by Claire Adams
Wendy gave my arm a squeeze before she left me at Pete’s door.
I went inside and walked over to the window. “Hi there,” I said. “It’s your favorite stepson.”
I pulled one of the chairs over and sat down, rubbed my hand across my eyes. Pete was wearing a red plaid bathrobe I’d never seen before.
“New threads?” I said.
He glared at me.
“I’ve had quite the day,” I said. “You know, Jonathan thinks that I’m commendable because I’ve somehow found a way to move past all the horrible shit you used to do to me,” I said. “That’s funny, isn’t it? Everyone thinks I come here because I actually give a shit about what happens to you, which really couldn’t be further from the truth. I know that seems heartless, and probably makes me sound like some sort of sociopath or something, but it’s the truth. Although, Jonathan and I wouldn’t even be friends, I bet, if it wasn’t for you.”
Pete’s eyes shifted, left to right, then fixed at a point behind my shoulder. “That’s right,” I continued, “all because of you. They were basically my other family because all you seemed to want to do when I was around was to talk shit and kick my ass. Which must’ve been fun for you; I can’t figure out another reason why you would’ve done it. I wouldn’t have been one of those dickhead stepsons, I wouldn’t have tried to flex on you or anything like that, but you couldn’t have been bothered to even give me that chance. Would you like to know what my childhood memories are made up of? They mainly consist of living in fear that you were about to come home or spending my time at Jonathan’s, where everything was so fucking perfect it would’ve made your teeth hurt. Their family ate dinner together every fucking night. Sat down and ate an actual meal that his mom OR his dad made. They took Sunday drives. Jonathan had probably every single toy he ever wanted, and then a bunch that he didn’t want, too. And he didn’t have to hide these toys because he was afraid that they were going to stomped on because his father was mad at him, or just came home from work in a bad mood. He didn’t even know how good he had it.
“In other exciting news,” I said, “I found out that you’re potentially going to be a grandfather. Well, a step-grandfather, I guess would be the correct definition.” I stared at him as I said this; his reaction didn’t seem any different than with anything else I’d told him. He probably thought I was making it up. “While it’d be nice to say I was making this all up, I’m not. Trust me, I wish it wasn’t the case.”
Pete’s eyes went from looking out the window to looking at me. He made a sound that sort of sounded like a cat trying to hack up a hairball. The corner of his mouth twitched. Though his facial expression hadn’t changed that much, I knew suddenly that he was thrilled to see me uncomfortable, happy that I had found myself in such a position.
I forced a smile. “It’ll all work out,” I said. “Anyway, Pete, sorry for the short visit today, but I’ve got to be on my way. You know, there’s a whole world out there, lots of shit going on. I’ll see myself out.”
I could feel his eyes on me as I hurried out of the room, suddenly finding it difficult to breathe. Wendy tried to say something to me, but I rushed right out of there, aware the whole time of Pete up there in that goddamn window, looking down at me. I had half the mind to just drive that fucking Camaro of his right into the side of the building, let him watch crash and burn, but I wasn’t ready to go that far yet. Instead, once I had the car backed out of the parking spot, I stomped on the gas, felt the tires squealing underneath me, rubber burning.
At work the next day, Daisy asked me if I wanted to go with her to her favorite bar.
“You have a favorite bar?” I said. Today she was wearing a dark pink skirt that she hadn’t worn here before, and a short-sleeved black blouse, plus a pair of black Mary Jane shoes. Mmm, she looked good.
“I do,” she said with a smile, looking rather proud of herself. “Failte. Have you ever been there before?”
I tried to hold back my groan. Of course her favorite bar was Failte. “Maybe once or twice,” I said. “But not in a while.” I’d probably end up running into Billy McAllister.
“I was thinking of going there after work tonight. Do you want to go with me?”
Well shit, how do you say no to that? Even if it was to a dump like Failte. “You’re awfully hard to resist, you know,” I said.
