by MJ Duncan
She felt like she was an entirely different person than she had been the last time she had sat in the boardroom at Nakamura Investments, and she glanced up at her father once again as she wondered if she looked any different to him. Neither of her parents had ever shied away from voicing their abhorrence of “unnatural relationships”, and just thinking about what their reaction might be if they ever learned about Anna was enough to send a chill down her spine.
Her father’s expression was as harsh and demanding as always, showing no hint that he saw something different about her, and for the first time in her life, she was glad that he had never paid much attention to her.
Four more days. She just needed to be her old self for four more days and she could go back to Spectrum and Anna and be happy.
“Right, thank you, Langston,” Bryn’s father said, nodding to the CFO, who had finished speaking while Bryn had been lost in her thoughts.
“Thank you, sir,” Langston Howe said with a small bow as he took his seat.
Bryn’s father looked around the conference room and, after an extended moment where everybody’s attention locked onto him, placed his palms on the table and got to his feet. “We will continue this in the morning. Seven a.m., sharp.”
“Yes, sir,” the executive board chorused as one, and only a few of them glanced at Bryn before they hurried out the door. She had no friends in this room. She was a pariah to her father’s supporters and competition to the rest, and as she watched dark suit after dark suit file out the door, she was reminded again about exactly how much she hated this life.
Bryn took her time getting to her feet, knowing that her father would undoubtedly have something to say to her before she would be excused, she held her breath as she turned to look at him. Though Nathan Nakamura was only just over five and a half feet tall, he commanded respect whenever he walked into a room. His smooth skin belied his advancing age, his thick black hair showed nary a gray hair, and she knew from the way people talked about him that his dark eyes were as sharp as they had been when he had taken over the company from his father thirty years ago. He radiated power and authority and an unmistakable edge of superiority, and there had been a time when Bryn had aspired to emulate him, foolishly hoping that if she managed to achieve the task, she would finally gain his approval.
Any gains she had made in that regard, however, were lost the moment she turned her back on her birthright and fled west.
“Did you have a pleasant flight?”
His tone was flat, perfunctory rather than genuinely interested, and Bryn nodded. “Yes, sir.”
“Good.” He looked at his watch. “Your mother expects you at the house tomorrow night for dinner.”
“Of course,” Bryn murmured. She folded her hands in front of herself and kept her expression carefully blank as she waited for whatever he would demand of her next.
He nodded. “I will see you in the morning.”
“Yes, sir.”
Though she was not at all surprised when he turned on his heel and walked out the door without another word, the dismissal still stung. She should know better than to hope for an actual relationship with either of her parents, but every time she flew out to Boston, the little girl in her dared to dream that this might be the time they were finally glad to see her.
Bryn looked at her reflection in the window, and shook her head as stared at the veritable stranger gazing blankly back at her. Her tailored suit was the antithesis of her usual breeches and polo that she favored, her eyes were dull and pinched at the corners, and her lips were set in a hard line that looked incapable of breaking into a smile. She blinked and looked away from the glass, knowing that while she did not like the woman in the window, it was who she needed to be here to survive.
She collected the file she had been pretending to read during the meeting, slipped it into the briefcase she had packed earlier that morning before leaving Spectrum, and sighed as she walked out of the room. Her stilettos clicked hollowly on the tile floor as she made her way toward the elevators, and she glanced at her watch as she stepped into the car. It was half-past eight, which meant Anna would just be finishing up at the hospital for the day, and she pulled her phone from her purse as the elevator began its descent. She had a single text from Kendall checking-in on her, and two from Anna—one a sweet I miss you, and the other a picture Anna had taken of herself with her eyes crossed and her tongue sticking out.
Bryn smiled at the picture, knowing that was Anna’s intention when she sent it, and stepped into the lobby. She nodded goodnight to the trio of security guards behind the imposing front desk as she touched her thumb to Anna’s contact information at the top of the text, and allowed herself to let down her walls and forget about who she needed to be for a few minutes as she walked through the revolving door onto the sidewalk.
“Hey, beautiful,” Anna answered before the second ring. “How’s Boston?”
“Boston,” Bryn replied dryly. “I just finished with the first of too many meetings, and am already counting the hours until I’m back in Washington.”
“Did the meeting go okay?”
Bryn nodded, touched by the concern in Anna’s voice as she crossed the street to her hotel. She had stayed at her parents’ house on her first trip back after buying Spectrum, and it had been such a horrifyingly stressful few days that she had opted to take a room at the Four Seasons ever since. “As well as could be expected. It was just a preliminary overview of results from the last quarter, the real boring stuff will come tomorrow.”
“Fun.”
Bryn stifled a yawn. “Not exactly. How was your day?”
“Well, I swung by Jitters on the way to the hospital and was all-but-attacked by Di. Holloway had told her all about Saturday, and she wanted to know if she needed to go kick your ass or not.”
“Really?”
“Mhmm, but don’t worry—she’s over it now.”
