Family Bonds- Drew and Amanda (Amore Island Book 2)

by Natalie Ann

  By midafternoon he was on his way to Plymouth for the last one for the day. He was going to be talking to the staff and meeting the new office manager who hadn’t been able to attend the Christmas party.

  Rather than drive back to Boston during rush hour, he was taking the office manager to dinner for their meeting and killing some time, then he’d drive into the city and get a fresh start early in the morning.

  “Thanks for taking the time to meet for dinner, Rachel,” Drew said hours later.

  “Not a problem. I’m really sorry we couldn’t meet at the Christmas party. My fiancé got a promotion to partner at his firm and it was their Christmas party too. We felt we had to go to that over yours. I told him next year we have to go to mine. It’s only fair to flip flop.”

  “I understand. It’s not easy since you can’t just drive back and are there for the night. Not only that, we know there are other things going on in people’s lives in December.”

  “I know. I felt horrible since I was promoted too,” Rachel said.

  “But his job takes precedence. You can say it. I won’t be offended.”

  Rachel flushed a bit telling him that was exactly how it was. “Thank you. We dated for five years before he finally proposed. I wasn’t sure I’d ever see the ring. I know my job played a small part in it, the hours I work. When the opportunity to run the office came about I jumped on it. Now I won’t have night and weekend hours for when we want to start a family.”

  “It’s important to find a balance.” The waitress came over with their drinks and they placed their orders. “Do you miss showing the houses and meeting with clients?”

  “A little, but it’s worth it to settle down too. It’s fine when you’re single and have no kids, but I really want a family and it will make life easier. I’m not really the type to sit home full time with kids though. I can’t do it though so many of my friends and family think I’m crazy and should.”

  “It’s not for everyone,” he said. “We try to be family orientated when the time comes and if we can work around things we can or will.”

  “Again, thank you for that. I wish my fiancé were as understanding as you.” She laughed. “That came out completely wrong. I shouldn’t have said it.”

  “It’s fine. Maybe you can put a good word in with my girlfriend about how understanding I am.”

  Rachel smiled. “I’m sure she knows you well.”

  He thought so, but if Amanda did why wasn’t she being more open about her past?

  And why was he so focused on it?

  “She does. Any questions on the job? The agents seem well adjusted there.”

  “Most have been there a long time. It will be a transition and since I’m younger I do wonder if they will listen, but I’ve learned that if I give them the respect they deserve and remember that they know their jobs, it should be fine.”

  “It’s a great attitude to have. Plus you get part of their commission too. They know that. It’s much smaller but you’re the leader. Many like getting those big commission checks and you won’t anymore. It’s a tradeoff. Money means more to a lot of people than other benefits.”

  “That’s true. I suppose I’m lucky to not worry once I get married. That’s why I think it took so long for the engagement.”

  Drew frowned. “I’m not sure I follow you.”

  “My fiancé’s family has money. They are all lawyers, but he didn’t like the big city feel. He’s from Philly. But he wanted to try to make his own name too so he started in Boston and when the opportunity came to move here, we jumped on it.”

  “And you transferred from one of the offices there two years ago,” Drew said, knowing Rachel’s work history since he’d read up on it before this meeting.

  “Yes. I love how willing everyone was to let that happen even though there wasn’t really an opening.”

  “You had good sales and were well liked. People come and go, but if we can keep someone who wants to stay with us, we will do it if it’s possible.”

  “If I didn’t get to transfer with the job, I’m not sure I would have followed my fiancé here. We weren’t engaged, just dating three years at that point. We were living together, but if he wasn’t ready to move forward, I wasn’t sure if I was ready to uproot my life either or start over for a new company.”

  “So five years, huh?” he echoed. There was such a thing as waiting until it’s right, but five years almost seemed overkill. “Will it be another five before the wedding?”

  “No,” she said. “I told him that. Matter of fact in a few weeks when you have the office managers meeting on the island, we are going to look at the Retreat while we are there. I’d love to scope it out.”

  “My cousin owns the Retreat as I’m sure you’re aware. He just got married himself a few weeks ago inside the ballroom. It went very smoothly.”

  “I’m sure it did,” Rachel said. “Anyway, it wasn’t really his fault for waiting so long for the engagement. He got burned pretty bad and was kind of skittish. You don’t want to hear this. I’m rambling. I tend to do that a lot.”

  “No, go ahead,” he said. “I’m dating someone too. It’s nice to talk to someone else other than a family member or a man. Let me hear your side of it and why it took so long. What you felt about it.”

  “Really?” she asked. “That’s kind of sweet. Your girlfriend is one lucky lady.”

  “I try to tell her that, but she rolls her eyes at me.”

  He had really said he was a great catch last weekend when they stayed at his house the whole time. He’d been joking but not really. He was trying to feel her out.

  She’d rolled her eyes. She’d playfully slapped his arm. Then she told him to take her to bed.

  He supposed that was a great reaction, but he’d kind of wanted her to say, “Yes, you are, Drew. The best catch there is out there.”

