“Oh, joy. That means you’ll be over for dinner twice as much.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll bring the wine.”
“Uh-huh.” Orlando crossed his arms. “You know it’s hard enough for me to get some alone time with my wife when there’s a three-year-old constantly wanting to sleep with us.”
Garrick chuckled. “I hardly think my coming over is actually going to cramp your scheduled five minutes of hot burning love.”
“Ten minutes. And it’s not the quantity so much as the quality.”
“Like your Tarzan and Jane nights?” Garrick winked and also grabbed a beer out of the icebox. “Trust me. I’m not interested in interrupting those precious moments.”
“Glad to hear it.” Orlando moseyed around the breakfast bar and drew several deep breaths while he stared at his brother.
“What is it?” Garrick asked, though he had an idea of what was coming.
“What is what?”
“Oh, we’re going to play that game now?”
Orlando dropped his shoulders during one long exhalation. “When are you going to tell me what happened between you and Leila?”
Though Garrick knew the question was coming, it still felt like a blow to the gut just at the mere mention of her name. “There’s nothing to tell.” He turned up his bottle for a long swig.
“So we’re switching to that game now?” Orlando met and held Garrick’s gaze. “Things looked pretty hot and heavy between you two. What happened?”
In the past two weeks, Garrick had posed that question to himself numerous times and he was no closer to answering it than when he’d stormed out of Leila’s house. “It was a mistake—we were a mistake.”
“Really?” Orlando’s gaze remained heavy as he combed his brother’s face, looking and finding cracks in his mask of indifference. “I liked her. Tamara did, too.”
What was he supposed to say to that? Garrick lowered his head, suddenly fascinated with the kitchen’s floor tile.
“Have you tried to talk with her?”
He drew a deep breath, but didn’t respond.
“Love isn’t always sunshine. It takes work and commitment—and letting her believe that she’s always right.”
A weak smile wobbled across Garrick’s lips. “It’s not that simple.”
“Of course it’s not, but you should at least go down swinging. Anything worth having is worth fighting for.”
“C’mon.” Garrick set down his bottle on the countertop. “We only knew each other for a few months—and one of those, we weren’t even talking.”
“But it was long enough for you to fall in love.”
“Who said anything about…?”
Orlando shot him a look that said, Don’t even try it.
Garrick grabbed his beer again and drained the contents in one long gulp, while he replayed the blowup between him and Leila in his mind. “Too much was said,” he concluded.
“It always is.”
He glanced up, shaking his head. “What are you, Dr. Phil now?”
“I’m not going to lie, we TiVo the show every afternoon.”
Garrick frowned.
“What can I say? Marriage is also about compromises and it’s cheaper than counseling. Besides, it’s not so bad once you get into it.” Orlando hopped onto a bar stool. “So what do you say? You’re going to call her up—or walk across the street?”
Garrick considered the question, but then slowly shook his head. “She wants me to play second fiddle to her career. I can’t do that—not again.”
The doorbell rang.
Garrick smiled. “That should be the Realtor.” He walked past his brother, pretending not to see him shake his head or hear him mumble under his breath.
“You’re making a big mistake.”
“It looks like we have ourselves a deal.” Mr. Porter stood from his chair and jutted his hand across Leila’s desk. “You sure know how to drive a hard bargain.”
Her smile uneven, Leila stood and accepted his hand. “I admire your persistence.”
“All in a day’s work.” He winked and then grabbed his briefcase. “I’m heading out to New York tonight. The contracts should be here by the end of the week.”
Leila nodded, walked around her desk and then escorted him to the door. “I have to tell you that it’s been great doing business with you.” She opened the door.
“Likewise.”
The moment he exited, Leila closed the door and felt sick. Guilt and doubt churned inside her at such a dizzying rate, she rushed to the other side of her office and bolted inside her private bathroom.
Once she’d finished dumping her lunch, Ciara’s excited voice echoed off the bathroom’s acoustics. “You did it, didn’t you?”