“I’m afraid to ask what you said to change her mind,” Bryn murmured. She nodded her thanks to the doorman who held the door to the hotel open for her, and strode through the lobby to the elevators.
“No reason to be afraid,” Anna said, though the hint of laughter in her tone was less than reassuring. “I told her we kissed and made up and she got so excited that she spilled coffee all over herself.”
Bryn laughed. “She didn’t.”
“Oh, but she did. And then she gave me one of those jumpy-happy-laughing-bear hugs that meant I got covered in coffee too. I was five minutes late for my first appointment because I had to go back by my house and change before work.”
“Poor baby.”
“I know,” Anna grumbled. “If only you were here to kiss me all better.”
Bryn sighed as the elevator doors in front of her opened. “I wish I were,” she said softly as she stepped inside.
“You’ll be back soon.”
“Not soon enough.” Bryn shook her head. “Sorry. I shouldn’t be making you listen to me bitch. I’m sure you have better things to be doing.”
“Nope. I’m just waiting on Jules,” Anna said. Though Bryn had never met her, she knew from Anna’s many stories that her friend Jules Paxton was an anesthesiologist at the hospital. “Her wife Jess is making curry for dinner, and since I was whining to her at lunch today about you being gone, she took pity on my pathetic ass and invited me over.”
“That was nice.”
“Yeah. And, really, Bryn…”
“Hmm?”
“Bitch and moan all you want, okay? I don’t like that I can’t do anything to make things better for you, but if it helps for you to vent, then vent.”
“Thank you,” Bryn murmured as the elevator stopped at her floor.
“No problem. So what do you have on tap for the rest of the night?”
“I’ll probably just order room service and have a long soak in the tub to try and relax.”
Anna groaned. “Not cool, Nakamura.”
Bryn frowned as she slipped her keycard into her
door. “Why?” she asked as the light flashed green and she pushed it open.
“Oh, I dunno,” Anna chuckled. “Maybe because I’m here and you’re there, and now I can think of nothing but you being all naked and wet and soapy in a tub when I can’t possibly join you.”
“Oh.” Bryn flicked her heels toward the dresser as her mind conjured an image of what it would be like to have Anna join her for a soak, and she shook her head as her nipples tightened and a warm blush spread over her body. “Sorry?”
“Sure you are,” Anna teased.
Bryn slipped off her jacket as she listened to Anna murmur something to somebody, and she was in the middle of hanging it up when Anna came back on the line.
“Sorry, Jules is ready to go. I was just telling her that I’d be a minute.”
“No. It’s fine. Go have fun. I’ll talk to you more later. Between the flight out and the time change and the meeting I had to sit through, I’m too brain-fried to have an actual conversation at this point anyways. I just want to eat, relax, and go to bed.”
“Again with the mental image of you in the tub,” Anna grumbled playfully. “Call me if you need me?”
“Of course.”
“Call me even if you don’t need me?”
Bryn smiled. “I will. What time are you heading into the hospital tomorrow?”
“Early. Like, five. I’ve got surgeries lined up all day, first one starts at six thirty. Talk to you before?”
“I wish. My father has set the first meeting for seven tomorrow, which means I need to be at the office no later than six thirty my time here.”
“Ouch.”
“I know. I’ll try and call during my lunch, and I’ll just leave a voicemail if you don’t pick up. I have been summoned to dinner at my parents’ tomorrow evening, so worst case scenario is that I’ll call you when I’m in the car on the way back to my hotel afterwards.”
Anna sighed. “Okay. Sleep well.”
“You too. Tell Jules and Jess that I say hello.”
“I will. Talk to you later.”
Bryn nodded. “Goodnight.”
Thirty
Bryn fiddled with her phone as she sat in the back of the Town Car she had hired to take her out to her parents’ estate in Weston. The day had seemed interminable, one meeting after another, followed by a quick thirty-minute lunch that was catered at the firm so that nobody had to leave. She had snuck off into an empty office while the food was being set up to call Anna, but the call had gone straight to voicemail. She had hoped to speak to her for a moment just to re-center herself, but had been forced to settle for leaving a quiet, wandering message that basically amounted to a whole bunch of nothing. She followed the voicemail with a detailed text that laid out her itinerary for the rest of the day just in case a break in Anna’s schedule coincided with her own.
So far, her phone had remained silent, and she was torn between trying to call her again, and just waiting until after dinner. The pragmatic part of her knew that Anna was busy and would call when she could, but there was the softer part of her that needed to hear Anna’s voice. Needed to hear somebody tell her that she was both wanted and missed, that she mattered simply because of who she was and not because she was expected to fill a certain role.
She unlocked her phone and stared at her screen, hoping that she could make it ring by force of will alone, but gave up after a few moments and slipped it back into her bag, resigned to the fact that she would not be able to speak to Anna until later that evening.
A familiar feeling of dread settled in her stomach as the car exited the bypass and made its way along the quiet boulevards of one of Boston’s most exclusive suburbs. She stared out the window as the car turned onto her parents’ street—a narrow strip of blacktop lined with century-old trees and low, stacked-stone walls—clenching and unclenching her hands on her lap as she fought to quell the nerves that were building inside her.
