by Lauren Wood
16
Ben
Once again, I found myself back at Damon’s club. Only this time I was slouched over the bar by myself, eyeing a shot of tequila. The water next to it looked more appealing, but I threw it back anyway. I was vaguely aware of the figures sliding onto the stools on both sides of me. Damon appeared in front of me, and I looked up to see Nick on one side and Joey on the other.
“Intervention time,” Nick warned me.
“Ah come on, you guys. It's been a rough week. Just let me sit here and drown my sorrows,” I pleaded.
Joey glanced down to the watch on his hand. “I’m all for a Friday happy hour, but it’s barely noon.”
“So what?”
“You’ve been slipping at the office,” Nick continued. “You’ve missed two deadlines this week and I’m waiting for your signature on at least five different contracts.”
I patted the briefcase that was leaning up against my stool. “They’re all in here. I was planning to look them over right now, thank you very much.”
Damon looked down at me. “You’ve been sitting here for over an hour and you haven’t touched that briefcase once.”
“I haven’t seen you like this since college,” Joey observed.
“Thanks a lot for divulging that little tale to Kate, by the way,” I huffed.
“Doesn’t she have her big presentation at work today?”
I hated the reminder of what she was up to. “How do you know that?”
“Angel said she saw her posting something on social media about asking everyone to wish her good luck,” he replied. “I assumed that’s what it was about.”
“Oh great. They’re friends on social media now?”
“You’re the one who brought her to eat at our house and introduced her to Olivia,” he defended. “Besides, girls you mess around with are always hitting up our wives on social media. It’s like they think it gives them some kind of advantage with you. You never cared before.”
“This is different,” I sighed. I could feel the burn of their prying eyes and quickly sat up, trying to play it cool. “Actually, no. It’s not different. You’re right. Let them be friends on social media. It makes no difference to me.”
“So, you’re fine with everything?” he questioned. “Then you won’t care that she posted this picture of her on a date with some other guy last night.”
I shot up and lunged for the phone in his hands. “What!? Let me see that.”
“I was just messing with you!” He yanked the phone back, sliding it into his pocket.
“If everything that happened with Kate really is no big deal,” Nick started in again. “Then what’s going on with you? Why have you been so off your game this week?”
I let out a groaning sigh and decided to take a drink of my water after all. I didn’t have the heart to tell them what had really happened. That every time Kate and I slept together, it was better than the time before. And the last time damn near did me in. It was intimate and personal. It scared the hell out of me. Then she said those three little words and I freaked out. I couldn’t risk letting myself fall for her, only for one of us to get hurt.
I woke up before dawn and couldn’t fall back asleep with her next to me. I figured we were both better off alone and scribbled that note before running for the hills.
“Okay, so maybe she got under my skin a little,” I admitted. “But it’s over now. Like really over. I tied up all the loose ends with her boss and everything at her work. They bought the whole story. She’ll get her promotion. And soon enough, I’m sure she’ll meet the perfect guy. She’ll have the perfect job and husband and kids. Everything she wants.”
“And no part of you secretly wishes she wanted all of that with you?” Joey asked.
“Even if she did, that’s not where my life is headed. I tried my hand at all of that when we were young. It didn’t work out. I realized I dodged a bullet and none of it was really what I wanted.”
“Review the contracts,” Nick ordered. “And when you’re done moping around, bring them back to the office. I’m headed there now myself.”
Joey followed him out, leaving me alone with Damon. But he quickly got swept up in ordering his crew around for the lunch rush. I stared down at my briefcase and wondered why work had become so dissatisfying. It used to feel like it was all I needed to be happy. The challenge of it … the money … the status. Suddenly, none of it seemed like enough. And it was making it hard for me to focus.
As the place got more crowded and noisy, I snatched up my stuff and headed for the door. Stashing the briefcase away in my car, I decided to take a walk. I meandered through the park and figured I’d grab some coffee before finally going back to the office and forcing myself to get some work done. I’d stay until I got all caught up and I’d feel better.
It was a quiet day in the coffee shop, certainly quieter than Damon’s club in the afternoons. So I settled into the corner and pulled out all the overdue contracts. It was easier than I thought it would be to start making some progress. Before I knew it, a couple of hours had gone by and I was already almost finished reviewing everything.
While reviewing the last few lines of real estate legal jargon that needed my approval, I suddenly realized I was sitting at the same table where Kate, Olivia, and I sat after we first met. Looking back, I couldn’t help but laugh at how ridiculous it all was. Me lying about being a widowed single dad, then her turning around and lying about me being her fiancé. We sure did know how to get ourselves into some strange kinds of messes.
I thought back on that afternoon and wondered what had changed. Kate seemed so innocent and optimistic when it came to meeting some guy in the park. She still believed it all worked like it was supposed to. That you meet someone you’re attracted to, hit it off, and the rest is history. She looked at me like she really thought that kind of thing was possible.
I wished it was so easy for me. She looked so beautiful sitting across from me that day. I remembered catching some of the other guys staring at her, and I felt lucky that she was sitting there with me. Her eyes lit up when she talked about her job and all the plans she had for her life.
