The Tie That Binds

by Maura, Catharina

  Linda jumps up, dismayed. “Seriously? I had to wait three months to attend a meeting with you and he gets to go on his second day? What kind of bullshit is that, Alyssa?”

  I run a hand through my hair and shake my head. “It’s not me, Linda, I promise. I don’t want to take him either. It’s the boss’s orders. Go take it up with Daniel.”

  She grits her teeth and sits back down and I sigh. She’s going to sulk all day without a doubt and nothing I’ll say is going to convince her that I’m not playing favourites.

  “We’re meeting Liam Evans on Friday,” I say, pushing a post-it his way. “This is the address, you’d better not be late.”

  Jake grins like he’s got the upper hand. “I know Liam. I’ve met him a couple of times. We’ll be fine. He’s a great guy.”

  I roll my eyes. Everyone knows everyone in the same social and business circles. That doesn’t mean shit, but whatever. Let him find out the hard way.

  10

  I’m absentminded on the way to the restaurant. This entire week back at work has been tough. It’s odd not to see my dad walk out of his office to chat with me or to offer us all a cup of tea. Even this client meeting is tough. This is the first time I’ll have to do one by myself, without Daniel or my dad present.

  Much to my annoyance Jake is already there even though I’m fifteen minutes early. He hasn’t messed up once this week, no matter what I threw at him. He follows after me silently as the waitress leads us to the table. If he’s surprised that the meeting location changed he hasn’t shown it.

  I sit down and go through the points I want to make in my head. Liam is tricky, and if he so much as suspects that I’m bluffing, he’ll call me on it and I’ll be done for. Just a couple of minutes after we’ve sat down Liam walks up to us. Jake jumps up and shakes his hand before I even stand up.

  “Hey, Liam. How are you? It’s good to see you again,” he says, excitedly. Liam smiles at him but clearly has no idea who he is. “Yeah, good to see you too,” he says, before turning to me.

  “Well, I’ll be damned,” he murmurs. “Alyssa Moriani in the flesh. Isn’t it sad that the only time I get to have dinner with you is when it’s for work?”

  I chuckle as he kisses the back of my hand and pull my hand out of his grip, wiping it on my skirt.

  “Ever so heartless,” he says, shaking his head.

  “What?” Jake says. “Moriani? No, her name is Alyssa Carter,” he tells Liam carefully, clearly trying to be as polite as possible about it.

  Jake looks at me reproachfully. “You’re still going around using your mother’s surname?”

  I shrug and sit down. Liam looks at Jake sympathetically. “It’s fine,” he tells him. “She does this to all the newbies. Her father has always been a bit odd like that, insisting that she remains low-key amongst the staff even though all of us in the upper social circles know her. Somehow it actually works out for her. Don’t be too shocked.”

  Jake looks at me and lowers his eyes in shame, but I don’t actually care about his past behaviour. What’s in the past can stay there. If Daniel hadn’t asked me to bring him he wouldn’t have found out at all. I would’ve preferred it that way. The last thing I need is for him to suddenly think things can work out between us after all.

  “God, you look amazing,” Liam says. I blush and look away, unable to hide my smile. “You don’t look so bad yourself,” I tell him truthfully. Age has only made him look more handsome. He’s grown out his sandy brown hair and his eyes are the colour of the sky on a gorgeous clear day. Liam has always been handsome, and he’s always known it.

  “I would’ve been happy to come to your office for the meeting, you know.”

  Liam smiles. “I know. But this is the only way I can get you to agree to have dinner with me. God knows how many times I’ve asked.”

  I smile and look away feeling just a little embarrassed.

  “You know this is just a business meeting, right?”

  “For now,” he murmurs.

  I shake my head and burst out laughing.

  “You’re unbelievable,” I tell him.

  I order us a jug of sangria and tapas to share. “I love your choice of restaurant,” I say.

  Liam smiles from ear to ear. “I was hoping you’d like it. The last time we met you said you really wanted to try sangria, and this place has great sangria.”