  It didn’t happen. He should have figured that too.

  “I’m sure she’s just playing with you.”

  “Most likely,” he said. “It’s new yet. Just a few months. But at our age, well, you can’t wait too long.”

  “That’s what I said. I almost gave him an ultimatum, but the truth is, I don’t believe in that either. He’s a few years older than me, so I couldn’t push that much as I’m still young. Thirty isn’t that old, right?”

  “Younger than me,” he said. “So what happened?”

  Their dinners were delivered and they started to eat, then Rachel said, “It goes back to his family. I was told that he had a girlfriend in college and thought she was the one. His family didn’t like her, but he didn’t care that much. But then she just kind of stopped talking to him.”

  “Did she find someone else?”

  He wasn’t about to say this sounded like his own past. As much as he was enjoying this conversation, he wasn’t one to give that much personal information. At least of the embarrassing kind.

  “No. I don’t think so. When he’d gone home on break his mother confessed that she’d offered the girlfriend money to leave him. That it was a test of sorts to see if she was really in love with her son or wanted his name.”

  “Oh boy. She took the money?”

  “Yeah. His mother said she did and then they’d never heard from her again. She left the area and never went back.”

  “I guess I could see where that might make him a bit skittish.”

  “I understood and I told him that. But the problem is I had no way to prove to him I wasn’t like that,” Rachel said.

  “Giving an ultimatum might make him think it,” he said.

  “Exactly,” she said. “I tried to tell my friends and family that. They all told me I should tell him if I didn’t get a ring soon I was moving on. But I couldn’t do it. I love him. And was a ring really that big of a deal? In the long run I told myself I had time. I could play it out and see how it went.”

  He looked down at the big rock on Rachel’s hand. “It looks to me like it’s working out just fine.”

 
“It is. I’m not close to his family either. I don’t think they’d like anyone he brought home. I did worry about that. That I wasn’t good enough, but he doesn’t have much to do with them anymore. That’s why we live here. I told him we can start our own family in time.”

  “But not too early by the sounds of it,” he said, laughing.

  “Probably another five years,” Rachel said. “I know not to push, but if it happens it does. He really wants a family so I honestly think it will be soon. He was the one who suggested I put in for this job.”

  “Do you think he was waiting to see if you’d put a family and life with him over a career first?” he asked.

  Rachel frowned. “Wow. You know what? I think you’re right. I think that might have been what he was waiting for but wouldn’t come out and actually say that to me. I never put it together and now I’ll have to ask him. We got engaged shortly after I started this position.”

  “I don’t know about you, but I found this dinner enlightening in more ways than one. I guess I’ll have to think a little bit about what you said. That maybe pushing a round ball into a square peg isn’t the way to go.”

  “No. My mother always told me patience and I never believed it. You know that old saying—good things come to those that wait. I just never wanted to wait.”

  “Me neither,” he said. “I guess I should take your advice then and just wait and see.”

  35

  High Horse

  Early February, Amanda had a short day and decided to go visit Kayla. She was about a month away from her delivery and her baby shower was this weekend.

  Hunter was relieved that Kayla had been pulled out of work. He’d even put her on days last month and no one said a word. Not that they would, but Kayla had been so fearful of being judged for dating the boss.

  Now she was the boss’s wife and didn’t even need to work at all. Amanda was pretty sure, once their son was born, Kayla wouldn’t be working, at least not full time.

  Drew was busy with his job, his office managers were on the island for a retreat and he wouldn’t be done until later tonight.

  That was fine for her though.

  They were spending a lot of time together and getting along great. She’d even been starting to think about the future some, but the truth was the newness might be wearing off and they were sliding into contentment.

  That was what she wanted in life.

  What she needed to see. How things were when the shine of the new toy wore off.

  Not that Drew thought of her as a toy, or her him, but it was still new and strong and hot and all those other words.

  She’d thought she had all this with Randall and the outcome of that was less than stellar.

  Now she wanted to know if Drew could go about his life and she hers without them having to know what the other was doing nonstop. Without them having to spend every free moment together either.

  And though part of her wanted to spend every moment with him, she’d never admit it and knew it wasn’t healthy. She missed him when they weren’t together and she wondered what he was doing.

  But she’d learned to stand on her own two feet and she was going to continue to do that. Some lessons in life were hard and she had the emotional scars to prove it.

  Drew actually seemed to have backed off some pressure in the past few weeks too. If she didn’t have so much confidence in what he felt for her, she might have thought he was pulling away. Maybe wanting to ease back and end things.

  She didn’t get that feeling though and she learned to go with her gut.

  They talked daily even if it was only at night for ten minutes before they went to bed. They had dinner or lunch a few times a week and they spent time together on the weekends when they didn’t have plans with anyone else or she wasn’t working.

  But there was something different about him now. He didn’t seem so wound up about their relationship like he’d been over a month ago. Enough that he was ready to have a fistfight with someone because he was frustrated.

