by Leanne Davis
“Of course you shouldn’t have,” Peggy said, gazing at her snidely. “Do you have any idea the ruckus you caused? Once we discovered you were missing it broke up the whole party, and everyone was frantic. We sent the guests all away, Trent and us came home to wait, and your parents waited at the resort for some word from you. And now you’re here, and we wasted all that time and money on a party you ruined.”
“It was stupid, I’m sorry,” Christine said, trying again to appease the room, feeling the mental daggers that Peggy’s gaze was unmistakably sending her way prick her skin.
“You ran off from our engagement party over that wine stain?” Trent said, finally speaking to her.
She looked into his blue eyes and felt the first prick of actual repentance. “I think it was more than that. I think the magnitude of it all hit me last night, and—”
“And you got cold feet?” Terry supplied.
“Yes, I got cold feet,” Christine said, jumping on Terry’s statement, wanting to kiss him for the verbiage.
Everyone nodded and looked around at each other. Suddenly it seemed like what she’d done was okay. Somehow cold feet was an acceptable reason to flip out and run away. It seemed to grant her forgiveness for her stunt.
“But where did you go? Whose sweatshirt is that? Who dropped you off?” Trent asked.
More lies. “In the hallway was a girlfriend from college. She saw me and was worried about how upset I was. She offered me a ride. I’m ashamed to say I took it and went to her place. She went to work this morning. Her father dropped me off.”
Plausible.
“I can’t say we’re proud of how you handled this. You should have said something to us. You had us frantic over you,” Kay said, seeming to be breathing easier.
Christine wondered how long it actually was before anyone had even noticed she was gone. She then glanced at Trent, who was dressed as meticulously as every other day. He didn’t appear to have suffered a sleepless night, or undue worry. He looked rested and handsome.
She cleared her throat and tugged at her hair. “Can Trent and I be left alone? Please?”
Her parents nodded and filed out, followed by Terry and Peggy. They were eyeing her with disdain and suspicion. No one really knew what to think of what she’d done. The thing was, neither did she.
Trent walked to the window. He stared out towards the fountain spraying into the drizzling rain. “How could you do this?”
Shame filled her. She stepped forward and touched his shoulder. “I don’t know. I don’t know why I did this. I am so confused right now. Beyond what you think, even.”
He turned and took her hand. “What are you so confused about?”
She closed her eyes as heat filled her cheeks. She didn’t deserve his kind voice. He deserved far more than her lying, cheating, suddenly slutty ways. “I don’t know what I want.”
“Want as in, what? Me? Getting married?”
She nodded. Tears filled her eyes. “Everything. I started panicking as I was coming up to graduation. Suddenly, here I am, back in this small town. I liked living in Seattle. I liked the city and being anonymous. I loved school. But all anyone talks about here is Andrews Enterprises. I don’t know if I can do it. If I can simply live here and work there.”
“And us? Is this about that stupid file on Jason Malone? I told you, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have hidden that from you. It’s not the tip of the iceberg. There is nothing else I’ve hidden from you.”
She shook her head. Yes it was, but not in the way Trent thought. “It has to do with... It all feels like too much. Being here. Starting work with my father, with you. And everyone wanting a wedding date now. Here. Today.”
“Do you want to marry me?”
How did she answer that? She swallowed over the lump in her throat. The guilt was ripping her apart. How could she do this to Trent? He had never done anything but love her. He did not deserve this. “I don’t know. I just don’t think I want to get married right now. I feel younger, and dumber since I’ve gotten home than I did even three years ago. It’s like I knew exactly what I wanted until the day I suddenly had everything I thought I wanted.”
He shut his eyes and sighed deeply. When he opened his eyes, she saw the stark hurt in his expression. “I did it too soon, didn’t I? I pushed you to get married before you were ready. I should have left things how they were. You are too young. And you have too much to work out.”
“I didn’t think so. I just, I don’t know.” Tears fell down her cheeks. She took the ring off her finger and stretched her arm out to hand it to Trent. “We can’t go on. Things are obviously not right. This isn’t right. You deserve better than my confusion.”
He hesitated. He finally stepped forward and cupped her hand in his. “Keep it. Keep the ring. We’ll take a break. Take the time you need to figure out what you want.”
“You can’t mean this? You can’t just... wait for me.”
He touched her face. “I can. I can just wait for you. I love you. I don’t want to lose you. And if I can get you back by simply letting you go, then I’m willing to try.”
“I don’t know how long it will be. Or what I’m going to do, or if I’ll ever want—”
“I’ll wait for you to know. Just don’t totally discount me or us yet, okay?”
“I don’t deserve this.”
He shrugged. “You deserve to figure out what you want in life. I got that chance. I got to decide where I work and what I do. I want to live here and work for your dad. And I want to be with you. I know I can’t force you. But I can wait for you.”
She clutched the ring, knowing she didn’t deserve his kindness. And that what was wrong with her was far more than “just” cold feet.
