“Fuck,” he says hollowly.
“Thie?”
“I spoiled the surprise,” he sighs. “I can’t tell you, Thally, or the others will behead me.”
“Come on, just tell me, and I won’t let on that I know.”
“They sweet-talked your dad, and he agreed to give you a three-week vacation from work,” he says. “And from what I’ve heard, you deserve a holiday.”
I can’t believe my luck! I express my delight in a high-pitched squeal.
“Crap,” Thierry mutters. “My ears are ringing.”
I laugh softly. “I’m sorry. I could explode with happiness right now.”
“Yeah, your happiness is assaulting my eardrum,” he teases.
“All right, so I don’t have a problem sharing a room with you, if the plan is for us all to sleep at Delsin’s,” I explain with a smirk, “but I might just drive home to my parents’ every night. I like having a room of my own.”
“Awesome. So I guess I’ll see you in Austin then.”
“See you soon, Thie.”
“Bye, gorgeous.”
I hang up. Why is everyone calling me beautiful, gorgeous, or pretty these days? I shake my head and dismiss the question before lying down on the bed.
I dial Cami’s number.
“Are you already missing me?” she asks.
“Like hell. No, I just wanted to check if anything is going on tonight. Any plans?”
“Nope. Delsin wants to spend a relaxed evening with me, since we won’t see each other for a few weeks.”
“Wow,” I giggle. “I’m not used to having a party-free Friday.”
“I think Delsin’s fraternity is having a party,” Cami says. “Ave and the others are planning on going there. You could join them, I guess. I just hope you’ll still be able to get up early if you go out tonight.”
“I’ve always managed to when needed,” I point out. “But I think I’ll stay home and read a book or something. Go to bed early. I don’t want you to be scared when I’m driving tomorrow. Oh … by the way, Nathaniel wants to come with us tomorrow. Could you maybe ask your mom if he could stay at your place, at least until I’ve spoken to my dad in person? You know how he is with new people.”
“I can call her, but why didn’t you tell me earlier?” she asks.
“He only decided half an hour ago.”
“Oh. Okay, let me call her,” Cami repeats. “I’ll call you back and let you know.”
“Great. Bye.”
“Bye.” Cami hangs up.
***
I hardly slept last night, because my head was flooded with memories of Linden again. They always bombard me when I calm down and try to get some rest. It still hurts to be swamped with the knowledge that my relationship with Linden was nipped in the bud and is lost forever. It took a cold shower to wake me up, but it took a mug of cold water poured over Nathaniel’s head to wake him up. All my other attempts at waking him failed.
He didn’t feel so well, so he took his own sweet time getting ready. We were a little late, but that’s what happens when you drink a lot of alcohol at a party designed to celebrate the end of the semester. Now he’s lying in the backseat with his eyes closed. I stop in front of Delsin’s house. Delsin and Cami are waiting by the front door.
“Good morning, sunshine.” I smile as I get out and take off my sunglasses.
“You’re late,” Cami complains.
“Tell that to the sleepyhead in the backseat. I’m sorry, but I tried to call you and you didn’t pick up.”
“Tell that to this man beside me. Well, anyway. You’re here now.” She kisses Delsin goodbye with a lot of passion, then pulls away and picks up her bag. “I’ll see you in two weeks, babe,” she breathes, and I take the bag from her to put it in the trunk.
“Maybe even in one—who knows how long I can put up with my mom.” He grins.
“Oh no, buster, you’re not leaving your mom early because of me,” she warns. “I don’t want to be responsible for that.”
“Oooh, now I’m scared,” he says with mock wide-eyed fear. He kisses her on the forehead. “I’m going to miss you, Caramel.”
“I’ll miss you, too.”
I close the trunk with a loud bang to tell them to finish their bantering. I want to get on the road.
“Take care of yourself and call me when you get to your mom’s farm, okay?” Delsin tells Cami, before turning to face me. “Take care of my sweet Caramel … and yourself, of course.”
“Will do.” I smile.
