She covered his hand with hers. “Charlie, this has nothing to do with anything you did or didn’t do. This is all my fault, not yours.”
“In that case, what if I forgive you?”
“What?”
“What happens then?”
The question was so unexpected, she had no answer.
“We are great together. That’s why we work so well together.” He smiled at her. “We care about each other.”
“I know, but-”
“Are you planning to get back together with Jamie?”
“No!”
“So, what’s the problem?”
“The problem? I slept with another man. This is not going to work between us, Charlie. You know that.”
Charlie shrugged. “I just think it would be a mistake to throw this away. No relationship is perfect. I think there’s something worth salvaging here. The way I see it, we would be right on track if Castleton hadn’t shown up here.”
“Yes, we would.”
“So, let’s forget he ever happened and get back on track. No harm done.”
He sat back in his seat, pleased with his reasoning.
Grace understood for the first time why she was never able to separate the business and relationship sides of Charlie. It was because the businessman and the man were one and the same. She smiled gently at him. “Charlie, can I ask you something?”
“Of course.”
“Do you think you could ever love me?”
He blinked at her in confusion. “Sure.”
“How long do you think it would take?”
“Real love? That kind of thing takes years. You have to really build a foundation with someone if it’s going to last.”
“What about falling in love? Does that take years?”
He made a face. “Now come on. Falling in love is a hormonal reaction. It fades. I thought you were talking about love as in family and friendship. As in caring for someone and supporting them and protecting them. That’s what counts. That’s what I could offer you as my girlfriend.”
“What if I want more?”
Charlie shook his head. “Don’t say that. That’s not you, and it’s not me. That’s why we are perfect together. We are smart, rational people who care about each other. Neither of us is looking for that fairy tale stuff.”
Had she told him that before? Probably. After Jamie broke up with her, she had convinced herself she would be happy with something simpler than passion, than love.
Now, she knew she could never be happy with something less than the real thing. She would rather be alone.
“Charlie, I think you’re going to find out someday that you can fall in love, and that it is real,” she told him. “You’re going to meet someone really special.”
He sighed. “That sounds like a breakup line if I’ve ever heard one.”
“It’s not.” Grace gave him a small smile. “Well, okay, maybe it is, but I really mean it. You’re a great guy, and you’ve got a lot to offer someone. I don’t think you should give up on the fairy tale. I think you should give up on me.”
Charlie returned her smile with a sad one. “I’m not happy about this, Grace, but I’m going to trust that you’re right about us. I’ll trust that you know what you’re doing here.”
“I do. You deserve a lot better, and you’re going to find it.”
“What about you? What do you deserve?” He didn’t ask the question with malice, just curiosity. “Were you in love with Jamie?”
“Yes. But we’re not right for each other.”
“I see.” He leaned back in his seat. “So, what’s the correct protocol here? What do I do with Four Brothers Brewery? I have to be really honest, I’m not too sure I want to work with Castleton anymore, considering he knew of our relationship and decided to pursue you anyway.”
“I don’t blame you,” she said. “Hopefully this will make things easier for you.”
“What will?”
She bit her lip, feeling nervous all over again. “Charlie...”
“Why do I have a feeling I’m not going to like this either?”
She met his eyes and shook her head slightly. “I can’t work here anymore.”
“Why the hell not?”
“It won’t be the same.”
“Because of us? Maybe it will be awkward for a little while, but that will go away. Don’t do something you’re going to regret.”
“Charlie, I can’t work for you anymore. Not after all of this. It wouldn’t be right.”
“Grace.” He closed his eyes. “Give it some more thought.”
She reached for his hand. “I don’t need to. I’m really going to miss you and this place.”
Charlie blew out a breath. “There’s nothing I can do to convince you to stay?”
“This was a risk we took when we decided to date,” she told him. “We both knew it could lead to this. I’m sorry, Charlie.”
There was a brief silence, both of them trying to wrap their heads around this change.
“I suppose you’re not planning to give two weeks notice?” Charlie finally asked.
She hesitated. “Only if you really, really want me to.”
His gray eyes narrowed, considering.
“It would give you time to reconsider.”
“I don’t need it.”
He sighed. “No point dragging all of this out, then. Let’s just rip off the band-aid.”
They both stood up, and she went around to his side of the desk to hug him, sensing the relationship snapping back into a business one. He embraced her warmly, and she knew there would be no hard feelings between them.
“I hope everything works out for you,” he said. “You’re a great person.”
His words warmed her heart. She wished she could have fallen in love with Charlie instead of Jamie, because it would have been so simple. But it wouldn’t have meant half as much.
“I’ll never forget you,” she told him earnestly. “I’ll never forget your friendship and everything you have done for me.”
When they parted, Grace went to tell her coworkers the news. When they asked why she was leaving, she told them she had found another job. It was a lie, and they all knew it, but it was a lot less messy than the truth.
