by SJ McCoy
Ted didn’t get it. He thought Diego liked Audrey and was happy for them. “Are you saying that you don’t think I should keep seeing Audrey?”
Diego laughed loudly. “No! I’m asking if you still feel the need to come in here every day. Wondering why you would want to when it means that you won’t be able to see Audrey most of the time.”
“Oh.” Ted ran his hand through his hair. “I don’t know what to say to that.”
“Then don’t say anything yet. Think about it.”
“Are you trying to get me out of here? Did you like it last week when I was gone?”
Diego came in and sat on the edge of his desk. “Ted, Ted, Ted. You know me better than that. Your absence did give me reason to stop and think. But I wasn’t glad that you were gone.” He grinned. “I missed you. What I was questioning was why I was still here.”
Ted leaned farther back in his chair. “What are you saying?”
“We have a good staff, no?”
“The best.”
“We’re not getting any younger.”
Ted smiled through pursed lips. “No, but we’re not past it yet either.”
“Exactly. So, shouldn’t we make the most of life before we are. You were at the lake last week with Eddie and April—and Audrey. It made me wonder why I was here. There is nothing that I do here that I couldn’t do from the lake. The same goes for you. Why do we continue to come in here every day like good little soldier ants when our boys are living their lives without us?”
Ted gave him a rueful smile. “I don’t have a good answer to that question. I don’t know. We come in here every day because it’s what we’ve always done, but you’re right; there’s nothing we need to be here for. Everything is on the computer, even the meetings. I spent half an hour on a video call with Joel earlier—he’s two floors down. I didn’t need to be here to do that.”
Diego grinned. “So, you agree? It’s time for a change?”
“What are you proposing? It sounds to me as though you’ve already figured out what you want to do.”
“I have. I want to get a place at Summer Lake. I want to be there, by Zack and Maria and the—”
Ted grinned. “Is she expecting? Is that what’s prompted this?”
Diego shook his head rapidly. “Not yet. But they’re talking about it. I don’t know what it will mean for them. Zack’s job—you know?”
Ted did know. As a pilot, Zack was gone a lot of the time flying.
“I want to be there when they start their family.” Diego’s eyes shone with tears. “I want to be part of it. I want to be a grandpa.”
Ted felt tears prick behind his own eyes. He understood. “Pull yourself together,” he said it in as sharp a voice as he could manage, but Diego just laughed.
“I will not. I am emotional at the thought. And that is good.”
“It is. It’s very good. After all those years when you hardly saw Zack. You need to be there for this next chapter of his life.”
“And you should be there in Eddie’s life, too.”
Ted nodded. He’d like to be. “Are you suggesting that we just … retire?”
“No! No way! We simply rearrange our working lives. We offload some of the responsibilities that don’t need to fall to us, and we work from home more. I believe the biggest change we need to make is breaking the habit. We come here because we’ve done it for so many years. We haven’t stopped to question it.”
“Until now.”
“Exactly.”
“Would you move to Summer Lake?”
“I want a home there.” Diego smiled. “A home where my grandbabies can come.”
Ted had to laugh. “You do realize you’ll have at least nine months to wait?”
“Of course, but I want to get settled. I want to test it out. Right now, I can’t imagine not spending most of my time here in Laguna Beach. But I have the feeling that once I have a home at the lake, and we don’t need to come into the office every day, I’ll wonder why I want to spend any time here.”
Ted nodded. He’d love to spend more time at Summer Lake, but he also had a reason to want to spend more time here and in Ventura. He planned to pick up Audrey tomorrow night and bring her back to his house for dinner.
Diego was watching him with a little smirk playing on his lips.
“What?”
Diego grinned. “You’re wondering how you fit Audrey into this new plan, aren’t you?”
There was no point in denying it. “I am.”
Diego threw his hands in the air. “You move her to the lake with you. Simple.”
Ted laughed. “Nice idea, but not so simple. Her kids are in Ventura; her business is, too.”
“I know, but if you’re meant to be together, it will all work out.”
“I guess. Anyway, it’s you who’s in a hurry to get a place at the lake. Are you going up there this weekend?”
“I would like to. I was going to ask you. Are you going? Do you need the plane?”
Ted smiled. “Perhaps we should all fly up there together.”
Diego’s smirk was back, and he raised one eyebrow as he asked. “All of us?”
Ted couldn’t resist. “Yes. I want to bring Audrey and Ally and Brayden.”
Diego nodded, his smirk fading.
“And Izzy,” Ted added with a grin.
~ ~ ~
Audrey looked out at the ocean and shook her head in disbelief. She was still trying to wrap her head around this place. Ted’s home was the most beautiful house she’s ever been in. She’d known that he was wealthy—he flew around in a private jet, for goodness sake! He and Diego owned a bank. But that hadn’t prepared her for this.
She’d been in some gorgeous homes; some of the agency’s clients were very wealthy people, and Richard used to love to schmooze with them. But Ted’s place was on another level entirely. It was a huge Spanish style mansion—there really was no other word for it—perched above the ocean. They’d eaten dinner out here on the terrace listening to the waves below. She wanted to pinch herself. After the couple of days that she’d had, she was starting to wonder if she might have slipped into some parallel universe.
