The unEXpected Plan

by Harper, Leddy

  “Yeah. And to make matters worse, I think they were seeing each other before we broke up.”

  Leaning back in his seat, he slouched his shoulders and let out a long huff. “So what is it you think I can do for you?”

  “Well…Chase works at AdCorp.”

  He sat upright, his eyes practically bugging out of his head as he stared at me in disbelief. “He does? What’d you say his name is? Chase?” When I nodded, he shook his head with a sigh. “Are you wanting me to fire him? If so, I have to be honest with you, Bridge; I don’t have that kind of authority.”

  “No, no, no. Nothing like that at all. That’s just it…I don’t want him to lose his job.”

  “Well, good. You don’t have anything to worry about, because he won’t.”

  I huffed and tried to explain better. “I’m worried about a no-fraternization policy and—”

  “Let me just go ahead and put your mind at ease now.” He leaned forward and completely captured my attention with his blue eyes. “AdCorp doesn’t have that policy. The closest thing is a rule about reporting relationships to HR, but that’s just to cover their own asses. The best I could do is look into it to see if he’s made the relationship public, but I’ve got to be honest with you, Bridge…even if he hasn’t, they’ll just make him report it.”

  “Oh.” I covered my face with my hands, feeling a little embarrassed and maybe slightly disappointed. I didn’t want to get him in any trouble, and I certainly didn’t want him fired. But knowing he could cheat on me with his assistant and get away with it made me a little sick to my stomach. “I didn’t mean anything like that. I just wanted to get back at him a bit.”

  The waitress delivered our appetizers, and we made the normal conversation, like “oh, that looks good” and “I’ll try one of those.” After we each had our plates filled with what I liked to call tasters, I took a deep breath and continued with what I’d been saying prior to our food being served.

  “I mainly thought—well, my friend Julie thought—that we should give Chase a taste of his own medicine, which Nellie and I agreed was a good idea. That led to us all concocting this strategy of you hitting on Chase’s assistant and making her leave him for you.” This hadn’t even been my idea. Julie had devised it, Mady had jumped on it, and then Nellie had taken the proverbial baton and run with it. Now I was left holding the flaming stick with no one to pass it to.

  “Excuse me?” Corbin’s hand over his mouth muffled his laughter. “Make her leave him for me? How on earth do you expect me to accomplish something like that?”

  “Maybe pay her extra attention and flirt a little? You don’t have to sleep with her or anything.”

  “Well, thank goodness for that.” He continued his laughter, only this time, he didn’t try to mask it. He belted it out, and it made me want to curse Nellie for leaving me here alone. Meeting with him tonight had been her frickin’ idea anyway. I went along with it because it sounded good, but I wasn’t selling it the way she could have. Instead, I came across like a salesman with zero knowledge of the product I was trying to deliver.

  “This isn’t coming out right. I can’t explain it well enough.”

  “Oh, I think it’s coming out just fine. I completely understand.” He winked at me.

  My cheeks burned red hot, and when the heat moved down my neck, I was well aware that every inch of my visible skin glowed crimson. Great. Just great.

  “It’s not like you’re currently dating anyone, right?” After saying that, I wanted to stick my foot in my mouth—hell, both feet!

  “Are you hitting on me now, Bridge?”

  “God, no!” I desperately wished I could slip under the table to hide.

  “I’m just teasing you. I know you aren’t interested in me.” He took another swig of his beer and then signaled the waitress. “So how do you suggest I steal this woman away?”

  After the waitress cleared some of our dishes, I continued. “Her name is Heather. She’s thirty-something and has three kids. I honestly can’t see the attraction.” I shrugged, unable to believe my own lie that rolled off my tongue. Of course I saw what drew him to her. She was frickin’ gorgeous. Blonde bombshell came to mind when picturing her in my mind’s eye.

  “Are you kidding? Older woman? Built-in family? Who wouldn’t go for her?” He chuckled and threw his hands up. “I’m kidding, Bridge. Chill out. I’ll do it, okay?”