Everyone was supportive, though. Some of the women helped her clear out her desk of everything she needed, and she was relieved to be leaving on good terms with everyone, especially Charlie. It made the situation easier.
She refused to dwell on the scary part of it—the fact that she was now unemployed. She didn’t know what she was going to do for work. There weren’t many marketing jobs in the quiet area she lived in and certainly no other agencies around.
She could try to get a job as a temp or an administrative assistant. It wasn’t the right industry, but at this point it didn’t matter. All that mattered was making sure she had enough to pay the rent and take care of Jake. She would worry about her career later.
When Grace was finished clearing her desk, she noticed she had two voicemails on her machine.
She listened to the first one, knowing before she even heard the voice that it was going to be from Jamie.
“Grace, it’s Jamie. Call me. We need to talk.”
That was it.
What a wordsmith.
She waited for the next message.
“It’s Jamie. Where are you? What’s going on? Your cell phone is off, you’re not answering at work, and you ran off last night without an explanation. I’m starting to get worried about you, Grace. Call me.”
She erased the messages and hung up the phone. He did sound worried in that last one, and she briefly considered calling him to let him know that everything was fine.
She put the phone back down almost instantly after picking it up.
Bad idea. She had to fight those kinds of instincts, not indulge them.
She picked up her small box of belongings, said goodbye to everyone one last time with promises to keep in touch, and left t
he office.
IT WAS A beautiful day, and Jamie had just finished a meeting that had gone extremely well, but he still felt terrible.
He had just secured a major deal for Four Brothers Brewery—their beer was going to be exclusively sold in a popular restaurant chain in Virginia. The restaurants were known for their hot wings, and Jamie was confident they would soon be known for their great beer.
He called his partners and told them the good news, but he hung up before they could ask him anything personal. He didn’t want to tell his friends that things with Grace were really bad. He was losing hope.
The worst part was that he had no idea what happened. They had made love, and they were so happy, and then all of a sudden it was like she flipped a switch.
What had he said?
He replayed the conversation in his head over and over, but he still couldn’t figure it out.
He had thought he was coming on too strong, too serious, by asking her to move back to New York. Her reaction was wary, and that made him nervous. He didn’t want to push her away by being too eager.
So he pulled back, trying to lighten the situation, take away some of the pressure. And that seemed to make things even worse.
He had no idea what Grace was thinking because she wouldn’t tell him. She wasn’t letting him inside of her head, and that is what bothered him most of all. How could he fix things if she refused to tell him what was really wrong?
She didn’t trust him. That’s what it came down to. She was afraid that he would break up with her again, or that he would change his mind.
His only chance was to prove to her that he wouldn’t.
But how was he supposed to do that when she was avoiding him?
He dialed her cell phone. It was still off.
He tried her work phone and dialed her extension, but it didn’t connect to her line.
What the hell?
He called again, this time typing in the extension for the secretary.
“Thank you for calling Bradden Media, this is Linda.”
“Hi, Linda. This is Jamie Castleton. I’m calling for Grace Jones. Is she in?”
“No, Mr. Castleton. Grace no longer works here. Is there something I can help you with?”
He stopped dead in the middle of the sidewalk. “What do you mean she no longer works there? She worked there yesterday.”
Linda hesitated. “Um, today was her last day.”
Jamie’s mind started racing. Had Charlie fired Grace? She must have told him what happened between them, and she got fired for it.
“Put me through to Charles Bradden, please.”
“One moment.”
He waited for the transfer, his anger rising with each second that passed. How dare Charlie fire Grace over something that wasn’t even work related? This was an abuse of power. He had no right to fire her because she was with someone else, especially not when he was so out of line dating her in the first place.
“This is Charlie.”
“Bradden, it’s Jamie. What the hell happened? Did you fire Grace?”
“Calm down.”
“Like hell, I will. You give her the job back right now, before we bring a lawsuit against you and your company for harassment.”
“I didn’t fire her. She quit.”
Jamie swore under his breath. This was worse than he had imagined.
“My feelings exactly,” Charlie said. “She told me what happened between the two of you and said she couldn’t continue to work for me. I would never fire Grace. She was a great employee.”
Jamie felt his hope deflate a little more. “She just came in today and quit? Just like that?”
“Just like that. Which means you’ve lost your leverage. She no longer works for you.”
He didn’t care about that anymore. He was just worried about Grace, now unemployed because of him. “If I convince her to ask for her job back, will you give it to her?”
Charlie’s voice softened, just a little. “Of course I would, but I’m going to be completely honest with you, Castleton. I don’t want to see her get hurt, and I think you’ve done enough damage, coming back into her life. I think you should leave her be.”
Jamie thought about it for a moment but came back to the same truth he always did.
“I can’t,” he said.
“Alright, then. Good luck.”
