Back Where I Belong: A Wonderfully Witty and Completely Absorbing Love Story (Susan Wade Series Book 3)

by Virginia Gray

  “So that’s why it took you so long to come back?” Crystal Ann asked. “I figured y’all were having one hell of a good time.”

  “I’ll never leave America again,” Joe said, before passing out cold on the table.

  54

  Manipulative Men

  I pushed Audrey’s stroller into the coffee shop on Morehead City’s boardwalk. She was merrily speaking gibberish to anyone who would listen. At eight months, her hair was a riot of golden curls. Her eyes, having finally settled on a stunning mixture of Pete’s green and my blue, were an impossible turquoise color that looked, quite frankly, otherworldly. There was no doubt in my mind she would one day win a Miss America pageant, though I was far more interested in her getting into Harvard.

  I pulled a bottle from Lexi’s stupidly expensive baby bag and propped Audrey in my lap. I waved to Tom Ridgeway as he entered.

  “Susan, so happy you could see me. How are you?”

  Aside from my psychotic episode, I hadn’t seen my mentor and corporate predecessor since he detonated a bomb that left me sitting shell-shocked in a parking lot several years ago. If anything, retirement had reversed the hands of time, and he looked younger and more vital than I remembered. “Just great, Tom,” I lied.

  His eyes lit when he saw the cherub that was my child. “Mind if I hold her?”

  “Not at all, but beware, she’s a big flirt. She’ll have you eating out of her hand in no time.”

  “I’m not planning on resisting her charms. What’s her name?”

  “Audrey.”

  “Oh, that’s a fine name. Classic. Timeless,” he said, taking her into his experienced grandpa arms. She tossed her bottle on the floor and batted her obscenely long eyelashes at him. He whistled softly. “She may be the most beautiful baby I’ve ever seen. I can tell you right now, she’s gonna be a heartbreaker.”

  “You’ve never met her daddy or you’d know it for sure.”

  As he cooed, I tore off small bites of Danish, pondering the real reason for this visit. Dropping by a boat showroom nearly two hours from his beachfront home in Wilmington didn’t make a whole lot of sense. After nearly fifteen minutes of baby talk, retirement talk, and North Carolina talk, I grabbed the reins.

  “Tom, it’s wonderful seeing you, but perhaps you’d better tell me why you’re really here.”

  He shook his head and chuckled. “You never disappoint.” He handed Audrey back to me and then steepled his fingers. “I understand you walked away from a goldmine.”

  I nodded. “And now I’m unemployed, as you also surely know.”

  He took a sip of coffee. “How’s that going for you?”

  “I’m having a rather difficult time adjusting, to be honest.”

  “Knowing you, that doesn’t surprise me. Susan, I’d never try to suggest what’s best for you…” My brow rose of its own volition. He continued, conceding with a smile. “We don’t work for INTech anymore and have no obligations to them professionally. But I do know better than most how they operate.” Tom was an INTech lifetime career veteran.

  “No doubt.”

  “If you’re interested, you can continue working in your field without INTech.”

  “Whoa, whoa! I despise ComSync, and ComTech has no presence here. Plus, I am not moving my family again.”

  “I wasn’t suggesting it.”

  I sighed. “Tom, you’re going to have to speak in plain English, because I really don’t understand where you’re going with this.”

  “Consult,” he said simply.

  “Huh?”

  “Consult for INTech…and whomever else you wish. You’d work for yourself, which means you decide your hours and where to spend them.” He nodded to Audrey.

  “I have no idea how to do that,” I said.

  He slid a card across the table and gave me a meaningful look. “You may not, but he does.”

  Tom then glanced at his watch. “Oh, I’ve got to get over to the showroom. Don’t want to be late.” We shook hands, though I couldn’t rise because Audrey had become deadweight on my lap. He regarded her for a long moment. “She is the most beautiful child. You did good, kid.” He winked at me and strode to the door. But as he opened it, he turned back. “Make the call, Susan. You won’t be sorry.”