  I spent the next forty-five minutes telling Corbin everything I knew about the woman who had stolen my man. I recalled conversations I’d had with Chase regarding his assistant and repeated the essential facts. Things she liked, things she abhorred.

  He patiently listened, and I thought I caught him studying me intently a couple of times, but that couldn’t be right. He’d never liked me as a friend—or even a person for that matter. He’d never kept it a secret just how annoying he used to think I was, and I wasn’t delusional enough to believe he no longer felt that way.

  Once I’d finished listing all the details I could remember, I sat back and waited for his response to the verbal vomit I’d just hit him with.

  “So when should I start fucking with her?”

  I almost spit out my mouthful of wine and then snickered. “Wow, you certainly don’t waste any time.”

  “What’s the point? You know Nell won’t let me sneak out of this one. I might as well get ‘er done so I can put this to bed. And I don’t mean literally.”

  I bit my tongue to stave off my laughter. “I really think that sex should be the end goal. It’d be the ultimate payback. I mean, if Chase catches the two of you in bed together, it would be perfect. Don’t you agree?”

  “Bridge, I am absolutely not sleeping with her. I have to be honest, things with my girlfriend might be on hold right now, but they will pick up again—they always do. This is just how things with Lindsey and me go; we keep each other on the back burner, waiting for the right time to reconcile. It’s what works for us.”

  “I see, so you don’t want to sleep with her because you still love your ex-girlfriend?” I totally understood this, because I was truly, madly, deeply still in love with my ex. But that didn’t stop me from giving him a hard time. “Sounds like a rather…frustrating way to live if you ask me.”

  “No. We’re not together, so we can sleep with whomever we please. I just don’t want to lead someone on, especially someone in the office, and then complicate things by sleeping with her; it’s morally wrong in my opinion.”

  The humor that had warmed my stomach a moment ago had faded, which meant I needed to switch to water because I’d had too much wine.

  What he said made perfect sense, but I couldn’t believe he had morals. It made me realize just how much I didn’t know about Corbin. I only remembered him as the gangly teenager who used to rescue Nellie and me from situations we’d found ourselves in.

  “How are you, Corbin?” My words came out sincere and bordered on caring.

  “I’m good.” He chuckled, shaking his head at the way I’d hijacked the conversation and turned it around about a hundred and eighty degrees. “What brought that on?”

  I shrugged and studied the table, tracing invisible lines with my finger. “I don’t know…I guess I finally realized that I don’t know very much about the grown-up Corbin, only the teenage version I remember from my childhood.”

  “I feel the same way, but that’s kind of how life is. We grow up, people move on. Then life gets busier and busier, and you lose touch. You meet different people, form new circles of friends.”

  “Yeah. Do you still hang out with any of your high school buddies?” I surprised myself by how invested I was in his answer. It was like I really wanted to know all about him or something. So strange.

  “I do. But not often. Most of them have moved due to job offers they received, and several have started families. I’m just not there yet. I don’t know if I’ll ever reach a point in my life where I’ll be ready to be a family man. My career doesn’t allow for it.”

&nb
sp; If that wasn’t the go-to excuse for any commitment-phobe, then I didn’t know what was.

  “Really? I find that hard to believe. Especially in this day and age. People telecommute, have part-time jobs, do whatever they need to make things work. I still can’t believe how nice it was for my school to allow me to switch to online courses when my mom became ill. It allowed me to continue, even if it wasn’t the way I would’ve preferred had things been different.”

  “Yeah. That had to have been tough.” It was his turn to study the table. “I’m really sorry about that, Brooklyn. Really sorry. You were dealt a shitty hand.”

  “I don’t think I’ve ever heard you say my actual name before.” I offered a small smile and then immediately felt awkward. It had almost been a bit flirtatious. What the hell was I doing? I wasn’t ready to flirt with another guy, let alone Corbin!

  I pushed my wine glass to the side and started sipping water.

  “It’s a nice name, but Bridge just suits you. I don’t know… Initially, I used it to piss you off, and then it stuck.”