Jamie knew he was going to need it.
Chapter 16
Grace didn’t waste any more time wallowing over the state of things. She bought a newspaper on the way home from the office and started looking through the help wanted ads. She cut out one for an administrative assistant at a doctor’s office that was just a fifteen-minute commute from her apartment.
She didn’t really want to work as an assistant again, but she had the experience. The pay would never be what she could have made at the higher levels in marketing, but a stable job was better than unemployment.
Really, anything was better than unemployment. She had some money saved up, but not much. She would need to find a job by the end of the month, or rent would be a problem.
She emailed her resume and a brief introductory letter to the doctor’s office, and it made her feel a little better. It was a start. Maybe she hadn’t been acting like a responsible adult lately, and maybe Caroline was right about everything she had said. But things were going to change now. Grace was going to pick up the pieces and start again.
Without Jamie.
In the early afternoon, Grace went to pick up Jake at school. He was surprised to see her there instead of Caroline.
“Mommy, what are you doing here?” He held her hand as they walked to her car, looking up at her expectantly.
“I thought it would be nice if I picked you up. I thought we could spend some more time together.”
“Don’t you have work?”
She gave him the most reassuring smile she could. “I’m taking a little break from work for now.”
“Why?”
“Because I want to hang out with my best buddy.” She scooped him up in her arms and he giggled. “It’s a good thing.”
“Can I take a break, too?”
She thought about it for a moment. Why couldn’t he? It would be good for both of them to spend some time together, and if she were being honest, she really wasn’t looking forward to spending the next day sitting around the house regretting her decision to quit her job. Jake would keep her mind off of all the bad things. A day off was exactly what they both needed.
“You know what? I think we both do need a break. You can stay home with me tomorrow.”
He smiled at her excitedly. “Can we stay up late tonight and eat ice cream and watch a movie and read stories?”
“Of course. Let’s stop by the grocery store on the way home and pick up some snacks.”
At the store they bought enough food for the week, some desserts and a DVD from the discount box. Grace could tell how excited Jake was to spend time with her and it made her happy knowing that she could always count on her son’s love. That meant more to her than anything.
She could get over Jamie faster than she had last time, because this time she had someone depending on her, someone who needed her.
Grace brought Jake home and changed into her most comfortable loungewear, navy blue sweatpants and an old college tee shirt. She changed Jake into his favorite football jersey, put on some upbeat country music, grabbed the baking supplies and started on a batch of chocolate chip cookies.
This was exactly what she needed.
They were singing a song together and mixing ingredients when Caroline came home from work and did a double take.
“What’s going on here?”
“We’re making cookies!” Jake squealed. “We are taking a break!”
“A break? Grace? Why are you home? When you called and told me not to pick up Jake today I was worried...”
Grace smiled at her sister. “Don’t freak out, but I q-u-i-t my job.” She spelled out the word
, not wanting Jake to understand. “I’m starting fresh.”
Caroline dropped her purse on the floor, her eyes as wide as saucers. “Have you lost your mind?”
“Nope! I’m feeling like I’m getting it back, actually. No more J-a-m-i-e.” She turned up the music. “Couldn’t work for Charlie anymore after what happened. Time for a new j-o-b.”
“Yeah!” Jake was grinning from ear to ear, mixing the cookie dough with great force. “Aunt Caroline, you should take a break, too. It’s fun!”
Caroline groaned. “What a disaster.”
There was a knock on the door, and Caroline spun around to grab it. “Must be Will. Wait until he hears about this...”
She pulled open the door, but it was Jamie standing there.
“Hello, Caroline.”
Grace recognized the voice and let out a strangled gasp.
“Good to see you,” Jamie said. “Is Grace here?”
He didn’t need to ask the question. The kitchen was in plain view of the front door, and Jamie spotted her well before she could plan an exit strategy.
Grace met Caroline’s eyes and saw the panic there, panic that she knew was mirrored in her own.
“Mommy?”
Caroline slapped her hand over her own mouth as though it were Jake’s.
Jake was looking right at Grace. “Mommy, who is that man?”
JAMIE LOOKED BACK and forth between the little blond-haired boy and Grace, who stood frozen.
Why was he calling Grace “mommy”?
Grace had a son?
Wait. Grace had a son?
How old was the kid? Four or five? But she had told him that she hadn’t been with anyone after him. Did that mean... Four or five years ago was when they...
He took in the scene—Grace in sweatpants and wearing no makeup gripping a cup of flour, and a little boy sitting on the counter with his hand covered in what looked like cookie dough. There were toys spread out all over the floor of the little apartment and pages ripped out of coloring books hanging on the fridge. Not exactly what Jamie was expecting when he had stopped by.
The boy was looking between Grace and Jamie as if searching for a connection. He had blue eyes the color of the summer sky, and there was something familiar about them.
Irresistible Lies Page 15