“Thanks. It’s my dad’s. A little big for me, but…” Katie let the sentence dangle and that told Addison all she needed to know. Katie wanted to be close to her father, and the coat helped her with that.
“It looks great.”
Katie’s wide grin was everything. “See you on Monday. Have a great weekend.”
“You, too.” Addison watched as Katie left and felt conflicting emotions as she did so. A warmth and comfort she hadn’t felt in longer than she could remember, and a sense of abject terror, of dread.
With a hard swallow, she pushed it all down and refused to deal with it. Any of it.
After all, that’s what Addison Fairchild did best.
And she knew it.
Chapter Fourteen
“What are you doing, Addie?” Sophie’s voice was soft. Softer than Addison thought she’d ever heard it before, and that gave her pause. Sophie didn’t speak softly. As a petite woman in a male-dominated field, she couldn’t afford to. She was a pro at making sure she was heard.
Now, though, she sat quietly on a barstool in Vineyard, the wine bar they frequented. She sipped her Rosso, and her blue-eyed gaze was intense as she waited for a response. Addison had never been able to lie to Sophie and she wasn’t about to give it a shot now. She’d already told her everything, including that ill-advised, but still toe-curling, kiss. Sophie’s first reaction had been insulted anger at having just learned about it now, when it had happened more than two weeks ago. She’d pushed that aside, though, and let Addison continue until she finished with today…and the invitation she’d extended to Katie.
“What are you doing?” Sophie asked again.
Vineyard was packed on that Friday night, and Addison was grateful for that. She felt less exposed somehow than if she’d been sitting alone with Sophie. With a deep sigh, she took a sip of her own wine, a Cab, and shook her head. “I’m not sure.” It was as honest as she could get.
“Listen.” Sophie shifted in her seat, tucked some blond hair behind her ear, and leaned in a bit closer. Pressing a hand to her chest, she said, “I have no issues with you banging your assistant.”
Addison glared at her. “I’m not banging her. What are you, a fourteen-year-old boy?”
“You know what I mean. It’s been a long time since you’ve developed an interest in anybody, so there’s a part of me that’s thrilled.”
“But?”
“But I worry.” There was so much crammed into those three little words. Addison knew Sophie well enough—and Sophie knew her well enough—that no elaborations were needed.
“My mother.”
“Your mother.”
“I get that. I do. And I love you for it.” Addison sipped her wine. “But it’s not a big deal. Mom wants me to bring a date. Katie knows the business, and I thought it’d be good for her to meet some of the bigwigs…and that it might be nice for her to have a night out.”
It was all very unlike Addison, rather atypical behavior, and Sophie knew it. Addison could tell by the slight squint she gave her over the rim of her glass.
“You made out with her.”
“A couple weeks ago. And nothing since. That was just…” Addison hated to downplay that amazing kiss, but she felt like she had to, both for Sophie’s sake and for her own in general. She shook her head. “It was nothing.”
Sophie stared at her some more. Because Sophie knew her. Addison did her best to maintain eye contact, to not waver, and finally, Sophie exhaled.
“Fine.” Sophie set down her glass. “You could’ve taken me, you know. I make a great date.”
Addison grinned, knowing that Sophie’s feigned hurt wasn’t all feigned. “I know. There will be more galas, don’t you worry.”
“Just…” Sophie’s voice trailed off as she took a sip of her wine and seemed to fight to grasp her thought. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”
“Yeah, me, too.”
Later that night, Addison lay in bed, staring at the ceiling. It was late—she didn’t want to look at the clock and see just how late—and she’d been awake in the dark for a very long time, her brain whirring like a blender, way too much information as the ingredients in a very stressful smoothie.
Addison was not a wimp. She was not a weak woman by any stretch of the imagination. Not at all. Not even close. Nobody would describe her that way and she wouldn’t describe herself that way. Yes, she’d been handed a pretty cushy job, but she’d excelled at it all on her own. She was a smart businesswoman and a savvy entrepreneur. She’d studied and she’d learned, and when there was an issue or a problem, she faced it head-on and dealt with it.
