” Max slid off her seat and wobbled.

  Chaz put his hand around her waist. “You’ve had a lot to drink, and it’s been a long day, so we can head back.”

  “No, I wanna walk,” Max said, and looped her arm into his, looking up at him with glassy eyes and a goofy, inebriated smile.

  They slid off their shoes when they reached the sand and carried them along the beach. Soothing ocean sounds filled the air, and the sand was cool and soft beneath their bare feet. Chaz wished again that Kaylie were there with him. She’d love the white sand and the romantic moonlight stroll. And at that very moment, he needed Kaylie in his arms more than ever before. He ached for her.

  Max was relaying how much trouble she’d had finding something that was Lea appropriate to wear and how she felt like a little girl playing dress up.

  “Well, you look beautiful. I don’t understand why you don’t dress like this more often.”

  “Beautiful?”

  “Yeah, you’re a pretty girl, Max.”

  She nodded a swaying, drunken nod, leaning against Chaz.

  “You’re doing the right thing, you know. With Kaylie. I know you love her.”

  “That I do. I hate being away from her. She’s so emotional right now.”

  “She’s pregnant. All those hormones racing through her and all. She’ll come around.” Max stopped walking and looked up at Chaz. “Hey, where was she the night before we left?”

  “Girls’ night out with Danica. She’s trying to figure out what to do once she has the baby.”

  Max took a step and stumbled, landing against Chaz’s chest. She looked up at him with a doe-eyed gaze.

  “You’ve had a lot to drink. We should go back,” he said.

  Max sank to her butt in the sand. “Kaylie’s got you in a way that no other woman could. She’ll come around.”

  Moonlight reflected off the water, and Chaz found himself staring out to sea, hoping Max was right.

  Chaz sat down and they both lay back on the sand, looking up at the stars.

  “Life is so…”

  “What?” Chaz closed his eyes, feeling the effects of the alcohol sweeping his mind clean.

  Max leaned her head on his arm, her eyes closed. “It’s complicated,” she said in a soft, breathy voice.

  Chaz’s eyes opened. He was so drunk that the moon seemed to be moving forward and back. Maybe he would close his eyes, just for a second.

  “I love working for you,” she said with a wave of her hand. “I don’t know much about what life is or isn’t, but I love you. My job. The festival.”

  Chaz was already asleep.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  The ringing of Max’s phone woke them up just as the sun began to make its slow crawl toward the sky. They sat up, disoriented and covered in sand. Max fumbled for her phone.

  “Hello?”

  Chaz brushed the sand from his clothing and hair.

  “Sure. Yes, sir. Not a problem. He’ll be there.”

  “What now?” Chaz asked when she hung up the phone.

  “Cooper. He said he left you a message. Jansen is in the hospital in Seattle. It doesn’t look good.” Max checked her texts and gnawed on her fingernail.

  “What?”

  Max brushed the sand from her clothing as they headed back toward the hotel. “The tech team needs to meet…like, now.”

  “How are we gonna do that?”

  “Don’t worry. I’ve got it covered. We’ll Skype the tech team and head to Seattle. Looks like I have flight arrangements to make.” She handed Chaz the phone. “Call your fiancée,” she said.

  Chaz sighed and called Kaylie’s cell. In an age when technology seemed to run people’s lives, it was doing nothing for him and Kaylie connecting. “Damn it.” He waited for her voicemail message tone. “Hey, it’s me. I’m heading straight to Seattle from here. Jansen’s in the hospital. I’m sorry. Call me, please. I miss you.” He lifted his eyes and saw that Max was watching him the way a mother might watch a teenage son to be sure he was doing the right thing. Max had a way of keeping him on track, and with all that was going on, he appreciated her efforts.

  They Skyped the tech team later that afternoon, and Max handled it with her typical efficiency. The emergency change in meeting schedule required changes to vendors and approval of further expenses. Max had every budget memorized and was able to access the reports of their requirements and blueprints of the venue they had booked from her Dropbox as if she handled technical meetings via Skype all the time. Chaz wondered why they didn’t. Max cleverly manipulated other areas to cover the new expenses, and by the end of the meeting, they’d all agreed that Skype meetings would be the next big change to their operation.

  The festival took place in Weston, Colorado each year and Max knew how many outlets each booth required, how much voltage the lighting staff needed, and whom to contact in case of a power outage. If the lights of the Superdome could go out when Beyoncé was performing, Max was taking no chances. She had backup generators and the staff to man them at the ready.

  “I didn’t even need to be there,” Chaz said as they headed for the airport.

  “Sure you did,” she said, wiping her brow with her arm. “I was your moral support with Lea, and you were mine with the tech team. Besides, it’s you they want to see.”

  “You know, I really don’t appreciate how much you do for the festival.”

  Max shook her head and threw her palm up. “Huh?”