  I look at him in genuine surprise and think back to the last time I saw him. It must’ve been over a year ago. If I’m not mistaken it was a couple of weeks before my twenty-first birthday and we’d gone to a tapas place similar to this one but my dad wouldn’t allow me to try the sangria. It seems like such like such a long time ago.

  “Wow. I can’t believe you remember that,” I say softly. Liam’s cheeks redden and he shrugs.

  I take a careful sip of my sangria and grin. “Oh my god, this is delicious!” I say, excited. Liam grins, a cute twinkle in his eyes.

  “So, you know why I’m here, right?”

  Liam nods, still smiling.

  “Yes. My company is bullshitting yours and you’re here to charm me into making them get their shit together.”

  I raise my eyebrow in surprise and chuckle. “Well, that’s one way to put it.”

  Liam smiles and bites down on his lip. “I’ve missed you, you know. I was really sorry to hear about your dad. I’m sorry I couldn’t make it to the funeral.”

  “I missed you, too,” I say, my voice soft. I pretty much kept to myself ever since I started university. My focus was entirely on succeeding my father.. and on Dominic. “I miss your scandalous stories about all the terrible things you got up to at uni.”

  Liam grins and looks away. “That’s all behind me, Lyss. I’m a changed man now,” he says, winking at me.

  I nod. “Yeah, right.”

  “No, really,” he says, his gaze turning serious. I take a sip of my sangria and I look at him, not sure what to make of him. I decide to just go into my sales pitch instead, lest things become awkward between us.

  “I looked into the figures and I’ll be honest with you, Liam. We’re already giving you a far better rate than you’ll find elsewhere. I know you’re well aware of that. I can’t give you a twenty-five percent discount,” I say simply. “What I can do for you is give you a smaller team comprised of more experienced people that are already familiar with Luxe. The campaign will take longer to complete, but it should cost you slightly less. I can cut off about eight percent of the costs that way.”

  Liam looks at me, surprise flickering through his eyes. He nods slowly.

  “I don’t want to lose Luxe as a client, Liam, but I can’t give away our services for free either. If I give you more that eight percent discount I won’t make a profit on this contract at all. I’d rather put my resources to work for a client that gives me a high profit margin rather than taking the opportunity cost I’m absorbing by sticking with Luxe.”

  I smile at him but my heart is pounding. I’m scared he’ll call me on my bullshit. Even with an eight percent discount we’ll be making a large profit on this contract. If Liam decides to walk away now we’ll likely lose Luxe as a client forever.

  Liam nods slowly, a wicked grin on his face. “So what’s stopping me from moving to one of your competitors, Alyssa? I’ll be honest with you too. Your father was behind all of the genius campaigns for our firm, whether it was marketing or restructuring. He was great at all of it. Now that I’m not sure who the mind will be behind our campaigns, I can’t have the same blind trust that I used to have in DM.”

  I nod. I understand what he means and it’s true. Daniel and I have both been missing my dad’s great ideas and solutions, but I have faith in us. The only thing I can do is hope others will too.

  “I’ll be one of the minds behind your new campaign, Liam. And while I might not have my father’s years of experience and expertise I can assure you that he’s trained me personally. The other main contributor to your campaign will be Daniel Devereaux himself.”r />
  Liam raises his eyebrows in surprise. “Daniel will be working on the campaign himself?” he asks, his interest obvious.

  I nod. “Of course, Liam. Luxe is one of our most important and oldest clients. We will continue to deliver the quality you’re used to. I can assure you of that. Needless to say, you’re always welcome to speak to Daniel or me at any time,” I say, pushing Daniel’s business card towards him. “His private business number is on here and you can reach him on here directly.” I purposely didn’t ask him to call Daniel’s secretary for an appointment. I need Liam to feel special and cherished as a client. I need to keep this as personal as possible. That’s the best way to approach our current predicament.

  Liam leans back and nods. “Alright, Alyssa. I’ll sign the implementation contract. Have your office send the contract over to ours and I’ll get it back to you within the week. We’ll pay the full price but I need you to update the timeline. I need this done quicker than outlined in your proposal. I’ll email you the updated timeline so you can draft a new contract.”