  Troubled, I negotiated through the throngs of tourists, somehow finding an empty bench near the water’s edge. I sat Audrey in my lap.

  “Audrey, we are surrounded by manipulative men. Don’t be fooled by their pleasant demeanor. They’ve always got some agenda.”

  She blinked at me as though she completely understood—as if she’d suspected it all along.

  “That’s my girl. You are woman. Own it.”

  ♥

  It physically pained me to watch the company dismantled through the eyes of Mona. I was terrified I had sealed her fate. By promoting her, I had made her expensive middle management, and therefore vulnerable.

  No one had come to backfill in Havelock. In fact, as I drove past the empty office building on the way to Mona’s house a week later, I was neither shocked nor surprised to see a For Lease sign plastered to its exterior. It stood as a monument to misplaced dreams and faulted realities.

  Mona yanked opened her front door, threw her arms around me, and sobbed into my blouse.

  “They fired you, huh?” I said, patting her back.

  “Worse!” she moaned. “Seems Martin, South Carolina’s Chief Acquisitions Officer just got let go, and I’m gettin’ his job as well as mine.”

  “A promotion? That’s fantastic!”

  “No it’s not, ’cause now I’m s’posed to run both.”

  “You can handle that.”

  “From Charlotte!” she wailed.

  “You’re moving?” I was aghast. Who would buy the Rusty Frog? And the house? I couldn’t imagine the fights she and Jimbo would have. Somehow, my moving didn’t seem all that surprising, but for Mona, and especially for Jimbo, who’d spent his whole life here? That was just wrong.

  “’Course not.”

  “Well, with your parents and relatives living in Charlotte, at least you’ll get to see them more. It’s one hell of a commute, but I guess that’s your only alternative.”

  She looked at me like I was an idiot. “I’m not commutin’ like that. I won’t do it. I’m quittin’!”

  “How are you going to survive financially?” It wasn’t my business, per se, but I sure wasn’t going to let my dearest friend and semi-relative go hungry.

  “We’ve got some money saved up. I’ll get another job doin’ something or other. There’s nothin’ in Havelock, of course, but we’ll get it figured out. Jimbo’ll have to let Hunter go, but he’s young, and now that he’s got his bartendin’ certificate, he’ll get a new job in no time.” She wiped her eyes and forced a smile. “Now, let me hold my goddaughter!”

  Kicking me, Audrey lunged for her arms. “No-na!”

  “Yes, sugar, it’s your No-na.”

  Feeling fairly miserable and hating my company like never before, I glanced once again at the deserted office building as I drove by. I had been wallowing in self-pity and remorse, but that hadn’t been enough to drive me in any particular direction. Mona had just moved my compass’ needle.

  I talked through it on our trip back to Atlantic Beach: the pros and cons, where I saw myself in the world. Finally, I asked, “What would you do, Aud?”

  “Ba-ba,” she replied confidently.

  “I couldn’t agree more.”

  After putting her down for a nap, I pulled out my wallet. The card Tom had given me was now frayed at the edges. I’d practically memorized the number, though I’d not had the guts to actually dial it.

  “Hi, Mr. Carlton, my name is Susan—”

  “Walsh, right?” His voice was warm and friendly.

  “Yes. Tom Ridgeway gave me your—”

  “I’ve been expecting your call.”

  “Oh?”

  ♥

  “We need to have a conversation,”
I said, returning to the living room, more than a little stunned. The late summer sun was threatening to set in glory during dinner, the water already consumed by its fire. Pete turned off the stove and pulled me onto his lap, kissing my cheek.

  “I imagine we need to have several.”

  “INTech’s promoting Mona.”

  “I know.”

  I rolled my eyes. Of course, he knew. “How’s Jimbo taking it?”

  He exhaled and shook his head. “Not well, but he’ll do what she wants.” He hugged me tightly. “I think he’s just developed a new appreciation for what we went through.”

