The Hookup

by Zante, Lily

  “I lost a major client deal,” she said, finally.

  “Nooooooo.” Savannah expressed the right amount of shock, and sympathy to make her feel better. “What happened?”

  “Well,” she said, stumped for an explanation. “A whole lot of things.”

  “But I don’t understand. You loved your work.”

  “It hasn’t been an easy few months.”

  “Why, what’s going on?” Savannah rubbed her stomach lightly. “I wish you’d told me. I’ve been so wrapped up in my pregnancy, and the new house, and the move. I should have turned up on your doorstep when you didn’t respond to my messages.”

  “No, you mustn’t feel bad.” She attempted to put on a brave face. “It’s nothing major. Nothing that can’t be fixed.” While she hadn’t shed any tears over Geoffrey backstabbing her, she had shed plenty over Luke.

  “I know that look,” said Savannah, peering at her in concern. “You’re upset. Tell me.” She squeezed Kay’s forearm gently, this woman who was overflowing with mothering hormones was going to extricate everything from her if she wasn’t careful.

  “It’s really not a big deal,” she said, fighting to keep her voice steady even though her eyes were welling up. She forced herself to toughen up, because this cousin of hers knew her better than most, and would soon discover everything if she wasn’t careful.

  “That’s not nothing,” pressed Savannah. “Kay,” she said, her voice tender, her hand squeezing gently again. “You’re worrying me. What’s going—”

  “Ta-da!” said Max. She walked in hugging a snowy fluffy ball of fur in her arms. “The newest member of our family.”

  “Awwwww!” Savannah cried gleefully. “Such a cute little dog!”

  “It’s a French Maltese,” declared Briony, looking ecstatic.

  “He’s what we’ve settled on for now,” added Max. “We’ve still planning to adopt a child, but someone,” she rolled her eyes as she said it, “needs more time to get used to it.” She set the dog on the floor, and he padded around, sniffing at Kay’s gift bags. The atmosphere in the room suddenly turned prickly.

  “What’s he called?” asked Kay, hoping to diffuse the tension.

  “Fondue,” Max replied.

  “What?” Savannah laughed as Fondue started to sniff around her ankles and she reached out to stroke him. “Don’t let Jacob see him,” she begged. “He’ll want one.”

  “He’ll have two siblings to play with soon enough,” Kay interjected.

  “True,” said Savannah, stroking the dog again. “Though I could totally change my mind about getting one of these. He’s adorable, and Jacob is forbidden from coming here.”

  “He’s cute, isn’t he?” asked Briony, lifting the puppy to her arms and kissing him. “I think we’re going to have our hands full looking after this little one.”

  “There’s no reason we can’t have both.” Max eased herself down on the couch next to Savannah. “We’ve got some games to play later, and then you can open your presents.” Max gazed at Savannah’s stomach. “You must be so excited,” she said.

  “Relieved more like,” Savannah replied.

  Kay turned to hear Briony sigh, and leave the room.

  “She’s not ready,” said Max. “She’s still not ready. She thinks Fondue is going to win me over, and that I’ll forget about needing a child, but I won’t forget.”

  “It’s a big decision,” Savannah told her. “Both of you have to be on board, but I’m sure you’ll figure it out. Briony needs time, and a baby is a big commitment, but I’m sure she’ll come around.”

  “She’s always loved being hassle free,” grumbled Max. “I’m trying to understand her viewpoint, but I have needs too. And my motherly instinct seems to have gone into overdrive lately. Around the time you and Jacob showed up…or maybe before that. You having twins has made it even worse, not that I’m blaming you,” she added hastily.

  “Well, you’re both welcome to babysit for me, as much as you want, to get a feel for things,” Savannah replied. “Tobias and I are spending a month back in Kawaya. You’re welcome to come out then.”

  “I’ll be the first in the list.” Max grinned. “What about you?” she asked, turning to Kay. “Are you desperate to have a baby?”