  He didn’t seem like he was waiting and watching her. Maybe hoping she’d say something he wanted to hear even though she’d been holding back.

  Maturity. That’s what they had at this point in their life. He was confident enough in his relationship now that they were able to ease into life. At least that was what she was hoping for.

  Did she think she was falling in love with Drew? No. She didn’t think it. She knew it. But she wasn’t saying it first.

  She’d been there before too. Not just with Randall but also with another boyfriend she’d dated shortly after Randall.

  Back then, she’d been looking for what she lost with Randall as fast as she could. Someone to fill up the gap of the family that she walked away from too.

  She’d been all alone and prime for anyone that gave her attention.

  But Adam didn’t want any part of settling down. He didn’t want a family yet and he didn’t want to be serious in a relationship.

  He was all about going out and drinking with his buddies. She should have realized that when she’d met him in a bar as it was. She was there with coworkers as the designated driver since she wasn’t of age. He was a few years older.

  He’d been working for the local city she was living in, she couldn’t even remember at this point, she’d been renting a booth like now. Just getting as much experience as she could.

  They had more money than most their ages and no debt other than rent and a car payment. It was perfect in her eyes to settle down.

  Not so much in his.

  So lesson number two learned. Or lesson one, learned twice. Don’t say you love someone first.

  She walked into the Retreat and turned the corner to go to the elevator when she bumped into someone. “I’m sorry,” she said.

  “Amanda?”

  She looked up. She knew that voice. “Randall? What are you doing here?”

  “Me?” he said. “I’m here looking at the place for my wedding but maybe I don’t want to get married here if they let someone like you on the grounds.”

  Her face paled. Not the comment about him getting married but the disdain in his voice over someone “like her.”

  “What are you talking about?” she asked. She should just move away from him. She never expected to see him again. Ever. And here he was pissed at her.

  As far as she knew he went back to Philly after Harvard and was working for the family firm. The family that controlled his every move and told him what to do and who to date.

  The family he chose over her.

  “If you are on this island my guess is you’re visiting or have your sights set on landing another rich guy. What’s the matter? All that money my mother gave you run out? She never said how much it was and I didn’t ask. Probably not much. You weren’t worth much in my eyes.”

  Her mouth opened and then closed. “You stopped calling me! I waited for you. I tried to call and you never returned my messages. I thought you were busy with school and when you came back on break we could work things out.”

  “Work what out?” he asked. “You took the money my mother gave you and left. When I came back on break and found out I went to your house. I wanted to know what happened with my daughter. Where you took her.”

  She felt her eyes start to fill. “You’re misinformed.”

  “Yeah, I was. Your mother told me there was no baby. You took the money and had an abortion and then you left the area. You not only killed my child, but you killed my love for you.”

  The tears were falling down her cheeks. “Who told you that? That I had an abortion?”

  “Your mother. My mother said you took the money and ran. I wanted to find you and she explained it all to me. I didn’t believe it and went to see your mother. After that I realized it was all right there for me to see but I was too blind.”

  “It took you months to decide you wanted to find me. You had a funny way of showing that by never calling me when you left for college. And,” she said tak
ing a breath, “for someone that is so smart you should have realized by the time you left for college it was already too late for me to get an abortion. Or damn close to it.”

  He waited and didn’t say anything. “I was trying to wrap my head about being a father. What I was going to do, how I was going to support you. It was a lot of pressure and stress on me.”

  She laughed, not a happy sound by any means. “You’re joking. You can say that now, but where were you when I was seventeen and alone and pregnant and my parents were disgusted with me and your parents felt the same way. Talk about stress and pressure when I was the one going through it.”

  “You had your family,” he argued. “They were pissed at first but they were still there for you.”

  She shook her head. He was completely delusional. “You knew how my parents were. Your family hated me and my mother couldn’t stand that.”

  “You made no attempt to change anything for me,” he said. “It was all about you and what you wanted.”

  “Why should I have to? I wanted to be a hairdresser. I thought I could work part time or any hours I wanted when the baby came. I could work while you were in school. I told you all of this.”

  Why were they having this conversation now? After all these years? “You must not have meant it enough since you ended the pregnancy.”

  “My mother specifically said I had an abortion?” She wanted to say she couldn’t believe her mother would do that or say those words, but at this point she had no idea. It was like he didn’t hear what she’d said about it being too late. As if nothing she’d said could be believed.

  Could this be what Charlotte meant when she said she was sorry? Did her sister know all of this and never told her?

  That Randall came looking for her? But her mother would have loved her to end up with Randall so none of it made any sense to her.

  “She said there was no baby. I took it to mean that.”

  “Then you took it wrong,” she said. She wiped at her tears. “I lost the baby. I went into labor early. Too early and the baby had already died. I had to give birth to a child that wasn’t alive. And where were you? In college on Mommy and Daddy’s dime trying to wrap your head around it. While I was screaming in pain trying to get our daughter out of me? Well, fuck you, Randall, and the high horse you and your family have sat on your whole life.”