I shook my head, smiling at Ronny. “Nope,” I told her. “I’m playing hooky this afternoon—and I’m taking you with me!”
Again, she giggled. “Yay!” she cried.
I scooped her up into my arms. “So, what are we going to do all afternoon?” I asked her.
Ronny’s face screwed up in thought. “Could we go to the movies?” she asked.
I winced, trying not to let her see it. I wanted to say yes. If we were in New York, I would have said yes. But if we were in New York, no one would have seen us. Or at least, no one who knew me. It was tempting fate for us to go out in Nebraska that afternoon, after I had lied to my boss and told him I was going home to check on water damage in my place. Someone was bound to see us.
I hated lying to Ronny, but I heard myself saying, “I don’t think there are any good cartoon movies out right now. Why don’t we go home and watch some Princess Patrol instead?”
“Yeah!” Ronny cheered, wriggling in my arms with excitement.
I felt bad for lying to her. There were plenty of things we could have seen in the theater that day. But at the same time, it was a harmless lie. Besides, we were both comfortable curled up on the couch together, watching some of her favorite cartoons. Wasn’t that what mattered?
I couldn’t help wondering if maybe I should tell Wes about our daughter. Before he found out about her through some other sources. Ronny looked so much like me, but there were her eyes… Her father’s eyes.
If I told him about her now, though, when he already didn’t trust me, it spelled the end of my job. I couldn’t do that to us now. I had to think about the bigger picture. Besides, keeping Ronny from Wes wasn’t hurting her any. It was just… a different way of looking out for her.
I tried to push those thoughts out of my head as I settled in to watch movies with my daughter for the afternoon. I couldn’t help feeling guilty, though.
Chapter 5
Wes
I tried not to laugh as Devin tangled his fishing line for the umpteenth time. I tried to think if I had ever seen someone as inept at fishing as him. I didn’t think I had. It made me wonder if he could even swim. Or what he would look like on ice skates. Nebraska and New York were totally different worlds.
It made me wonder how things had been for Rian in NYC and if that was part of the reason why she’d ended up coming back to Nebraska. I was trying not to think about her today, though.
“If you don’t like fishing, we could have done something else,” I told Devin, trying not to laugh.
He chuckled, though. “To be honest, I don’t think I’ve been fishing since I was a kid,” he said. “I remembered it being a lot more fun than this.” He paused. “Of course, I also remember accidentally catching my brother’s thumb as we were walking back to our campsite once, so maybe I don’t remember things totally right.”
I snorted. “Ouch.”
“I think that was also the trip where my sister caught a snapping turtle and dropped the pole in the water and our uncle had to dive to recover it,” Devin mused. “You know, when I think about it, I don’t think I have a single fond memory of fishing from when I was a kid.”
I laughed at that. “Not to be a shit, but you’re pretty terrible,” I said.
“For what it’s worth, I appreciate that there’s beer,” Devin said, holding up a can in cheers to me.
I grinned and held up my can as well, clinking it against his. “I appreciate that we’ve come this far in our professional relationship that I can drag you out here,” I said.
Devin laughed. “To be honest, I’m pretty happy to be here in Nebraska for a while,” he said. “I can’t say I knew much about it, but I like the lifestyle. Couldn’t live here for very long, but I appreciate what you think is important to you.”
“Like fishing?”
Devin shrugged, a devilish twinkle in his eye. “Maybe not. Not to mention, it’s no wonder you’re single,” he said.
“Why’s that?” I asked, grinning.
“You’re up before dawn trying to catch fish, when there are perfectly good restaurants in town,” Devin said, giving me a toothy grin.
I laughed. “Well, you’re single, too,” I reminded him. “What’s your excuse?”
I intended it to be a joke, but instead, a strange look came into Devin’s eyes, and I couldn’t help but wonder if I had struck a nerve. I immediately felt terrible, but I didn’t know how to ask if I had said something wrong. I knew I was already treading a thin line as far as this investment opportunity went. Devin McKay was known in the business world as someone who rarely attached his name to anything of any importance.
Had I just fucked thing up with him, just when things were really getting started? I didn’t know how to ask.
Fortunately, Devin was the one to clarify things, before I could say anything. “As a workaholic, I don’t have time for relationships,” he said. I blinked, watching the lines rather than watching him. There was something in the way he had said it that made me wonder.
Was it that he no longer bothered with trying, or was it more that he knew that he didn’t have the time and wouldn’t bother trying? Was it more that he had never bothered losing someone, or that he had fallen in love, hadn’t been able to work out his life with the needs there, and lost… or that he had never let himself fall in love in the first place?
I had to wonder. But of course, I couldn’t truly ask. We just weren’t on that level.
We headed back to shore after catching a few fish. It wasn’t exactly the kind of day I had imagined, but when Devin suggested that we get brunch at a nearby place, I was hardly in the mood to argue with him. I wanted this partnership, and that was what today was all about.
That said, as soon as I started thinking about what brunch might lead to, I started wondering if maybe this wasn’t the best idea. I remembered the look on Rian’s face the other day during lunch, when I’d been telling her about the possible partnership. She wanted in on the partnership, and as our innovations manager, she deserved to be part of it, too.
