Her Charming Secret

by Sam Ayers

  She smiled, wondering how she got so lucky and turned to kiss him on his cheek, he turned at the last minute so they were actually kissing and she didn’t want to stop because it felt so right. He was someone she could picture spending the rest of her life with; she was falling in love with him, and she already knew he loved her just as much, if not more.

  * * *

  Jo stomped her way into office, her temper sky-high. She couldn’t help but feel betrayed. She had never hidden anything from Jake, and he . . . he had hidden such an important thing from her! How could he!? She was not going to forgive him, she decided, anger completely clouding her judgment.

  Just then, she spotted Aiden walking into his office. She could talk to him; he would listen. She walked in to see him seated and writing something.

  He looked up and smiled. “Hey, Jo! Good to see you!”

  She smiled back, forgetting all her worries.

  He raised his coffee mug. “More coffee, please.”

  She froze. “Aiden?”

  He didn’t even look up at her, immersed as he was in his documents. “I want that coffee sometime today, Jo.”

  Jo silently took his coffee mug and walked out of his office, tears forming in her eyes at the unfairness of it all. The one person who was supposed to comfort her hadn’t realized she was upset and had instead asked her for coffee. He summoned her afterwards, too. Mail the clients. Talk to Alex about a meeting. Coffee. File the documents. Coffee. Type what he dictated, and more coffee. She sighed and escaped to the restroom. She needed a break from this coffee monster.

  Aiden sighed as he buzzed Jo’s desk; she didn’t answer his call. Just then, the door opened and in came Alex, sighing and raking his hand through his hair.

  “Dude, do you expect me to put a notice on my door saying ‘Alex Reid, knock on the freaking door!’?”

  “I forgot.” Alex shrugged and started playing with Aiden’s phone. “I want to eat a burger,” he murmured.

  “What did you say?” Aiden asked as he put on his glasses.

  “I wanna eat a burger, Aido! Let’s go to McDonald’s for lunch.” Alex grinned like a kid.

  “No can do; I have a meeting at 1:10PM.”

  “You are always busy,” Alex groaned as his phone rang, Abigail’s name flashed on the screen. Excusing himself, he walked out.

  * * *

  Jo came out of the restroom, sighing in relief when she saw that the coffee monster hadn’t called her again.

  “Josephine,” she heard a voice behind her. She turned around to see Aiden standing near her desk with arms folded across his chest. He was wearing glasses, and he looked freaking hot as he stood there with a confused expression on his face.

  “Hey, coffee mon . . . sorry, I meant hey, Aiden. What’s up?” she asked, blushing lightly.

  “In here,” he said, opening the door to his office. Jo walked in with Aiden, and he asked her to take a seat. She noticed how he was behaving, nothing like before. He wasn’t the same Aiden anymore. Now he was just her boss.

  “Are you alright?” he asked her.

  Jo sat down; a sense of dread sinking in when she saw the way Aiden was behaving. It wasn’t that he was being rude or anything, but the Aiden she had gotten to know over the last few weeks seemed to have disappeared. It was almost as if nothing had happened and he was just her boss. She felt hopeful for a minute, but the look he gave her crushed it; it was the concern of a boss, not that of a lover. She sighed internally, and put on a fake smile and said, “Yup! Why do you ask?”

  “It’s just that, it feels like something is bothering you,” he said, and in that one moment she didn’t know whether to kiss him or kill him. Whether to laugh or cry. He asked if she was alright. They had spent a beautiful week falling in love, and he had forgotten it, left the week back where they were and returned to being her boss. How? How was she supposed to be alright? And then Jake . . . Deciding to be the perfect secretary, she just tilted her head in mock-confusion and said, “Nope, no such thing. If there isn’t anything for me to do then I’ll get back to my work,” she said.

  He nodded quietly.

  Just as she opened the door to walk out, he stopped her.

  “There’s this swanky new Italian restaurant at the end of the block. Please book a table for two.” She stopped in her tracks as happiness bloomed in her chest. Of course he hadn’t forgotten their trip! He was just busy, and now he was making time for her by taking her to an Italian restaurant! How considerate. Berating herself on ever having doubted Aiden, Jo quickly made an appointment at the restaurant under the name Reid.

