by Lisa Wells
“I don’t think Jack believes that is how this all works. I don’t want to ruin his chances of making partner in the company by not being appropriate wife material.”
“Appropriate wife material?” Mrs. C said, laughing. “Honey, don’t you worry about trying to fit a mold to please your fiancée’s boss. You be yourself. Life is about more than any job. My husband needs to learn that he can’t dictate his employee’s love lives.”
“Hey babe,” Jack said, causing Adeline to jump in surprise and her drink to splash over the rim. He dropped an arm around her shoulder. “Want to take a short walk?”
She licked the sticky liquid off her hand. “Don’t we need to stay here?”
“Go. I’ll cover for you if anyone asks where you are,” Mrs. C said, giving them a conspiratorial smile.
Adeline and Jack walked to the ocean. Not holding hands. Not touching in any way. “There’s something I want to talk to you about,” he said.
“Is everything okay?” she asked.
He turned and bestowed a breathtakingly happy smile on her. “Everything is great. You’re great. Mr. C would like for you and I to have lunch with him tomorrow. I think he’s going to officially offer me partnership.”
She smiled in response. Only her smile wasn’t as happy as his. Wasn’t as strong. As hard as she tried, she couldn’t keep it from wobbling around the edges. Okay, then. Their ending was near. “I’m so happy for you. That’s everything you’ve wanted.” She ignored the way her heart felt like someone was trying to pinch it in half.
“Not everything,” Jack said, shaking his head like an excited schoolboy.
She fiddled with her cover up. “What else is there?”
“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”
She cocked her head. “Don’t tell me—you need me to tell Mr. C I’ve decided to be a stay-at-home wife. I’m sorry I said what I did at dinner.”
He laughed. “Babe, everything that comes out of your mouth is perfect. Even when it’s perfectly wrong.”
She shook her head. “Then, I’m not following.”
“Adeline Rigby, you have my heart. I’ve fallen in love with you. All of you. And no matter what happens between us, I want you to know that.”
Adeline wrapped an arm around her middle. Even though she knew those words were coming, she found it hard to breathe. Found it hard to want to go on breathing, because with every breath she took now, it would be used to kill his love. “Why would you do that?”
His smile didn’t falter. “Because you’re wonderful. You have a sense of humor. You have a sense of adventure. You love dogs. You have a big heart.”
“No. No I’m not. I’m a hot mess. You can’t tell me you love me. Take it back. We have a deal. No strings. No nothing.”
He nodded thoughtfully. “We had a deal. We did. But once you break part of a contract, the whole thing goes out the window. You have my heart. It’s okay if I don’t have yours—yet. But I want a chance to woo you. When we get back home, I want to date you for real. I know you think you’re all big and bad and headed down a life’s path that doesn’t include love, but you’re wrong. If you love me, we can make this work.”
Adeline couldn’t think beyond the panic clutching at her throat. “Make things work! I don’t want to make things work. I have plans. Plans I don’t want to change. Letting you woo me into changing my plans is a horrible idea.”
He smiled as if he thought he was going to win this argument. As if he wasn’t even participating in the argument. “Why can’t you have new plans?”
“I like my plans. I like that they don’t include love. I like that they include a career outside the home. A life without someone I have to answer to.”
“If you would compromise just a little, Mr. C pointed out that you could still do chef work for charities.”
She shook her head. Resisted an urge to scream. “I don’t want to do chef work for charities.” God help her, but part of her wanted to say yes. Wanted to give up her dreams for a man. Wanted to forget all of the promises she made to Dottie and make a grab for the brass ring. But she couldn’t do that. That’s not who she was. Not who she wanted to be. She wasn’t going to turn away from doing the right thing for a man. She wasn’t going to be like her mom. She’d made a promise to Dottie and she was going to keep it. She was going to go to Paris. And then she was going to open a bakery. She was going to be a businesswoman. She was going to be what Jack didn’t want.
