The Forgotten Path

by Marci Bolden

  “She’s my boss, Mallory. It has to end there.”

  “Says who?”

  He sighed. “Your mom.”

  “Well. She is an idiot.” She grinned, and he chuckled.

  He turned his glass of water a few times before taking a drink.

  “Mom, over here,” Mallory called, and his heart tripped a bit in his chest. “Oh, did I forget to mention she was on her way?”

  She smirked, and Marcus scoffed. Yeah. Just like her mother.

  As he expected, when he looked up, he saw a mixture of surprise and frustration in Annie’s eyes as she neared the table. She smiled, but it was forced. She stopped next to the table and looked at the chair where Mallory had deposited her purse. When Mallory didn’t take the hint—intentionally, Marcus assumed—Annie sighed and sat in the vacant chair next to Marcus.

  “I was here first,” he muttered to expunge himself of guilt.

  “I should have guessed you’d be here,” she said just as quietly. She hung her purse on the back of her chair, put her elbows on the table, and looked at her daughter. “And how was your day?”

  “Great. I, um”—she cleared her throat in the same way that Annie did when she got nervous—“I was actually glad you called, because I wanted to tell you… I mean… I was trying to figure out…”

  Annie’s eyes widened more and more with Mallory’s stuttering. “Spit it out, child.”

  “They offered me the job in San Diego.”

  Marcus glanced at Annie, who was staring across the table.

  “I accepted.”

  Mallory may have been all grown up, but the hesitant look on her face was that of a little girl seeking her mother’s approval. Annie seemed stunned into silence. He gently nudged her with his elbow.

  She cleared her throat. Yup, she was upset. “Um. When—when do you start?”

  “Three weeks. We have so much going on with Uncle Paul and Dianna’s wedding, I just didn’t want to be rushed.” She exhaled loudly, still looking anxiously at Annie.

  “Wow,” Annie said, but her voice lacked sincerity. “Congratulations.”

  Mallory frowned. “Mom. Go ahead. Tell me how far away it is, and how I’ll be on my own, and everything else that’s running through your head.”

  Annie shrugged. “You’re a college graduate, Mallory. You have to make these decisions for yourself. You’re too old for me to lecture you.”

  “Am I?”

  “Last I checked.”

  Mallory chuckled. “The misery on your face says it all.”

  Annie frowned at her. “Fine. I don’t want you to move halfway across the country. I like having you here so I can call you up and meet you for dinner. I like that you swing by my house unannounced and eat all my food, and I like that we still go shopping on Saturday mornings. I don’t want to give that up, but I’ll just start dragging your aunts with me instead.”

  Mallory smiled mischievously. “Or you could just, you know, date someone”—she nodded her head toward Marcus—“who will take you to dinner and eat your food and go shopping with you.”

  Annie’s eyes widened again. “Yes, I’m sure I could find someone to date. If I wanted to. Because, like you, Mallory Jane, I am perfectly capable of making my own decisions. And once I’ve made a decision, it would be nice if it were respected.”

  “Don’t drag me into this,” Marcus said.

  Mallory’s smile widened. “What does that mean?”

  “Nothing,” Annie said.

  “Dianna invited me to the wedding. Your mother doesn’t approve.”

  “I didn’t say I didn’t approve.”

  “You said you thought it was a bad idea.”

  “Because I do.”

  “This is perfect,” Mallory said. “You can ride up together.”

  Annie’s smile fell. “I thought you were riding with me?”

  “I was, but I’m going early to hang out with the guys.”

  “What guys?” Marcus asked, feeling inexplicably protective.

  She laughed. “Easy there, Dad.”

  Annie opened her mouth and creased her brow but, in another rare display, seemed speechless.

  “Toby, Sean, Sam, and Jason are going early. I’m going to keep an eye on them because I don’t think they can be trusted.”

  “Right,” Annie muttered. “You just remember your cousins are underage.”