“Am I?” She was asking honestly, not coyly, which made her even more appealing.
“Yeah,” I said. “You are. Sure, I’ll meet up with you. You heading down there right after work?”
“I think so. Is that cool with you?”
“I’ve got to meet up with Dan at four-thirty down at the Port; I don’t think we’ll be more than a couple hours, though. Why don’t I plan on meeting you there when I’m done? If it’s your favorite place, I’m sure you won’t mind hanging out there for a little bit. I’ll try not to be too long.”
She smiled. “That sounds great,” she said.
“And what sounds even better than that is going back to your place again after.”
She blushed but met my eye, and I could see that she was very much into that idea as well.
Martin Harris was the CEO at Bank of Atlantic, an appropriate place for him to work considering his fondness for the water and all things boating. He’d been HTS’s first corporate client, and he employed us at all of the bank branches throughout the city and the suburbs of Boston. He also used us for his family events, when necessary, and since his brother and, now, niece, were both A-list Hollywood actors—though they came with their own entourage—Martin always called on us for any gathering he threw when they were in town.
And they were coming to town next, in a trifecta of celebration: Martin and his wife’s twenty-fifth wedding anniversary, the brother’s birthday, and another niece’s engagement (not all on the same exact day, but close enough that one huge celebration could suffice). So Dan and I were down here at the Port, scoping out where the partying would take place: on Martin’s new mega yacht, a four-hundred-and-forty-foot vessel that was basically the equivalent of a cruise liner. It put his previous yacht to shame, which was no small task. But this new yacht—the Paradise Breeze—could hold two hundred and thirty people, was three stories, and included an on-deck swimming pool, fully integrated sound system, and all the marble, leather, and silk you could imagine. They’d go from the Port around the tip of Cape Cod to Nantucket, where they’d spend a few more days, and then they’d eventually make their way back. It was a big event that Martin didn’t want anyone in the media or public to find out about, which was why I wanted to meet up with Dan and go over things well before the actual date arrived.
It ended up taking a little longer than I had planned, but that’s mainly because we’d spent the first half an hour or so just roaming the place, basically eyeball fucking the whole place. When I finally left, I was a bit later than I told Daisy I’d be, but it wasn’t so late that she wouldn’t be there anymore. So I hoped, anyway. Right as I pulled my phone out of my pocket to text her though, a call came through.
Annie.
I debated not answering. I really didn’t want to. As in, there were about nine hundred thousand other things I could think of that I’d rather do than pick up the phone and have to talk to her. But maybe she was calling to tell me she changed her mind. I gritted my teeth and accepted the call.
“This is Ian,” I said.
“You know who this is.”
“You’re right. What’s up?”
“I want to see you in person,” she said. “If you don’t meet with me in person, then I’m just going to keep bothering you about it until you do. I’m available now, if you are. I just want to talk to you face to face this one time, and then I’ll leave you alone. Unless, of course, you decide that you would actually like to be involved in your child’s life.”
She was getting a little too bold for my liking, a little too demanding, but if meeting in person now meant she’d back off, then I might as well just get it over with. “Fine,” I sai
d. “Where are you?”
“I’m at home.”
“Then I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”
“Great, I will—”
I hung up. Then I texted Daisy, who by now was probably wondering where I was. There’s one thing I need to take care—running a little late. Be there soon.
I’d do everything I could to make sure this little visit was over as fast as fucking possible.
18.
Daisy
I got Ian’s text, saying he’d be late, so I ordered myself a drink and sat at the table by myself, watching the other people around me socialize. I thought about maybe calling Caroline and having her meet us; surely she just needed to hang out with Ian again to realize that he was nothing at all like she thought. Well . . . maybe he was a teeny bit arrogant, but, then again, a lot of guys were.
“Now what is a lovely lady like yourself doing sitting all alone?”
I turned to see who was talking to me. It was Billy McAllister. He had on a white button-down shirt with the sleeves pushed up and a pair of blue jeans. “Can I join you?”