They hug once again, while I get into the car and start the engine. Cami sits in the passenger seat, and Delsin leans in for a last kiss.
“Could you be done now, guys? I really want to get going. I’ll close the top if that’s necessary,” I laugh. Yeah, so much for being a strong woman. That just means I laugh and smile so people don’t see that I was crying just a few hours before. I still cry over Linden, but by now it feels liberating to do so. It no longer feels like I’m about to shatter under the pain.
“Sorry. One last kiss, Thally,” Delsin says with that charming smile that once got him into my pants—ages ago.
“Just this once.”
He kisses her again, but only fleetingly, and murmurs something into her ear. She leans back with a giggle. “Call me, okay?” Cami reminds him.
“In two to three hours, at the latest,” he promises.
“See you, Delsin,” I interrupt, letting the car roll forward slowly. He steps aside, and then I see in the rearview mirror that he walks into the road to watch us leave.
Cami sniffles. “I’m going to miss him terribly.”
“Jesus, it’s only a few days, Cami. If Buck has some work for you to do, you’ll see how the time flies by.”
“I hope so, but you’re going to be working, too, and we won’t see each other.”
“We will. I can drop by when I’m done every afternoon. And then there’s also Nate. He can distract you.” I giggle.
“What?” his scratchy voice comes from the backseat. “I heard my name.”
“You can distract Cami when she’s pining for Delsin,” I answer.
He clicks his tongue. “Sure. I also can’t wait to see your mother’s farm, Camille.”
She turns around in her seat so she can look at him and grins. “If you’re staying with us, you’re going to have to work.”
“Not a problem. I’m used to hard work.”
“Yeah, I can see that,” she concedes after looking at his broad shoulders and arms.
They talk about the kind of work that might come up on Mrs. Brooks’s farm. Hm, did her mom change her last name when she married Buck? I don’t know. Camille doesn’t talk a lot about them. I wonder why that is.
I finally take the on-ramp to the freeway and then step on the gas. I switch on the GPS so I don’t take a wrong exit, and I also tune in to a cool radio station. I’ve listened to all the CDs in here far too often and haven’t bought any new ones.
A familiar rhythm starts up on the radio, and I throw Cami a glance. We take our cue from the song and say, “Let’s go, girls,” along with Shania Twain. We continue to sing along to “Man, I feel like a woman.”
“The best thing about being a woman,” I belt out, nodding with the beat. I don’t even notice that Cami has fallen silent again. We normally take turns with the verses and then belt out the chorus together. “Come on, Cami, your cue!” I encourage her cheerfully.
She starts singing again, and even Nate joins in now.
***
The drive went without any glitches. Cami and I took turns driving so we could get there without stopping for the night. We didn’t want to spend money on a motel, and now we’re approaching her mother’s farm.
“Are you stopping to say hi to my mom?” Cami asks.
“I don’t think your mom will be awake. It’s four in the morning. So I’ll head on home. I’m tired and I’m looking forward to my old bed,” I answer with a smile, interrupted by my own yawning.
“Okay,” she agrees as I pull up in their driveway.
“I’ll call you once I feel rested. And you call Delsin and tell him that I’ve delivered you home in one piece.” I grin.
“Will do,” she says and hugs me goodbye.
“Out with you now. I want my bed,” I urge in a mock whine.
Nate presses a kiss to my cheek before getting out and fetching the bags from the trunk, which he closes with a bang that startles me out of my sleepy haze. “See you soon,” he says. I haven’t forgotten that I promised to pick you up from work.”
“Yeah, see you,” I call from the open window. I closed the top before nightfall. All right, I think I can manage the last forty minutes, despite the leaden tiredness in my bones. It would certainly be safer to stop, but I want to sleep in my own room, and not in the car on the side of the road. I think my dad will be up by the time I arrive, because he’s expecting me this early after we talked on the phone two days ago, so I probably won’t have to ring the doorbell off the wall.
The minutes pass, and as my car finally approaches the city limits, my phone rings, startling me yet again. I press the button without looking at the display. “Hello?” I say.