Like, 99 percent of the time, at least.
That other 1 percent…
Turning onto her side, she let a small groan escape her lips. They should have talked about the kiss, she and Katie. They should have addressed it, talked about it, and moved on. She wished they had because now it was too late to do so without making it weird. She couldn’t walk up to Kate and be all, “Hey, remember that time we kissed, like, sometime last month-ish? Good times, huh?”
Addison pulled a pillow over her head and screamed into it. After doing so a second time, she felt the tiniest bit better.
Rolling onto her back again, she blew out a breath and let her lips raspberry with it. “Okay,” she said aloud, quietly. “That’s it. Done. Gonna let it go now.”
Katie’s job was only temporary. They both knew that. Once Addison’s health had improved and she was ready to move into her new job and take over her mother’s position in the company, everything would be right in the world again.
Until then, no more dwelling.
“No more dwelling. Enough.”
This was actually something Addison was good at: mentally directing herself into some kind of action. If she decided to do something—or not do something—that was that. So if she chose not to dwell, not to think about the kiss or about Katie in any capacity other than personal assistant, that’s how it was going to be.
She could do this.
She could.
Couldn’t she?
* * *
“Wow, it’s cold,” Addison commented as they left the warmth of her car and stepped out into the brisk December air. A visible shudder ran through her body as she pulled on a pair of navy-blue mittens.
“Part of me was worried you’d be wearing a suit, heels, and a businesslike-but-not-very-warm coat,” Katie teased her as she made a show of taking in the ivory down jacket and blue scarf, hat, and mittens. “But you surprised me. You even have mittens.”
Addison grinned. “I am full of surprises.”
“Apparently.” Katie adjusted her own hat, painfully aware of not looking nearly as put together as Addison—but knowing she’d be warm—and said, “Shall we?”
With a nod, they headed across the parking lot of Junebug Farms, a no-kill animal shelter. It was a sprawling, one-story building that sat on a large plot of land. To their right was a huge barn that housed horses, donkeys, and other rescued livestock. When the sound of what could only have been bleating goats carried across the property to their ears, Addison stopped in her tracks, her attention piqued like a dog that had just smelled meat.
“Did you hear that?” she whispered and Katie couldn’t help but laugh at the almost childlike widening of her eyes.
“I did hear that.” Katie took her arm and gave a gentle tug, still smiling. “Let’s go inside first, and then I’m sure we can talk to them about letting you see the goats.”
That weird shift that had happened between them? Yeah, it had stuck, which was beyond shocking to Katie. After the two blow-ups she’d leveled at Addison, and after the kiss—God, the kiss—Katie had felt like the ground beneath her feet was unsteady, like she stood on a fault line and any second, her world would just split open and swallow her. Instead, the opposite had happened: Things had steadied. Addison treated her like an assistant rather than an intern right out of college, and they’d fallen into an easy rhythm in t
he office.
They hadn’t talked about the kiss. At all. Like, hadn’t even mentioned it. That was weird, right? Because it hadn’t been a peck. They hadn’t been drunk and exercising poor judgment. No, it had been one hell of a kiss, yet neither one of them had even hinted at it. At all. Katie almost had. After she’d found out from Samantha that Addison was now privy to her situation at home, she had to wonder if that wasn’t the reason: pity. Before the kiss, Addison hadn’t had any insight into Katie’s life other than knowing her father was ill. After the kiss, she knew the details of his dementia and how hard it was on Katie and her mother, both emotionally and financially. Maybe Addison felt sorry for her and didn’t want to add any more complications to her life. Or maybe Addison was scared off by the thought of somebody with the baggage of an ill parent and a mountain of bills.
