by Tori Brooks
“I have a headache,” Teri announced and stood up. Nicholas offered a hand when vertigo threatened to make her sit again.
Finding her balance, she made her way to the bathroom and looked in the medicine cabinet until she found something to take for her head. But no pill was going to stop her from wondering about Paul.
When Teri returned to the bedroom, Nicholas was gone. She wondered how could she give herself so completely to a man and not know something so . . . big. Teri crawled back into bed and curled up tightly as the tears started to fall again.
Paul labored over the letter to Teri for over an hour before finishing. It was surprisingly short for the time it took him. He wrote complex business proposals with less effort.
He read it over a final time, trying to imagine her reaction to his words. An apology was first, as expected. She’d dismiss it immediately, but it was necessary and heartfelt nonetheless. Then acknowledgment he was wrong to wait to tell her. He’d planned to in London but got called home early. In New York he couldn’t find the right time. In hindsight he should have anyway ,and he realized that when she left. He’d vowed to tell her as soon as he reached Seattle, before meeting the kids.
Paul suspected Teri would scoff at his carefully chosen words, dismissing them as a desperate attempt to get her attention. That couldn’t be helped. The damage was done and he was at a disadvantage. Paul admitted that, while separated, he was still married and asked for a chance to explain. He hoped Teri would believe him when he told her that she didn’t yet know the whole story. He prayed she didn’t know the whole story.
The possibility that Teri wouldn’t allow him the opportunity to explain wasn’t even worthy of consideration. He would wait for the chance to see her, arrange it if needed. It might take time, but he had time.
Tim didn’t think Flynn was a problem, but he’d watch for that possibility. Paul considered whether he should have someone discreetly watch Teri for other threats as well. She avoided relationships previously, and might still while she recovered from the shock he’d inadvertently given her. On the other hand, she might be more open to dating now that he reacquainted her with the idea. He hated to think about that.
Sealing the letter in an envelope, he addressed it and called Lia in. She promptly appeared at his desk with another coffee, presumably decaf, and relieved him of the envelope.
“I have the preliminaries arranged so this will be delivered by four. A signature will be required upon receipt. I assume that’s all right.”
“Preferred actually. Can we specify that it be hers or Nicholas Daley’s?”
“I already had hers, I can add his.” Lia pulled a small memo pad out of her pocket and made a note. “I’ll take care of it.”
“Thank you, Lia. Should I send flowers too?”
“I’d wait, actually. Flowers are overdone. A letter is more personal and sincere. If you don’t hear from her, you can send flowers tomorrow. But don’t overdo it. Something simple that says she’s on your mind, a reminder and follow-up to the letter. Like a post script. I don’t know anything about this woman, Paul, but I know you. I’m betting she’s different, so think outside the box.”
“I’ll try to do that. Thank you, Lia.”
“Sure thing.” Lia gave him a mock salute that she did frequently when no one was looking and he smiled. She was perfectly professional if there were witnesses, but otherwise, when it was just the two of them, Lia was lighthearted and playful. It was refreshing compared to the impersonal professionalism and superficial friendships in the office. He welcomed her lighter attitude and she knew it.
Kyle Mercer poked his head in as Lia slipped out. “Hey, Paul. Golf tomorrow?”
“Sorry, I have something going on.”
“Anything I can help with?”
“God, I hope not,” Paul responded automatically.
Unlike many of Paul’s associates, Kyle and Paul were long time friends. As Paul’s attorney, Kyle saw Paul almost as much in the office as out of it, and frequently mixed business and pleasure. He knew about Teri of course, but Paul didn’t feel up to discussing his current problem just yet.
Kyle laughed at Paul’s familiar response. “Well, you let me know if you change your mind.”
“Sure thing.”
Kyle left and Paul returned to his desk and thought. What kind of flowers would make Teri think of him?
Teri wandered downstairs the next morning to make breakfast to find Nicholas already busy in the kitchen. Of course he’d stayed over. The extra bedroom was an extra in name only; Nicholas kept a partial wardrobe in the closet and had his own drawer in the upstairs bathroom. She didn’t like the look on his face as he set a cup of coffee on the counter for her. Sipping her coffee, Teri noticed Nicholas was making waffles and paying more attention to his batter than strictly necessary.
