by Remy, Cate
“I know your engagement’s fake, Angela. You always had a thing for guys with Irish backgrounds and money, didn’t you?”
His coarse implication made her feel sick. Max spoke before she could. His voice came out in a low warning. “You’re going to have problems if you keep talking to my fiancée that way.”
“I wouldn’t be making threats if I were you, Max.” Jordan touched his fingertips together. “You see, I’m the one who didn’t know Angela had my kid.”
“You did know.” Angie glared at him. “I told you I was carrying your child the summer after we graduated. You didn’t believe me.”
“The public doesn’t know that. In fact, from where I’m sitting, it looks like you’re a gold digger. You kept me from the kid for years and now you want a richer man to raise him.”
“Don’t lie, Jordan.” The longer she looked at him, the more disgusted she became. “I supported Raymond all on my own. When I saw you wanted nothing to do with him, I never asked you for a dime.”
“I don’t want to make this public…” He trailed his voice intentionally. “If we can agree on a sum, you’ll never have to see me again.”
Max stepped in front of Angie. “I had a hunch you came here looking to blackmail. I’ll give you one minute to leave. Then I’m getting my attorney on the phone.”
Jordan got up from his chair. “Billionaires and their pencil-pushers. Have it your way.” He walked around the other side of the table and out the door.
Angie stared after him, adrenaline and anger making her blood pressure rise. “This was never about Raymond. Jordan just wanted hush money.”
“He’s not getting it.” Max watched him through the window until he rounded a corner and disappeared from view. “Don’t worry, Angie. He’s all talk.”
“I’m scared he’s going to try something.” She put her hands to her forehead. “Either to hurt me or Raymond.”
“Look at me.” Max gently took her hands down and got her to focus on him. “I won’t let him hurt you or your son. Trust me.”
She took a step back, shaking her head. “You heard him. He knows we’re only pretending to be engaged.”
“He doesn’t know. He said it to accuse you of being a-I’m not even going to say it because it’s not true.”
“It doesn’t matter. When we break off the engagement, you get to walk away from the drama. I still have to deal with him and nosy people who’ll wonder what happened.” She went around Max to get to the door.
“Wait. Where are you going?”
“To check on my grandmother at the hospital.” She put her hand on the doorknob. “Just tell me when the groundbreaking ceremony is so I can make my last appearance as your fiancée.”
* * *
Angie juggled a bouquet of lilies and a plastic cup of decaf peach iced tea into her grandmother’s hospital room. After the awful encounter with Jordan, she needed a visit with family to decompress. “Hi, Grandma, how are you feeling today?”
“Ssh.” Her grandmother sat up in her hospital bed, watching one of the morning talk shows on the little TV in her room. “I want to hear who wore the best dress at the awards last night.”
Angie laughed and set the flowers and tea on the little cart beside the bed. “Since when do you care about what celebrities wear?” she whispered.
“Since I’ve been bored, cooped up in here for the past two days.” Grandma muted the TV after the segment was finished. “I’m ready to go home.”
“I just talked to the doctor on the way inside. He said you’ll likely be discharged tomorrow.”
“Thank goodness.” Her grandmother noticed the flowers and beverage on the table. “Aw, you bought me flowers.”
“I know lilies are your favorite.”
“Bless you.” Her grandmother leaned over to catch a whiff of the lilies’ sweet scent. “What have you and little Ray been up to? You look tired.”
She had zero intention of telling her grandmother about Jordan today. The news could send Grandma’s blood pressure spiking again. Her own was already up in the stratosphere. “Raymond’s class is going on a field trip to the movies today. He talked about it all morning.”
“What about you? You look like you could use some relaxation. Do I need to call Max and tell him to take you to the theater again?” Her grandmother’s tone changed towards Max. Angie heard positive notes.
She concentrated on picking imaginary lint from her capri pants. “I may not see him for a while. Max has some things to take care of over the next couple weeks.”
“High-powered people always have a lot on their plates.”
“True.” She pretended to watch the muted television, where a starlet was shown parading down a red carpet. She recognized the location. The art gallery she and Max attended in New York. While the starlet twirled in her frilly pink dress, the camera swung briefly to show the museum entrance. Angie saw herself and Max on camera for a split second before it cut back to one of Hollywood’s rising stars.
“Was that you I just saw on TV?”
She confirmed it. “Max and I were there this past weekend.”
Grandma gave a little laugh. “You and Max are almost famous.”
I hope not. Angie turned from the TV. If her grandmother was beginning to accept the engagement, how was she going to explain it to her when the time came to call the whole thing off?
Chapter Fifteen
Max reluctantly gave Angie the space she wanted after the lousy meeting with Jordan McKinney. A week went by with no word of that deadbeat. Max hoped he left the state of Georgia and slunk back under the rock from which he crawled out.
Too bad it wasn’t just him and Jordan at the meeting. Then he would’ve made it clear in very unmistakable terms that Jordan wasn’t welcome to come around and make threats to blackmail Angie. But Max felt like he was the weak one. Like his attorney said, he couldn’t prevent Angie’s ex from inquiring about her and Raymond. Jordan had all the rights. He had squat.