While Katie didn’t like either of those possibilities, she finally did like her job. She was taking on more responsibility. Addison had given her access to almost everything. And most of all, it seemed like Addison was healing. Her stomach pains seemed fewer and farther between, and whenever Katie gave her something healthy to eat, she ate it with minimal complaint—she had to complain a little, she said, for principle’s sake, which made Katie grin.
So, maybe the not talking was the right thing?
With a mental shrug, Katie hauled herself back to the present as Addison pulled the door to Junebug Farms open and held it for her.
They were immediately hit by the noise.
Much sporadic barking. Happily squealing children (the two school buses in the parking lot were probably indicators of a field trip). Ringing phones and the hum of voices of the people who answered them. Katie and Addison stood side by side just inside the door, not moving, taking it all in.
“Wow,” Addison said, for the second time in five minutes.
“Yeah,” Katie agreed.
As they stood there, a woman came out from a hallway straight across from them. She was very pretty, dressed in a navy skirt, matching blazer, and heels. Even from several yards away, she gave off an air of authority and sophistication as she crossed to the horseshoe-shaped desk on the right side of the room, said something Katie couldn’t hear to the woman behind it, then looked over at them. With a nod, she headed their way.
“Look,” Katie whispered to Addison. “A business suit. She’s your people.”
“You’re hilarious.”
“Are you Ms. Fairchild?” the woman asked as she approached. She was even prettier up close, with chestnut brown hair and a smooth, porcelain complexion. Black-rimmed glasses framed very blue eyes.
“I am,” Addison replied and held out a hand. “Please. Call me Addison. And this is my assistant, Katie Cooper.”
“Catherine Gardner, CFO,” the woman said as she shook Addison’s hand and then Katie’s. “We’re so grateful for your donation, and we’re thrilled you decided to pay us a visit.”
It was interesting and oddly exciting and a strange sort of turn-on to watch Addison slip into business mode right before Katie’s eyes. Not that she was ever not in it, but there were some slight shifts that Katie was sure she wouldn’t notice if she didn’t work with Addison every day. She stood a bit taller, her chin just a smidge higher, her shoulders back slightly. Katie wondered if this was a thing she’d perfected when dealing with men and it had just carried over. She made a mental note to ask her sometime.
“First things first,” Addison said, and pulled an envelope from her purse. “Here’s our annual donation from Fairchild Enterprises. Thank you for all you do for the animals in our community.”
Catherine Gardner took the envelope and, tastefully, did not open it to look. She nodded her thanks, and then her smile widened. “So, you’re going to hang around for a bit, yes?”
“We thought we’d volunteer for a few hours today, get a feel for the place, then maybe talk to our staff back at home base about doing the same.”
“That’s wonderful to hear,” Catherine said, and her smile seemed to morph from businesslike to genuine. “We can never have too many volunteers. Where would you like to start? Any preference?”
“Addison’s got an almost unhealthy love for goats,” Katie said, knowing Addison wouldn’t. “Any chance she could play with them today?” She looked up at Addison, who looked only slightly mortified, judging by the blossoms of pink on each cheek.
Catherine Gardner leaned in close. “No worries. Everybody loves the goats.” With a wink, she said, “Let me get somebody to take you to them.”
Addison stayed stoic and professional until Catherine had clicked away and was out of earshot. Then she leaned toward Katie and gave a nearly inaudible high-pitched squeal of delight. “Goats!”
Seeing her like that—less stoic and unemotional and more, well, human—had a strange effect on Katie. Still. Even after many weeks. It was terrific, of course. That was a no-brainer. But it was also… Katie mentally searched for the words as Addison apparently tried to channel her excitement by very subtly bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet. It was intriguing. It was a draw. It was goddamn sexy was what it was.