“Are you mad at me?” she asked timidly.
“No,” Nicholas answered, still stirring his batter and watching it intently.
“You seem to be avoiding looking at me.”
“Not mad. Ask me after breakfast.”
The thundering footsteps of the boys coming up from the basement prohibited further questioning. Cassie and Tiffany followed, quickly flanking Teri and alternating between giving her hugs and verifying she was okay.
Breakfast was a long, tedious, and uncomfortable affair. Cassie kept starting to ask Teri about Paul, but stopped when she was interrupted by Nicholas clearing his throat, Kenny kicking her under the table or accidentally spilling orange juice on her, or Dev flicking her with playing cards that he seemed to produce from out of nowhere.
Bryan arrived shortly before breakfast ended and his girlfriend, Brenda, showed up just a few minutes later. Brenda and the boys retreated to the basement after breakfast, and Nicholas tasked Cassie and Tiffany with the cleanup while he pulled Teri into her workroom.
“Have a seat,” Nicholas ordered as he closed the door behind them. Teri sat in her chair at the desk and looked up at Nicholas towering over her.
“First of all, you’re right. Paul’s not giving up. A letter came for you last night. I’ll give him credit, he let me sign for it so the kids don’t know it was for you. It’s in the top drawer.”
“Oh.” Teri’s hands shook as she opened the drawer. The FedEx delivery envelope sat innocently on the mass of office supplies. She stared at it, unwilling to touch it.
“Oh for crying out loud, it won’t bite.” Nicholas pulled out the envelope for her and closed the drawer.
“I don’t suppose you considered the possibility it might explode.”
“Too flat and light.” He pulled the tab and opened it, then pulled out the plain envelope addressed to her in neat handwriting. Nicholas handed it to her.
Teri looked at the envelope then at Nicholas. “I can’t read that.”
“Fine.” Nicholas carefully opened the envelope and started to pull out the letter, “I’ll read it to you.”
“No.” Teri stood up and started for the door. Nicholas blocked her way.
“Teri, would it kill you -”
“Inside it might, Nicholas. I loved him. I trusted him, and he lied to me. He lay there, right there beside me, and told me he loved me. He told me how important I was to him, I was the world to him. He talked about our future, all the while knowing we had no future. He’s not the man I thought he was. If he could so easily hide such a big part of his life so completely from me, how can I trust anything he says? Everything in that letter is a lie or at least suspect. Paul proved I can’t trust him, and I won’t open myself up to that again.”
Teri fought back tears as she pushed past him and ran upstairs. She explained this to Nicholas before. Why didn’t he understand?
Chapter Eleven
Two weeks after the breakup, Teri still only left home to go to the studio. Nicholas started to worry. She honored appointments already scheduled but refused to make new ones. Her work was still good; he doubted her clients noticed. But once her audience was gone
the light in her eyes dimmed.
At home, she sat on her bed and stared at the wall at the far end of the room. All around the window hung pictures of her life with Allen: wedding pictures, honeymoons, the kids, family photos. Nicholas hadn’t seen Teri this despondent in years. It was like Allen had died all over again, except this time even the kids couldn’t pull Teri out of her depression. At least then she was strong for them; this time the pain was hers alone.
Flowers came daily from Paul. Some upset Teri more than others. The first was an arrangement of roses and carnations that Teri said was on the table for the lunch Paul arranged in Miami. The flowers shook her and Nicholas threw them out. The next day, an unexpected arrangement of short red roses in a themed rubber ducky pot arrived. Nicholas assumed it referenced the rubber ducks Teri used in her studio and disposed of the arrangement before she saw it.
Nicholas couldn’t stay away from the office entirely and relied on Kenny to help get rid of the offensive items. Unfortunately he hadn’t counted on Cassie’s romantic side. She intercepted the delivery men before they rang the doorbell and smuggled the flowers in the house, stashing them in new places each time. When Teri came home from an appointment to find a single, perfect long-stemmed red rose on her bed, Nicholas decided it was time to take Cassie aside.