And while she wasn’t going to settle on her dreams, she wasn’t going to let him settle on his dreams, either. He deserved a wife that would make him happy. Not a working wife. “I’m sorry. I can’t say the things you want me to say. I can’t be the woman you want me to be. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I don’t feel well. I think I’ll go back to my room. We can talk later.” She turned and ran, not waiting for his response.
In order to get back to her room, she had to slow down and walk by the pool party. Walk by the pool. When she saw Debbie giving her a look of speculation, Adeline forgot to watch her step. Her footing was off. She stumbled. She stepped off into the pool, breaking the surface coughing and sputtering. She pushed her hair out of her eyes and glanced toward the edge. Where Jack stood.
His face went from concerned to horrified.
“I’m okay,” she sputtered, then she forgot to dogpaddle and went back under. When she resurfaced, she swam toward the shallow end and stood.
There was a murmur of laughter.
“For crying out loud, someone go fetch her top,” she heard Mrs. C say.
Adeline glanced down. “Holy crap,” she screeched and went under water. She’d lost her top. She’d lost her freaking top. In front of everyone that Jack worked with. And although she still had on her cover up, it hid nothing. The damn thing was see through when wet. Unable to stay under any longer she surfaced, covered herself with her hands, and swam toward the guy who was holding up her top.
“Jack, I think your fiancée needs a towel,” Mr. C said. He sounded about as happy as a dog on the fourth of July.
“Yes, sir.” Jack didn’t sound very thrilled, either.
Adeline walked out of the pool with her hands across her front. Jack wrapped her up in her towel. “Sorry,” she mumbled.
“Go fix yourself,” he muttered.
Adeline grabbed her swim bag and managed to dump half of the contents. Tears filled her eyes. She bent down and swiped everything back into her bag. And then, with her pride in shambles, scurried away.
As she was stepping into her hotel room, her phone rang. The same number as earlier. She pushed accept. “Hello.” Maybe it was The Clearing House saying she was their grand-prize winner of a million dollars. It could happen.
“Adie, is that you?”
“Alice?” Why would Alice be calling her? She knew she was out of the country. This couldn’t be good.
“Sweetheart, I’ve been trying to reach you. Why haven’t you been answering your phone?”
“Do you have a new phone number?” The number wasn’t the same as the one she had in her phone for Alice.
“Not in a while. But maybe since we last spoke.”
“Why did you call?” Adeline asked.
“We need to talk,” Alice said.
Adeline sat down on the bed. “What’s wrong?”
There was a long silence.
“Alice?” she prompted.
“Dottie’s in the hospital. She’s not doing well. You may want to come home and say your good-byes.”
Adeline gasped. Good-byes? The tears that burned her eyes earlier dropped one-by-one. Fat, slow tears. Not yet. She was taking Dottie to Paris. “Oh God. Has she asked for me? Anything?”
There was a sniffle. “She hasn’t. I’m so sorry.”
Adeline tried to choke back the tears. “It’s okay. You can’t help it.”
“Honey, they are just making her comfortable.”
Adeline’s pain screamed for release, but she wouldn’t give in to the tears. “I
thought she had more time.”
“They’d hoped for more time, but the disease is different for every person who has it. It’s hard to predict. I’m sorry.”
Adeline grabbed a tissue and dabbed at her eyes. “I’m sorry I stole your time with her.”
Alice sniffed. “Oh baby, you didn’t steal my time. Dottie and I parented you together all of these years, you just didn’t know.”
“You did?” Adeline whispered.
There was a moment of silence. “I am so proud of the woman you’ve become, to know you followed through and became something. And Dottie would be, too.”
Adeline paced the floor. “She can’t die. Not yet.”
“Baby, she’s going to die. The question is if she’ll hold on long enough for you to come home and say your good-byes.”
Adeline slipped into her shorts and T-shirt. Stepped up to the mirror to repair her hair. There was no repairing the mob of curls, so she pulled it back in a ponytail.
She needed to talk to Jack. Would he be relieved she was leaving? “I’m on my way, Alice. Don’t let her die.”