Even so, he meant what he promised Angie. He’d find a way to protect her and her son.
On the weekend, he called to check on her. He kept getting her voicemail. Every so often, she’d return his messages with a short text letting him know she and her family were doing fine. She didn’t want to talk to him. Frustrated, he returned to work.
He spent the next two business days tying up loose ends with the Preston-Landers land deal. They sold him the property and he got the deed. He alerted the building contractors and suppliers that it was time to get down to business.
“The groundbreaking ceremony is on Friday morning,” he informed them all via virtual meeting on his laptop. “Next week, we’ll meet again to review your bids.”
An hour after the virtual meeting, a small news channel from Harper contacted his office. They wanted to know if he could come by the studio that night to talk about the new hospital and how he was continuing his father’s legacy. Max agreed. Everything appeared to be going well for him except for one thing.
He sent a quick text to Angie. Groundbreaking ceremony tomorrow morning. Pick you up at 9.
She replied to him a couple minutes later with a one-word text. OK.
Max prepared to leave the office to drive home to his bachelor pad. He wanted to hear Angie’s voice and see her smile. He thought about the last kiss they shared in New York.
Stop. He shook his head when he was alone, riding down the elevator. Where was this focus on Angie coming from? She was already distancing herself. He should do the same. He told himself it was the logical thing to do.
Wasn’t it?
* * *
Angie got her son off to school and went home to change into a dress for the groundbreaking ceremony. She barely had time to get ready. She checked herself in the mirror above the console table in the hall downstairs.
She hated obsessing over her appearance, but today she had to look pristine for Max’s big moment with the local media. She assumed his mother and sister would also be present for t
he ceremony, since it was in honor of his father. This was it. Her final and most important public appearance with Max. She had to make it good. Then it would be over and she could go back to a drama-free life.
Grandma’s reflection shown behind her. She wore a skirt suit and fancy hat.
Angie looked over one shoulder. “You’re dressed to the nines. Are you coming with me?”
“No, I have a senior ladies luncheon. The girls are picking me up at eleven.”
“That’ll be fun.” She would’ve liked her grandmother to be at the hospital site with her for support. Maybe it wasn’t a good idea, though. Her grandmother might be able to pick up on the tension she felt about seeing Max again.
“You look so elegant.”
“Thanks, but I don’t feel that way.”
Her grandmother’s smile faded into a concerned expression. She came closer. “Why not?”
“This…whole thing isn’t me.”
“I disagree. You don’t wear dresses every day, but the style suits you. You know where you get it.”
Angie laughed. “Yes, Grandma. Everybody knows you have style and class.”
Her grandmother gave her a discerning look and patted her on the back. “What’s really bothering you?”
She wondered the same thing herself. Over the course of the last three days, her thoughts centered on Max. She wasn’t looking forward to dealing with all the questions people would ask her after their engagement was cancelled, but that wasn’t it. What else was bothering her? “I’m not sure. I guess I’m nervous about going to the groundbreaking ceremony today. It’s going to be televised.”
“Weren’t there photographers and TV cameras at the New York art gallery, too?”
“Yes, but this is different. It’s local. Everyone’s eyes will be on us again.”
“You’ve done it before. You can do it again.” Grandma talked to her while looking at their reflections in the mirror. “I wish your brother could see you. Detrick would get a kick out of seeing his little sister engaged to his good friend.”
“You think so?”
“I know he would. You didn’t smile much since he passed. That changed after you got engaged to Max.”
She stared at her engagement ring. If she had to admit it, she did share some fun times with Max at the theater, family reunion, and while touring Times Square. Was her grandmother right? Did she owe her happier shift in mood to him?
“Angie, I meant to tell you this while I was in the hospital. I’m happy about your engagement to Max. I wasn’t sure about him at first, but I see how he looks at you, how he looks after you and your son.”
She started to form a reply when she saw a grey Lincoln pull up to the driveway. Angie had a flashback to when Max’s attorney Rob first came to the house with the fake engagement contract. What was he doing here again, right before the ceremony?
“I have to go.” She gave her grandmother a hug, tilting at an odd angle to avoid simultaneously crushing and being jabbed with her grandmother’s fancy hat.
Angie stepped outside and trotted to the grey car. She squinted to see Rob through the tinted windows. Something wasn’t right. Why didn’t Max call or text her to say he wasn’t going to make it to her house?
She opened the passenger side door and stuck her head in. “Hi, Rob.”
“Get in. I’ll talk on the way.”
Talk about terse. She got in the car. He put it in drive and hit the gas. She found the grab bar above her head real quick. “No wonder you and Max are such good buddies. You’re speed demons.”
“Angie, Max had to show up at the hospital site ahead of time else he would’ve come here.”
“Is he well? You sound intense. More than usual.”
Rob made a left turn. “My tablet is on the backseat. Take a look at it.”
She reached for it once he slowed down long enough for her to do so without fear of losing her breakfast. She swiped past the screensaver to see an email. “It’s an email forwarded to you.”
