by Cari Quinn
But she didn’t call. She wouldn’t even give him that satisfaction. No matter what she said, he’d probably see it as her attempting to grovel. Silence was her best weapon. And eventually, if the fates were kind, she simply wouldn’t care anymore.
She got through each day by rote until her birthday. Maybe not well, but she managed. Then she woke with a single-minded goal.
She needed to know who the woman was.
For some reason, she hadn’t asked when Spencer had confessed all. The idea he’d really been with someone else, had made love to the nameless, faceless woman only hours after touching her, had been all she could focus on. But with the cool objectivity of five days apart, she could see she’d erred.
She got to work on time, as always, and waited for her target to appear. The instant she spotted her immediate supervisor in the hall outside the break room, Kelly pounced.
“Who was the woman Spencer slept with here?” she asked without preamble.
The “situation” from his past may have had no bearing on the present. But the timing of Saturday’s meeting and his subsequent behavior was a little iffy, to say the least. She wasn’t a fan of Agatha Christie for nothing. The answer was right in front of her, she just knew it.
Marcia jolted but she recovered quickly. “You mean besides you?”
“Don’t start. Not today.”
“Why? Because you have your special birthday undies on?”
Kelly narrowed her eyes. “Give me her name. That’s all I want.”
Marcia hesitated. “Kelly, if something happened between you and Spencer, I really shouldn’t get involved.”
“Marcia, please. I have to know.”
Marcia’s gaze cut to the tall brunette woman posting a sign-up sheet in the break room for a company picnic. She’d arrived at the store a few days ago and introduced herself as Diana Sinclair, the daughter of the owners. And yesterday, she’d led their first staff meeting in Spencer’s absence. She’d been peppy and enthusiastic, the ultimate cheerleader in spiked heels. Yes, there would be some changes within the store, but they were for everyone’s benefit. And oh yeah, have a cookie.
Between Leigh and this new chick, Kelly was starting to intensely dislike peanut butter.
It took a minute, but Marcia’s interest in the attractive brunette finally made sense. So the snake in the grass had returned home. Quite coincidental actually, considering Spencer had supposedly met with the owners Saturday night and yet he’d come back smelling like eau de skank.
Kelly slipped her hands in the pockets of her simple patchwork dress. The look was a bit more country casual than she usually went for, but today she’d decided to pay full homage to her beatnik heritage. She wore clogs and socks to go with the dress her mother had made, completely unconcerned about her appearance. Why bother dressing up? What was the point? But now, she had new resolve.
She murmured to Marcia, “Did he meet with her the other night?”
“I don’t know.”
“Of course you don’t.” There was only way to find out if she’d misconstrued everything. She’d just have to ask her new boss exactly how friendly she got with her underlings.
Good thing she’d never been one to stand on ceremony.
“What exactly is going on with you guys?” Marcia asked.
“Spencer and me? Nothing. We’re officially dormant.” She gave Marcia her sunniest smile. “Leave Ms. Sinclair and me alone for a little chat, would you?”
“Kel, I need you on the floor.”
She shooed Marcia away with a flap of her hands. “I’ll be there soon. Promise.”
“Kelly, wait.” Marcia grabbed her arm and tugged her up the hall, stopping well out of listening distance. Great sign. “There’s something you should know.”
Kelly pressed a hand against her uneasy stomach. She had enough to deal with right now. Did Marcia really need to tack on more? “Okay.”
“I was the one who gave Spencer your PDA,” she said in a low voice.
Kelly narrowed her eyes. “What?”
“It was me.” She sighed and gazed at the toes of her plum pumps. “You must’ve left it on the table when you had lunch with Cale and he came to me to ask my opinion.”
“Your opinion on what? And why the hell didn’t he just return it?” Kelly crossed her arms over her chest. Cripes, how many more people she cared for would she have to forget about this week?
“He knew you had the hots for Spencer and he figured this would push you together.” The corner of her mouth tipped up. “Well, he figured that eventually. It took some convincing.”