  Corbin still sported the genetically pleasing traits he’d had in high school, minus the gangly teenager part. His face was chiseled, while still managing to look approachable and soft. He’d always been a kind person, one who would help the underdog or go out of his way to make others feel included. The complete opposite of his parents, even though they’d raised him to be the same way.

  “Do you still see your mom and dad?” I decided a subject change was in order.

  “Yeah, just not as often as they’d like. I’ve been avoiding them the last couple of weeks due to my recent breakup. They want Lindsey—my ex—and me to get married and be the dynamic power couple they’ve always dreamed of. But that’s not my end goal.”

  “What is your end goal?”

  “I’d like to be happy.” His eyebrows raised, and he scooted away from the table. I doubted he’d meant to be that honest.

  “Isn’t that what we all want?” I tried to smooth over his ruffled feathers, and then decided on yet another subject change. If this continued, we’d end up discussing the inflation rate of foreign currency. “My internship is going great. I’m at a local elementary school and the kids are amazing. Did Nellie tell you about my plans after my student-teaching is over?”

  He shook his head and moved closer to the table again.

  “Well, my life-long goal is to be an administrator. But I want to be one who makes a difference in kids’ lives. I want to be the one they remember when they’re old and grey. Reliving their youth by telling their grandkids about the teacher or principal that made a difference in their life because they went that extra mile and truly cared about them as a person. Know what I mean? I had a teacher like that, and I’ll never forget her.”

  “Yeah, I did too. I think that’s very admirable of you.”

  I shrugged. “It’s just how I really feel. There are so many children out there who don’t have the support they need at home, and they have no one else to turn to. Some turn to drugs, alcohol, gangs, abusive boyfriends, but why not school? I want school to be a safe haven. Somewhere they can feel sheltered and free to trust.”

  “That makes sense.” Corbin looked like he wanted to bolt, but I couldn’t understand why. I spoke from my heart and he appeared completely freaked out.

  “Oh, look at the time.” I should really remember to make sure I’m wearing a watch when I check my wrist and say that. “I need to get home, and I’m sure you have things to do as well.” When I reached for my purse, Corbin immediately put his hand over mine. The warmth I felt was completely unexpected and made my heart skip a beat.

  “I’ve got this,” he insisted. “I’ve really enjoyed catching up with you. It made me reminisce and think of all the good times we had. The least I can do is buy your dinner…if you can call this dinner.” He snickered and gestured to the half-eaten appetizers and empty glasses that still littered the table.

  “It’s my favorite kind.”

  We quickly exchanged numbers, and he promised to text me on Monday to let me know how the initial contact with Chase’s blonde bombshell went. I’d enjoyed myself, just talking to him, that I’d almost forgotten what the initial plan had been.

  Outside of the restaurant, he kissed me on the cheek after walking me to my car. I found myself watching him walk down the block back to his office.

  That was when I identified these feelings I experienced—sorrow and helplessness.

  Corbin didn’t have anything going for him except his job. And that was no way to live.

  If only things were different, I thought. I could give him many things to look forward to beyond his nine-to-five. Unfortunately, things weren’t different, which meant I couldn’t give him anything other than this plan to occupy his time.

  Chapter 3

  Corbin

  Monday morning started off with a bang.

  The incompetent guy who’d been in charge of our Transition Motto campaign had fucked it up yet again. It was time to let him go and reassign the contract. Better yet, I’d probably just take over the account. It got tiresome dealing with inept people. This guy obviously didn’t care about his job, and I’d had to spend the entire morning and most of the afternoon cleaning up his mess and ironing out the creases. So when my sister called to check in, I wasn’t in the best mood.

  “Corbie!” Her cheerful greeting and obnoxious nickname grated on my very last nerve.

  I grunted in response. It was the best I could offer. If I said anything, it would’ve been rude.

  “I’m just calling to see how your weekend was. You didn’t work the entire time, did you? Please tell me you did something fun.” Nellie’s mothering tone held worry, which erased a couple degrees of my irritability.