****
There was a knock on her door. No doubt her mother coming to discuss how could she have ruined the party she had so painstakingly planned. Christine felt awful about that and appreciated the work her mom went to; if only the circumstances around it didn’t cause her near heartburn. She pressed her lips together and took a breath to fling open the door. She blinked in surprise. “Dad?”
He stepped around her. He stood six-foot-three. He towered over her and his presence filled her room, as it did everywhere. She’d gotten her dark brown hair and curls from him. They had the same brown eyes. He was so handsome at fifty that he, no doubt, as Jason had said, still had women coming on to him.
His gaze pinned her. He raised his eyebrows. “What happened last night?”
“I told you. I got embarrassed about—”
“Don’t lie to me.” His jaw worked back and forth. “That party cost thousands of dollars. And you left it. Your mother worked for three months on it. Every person I work with and our entire family was there. Where the hell did you go? There is no Trent, no Terry, no Peggy here. So don’t lie to me. I know when you’re lying and you lied down to your damn toes out there. So where did you go?”
Shame filled her. Warmth flushed her skin. His voice was furious. He was so disgusted with her. She gulped back her sorrow. She took a deep, shuddering breath and said, “I’m scared to marry him, Dad. I’m scared to start working with you. I’m scared this isn’t what I want.”
“This? Meaning my entires life’s work? Which has provided you with everything you have? What is it you want then, if this isn’t good enough?”
“I-I didn’t mean this wasn’t good enough. I just...”
“Spit it out, Christine.”
Tears filled her eyes. She pushed at them to make them stop. She stared hard at the floor. “I don’t want to disappoint you. But I just can’t do this. I’m so tired. I’m tired of working so hard, of every day having to meet everyone’s standards, of worrying about who I’m disappointing. I just need a break.”
“Break? You think I wouldn’t like a break sometimes? Grow up, Christine. Grown-ups work. You’re not sitting on your privileged ass, just because I’m successful. You will not be like the other spoiled, bratty, slutty heiresses we know. My
daughter will not be that. Do you understand me?”
She opened her mouth to protest. His dark, fierce gaze made her snap her teeth shut. The door barely moved. Her mother stood there, listening, watching. Didn’t her mom understand? Even a little a bit? But if so, she didn’t enter the room. She didn’t come to Christine’s defense against Aaron. She’d follow Aaron’s rule.
“You set after Trent, Christine. Now are you telling me you don’t want him?”
“I don’t know.” She whispered it to her feet.
“Stop this! I mean it. Don’t think I don’t know about the Christmas party and the coat closet. Don’t think I don’t know everything. You’re finally getting things right. Don’t you dare mess it up. You start Monday at Andrews Enterprises. You’re not sitting around here until after your wedding. You get to work. You pick a wedding date. You start planning it. Do you understand me? And no more shit.”
She jerked her head in a nod. Tears spilled over her cheeks; she kept her face down from her father so he couldn’t see them.
He turned on his heel.
“I’m sorry, Dad,” she whispered after him. He didn’t answer her.
****
She didn’t know what to do. But there was no denying everything she’d done lately. Her dad thought he knew everything, did he? He obviously didn’t know about Jason Malone. Her head jerked up. Her gaze sharpened on her door. He could not order her to work for him. To marry Trent. She was twenty-two years old, not twelve.
And instead of ashamed, she reveled that her father didn’t know about Jason Malone.
She balled her fist. She might be Aaron Andrews’ daughter, but she was not his property. She was not lazy, spoiled, slutty or flaky. She was none of the things her father had implied. And he damn well knew it.
He had gone too far. She bit her lip to keep back the tears. He had been heartless. Ruthless. And she didn’t deserve that. The only time she turned submissive and weak was with her father. But not today. Today he had made her decision for her. She grabbed her keys, touched the little pendant she kept hanging from her mirror, one he’d given her on her sixteenth birthday, and walked out the door to figure out how the hell she was going to change her entire life.
****
Jason looked up when Bill stepped in the shop, walked over, and sat on a stool near where he was working over the hood of a car.
“So what did you say to her?”
“Nothing,” Jason said without looking up.
“She was crying by the time I pulled my car around. She made a valiant effort to hide it, but I pretty much got the picture.”
Jason shrugged.
Unperturbed, Bill continued. “Seemed like a nice girl.”
“Do you know who she is?”
“Andrews, as in Aaron Andrews’ daughter? Yes. I figured by her name, then when I saw her house. Her estate. She was at your place last night, I take it.”
“Yes.”
“Huh. She doesn’t seem like your type. A little too nice, a little too—”
“She’s not.”
“Then why was she with you last night?”
Jason finally met Bill’s inquisitive gaze.
“I didn’t do anything.”
“Well, you said something.”
Jason sighed. “Yes, I said something. That’s it.”
Bill was quiet for a moment as if waiting for an explanation. Finally Jason simply said, “She’s engaged to Trent.”
“I know. Did you just find this out?”
“No.”
“Then why did she spend the night with you?”
“It’s not what you think.”
Bill was quiet at that, then nodded. “Trent, huh? She looks like his type.”
“Yeah.”
“And nothing between you two?”
Jason grew impatient with the questions. “Even if I liked her, as you saw, she is not my type. It would be nothing but a disaster.”