  Mallory frowned dramatically at her mother. “Seriously? Do I look like I’d contribute to the delinquency of a minor? Especially those minors. Sam and Sean are enough trouble without getting drunk.”

  “Mallory.”

  Marcus sat forward. “You just got a new job. Don’t blow it by landing your ass in jail over a case of cheap beer.”

  Mallory scoffed at him. “My God, you really are in parental mode tonight. Can you believe this guy?” she asked her mother.

  “Yes, I can. Listen to him.”

  “All right,” she sighed. “This dinner has officially lost its sparkle.” Grabbing her purse, she stood. “I’m going home so you two can discuss how you thought you raised me right and figure out where you went wrong. I’ll give you a hint: forcing me to get braces right before the eighth-grade dance.”

  “What about dinner?” Annie asked.

  “I only came for the pie, and my ass doesn’t need it. Good night.”

  She left before Annie could argue.

  Annie sat back and sighed. “It was the only appointment I could get.”

  “What?” he asked, confused.

  “Her braces. That was the only time open for four months.”

  He chuckled. “I doubt she was serious about that being her moral downfall.”

  Annie frowned and looked at the door Mallory had just exited. “I asked her to dinner so I didn’t have to eat alone.”

  “Well, I guess it’s a good thing I’m here.”

  She glanced at him. “Even when I try, I can’t get away from you.”

  “Easy now, Annie, I might start to get the impression that you like me.”

  “You know what I mean.” She grabbed his water glass and took a drink. After returning it to the wet ring it had left on the table, she leaned forward and sighed. “She’s moving to California.”

  “So it seems.”

  “I’m not ready for that. But at least she’s not pregnant. Because I’m even less ready for that, and I was fairly certain that was where she was headed when she couldn’t get the words out.” She dropped her forehead into her palm. “California? Shit.”

  Though he knew he shouldn’t, he put his hand on her knee and squeezed it reassuringly. She tolerated his touch for a good five seconds before turning her face to him. Her lips were drawn tight and her eyes looked sad. She shook her head at him. However, he couldn’t really say if the sorrow on her face was over the idea of her daughter branching out on her own or reminding him of their personal space agreement.

  He frowned, pulling his hand away and lacing his fingers together to stop from touching her. Looking out the window, he sighed heavily.

  “I should go,” she said quietly.

  He wanted to argue, but he didn’t.

  Her chair scraped across the floor as she stood.

  “Hey, Annie,” Jenna said cheerfully. “You leaving already?”

  “Yeah. I need to check on some things. Night.”

  Jenna set a plate in front of Marcus, and he looked up at her.

  “Go ahead,” he said.

  “Two words,” she whispered, and then she, too, left him alone.

  Chapter Three

  Annie let a string of curse words rip through her lips as she finally accepted that she was not going to sleep. Kicking the blankets off, she dragged herself into the kitchen and started a pot of coffee. Her mind had been racing all night. First, she thought of Mallory living on her own in a big city and all the horrors mothers think of when a child really leaves home. Then she thought of Marcus. Everything about Marcus. His voice. His soothing touch at the café. His caring ey
es. His tender smile. His gentle laugh. That damned kiss.

  After calling Mallory to make sure she wasn’t angry, Annie had eaten leftovers in front of the television and wondered why she had left Marcus sitting alone. Why hadn’t she just stayed? Eaten dinner? Chatted with him like they used to?

  Was it really her concern about dating a subordinate or something else? Marcus wasn’t the type to sue her if things ended badly. He wasn’t the type to expect special treatment, and she wasn’t the type to give it. So what the hell was stopping her from just going for what she so badly wanted?

  She took her time in the shower as her coffee brewed and then sipped a cup before heading to the office way too early. By the time everyone else started to roll in, she had finalized several contracts, updated the spreadsheet she used to monitor clients, and stared out her window thinking about Marcus far more than she should have. That went to the wayside the moment heavy footsteps crossed the tiled lobby and entered the office next to hers.

  “Morning,” Marcus called.

