by Claire Adams
I could see Noah sizing up Ian, realizing that there was no way in hell he’d ever come out of any physical altercation with him on top. He gave me one last pleading look.
“Fine,” he said when I didn’t say anything. “I don’t know who you think you are, telling people how to live their lives,” he said as he started to walk away. “You don’t get to call the shots!” he shouted, right as he was about to disappear around the block.
Ian stared after him, jaw clenched.
“Come on,” he said after a minute, “let’s get inside.”
Inside, Ian paced in front of the window. “That’s unfuckingbelievable,” Ian said. “How often does he do that sort of thing? Why didn’t you tell me? He could be dangerous. He is clearly completely unstable. I should beat his fucking ass next time he comes around.”
“I think it’ll help that he saw us together,” I said. “I’ve been trying to tell him that there’s nothing going on between us and he just doesn’t seem to be able to get the idea through his head.”
Now, Ian turned. “Is there? Or was there?”
“What? Something going on between us? No! We got a smoothie together at the gym once. And it was awkward and weird, and I figured that we were both relieved when it was over and we could go our separate ways and not have to speak to each other again.”
I could tell he was trying to restrain himself. “How was it awkward and weird?”
“I don’t know, it just . . . was. Our conversation wasn’t in sync at all. There’d be these long silences, and then I’d start to say something right when he would, and then both of us would stop, waiting for the other to continue, and then there’d be another awkward silence, and then it would basically just continue like that, on this horrible cycle, until finally it was over. And that was it.”
“Really?” he asked. “That sounds terrible.”
“It was. I didn’t . . . I didn’t feel this connection with him the way I do with you. It’s one of those things that hard to describe, I guess, and maybe doesn’t even make sense if you’ve never felt it before. But beyond thinking you’re the most handsome guy that I’ve ever seen, I really feel like there is this connection there.”
My words seemed to have a calming effect on him, and he walked away from the window and came over, putting his arms around me. “I don’t want some creep out there, stalking you,” he said. “That’s not okay.”
“I know.”
“I’m going to get a couple of the guys from work out here.”
“You don’t need to do that.” I started to say that Jonathan had already offered, but I stopped.
“I know I don’t need to, but I want to. At least until he gets the idea.”
He had a look on his face that told me no matter how much I argued it, his mind was made up. And there was a part of me that thought maybe it’d be a good thing, that maybe Noah would finally get the hint.
It felt like it’d been a little while since the last time I saw Caroline, so I texted her and asked if she wanted to meet up for a drink.
“I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever!” she said. “Even though I know it hasn’t been that long. How are you? How’s everything?”
“Things are good,” I said. “Really good, actually.”
She grinned. “I figured.”
“You did?”
“Yeah, well, I saw Billy here the other night. I’m so happy for you! He seems like such a great guy.”
I stared at her. “Huh? Billy? What are you talking about?”
She clapped her hand over her mouth. “Shit. Was I not supposed to say anything? He said that you guys had hung out the other night and that . . . well, obviously he hasn’t told you yet, so I don’t want to ruin the surprise. Let’s just say I’m really happy that you’re hanging out with him and not Ian!”
“What surprise?”
“I’m not going to tell you! He’ll be mad at me. He really is a riot.”
“No, Caro, you don’t understand—there’s nothing going on between me and Billy. What surprise are you talking about? What did he say he was going to do?”
“Is this just your sneaky way of getting me to tell you what it is? By playing dumb?”
“No—I really have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“You haven’t been hanging out with Billy? I figured that’s why I haven’t seen you around as much.”
“Um . . . There was this one time we hung out because Ian was late meeting me. The time he told me about the other secretaries and stuff. That was it. And the time before with you.” I paused. “Oh wait. And another time, right after Ian told me about his previous secretary. I was a little upset.”
“Upset about what?”
I paused. Had I not told Caroline about that? “Did I not tell you?” I asked.
She shook her head. “Tell me what?”
“Uh . . .” Well, this certainly wouldn’t win him any points in her book. “He might have gotten his previous secretary pregnant.”
“Are you fucking kidding me.”
“No.”
“And you’re fine with this?”
“I’m not psyched about it, it’s not my first choice, but there’s nothing that I can do about it.”
Caroline shook her head. “Damn, girl, this is the sort of shit you’re supposed to run away from. Not run into the arms of. Billy is looking better and better by the second.”
“But I really don’t know why he’d be thinking there was something going on between us. I really don’t.”
I wracked my brain, trying to remember the particular details of that night. I hadn’t been in the best mood. I’d had a little too much to drink. Had I said something? Had I done something with him? No. I knew I hadn’t done anything—we hadn’t kissed or anything like that—but maybe he’d taken things the wrong way. I did accept that piggyback ride . . .
“Oh.” Caroline sat back in her chair, looking perplexed. “Maybe I misunderstood . . . I was a little buzzed when we started talking, to be honest, but he was definitely going on and on about you. He said that he was going to surprise you by flying you into Hyannis and then going to the beach house his family has in Wellfleet.”
“Ian and I are actually together,” I said. “I know you’re not going to be thrilled to hear that.”