Leila moaned and rested her head against the cold porcelain. “Did you come in here to lecture me?”
“Are you kidding me? Ninety-seven million dollars and you’re still the editor-in-chief—what’s there to lecture about?”
“Co-editor-in-chief. I’m going to take on a lighter schedule.” Leila climbed to her feet and quickly cleaned herself up.
Ciara blinked in astonishment. “The Energizer Bunny wants a lighter schedule? What gives?”
“Nothing.” Leila shrugged and maneuvered around Ciara’s bulging belly to exit the small bathroom. “Besides, weren’t you the one who said I needed to slow down?”
“Yeah, but since when do you listen to me?”
“Since now.” Leila plopped into her chair. “I need a staff meeting scheduled for tomorrow, buzz Deonté and tell him I’m still waiting for the photo layouts for the Cavalli Spring collection, and tell Jeannie if her feature isn’t in my office by five, I’ll personally break both of her legs.”
“Maybe I should ask you what’s your definition of a light schedule.”
“Until the acquisition is finalized, it’s still business as usual,” Leila answered briskly and then drew a deep breath to calm her nerves.
Ciara studied her. “Are you all right? You look like crap.”
“I’m fine,” she snapped, and then placed her phone off Do Not Disturb.
Ciara walked to the desk and put it back on.
“What the hell are you doing? I have work to do.”
“Not until you tell me what’s really going on with you. And need I remind you, I can stand here all day.”
After two weeks of her sister dodging her calls, Roslyn paid a visit to Atlanta Spice, determined to get some answers. Well aware Leila could be difficult, Roslyn was prepared to camp out in her sister’s office all day if the situation warranted it.
Patrick had warned her to prepare for Samantha’s reappearance—especially if she became too attached to Emma, but it never occurred to Roslyn to prepare Leila. It should have, but it didn’t.
Leila, for all her proclamations of being Ms. Independent and her adamant stance on not wanting children. Roslyn wondered why she didn’t recognize it as b.s. sooner.
Ciara wasn’t at her desk, so Roslyn took it upon herself to knock once and enter her sister’s office. “Great, you’re here.”
Ciara smiled. “Looks like I have reinforcements.”
Leila groaned.
Frowning, Roslyn closed the door. “Reinforcements for what?” She glanced questioningly at her sister and was surprised by what she saw. “Good Lord, you look like crap.”
“It’s good to see you, too,” Leila smirked, and then changed the subject. “What are you doing here?”
“Now that Patrick is back home, I came to see why you haven’t returned any of my calls.”
“I’ve been busy.” Leila fiddled with her pen and avoided eye contact. “How is his father?”
“On the road to recovery.”
“Have you heard from Samantha?”
Roslyn’s heart squeezed at the hurt and pain reflected in her sister’s voice, and wished she could somehow fix it.
Leila looked up.
“No, I haven’t,” Roslyn answered, and then tried to
inject hope in her next words. “You know Sam. She’ll turn up again.”
Leila’s eyes glossed over as she tilted up her chin. “Whatever. I have work to do.” She wasn’t going to let the situation get the best of her. She was a survivor and had been through worse.
“Tell you what,” Roslyn said, staying committed to cheering her up. “Why don’t you and Garrick come over tonight for dinner? The girls…what’s the matter?”
The remnants of Leila’s cool facade crumbled and a waterfall of tears poured down her face. “Nothing’s the matter.” She snatched a Kleenex from its box on the desk. “I’m fine.”
“You don’t look fine.”
Ciara rushed around the desk and threw a comforting arm around her boss. “She and Garrick broke up a couple of weeks ago.”
“What?” Roslyn joined them around the desk, feeling very much the outsider. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“It’s not a big deal,” she lied, snatching more tissues and choking on her sobs. “We were completely wrong for each other.”
Roslyn glanced over at Ciara and the secretary only shrugged.