“Sure,” I said, glad for the company. Even though I didn’t know exactly what it was that Ian had to do, it was taking him longer than I expected.
“So,” Billy said. “You still enjoy working for Ruby? How’s that going?”
“It’s good. I like working there a lot.”
“Glad to hear it—it’s quite a pleasure to know that your face will be the one to greet me when I stop by there now. The other girl . . . she was a looker, but not nearly as good-looking as you. Had a little bit of a bad attitude, too; more toward the end. Can’t say I blame Ian for firing her.”
“What happened there?” I asked, my interest piqued. That was something Ian and I hadn’t talked about before, though I had been a little curious over why the last girl had left.
“That was Annie,” he said. “Before Annie was Petra, and she was a lot like you—really nice and really cute. She ended up moving out to California. Then Annie got hired to take her place. And Annie . . . you never met Annie, but one look at her, whoa nelly! No way I could’ve hired a girl who dressed like that and had her work for me. She and Ian definitely had a . . . thing.”
My heart stopped for a beat. I tried to keep my face neutral. “A thing?” I said. “What do you mean?”
“You know, they were . . . involved. It wasn’t public knowledge or anything, they weren’t a couple, but I’m pretty good at sensing these things. They were pretty hot and heavy for a while there.”
I let what he was saying sink in. Ian had been sleeping with his last secretary? Was this like some sort of pattern for him? Was it like some sort of game he played, where every time he hired someone new, he slept with them, but told them to play it off like nothing was happening?
But . . . maybe Billy was wrong. I doubted he and Ian had actually talked about it, so he was just going on what he thought he sensed, and since he hadn’t sensed anything about Ian and me, well then, maybe he wasn’t as psychic as he thought.
He was laughing, slapping his knee. “I’ll never forget walking in on the two of them, right there in the office. It was technically after hours, but the door was still open and I was in the area, and I go in, and I heard these sounds, and I thought for a second maybe he was watching porn, but why would Ruby watch porn when he could have the real thing? And he’s got her bent over his desk, his pants around his ankles . . .” He stopped and gave me an apologetic look. “I’m sorry. This isn’t an appropriate topic of conversation. I’m sure you have very little interest in hearing anything about this.”
“It’s okay,” I said, hoping my voice didn’t sound too shrill. I tried to force a smile. “That’s really something—to have walked in on him like that.”
Billy laughed. “Yeah, it really was. That’s Ian, though. He’s a good guy; don’t get me wrong, but he’s certainly got his own way to go about doing things. That’s one of the reasons my dad likes him, though.”
“I see,” I said faintly.
“I’m not sure what happened with Annie; one day she was there, then the next time I went in, there you were. And I’m not complaining. I’m a pretty nice guy, contrary to what you might have heard before. Real pleasure to get to run into you here and all, but if you wouldn’t mind, I’d like to take you out sometime. There’s a lot of great places around here that you might not even know about . . .”
He continued to talk. The chatter around me thrummed on, people laughing, someone cheered, Billy’s mouth was moving, and I could hear him, but it sounded like he was speaking to me underwater. There wasn’t even an accurate title to put what Ian had done to me—he hadn’t cheated on me, hadn’t lied to me—I supposed the most accurate thing would be to say he used me (just like Annie), but that didn’t seem quite right, either. We hadn’t really discussed anything; I had just assumed that it was going to go somewhere that it wasn’t. And if Ian hadn’t been running late and Billy hadn’t ended up coming here and telling me all this, who knows when I would have found out.
Billy was still talking.
“I’m sorry,” I said, grabbing my purse and standing up. “I . . . I’ve got to go; I just remembered something I have to do. I’m really sorry.”
“Oh, sure,” he said, looking unbothered by my sudden departure. “I’ll see you around, I hope.”