Ted came back out with a bottle of wine and poured them each a glass.
She took a big gulp of hers.
He squatted down in front of her and took hold of her hands. “Please tell me what it is—what’s bothering you? You weren’t quite right on the phone last night, and tonight, you’re …subdued. What’s wrong?”
She cupped his face between her hands and kissed him. “I’m sorry. It’s not you. You are the most wonderful man I’ve ever known.”
His eyes were filled with concern. “Why does that sound like there’s a but coming?”
She shook her head rapidly. “There isn’t. I’m so happy to be here with you.” She looked around. “I have to admit that here is a bit more … more … everything than I expected.”
He gave her a rueful smile. “I did wonder. It’s no secret that I … I’m … I’ve been very fortunate financially.”
She laughed. “Modest as ever.”
He shrugged. “I didn’t know how I could let you know what to expect. What was I supposed to say that wouldn’t come off as me bragging about my big home on the ocean?”
She touched his cheek. “I’m not holding it against you. I’ll admit that I feel a little intimidated, but not enough to make any difference.”
“Good.” He winked. “Because if you don’t like the house, I’ll sell it. Get something else that you do approve of.”
She laughed. “There’s no need to do that. I love the place, okay?”
“Okay. Then I’ll keep it.”
She loved that he would joke about getting rid of it to make her happy. She stroked his cheek. “Feeling intimidated by your home is only a little part of it. I don’t think it would have flustered me so much if I were in a better place. I’ve had a rough couple of days at work, that’s all.”
He got up and took her hand, lea
ding her over to a big wicker sofa that looked over the pool and to the ocean beyond. He sat down and pulled her with him to sit in his lap.
“Want to tell me about it?” He rested his hand on the back of her neck, his fingers twisting in her hair.
She wasn’t sure she did want to tell him about it. She didn’t want to think about it; she’d much rather just focus on the way his arm felt around her waist and the way he was playing with her hair. She sighed. “I should, because it’s eating at me, and that’s affected me enough for you to notice. I’m sorry.”
“I’m not looking for an apology. I want to know if I can help—even if it’s only by letting you unload.”
She held his gaze for a moment, loving that he was so understanding. Goose bumps raced down her arms at the thought that perhaps, what she was loving was him.
“You make me feel like the luckiest woman on earth.”
There went that smile again.
“Okay. When I got to work yesterday morning, I was in for a bit of shock. I’ve told you I have four staff, apart from Izzy. Well, by the time I got to the office, I only had two.”
He frowned. “They left?”
“You could say that. The way I see it, they were poached.”
He pursed his lips. “Do I need to guess who the poacher was?”
She shook her head. “Izzy was frantic when I got there. They were both there, emptying their desks. They’d both had a better offer—and that offer was conditional upon them starting yesterday. Apparently, Richard had called all four of them on Sunday evening. He told them that he’d signed a big account over the weekend and needed them straight away. He offered them a fifty percent raise. The two who left haven’t been with me that long. The two who stayed worked for us when Richard and I were together—they don’t want to work with him again.”
Ted sighed. “I’m sorry. This is because of me.”
“No! It’s no one’s fault but Richard’s. He just a vindictive …” She shook her head.
“Asshole,” Ted finished for her.
She had to laugh. “Yes. That.”
“I’m sorry he got back at you like that. Will it be hard to replace them? Will you be able to make new hires and move on?”
She made a face. “I hope so, but I’m going to struggle to cover some accounts in the meantime. But honestly, that’s not the worst of it. When Brayden got to work yesterday morning, they sent him home.”
Ted frowned. “They don’t want him there while he’s still wearing his cast? They think it’s a liability issue?”
“No. They received a complaint about him and let him go.”
“What kind of complaint?”
“They wouldn’t tell him. All they told him was the name of the client who’d complained.”
Ted raised an eyebrow.
“None other than one of Richard’s biggest clients.”
Ted shook his head in disbelief. “You think Richard had them complain so that Brayden would lose his job?”
She nodded sadly. “He always had a vindictive streak, but I never thought he’d turn it on the kids. I guess I was wrong. Brayden’s always made the peace. I think Richard was most hurt by his reaction on Sunday. So, he got back at him.”
“And Ally?”
“Yes. Her, too. Apparently, some woman called Ally’s boss Carina and told her that Ally was starting freelancing and attempting to poach her clients.”
Ted’s jaw was set. She’d never seen him look so angry. “He’d do that to his own kids?”
“Yep. I’ve spent the last two days fuming. I want to tell him exactly what I think of him, but I had the kids over for dinner last night, and they think, and I know they’re right, that we should just let it go. We can’t change what he’s done; all we can do is recover from it and move on.”
“But he can’t just ruin your livelihoods like that.”
“He can, and he has. But we can get over it and regroup. I’ll muddle through till I can make new hires. Brayden doesn’t mind taking some time until he’s fully recovered anyway, and Ally was getting ready to go out on her own.” She shrugged. “It never rains but it pours.”