As Adeline hung up, a shiver swept through her. She dropped her phone on the nightstand. She refused to believe the shiver had any significance. Dottie wouldn’t die until Adeline had a chance to say good-bye. She ran outside to let Jack know she had to leave immediately.
Several of the retreat participants were in the pool. Mrs. C was nowhere to be seen. Jack and Mr. C were sitting at a table away from the crowd, their heads tilted, deep in conversation.
Adeline walked toward them, doing her best to contain her tears and emotions.
“Jack, the woman you marry should be an asset on your arm. Someone who opens doors for you,” Mr. Carpenter said.
“I agree, sir. But mostly, she should be someone I love and can trust,” Jack replied, he sounded distracted.
“Do you love and trust Adeline?” Mr. C asked.
Jack sighed. “Sir, there’s something I need to tell you about Adeline.”
Adeline’s stomach lurched. Hell. What was he doing? Was he going to admit their relationship was a sham? Mr. C would fire him on the spot. She couldn’t let him do that. “Jack,” she called out. If someone was going to be the bad guy in all of this, it had to be her. Not him.
Both men looked her way.
Jack shook his head. A blank expression on his face. “Give me a minute, Adie, and I’ll be right there.”
Mr. C placed a hand on Jack’s shoulder. “Son, I think the world of you. In fact, I think of you as my son, so that’s why I’m going to say what I’m going to say.”
Adeline knew as well as she knew anything, that Mr. C was about to tell Jack he wasn’t going to make partner if he insisted on marrying Adeline. It was evident in his tone and the furtive glance he threw at Adeline. And could she blame the man? Between the treadmill disaster and her bathing suit faux pas, she’d certainly given Jack’s peers something to chat about around the proverbial water cooler. Mr. C wouldn’t want a woman like her in the spotlight, married to a partner. Adie might ruin their reputation or something.
Adeline took a step forward. “Mr. C, I’m not really—”
“Adeline,” Jack interrupted, getting some fire back in his voice. “I’ll handle this.” He turned to his boss. “Sir, when you look at Adeline, you might see a hot mess. But when I look at her, I see the woman I love.”
Adeline wanted to scream. Everything was falling apart. The control she so desperately clung to in life was spiraling.
Why was Jack declaring his love of her to his boss? She told him she didn’t want him. He should be salvaging his career. Why wasn’t he listening to her? Why was he falling on a sword for a woman who told him no? Didn’t he know how important dreams were?
And why did the doctors tell Alice Dottie had six months and then take those months back?
If she let him give up his dream in some heroic attempt to win her heart, he’d hate her at some point down the road, maybe when he was dying, like Dottie, or maybe before then. But he’d hate her all the same. She might not want to be his wife, but she did want him to be happy. If someone was going to fall on the sword, it needed to be her. She had to convince Mr. C that Jack was better off single while, at the same time, curing him of his love for her.
She had to create a scene.
She channeled all of the emotions swirling inside of her and let them fly like an out-of-control tornado. “Love,” she yelled at Jack. She took off her ring and shoved it in his hand as she spoke. “What do you know about love? Mr. C looks at me and sees a mess because you don’t have time for me. You’re married to your job. Married to the dream of becoming a partner.”
“Adeline,” Jack hissed, “what are you doing?”
“I’m saying I won’t be your wife.”
He looked shocked. “But why?”
Now wasn’t the time to give him reasons he could find argument with. Now was the time to kill emotions. “Don’t you get it? I don’t love you. I’ve never loved you.” With each word she uttered, she hated herself. Hated that she was causing him pain. But, if she didn’t give him reason to hate her, he’d give up his dream job for her. She loved him too much to let him do that. No way was she going to ever take another person’s dream away from them.
Jack’s face went white.
She turned to Mr. Carpenter. Her body shaking. “You should make him partner, you’re never going to find another man more devoted to your company. Trust is huge to him. If he tells you he will be loyal to you, he’ll be loyal to you.”
She glanced back at Jack.
He looked like a man drowning in confusion. He held out a hand to her, but she turned and ran. Ran back to her room and grabbed her belongings then ran-walked to the front of the hotel. She caught a cab and ran away from Jack and the hurt in his eyes. But not the hurt in her body.
