Until There Was Us

by Samantha Chase

  Danny seemed to relax a little. His eyes closed, and his breathing seemed to settle a bit.

  Reaching behind him, Alex pulled his chair a little closer. He kept the other hand on Danny the entire time. He needed the connection—needed to maybe give him some of his strength even now.

  “It’s…going…to…be…okay,” Danny whispered. “I’m…finally…going…to…be…okay.”

  Alex forced himself to nod and to keep his tears at bay.

  And for the next hour, he talked about all of the crazy things they’d done when they were kids, and when he finally got up to leave, Danny had fallen asleep with a smile on his face.

  * * *

  She had a strategy.

  Start with casual and have a glass of wine.

  Talk a little about the transition to the new computer system over appetizers.

  And have a glass of wine.

  By the time they were having their entrée—and on their third glass of wine—her brother should have unclenched enough to talk about what was going on with him.

  Megan was grabbing her purse when Christian walked into her office space.

  “Would you be opposed to grabbing some Chinese food on the way home?” he asked. “I know we talked about going out, but I think I would prefer to just hang at home. What do you think?”

  She thought it was going to make her plan go even more smoothly.

  With a big smile, she said, “Sounds perfect to me. Let’s go!”

  Christian drove, and they walked into the restaurant and scanned the menu together, laughing about the things they used to refuse to eat as children but now loved. As they waited for their order, Megan kept the conversation light and casual—hoping to get her brother to relax. She already knew he had an extensive wine collection at his house, so there was no need to make any other stops.

  At the house, Christian set up the food while Megan quickly excused herself to change into her comfy clothes. Five minutes later, she was strolling into the kitchen in confusion.

  Where was her brother?

  Where was the food?

  “I thought dinner out on the deck might be nice,” he said as he walked into the kitchen to grab a bottle of wine.

  He definitely looked more relaxed, and even though he was still basically wearing what he’d worn to work—minus the tie and jacket—his hair was a little mussed, and he didn’t seem quite so uptight.

  Outside, they had a fantastic view of the ocean, and even Megan had to admit it would be hard to be stressed out with a view like this outside your window every day. Within minutes they each had started to eat.

  “So, what are your thoughts on how it’s all going?” Christian asked.

  Considering they had been talking for the past forty minutes about everything but work, she figured she was okay with talking about it now.

  “I think it’s going well,” she replied. “You have a great team, the system you have in place is running fine, and your employees are all knowledgeable on how to use it. Personally, I don’t think any of them are going to struggle with the new system at all. Like anything else, there’s always a learning curve, but this will go much more quickly than Zach’s transition.”

  He smiled. “Good,” he said with a hint of cockiness. “It will be fun to be able to tease him with that knowledge at a later date.”

  She laughed, and when Christian joined her, the last of any worry left her. Growing up, Christian was usually the more serious sibling, but he had a great laugh and an even greater smile. And right now with the ocean breeze blowing his dark hair and his blue eyes full of mischief, she saw the first signs of the boy he’d been before the corporate machine of Montgomerys had taken over.

  Megan was about to comment on that when her phone rang. Excusing herself, she walked into the house to grab it and saw it was her father calling.

  Tenth time since she’d arrived.

  Opting to let it go to voicemail—and not feel guilty about it—she carried the phone out to the table and sat back down.

  “Everything okay?” Christian asked.

  “Just Dad calling. Again,” she said with a small laugh. “I’m sure he’s leaving a message. I wanted to be able to enjoy my dinner without talking business with him again.”

  Christian nodded and gave a mirthless laugh. “You better get used to it. This is going to become your new normal.”

  She looked at him oddly. “What does that mean?”

  Christian put his fork down, reached for his wineglass, and took a sip before answering her. “It means Dad likes to micromanage. And not just at the office. He has a tendency to want to know what you’re doing at all times and then tell you what you should be doing.” He paused and looked out at the water. “Sometimes I wish he’d back off. I look at how Uncle William is with Mac and Lucas and Jace and wonder why Dad can’t be more like that. They all work together but Uncle William doesn’t hover.”

  Unable to help herself, she laughed. “Are you kidding me? Are you forgetting how he meddled in their lives and played matchmaker to them?”

  Christian looked at her, and what she saw in his eyes almost broke her heart. “He did it to make their lives better. Not control them.”

  Okay, clearly they were getting somewhere…

  Reaching across the table, Megan took her brother’s hand in hers. She did not want to jump in and ask him what had happened, so she decided on a more roundabout approach. “Have I told you about Aunt Monica’s attempt at matchmaking?”

  A slow smile spread across Christian’s face as he shook his head.

  She relayed the story about how Aunt Monica and their mother were essentially grilling poor Alex before and after they had started dating. “I’m telling you, that day at Zach’s, the look of sheer panic on his face was almost comical.”

  “I’m sure Uncle William was ready to jump right in after that,” he said with a small laugh.