  “Yes. I had to work all weekend. And this morning has been a complete clusterfuck.”

  “Wow. You sound like you’re in a mood of all moods today. Guess you haven’t had time to check in on Heather, Chase’s hussy of a secretary.” Her singsong voice smoothed my annoyance, but her statement angered me. What did she think I did all day, anyway? Twiddle my thumbs and sing showtunes? She worked for my parents, so she basically had a free pass to do whatever the hell she wanted all day long, while I constantly had to work my fucking ass off cleaning up other people’s messes. Infuriating!

  The plan was for me to eventually take over the family company, so I’d made the unpopular decision to work elsewhere until that time. Mainly to gain experience before tackling that undertaking, because I didn’t want anything handed to me—not to mention, I prided myself on my job. I couldn’t say the same for my sister.

  “Nell, I don’t have time for this today. It’s been a shitshow.” I kept my voice monotone and tried not to lose it with her. It wasn’t her fault I had complete morons working downstairs, nor could I expect her to understand what I had to deal with on a daily basis.

  “Oh.” The disappointment in her tone knotted my stomach, but only slightly.

  I held back my usual big-brother-to-the-rescue response and only somewhat caved. “Listen, I promise I will follow up, but I might not get to it today. Your friend has probably texted you a thousand times, fishing for information, but I don’t have any.”

  “Yeah. Brooke’s texted me.” Her heavy sigh tugged at my heartstrings. “I just hate it when she’s so down. She’s like a part of me, so when she’s down, I’m down.”

  “Yes, I know. And when she hurts, you hurt. I get the gist. Are you going to Mom and Dad’s for dinner this Sunday? I missed it last night.”

  “I went last night. Thanks for ditching me. It sucked big time. They wanted the scoop on you and Lindsey. I didn’t know what to tell them, so I said I thought you were working things out.”

  “Nell, you know that’s not true. In fact, I doubt we’ll get back together.”

  “I’ve heard that before.” Yeah, her and everyone else.

  “No…this time may be for good. I mean, we can’t really get around the several-h
undred-mile distance. I’m not moving there and giving up my career. Not for anyone. And I highly doubt she’d give up her dreams to come back here.” As much as I hated to say that, considering Lindsey was the only woman I’d ever loved, I couldn’t see any way around it. I held out hope that we’d make a go of a long-distance relationship, but who knew what would happen.

  “Well, you know that I’ve always thought Lindsey was it for you. Hell, everyone thinks so. You guys are a match made in heaven, status-wise. And you’d definitely earn brownie points with Mom and Dad if you at least tried to make it work.”

  “I’m not marrying someone in order to earn points, Nellie. I’ll marry someone who understands me. She just has to be understanding of my career.” Which was why Linds and I were perfect for one another. “But sometimes things don’t work out. Look at Bridge and her Prince Charming…she was convinced they were perfect together, and then she found out the dickwad was cheating.”

  “Yeah, well…you love Lindsey, and she’d never cheat on you.” She couldn’t be more right about that.

  “Exactly. Why cheat when we can break up every other year?”

  Nellie huffed through the line, and I could tell she was getting tired of my pessimism.

  “Maybe love doesn’t exist.” I shrugged, even though she couldn’t see me. “And if that’s the case, I’ll just enjoy bachelorhood for the rest of my life. My friends don’t seem to enjoy marriage; all they do is complain about their wives and kids. No thank you.”

  “Are you done with your moment of absolute stupidity yet?”

  I grunted, then turned my attention back to the computer screen and began typing an answer to latest issue that had popped up in my inbox.

  “Can you just go scope out Heather and then send Brooke a short text?”

  “Fine, but that’s all I have time for. Okay?” Outwardly, I agreed, but inwardly, I started to devise a plan of my own. I could just say I went and had an initial conversation with her, and no one would be the wiser.

  Within ten minutes of saying goodbye to my sister, a text came through. I’d just hung up with one nuisance, and another one popped up. Bridge couldn’t even wait two seconds before questioning me if I’d made contact.