He smiled. “I know the saying goes that into every life a little rain must fall, but this seems more like a deluge.”
“We’ll be fine. I don’t have it in me to get riled up and fight him. The way I see it, the kids will never again have any illusions about their father, which is sad, but it’ll save them from any future hurt. And me …”
“What about you?”
“I suppose if I want to find the silver lining …” She smiled and dropped a kiss on his lips. “Then I can take this as life showing me very clearly indeed just how lucky I am that I met you, and I’m not married to him anymore.”
“I admire you, Audrey. I don’t think I could be so forgiving.”
She smiled. “Oh, don’t get me wrong. I’ll never forgive him. I’m being pragmatic. I can retaliate, or I can stew in anger—neither of those will do me or the kids any good. So, we’ll just move on.”
“I wish I could do something to help.”
She touched his cheek. “You are. You’re here—or at least, I’m here with you. Knowing I was going to see you tonight helped keep me sane through it all.”
He caught her hand and kissed it. “Do you want to go back to Summer Lake this weekend? Ally could meet with Marianne, and I’ll talk with April and Eddie to see what they’re thinking. And Brayden could come, I know there are a couple of guys up there who work in cybersecurity—Dan Benson might be able to give him some pointers or even hook him up with something. We could rent one of the houses at the resort.”
Audrey felt as if her heart might overflow. “You’re such a good man, Ted. What did I do to deserve you?”
He held her gaze for a long moment. He looked so serious that her heart began to beat faster. “What? What’s wrong?”
He cupped her face between his hands and brushed his lips over hers. “Nothing’s wrong. You asked what you’d done, and I think it’s time that I told you—you made me fall in love with you.”
Her breath caught in her chest, and her eyes filled with tears.
“Too soon?”
She shook her head. “No. Perhaps on someone else’s timeline, it would be, but I’ve fallen in love with you, too, Ted.”
The way he kissed her left no doubt that his words were true.
Chapter Eighteen
“Tell me to butt out if you like, but is what’s happening between you and Audrey what I think is happening between you and Audrey?”
Ted smiled. “That depends. What do you think is happening?”
Eddie shot a glance at him. “I’m wondering if I’m going to finally get a stepmom.”
Ted laughed out loud at that. “A stepmom? Don’t you think you’re a bit old for one of those?”
“Probably, but it was the most roundabout way I could think of to ask if this is the kind of serious that leads to a wedding?”
Ted swallowed. “What would you think if it were?”
“I’ll tell you what most people would think—what they’d say. They’d say you’ve only known her for a couple of weeks. That’s no time at all to get to know someone.”
It was true.
Eddie glanced over at him again. They were on their way to collect Marcus from Ethan’s house. “Aww! Don’t look like that, Dad. I’m not saying that I disapprove. I’m not even saying that it is too soon—just that that’s what folks will say. From the little I’ve seen of her, I think she’s great. I like Ally and Brayden—and usually, the kids are a reflection of their parents.”
“Or at least one of their parents.”
“Are you talking about Mom?”
“No! I’m talking about their father, Audrey’s ex-husband. He’s an asshole.”
Eddie frowned. “Yeah. I know Ally’s never had any time for him. What’s the story there?”
“Too long and too infuriating for right now. But he might have done me a favor.”
“He’s the reason that neither of them has a job anymore.”
“What? Ally said they had some crazy shit to tell me. I thought maybe you guys had decided to get married or something.”
Ted shook his head vigorously. “No! Even I know it’s too soon for that. And I wouldn’t ask her without talking to you about it first.”
Eddie grinned at him. “You wouldn’t?”
“No. I need to know that you’d be on board with it.”
“Well, I can tell you that I would. I think you should set up a prenup or something, but I’d say that with anyone you met. Not just someone you’ve only known for a couple of weeks.”
“I told you. I’m not planning to ask her yet.”
“Good. So, how’s her ex done you a favor?”
“Well, since they’re both looking for work, I thought maybe I could help them find it here.”
“Here? Why?”
“Well, Ally has some possibilities here, some weddings she could help plan—including yours if you and April want to use her—my gift, if you want it. And I thought I could put Brayden in touch with Dan Benson. And—”
“You’re rambling, Dad. That’s not like you. Why would they want to come here? Why would you want them to?”
Ted blew out a sigh. “Because I want to come here, and that means I want Audrey to want to spend time here … and if her children were here—”
“What do you mean, you want to come here?”
“I mean, I want to be closer to you, son. I loved being around you guys last week. I want more of that. And Diego and I talked about it, and there’s no reason we need to be in the office every day. I want to be part of your life.” There, he’d said it.
Eddie pulled the truck over to the side of the road and turned in his seat to look at him. “You do?”
“If you want me. I won’t get in the way.”
Eddie’s eyes shone with tears. “You could never do that.” To Ted’s surprise, he leaned across the console and wrapped him in a hug. “I want you here. We all want you here. Marcus will be thrilled. April will be, too. We were only talking last night about how much we missed having you around this week. It was so nice having you here last week. It felt …” Eddie’s arms closed tighter around him. “It felt like life was finally right when you were here.”