  “That didn’t come out right. I appreciate it. I just never really recognized the extent of what you take care of. I mean, you’re the sponsorship coordinator, so I always think of you coordinating the donations and sponsors and attributing funds to the right accounts, not doing all this other stuff.”

  “Thanks, Chaz. I do whatever needs to be done: donations, fund distribution and attribution, and negotiating, but Scott handles the actual bookkeeping.” Scott Harden had been their bookkeeper since before Max joined the company.

  “I know he does, but you knew what everyone needs down to the penny. You knew it all.”

  Max smiled. “It’s my job.”

  “Well, that’s what I’m wondering. It’s really not your job. So, why do you do it?” He watched her weigh her answer. “How did we get by before you?” Chaz thought of all the pieces that had fallen out of place before Max came on board and remembered the first six months o
f her employment, when she’d worked day and night to create an organizational system that actually worked.

  Max shrugged. She opened her mouth to answer, then closed it and turned her eyes to the front of the cab. “I guess I do it so that it gets done right. So you don’t look bad.”

  “Well, consider yourself appreciated, and if I ever act otherwise, kick me in the head.” Chaz checked his voicemail messages as they pulled up to the airport. The blood drained from his face.

  “Lea?” Max asked.

  “Kaylie. Did you leave something at the house?”

  “Not that I know of, why?”

  “She’s pissed. She thinks I had another woman over at the house. That’s crazy.”

  Max’s jaw dropped. “Hey, dude. I am a woman,” she rebutted.

  He shot her a look that said, Not now.

  “I don’t think I left anything. I’ll call her. Once she hears it was me who was there, she’ll be fine.” She took out her cell phone, and Chaz reached over and lowered her hand. “Chaz?”

  Chaz wasn’t sure what he felt at that moment, but he was caught somewhere between disbelief and hurt. His stomach turned, and he leaned his head on the back of the seat, almost unable to bring voice to his thoughts. “She doesn’t trust me.”

  “Yes, she does.”

  “No, she doesn’t. She found something and immediately jumped to the conclusion that I was with someone else. After all these months.” Having an affair and lying about a tryst that took place before they even knew each other were completely different things in Chaz’s mind.

  “Chaz, you said yourself that she’s emotional right now. Give her a break.” Max’s eyes grew wide. “Wait, Chaz. I think I did leave my hairbrush there. I forgot, because I used my comb this morning when I couldn’t find my brush. Oh my goodness, I’m so sorry.”

  He closed his eyes. “Jesus. My life is just one big fuckup lately. First, I screw up with the board meetings that you warned me about, and now I’m gonna marry a woman I’m crazy about but who doesn’t trust me. I’m glad it was your brush, because I had no idea what she was talking about, but she should instinctively know I’d never cheat.”

  Max’s cell phone rang, and Kaylie’s number showed on the display.

  “Don’t answer that,” Chaz said firmly.

  “Chaz, let me tell her.”

  “Don’t answer it. I can’t think about this right now.” Every painful second that passed brought more heart-shattering reality to the forefront of his mind. He adored Kaylie, but lately she’d amped up the drama in ways that he had no idea how to handle. With the nightmare Lea turned out to be, he wondered if Kaylie could be the same way. Was he a magnet for psychotic women? Had he missed signs about Kaylie, or was she truly just hormonal? He hadn’t looked at another woman in that way since the night he met her, and after seeing Lea again and being put to the test, he not only had no intention of doing so in the future, but he knew he could refrain from ever disrespecting Kaylie in that way. Kaylie was the woman he loved and the only woman he wanted. There’s no way he made this big of a mistake a second time. Kaylie wasn’t crazy like Lea. She was just hormonal and insecure because of it. Wasn’t she?

  They pulled up in front of the airport. Fueled by adrenaline, he was determined to take charge of the situation with Jansen and Lea, and then he’d worry about Kaylie. One nightmare at a time.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Two hours after Danica left, Kaylie had eaten lunch and taken a catnap, and she already felt much better. She picked up a framed picture of her and her mother from Chaz’s desk and ran her finger over her mom’s face. She felt a tug in her heart and wished there were an easy way to make things better. She knew she was the one causing the complications, but she didn’t know what to do about it. Now, seeing her mother’s smiling face, she wanted to ask her about her baby things. Did she still have her receiving blankets? Baby clothes? Maybe one day soon, I’ll be able to do that.

  She set the frame down, accepting that she just wasn’t ready to make that phone call yet. Kaylie skipped down her to-do list and called Alex first. He agreed to get the group together and meet her at noon the next day.

  Feeling even more confident, she called Camille.

  “Wow, I thought you dropped off the face of the earth,” Camille teased. “I’ve left you messages. Texted. You’re not a very good friend.”

  “Yeah, I know. Quit your whining. Today’s been crazy.”

  Camille’s tone softened. “Are you okay?”

