Charming: A Modern Day Sexy Cinderella Story

by Jennifer Miller

  Smiling at her, we exchange email addresses and phone numbers and hug each other again tightly. As I watch her walk away I admit that I’m thankful for whatever magic placed her in the seat next to mine.

  “I’ve got it,” Katie exclaims loudly looking up at me excitedly. “I know exactly what we should do!”

  Eyeing her from across the room I almost dread whatever she’s about to say. I know that look on her face and it’s orneriness. Really, the girl’s got two expressions, ornery and not ornery.

  It’s been almost two very long weeks since I came home from Mexico. Each day has passed excruciatingly slow. However, I have finally stopped crying every day which is a tremendous victory. I don’t even want to think about the amount of tissues I’ve gone through.

  When I walked in the door from Cabo, Katie pounced on me immediately. She’d been frantically trying to reach me after the news story broke thanks to my lovely stepmother. My phone was still dead and I’d never had a chance to warn her that I was on my way home or to talk to her about what happened. She clearly wasn’t expecting me to walk in the door two days early and even though she was full of questions, she took one look at my face and knew that whatever happened it hadn’t ended well and in that moment, I just needed her.

  I experienced a sick sense of déjà vu when I was on the floor in Katie’s arms once more as I cried all over her shirt. Eventually I was coherent enough to give her every single detail about what happened from the moment she left Mexico. I even told her about the sex. Needless to say, she was one happy girl. Correction, she was one jealous happy girl. She also wanted to kill Hunter with her bare hands. I believe it was something along the lines of chopping off his balls and feeding them to the hungry pigeons all over New York City. Or something along those lines. I was too delirious with tears when she was going on about it, but I appreciated the sentiment.

  “I don’t know if I want to hear whatever it is that you came up with.”

  “Aw, come on,” she pushes.

  “Fine,” I sigh. “Lay it on me.”

  “No really, it’s a good one. We should probably even make a new commandment with it.”

  “I’m scared already.”

  “We should go on another vacation!” She declares like it’s the best idea in the world. “No seriously,” she says when she sees the look on my face. “It can be our thing. We can become husband collectors. We can go around to different places like London, Greece, and Italy and marry someone in each place. When a friend is broken-hearted thou best friend shall take her on vacation and get her married immediately. See? A commandment.”

  Sadly, if I want to go all over the place and marry people and collect husbands I can. After a week of not hearing from Asher, and because I needed to consult my attorney anyway about the shit that was thrown in my lap from Angelica, I finally gave my lawyer, an old family friend, a call. He gave me great advice for my work situation, but during our discussion I mentioned my marriage in Cabo and how I was waiting for divorce papers from Asher. I had to mention it because like it or not, my quickie marriage was relevant when dealing with my mental stability because of the accusations Angelica brought up to the press and our board of directors. I said something along the lines of not knowing how long is too long before I should worry about the fact I hadn’t yet received divorce papers from Asher in the mail. I had been reluctantly checking each day. I wasn’t sure if I was going to feel great sadness or relief when they arrived.

  Imagine my shock when I found out my marriage to Asher was considered only a commitment ceremony in the eyes of the law. There was nothing legal about it whatsoever. In order to be considered legally married in Cabo San Lucas, they require individuals to have four witnesses present at the ceremony, to obtain a blood test a few days prior to the ceremony, for a judge to preside over the ceremony and a couple of other things. Needless to say, our little wedding inside of a church was nothing more than pomp and circumstance because there wasn’t a thing about it that was legal. Therefore, divorce papers were never going to arrive because there was no need for them. We weren’t really married. I didn’t think my heart could hurt worse, but I was wrong. Not only did I feel like I lost my last connection to Asher, but I added feeling stupid on top of that.

  Considering this information, I should probably have removed the ring on my left ring finger, but I haven’t been able to bring myself to do so just yet. While it may not have meant anything legally in the eyes of Cabo or in the U.S., it meant something to me, and I’m not ready to part with it.