  I exhale in relief and lean back, sipping my sangria to hide my victorious smile. I did it. I nod at Jake. “Perfect. Jake here will hand deliver the new contract to you once we’ve redrafted it.”

  Jake stares at me with newfound respect. I don’t think he expected me to actually be good at my job and for a couple of seconds I allow myself to be proud of what I’ve accomplished today. He hasn’t interrupted me once during the meeting and has been taking notes diligently. If he keeps this up he might actually make it at DM.

  “I’ll take you up on that offer to meet with Daniel. I’ve heard a lot of good things about him, but I’ll rest easier once I’ve met him myself,” Liam says.

  I nod. “That won’t be a problem. Just tell me when and where and I’ll arrange it.”

  Liam hesitates as we get up. “What would you say if I asked you out to dinner? Not a business meeting this time. Just you and I and a candlelit dinner somewhere, maybe a bottle of wine.”

  I freeze. My heart hammers in my chest and my thoughts automatically turn to Daniel and the rules we agreed on.

  “I can’t, Liam.” I’m not sure how to explain myself. Should I tell him that I’m seeing someone? I won’t be able to tell him who it is thanks to the rule I came up with myself, and if Liam asks me again in a few months when I’m clearly not in an official public relationship he’ll think I’ve been lying to him all along. I don’t want to do anything that’ll damage our working relationship or our friendship.

  “I’d say that now isn’t the right time. Not now that you’ve got a contract hanging over my head.”

  Liam lowers his eyes in shame and nods briefly. “But that isn’t a definite no, is it?” he says softly.

  I shake my head, unable to answer any other way. “No, I suppose it isn’t.”

  11

  I’m exhausted by the time I get home and slightly tipsy from the sangria. Much to my surprise Daniel is hanging out with Dominic and Lucy in the sitting room. Hell must’ve frozen over. He’s changed out of his suit so he must’ve been home for some time at least. It’s unfair that he looks even hotter in jeans and a tee than he does in a suit.

  Dominic sees me and his eyes linger on my body for a couple of seconds. He rarely sees me in work clothes and he’s obviously startled. Startled in a good way I guess, since he blushes when I catch him staring.

  “Alyssa, you’re home,” he says, waving me over. Usually the first thing I do is go to my room and change into comfy clothes but today I walk over and plop down on the sofa right next to Daniel.

  “How was work?” Daniel asks. I lean into him subconsciously and he raises his arm to wrap it around me, side hugging me. The two of us have gotten more comfortable with each other over the last couple of weeks. He’ll usually throw his arm around me if we’re sitting next to each other and he’s taken to brushing my hair out of my face randomly too. It’s not much, but it’s a big change from the distance we used to keep from each other. We aren’t as formal and polite with each other anymore. I guess that’s only natural since we see each other in our private time too now.

  “It was fine. They’ll pay full price but we need to move the timeline up and deliver sooner. Liam said they’ll sign the implementation contract this week.”

  Daniel looks at me in disbelief. “You’re kidding me,” he says and I shake my head. “Nope.” I smile at him, unable to hide the pride I feel. Even I wasn’t sure I’d get this done so quickly. I thought it’d involve a lot more negotiation.

  “Liam Evans?” Dominic asks, sitting up. He pulls away from Lucy and looks at me through narrowed eyes. I nod and Dominic rolls his eyes. “That guy has had a hard-on for you for years. If you told him you wanted to raise the price he probably would’ve agreed. Let me guess. He asked you on a date in return?”

  Daniel tenses, his grip on my shoulder tightening. “Did he ask you out?” Daniel asks. I freeze. I was going to tell him, but I didn’t expect to be telling him like this.

  “Yeah. We should probably discuss that later,” I whisper. I glance at Lucy who’s staring at us with interest.

  “Holy shit,” she whispers. “Liam Evans is wicked hot. I hope you said yes to that.” Dominic glares at her and she looks at him sheepishly. I feel awkward and stand up and excuse myself, telling them I need to get changed. Truthfully I just want to escape.