“Don’t you think it’d be exciting just to take off and travel the world?” she asked me. “I think all the time about working freelance so I’d have the freedom to go on adventures like that.” I remembered how she dropped her eyes to Olivia and looked a little embarrassed. “Oh, but I guess that kind of thing is harder to do when you’re a single parent.”
I realized it wasn’t Kate’s innocence … her way of taking things slow—coffee, then lunch, then maybe dinner before she’d even think about going to bed with me—or whatever crazy assumptions about her I made in my head that scared me off that day. What really scared me off, what terrified me the most, was the potential I saw. The warm feeling I got when she was around. The way she came alive when she talked about things that excited her.
Kate never hinted at wanting the white picket fence or trying to change anything about me. What frightened me was how I felt something with her I hadn’t felt since college. The only other time I had ever really been in love, right before my heart was broken.
I knew the woman I loved then was no good for me. I knew I was signing up to get my heart broken. That’s why I went for her. I could prove to myself that kind of thing wasn’t for me and move on to the rest of my life without feeling like I was missing out on anything.
Until I met Kate. And suddenly, I was presented with a new problem. The glowing, hopeful feeling that with the right person, things could be different. And the part of me that knew in my bones that Kate was that person.
I kept up my guard but couldn’t stay away. Then she said the words I was too scared to say myself. In that moment, I knew I loved her too. So much so that I wondered for a moment if I was the one who said them first.
I drifted off so deep into thought there in the coffee shop, that I had to take in a sharp breath as I came crashing back to realit
y, realizing that Kate wasn’t sitting right in front of me. It was just a haunting memory, but my body surged with a sudden determination. I was not about to let Kate become nothing more than a memory. Not her.
I was rushing to pack everything up in my bag when my phone dinged.
Kate: Chuck knows everything. He’s about to expose me in front of my boss and the clients. Just figured I’d let you know. At least we tried.
Even better. I was already planning to go find Kate and fix everything. But now I could save her job one last time while I was at it. I wasn’t about to let that Chuck guy win, and I certainly wasn’t about to let Kate slip away.
I stuffed the rest of the papers into my briefcase, slid my phone into my pocket, and ran out the door, texting Nick along the way. I may have let everything, including Kate, slip through my hands for a moment, but I was back! Jumping into my car, I sped off towards her office.
17
Kate
My brain was still clouded with all things Ben as I was on my way to work for my big pitch to the clients. I needed some way to get things off my chest to help ensure that it didn’t throw off my performance. As I pulled my car in to park in front of the firm, I decided to call my friend Paige. She also worked in marketing, but did freelance work for different businesses around Cherry Falls. I normally vented to her about work things, but given her active dating history … I figured she could offer some comfort regarding my love life just as well.
“Hey girl. It’s been a minute since I talked to you. Everything okay?” she answered.
“Yes, everything is fine,” I replied instinctively. “Well, no. It’s not okay. That’s why I’m calling. I’ve been having a bit of … well, boy troubles, I guess you could say.”
“You? Boy troubles? In all the time I’ve known you, I don’t think I’ve ever heard you complain about men,” she said. “This should be good. Let’s hear it.”
I took in a deep breath as I started walking into the building and gave her a rundown of everything. I was tucked into my office for most of it, which was good because I felt like I needed to be sitting down to relive it all over again. I explained how Ben and I met and all the craziness that happened after that. She listened intently the whole time. When I finally finished, she was quiet for a moment as she took it all in.
“You still there? You think I’m crazy, right?”
“No, I don’t think you’re crazy. You know I’ve been pulled in for some work with your firm before, and I know how those guys are. They’re jerks. I’m not at all surprised you felt the need to lie like that,” she told me. “But wait...this guy. Are you talking about Ben Wilder? Of Wilder Properties?”
“That’s the one,” I sighed, noticing how his name still caused a buzzing sensation through my body. “Why? You know him?”
“Actually … I dated him. Sort of. Well, we went out once or twice. Nothing happened,” she explained.
“I’m not surprised. You’re gorgeous and he’ll go after anyone who’s hot apparently,” I huffed.
“No, girl. It’s not like that at all. I mean, I thought that about him at first too. But he’s really not as big of a womanizer as he tries to make himself out to be. He puts on this big playboy show, but while he may go out with a lot of women, he doesn’t sleep around as much as he lets everyone think.”
“You’re kidding me.” I leaned back in my chair with a groan. “Great. Well that makes this all even more confusing.”
“Whether he’s sleeping with every woman he goes out with or not, he definitely has some issues when it comes to letting himself get close to women. But it sounds like he definitely wanted to be different with you … ”
“Even if that’s true, he wasn’t different. I don’t know what I was thinking telling him how I felt that last night we were together,” I whined, still kicking myself.
Paige responded, trying to stop me from beating myself up, but I didn’t hear a word of it because Chuck suddenly appeared in my office doorway.