  Her question took Kay completely taken by surprise. “Errr… no.” She shook her head vehemently. “No. Definitely no. I don’t even have a boyfriend.”

  “You don’t need a boyfriend,” Max shot back. “A sperm donor can do the job just as well.”

  Kay felt herself blushing.

  “Kay’s on a man-free diet,” replied Savannah proudly.

  “A man-free diet, huh?” Max asked with interest. “I highly recommend them.”

  “She’s definitely a heterosexual, Max,” said Savannah, intervening.

  “Why a man-free diet?” Max asked.

  Kay paused, and hoped that Savannah wouldn’t be able to see through her. “Savannah suggested I try that because of all the bad relationship choices I seem to always make.”

  “Boy, was that a true statement.” She swallowed, knowing that she was as guilty as ever, and that she hadn’t learned her lesson at all.

  “Bad choices?” Max looked intrigued.

  Now she was stumped. “Well…I …I think I tend to rush into things.”

  She could see Savannah nodding her head in agreement, “and I had this idea about how a guy would be, you know, when I fixed him and made him perfect, and so I didn’t really care too much what he was like upfront.” Something about the way Max gave her all her attention, about the way she leaned forward, listening, made her feel not so bad about spilling her guts. She had held all of this back for weeks, and it seemed easier to tell someone who wasn’t so close to her, than it was to tell someone like Savannah.

  “Do you think you projected your ideal of what he was supposed to be like on him?”

  “I’m not sure. Maybe. When he didn’t fit that ideal, I ditched him, or he ditched me. It didn’t usually take that long.”

  “I thought taking a break from dating might do her some good,” Savannah chimed in.

  “And has it?” Max asked, looking rather dubious. Kay shivered, feeling slightly uneasy, as if Max could read her mind.

  “I’ve been too busy at work to even think about guys.” She forced a wide smile, hoping to convince them.

  Max looked up as Briony returned, but Savannah looked at her as if she didn’t believe her.

  “Did you invite Izzy?” Kay asked, even though she already knew the answer to her question. She was eager not to have the limelight on her any longer.

  “I did,” replied Savannah, “but she’s busy, too. She said she had exams.”

  “She could have come for a couple of hours,” Kay retorted. She had been looking forward to chatting to Izzy, because maybe she could have gotten the low down on Xavier, and by extension, Luke.

  “She thinks we’re too old for her. I mean she’s still a student, isn’t she?” asked Briony. “Maybe she felt out of place.”

  “I doubt it was that. She’s mature for her age,” replied Savannah, “And she’s a good laugh. You’d be surprised.”

  “She probably had better things to do,” suggested Max, in a sultry voice. “Maybe she’s spending the weekend with her boyfriend.”

  Kay looked up in surprise. This was news. “Who’s her boyfriend?”

  “They’re speculating,” replied Savannah. “They don’t know for sure.”

  “She’s got an internship at Stone Enterprises,” said Briony. “Tobias mentioned it.”

  “She has?” Kay asked. This was a surprise. She hadn’t seen that coming at all. “An internship at Tobias’s company?” Clever girl for managing to snag one of those.

  “I noticed that she got on well with one of the bartenders at your wedding,” said Max.

  “You mean Luke?” Savannah stifled a yawn. “She’s fond of him, I know.”

  “You know?” Briony asked her.

  Savann
ah giggled. “No. There’s nothing going on between those two, I’m sure of it. Izzy’s mentioned him a few times, that’s all.” She yawned again.

  “Are we boring you, darling?” Max asked, with a grin.

  “No! No. I love that you all did this for me, and I really needed time away with you girls. I’m having trouble sleeping at the moment. I can’t lie on my back at all, and I need to go to the toilet every half an hour. It makes for a lot of broken sleep.”

  Luke and Izzy?

  The idea cut through Kay like a guillotine. Her gut told her it was pure conjecture, with no basis for truth, but a niggling thorn in her side made her wonder.