  She closed her eyes and shook her head harshly as his voice awakened her nerves. “Good morning.”

  He appeared in her door a few minutes later. “Early start today?”

  He’d dressed casually today, in slacks and a dark blue golf shirt. She licked her lips. “What makes you ask?”

  “Half the pot of coffee is gone already.”

  She gave him a halfhearted smile. “I couldn’t sleep.”

  His face turned serious. “Mallory?”

  She nodded, not willing to share the other issue that had kept her awake.

  “Want to talk about it?”

  She shrugged. “What’s there to say?”

  “Plenty, apparently.”

  She drew a breath and let it out slowly. “No. Not really. My daughter has grown up to be the fierce, independent woman I wanted her to be. Now I have to deal with that.”

  He sat across from her in the seat he so frequently occupied. “You’ve raised her right, Annie. She knows how to take care of herself. She’ll be fine.”

  “I know,” she said softly.

  They both jolted when the front door slammed. Marcus turned, and Annie looked out her door toward the lobby.

  “You can’t do this,” Dianna was saying. “I’m getting married in less than three weeks.”

  “Uh-oh,” Marcus muttered, turning back to Annie. “That sounds like trouble.”

  Annie pushed herself up and walked around her desk. By the time she reached Dianna’s office, her brother’s fiancée was gripping her dark auburn hair in both hands and staring at Annie with wide eyes.

  “My florist is going out of business.”

  “Okay,” Annie said soothingly. “So we find another one.”

  Dianna looked up, and the tears in her eyes nearly set Annie in a panic. “It just seems like everything I’ve planned for this wedding is falling apart.”

  The sound of Dianna’s voice cracking was more than Annie could handle. Tears. She hated tears. “Stop. Right there. Breathe. I will make it my mission—today—to find you flowers. Just don’t do that crying thing.”

  Dianna’s lip trembled. “I can’t help it. It won’t stop.”

  “Stress,” Marcus diagnosed. “If Annie had human emotions, she’d know this.”

  Annie jutted her elbow into his ribs, and Dianna laughed. “I’ll start making calls now. You call Kara. I bet she can harvest some roses under a grow light in her basement if necessary.”

  Dianna’s best friend was sweet but too eccentric for Annie’s taste. However, Annie did respect that the woman knew how to get things done.

  Dianna playfully frowned. “Kara doesn’t smoke pot, Annie.”

  “You keep telling yourself that,” she said with a wink. “I’ll make some calls. You’ll have flowers ordered by the end of the day. You,” she said, looking up at Marcus, “keep your sarcasm to yourself, huh?”

  “You love my sarcasm,” he said as they left Dianna’s office.

  Annie couldn’t help but smile. He smiled in return, and she’d be damned if she didn’t let out another of those stupid girly sighs.

  Marcus couldn’t quite believe he was doing it, but without another chance to talk himself out of it, he clicked the mouse and sent his résumé to the Canton Company. Annie mentioning Kara Canton had sparked an idea in Marcus. Not long ago, at one of the many dinner parties Paul and Dianna held, Kara’s husband, Harry, had been complaining about how difficult it was to find good sales reps for his marketing firm. It wasn’t quite the same as real estate, but if Harry hired Marcus, Marcus would have a new job that didn’t put him in direct competition with Annie. She would be hurt enough by his decision to quit and by the likely loss to her commercial sales his leaving would mean. If he took business from her by selling real estate elsewhere, he might as well put all the nails in the coffin of their relationship. She’d never give him a chance.

  As it stood now, he had no idea how long it’d take for her to get over the sense of betrayal she was likely to feel if he quit, but maybe if he had the chance to actually date her, he could convince her his quitting was the best thing for them.

  “Everything okay?”

  He looked up and smiled at the woman in question. “Yeah. Fine.”

  “You look a bit perplexed.”

  He drew a breath and closed the window he’d had open. “Just following a lead. Are you okay? You’ve stuck pretty close to your desk all day.”

  “Catching up on paperwork.” She bit her lip and sighed. “And avoiding you.”

