by Natalie Ann
Maybe that was why they were so suspicious. No, concerned was the better word.
Either way, he left there feeling like he had so much to prove when normally he didn’t feel like he had to do that for anyone.
But when they got back to his place for her to get her car and head home for the week, she apologized. “Sorry about that.”
“Don’t worry. I guess it comes down to what you think and not them.”
“I’m going to give them all a piece of my mind when I run over there after I leave here,” she said.
“Why?”
“They’ve never been that way before with someone I’ve dated.”
He wasn’t sure how to take that. “Really? What are they normally like?”
“I don’t know. Not like that. I don’t remember them ever wanting to know so much about a person before. I’ve told them everything. It’s not like you are hiding anything.”
“Maybe they are worried I’m going to break your heart,” he said sending her a grin.
“I’m a big girl. I can take care of myself.”
She had a forced smile on her face when she said it though and it really did make him think that was the problem. That they were looking for something...almost as if it was too good to be true.
Then he started to wonder if he was feeling that himself.
That he’d never been in love before. He’d never even dated anyone seriously.
But he moved here and his whole world was changing. He didn’t even make this move because it was some lifelong dream but rather a means to an end.
Was he just looking at Sarah as a way to help him get through this?
And if he was, then that would make him a piece of crap in his own eyes.
No, what he felt for her was real.
It might not have been anything he’d planned on before or thought might happen, but it was there and he was damn well going to make sure it stayed.
23
Perfect Guy
The following weekend Sarah was in Caden’s car as they drove to his childhood home just outside of Philly.
She hoped it went better than Caden’s dinner with her parents the weekend before. She’d felt horrible that her parents were asking so many questions. Personal questions.
Maybe she shouldn’t have said she was in love with Caden because they seemed like they wanted to know everything about him.
Sure, she’d like to know more too and hoped to this weekend, but it’s not like she felt he had skeletons in his closet. Or if he did, she’d hear something about them this weekend.
Yes, he was thirty-six and still single. So what. She didn’t understand the big deal.
He’d been upfront he was career minded and put his job first. But since she’d been dating him and he was making plenty of time for her, she had no reason to think he was still doing that.
Everything about him was just perfect in her eyes.
He was successful.
He was good looking.
He treated her well.
He made her blood heat up.
He was sweet and had a puppy that she could see he adored.
And he loved her.
What more could she ask for?
Nothing. So she had to stop looking for things when they didn’t exist.
He’d told her he wanted to make a change in his life and he was.
Did she wonder if something might have happened for him to make it? A trigger maybe? Occasionally.
But since he’d been honest and said she was his first relationship, it’s not like it could have been a woman that broke his heart.
Nor could he have had an issue with his job or they wouldn’t have promoted him.
She was looking for something that just wasn’t there even though she’d told herself there was no such thing as a perfect man.
“You’re being awfully quiet,” he said to her.
“What? Just enjoying the drive. It’s nice to get out of town. I haven’t been away on a vacation in a while.”
“I’m not sure how much of a vacation this is. I still feel like I should have gotten us a hotel. Are you sure you’re fine staying at my parents’ house?”
“It’s not a problem,” she said. “You wouldn’t have been able to bring Jet if we were in a hotel and I know you wouldn’t want to board him.”
“No. I would have kept him at my parents even if we didn’t stay there, but I didn’t want to do that either. He’s still a puppy and wouldn’t understand. No reason to confuse him and let him think he’s being abandoned.”
Yep, perfect guy right there. Putting his puppy first. She had to get out of her own head at times.
“You would miss him anyway,” she said. “Jet’s always pushing me out of the way to curl up with you at night.”
He just smiled at her and then looked back to the road. “Not much further. Maybe thirty minutes. By the time we get there it will be lunch. I’m sure my mother will have a feast of sandwich meats and salads to choose from. I told her not to go out of her way.”
“I hope she doesn’t. It’s just lunch. Are your sisters going to be there today?”
That was the one thing about being there the whole weekend...would they get a chance to do anything alone?
“They will be there when we get there. They’re nosy that way. But then they’ll take off. I told my parents I’d take them to dinner tonight. I figure you and I could sightsee a bit tomorrow and then my mother is going to make Sunday dinner later on. We’ll be leaving Monday. The time will go by fast.”
Part of her wanted it to, but the other wanted to learn more about him.
And when they pulled into the driveway of the house he grew up in, she was kind of shocked.
“I expected a bigger house,” she said.
“Houses just aren’t that big here like what you are used to. Not for my parents’ income.”
She knew his father was a college professor, his mother a social worker. It seemed to her Caden had the same middle class upbringing she had. Yet he turned out so much differently than he was raised.
Overachiever, she had to remind herself.
Then she remembered his sisters were a vet and a lawyer, so maybe it ran in the family.