  “So he doesn’t hate me anymore?”

  Pete’s eyes twinkled “Well, I wouldn’t go that far.”

  “She’s quitting,” I said.

  He raised his eyebrows in surprise. Ha! He didn’t know that.

  “She thinks she’ll get a job somewhere else, and certainly she can, but in all honesty, no one will pay her nearly what she’s making now.”

  “Sometimes I miss bein’ a little kid.”

  I snorted. “Sometimes you still are one.” I bit back on my scream when Pete started tickling me. After a long playful kiss, I said, “You know how I had coffee with Tom Ridgeway a couple of weeks ago?”

  “I owe him a great debt,” he said soberly. The profoundness of his statement was not lost on me. In many ways, Tom had given me back to him, and vice versa. He’d opened a door and pushed me through it. I’d always think of him as my guardian angel, keeping watch over my career.

  “Well, after your spawn charmed the pants off of him, he gave me this card.” Pete read it and met my eyes again. “So I called them.”

  As it turned out, a group of people, who’d over the years left or been let go from INTech, had created an umbrella consulting firm. Thanks to Tom’s introduction, I had been invited to buy into it like a franchise, and they’d provide the assistance I’d need to start my own company. I’d have access to their resources, from accounting advisors and marketing people to contract lawyers and payroll services. In return for their assistance, once my business was running smoothly, I would be expected to contribute to the core knowledge base with my own specialties. It was a broad spectrum of talents working together for our own greater good—aka food.

  After laying it all out for him, I said, “We’re going to be okay.”

  He took my face in his hands and kissed me deeply. “We already are.”

  55

  Epilogue

  “I swear, I’m going to leash that child.” I arched a brow at Pete. It was his turn to chase her around the fully gated patio.

  “Aud’s got places to go and people to see. Don’t ya, sugarplum?” Pete scooped her up in his arms and held her above his head. She squealed with delight. “At this rate, you’ll be flyin’ soon.” He kissed the top of her head and placed her back in her playset. She eyed the netting then Pete, assessing the best time to make her third escape. I gave her the international sign for I’ve got my eyes on your little butt, and she merely giggled.

  Along with his mischievous smile, she’d inherited a full serving of Pete’s humor, charm, and calculating cleverness. I smirked and shook my head. When she hit fifteen, Pete was going to seriously rethink the whole leash concept.

  I poured more champagne in Mona and Jimbo’s glasses and topped off Pete’s as he disappeared into the kitchen. Tonight we were celebrating the first anniversary of W&S Consulting Inc. When she’d originally designed our business logo, Anita had cheerfully pointed out that using out first initials, S&M, was a great idea, since we’d get a more diverse clientele. She did have a point, therefore we changed it immediately.

  At the moment, our bottom financial line was still in the red, however, our numbers were about to hit the stratosphere. The most interesting thing had happened not two weeks ago. INTech had contacted me. It seems they had spread themselves a bit too thin and couldn’t justify expending manpower and resources to cover this region. This news did not surprise me.

  I had inflated the proposal by ten times our normal rate, and they hadn’t blinked an eye. The ink was still wet on the contract, and we were set to take over their entire Eastern North Carolina business at the end of next month. I sighed once more, beyond content. Our little company was going to make it.

  Pete returned to the table with my all-time favorite dish: steamed channel bass. He set down the large platter with a flourish, and after a sweet and lovely prayer, raised his glass. “To the two most amazing women on God’s green earth.” Mona smiled euphorically as Jimbo smothered her with kisses.

  I countered, “To our supportive husbands and our brilliant future.” I then mouthed, I love you. Pete’s eyes glowed in return.

  “This looks so good,” Mona exclaimed as he dished fish onto our plates.

  “Even though you have a mighty cute butt, you know I really married you for your cooking,” I teased.