  But Megan shook her head. “I think he’s ready to move on to his grandchildren now.”

  “Seriously? They’re all under the age of ten. How much matchmaking can he do?”

  She laughed. “For now I think he’s just observing, but you never know.”

  They ate in companionable silence for a few minutes before Christian spoke again.

  “Don’t you wish…I don’t know…maybe our parents were more like that? More concerned about our happiness than about business?”

  “I think Dad struggles to try to keep up with Uncle William where business is concerned, and he’s a little more uptight about appearances. He and Uncle Robert share that trait.”

  “That’s for sure.”

  “But…I had a good conversation with Dad last Friday,” she said, relaxing back in her chair. “A really good one, and I thought we had turned a corner. But since I got here he has been all over my every move.”

  “Like I said, get used to it.” He paused and took another sip of his wine. “What made you think you had turned a corner with him?”

  She told him about their conversation about Alex. “For the first time in my entire life, he told me he wanted me to be happy.”

  Christian snorted with disbelief. “Right. He lulled you into a false sense of security to convince you to take the job. Then he’ll do everything he can to monopolize your time so you can’t possibly be happy. Trust me on this one, Megan.”

  She was about to question him, but the Pandora’s box was open, and he was more than willing to explain it all.

  “He’ll praise the hell out of your work ethic and tell everyone how great you are at your job. But the minute you don’t do what he wants, he won’t have a problem guilting you into seeing things his way, and he won’t care about who you’re with or what his demands are costing you.”

  “Christian, what in the world happened?”

  Finishing off his wine, he quickly poured a
nother glass and pushed his dinner plate away. “Do you have any idea how much I loved living in London?” he asked defensively, but he didn’t wait for an answer. “It was a dream come true because it got me away from everyone. Then…Dad starts taking trips over to see how things are going. I was involved with someone—she was my assistant, actually—and he got all over me about how unprofessional I was and how I was jeopardizing the company reputation.”

  “That’s ridiculous! Look at Lucas and Emma! And Jason and Maggie! Hell, even Zach and Gabriella!” she cried in outrage for him.

  But he shrugged. “At the time, there was no Zach and Gabriella, so…” Then he shook his head. “Anyway, he started staying for longer periods of time, and things became strained with Poppy.”

  “Poppy? Seriously?” she asked and had to hide a smirk.

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah…ridiculous name, I know,” he murmured. “Anyway, things were getting tense between us and Dad was always there, and then he went and hired a new assistant for me and transferred Poppy to work with my VP, David.”

  “Oh…wow. How…? I mean…how could he possibly think he had the right to do something like that?”

  “At the time we were involved in working some major deals—one of the biggest financial deals of my career. If I could stay focused on contract negotiations and making the client happy, it would be the ultimate victory for me. The kind of deal I had worked for my entire life. And I thought if I could prove to him I could handle an account of that magnitude, he’d back off.”

  Megan was on the edge of her seat. “So what happened?”

  “I closed the deal. Made a shit-ton of money for the company,” he said, his voice void of emotion.

  She gave him a bland look to let him know that wasn’t what she was referring to.

  “Closed the deal on a Friday. Dad called and asked me to meet him at the office on Saturday morning. I thought it was odd because we had planned on meeting for lunch, but he insisted I come to the office first.” He took another long drink of wine. “When I arrived, he wasn’t there. But Poppy and David were.”

  At first she didn’t understand what he was saying.

  And then she did.

  “Turns out the two of them had been carrying on for quite some time,” he said. “And somehow, Dad had found out about it. As I was standing there screaming at the two of them and demanding to know how they could do this to me, in strolls dear old Dad to say I told you so.”

  Her eyes went wide. “Are you kidding me?”

  “Do I look like I’m kidding?” he deadpanned.

  “But…how did he know?”

  Christian shrugged. “He claimed he noticed some lingering looks and caught them whispering with one another a few times and then he hired a private investigator. When he knew he had the proof…well…there we all were.”

  “So…then what?” she asked hesitantly.

  “Then I fired them both, told Dad to leave, and then spent the better part of a month getting the company in order because I wanted out. Luckily that was around the time Ryder was looking for someone to come here and take over temporarily so he could take a break. And then it just worked out that he didn’t want to come back and I had no place else to go.”

  “I…I don’t even know what to say. Does…does anyone else know about this?”

  He shook his head. “You’re the only one I’ve told, and I doubt Dad has shared the story.”

  They sat there in silence, and Megan’s mind reeled. “Is that why—”

  “I don’t interact with any of my employees any more than I have to,” he said, knowing where she was going. “I’m not looking to be anybody’s friend, and I don’t want anyone to misconstrue anything I do or say. It’s better this way.”

  “Is it?” she asked sadly.

  His expression was equally sad when he looked at her. “I’m getting used to it.”

  “I don’t think you are,” she countered. “You’re obviously miserable here. You’re miserable at work, in your personal life…I think it’s time you started to live for yourself, Christian.”