“So you were just mean to her instead?”
“That’s one way of looking at it.”
Bill shrugged. “Too bad. She’s cute. Polite, too. You could use a decent girlfriend.”
“It’s really none of your business.”
“So, asking me to drive her home was to make sure Trent and all involved didn’t know where she’d been all night?”
“Yes.”
“There was a whole crowd waiting for her at that museum they call a home.”
“I figured there would be.”
“Why didn’t you just explain that to her? She was suffering enough from obvious embarrassment.”
He shrugged. How could he explain that he wanted to make a bad impression? She had to learn who he was, and so far she hadn’t. She had to start staying away from him before something more happened between them. Maybe now she finally would.
“Okay. I see. Nothing happened because she’s engaged to Trent and not your type. You were mean to her to keep from hurting her, and you made sure no one knew she was here all night but me. Interesting,” Bill said.
“It’s over now.”
With that Jason turned, ending the conversation. He wanted to put this whole day and the bad taste it left in his mouth when he thought about how he’d treated Christine behind him. She’d looked vulnerable this morning. And pissed. He knew he’d made her feel bad, but instead of making it easy on her, he’d done the opposite. It was better that she knew exactly what he was like now.
After work he went up to the apartment. It felt empty and quiet, which usually was how he liked it. But not tonight. He found the towel Christine had forgotten on the back of the couch. He absently picked it up as he pictured her tugging it from her hair and throwing it there. He went over to the counter and found the mug she’d used. That was the first time in too many years he could remember finding evidence of another person having stayed in his space. A stupid coffee cup and towel made him feel more hollow and depressed than he could remember feeling in years. Remnants of what could have been.
Chapter Nine
Jason was tossing a trash bag into the dumpster out behind the garage bays when the bumping bass of a car stereo interrupted the otherwise quiet night. Headlights cut across the empty parking lot, followed by a car that halted in his old parking stall.
It must be the new tenant for the apartment over Kelso’s offices, the one Bill had mentioned to him a few weeks ago. Jason glanced at his watch. He’d worked late and was in process of closing up the shop. Curious to meet the new tenant, he started across the parking lot towards the car as he patted his front pockets until he found his ever-present pack of cigarettes. He walked slowly as he withdrew his lighter from his other pocket.
There was a woman getting out of her car, bending over to get something from her back seat. She had a nice, small ass. When she straightened and turned towards the trunk he caught a glimpse of her profile. He stopped dead.
Christine? He hadn’t seen her in over a month. What was she doing here?
Christine Andrews was pulling groceries from her trunk? He blanched before he collected himself enough to stride forward. “You’ve got to be kidding me. What the hell are you doing here?”
Her entire body went rigid. She slowly straightened and turned around. Her look was resigned, almost as if she’d expected this meeting and was finally getting on with it.
He hadn’t seen nor heard from her since that morning when he’d sent her home with Bill. Her presence now before him made his heart stop moving along with the cigarette that hung unlit between his lips.
“Unloading groceries.”
“What?” he said, his voice louder than he usually spoke. He could not believe it was Christine, here, renting this apartment.
“You heard me. Now, do you mind?”
“Why would you be unloading groceries?”
“So I can eat.”
“What the hell are doing here?”
“I live here.”
He finally grabbed the useless cigarette and threw it on the pav
ement between their feet.
“Yeah, I’m getting that. Since when?”
“Since a few weeks ago.“
“A few weeks? How could I not know?”
“Well, probably because I’m gone all day.”
“Gone where?
She blew out a long breath that ruffled her bangs. “Work.”
“Work? You got a job? And you live here?”
“You’re getting the picture.”
“Just what the hell are you doing?”
She met his sneer head-on. “Bill called me up a few weeks ago and offered the apartment to me. When he drove me home after that night, I had mentioned I didn’t like living at home and so when you moved out, he thought of me. You never did mention to me that you had your own house. That minor little gap in your history might have been nice to know.”
“It never came up,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest. Glaring down at her. “Bill rented out my house while I was in prison. When I was paroled I stayed at the apartment until the lease came up on my house. It has. Now I’m back home. The question is, what are you doing here?”
“Don’t flatter yourself that I moved in here because of you.”
“Didn’t you? Then you’re going to have to explain to me, why are you? Of all the places in the entire town, hell, the world, why would you move in here.”
Her eyebrows turned and her nose came up an inch higher. “I don’t have to explain anything to you.”
She turned, her anger emanating from each exaggerated stomp up the stairs. He grabbed her remaining bags of groceries and took the stairs two at a time. It pleased him when she gave him a dirty look when she realized he was following her and carrying the large load of her grocery bags without effort. He smiled when he came up behind her. She fumbled with her keys. She wasn’t completely immune to him.
Once in she flipped the overhead light on and went straight to the kitchen to set down the bags she held. She walked over to a chair by the phone and took her coat off. Her blouse strained over her breasts. He turned to look around his old place in order to avoid gawking at her like a kid in puberty. He’d never have recognized it as the same place he had lived in. It actually was a nice apartment under her care.