And if she thought Addison’s anticipation of the goats was cute, she was not at all ready for the adorableness that took over when they actually got to the goats. Addison climbed right into the penned area behind the young man who led them to the warm barn. As he explained that there was a goat house where they were in the summer but lived in the barn in the winter because it was heated, Addison nodded and made sounds that said she was listening and was absolutely in her glory. Katie watched in delighted awe as Addison held a baby goat in her arms, crooning to it softly and cuddling it. Katie made sure to take photos with her cell phone, many for the Fairchild website and a couple just for herself. Addison gave attention to each one of the seven goats on-site, two of which were tiny little ones. She looked in their eyes, spoke to them like they understood her, helped feed them, and just loved them in general. Katie did all of that as well, but it wasn’t nearly as satisfying as watching Addison do it. It was like she was a completely different person, and Katie was reminded of the split personality assessment she’d hurled at Addison a few weeks ago.
They stayed for nearly three hours, until the sun had set and darkness began to close in.
“God, I hate that it gets dark so early in winter,” Katie muttered as they trudged across the property toward the parking lot.
“Me, too.”
Addison had remote-started the car, so it had at least begun to warm up a bit when they finally reached it and settled inside. They were quiet for a moment before Addison turned to Katie and said, “I smell like goats.”
“You absolutely do.” Katie chuckled, taking note of the scent combination of hay, dirt, manure, and fresh air. “I’m sure I do, too.”
“Little bit,” Addison said with a wink as she pulled off her mittens so she could grip the steering wheel. “I think we should write up a memo to send out to employees about volunteering here.”
“That’s a great idea.” Katie furrowed her brow as another thought came to her. “What about mentioning it to all the renters? Could we do that?”
“I never thought of that,” Addison said. “I like it.”
“We might need to offer some incentive.”
Addison squinted at her. “What do you mean?”
“Well, I think people tend to have good hearts and want to help. But I also think they’re generally lazy and if there isn’t something in it for them, they may not be as inclined. You know?”
“That’s a good point.” Addison nodded slowly. “Let me think about that, see what I can come up with.”
They drove in silence for a short while before Addison asked, “You ready for tomorrow night?”
“Oh, you mean for the super-fancy Christmas gala that will be filled with dozens of high-society, very important people, in front of whom I am terrified of doing something stupid? Like spilling a drink? Or worse, tripping on my heels and spilling a drink on someb
ody? That part of tomorrow night?”
Addison’s eyes stayed on the road, but Katie could see the corner of her mouth tug up. “Yes.”
“Totally ready. Absolutely ready. Never been readier. No worries.”
“I mean, maybe we should be worried. We know how well you and glasses filled with liquid get along…”
Katie slapped her hand against her chest where her heart was. “Oh! She strikes a deadly blow!”
They laughed together, then a beat went by before Addison turned to give her a quick look. “Seriously. You’re not freaking out, are you?”
Katie felt the grimace distort her lips. “A little, yeah.”
“Would you rather skip it?”
Trying to read Addison’s expression in the dark interior of the car was difficult, but Katie was pretty sure she saw enough: concern, a little bit of worry, and something else…something that said she hoped Katie would say no. So Katie was honest. “Of course not. I want to go. Very much. Honestly, I think it makes sense that I’m nervous.” She gave a one-shouldered shrug. “You do this kind of thing all the time. The last fancy gathering I went to was my senior prom.”
“So…three years ago?” A teasing lilt.
“You’re funny,” Katie said. “More like ten.”
“I see. Well, a few nerves are healthy, I suppose, but really, Katie, you have nothing to be nervous about. I’ve seen you interact with strangers, people you’ve just met. You’re great. And people like to talk to you. You make them feel comfortable.”
Well, that was an interesting compliment. Katie decided not to question it, just to take it. “Thanks.”
“Listen…I usually need to chill out and unwind a bit before these things. Are you busy tomorrow, early afternoon? Like, one? Want to come with me?”
Now that the home health aide was visiting regularly, Katie had less guilt about doing things because her mother was starting to have less guilt about doing things. Katie was scheduled to watch her father in the morning, but the aide was coming at noon and staying through dinner. Katie’s mother had agreed to cover the evening so Katie could go to the gala.
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