  Twenty minutes later, Aiden came out of his office. Jo couldn’t help but get excited when she saw him. He looked so hot with his glasses on, but she wasn’t going to tell him that now. She got up and picked up her handbag.

  “Alright, so I have a meeting now; it’s kind of important, so please don’t transfer any calls,” he said, checking his phone.

  “What about lunch? You asked me to book a table for two, right?” she asked, confused.

  “That’s where I’m going.” He smiled. “The person I’m meeting might be waiting for me, and I don’t want to be late. I’ll see you later.” With that he walked away towards the elevator.

  Jo sat on her chair, trying to figure out what was going on. He had asked her to book a table, but it wasn’t a date like she had expected. Gosh! He really didn’t care, did he? She had gotten excited for absolutely no reason. After all, he was going for an official lunch. Would it really have hurt him to talk to her like they were at least friends? Or wasn’t she even that much to him anymore?

  First Jacob, now Aiden. She felt devastated. Why was destiny playing games with her?

  Just then, Alex plopped down on her desk. She hadn’t seen him walk towards her. “I’m hungry!” He declared, lightly running his hand over his tummy. Jo burst out laughing. Alex had an uncanny sense of figuring out when she was down, and then saying the craziest of things to make her happy.

  “So go and eat.” She grinned.

  “Nooo! I don’t wanna go alone. I wanna eat burgers; let’s go to McD’s.” He pouted, looking at her, his eyes large and looking more like a huge puppy dog rather than the next in line for the V.P. of the company.

  “Why me?” She raised her eyebrow.

  “Why not you?” he asked, pulling her up. He grabbed her bag and pulled her along. The executive staff looked at them, startled by the way Alex was behaving. He just grinned at them and walked away with Jo, actually dragging her along.

  * * *

  Meanwhile, Abigail walked towards the restaurant where she had a meeting. The hostess smiled when she came near.

  “How can I help you, Ma’am?” she asked politely.

  “Hello, reservation for Reid,” Abigail replied. The hostess nodded and asked her to follow her. She was led to a table in a corner.

  “Abigail, it’s good to see you again,” said a familiar voice. Turning, she smiled.

  “Hello, Aiden,” she replied as he pulled out the chair for her. “Thank you.”

  Aiden sat opposite to her and smiled. “Adele made the last minute call and I couldn’t say no. Big crisis, I assume.”

  She nodded. “Yes, the invites are still at the printers because we haven’t finalized the location.” She sighed and continued, “With the wedding just weeks away and not being able to secure a location. I just want to settle at least the location as soon as possible.”

  “Well, that’s why I wanted to meet you in person,” he said. Just then, the waitress arrived to take their order. After placing their orders, he pulled out his phone. Opening the photo gallery, he pushed the phone towards her.

  “My father and uncle own a property near a lake. It’s a beautiful and calm place. Will it be big enough for more than two hundred guests?”

  Abigail flicked through the pictures. It was indeed the most beautiful lake house she had ever seen. The property was gorgeous, with tons of places to arrange without cramming things. It wo
uld be lovely to organize a wedding there. She nodded enthusiastically. “This is awesome. It will be great, and there’s so much space. I think we can fit in more than three hundred people.”

  Aiden chuckled lightly. “So I think we can let everyone know about the lake house.”

  “Aiden, I want to see this place first. Even though it looks absolutely lovely, I have to see it myself; the good spots for seating, the aisle, the food and everything.”

  “I can arrange that; if you want, I’ll let Adele know that you want to see this place,” he said.

  She smiled at him. “That would be good. Also, can we do that as soon as possible? After all, there isn’t much time for the wedding.”

  Their food arrived and Abby couldn’t help but sigh in bliss with every bite she took. The flavor was well balanced and burst in her mouth. This was by far the best Italian she had had in ages.

  At that moment, her phone rang. She picked it up to see Alex’s name flashing. She sighed, rejecting the call before turning back to talk to Aiden. Five minutes later, it rang again. Sighing with annoyance, she cut the call before giving Aiden an apologetic look, and put her phone on silent mode.