She never tried to compete with Harris. She just did her own thing and was happy with it.
She’d never be a millionaire, and didn’t want to be. She wasn’t sure she liked the attention that came with it at times either. She got enough of it just being Harris’s sister.
“Sorry. I wasn’t judging at all.”
“I know. It’s just this is a much older area than where you grew up or where I live now.”
She got out of his car and went around to get Jet while he got their bags out of the trunk. The front door was opened and she got her first look at Anne Finley. She was just stunning and she realized where Caden might have gotten his looks from.
“Hello, Sarah. It’s so nice to meet you. I’ve heard so much about you.”
She moved forward and shook Anne’s hand. “Same here. I’ve been dying to see where Caden grew up. Is his room the same as it was when he was in school?” she asked, smiling.
“Actually it is. He’s going to be mad that I didn’t change it when you said you were coming, but I just didn’t have time. All the kids’ rooms look the same. Whatever they left, it’s still there.”
“I keep telling her to throw it all out if they don’t want it,” Joel said, coming to the door. “But she’s sentimental that way. Nice to meet you.”
Sarah shook hands with Joel and shouldn’t have been shocked he was good looking too. She was starting to feel a little self-conscious here but should have realized this considering Caden was a model when he was younger.
“Let me get to Jet,” she heard behind Caden’s parents.
Then, “I want to meet Sarah, Morgan. Get out of the way. You grab the dog if you want.”
“And my sisters,” Caden said.
She reached her hand forward to shake both
of theirs. Yep, they were stunning too. Both had brown hair and eyes like Caden. This family was too perfect in her eyes, but that mold was broken when Mia said, “I can’t tell you how long we’ve waited for Caden to finally get his head out of his ass and find a woman.”
She laughed. “I’m glad he didn’t do it before me or we might have never met.”
“So he’s a decent boyfriend?” Morgan asked. “We didn’t know since he’s never brought a woman around before. He hasn’t even really talked about them much either. I was hoping by him getting a dog he’d learn to care for something.”
“Thanks a lot,” Caden said. “That’s kind of rude. I care about a lot of things in life. My sisters included, but I’m starting to wonder why at this moment.”
“It’s nice to know your sisters and you are like Harris and me,” she said.
“Yeah, but you only had one brother. I’m outnumbered.”
“Don’t listen to Caden. He was the favorite child. Always did everything right and had to be the best. But I’m sure you know that by now,” Mia said. “Did he tell you he’s never been grounded or got in trouble once?”
She turned and looked to see his face was turning red. “I did what I was told,” he said.
“The model son,” Morgan said. “And forgive us. It’s been a while since we’ve seen Caden and we love to bust on him.”
“You saw me a month ago,” Caden said.
“But we were on our best behavior because we weren’t sure how you were feeling.”
Sarah frowned and was just ready to ask what they were talking about when Jet started to bark and race in circles as if he had to go out. Caden took the leash out of Morgan’s hands and brought him outside, leaving her there by herself.
It reminded her of the blood pressure cuff she’d seen in his bathroom when she was leaving a few of her things there. He’d told her she could and she was putting them away. It’s not like she was snooping. And since he’d been a patient and wasn’t on any meds and his blood pressure had been fine, she didn’t think anything of it more than some people like to know where they stood.
Heck. Caden seemed to be somewhat of a health nut to her at times so it really made sense he’d want to know his blood pressure. If he could draw his own blood and get results at labs online, he’d probably do that too.
He ate healthy. He worked out. She’d never seen any vitamins so he couldn’t be someone that went overboard though, when someone like him seemed to do that with so much in his life.
“Why don’t I show you to Caden’s old room?” Anne said.
“Sure,” Sarah said.
She picked up their bag they were sharing and their toiletries and followed Anne up the stairs. At least Caden had a queen sized bed in his room and not a twin like she’d had growing up.
She put the bag down and walked around his room looking at all the awards and trophies. Not for sports, but for school projects and clubs. If she hadn’t known him and just saw this room, she might have thought he was a bit of a dork.
There was a photo album that she picked up and realized it was pictures of Caden while he was modeling and her jaw felt like the face of a Nutcracker. None of these were on the internet.
“I’m going to shoot my mother,” he said when he walked in the door. “I can’t believe she put that out.”
“Who were these pictures for?” she asked. There were all sorts of poses and black and white ones, color, action shots. Longer hair, shorter hair.
“That was my portfolio. She put them in an album when I stopped. It was stored away, but she probably thought she was being cute putting it out for you to see. I mean it’s not like she had it in a drawer where it was, but she put it out in the open.”
“It looks like she is just proud of you. Nothing wrong with that.”
“I suppose not. Other than it’s kind of overkill. My mother putting all this out and my sisters riding my ass. I’m not sure which one is worse.”