“Thalia?”
“Who is this?”
“Huh? It’s me—Cami.”
I sigh heavily. “Jesus, I’m so tired I didn’t even recognize your voice. That’s weird.”
“See, that’s why I’m calling you. I want you to stay awake, otherwise you’ll drive off the road and kill yourself.”
I yawn. “That’s very kind of you.”
“How much longer till you’re home?”
I look at a street sign displaying the distances to various places. “Less than half an hour.”
“Then let’s talk until you’ve made it.”
“Okay, great. You talk and I’ll emit a sign of life from time to time. How’s that?”
She starts talking about her classes and her last lecture before randomly switching to last night. It really helps me stay awake for the last leg of the long journey, and finally, I can see the large house I grew up in. It’s located at the end of a cul-de-sac, with its pretty façade facing the street. The porch is framed by white columns, which made me imagine I lived in a palace as a child.
“Honey, I can see the house,” I say. “I made it. I’ll call you again once I’ve gotten some rest.”
“You do that. Love you, Thally.”
“I love you, too,” I reply, before hanging up. I park in the driveway, next to my dad’s car, and get out. After stretching my weary body, I get my stuff from the trunk, lock the car, and walk to the front door. “Should I ring the bell and wake everyone up?” I think aloud. “Nah, better not. Mom would probably strangle me.”
I set my luggage down and rummage in my purse for the key. Then I open the door and sneak in. A sliver of light is shining into the hallway where I leave my stuff. I enter the brightly lit kitchen. My dad is sitting at the breakfast table reading the paper.
“Morning, Daddy,” I greet him.
He lowers the paper and looks at me. Then he rises with a smile. “Thalia, it’s good to see you.” He opens his arms.
I walk over and hug him tightly. “I’m glad to be home.”
“And to start work on Monday?” he asks.
“Ugh, maybe less so,” I say with a grimace. “Are you working today?”
“It’s Sunday, honey, and I don’t work Sundays. On principle,” he laughs. “I’m so used to getting up at four thirty, though, that I decided to sit here and have a cup of coffee in peace. That way, I avoid the hubbub your mother makes in the morning.”
“Wow. I must be really out of whack to think it’s already Monday,” I muse. “Thank God I have another day to rest.”
“Well, no wonder you’re a little frazzled after all that’s happened in the past few weeks.”
I sigh. “Or maybe it’s just the lack of sleep. We drove here in one go.”
“That’s what I meant, love. Go to bed and get some rest. We’re heading out early on Monday. I want to take you along to some appointments with clients.”
“So that means getting up at three a.m.?” I inquire with a martyred look.
“Nonsense. We’ll get up at four thirty. Or maybe four, if you need a lot of time in the bathroom.” He grins. “And now get yourself to bed. Your brothers are coming by this afternoon.”
“Good night, Daddy.” I smile and trudge up the stairs.
I enter my old room, take a really quick shower, and put on short-sleeved pajamas. I fall asleep immediately, and thankfully, the memories don’t bother me this time.
Chapter 15
I sleep through all of Sunday, and through Sunday night. It’s unbelievable, but I’m glad I finally found the peace and calm that’s eluded me for so long. My dad wakes me at four thirty on Monday morning, telling me what to wear so I look sophisticated enough for meeting clients. I’m glad I packed a pantsuit and a simple black dress, because the dress code in his company is not casual.
Once we’re sitting in his car, I suspect Josh, his chauffeur, is breaking the speed limit, because my breakfast churns in my stomach every time he makes a turn.
“Jesus, Dad, how can you bear this?” I ask under my breath.
“I’m used to your driving, and your brothers’. Not to mention your mother’s skills. Josh has nothing on any of you, so what’s the big deal?” He chuckles.
“Oh God,” I mutter.
Dad is typing furiously on his laptop, sending out emails thanks to his Wi-Fi stick and cursing loudly about mistakes his employees made.