  Shaking the thoughts from my mind, I return my focus to Katie and our conversation. She’s done what she set out to accomplish, I laugh. “Only if we can go to Scotland and see if James Fraser lives there,” I tell her. She’s the only one who understands my Outlander obsession. “Maybe I can grab him for my collection.”

  “Deal!” she agrees.

  “Come on,” I tell her, “we’re going to be late.”

  “Aw fine,” she says as she applies one more layer of lip gloss.

  The two of us are meeting up with a couple of other friends at a bar for drinks. Katie is dragging me out and I don’t really want to go. I have one hell of a board meeting that’s going to be hell tomorrow, so I’d rather be at home and gear myself up for that, but Katie won’t allow it. I agreed, but told her no more than an hour or so.

  When we walk inside of the wine bar, Vanessa and Riley wave to us. They’re already seated at a table. We take a seat and the waitress is there in seconds. Ordering a glass of Riesling, I smile at our friends and it quickly turns into a frown when I notice the apprehension on their faces. I know that everything that happened with Asher was tabloid fodder, but Katie told me she had already communicated what’s what, but clearly something is bothering them.

  “We can leave if you want to,” Vanessa says.

  Katie gives her a strange look, “We just got here. Why would we want to leave?”

  “You didn’t see them?” Riley asks looking uncomfortable.

  Katie and I exchange a look and Katie asks, “What the hell are you talking about?”

  Vanessa leans forward, “Ella, keep your eyes on me. Katie you can look, but Jeremy and Jackie are here.”

  Staring at Vanessa and Riley’s wide eyes, I see Katie’s head swivel out of the corner of my eyes. I don’t move, not because I’m surprised or shocked, but because I feel nothing. Not anger. Not sadness. Not regret. N-O-T-H-I-N-G. Where there used to be feelings for Jeremy there is now one big barren hole.

  “Oh no he isn’t,” Katie hisses.

  Looking at Katie I raise my brows in question, “What?”

  “He’s coming over here.”

  “You’re kidding.”

  “No. He actually left Jackie sitting there, and is coming to our table.”

  No sooner are the words out of her mouth than I feel a tap on the back of my shoulder. Turning, after first noticing the various pissed off looks on my friends’ faces, I look at Jeremy for the first time since I walked away from him on our wedding day. He gives me the lopsided smile I used to adore, but once again I marvel that I don’t feel one single ounce of anything for him. It’s gone. Loving Asher made me realize that I never felt love for Jeremy. My father is always alive in my heart and I don’t need to hang onto a person or an item that was connected to him to keep him here. He’ll always be a part of me.

  “Hi, Ella.” Jeremy says hesitantly, his eyes looking from me to all the women I’m with.

  “What do you want?” Katie quickly asks in an interrogating voice.

  “I’m not talking to you,” Jeremy says.

  Katie starts to get out of her chair and I almost laugh. “Hello, Jeremy. What brings you to our table? It appears you’re otherwise…well whatever you are with her,” I say waving to the table where Jackie sits glaring daggers at me.

  “I just wanted to tell you that I’d still like for us to get together and talk. I would like the chance to explain.”

  “That’s not needed n
or is it necessary. I don’t care for an explanation.”

  “Look, can we talk in private for a minute?”

  “No, thank you. Whatever you have to say to me, you can say in front of them.”

  Sighing deeply, he rolls his shoulders a few times before proceeding. “I saw in the paper that you took off to Cabo and ended up marrying that actor guy and I guess I just feel bad that I drove you to do something so crazy. I didn’t know that losing me would…well make you go off the deep end. And, by the way, I never intended to cheat on you, it just happened.”

  Staring at him in disbelief, I look at Katie as if I need her to confirm that I just heard what I think I heard. The look on her face is a clear indication that he did in fact just spout complete and utter foolishness. Looking back at Jeremy, my mouth open and feeling speechless, I begin to laugh. I laugh so hard, that tears pour down my eyes. Katie joins me too and I look at her, “You heard that, right?”