Twenty minutes later her phone rang. “Hello.”
“Open your door,” Jack said. “I know you’re in there.” He sounded angry.
“In where?” she asked, glancing at the cabbie to see if he could hear Jack.
There was the loud sound of knocking. “Your hotel room. Open the damn door, Adeline. Or I’m going to break the fucking thing down.”
She stared out the window at the scenery going by. She’d succeeded in breaking his heart. “I’m headed to the airport.”
There was silence. “Why?” The anger was gone.
She wanted him to stay angry. Anger protected you from pain. For a little while anyway. “Because I’m a grown-ass woman and I can.”
“You’re leaving? Just like that?”
She rested her forehead on the window. “I told you I’d stay until you knew if you were or were not going to make partner. You and I can both say, that I’m no longer a factor in that decision, so I’m leaving.” Would Kinley stop wanting to be her friend after Jack told her about all of this?
“I don’t want to become partner if it means losing you.”
Adeline closed her eyes. Damn it. She wanted to believe him. But she didn’t. When he came to his senses, he would regret choosing her over his career. And when she came to hers, she’d regret giving up her dreams for a man. “This is what’s best for both of us.”
“You don’t get to decide what’s best for me,” he said.
Should she tell him about Dottie? There wasn’t really a reason to, unless it was to make herself look not so bad for leaving him. For not sticking around for a private conversation. For running away like a coward. “I get to decide what’s best for me. You’re not it.”
…
Jack wanted to punch something. He needed a punching bag. Or a really fast car. Or a bottle of Scotch. With none of those readily available, he walked down to the ocean and stood in the same spot he’d been with Adeline a few hours ago. He waded in up to his waist. Stood there looking at the moon. Was his dad up there somewhere? Did he have any fatherly advice?
Once again, Jack had been left at the altar. Not literally. But f
iguratively.
Adeline had two choices, and she didn’t choose him. The same as his first fiancée. Getting over Adeline wasn’t going to be like getting over his first fiancée. When the humiliation and anger was gone, there was still going to be a broken heart. One he was pretty sure would never love again.
He dove into a wave and swam until his arms hurt, and he couldn’t breathe. Then he rolled over on his back to float. Should he chase Adeline? Or should he let her go? Was letting her go what was best for her? He loved her too much to force her to do something that wouldn’t make her the happiest she could possibly be in life.
Jack needed to make some decisions between now and in the morning when he was meeting with his boss to discuss his future in the company. Mr. Carpenter refused to talk with him tonight. Said they both needed to sleep on the situation.
What did Jack want most? Did he want to chase a woman who didn’t want him, or stay and try to salvage his career?
Chapter Thirty
Adeline walked into the hospital at five a.m. She’d taken the red-eye flight home. Visiting hours weren’t until later, but visiting hours don’t count when a patient’s life is nearing its end. Dottie was on the 8th floor. The hospice floor. Rooms for patients who won’t be going home. When you asked for the room number of a person on this floor, you receive a look of sympathy from the volunteer behind the desk. And the nurses on the floor don’t question your presence.
Adeline stood in the doorway of the small but homey hospital room and tried to remember to breathe, something she’d been reminding herself of ever since the phone call from Alice.
Dottie’s room didn’t resemble a hospital room. It looked more like a bedroom featured in a fancy magazine. Adeline found pleasure in that. The colors were soothing blues, grays, and whites. A mural of an ocean lapping at a white sand beach adorned two of the walls. A single set of footprints could be seen going through part of the beach. Words were written under the footprints, but they were too small for Adeline to decipher from where she stood.
Alice was dozing in a recliner next to the bed Dottie slept in. Her bed was decked out in lush white bedding with a pretty throw folded across the bottom. A throw that Adeline recognized. She’d given that to Dottie as a gift one Christmas. A sound of distress escaped Adeline’s lips. Alice had brought it as a comfort item for Dottie. A woman Adeline had never been nice to. A woman who’d been nothing but nice to Adeline.