It was only as I was walking away from the table, the exit suddenly a long way’s off, that I realized Ian could come breezing through the door at any second, and if he did before I made it out, what would I say? There was no way I’d be able to pretend that nothing was wrong, but I didn’t want to have some sort of confrontation right here at Failte.
I didn’t need to worry about that, though. I made it to the door, pushed through, and was then out on the sidewalk, the evening air still warm. I looked both ways before I hurried off, not breathing a sigh of relief, though, until I was around the block and in my car. I thought about texting him that I wasn’t going to be there, but I decided against it. He’d want to know why I’d left, and I just wasn’t going to get into that with him right now.
I didn’t want to go home though. Just the thought of having to be on the lookout for Noah made me feel like my head was going to explode. I started to drive, just so in case Ian was nearby, but I felt through my purse for my phone and called Caroline.
“Can we meet up?” I said when she answered.
“Sure. Where are you? Failte?”
“No, I want to meet somewhere else.” Somewhere that he wouldn’t be likely to show up, if he ever showed up from whatever it was he was doing.
“Okay,” she said, “I’m dying for some pad Thai. Want to go to Orchid House?”
“Sounds good. I’ll meet you there.”
I tossed the phone down and took a deep breath, trying to loosen my grip on the steering wheel. I could tell that tears were trying to force their way out of my eyes, but I refused to let them materialize. I blinked really fast, and at a stoplight, I rubbed both my eyes really hard, like I had a bad case of hay fever.
The light turned green and I started to go again. I might be able to keep the tears at bay, but I couldn’t keep the onslaught of thoughts. I hadn’t necessarily thought that I’d lose my virginity to the guy I would end up marrying, or that it would be this totally magical moment that I would always cherish, but I had hoped it would at least be a little special. But apparently, it was just what Ian did with the secretaries he hired.
I never wanted to see him again.
The problem was, though, I couldn’t just quit. Well, I could, but I knew what the job market was like out there, and I’d barely gotten any call backs after I’d been fired from the salon. Quitting with no backup plan wasn’t a smart idea.
I was at least able to find a parking spot right on the same block as Orchid House, and Caroline was there, waiting at a table for me. She looked a little worried when I slid into the seat across from her.
“Is everything okay?” she asked. “You so
unded a little frazzled on the phone.”
“No, everything is not okay. I was just at Failte—”
“Oh, I would’ve met you down there, I didn’t realize you were there.”
“No, no, I had to leave. I was supposed to meet Ian there, and he texted to say that he was running a little late because he had to do something. He didn’t say what, though. So I was sitting there, and who walks in but Billy. And he comes over and sits down, and we start talking, and then he tells me how Ian used to sleep with the previous girl that worked there, but then he fired her. I’m not sure why he fired her. But that doesn’t really matter. What matters is the fact that he’s basically doing with me the same thing he did with the girl before!”
“Ew.” Caroline made a face. “That’s not cool.”
“No, it’s not. So I got up and left before he showed up. I don’t even know what to think.” We stopped talking about it when our waitress came over with glasses of water. She asked if we wanted a drink, and I was about to say no, but then Caro ordered us two Thai iced teas.
“We need drinks,” she said when I started to protest. “At least one drink; maybe two.”
“Fine,” I said. Caroline ordered her food, too, but I decided to just stick with the drink. I didn’t think I’d be able to stomach anything else right now.
After the waitress left, Caroline leaned her elbows on the table and rubbed her eyes. “I told you,” she said. “I knew there was a reason I didn’t like him.”
“I can’t believe I was so stupid. I mean, I fell for him hard. And all of that shit he was saying. It’s pathetic. I hate myself.”
She smiled and patted my arm. “Don’t be too hard on yourself. He is hot—I’ll give him that much—and sometimes it is hard to resist a handsome face. But at least you found this out now before it got any further.”
I winced. “Um, yeah . . . That’s the other thing. I kind of didn’t mention it to you.”
She gave me a suspicious look. “What?”
“I lost my virginity to him.”