  “Like you?” he asked snidely. “You seem like you’re finally happy, you’re in a relationship with a guy you say is amazing, and yet you’re diving into this project that will ruin all of that. Is that what you want?”

  She sighed. “Why isn’t it this way for any of our cousins? How is it possible that it’s just us?”

  “It’s not. James walked away from it all, and Zach moved across the country to avoid working with Uncle Robert. Maybe we’re just bad about setting boundaries.”

  And that sounded exactly right. “How do we fix that?”

  “Hell if I know, kiddo.” Looking at her, he gave her a sad smile. “But promise me something.”

  “Anything.”

  “You’re not too deeply entrenched in all of this yet. You know if you wanted to, you could work for Zach and be perfectly fine there. You don’t need to take on the whole company. Learn from my mistake. Don’t give up something that could bring you a lifetime of happiness for the few bits of praise and approval Dad’s going to throw your way.”

  “Do you really feel like you gave up a chance at happiness with Poppy?”

  He shook his head. “No. I didn’t see that as a forever type of relationship. But now I’m so paranoid about any type of relationship that I’ll never have the chance to find out if I could have one.”

  And damn if that wasn’t the most depressing thing she’d ever heard.

  This was the exact kind of thing she was planning on talking about with Alex when she got home. She didn’t want to make the wrong decision, and she didn’t want to sacrifice what they had for the sake of a job. The only thing holding her back was the fact that for as comfortable and as confident as she felt in their relationship, they had yet to talk about the future.

  Well, they had talked about her moving in with him, so that was a good sign, but…it certainly wasn’t a promise of forever.

  And she wanted forever with Alex. She knew that now.

  Honestly, she had known that since the first time he’d kissed her.

  She needed to be brave and believe in herself—in them—and show him she no longer was the woman who lived for her career or for her father’s approval. The only one she wanted to please was herself.

  And him.

  As if sensing her inner thoughts, Christian refreshed her wine and refilled their dinner plates. When she looked at him questioningly, he smiled. “So tell me about Alex.”

  * * *

  Saturday morning Alex was up early and anxious for Megan to arrive. He went for a run, and on his way home he stopped at the deli to pick up some salads and some of Megan’s favorites for lunch. She’d only been gone for six days, but it felt like so much longer. It was important for everything to be perfect when she got home and for them to have everything they would need for the weekend so they wouldn’t have to leave unless they wanted to.

  And he seriously hoped she wouldn’t want to.

  With his arms loaded with groceries, he stepped into the house and immediately began to put things away. Once that was done, he looked at the clock and saw he still had two hours before he had to leave for the airport. Muttering a curse, he went upstairs, showered, and got dressed.

  And then he only had an hour and forty-five minutes to wait.

  “It’s like the clock isn’t even trying to move,” he muttered.

  So he went downstairs and double-checked on what he had planned for dinner, ran the vacuum, and then sat down to look over his schedule for the week. He had cleared everything from his schedule for Monday so they could spend the day together and he hoped she was able to do the same. Maybe Zach would need her to come in to the office, but hopefully not for the entire day.

  His phone beeped with an incoming text.

  On the plane! Some storms here earl
ier, but we’re supposed to take off soon. May be fifteen minutes late.

  Putting the phone down, he wished he had asked her to call him so he could have at least talked to her for a little while. A fifteen-minute delay wasn’t the worst thing in the world. Still, he hated the thought of her taking off under those conditions. She’d be home soon enough, but right now he missed the sound of her voice. Actually, he just missed her.

  And after he got her home and they spent several hours exhausting one another, he planned on taking Danny’s advice and finally telling Megan how he felt. What was he waiting for? If he had been smarter, he would have planned this better—instead of simply welcoming her home, he would have set everything up for a romantic proposal.

  “Way to think of this great idea ninety minutes before she comes home, idiot,” he chided himself.

  And while his mind raced with possibilities, there wasn’t time for him to get it all done.

  “For the love of it…there has got to be something I can do!” Beyond frustrated, Alex stood and tried to think of something productive to do to pass the time. He was so damn organized and practical in his everyday life that there was literally nothing that needed to be done.

  And for once, that gave him no pleasure.

  He needed something to do. A distraction.

  He wished he had opted to run those two extra miles this morning.

  It was too late to go ring shopping, and there wasn’t time for him to plan the kind of romantic gesture he wanted when he proposed, so he was back to square one. Deciding to give Zach a call and maybe feel him out about Megan’s schedule on Monday, he almost jumped when the phone rang as soon as he went to reach for it. The phone number on the screen wasn’t familiar, but that wasn’t anything new. A lot of times he received calls from doctors or other therapists who were looking for a referral from him or even to refer him to a client in need of his services.

  Swiping the screen, he answered, “Hello?”

  He listened for a solid minute as his heart began to beat so hard in his chest that it verged on painful. And then everything in him froze as the phone crashed to the floor.

  Danny was gone.