  When it rang again, Aiden smiled. “You should take that. He won’t stop calling till you answer him.” He sipped on his drink and continued, “He’s too possessive for a boyfriend!”

  “How . . . how did you know?” she asked in surprise.

  “It wasn’t hard to figure out, Abigail. The way he looks at you, like a lost puppy, well . . . that was just the first clue.”

  She was about to answer when the phone rang again.

  “Please give me that.” Aiden smiled. She placed the phone in his hand.

  “Abigail, why the heck aren’t you answering my calls?” Alex’s voice was so loud that Abby could hear it even though she was sitting across Aiden.

  “Bonjour, Monsieur,” Aiden replied in a proper French accent.

  Abigail raised an eyebrow to which he just shushed her and grinned.

  “Who the hell are you?”

  “My namez iz François Lefévre.” Aiden did a good job trying to fake his grandfather’s accent. “The queztion iz: who ‘re you, Monsieur, that you call a ladyz phone and thenz zhout,” he said.

  Abigail giggled at his antics; for a second Aiden looked exactly like his grandfather, but also for once he looked young and carefree, something that he usually wasn’t. The price he paid for being a Reid!

  “Where is Abigail? I want to talk to her,” Alex said, really annoyed.

  “Zhe iz enzoying my company. Now you are dizturbing uz . . . zhe will callz you later. Good byez,” said Aiden, cutting the call.

  “What was that, Aiden?” Abigail chuckled.

  “That was me getting Alex off your back for the day; he will be so busy trying to figure out who the guy on the phone was that chances are he won’t annoy you for today.”

  “Did he tell you about our relationship?” Abigail asked curiously.

  “Nah! It’s easy to read Alex.”

  “It’s not that we planned on keeping it a secret, we were going to tell you guys after Adele’s wedding,” she said.

  “I understand, Abigail. By the way, welcome to the family.” He grinned.

  Abigail smiled at Aiden and they began to discuss the minute details of the wedding, including the sort of colors Adele wanted at her wedding. Later, Aiden walked Abigail out, where she caught a cab home.

  * * *

  Alex couldn’t concentrate. He could only think about Abigail and that moron to whom he had spoken to earlier. There was something familiar about that voice, and that made him growl more, because the only Frenchman he knew was the old man, Pierre. And the fact that Abigail was having lunch with someone like Pierre made him shudder.

  He knew that only one person could help him – and that was Pierre himself. He didn’t want to, but there was no one else but the old man to help him here; he decided to go find Pierre.

  Alex let out a growl and grabbed his coat. He ran out of his office, and in minutes he was in his car driving back to his uncle’s place.

  Reaching his uncle’s place in record time, he took a minute to straighten himself before walking in all-smiles, but his eyes were moving everywhere looking for Pierre. He walked in to see Adelynn and Danielle sitting on the couch with books around them. Pictures and sticky notes were all over the place. The wedding fever had set in full swing here, too.

  “Alex, is everything alright?” Adelynn asked; she sounded concerned.

  “Yeah, I was looking for Pierre. Is he here?” he asked, looking around again.

  She looked at him as her eyebrows rose. “You are looking for . . . Papa?” she asked, her voice showing her suspicion. Alex couldn’t blame her – after all, he normally ran from wherever Pierre was.

  “Yup, isn’t he here?”

  “Actually, he is. He was doing something upstairs. Go and see if he is still there.”

  Alex nodded before hurriedly taking two steps at a time, leaving his aunt to wonder what was going on.

  He opened the door and closed it the very next second. The sight he just saw was traumatizing. Pierre was dancing – more like jumping on the bed. He was going to ruin the wedding, after all. The man considered himself to be an accomplished dancer, but Alex knew from experience that Pierre had his own dance style that was more disturbing jumps and hand moves than actual dancing. Steeling himself by thinking of Abigail, he knocked loudly on the door.

  Pierre shouted back, “Ze door iz open, come in.”

  When Alex entered, he had thankfully gotten off the bed. “Err . . . hi,” he said.

  Seeing Alex come in, Pierre scowled. “Why ‘re you dizturbing mi danze practize? I have to look good in mi grandauzer’z wedzing!”