“Paul has a mistress,” Nicholas said when he had Cassie cornered and sworn to secrecy.
“Yeah, that’s how he met Mom,” Cassie sighed.
“Fine. Paul has a wife.”
“Divorced.”
“No, he’s not,” Nicholas explained, his patience already waning.
“Yet.”
“Listen, Cassie, sometimes . . .” Nicholas wasn’t sure how to proceed.
“Listen, Nicholas, sometimes Mom gets upset and refuses to listen and doesn’t see the big picture until someone pins her down and sits on her. When’s his divorce final? If you don’t know then perhaps you should ask. If he’s sending flowers then clearly this is not one of those ‘fights that lovers don’t recover from’ situations. Pick a side.”
“I did. I chose your mother’s.”
“Great, so did I. Now help her out because doing this ostrich-head-in-the-sand thing is pathetic.”
Nicholas hardly noticed when Cassie left; he was thinking about Paul’s letter. Teri didn’t read it, but he did. Paul freely admitted he made a mistake and asked for a chance to explain. He also said she didn’t know the whole story. That would certainly make sense if Kenny got the information from Blaine Lovett. And despite her naïve outlook on life, Cassie might be right. Teri was so determined she couldn’t trust Paul, she was willing to overlook what could be easily explained. Kayley was Paul’s mistress for years, yet Paul was still married. How exactly was that easily explained?
Nicholas pushed it aside. It didn’t matter. As a friend, he made the command decision that her behavior was born of pain and betrayal, not reason. As a friend, he had to look out for her. Not by pinning her down and sitting on her as Cassie suggested, although the idea would have merit if he wouldn’t crush the woman in the process.
Nicholas wandered into the kitchen and pulled a soda out of the refrigerator. He promised Teri he wouldn’t talk to Paul behind her back, and Paul knew that. Cassie could call Paul. Actually it was surprising she hadn’t. For that matter, he’d better check to make sure she hadn’t. No, Paul was doing what he thought he could at the moment regardless of what help he had on this end.
A crash downstairs jarred Nicholas to the bone. The boys doing something, knocking over cymbals it sounded like. He couldn’t see how they’d ever really be a band. They weren’t bad; some of their songs actually sounded somewhat like music. But when he looked at groups like In Like Flynn and then looked at – Flynn.
Nicholas smiled. Flynn Peterson was interested in Teri - well, Lexi - but Flynn wouldn’t bat an eye at the difference. The point was, if Flynn came sniffing around, several different things could possibly happen, and none of them were bad as far as Nicholas was concerned. Teri might have a fling with Flynn, that was true, but he doubted it. Even so, odds were it’d make Teri realize that Paul was a good catch. For that matter, Flynn was probably a good catch too. Nicholas didn’t know him well enough to be sure, but on the surface it looked promising.
Flynn’s presence wouldn’t go unnoticed. Paul would have to quit playing nice. He’d come to Seattle, corner Teri, and force her to listen. And Nicholas had no doubt that whatever Paul’s excuse was, he could sell it.
“Paul, something came to my attention you need to be aware of,” Tim announced during a pause in the meeting he’d slipped into.
Paul didn’t need code words or hints to know what was on Tim’s mind. Slight variations in his tone and body language screamed there was a problem with Teri. Paul nodded and stood immediately.
“Excuse me. Please continue,” he motioned to the group. Paul followed Tim out of the conference room to the stairs at the end of the hall. They climbed up two flights and through the halls to Tim’s office in silence.
“Lia, please hold our calls,” Tim directed as they walked by her desk. Tim gestured to the sofa and Paul sat obediently while Tim leaned against his desk.
“Nicholas Daley called Chris McKenzie and started discussions over another photo shoot between Lexi Frost and In Like Flynn.”
“Nicholas started it?” Paul asked, stunned at the news.
“Yes. McKenzie jumped on it, of course. The last ones she did were outstanding.”
“I saw. What kind of time frame do we have on this?”