Kelly worked on taking even breaths. “He figured telling other employees about my list would push us together, huh? And what exactly was his reasoning for nosing through my files to begin with?”
“He only told me. I told Tony. The PDA was in screensaver mode and he double checked to make sure it was yours—”
“Nice try.” Kelly rolled her eyes. “He didn’t know it was mine?”
“He said he wanted to be sure.” Marcia shrugged. “And the list was right there. He couldn’t resist when he saw the name of the file.”
Kelly winced. Yeah, a file named Top Ten To Fuck would probably get some notice. That she’d renamed it as a joke between her and Alana after her best friend had been named one of the top ten photographers to watch in the Roanoke area didn’t really make her feel better.
“He wanted to help you,” Marcia insisted. “He thinks of you as a friend. And I…”
“You what? We’re not friends. We never have been. Why would you care if I hooked up with your brother?”
“Because I knew he had feelings for you too.”
“Oh did you.” Kelly didn’t phrase it as a question, because she knew the sentiment was pure bullshit. Still, hope flared inside her.
“Yes. I did. Well, I suspected. It’s not like we had a heart-to-heart about it.”
“And again, why would you want me with him? Why would you care?”
“Why would I care? He’s my little brother. Surprise, I want him happy.” Marcia gave a jerky shrug. “Honestly, I wasn’t sure what your motives were. I didn’t know if he was just a notch for you or a way to get ahead. But Cale assured me you weren’t like that.”
“And you trust Cale that much.”
Something about the shifty expression that slid over Marcia’s face made Kelly stand up straighter. What the hell? Was something going on between Cale and Marcia? What about Tony?
“Yes, I do,” she said softly.
Kelly blew out a breath. She had her own issues and they didn’t include Marcia’s tangled relationships. “Look, I appreciate you telling me the truth. I guess I also appreciate you both trying to play matchmaker. But that list shouldn’t have been made public. If Cale wanted to be my friend, he should have let me handle my own damn love life.”
“He was going to. I’m the one who insisted Spencer needed to have it.” Marcia smiled thinly. “Let’s just say I was pretty sure how Spence would react. From the way the two of you have been flitting around each other lately, looks like I was right.”
“And you told Tony why?”
Marcia suddenly seemed preoccupied with her manicure. “He acts like he thinks he’s God’s gift to women sometimes, so I figured it might bring him down a peg or two to know at least one woman didn’t want him.”
“Did it?”
Marcia grinned. “Nope. He’s incorrigible. Which is the way I like him.”
Kelly dug her thumbs into her aching temples. Too many nights of too little sleep were catching up to her. “Thanks for the heads-up. But it doesn’t matter much now, does it?”
“Are you sure?”
“It’s not about me being sure. It’s about Spencer making his own choices and me making the choice not to let him hurt me.”
Marcia touched her arm. “Doesn’t look like it’s working, Kel,” she said, her voice gentle. “You look like you haven’t slept in a month.”
“Only a week or two.” She tried t
o smile, thought she knew the attempt fell flat when Marcia frowned. “I need to talk to Diana.”
“Be my guest.” Marcia leaned in and whispered, “If you need to clean up the blood, there’s a mop in the closet.”
Kelly laughed and returned to the break room, quietly shutting the door. No need to slam it. Yet.
When she turned to face Diana, Diana shifted toward her with a bland smile. “Kelly, is it?”
Caught off guard, Kelly bit her lip. “Um, yeah. How do you know me?”
Diana went back to drawing columns on her whiteboard. “I asked questions, just as you asked about me. Only difference was I know how to be discreet.” She made a low tsking sound in her throat. “Either you were unconcerned about being overheard or you’re just stupid. Which is it?”
Kelly’s fingers curled into her palms. Well, this certainly wasn’t proceeding as planned. This one had some bite to her. Apparently Spencer liked the feisty type.
But she wasn’t too concerned. Diana may be feisty, but Kelly could still kick her ass if need be. And she’d skip using the mop afterward. Better to leave evidence of her fresh kill.