  “I need help!”

  “Youz wanna leurn danze too?” Pierre raised his eyebrow.

  “Umm . . . no. I need your help with something else,” Alex explained.

  “Helpz? What iz it?”

  “Well . . . you see . . . that is to say—” Alex mumbled.

  Pierre cut him off by saying, “I getz it! You want to come to ze wonzerful France wiz uz! Yes,” he said, excited.

  Alex turned red before shaking his head and saying, “No! You see there is this girl—” to be cut off by Pierre again, who said, “And zhe iz ze French zo you needz mi helpz to woo ’er? You have comez to ze right plaze, I am ze parfect zentelman!”

  “No, Pierre; it’s this girl, my friend. She is being pursued by a French guy. He is bad, and I want your help.”

  “A bad Frenchman, you zay! I will cutz him into picez for beingz bad anz beingz French. How dare ze!” Pierre jumped on his bed and stood like a stupid knight.

  “Right, will you come with me? To meet him?”

  “Oui, you willz dreeve the carz.”

  They walked downstairs, leaving Adelynn and Danielle surprised. Pierre sat in the back seat as if he owned the car and Alex was his driver. He gave Alex a look that said, ‘I am here now, why aren’t you driving yet?’

  “Thiz carz iz too zmall. I’ll buyz you a limouzine.” He puffed with no small amount of pride. Alex almost laughed, because Pierre looked exactly like a puffed parrot at that moment.

  They reached Abigail’s place and Alex knocked on the door. When she opened it, she was surprised to see Pierre. Alex moved forward to explain, but Pierre pushed him aside and walked inside. “Ah! You ’ere the gurl who marriez a Frenchman!”

  “No, no, I’m the wedding planner. I’m not married,” she explained.

  She looked at Alex, confused, but was dragged in by Pierre before he could answer.

  “So wherez iz your French buyfriendz?” he asked, looking around the house, trying to act like a ninja by hiding behind the couch and placing books on his head.

  She looked at him, confused, and asked, “What French boyfriend?”

  He put the books down and pulled off two leaves from the plant near the door. Abigail almost cried, because it was her favo
rite plant.

  He placed the leaves on his head and walked away, still hiding and spying. She sighed and plopped on the couch. Alex tried to stop Pierre, but he just swatted him away and crab-walked to the next room.

  Alex gave Abigail an apologetic look, wondering why he had thought asking the old man for help was a good idea.

  “Abby, why didn’t you pick up my call? Who was that guy?”

  Before she could answer, Pierre came back. “I zee no Frenchman ’ere!”

  She sighed and decided to change the subject; she didn’t want him to spy anymore or destroy anything else. “Would you like something to drink?” she asked politely. He accepted and asked for some fine French champagne. She sighed in relief. Alex had just bought some champagne because they had had a movie night at her place that night.

  His search for the Frenchman forgotten, Pierre happily sat on the couch next to Alex. An hour later, the whole bottle was empty. Pierre drank most of it and now he was dancing. Jumping on the couch and pulling off more leaves.

  “Alex, what is he doing?” Abigail looked at him in horror.

  “Umm . . . pulling the leaves! Sorry,” Alex apologized.

  “Gosh! Take him away before he ruins my home!”

  Alex didn’t know where to hide in embarrassment; he looked at Pierre, who had gotten up on the kitchen table and was trying to do the hula. “Grandpa Pierre, let’s go home,” he called, pulling him.

  Pierre struggled, but finally slumped on Alex, letting him drag him to the car. He sat in the back seat and was asleep in a minute, snoring loudly. Alex ran back to Abigail and kissed her, saying, “I’ll be right back, baby.”

  Abby stood there, amused as she saw Alex leave. What just happened? What a weird family this was!

  - Chapter 21 -

  Love Is In The Air

  Aiden stood near the window, looking out at the gray sky. The smell of the approaching rain lingered in the air, and a light drizzle had started. He regretted not going to Jo’s place to pick her up. Walking towards the kitchen, he debated whether to call Jo and ask her not to come. As he made himself some coffee, he heard the sound of thunder and rain started pouring down in torrents.