  “Wear a cute dress,” Lucy tells me. I stare at her blankly. “Tonight is the annual bonfire, remember?”

  I sigh, finally remembering. I’ve had such a busy week at work that I totally forgot I agreed to go with them. No wonder Daniel is hanging out with them.

  I change quickly, not wanting to keep them waiting even longer. I reapply my lipstick and change into a cute spaghetti strap dress paired with my comfy slippers and rush back to the sitting room. I’m usually excited to attend the bonfire. I can’t believe I actually forgot about it.

  “We’ll get the driver to drop us off in mum’s soccer van. We’ll probably all be drinking anyway,” Dominic says. I nod and follow them quietly. Daniel glanced at me once and has just been ignoring me since then. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but he seems a bit off. Usually he’d smile or make some small talk, but it’s like I’m not even there. He remains quiet throughout the journey, typing away on his phone. Every time he smiles at his screen I wonder who he’s talking to. It’s late, so it’s probably not a client.

  He jumps out of the car and walks to the beach without waiting for any of us. I’ve gotten so used to him offering me his hand when we get out of a car that I sit there for a couple of seconds, startled.

  I’m not the only one who notices his odd behaviour. Dominic laughs as he looks at Daniel’s disappearing form. “Does he have a hot date or something?” he asks.

  I frown. Surely not. Is it that girl, maybe? The one he said he can’t get off his mind. This bonfire is attended by almost everyone we know. The location is kept secret and only those with an invite are told where it’ll take place. If the girl he’s after is of a similar social status as us, she’ll be here tonight.

  The three of us follow Daniel at a leisurely pace. Lucy and Dominic are already in their own little world, but oddly enough it doesn’t make me feel as awkward as it used to. I guess I’ve gotten used to their PDA now.

  I watch Daniel disappear in the crowd and run after him, scared to lose him. With the amount of people present it’ll take me forever to find him again. I push through the crowd and when I finally catch up to him I find him embracing someone.

  “Kate?”

  She turns and smiles at me. “Hey, Alyssa! I didn’t know you’d be here too.”

  She comes over and hugs me, startling me. “Did the boss invite you too?” she asks. Why is she even here? Why would Daniel invite her?

  I shake my head. “No, I’ve attended for years. I was invited,” I tell her.

  She nods and looks around, her eyes twinkling. I’ve never seen her in anything other than work suits. He
r figure looks great in her shorts and crop top, but it definitely doesn’t leave much to the imagination. She looks as wide eyed as I was when I first attended. The annual bonfire isn’t actually just a bonfire. It started as one, but it slowly turned into an event with live music, food stalls and plenty of games to play.

  “It’s even better than I imagined. I haven’t been out in forever. Now that my divorce has finally come through I’m so ready to just celebrate and let loose,” she says.

  I glance at Daniel whose eyes are firmly pasted on Kate. He’s smiling at her and it irks me.

  “Divorce? I didn’t know. Congrats I guess?”

  She laughs. “Congrats indeed, thank you.”

  She grabs Daniel’s arm and hooks her arm through it. “They have cotton candy, should we get some?”

  I freeze, my eyes zeroing in on where she’s holding Daniel. My heart feels funny and I’m filled with irrational anger that turns into fury when he smiles at her instead of brushing her off. He lets her drag him off and I’m left to follow them, feeling like a third wheel.

  I get even more angry when he buys cotton candy to share with her without even asking me if I want any. He’s the one that insisted on the no dating rule so what exactly is happening here?

  “God, this reminds me of that time we went to the carnival in San Fran. Except they had that pretty blue and pink cotton candy, remember?”

  Daniel nods at her indulgently and tears off a piece of cotton candy.

  “When did you go to San Fransisco together?” I ask, my voice harsher than I intended. Daniel glances at me, his expression blank. It’s almost like he forgot I’m even here, or like he’s surprised I’m still here. If it wasn’t clear that I’m intruding then it is now.

  “Ah, we did our MBA together at Stanford. That’s how we met. Didn’t you know? Daniel offered me a job as his executive assistant when we finished. We keep things professional at work but we usually manage to hang out every couple of weeks at least.”