“That’s about as much as I’ve been able to get out of her, too.”
Leila was aware that she was making quite a fool out of herself, but damn if she could stop. “He wants someone who will stay home, bear babies, and cater to his every need. That’s not me.”
“Did he say that?”
“Yeah.”
Ciara and Roslyn looked dubiously at her.
“Well, not exactly. But it was something along those lines.” She sniffed and could feel her body turn jittery. “Doesn’t matter. I told him if he couldn’t accept being runner-up to my job—”
“You said that?” Ciara and Roslyn shouted.
Leila winced. “It’s the truth. My work is everything to me.”
“Then why did you just sell the company?” Ciara asked.
“You what?”
Leila’s stomach lurched and she jumped up from her chair and raced into the bathroom.
More confused than ever, Roslyn glanced at Ciara; but the secretary’s eyes widened to the size of silver dollars.
“Oh-my-God!” Ciara stood and rushed behind Leila. She found her, once again, hovered above the toilet.
Roslyn quickly brought up the rear and it took her no time at all to leapfrog to the same conclusion. “Leila, are you pregnant?”
Chapter 24
“Don’t be ridiculous!” Leila climbed to her feet, splashed cold water on her face, and swished some Listerine. When she was done, she stared at her reflection in the mirror. “You guys are right. I do look like crap.”
When she turned, Ciara and Roslyn stood blocking the only exit.
“Do you two mind?”
“Have you even taken a test?”
“What test?”
In sync, Roslyn and Ciara cocked their heads and crossed their arms.
“There’s no need for a pregnancy test. I’m not pregnant.” No sooner had the words left her mouth, Leila’s stomach lurched again, and she made another dive for the toilet bowl.
Roslyn turned to Ciara. “Do you mind—?”
“I’m already on my way.”
“Wait. Where are you going?” Leila croaked while unable to get off her knees.
“She’s going to the drugstore for a pregnancy test.” Roslyn opened a few cabinets and located the towels. She made a cold compress and then joined her sister on the floor. “When was your last period?”
“What are you a doctor now?”
Roslyn placed her hand beneath her sister’s chin and forced her to make eye contact. “Answer the question.”
Leila jerked her head from Roslyn’s grasp. “Don’t baby me. I’m the oldest, remember?”
“Then how come you’re acting like Samantha?”
Leila stiffened and finally met her sister’s gaze. In an instant, she felt stripped and vulnerable. How long and how hard had she worked not to feel like this?
“Ros, I screwed up.” Once again her eyes filled with tears. “I pushed him away. I don’t know why I did it, but I did and now he’ll never come back.”
Roslyn gathered her sister into her arms. “Shh. It’s going to be all right.”
“No, it’s not,” Leila cried, clutching Roslyn as if she were a life raft. “I couldn’t stop myself. I just felt like sooner or later he was going to leave me and I wanted to get it over with. I can’t be pregnant. I can’t.”
“Shh. Don’t worry about it. Everything is going to work out.” She eased Leila back. “It always does, doesn’t it?”
Through her sobs, Leila thought the question over and grudgingly admitted her sister had a point.
“Let me ask you—do you love him?”
She nodded with her face twisted in anguish. “So much it hurts.”
“Then you just need to tell him.”
Leila pulled away and shook her head. “You didn’t hear what I said to him. He hates me.”
“Honey, I saw how you two bicker. If anything I’d say you two were in a stalemate. Both of you are waiting for the other one to apologize.”
“Is that why he put his place up for sale?”
Roslyn blinked. “Oh. He’s good.”
“W-What?”
“Nothing. Why don’t you tell me exactly what happened between you two?”
Garrick was well aware of how his staff tiptoed around him, including Ned. He did, however, take great pleasure in ripping Arquette a new one when he yet again questioned the measurements on the Reynolds project.
For the most part, Garrick was content to bury himself in work, sleep four hours, and start the whole thing over again. This was what he should have been doing rather than trying to jump back into the dating arena. Some lessons were hard learned.