“Hey, one sec,” I pulled the receiver away from my mouth. “This is a personal call, Chuck. I’ll be out to start prepping for the meeting in just a minute.”
But, to my surprise, Chuck walked right into my office and closed the door behind him. He sat in the seat across from me and crossed his legs with a smug smile.
“What are you doing? I told you I’d be out in a minute,” I barked.
“I heard everything, Kate.”
“What!?” I pulled the phone back to my face. “Paige. I gotta call you back.”
I quickly hung up and looked back to him with panic setting in. “What do you mean you heard everything?”
“I mean I heard everything. I heard you on the phone with your friend explaining how you lied about being engaged to Ben. That you actually barely knew him when you told Greg that. That Olivia isn’t even his kid.” He laughed to himself. “Oh boy. This is gonna be good. I can’t wait to see the look on his face when I tell him all of this. There’s no way he’ll promote someone who would do something so crazy … lying to all of us like that. I knew this whole thing was suspicious from the get go! I knew it!”
“Chuck, come on. Everything with Ben is over. You know it’s not fair that Greg wasn’t going to give me a chance just because I’m not married with kids. All this did was convince him to consider my work just the same as he would yours,” I defended.
“I don’t care about fair,” he scoffed. “I care about getting a raise and the corner office. And if you hadn’t conned all of us into believing in your little insta-family … I would be pitching to the clients today. Not you.”
“But my idea is better,” I said sternly. “And we both know it. It’s not even about Greg’s opinion. My pitch is the best strategy for the client and their products. Your pitch is a miss. Their new line will tank with that marketing plan. It’s generic and overdone.”
“Oh, don’t worry,” he grinned. “I’m going to let you walk in there for your pitch. I’m just going to make sure Nesters and Greg know what kind of person they’re dealing with before you have a chance to try and sell them on anything. Don’t you think they have a right to know they’re dealing with a master manipulator before they sign on to work with you?”
“Chuck, please …” I pleaded hopelessly one last time, but he was already making his way out the door.
Shit. What was I supposed to do now? I was officially fed up with my own big mouth. I was the one who blurted out to Greg that I had a fiancé. I blurted out to Ben that I loved him. And now running that same big mouth to Paige was going to be responsible for ruining everything! I collapsed back into my chair, thinking I’d be better off just slapping a big piece of tape over my mouth for the rest of my life.
I checked the time on my phone. The clients would be arriving soon, and Chuck would wait for the perfect moment to tell them everything...exposing me, humiliating me, and ruining my career.
I decided to text the only person who truly understood what a disappointment this was. I was so close to pulling it all off, and now it was about to be ripped out from under me. Ben may have never wanted to hear from me again, but he had worked hard to help convince them. I thought he had a right to know that we failed. Or rather, I failed.
I fired off my final text to him and slowly gathered my things. Short of just bolting from the building and never coming back, there wasn’t much I could do to avoid the inevitable. I took a deep breath and went into the boardroom to start setting up, even though I knew it was useless.
When everything was done, I sat in there alone and waited. It felt like I was waiting for my own funeral. That wasn’t too far off actually. It was just the funeral for my career.
Finally, the clients came in. I pulled myself together and put on a big smile, greeting them like everything was perfectly normal. Greg introduced us and then showed everyone to their seats. Chuck looked like a kid on Christmas morning the whole time.
Jim Harper, the founder of the company, sat at th
e head of the table opposite from me. He looked kind and honest, which only made me feel more sick. He didn’t seem like the kind of guy who would be sympathetic to someone lying and scheming just to get ahead at work.
“Kate, it’s nice to finally meet you in person. Greg has said so many wonderful things about you,” he smiled.
No one’s going to be thinking anything wonderful about me by the time Chuck’s through.
“Nice to meet you too,” I replied. “I’ve really enjoyed learning about your company and your new line of toys. What your company is doing is really refreshing.”
Chuck looked at me like I was just sucking up, but I honestly meant every word of it.
“I’m eager to hear how you think we can get our name out there … and let everyone else know that what we’re doing is refreshing, as you say.”
Greg nodded, looking pleased. “Yes, Kate. Why don’t you go ahead and get started?”
“Happily,” I said, standing to my feet in front of the projector screen.
“Wait,” Chuck blurted, also standing. “Before Kate goes on, there’s something you all should know.”
I stood my ground, knowing there was nothing I could do to stop him without making things worse. All I could do was stand there and let him say what he was going to say.
“Jim, when Greg first told us about your company and what you were looking for in a marketing firm to represent your new line, he emphasized how important it was for you to work with someone who understood the value and tradition of family,” Chuck continued, as I cringed. “As a family man myself, I’m extremely sympathetic to that. But you see, Kate here is a single woman. She has no kids of her own and no interest in getting married any time soon.”
“Now, wait just a minute, Chuck,” Greg laughed awkwardly.
“She lied to us, Greg. She knew she needed a family to stand a chance at presenting here today...and to get promoted. For money and getting ahead, she lied to all of us. She made up a fake fiancé and even went so far as to borrow their friend’s kid to parade her around in front of us, passing her off as their own.”