  There was nothing like having a girlfriend. Camille’s voice was like the hug she’d been needing. How did you tell one of your best friends—the newlywed who was living in shades of bliss at the moment—that you thought your fiancé was cheating, you felt unattractive, and you just wanted to lie down and die? The truth was, she could have told Camille all of that and Camille probably would have made her feel better; Danica had already lessened the burden of it, after all. But Kaylie had never been the whiner in the group, and she wasn’t going to tarnish her unrealistic happy Barbie reputation now.

  “Yeah, I’m fine. I had so much fun with you guys. I started writing songs after everyone fell asleep.”

  “Really? Kaylie, that’s great. It’s good to have something to fill your days.” Kaylie heard a longing in Camille’s voice.

  “Are you okay, Camille? We were so focused on my career that we didn’t really catch up on you and Jeff.”

  “Me? Fine, yeah, we’re perfect,” Camille said too quickly. “Have you heard from Chaz?”

  Kaylie heard the same feigned smile she had on her face. “He’s going to Seattle for a few days. His partner’s sick.”

  “Mm-hmm. And my baby?”

  Kaylie touched her stomach and smiled. “You mean, my baby. It’s kicking me like a champ. I’m wondering if it’s a boy after all.” Kaylie thought again about her mother and her baby things. She wondered if her mother knew she was having girls when she was pregnant. She’d have to remember to ask her the next time she spoke to her.

  “No, no, you have to have a girl,” Camille squealed. “We’ll bring her up like a little spoiled princess with chutzpah! She’ll be awesome.”

  “Yeah, about that. You do know that I can’t control the sex of the baby, right?” Kaylie rolled her eyes, still glad that they had opted not to have more than one sonogram. With peer pressure, she might have given in and found out the baby’s gender.

  “No shit, but I can hope.”

  “Camille, I need a favor. I’m due in four weeks and we haven’t had a baby shower yet.” As selfish as she felt asking about it, she knew Camille would understand. A baby shower was like a rite of passage, and although she had a sneaking suspicion her sister and friends might have already been planning one, she didn’t want to take a chance that they’d forget and she’d be left without ever having the experience.

  Camille didn’t respond.

  “Camille?”

  She remained silent.

  “Oh no, I ruined it, didn’t I?” Kaylie covered her mouth. “Shit. Shit, shit, shit.”

  “Did you really think we’d forget about your shower?” The hurt in Camille’s voice was palpable.

  “I’m an idiot. I’m sorry. Does Danica know, because if she does, she hasn’t let on.”

  “My mouth is zipped. You aren’t getting any info from me.”

  “Can you tell me when it is? I’m—”

  “Can you hear this? It’s me hanging up.” The phone line went dead.

  Kaylie’s day went from bad to better. Now all she needed was to clear things up with Chaz. She left a message for him and another for Max. If she couldn’t reach Chaz, then maybe Max could. She went back to work on her songs, humming to herself and feeling like things weren’t so bleak after all.

  An hour later, her heart jumped when Chaz’s office phone rang. Chaz. She ran to the phone from the living room and picked it up. “Hello?”

  “Chaz Crew, please.” The woman’s fierce, sexy tone struck Kaylie’s curiosi
ty.

  “Uh, he’s out of town. May I take a message?”

  “Ah, yes, please. Tell him Lea called and that Hawaii was everything I dreamt it might be.”

  “Excuse me?” Kaylie thought she might pass out. Her legs weakened and she lowered herself into the leather chair.

  “Yes, that’s right. Tell him I’ll be in touch.”

  Kaylie’s confusion morphed to anger. “I’m sorry, who is this?”

  “Lea Carmichael.” The phone went dead. Lea Carmichael. Lea Carmichael. The name ran though her mind, sounding worse and worse with each iteration.

  She picked up the phone and dialed Chaz’s cell again, telling herself to calm down. Things weren’t always what they appear to be, she reminded herself. It’s nothing. A client. A misunderstanding. Chaz’s voicemail picked up, and she stared at the phone, unable to come up with the right words. She was afraid she’d cry more than she already had, accuse him, and generally ruin any chance they might have at a civilized conversation. She hung up the phone and stewed while Lea Carmichael coursed through her mind.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  The next day, Danica stayed late at the youth center, working with Sally and Gage to iron out the budget for the next quarter. Danica had spent most of their time together watching Sally get flustered every time Gage spoke and thinking about how awful it would be to start over after the death of a spouse. The minute they’d left for the night, she called Blake. Even the thought of losing him was too much to bear. She had to hear his voice.

  She was exhausted from her narrow escape with Kaylie’s relationship issues. If Kaylie hadn’t come around, she would have been stuck counseling her sister for the next year, helping her navigate life as a single parent. Sometimes, Kaylie’s insecurities took over, and while Danica was used to it, it was not something most men would understand for very long. She’d used the center’s event as a pick-me-up, and it had worked. She only hoped it lasted long enough for Chaz to come home so the two of them could work things out. She prayed that Kaylie would settle down after she gave birth. Did all mothers get a little crazy before their baby was born?