***
It’s my lunch break, and I’m already tired again. I feel like laying my head on the table and taking a nap, but in ten minutes, I need to be ready and smiling for another client meeting. My father wants me to listen in and take notes. I know he’s still hoping my brothers and I will take over the company one day. I won’t tell him until I’m done with college that I want no part of it. Otherwise he might cut off the money. He knows I major in architecture, and that I want to be an architect, but parents are parents. They cling to their ideas just as tenaciously as any young adult who things they’ve got it all figured out.
“Thally, could you bring the snacks and drinks into conference room number two?” Dad asks me in passing.
“All right, Dad.”
I rise and stretch, walking slowly down the hallway because my feet hurt from all the back and forth I already did this morning.
“Are we late?” I hear a familiar voice from the elevators.
“No, we’re not. The appointment is at one p.m., we just need to tell them we’re here,” another male voice answers, also somewhat familiar.
Maybe I’m wrong. People always confuse my voice for my mom’s on the phone. I put a selection of different beverages on the lower tier of the cart, before taking the sandwiches from the fridge. They were delivered just twenty minutes ago. I place the plates on the upper tier.
I push the cart into the meeting room and place the food and drinks on the large table. Then I push the empty cart back and lean into my dad’s office. “Dad, I think the clients are already here. The conference room is ready, and I just need to send off those print jobs before I join you. Okay?”
He gets up from behind his desk and comes to the door. “I expect you to be there in ten minutes. Once we’re done with the pleasantries, things get interesting.” He leaves his office.
“It takes as long as it takes,” I mumble and head back to my desk.
I take care of the print jobs, sending them to the printer as PDF files and then calling to let them know the files should be in their inbox. We need to make sure they’ll be printed as quickly as possible, because the job is an urgent one. Dad spends a lot of money to make sure his orders are processed quickly, so we need to put a little pressure on the printer.
When that’s taken care of, I grab my pen and notebook and walk into the conference room. As I walk to my usual seat, I
thumb through the notebook to find the empty pages.
“Good—” I all but choke on the greeting as I look up.
The room is filled with Linden, his band mates, and his fucking manager.
“Good day, gentlemen,” I finally force out.
“This is my daughter, Thalia,” my father says. “She’s going to act as my assistant on this project.”
I’m at a loss as to how to react. Doesn’t he realize this is my ex? He was angry about the gossip; doesn’t he recognize the guy I was with on TV? Why did he even accept this job? I can’t understand what’s happening here. However, I’m not going to work with Downstair Alley, that much is clear. I’ll say I have no idea what the target audience wants; then maybe Dad will pull me off the project and let me get back to sending off print jobs. That seems like a heavenly task right now!
But of course it’s even worse than I imagine.
“Well, Mr. Leroux,” Pierce speaks up, “we’ve already covered what the band has in mind, and they want Miss Leroux to take care of this project on her own. They know each other, after all.”
Dad gives me a puzzled look.
“Just a fleeting acquaintance, Dad; I don’t really know them,” I lie pointedly, not wanting to spoil the project for my dad’s sake, nor ready to make Linden and the rest feel comfortable. With even more conviction, I add, “I’m only an intern here, with little experience in the field, so I advise you leave it to my father and his expert partners, Mr. Cunningham.”
Pierce cocks his head to one side and studies me with the same cold calculation I felt when he sent me away that fateful morning, entering Linden’s bedroom with inconsiderate impertinence. “Miss Leroux, you’re not only squarely part of the target audience, but what’s more important is that the boys want you to be their man. If you refuse, we can always give the project to someone else.” This guy really has the threat down, the way he stresses certain words. I detest him.
I look at my dad, hoping he’ll say something to save me from having to work with Linden and his boys.
He clears his throat. “Gentlemen, my daughter can work on this project if she teams up with my best employees, but it would be far too much of a workload for her to accomplish on her own,” he says firmly. I know he is confused by their insistence. “I’m sure that would be in your best interest, too.”
Linden: Rocking Pleasure: New Adult College Romance (Coral Gables Series Book 3) Page 24