I wasn’t entirely sure how comfortable I was working that closely to her, but at the same time, I knew I couldn’t exclude her. We were going to have to find a way to make things work on a professional level; there was no way around it. Why not start with that morning?
“If we’re going for brunch, I should probably invite our new innovations manager,” I said to Devin. “It’s about time you met Rian.”
“Sounds good,” Devin said easily.
I pulled out my phone to call Rian. I was surprised to hear her hesitate when I told her about the brunch, though. “I thought you were the one who wanted to be brought in on this project, or was I misreading things the other day?” I said, glancing over my shoulder to where Devin was patiently waiting a little ways away.
“No, it’s good,” Rian said. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“See you soon,” I said before hanging up.
Devin and I headed to the restaurant and got a table. “So tell me about this innovations manager,” Devin said. “Rian, did you say it was?”
“Yeah, Rian James,” I said, nodding. “George hired her on before he handed the company over to me. She did some work in New York City for a while, but she went to school here in Nebraska, so she knows the culture and all of that. Kind of a best of both worlds situation for you—she’s not the kind of person who will take you fishing, I bet!”
Devin laughed. “I didn’t mind the fishing,” he protested. “Maybe it’s not totally my cup of tea, but it wasn’t terrible. But come on, I can tell there’s something about Rian you’re not telling me. Is she a horrible micromanager or something?”
I shook my head. “Nah, she and I just have some history, that’s all.” I said it as carefully as I could. I didn’t want Devin to think I couldn’t be professional about this. That might jeopardize the partnership. “We went to college together, at the same time. We went up for a lot of the same opportunities.”
“Ah,” D
evin said, nodding. “And let me guess: once upon a time, you thought that you wanted to live in New York, too.”
“Exactly,” I said, relieved that he had deduced that much out without my having to admit I had been a little jealous of Rian way back then for getting the internship I’d wanted.
“Not much fishing to be done in the city,” Devin said, grinning at me. “You would have been bored to tears. Or maybe you would have actually found yourself a wife.”
I laughed. “Maybe. Or maybe I would have been one of those guys who went upstate every weekend to fish.”
Devin shook his head. “Drive five hours for fish that you could have bought at the local shop? I don’t get it.”
Brunch continued in the same casual manner until Rian finally showed up. “Sorry I’m late,” she said breathlessly as she sat down between the two of us at the table. “I wasn’t expecting a brunch meeting on a Sunday.”
“That’s my fault,” Devin said gallantly. “I’m sorry, I keep kind of unconventional hours. And today, I really wanted to try out this whole fishing thing that Wes has been telling me about.”
“How’d that go?” Rian asked, grinning.
Devin shook his head. “It’s a good thing I’m good at business or else my hypothetical future family would starve,” he joked.
Rian laughed, and I felt a frisson of jealousy go through me at the sound. I tried to push it aside. This was just business; it wasn’t like she would do anything as irresponsible as to sleep with him when we were on the brink of such an important partnership.
At the same time, my brain just couldn’t shut up about the fact that they would make a cute couple. Devin was young and handsome, rich and powerful. He was everything a woman like Rian might be looking for in a guy. And as they swapped stories about life in New York, I couldn’t help but feel left out.
I tried to ignore it, though. This was strictly professional. Besides, why did I care? If things were going to progress between me and Rian, they would have a long time ago. It was too late for that now. Not least of which because she was my employee. No reason to be jealous. No reason to feel slighted.
Chapter 6
Rian
“All right, I’m getting you out of the office for lunch,” Angie, my assistant, announced, her hands on her hips as she stood in the doorway.
I looked up from my screen in surprise and then looked at the time, not even having realized that it was somehow already two in the afternoon. I gave Angie a sheepish smile. “I don’t know what I’d do without you,” I sighed. “Give me five minutes to get to a good stopping point?”
“Sure, but I’m timing you,” Angie warned me.
In the time since I had started there, she and I had become fast friends, frequently going to lunch together. I had to admit, things were a lot crazier in the business than I had expected they would be. Who knew that sleepy little Nebraska had so much to do? Or maybe it was just the fact that I was still picking up the pieces from before I’d been hired. Apparently the innovations manager position had been open for a while, and things had definitely piled up.
Whatever it was, I was up to my eyeballs in work, and if it hadn’t been for Angie and her amazing powers of organization, I would have really been struggling. As it was, I appreciated her little reminders, which were for everything from lunchtime to meetings to the most urgent things on my plate first thing in the morning.
She was a godsend, and I made sure she knew that.
“There’s a new sandwich place on Newton Street,” Angie informed me before I could ask where we were headed.
“Sounds great,” I said, only just realizing how hungry I was. We ordered our food, and when it came, I practically inhaled mine.
We were just finishing up when Angie’s phone rang. She glanced at the screen and grinned. “Mikey,” she told me.
“Go ahead,” I said, sure that her son wouldn’t be calling her if it wasn’t important.