  She looked on while Savannah and the others laughed. She felt alone, even though she was sitting here in a room with them all. She felt apart from them, from life, as if the disconnect in her life, between what she once wanted and what she now had, was too large, and too ugly. She couldn’t lie about her life, or her happiness, for she had clearly failed.

  The rest of the day unfolded slowly and she managed to keep an upbeat appearance.

  Much later on, Savannah called Morris, her chauffeur, to pick her up because it was Jacob’s bedtime, and Savannah was mindful of being there for him. She had insisted on dropping Kay home, but Kay had made an excuse to stay back and offer Max some advice on her share portfolio.

  “Thank you, girls,” said Savannah, as she was ready to leave. “I’ve had a brilliant time. It should tide me over for a few months, when I’m hands deep in diapers.”

  “Lovely,” said Max, not without a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

  ~ ~

  On his return to work, Luke discovered that he could only do half-days at work because he just got so tired as the day wore on. His entire life had changed so drastically within the space of a month. And his future too.

  It wasn’t just the recovery and the adjusting to meds, and dealing with having only part of his thyroid working. The whole business with Kay preyed on his mind.

  And he couldn’t get a hold of Xavier. Where was that guy when he needed him? Feeling at a loss, and not used to needing someone to sound off on, he sat at his desk, flicking through books on self-healing and veganism. These days he surfed the internet looking for recipes that would help his energy levels and food that would help him to become healthier, than surf the net looking for sites for sale. The work on the Canal Street site was still going ahead, but he had to seriously think about putting his plans on hold for Miami and LA.

  Unable to concentrate, he walked into Marie’s office, and eased himself into the chair opposite her.

  “How are you feeling?” she asked. “Because you don’t look too good.”

  “I’ve felt better.”

  “You came back too soon,” she told him. “Take another few weeks off, Luke.”

  “I could,” he agreed. But his malaise wasn’t due entirely to his health issues. It went way deeper and he couldn’t concentrate much. His heart wasn’t in the business, and this was a first for him.

  “Take a few more weeks off. I can handle things at this end, and if I’m stuck, I know where to find you.”

  “Maybe I will go home. I’m pretty useless here. I can’t even keep an eye on Canal Street. So much for building that empire.” It sounded tempting, goofing off work again. But his apartment was empty, and there was no Kay coming around in the evenings to check in on him. She had vanished from his life, and he missed her like crazy. It was his fault completely. He hadn’t reached out because he didn’t know how to fix it, yet.

  “I’ve got a handle on Canal Street. I’m getting daily updates from the guys, and I’ve been over a couple of times this week,” Marie told him.

  “You have?” He had no idea. He’d barely been able to focus on his emails. Amanda called more often than she had before, and Maggie had sent him a couple of texts asking how he was. He had ignored them.

  But Kay? He’d heard nothing since that day.

  He waited for Marie to say something. The women talked, and he was sure they’d spoken. He was sure Marie knew Kay wasn’t coming over any more.

  He coughed lightly. “Seen Kay lately?”

  Marie sat back in her chair, her expression softening. “I have, actually. We went out for dinner last week.”

  “You had dinner? Both of you, together?” The idea was hard for him to get his head around, that these two women were meeting without him. They wouldn’t even have known one another had it not been for him and now they were best friends all of a sudden. “How is she?” he asked, brushing dust off his jeans.

  “She’s looking for another job.”

  He jolted upright. “She’s what?” She loved her job. She spent enough goddamn hours there every day. “Why?”

  “She said something about losing a project, some major client account her boss took away from her.”

  “He did what?”

  “She said something about one of her co-workers going behind her back and doing a dirty on her.”

  “Fucking asshole,” he hissed. She’d worked damn hard. He thought back to when she was checking on stuff on her laptop, while he took a shower. He scratched his chin. The days’ old stubble was rough against his fingertips. These days he couldn’t even be bothered to shave daily.

  “What?” Marie asked, sharply. “Who?”