“This may surprise you, but I didn’t think the woman I was looking for was still in residence. I thought Spencer had more class than that.”
“Ah, darling. Class has nothing to do with fucking. You’ll learn that in time.” Diana spritzed some cleanser on the board to erase a stray mark. “I don’t know what to make of you. The past few days you’ve been quiet, devoted to the job. And in those clothes, a perfectly harmless little mouse.” She laughed. “Well, not little.”
Oh no, she didn’t. Kelly started to toss back a retort of her own, but Diana cut her off. “So what can I do for you? I’m guessing you didn’t shut us in here so you can sign up to bring meatballs to the company picnic.”
“Hardly.” Kelly crossed her arms over her chest and decided she didn’t have time to pussyfoot around. “I know you slept with Spencer Saturday night. I hope it was good for you, considering he’d just been with me that afternoon.”
She wasn’t completely sure she was right—part of the problem with operating on little to no actual facts—but from the look on Diana’s face as she spared her a glance, she’d guessed correctly.
The goddamn bastard.
“How do you know we slept together?” Diana asked, her voice much quieter than Kelly expected.
“He told me.”
“He told you.”
“Is there an echo in here or what? Yes, he told me.” That’s what he’d said, right? How could she have misheard that one?
Diana finally set down her cloth and her spray bottle and faced Kelly squarely. “We didn’t sleep together, Kelly. I don’t know why he told you we did, but maybe he wanted some space.” She shrugged and picked at her flawless manicure, suddenly seeming a hell of a lot less confident. “Are we done now?”
Kelly gripped her elbows. “And you expect me to believe you over him?”
All at once his words came back to her. Another woman invited me into her bed tonight, Kelly. And I accepted.
“I don’t care what you believe. I’m just telling you the truth.” Her lips curved in the shadow of a smile. “But before you canonize him, we had a…moment, let’s say. One where one or both of us was missing some vital pieces of clothing.”
“I’m sure you’ve been in that position often,” Kelly replied. “Both the lacking clothes and being left before you could get them back on.”
“This conversation’s over.“ Diana resumed making her list on her whiteboard. “In case you didn’t hear my announcement that I’m stepping back into the company, I’m now your boss. And pretty soon you’re going to be skirting the line of insubordination.”
“Won’t be the first time,” Kelly said under her breath.
“Leave that door open,” Diana said, clearly assuming their conversation was finished.
Kelly stared at Diana’s trim ankles, wrapped in thin straps of buttery leather. She had flawless skin and long, lustrous brown hair that belonged in a shampoo commercial. What was it like to be that sort of woman? To be pretty and perfect and so certain of herself, even if the mask had dropped briefly.
“Did you love him?”
“What?” Irritation laced the question.
“Spencer. Did you love him?” Do you still love him? Does he love you? Is that why there’s no room for me?
Diana laughed softly. “Who can say what love is? It’s such a fluid thing. Here today, gone tomorrow.”
Her blithe answer brought tears to Kelly’s eyes. As if it were that simple for her. “For you, maybe. For some of us it doesn’t work that way.”
When Kelly’s voice cracked, Diana glanced at her in alarm. “Then I’m truly sorry for you.”
Kelly wiped her eyes. Her parents might’ve been unreliable, but the one thing they’d taught her was the importance of love. She wouldn’t allow herself to turn off that side of her nature, as much as it hurt right now.
She loved. She wanted to be loved in return. And one day, she would be.
“Don’t be. I’m better off.”
“If you say so. I have a lot to get done, Kelly.”
“Why aren’t you going to the new Virginia store? Since you’re so eager to take over, wouldn’t it make the most sense to start there fresh?”
“Not that I owe you any answers, but Spencer’s handling Virginia. He’ll be there for the next year, and in the meantime, I’ll be here.”
Kelly swallowed thickly. “What do you mean, he’ll be there?”
“He’s moving to Virginia, as was planned. God, do you always talk this much?”