The phone rang and he snatched it up on the first ring.
“Make it fast. I’m under a tight deadline,” he said.
“Mr. Grayson? This is Jessica at Emerson Realty. I wanted to let you know that we have a bid on the house.”
His chest pinched at the news. “That was fast.”
“It’s a great house in a great neighborhood. They’re willing to pay the asking price. We should know within three days if they have their financing.”
He held the phone, not sure of how to respond.
“Mr. Grayson? Isn’t this great news?”
“Yeah. Great.”
An awkward silence hung over the line.
“Well, okay. I guess I’ll give you a call in three days.”
Garrick nodded and hung up the phone. For a while, all he could do was stare at it and feel as if he’d just been told he’d lost a loved one. “You’re doing the right thing,” he reaffirmed.
Yet his heart wasn’t so sure.
He leaned back and stretched out his long limbs. Three days. He sighed. Suddenly, everything seemed so final. He didn’t fight the memories of Leila this time. He let them all flood his senses. From the minute he’d met her outside her house screaming like a madwoman, to the moment she’d kicked him out of her house—almost screaming like a madwoman.
He laughed and then wondered if something was wrong with him.
Truth was Leila Owens was a mixed bag of contradictions. He’d never met a woman who could push you away while her eyes begged for you to stay. She claimed she was a die-hard career woman with no aspirations of being a mother—but one look at her holding her niece and anyone would know that she was lying.
How long would you have to lie to yourself before you believed it to be true?
So why had he left if he knew that she really didn’t want him to?
A light tap on the door saved him from pondering the question any further.
Ned poked his head through the door. “I’m getting ready to head out. You staying?”
“Yeah. Yeah.” Garrick shuffled some papers around on his desk. “I still have quite a bit to do.”
His buddy nodded and continued to linger at the door.
“Is there something else?” Garrick asked.
“Well, now that you mention it.” Ned pushed open the door and entered. “Want to tell me what’s up with you?”
Great. Another person who wants to psychoanalyze me.
“Everything is fine, Ned. I just want to catch up on some work.”
“So how’s Leila doing?” he asked as if he hadn’t heard Garrick.
“Leila and I broke up,” he admitted. “And before you get started…I’m cool with it.”
“Yeah. That was very convincing.” Ned eased into a chair across from his desk. “Since I’m a man of very few words, I’ll get right to the point. Do you love her?”
“I…That has nothing to do with it.”
“Are you kidding me?” Ned laughed. “Did you learn nothing from your first marriage? Love has everything to do with it.”
Tears burned Leila’s eyes as she stared at the blue stripe on the home pregnancy test. Problem was she was uncertain whether they were tears of joy or despair. She was forty years old and pregnant. It actually sounded like a punch line.
She jumped at the knock on the bathroom door, and then relaxed when she remembered Roslyn and Ciara waited on the other side.
“Leila, are you all right?” Roslyn asked softly.
“Y-Yes. I’m fine.” Leila sucked in a deep breath, fixed her face and opened the door.
Two sets of curious and expectant eyes landed and followed Leila as she exited the bathroom and made her way to her desk.
Roslyn and Ciara glanced at each other and then back at Leila.
“Well?” Roslyn asked.
Leila looked down at the test she still clutched in her hand as if to double-check the results. “Positive.”
Roslyn and Ciara squealed, clutched each other, and jumped for joy.
“Hello. Remember me?” Leila asked, agitated to be left out of the celebration.
“Of course, we remember you.” A misty-eyed Roslyn flew around the desk to clench her sister into a fierce embrace that nearly cut off her air supply. Roslyn released her before she passed out, but she was quickly snatched into Ciara’s arms.
“I can’t believe we’re both pregnant. You simply have to see my obstetrician. You’ll love her.”
“Yes. And it’s never too early to look for a pediatrician,” Roslyn informed her.
She’s My Baby Page 14