She answered the call and chatted for just a minute before hanging up. “He wanted to go over to his friend’s house after school,” she explained. “They’re working on some sort of science experiment or something? I’m just as happy for him to work on that at someone else’s place!”
I laughed. “I can imagine,” I said. “Ronny had a water-cycle project last year, and I thought I was being clever, but long story short, our house smelled like burned plastic for a week! I totally understand now why all the projects at that age tend to look exactly the same.”
Angie looked surprised. “I didn’t realize you had a kid,” she said.
Shit. A part of me wanted to lie and tell her that Ronny was my niece or something. Then again, it wasn’t that big of a town. People were bound to find out that Ronny existed sooner or later, and I didn’t want to lie to Angie now and have it bite me in the ass later. Besides, I was so sick of having to keep this secret from everyone. I needed to confide in someone.
I made the split-second decision to tell her about Ronny. “I have a daughter,” I said, trying to pretend that telling her wasn’t giving me a mini freak-out. “You can’t tell anyone at work, though. Please. I need you to promise you’ll keep it a secret.”
Angie raised an eyebrow at me. “If you’re worried that they won’t keep you around if you have to take time off because she’s sick or something like that, you don’t need to worry,” she said. “I don’t know how things were done in New York, but they’re different here. They’ll work with you however they can.” She paused. “I mean, aren’t they legally required to do that?”
“It’s not that,” I sighed. I should have known that she would ask. I bit my lower lip. Again, though, I just wanted someone to know everything. I wanted someone who I could talk to about this. “Wes is her father. He doesn’t know that, though.”
Angie’s eyes widened. “Oh wow,” she said. “Wait, how old is your daughter?”
“She’s seven,” I said. “Wes and I knew one another in college. We only slept together once.”
“Is that why you came to work for the company?” Angie asked.
I shook my head quickly. “No, of course not,” I said. “I didn’t know that Wes worked here. He and I haven’t talked since college. I just happened to be looking at coming back to Nebraska, and when George hired me, it seemed like the perfect fit.”
Angie whistled quietly. “Yikes,” she said. “That must be tough for you. Do you think you’re going to tell Wes about her?”
“Not yet, for sure,” I told her. “Later? I don’t know. Maybe. I need to see how things go first, though. Like I said, I didn’t know that he worked here or else I wouldn’t have done this to myself. I already uprooted Ronny once, though, and I can’t do that again so soon. She still doesn’t really have any friends here, and I would feel terrible making her start over again. I need to keep the job.”
“That makes sense,” Angie said, nodding. “Well, your secret is safe with me.” She paused. “But you know, my youngest is also seven. I bet Brian and Ronny could be friends.”
I grinned. “That would be awesome,” I told her. “Why don’t we arrange a playdate?” I had some misgivings about Ronny getting too close to my work life, but at the same time, it would be great for Ronny to have a friend here. Besides, Angie knew the whole truth and had promised to keep my secret. She wasn’t the one I had to worry about. It wasn’t like the kids would be playing there in the middle of the office or anything.
I headed back to work with a lighter heart, just in time for that afternoon’s meeting with Wes. When I got to his office, though, his assistant Beth told me he was on a phone call and asked me to wait.
“Sure thing,” I said, dropping into a seat.
Beth pursed her lips as she stared at me. “I bet you’re missing New York City, huh?” she asked, apropos of nothing.
I looked at her in surprise, wondering if Wes had said something to her. But I hadn’t so much as hinted to Wes that I didn’t want to be there in Nebraska. In fact, I was really enjoying being back here.
The pace of life was refreshing, and I was realizing that it was a much better place for me to raise Ronny.
“I mean, Nebraska is so dull, isn’t it?” Beth pressed. “Hardly any nightlife. Pretty much no shopping either.”
I shrugged. “I went to college here,” I told her. “I knew what I was getting myself into before I came back here.”
“Sure,” Beth said. “But I guess you probably wish you had a better job, right? Something higher profile, with better pay? I’m sure you weren’t making this little in the city.”
I stared at her for a moment, wondering if there was some sort of motive behind her questions or if she was just curious. The inquiries were borderline rude, though. Before I could call her out on it, Wes opened his office door and called me in. Was it my imagination, or did Beth’s face darken as I walked past?
I shook those thoughts out of my mind. Wes and I had a lot to work on, and I didn’t have time for any sort of office drama. Which was another reason I was trying so hard to keep everyone from finding out about Ronny, I told myself. It would only complicate things.
Right now, Wes and I were working hard on the new product line that we were pitching to Devin. We dove right into it that afternoon and kept working on it long after everyone else went home. It was hard to quit when we were being so productive. That said, around six, when it became clear that we weren’t finishing anytime soon, I snuck out “to go to the bathroom” and called the daycare service that watched Ronny in the afternoons after school.
Fortunately, they told me that they had no problem keeping her a little while later. I went back into the office and dove into the work again.
A little while later, Wes was sketching out an idea, and I leaned over to take a closer look. His hands were just as talented and just as sure as they had been back in college. I found myself suddenly mesmerized by the look of his fingers as he brought his ideas to life on the paper.
S is for Secret Baby Page 4