As was planned.
That he hadn’t told her shouldn’t matter anymore. They’d already broken up, if they’d ever been together. But it was just one betrayal too many.
What was she going to do? Wait until Spencer came back from Virginia, then slink around trying to pretend she didn’t care what was going on between him and Diana? Deny she was dying inside every time she looked at him? Maybe she could turn off her feelings if she tried hard enough. In the meantime, every day would be hell. She’d always look at him and Diana and wonder.
Maybe he would never come back. He’d stay in Virginia and then she’d be left to wander past his office, remembering the day she’d come in on him and Leigh. She’d never really gotten the story there either. Maybe Leigh was next on his list.
And if she didn’t think of that day, she’d remember working with him all night long. His mouth on her breasts, his face in her hands. But worst of all, she’d remember the night he’d taken her love and stomped on it before she’d even had the nerve to offer it to him.
Or she could cut her losses.
She’d remember regardless but at least she could get away from this place and not have to see him in every corner. She could start moving on.
Kelly reached up and unclipped her nametag, shocked that her hand could be rock steady when she was about to do the craziest thing she’d ever done. But it was also the most sane.
“I’m leaving,” she said quietly, relieved her eyes were dry. She wouldn’t cry anymore.
“Good. Leave the door open.”
“I mean I’m leaving permanently.” When Diana turned, Kelly set the badge on the conference table where she and Spencer had stared at each other so heatedly. A week ago. Just a week.
A lifetime.
Diana shrugged as if she didn’t care one way or another. Why should she? Kelly was just another cog in her parents’ wheel. “Your choice.”
“Yes. My choice.” For once she wasn’t going to be afraid. She was going to be just fine without the store. Without Spencer. She had two legs and she was going to stand on them.
On her way out, she shut the door.
* * * * *
Spencer picked up his cell, saw the readout and blew out a breath. It was late, and he’d stupidly hoped Kelly was calling. Of course not.
“What do you want, Diana?”
; “Your girlfriend quit,” she said shortly, sounding about as pleased to talk to him as he was to talk to her.
After last night, he couldn’t claim to be surprised. The scene between them had been even bloodier than the one he’d endured with Kelly. Less emotionally scarring, definitely. But the humiliation factor had been sky-high. On both sides.
“Excuse me?”
“Your girlfriend. The one who had you so twisted up last night. Surely you haven’t forgotten her so soon.”
He hadn’t given her Kelly’s name. But Diana had probably done some snooping around and put things together. Then he realized what else she’d said. “What do you mean she quit?”
“She said she was leaving, set down her badge and punched out.”
“Why?”
“Oh I don’t know. Wild guess is she’s not too happy with you. She gave me some speech about not being afraid to love, yadda, yadda.”
He pressed his fingers against the bridge of his nose. He’d rather be anywhere right now but this crappy hotel room in Virginia. “Did you confront her?”
“Of course not. She’s my employee. Or she was. No, she confronted me, full of righteous indignation. Why did you tell her you slept with me? Trying to save your rep?”
He laughed drily. “After last night, I’m thinking my rep’s pretty much destroyed. Have you taken an ad out somewhere yet?”
A long pause. “Look, let’s just forget it. I made a deal with you. You wanted your damn store, you have it.” She didn’t say anything more before she hung up.
Spencer threw his phone across the bed and lay back against the pillows. By now, she had to have received his delivery. But she hadn’t called. She probably wanted a clean break from both him and the store. He couldn’t say he blamed her.
But how could she walk away from the thing she loved most in the world? Whatever the reasons, that had to kill her. He stared at his cell, needing to hear her voice. If he could reassure her somehow, if there was just a way they could be friends even if they weren’t lovers anymore.
If only he could chop off both his arms and not miss them.
Talking to her again would be selfish. But as hard as seeing her again would be, knowing he never would was a hundred times worse. He couldn’t imagine walking into The Book Nook and not finding her there. The mere thought of it made his chest hurt.