“Wait—you’re seeing him again?” Caroline asked. “He’s not coming here now, is he?”
“No, he’s not, I thought we could use a little girl time, but I would really appreciate it if you would try to give him another chance.”
She gave me a skeptical look and didn’t say anything.
“Come on, Caro!” I said, laughing. “I’m just asking you to give him another chance, not peel your own fingernails off.”
“That might be more appealing, actually.”
“I would do it for you,” I said. “If I knew that you felt about some guy the way I feel about Ian, then I would certainly at least give him another chance for your sake.”
She threw up her hands. “Now you’re going to guilt trip me! Fine—I’ll give him another chance, but I really do think this is the worst idea in the world. Well, maybe second to worst. Probably the worst would be going out with Noah.”
“Oh yeah, speaking of Noah—he was there waiting for me when Ian and I were getting home and there ended up being this confrontation. Ian said he’s going to have a couple guys keep an eye out for me, just to make sure that Noah stays away.”
“Like, there’s going to be security guys following you around?”
“Sort of . . . It’s not going to be like I suddenly have this entourage or anything. They’ll be way more discreet. But that makes me feel a little better about it.”
“I can’t believe it’s gotten to the point that you need security guards. This whole thing is messed up. Don’t even get me started on the fact that you’re willingly choosing to get back with a guy who’s having a baby with someone else. I think that’s really the story here. There are sooooo many other guys ou
t there, Daisy! You don’t have to do this.”
I knew that I didn’t have to do it—what Caroline didn’t realize was that I wanted to.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Ian
It’d probably be fair to say that up until I met Daisy, I didn’t really have any idea about the notion of being in love. The idea of it still sort of freaked me out, but what other explanation was there for this excitement I felt whenever I was around her, or on my way to see her?
Before I’d stopped by her apartment a few days ago on Sunday to give her those flowers, I’d been hoping against hope that she’d be able to look past all the shit with Annie. I’d bought the flowers on a whim and had hoped she’d at least take them from me, though it wouldn’t have surprised me if she slammed the door in my face. But that hadn’t happened, and I couldn’t remember a time in my life when I’d felt more relieved about something. It surprised me, in a way, to be feeling this way to begin with, but I actually rather liked it.
At work though, it still made sense to keep things quiet, which really only enhanced the sexual tension between us. Just watching her from my desk as she went about whatever it was she was doing, only to have her look up and catch me made me want to pull her into my office and have her right there on my desk, door open for all to see, I didn’t care. Being in the office when she was there was a good exercise in restraint.
That Wednesday, though, I packed up my stuff on time and got ready to leave.
“You’re heading out?” Daisy asked.
“It’s Wednesday,” Jonathan said. “He’s got to go visit his stepfather.”
“Oh, that’s right. Could I come with you?”
“Uh, sure,” I said, because she’d caught me completely off guard. Why the hell did she want to come with me? Not that I wouldn’t mind her company, but it seemed like an odd request . . . until I remembered that she thought I was doing this because I actually cared about Pete. “It might not be the most exciting thing, but . . .”
“I bet it’ll be great,” she said. “Let me just run and use the bathroom.”
“I just talked to Dan,” Jonathan said, “and they’re down at the harbor, waiting for Martin and his group.”
“Okay,” I said, nodding. “I don’t anticipate there being any issues. Weren’t they planning on leaving earlier? I thought I heard something about early afternoon.”
“Yeah, but there was an issue at Logan, something about lost luggage. It’s getting sorted.”
“All right, I’m ready,” Daisy said when she returned.
I tried to ignore the look that Jonathan was giving me as we left. And as we were driving to the Eagle Hollow, I was thinking that “great” might not be the exact term I’d use to describe it, but who knew; maybe it would be.
“He had a stroke,” I said to Daisy as we walked into the facility. “So he can’t actually talk. As far as anyone knows, though, he understands things completely.”
“That must be so hard,” she said. “To lose your ability to speak but to still be able to hear and understand. I can’t even imagine.”
“Well, I’m sure he’ll be glad to meet you. This is his room right here.” I paused before we went in. I hadn’t parked where I normally did; this time I parked in the visitors’ parking area, which wasn’t visible from Pete’s window. I cleared my throat before we went in.
“Hi there, Pete,” I said. “This might surprise you, but I’ve brought a visitor with me. I thought you might like to meet Daisy.”
She walked into the room, a smile on her face. She didn’t seem the least bit uncomfortable, and I felt my skin start to crawl as she went over to his wheelchair. My instinct was to shield her from him, but what was he going to do? He couldn’t get up; he couldn’t even speak.
“Very nice to meet you,” she said, taking a seat across from him. “I’m Daisy. That was one of the first things I learned about Ian, that he had a stepfather that he came and still visited, which I thought was really great of him to do.”
Oh, Jesus. She continued to talk, and I tried to keep a straight face. It wasn’t that I was tempted to burst out laughing or anything—it was more like I wanted to cringe. Most people would have been somewhat uncomfortable at having to have a conversation with someone who couldn’t actually respond to what they were saying, but Daisy didn’t seem the list bit bothered. It would appear as though she had missed her calling as a nurse, or maybe a preschool teacher.