Weakness would not be tolerated, and she needed to have herself under control before she stepped out of the car.
The drive, as always, ended far too soon for her liking, and she sighed as the driver got out of the car to open her door. She gazed forlornly at the three-story Georgian Colonial brick mansion that dominated the end of the driveway, steeling herself for the task at hand. She nodded her thanks to the driver as she stepped from the car, pausing for a moment to smooth nonexistent wrinkles out of her pencil skirt, and took a deep breath as she squared her shoulders before starting for the front porch. An unfamiliar 650i convertible was parked in front of the five-car detached garage that housed her father’s car collection, and she shook her head as refocused her attention on the brass knocker set into the middle of the door in front of her.
She rang the bell and waited with growing trepidation as the low, mournful chime echoed through the mansion. She had a key to the door in her bag, but she did not feel comfortable using it. It was something her parents never commented on, either, so she just assumed that they preferred her to enter the property as a veritable stranger as well.
The large black door was eventually opened by a stately woman in a designer dress and heels with impeccably styled short blond hair. The woman’s expression was impassive, but there was a scheming glint in her steely green eyes that Bryn recognized all too well. Even had the woman’s eyes not given her away, Bryn would have known something was up simply by the fact that she was the one to answer the door.
Usually her arrival did not warrant more than the maid letting her in.
Bryn forced a tight smile and stood up straighter. “Hello, Mother.”
“Brynsley.” Victoria Nakamura gave Bryn a deliberate once-over and sighed as she shook her head, making no effort to hide her displeasure with her daughter’s appearance. “I guess you will have to do. Come. I have somebody I would like you to meet.”
Bryn followed her mother inside and closed the door after herself. The ominous click of her mother’s heels on the mahogany floors punctuated the quiet hum of conversation spilling from the living room, and Bryn shook her head as she was left alone in the foyer. She should have expected her mother to pull something like this, but she had been so wrapped up in everything that had been happening back home that she had forgotten about the heavy-handed setups her mother tried to engage her in whenever she visited.
She stopped in front of the large hanging mirror that hung above a marble-topped console table just to the right of the door to check her reflection. She combed her fingers through her hair and stared solemnly at her reflection as she steeled herself for whatever she would be forced to endure. She plastered a polite yet wholly disinterested smile on her face as she turned away from the mirror, and squared her shoulders as she entered the living room.
Her parents were sitting in matching leather Queen Anne chairs that framed the fireplace on the far wall and faced the doorway, and a man of about her own age in a white dress shirt and black slacks who had a full head of dirty blond hair sat on one of the loveseats that flanked the square glass coffee table. The men’s conversation stopped when she stepped into the room, and she held her breath as she waited for one of her parents to make the appropriate introductions.
“Brynsley, this is Edward Lowry,” her mother announced, waving a hand at the man on the sofa.
Edward Lowry turned to Bryn and smiled. “Hello.”
Bryn tipped her head in a small bow. “Pleased to meet you.”
“Edward is running for District Attorney in Boston,” Victoria added.
“How interesting,” Bryn replied as she sat down on the sofa opposite Edward. She folded her hands on her lap as she waited for somebody else to add more to the conversation. She ignored the look her mother shot her, and let her gaze wander around the room as she mentally calculated how long she would have to suffer before she would be allowed to return to her hotel.
“Your father told me you own a vineyard?” Edward asked, sounding genuinely interested.
Bryn nodded. “I do.” She adjusted herself on
the edge of the sofa, crossing her legs at the ankle and keeping her knees primly together as she turned away from her parents to look at the man her mother was trying to set her up with. “Spectrum is a small, farm to bottle operation, but we have a growing distribution list and have even managed some favorable reviews in Wine Enthusiast, Wine Spectator, and Wine & Spirits magazine in the last year.”
“Congratulations. That must have been quite exciting for you,” Edward said.
“It is,” Bryn agreed with a small smile.
“Brynsley is going to be coming back to Boston to take over as CEO at Nakamura Investments soon,” Victoria interjected.
Bryn bit her tongue and began silently counting to ten. Then fifteen. It did not help, and she sucked a deep breath in through her nose as she just barely resisted the urge to get up and walk out the door.
Every single time, she thought angrily.
Edward looked appropriately shocked at Victoria’s statement considering what Bryn had just said, and asked, “Really?”
“I have no plans to leave Spectrum any time soon,” Bryn answered diplomatically. “I am quite happy focusing my attentions on growing the vineyard and expanding the circulation of our product,” she added as she finally stole a quick glance at her parents. Her mother looked as frustrated and angry as she had expected, and disappointment shone clearly in her father’s eyes despite his impassive expression.
“I am going to go check on dinner. Excuse me, please,” Victoria announced as she pushed herself to her feet. She leveled one last glare at Bryn, and then strode out of the room.