  “The bastard who snitched on her. I bet it was Geoffrey.”

  “She didn’t say.”

  “She’s a hard worker, and she tried to do everything. I know she did.”

  “I take it you haven’t apologized to her yet?”

  He felt hopeful. “She’s waiting for me to apologize?” If that’s all it was going to take, he’d do it now.

  “I have no idea. She refused to talk about you. It was the one condition she made, otherwise she said she wouldn’t meet me.”

  He slumped back in his chair. He’d assumed as much.

  “Why can’t you be happy with the good things?” Marie asked. What could he say? He stared back at her, knowing he wasn’t going to tell her about his past. She didn’t need to know and he didn’t need to explain her why he messed up all the good things that came his way.

  “I’m team Kay, if you were wondering,” she said, when he rolled his shoulders and didn’t offer an answer. “She’s been one of the better things to happen to you in years, ever since I’ve known you.”

  If there was anyone he owed an explanation and an apology to, it was Kay, but he didn’t know how to put things right. He’d said too many vicious things for an apology to smoothe everything over. For a man who always knew how to get what he wanted, he was suddenly lost.

  Chapter 42

  “You said you needed my help?” Kay looked at Savannah, puzzled. Savannah and Tobias’s bedroom was pristine. Everything had been packed into neat boxes.

  “The removal men are coming tomorrow,” said Savannah, placing her hand on her back.

  “Then what do you want me to do?”

  Savannah walked over to the bed and sat down. “I want you to tell me what’s going on with you.”

  Kay walked towards her cousin, and feigned a surprised face. She was about to deny anything was wrong when Savannah beat her to it.

  “Because I know it’s something, and I don’t want to spend an hour listening to you pretending that everything is fine,” said Savannah. “Jacob and Tobias are out and it’s just you and me. I won’t get a quiet moment like this to myself for a long time, so you’d better hurry up and tell me.”

  It was no use. She’d been baited. She hadn’t done as great a job in hiding her feelings at the baby shower as she thought she had.

  She wasn’t sure where to start, or what to say. Shame made her suddenly hot, and anxious and she could feel sweat dampen her armpits. Savannah angled her head, frowning slightly. And she already looked worried—not relieved—that Kay was about to tell all. Her expression made Kay falter. “It’s—I—uh…”

  It was hard. “Please stop looking at me like that,” she pleaded.r />
  “Like what?” asked Savannah, genuinely surprised.

  “As if you’re already judging me.”

  Now her cousin looked really worried.

  “I don’t want you to break your water.”

  Savannah chuckled. “It’s fine. It’ll save the doctor inducing me.”

  The mood lightened a little, giving Kay the spurt of courage she needed. “I never went on the man-free diet.”

  “I had a feeling.”

  “Am I that transparent?”

  “You have a tell. You avoided me.”

  “I was genuinely busy.”

  “It never stopped you when you were halfway across the world,” Savannah replied. “We talked more when you were in Hong Kong than we have living in the same city.”

  Kay’s mouth opened. “Shit,” she said. Savannah was right.

  “Plus, I have a sixth sense about you and these things. So…”

  Kay relaxed. Her shoulders easing down slightly as the tension oozed out of her tight muscles. “You never said anything?”

  “I knew you’d say something when the time was right, and when I saw you well up at the baby shower, I knew it had to be something big, something even you couldn’t bring yourself to talk about. Maybe even…” her words trailed off, and Savannah stared at her, “Maybe it might be something you were ashamed about.”

  Freaking hell. Savannah did have a sixth sense about these things.

  “Tell me it’s not Dean.”

  Kay tilted her chin up. “Dean?” Her lips twisted, and then she pressed them together. “It’s not Dean.” She noted the relief on Savannah’s face.

  “Why would you think it’s Dean?”

  “Because he always had a way of reeling you back in.”

  “It’s not Dean,” she said, firmly.

  “Thank heaven for small mercies.”