“A month, it sounds like. That’s strange because McKenzie can pull the band together faster and Teri, or rather Lexi, has a pretty open schedule. She hasn’t been booking anyone new.”
“Does Teri know about this?” Paul worried about her. He knew she wasn’t booking new appointments; Tim mentioned it a week ago. Paul had him quietly look into her finances. It was going to make things tight. Nicholas’s magazine was starting to have an unexplained increase in advertising revenue and circulation as a result of Paul’s concern. Not enough to tip off Teri, he hoped, but enough to keep her afloat. Booking a high-profile appointment like this after refusing to book anything at all seemed more like Nicholas’s work than Teri’s.
“Seems a little out of character, I know. Add that to the strange coincidence that Nicholas just happens to be calling in the one person he very well knows you do not want to see walk into that studio and . . . well, I have to ask, are you sure he’s on your side?”
“Hard to believe, isn’t it? I think he still is, but ultimately he’s on Teri’s side. From his point of view, Flynn isn’t a bad thing.”
“Really? Does he know what we do about Flynn?” Tim asked.
“I’m guessing he doesn’t. As far as I know, he only met him the two times Teri did. It doesn’t matter. Nicholas knows it’ll get my attention and I’ll have to do something. I had the feeling Teri didn’t read my letter. I suspect Nicholas did.”
“He’s been throwing out the flowers,” Tim said.
“As I said, he’s on her side in the end. He’s not allowed to contact me. She made him promise.”
“Hell of a way to send a message.”
“I can’t go to Seattle to talk to her. It would be invading her space. I need to get Teri out of Seattle, immediately,” Paul stood and started pacing.
“Award ceremony,” Tim suggested.
“Takes too long to set up, she wouldn’t go anyway. Something that appeals to her, but she has to feel safe. She has to know I wouldn’t be there or make it worth the risk.”
“No offense, but anything worth the risk of running into you she’d almost certainly assume was a set up.”
“Fair enough. So, some high profile event that I have to RSVP to publicly so she’ll know I’m not coming?”
Tim looked at Paul doubtfully. “That’s hard to arrange. Nicholas can’t talk to you, how about me?”
“I don’t know how far his promise extends,” Paul stood in fron
t of Tim’s small potted cacti. One of the three was trying to bloom. A small orange flower bud contrasted delicately with the prickly flesh.
“What if we arrange something last minute? If it’s Nicholas’s idea and he makes last minute flight arrangements so you can’t possibly intervene, that’s safe. In theory,” Tim suggested.
“Okay, you’re onto something there.” Paul thought for a moment before turning away from Tim’s cacti. “We have controlling interest in Skytop Industries, which owns Blue Horizon Media in Los Angeles.”
“I believe so,” Tim agreed.
“If I recall, they do documentaries. Have someone set a record on a proposal for a documentary on the female body image. I think it’s natural for Lexi Frost to be a consultant and it’s really too high-profile for her to turn down, Nicholas won’t let her. They’ll reach Nicholas, not Teri of course. If he sets up a last-minute appointment, they can have a reasonably high level of confidence that I can’t learn about it and ambush her. Whatever he sets up is fine.”
“You’ll already be there.”
“That’s the idea.”
“I’ll set it up.”
Nicholas wasn’t subtle about his talks with Chris McKenzie. He wasn’t Lexi’s manager per se; he was simply a link between them, acting completely on her behalf and without her knowledge in this case. It’s not as if he was committing her to going out on location. Flynn was coming here. Flynn was coming to her studio, probably with the idea to seduce her on her home turf.
It wouldn’t happen. Nicholas had confidence in Paul, so the call from Jason Nexler of Blue Horizons Media wasn’t completely unexpected. It sounded unbelievably legitimate.
Maggie took the call as Lexi’s receptionist, offering the standard apology that Lexi wasn’t available and offering to take a message. Jason not only left a message, he sent an email with the project synopsis and request to bring Lexi on board as consultant. The project was in Los Angeles, Nicholas smiled. There it was: Paul wasn’t just trying to get Teri out of the house, he was trying to get her out of Seattle.