I sat down in the other chair and watched Pete watch her. It was clearly a mistake to bring her here, as this was no doubt the highlight of his day, perhaps the highlight of his entire life. A young beautiful woman, focusing all of her attention on him. His eyes shifted over to me for a second, and I just stared at him, hoping he’d get the clue that this wasn’t some sort of kindness on my part. My phone started to vibrate in my pocket, but I ignored it. Daisy kept talking with Pete, talking with him as though he were a participant in the conversation.
“They said it’s probably going to be very humid tomorrow, so you’re lucky you have air conditioning in here,” she said. She looked around the room. “This is a very nice place.”
My phone buzzed again, and I pulled it out of my pocket to peek at the screen. Dan. The clock on my phone said that we’d already been here for almost half an hour longer than I usually stayed, so I stood up, touching Daisy’s shoulder. “We better get going,” I said. “I need to take this call from Dan.”
“Why don’t you do that and I’ll sit with Pete a little bit longer,” Daisy said.
“Sure, fine,” I said. “I’ll just be out in the hallway.”
I stepped out into the hall and called Dan back. He answered on the first ring.
“We’ve got a problem.” He did not sound happy.
“What’s up?” I said.
“I’ve been calling and calling. I haven’t been able to get a hold of you or Jonathan! Where the hell have you been?”
“What’s going on?” I could hear a lot of commotion in the background. “Are you on the boat?”
“No, I’m not on the boat because it’s a fuckin mob scene down here.”
“Mob scene? What are you talking about?”
“There’s a shitload of people down here! People that aren’t supposed to be here, I can tell you that much. Martin is furious; I think he wants to call the whole thing off. At the very least, he wants to see you.”
“Well, where are they? Did they get on the boat?”
“No, they went back to his house. So you should probably head over there.”
I groaned. All those people down there, hoping to catch a glimpse of the Hollywood celebrities. How had word gotten out about it? This was bullshit.
“If they’re all back at Martin’s house, why the hell is there still a huge crowd there?”
“It’s dispersed a bit; half of them tried to follow the cars back to Martin’s, so we sent some guys with them, but a bunch of them stayed because they’re convinced that they’re going to come back to board the boat. This is a huge fucking mess.”
“I’ll handle it,” I said, hanging up the phone and stuffing it back into my pocket. I gritted my teeth as I went back into the room to get Daisy. FUCK.
I didn’t get into all the details with Daisy, but I told her I needed to drop her off because there was a crisis of sorts at work that I needed to deal with. Thankfully, she didn’t ask too many questions. Jonathan called as I was driving over to Martin’s South End brownstone.
“I’m heading over there right now,” I said.
“Good luck with that,” Jonathan said, sounding grim. “He sounded pissed when I talked to him.”
“He is! His whole fucking dream cruise trip was almost ruined. Granted, it wasn’t, so maybe he should get over it, but either way, it doesn’t look good. I don’t know how it got out about that happening, but it must’ve been someone from his end. Maybe it was his daughter, for Christ’s sake. Teenagers are always going gaga for famous actors and shit.”
“That see
ms the most likely.”
“Parents are always turning a blind eye to the shit their kids do,” I said.
“Yeah. He definitely wanted to put the blame somewhere else.”
“Well, now I have to go deal with it.”
“You want me to go with you?”
I considered this. Maybe it would be better if there was two of us. But maybe not. I knew what Martin really needed to do was bitch at someone, get it out of his system, and hopefully move on.
“It’s all right,” I said. “I’ll deal with it.”
When I got there, though, Martin wasn’t interested in hearing any apologies. He wanted to lay into someone about it, and that’s exactly what I had to let him do. “This was a disaster,” Martin said. “A complete disaster on every level. I work with you, Ian, because you’re a professional in every way—discretion being at the top of that list. You know as well as I do that there are half a dozen other companies we could have gone with, but we decided to go with you. But after all this, I’m starting to wonder if that was the right choice.”
“We’ve always done right by you,” I said.
“Not today you haven’t! There’s no way that information should have gotten out like that,” Martin said.
“I can assure you, it wasn’t on our end,” I said.
But he was shaking his head. “So what are you saying? Are you trying to blame us? Are you trying to say this was somehow our fault?”
Yes and no. There was no way any of our guys would have leaked that information about Martin’s goddamn cruise—unless they wanted to be out of a job. Martin was right—discretion was supremely important, and though we did have a lot of guys working for us, only the ones who I could trust completely had specific knowledge of events like these.
Martin was pissed, though, there was no doubt about it, though he was doing his best to keep it in check. His face was turning red, and I could see a vein in his forehead that I’d never noticed before. Probably because we’d never had an incident like this.
“You got an answer for me?”
I gritted my teeth and tried not to have a childhood flashback; that was what Pete was always saying after he’d used me as a punching bag: You think anyone’s ever gonna have any respect for a pussy like you? What? You got an answer for me? I can’t hear you!