  He lifted his brows, surprised by her honesty. “Oh?”

  “I’m sorry about running out on dinner last night. I guess Mallory’s announcement hit me harder than I wanted to admit.”

  “Which bit? Moving across the country or the likelihood that she’ll be binge-drinking with her underage cousins?”

  She laughed softly. “Both, I suppose.”

  “She’s a big girl, Annie. She’s got to make her own choices and her own mistakes.”

  She nodded. “I know. I’m trying to let her.”

  “It’s not easy, I suppose.”

  She shook her head. “No, it’s not. The O’Connell women aren’t the wisest lot around. We tend to screw up our lives on stupendous levels when left to our own devices.”

  “You seem to be doing okay.”

  Her smile looked sad. “Says you.”

  His face sagged a bit as she left. He looked at the monitor again before pushing himself up and following her. She turned into the break room and poured the hours-old coffee down the sink before rinsing the pot.

  He found it impossible to look away when her gray pencil skirt and fitted blouse stretched tight across her body as she put the coffee pot back on the burner and grabbed a towel to wipe the counter clean. “Why don’t you let the cleaning service do that?”

  “Because I can’t stand to see a mess. You know that.”

  “I do. That’s why you’re really avoiding me.”

  She paused just for a moment before she started scrubbing with more diligence.

  “Isn’t it?” he pushed.

  “I didn’t sleep well last night. I’m tired.”

  “Annie.”

  She stopped wiping and faced him. Leaning her slender hip against the countertop, she frowned. “You know, part of me says, ‘To hell with it. Jump his bones.’ The other part of me says, ‘Show a little class, lady.’”

  “I like the first part better.”

  “Me too. But the other part isn’t so easily discounted. I can’t believe I let things get this mixed up. I’m sorry, Marcus. What happened the other day was so unprofessional.”

  “Don’t apologize to me,” he said firmly as he came into the room. “If you weren’t as confused as I am, I’d really be upset with you.”

  “I’ve never been in this position before,” she said quietly.

  “Good. I’d hate to think this is something you regularly do.”

  “Tell me what to do,�
� she whispered.

  He lifted his brows. “Annie O’Connell is giving me control?”

  She smirked. “I didn’t say I would listen. I just need to hear you tell me what you want me to do.”

  He closed the space between them and could swear the air lit with electricity as he neared her. He stopped within a respectable distance but couldn’t resist brushing her hair behind her ear. Her lips parted as she took a breath, tempting him to kiss her, but he somehow controlled the urge. That wouldn’t be fair to either of them—kissing her now would only complicate things more.

  “Have dinner with me,” he said softly. “Talk to me about your day. About Mallory. About all the things we used to talk about before things got awkward. I miss you, Annie. I miss being with you.”

  She exhaled slowly, as if what he’d said was the last thing she expected to hear. And it may well have been. She licked her lips and nodded. “Give me a few minutes to wrap things up?”

  “Sure. Come get me when you’re ready.”

  She started around him, but he wrapped his arm around her, resting his hand on her hip to stop her. She hesitantly looked up at him.

  “Don’t take too long,” he said. “I’m starving.”

  A smile slowly touched her lips. “Then let me pass, you fool.”

  He grinned to match hers. “I just wanted a reason to touch you.”

  “I know.”

  He slowly lowered his hand, and she brushed by him. Swallowing hard, he inhaled. Her scent—lilac—still lingered in the air. He exhaled heavily and closed his eyes, trying to get control of himself before he did something really stupid. Like follow her into her office and shut the door behind him.

  Annie secured her seat belt. “What’s the special at the café tonight?”

  “The café? We had the café last night. Well, I did. You ran out before ordering.”

  She cocked an eyebrow at him as she pressed her lips together.

  “The café it is,” he muttered and started the engine.

  “Really? Not even an argument? Not even a challenge? Clearly you don’t want the café.”

  “What do you want me to do, Annie? You gave me that look.”