  “Oh, I heard that.”

  “Can you believe that shit?”

  “You know, the sad thing is that I do believe it,” she says making me laugh harder.

  It takes effort but eventually I calm down enough to respond, “Jeremy, you didn’t make me crazy. And trust me, the ending of our relationship was the best thing that could ever have happened. I fell in love with a man and in the short time I was with him I learned what real love is and what it feels like to be unbelievably happy. You can take your apology, or your guilt, or hell, given the fact that you’re with Jackie, maybe it’s your regret, regardless, you can take them all and shove them up your freaking ass.” Jeremy’s face floods with color and I feel satisfaction at the sight. “You know the truth is, I should probably be thanking you. If you hadn’t cheated on me, I never would have met Asher. And the thing is, I would endure going through that infamous and doomed wedding day of ours a thousand times over again if it meant I would always end up with those days I spent with Asher. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m here with friends and we have some catching up to do.”

  Turning back around, I give him my back and never look at him again. Pride is shining in Katie’s eyes and Vanessa and Riley can’t stop smiling and giggling at witnessing our little interaction. Maybe I should feel bad for being so cruel, but the truth is I blame Jeremy in part for what’s going on now with Angelica and all the crap in the press that was said about Asher. He gave an interview to the press about our wedding like he was some victim, never once mentioning his role in the demise of our relationship. Not to mention he undoubtedly hoped to make out in the end should the board decide I’m not in my right mind to run my company.

  I enjoy the rest of the evening with my friends. I stay longer than I intended, but the longer I’m with them, the more I realize that their support is making my heart feel lighter than it has in days. We keep our conversations pretty superficial – talking about the latest fashion and the latest gossip amongst our friends.

  When Katie and I walk in our front door a few hours later, I give her a hug and wish her sweet dreams before escaping to my room. Shutting the door behind me, I change into my pajamas and then get into my desk drawer pulling out a manila file I keep inside. Rifling through the contents, I select what I want, then pull a shopping bag out from under my desk and take out a wrapped package.

  Peeling away the tissue paper, I take the back off of a silver picture frame. Placing the picture I just selected inside, I close the back then bring the frame to my bedside table. The photo is the beach in Cabo. It’s a panoramic view of the shore and off to the side are rocks with water spraying into the sky from the impact. Looking at it makes me sigh with pleasure. If I close my eyes I can almost feel the sun on my face, wind in my hair and the sand in my toes.

  It’s the first time since my return I’ve been able to frame an image printed from the many photographs taken while away. It’s also the first time I’ve been able to look at one and feel fondness and not heartbreak. Today was a better day.

  My hands are shaking and I honestly don’t know if it’s due to nerves or if it’s because of the three cups of coffee I’ve already had. I woke up with the sun this morning unable to sleep. I was too wound up thinking about the meeting with the board. I actually did something I haven’t done in a long time. I got out of bed, got dressed, put on my running shoes, and went for a jog.

  It’s something I did a lot after my father passed away. Running somehow helped relieve my stress. I’m no marathon winning runner by any means, but I can do a fast paced walk, light jog while looking pretty good in running attire, with the best of ‘em. Typically, with every smack of my feet against the pavement I’ve been able to beat the stress or sadness from my body into the concrete. It’s true that sometimes I nearly ran myself sick, not always able to stop, but I felt a need to run until I felt nothing at all.

  Nothing.

  That’s something that I could walk away with today.

  Angelica has been manipulating things behind the scenes for a while. I’m sure she and Jackie had some kind of plan when it came to my relationship with Jeremy and planned on using him to push me out of the company. I remember she intimated that when she told me about their affair, and it wouldn’t surprise me at all. And when she didn’t have Jeremy to use as planned, she determined to use the wedding fiasco against me. And my time with Asher and what happened between us only played nicely into her hands. It gave her the right ammunition she needed to put her little plan into action, I’m sure.