“I think it makes you human. You don’t always come off that way.”
Caden wasn’t sure what to make of her comment. Human? He thought he’d been pretty down to earth since he met her. “So I’m a robot?”
“No. Not like that. I just think that you know what you want and you do what you can to get it. You just seem so perfect to me and everyone else, I guess. You always are in control. Even my parents think that.”
Which was why, he suspected, they questioned him so much. He just didn’t get the big deal but so many other people did. Maybe it was in smaller areas people thought differently than in the City.
And when his sister made the stupid comment about not knowing how he was feeling, he wanted to wring her neck. He’d hoped that Sarah would just assume it had to do with his hand and how he’d injured it.
Thankfully, Jet had to go out and it was a distraction for him to get away.
Then he found her in his room looking at everything his sisters always picked on him about. The fact Sarah said he didn’t seem human just added to it.
“I’m hardly perfect. You’ve said it before. I’m an overachiever. Not everyone thinks that’s such a good trait. Hell, half my staff would tell you I’m not perfect now.”
“They are just jealous of you,” she said. “I think what you did was the right thing. When people have a guilty conscience they lash out or act out. They get defensive. I’m sure it’s nothing more than that.”
He’d told her about the staff’s reaction to the meeting since she was asking about his day more and he felt like he should give her something. Most of his staff were fine when it was done. Colleen hadn’t talked to him once this week and he found that she probably had the biggest issue about finding out he wasn’t single and she couldn’t use that to get to him.
Or maybe it was more the fact he’d told her more than once he wanted facts and she liked to gossip.
“I don’t know. The more I dig on John, the more I find things. I’m waiting on a couple of calls from clients and then that is one more thing I’ve got to deal with next week.”
It seemed not only was John slow with his clients, but he also didn’t do a lot of his own work. Often taking ideas, suggestions, or information from others without doing his own research.
Sometimes it worked in his favor, but plenty of times it didn’t. Many of the staff were getting fed up with it when they weren’t getting the commission for the work. For as many that might have been put out over that meeting, others were stopping in to see him all week saying more positive things.
It felt like the shit was going to hit the fan and he was trying hard to not walk around stinking.
“Do you want to talk about it?” she asked.
“Nope. We are on vacation and we aren’t talking about work. I said more than enough. How many times do I have to tell you that?”
“I know. I get it. I just want to be supportive.”
“And you are,” he said, pulling her into his arms. More than he ever thought a woman would be and he wondered why he’d never tried to find this before.
24
Earn Their Stripes
“What do you mean there have been complaints about me?” John asked at the end of the next week.
It’d taken most of the week to get back to people, gather his information and then call this meeting. For some reason he had a feeling it wasn’t going to end well. Or end anytime soon.
He didn’t know why he felt that way either and it was frustrating.
Personnel issues had never been anything he’d had to think about before when he set his sights on moving up. He’d always been an independent worker, never doing much in a team setting.
Hell, he felt his coworkers couldn’t keep up and if they wanted to ride on his gravy train, he just ignored them and moved on for another piece of meat to cover.
But now he was directing and steering that train and it wasn’t all that tasty, making him wonder if this was really what he signed up for.
“I’ve received several staff complain
ts, both verbally and as part of the survey.”
“Which means nothing because it was anonymous and people always say a bunch of shit then because they know there is no recourse.”
“I find that just the opposite. That people tend to be afraid to speak up because of recourse and never do. This lets them do it and not worry about it coming back on them. But it doesn’t matter. I’m going by those I talked to personally. Not only that, a few clients have filled out surveys and not been happy with your services.”
“That’s crazy,” he said. “I’ve had some clients for twenty years.”
“You have. And those don’t seem to have a problem with you, but you do have a big turnover of clients. On top of that, those that left all said about the same thing. Some of what I’ve experienced myself.”
John crossed his arms. “And what exactly is that?”
“That you are slow to get back to them. You don’t do what they ask, or you do it half assed. They feel like they are leading you and you’re just making the transactions when they’d like a bit more guidance.”
“I don’t believe it,” he said. “Who said that about me?”
“I’m not naming names. But I did go back into some of your older files. I’ve gone back years. I find the same thing over and over. Mishandled transactions that have cost clients’ money because they were done too late.”
“Sometimes I’m not around when they call. I’m not taking calls after six from clients. I’ve got a home life.”
He made Caden pause. “I understand that. It’s not for everyone. Maybe it’s not for you anymore. But we do what clients want. They come to us with the money and our job is to meet their needs or they will go to someone else here. I think the problem is once you were promoted years ago you stopped working for the clients and started to let those under you do it all.”
“That’s what they are there for. I shouldn’t have to do grunt work that interns can do or those new coming in. They need to earn their stripes.”