  “I think ya married me for a few other reasons as well.” He bit the tip of his tongue and gave me a look that was nothing short of obscene. Dinner could be over right now as far as I was concerned.

  As we took our first glorious bites, Pete moaned in ecstasy, Jimbo smiled in affirmation, Mona’s eyes flared, and I convulsed.

  Simultaneously, chairs scraped the deck like two sets of nails on a single chalkboard, and Mona and I lunged for the nearest stretch of railing.

  After my dry heaves subsided, I wiped vomit from my lips with the back of my hand and met her eyes. Somehow, Miss Manners had retained her napkin, and after dabbing her lips primly, her mortified expression transformed into something akin to having just met God firsthand. Mine, I’m quite sure, was more like ISIS had just suicide-bombed my SUV.

  Horrified, I glanced at the men, whose jaws were fully unhinged and resting comfortably on the tabletop.

  “Holy crap!” I whispered. “Not again.”

  56

  Addendum

  If you’re wondering what happened to Myrtle, I’ll tell you. Our relationship had always been based on a firm foundation of mutual disrespect, and even though I hoped she’d be dismantled and sold off for spare parts, alas, that was not to be her destiny. You see, I knew more about falling in love with Pete than anyone else on the planet, and that was something you just didn’t get over. I also knew she’d only ever have headlights for him. And while Pete had never mentioned her again, I knew he still had a place for her in his heart’s garage. So shortly after returning home, I contacted Cousin Sammy.

  Though money was tight, and she wasn’t worth the hundred dollars Pete had originally paid for her, I offered Sammy quadruple what he’d spent and drove Myrtle’s tired ass home. Mona followed behind in case she broke down along the way. Pete certainly heard the hole in her muffler well before she came into view because he was racing down the stairs as I pulled up. He seemed completely stunned for a moment, but then his face blazed with joy.

  “This thing drives worse than it did before,” I said, unable to hide my smile. “Happy Anniversary!”

  “But it’s not our anniversary.”

  “It’s the anniversary of our first date in this deathtrap.”

  His grin broadened. “That was in the spring.”

  “Well, it’s got to be the anniversary of something. Wanna take her for a spin?”

  “Yeah.”

  I kicked the door open with both feet. For once she didn’t protest. Either Pete’s cousin had thoroughly oiled her hinges, or she wanted me out of her cab so badly the door had swung open of its own volition.

  “Knock yourself out.”

  He threw his arms around me and twirled me in the air. “I can’t believe you did this!” Then he ran around to the passenger door and opened it.

  “What are you doing?” I asked.

  “Aren’t you coming?”

  “In that thing? I think not.” I smiled at him. “You two need some bonding time. So, go bond.”

  “I love you, Susie-Q.”

  “You’d better,” I said, smir
king.

  And quite literally, Pete and Myrtle drove off into the sunset.

  The End— I mean it this time!

  Help this book reach one hundred! REVIEW Back Where I Belong

  Acknowledgements

  I offer a universe of thanks to my precious family and dear friends for their unerring support during this labor of love. They have served as eyes, ears, psychiatrists, cheerleaders, editors, proofreaders, and sounding boards. Thank you, Barbara, Pat, Elaine, and Denise, for not gawking as I stood naked on my writing stage. I am forever indebted to my editor, Bob Atkinson, whose eagle eyes never err, and whose advice is worth far more than the metric ton of single-malt scotch with which I pay him. Very special thanks to Dr. Eric Stamler, obstetrics and gynecological specialist, for answering all my questions and texts, even while on vacation—yes, I did research this shit, people!—and to his wife, Betsy, for predictably rolling her eyes. And finally, thanks to Audrey, my biggest fan and Canadian soul sister. You make this author feel like a rock star.

  About the Author

  Bestselling Author Virginia Gray is a native North Carolinian and a graduate of Wake Forest University. A former college professor, she stepped away from academics to pursue a career in writing. She lives in the Midwest with her wonderful family and far too many pets. Visit her at virginiagray.com