  Planting the story in the news about my mental status and allowing herself to come across as the worried stepmother was brilliant really. The board of directors, while old friends of my father’s whom have known me since I was in diapers, are old fashioned. They will protect the company they helped build at any cost, and if that means pushing the founder’s daughter and CEO out in order to preserve its reputation and standing that’s what they will do.

  I get it. I do. Our company gains clients because of our unmatched reputation in this industry. It’s a company built on integrity and intelligence. How can we expect to thrive and gain new business when potential clients could be worried that the CEO is out of her mind? Or that I could embarrass their company’s voice or brand?

  I have no idea what’s going to happen today, but I know that I’m not going down without a fight. From the information I’ve been able to gain from gossipy board members, the rumor mill at work, and from my assistant April, they are under the impression that I completely lost my mind over the heartbreak of Jeremy’s betrayal. Some of the board members were at my wedding; they saw first hand how that went down. And I’m told that Angelica told them that I was on medications for a long-term mental health condition. One that had never been exposed to protect me. I suppose I can see why they might think I’d lost my mind. I suppose a lesser woman than me could.

  Then there’s my marriage to Asher. They believe that it was a quickie wedding because I was reeling from the loss of Jeremy. That I was acting out. Or further evidence of my instability and irrationality. It doesn’t help that there were people that came forward with stories about our time in Cabo. Asher’s “friend” Spring gave an interview telling the press how worried she was about Asher because his new bride seemed “unstable.”

  The woman that took a picture with Asher at the restaurant and kissed him on the mouth, sold the photo to the press and gave an interview stating that I almost “lost my mind” when she kissed Asher, her friends that were nowhere near the table when it happened, backing up her story and adding details about how I yelled and screamed for them to get away from “my man.”

  The man that offered to help me with my sunscreen snapped photos of Asher and I together. The weird thing is that he took them not only of us at the pool but getting ready to go out into the ocean on our wave runners too. That means he had followed us which is incredibly creepy. His story stated that I flirted and came onto him, asking for help with the sunscreen, and that Asher lost his mind and almost hit him for touching me.

  I me
an really, I’m not sure why Hunter was so worried, if anything, it sounded like poor Asher had trouble reeling in his crazy wife. My guess is he’s eliciting more sympathy than anything else.

  It’s a real possibility that the board is going to ask me to step down and submit my resignation or put me on a forced leave of absence until I give in and resign. The thought of losing my father’s company makes me ill.

  Smoothing my skirt down my thighs before I step out of the car that has taken me to the office building, I straighten my jacket and force my head high when I walk into the office like I have each day since my return. Never let them see you sweat.

  When I reach my office, my assistant is there immediately with a cup of coffee like usual. I shouldn’t take it from her considering the cups I’ve already had, but I do. “Most of them are already here and are in the boardroom,” April tells me and I nod, unable to find words. “Five minutes,” she reminds me.

  Turning toward the large window in my office I take in the view of the city I love. Forcing myself to inhale and exhale, I remind myself that no matter what happens today, I haven’t done anything wrong. And if I’ve learned anything over the last couple weeks it’s that when things happen out of our control, there’s nothing I can do. And it’s senseless to worry. All I can control is myself. I can live by the morals my beloved father and mother instilled in me, I can be true to myself, I can have courage and be kind, and I can trust that while it may not make sense to me at the time, that the path we walk is all part of a greater plan - and all I can do is walk down the road and have faith that it will all work out in the end. And it will. No matter what happens inside that boardroom today.

  With one final deep breath, I leave my office and go into the boardroom. Everyone is here. Including Angelica. As soon as she sees me she smirks and I look away immediately and take time to meet the eyes of every person there before I walk to the head of the table. “Hello everyone. Shall we begin?”