“Read it. The local news channel sent it to me after they got it an hour ago.”
Not liking Rob’s cryptic manner, she scanned it in a hurry. I know all about Max Kelly and his so-called fiancée Angela Franklin. Max is nothing like his father, a man of morals and honor. He and Angela are liars… The email went on to reference Angie, calling her a “gold digger” and how she kept her son’s paternity a secret for years. Raymond’s name was never mentioned, nor was the sender of the email, but she knew without a doubt who it was. Anger and hurt for the potential pain this would cause Raymond made tears well in her eyes. “Jordan McKinney sent this email.”
“We know. Max and I are on damage control, and so are you.”
She wiped her eyes, being careful not to smudge her mascara. “What do you mean?”
He turned again on Teak Ridge Drive, the road where the new hospital was to be located. Cars lined up ahead of them, creating traffic to get to the plot of land where the ceremony was to take place. “Don’t answer questions from the press this morning. If they stick a mic or phone in your face, tell them you’re here to support your fiancé and his family.” He parallel parked and turned off the engine. “Got it?”
Angie nodded, weary.
“Good. Smile. Act happy to be here, or at least happy this appearance will be a short one.”
With the news she received, she felt like every minute was going to stretch into forever. She got out of the car and trudged over the freshly-mowed grass. She wished she had worn flat shoes. Now her heels were going to sink into the dirt, along with any notion that she was going to get through the morning with no sweat.
Chapter Sixteen
Angie remembered to put on her fake smile. Atlanta and local TV news vans were parked on the grass. Crews set up their cameras and microphone equipment to record the ceremony. Once there was a time when she would’ve loved to be on a TV segment. She was a teen, then. Today, she wanted nothing more than to turn and walk away.
She passed a refreshment stand with clear plastic water cups and hors oeuvres. Where was Max?
She followed Rob to where a small group of people clustered in the grass. Some men and women were dressed in suits while others had on faded jeans and neon orange vests. She waved to Steve and Charley. Angie then spotted Max among the contractors. He shook hands with a man wearing a hard hat. Max saw her, excused himself, and rushed over.
“Angie, sorry I couldn’t be at your house this morning. I had to meet with the contractors here.” He walked her away from the people starting to gather on the lawn. He leaned in to mutter in her ear. “Did Rob talk to you?”
“About Jordan and his gossipy email to the news station? Oh, yeah. Just when I thought I was done with him.”
“He’ll be getting slapped with a libel lawsuit for sending the email.” Max huffed. He looked tired. “I didn’t mean for you to go through all this. It’s not fair to you and your family.”
A warm sensation curled through her chest. Max’s concern gave her a tiny bit of comfort. “Raymond and my grandmother don’t know about Jordan’s email. I’d like to keep it that way.”
He agreed. “The news station agreed to not share the email. After this, Rob will head over to get the station producers and managers to sign an agreement. The chain stops with us.”
“Whew. That takes the edge off.”
Max put his arm around her. “Trina and my mother are here. Let me introduce you.”
Angie steeled herself to meet his mother. She never saw Max’s parents while he was in high school. Early this morning, she planned a polite introduction to his mother, but the news of Jordan’s petty little surprise made her forget all her lines. Instead, her mind ran with all the possible ways in which she could embarrass herself.
Max brought her over to where his sister and an older woman stood talking. They stopped when he and Angie approached. He embraced his mother. “I’m glad you and Trina made it out this morning.”
“We wouldn’t miss it for anyt
hing.” His mother was tall and elegant, with shoulder-length dark hair and the same blue eye color as her son. “Your father would’ve been so proud of you.”
Angie watched emotion play on his face at the remembrance of his father. “Mom, I want you to meet my fiancée Angie Franklin.”
“I’m glad to meet you, Mrs. Kelly.” Angie went to shake her hand. His mother surprised her with a small hug instead.
“It looks like I’ll be calling you daughter very soon. Congratulations.”
She waited for Max to add to the conversation. Instead, he pointed to the spot marked with red ribbon. “It’s time for the ceremony. Angie and I will come back to talk after it’s over.”
Max’s mother reached out and cupped his face. “I’m so proud of you. I know your father is smiling down from above.”
Angie watched, quiet. Despite the rough start to the day with Jordan’s email, this was still an important day for him. His hard work was going to pay off, and that made her happy to see.
She stood at Max’s side as he talked to the crowd gathered to hear him. He spoke about his father’s dream to build a hospital with the most modern facilities in Harper. Towards the end of his speech, he picked up the shovel and stuck it in the ground. The crowd applauded as he scooped out the first shovelful of soil. Cameras captured it all as Max shook hands with city officials who congratulated him on the hospital project. Angie smiled and nodded as they congratulated her and him on the engagement.
Then the show was over. As people went to the refreshment table, Max’s mother and sister came up to them. Angie peeked at Max. He gave her a wink. Alrighty. At least one half of this pretend couple is in a good mood.
Max’s mother interrupted her snarky thought. “I have to apologize for not congratulating you on the engagement sooner. I was in Florence, Italy. Trina came home early once she heard the good news.”