Charlie looked uncomfortable. “And what do you drive, Castleton?”
“A truck. It’s great for hauling things at the brewery.” He buttered his bread calmly, feigning innocence. “What does your BMW do?”
Charlie sputtered. “Is that a serious question?”
“Just wondering what responsible reason you bought it for.” Jamie smiled a cheeky smile that Grace knew all too well, and she couldn’t help but laugh.
Charlie shot her a disapproving look, and she stopped.
Bad Grace. Bad.
“I wouldn’t compare a car to a handbag,” Charlie said.
Jamie shrugged. “To each his own.”
Were they fighting over her? Or cars and handbags? Grace was really confused.
The waitress served their appetizer, fried calamari. Jamie leaned over Grace for the sauce and placed his hand on her knee.
She gasped and looked at him, and he merely raised an eyebrow. She didn’t say anything, even though he didn’t move his hand. Charlie noticed nothing amiss.
“So, this is your date night restaurant, huh? Nice place.” Jamie inched his hand slightly up her thigh under her skirt, and she remained frozen in her seat.
“We like it,” Charlie said. “It’s Grace’s new favorite restaurant.”
“Really?” The hand kept moving. “Italian restaurants used to be your favorite.”
“Used to be,” she said quietly, biting her bottom lip as the hand reached the top of her inner thigh and froze.
“Right.” He smiled knowingly at her. “I guess Italian restaurants in Virginia aren’t as good as the ones in New York.”
“Yes.” She was paralyzed in a state of indecision. Part of her craved his touch, and she wanted to drag him out to the parking lot and make out with him like they were in high school. The other part of her wanted to smack his hand away.
Before she could make up her mind, Jamie slipped his hand out of her skirt and placed it back on the table.
He rose. “Well, I’d better get going.”
“You’re leaving?” She looked up at him, confused and a little disappointed.
“Yes. It was good seeing you both.”
Charlie looked more confused and uncomfortable than Grace had ever seen him. “We haven’t even ordered yet.”
“I thought you were going to eat with us,” she said.
“Don’t worry, Grace. You don’t have to miss me. I’m sure I’ll see you soon.”
He leaned down, dropped a quick kiss on her forehead and turned and left.
Charlie’s jaw clenched, and Grace’s mouth flew open.
“Who the hell does he think he is, kissing my date?”
“I think it was meant to be friendly,” she said quickly. “We are old friends.”
Why was she defending him? Her own mind was turning on her.
“Old friends? Tell him that. He seems to think you’re still his girlfriend.”
She frowned, a little frustrated by this display of jealousy.
“Charlie. If you don’t want me working with Jamie, just say the word. I already told you, I don’t want to work with him. This is your decision.”
Charlie didn’t say anything, and Grace knew he wouldn’t give up the account and his monthly retainer over jealousy. She understood why, but it still kind of pissed her off. Was money really that much more important than her? Why couldn’t he be a little more like Jamie?
Great, now she was comparing Charlie to her ex.
And now she understood why Jamie had left early. He had accomplished his goal. He was in her head.
The waitress came and took their order, and the rest of the night passed in empty conversation.
THE REST OF the week was one of the worst Grace could remember. The days passed slowly and painfully as she tried to stay on top of her other accounts while keeping up with Jamie’s relentless demands. She found herself staying late at the office each night, unable to get home before Jake’s bedtime.
Every time the phone rang and she saw Jamie’s name on the caller ID she jumped, afraid of what new project he was going to give her or what he wanted changed about something she had already completed. He had already scrapped a few of her proposals and had made her redo multiple projects in the late stages, telling her that he had come up with a whole new concept in the middle of the night.
By the time Friday afternoon came around, she was exhausted. The promise of a beautiful September weekend was the only thing keeping her from losing her mind. She could not wait to spend two whole days being lazy with Jake, watching cartoons, baking cookies and ignoring her emails.
Jake had been talking lately about wanting to go to the zoo. She thought of how nice it would be to take him for a few hours. It would be just the two of them, the zebras and the monkeys. No Jamie.
The phone rang an hour before she was set to go home.
“Hi, Jamie.”
“Grace. How are you?”
“I’m fine.” If he didn’t hear the bitterness in that statement, he was deaf. “How are you?”
“You sound tired.”
She couldn’t help but sigh. “I am tired.”
He was quiet for a moment. “I suppose I have been working you pretty hard.”
She thought about saying something to him about how she couldn’t keep up with this pace, but she didn’t want to disappoint Charlie or set Jamie off. The Jamie she remembered never backed down from an argument, and she knew if she started one they would be back on personal ground. She needed to try to keep things between them at least semi-professional if she were going to protect herself.
“I understand,” she said instead. “This is a brand new market for you and it is going to take a lot of work for your company to establish itself here.”
“I’m glad to hear you say that. Something has come up.”
She had a feeling she wasn’t going to like this.
“I need you to come to New York with me this weekend.”
Grace sucked in a breath. “What?”
“I know weekends are your days off, and I’m sorry to do this to you, but I need you to come and sit down with our marketing director. You two really should be on the same page with everything.”
This was the first Grace had heard of a marketing director. Why hadn’t she been communicating directly with her instead of Jamie from the beginning?
“I can schedule the trip for an upcoming weekend,” she told him, trying not to panic. She felt hot, all of a sudden, and a bit faint. “I’ll set something up with your marketing director. There is no reason for you to go with me.”
“No, it has to be this weekend,” Jamie said. “We are hosting a black tie gala at the brewery for charity. It’s going to be really great PR for us. We need you to be there and mingle. Some of the attendees own national restaurant and bar chains. If they like our beer this could be huge for us.”
Grace wanted to scream. Just the thought of going with Jamie to New York for the weekend depleted even further the little energy she had left. She needed her bed, she needed comfort food and she needed to be with her son. She did not need more stress or to spend time around Jamie. She couldn’t handle it.
“Grace? Are you there?”
“This is too short notice. I have plans for the weekend that can’t be canceled. I’m sorry.”
She could practically hear his mind working on the other end of the phone, and she wondered why she was even trying to get out of this when Jamie always got what he wanted anyway.
“What plans?” he finally asked.
She thought of telling him it was none of his business but knew that would only make him more determined to find out. “I have appointments.”
“Appointments?” He sounded frustrated. “I wouldn’t ask you to do this if it wasn’t important.”
“Jamie.”
“Grace.”
“Why couldn’t you have told me earlier?”
“It doesn’t matter.” His tone was clipped. “I need you there. If you ca
n’t come, I’m going to have to cancel our contract and hire another agency.”
She gasped. “You wouldn’t do that.”
Would he? What would Charlie say if she lost the account after only a week? It would be enough to get anyone else fired. And she was trying so hard to prove that she could handle this promotion.
“I would,” Jamie said, not a trace of humor in his voice. “I don’t think I’m asking for too much, especially with the retainer I’m paying.”
She could not believe he was doing this to her. It was so disrespectful, like he didn’t even care about her or her feeling at all. The way he had treated her all week was worse than he would have treated a stranger. She had never been angrier with Jamie in her life.
This was not the man she remembered.
“Fine.” She squeezed her eyes shut, reminding herself how hard she had worked for this job. “I’ll go. Are we flying?”
“I booked your ticket,” he said. She could practically hear him grin over the phone. “I’ll come pick you up in the morning on the way to the airport. Where do you live?”
“No!” she heard the panic in her voice and hoped he hadn’t noticed. “Um, I’ll meet you there.”
“Okay...” She could hear his suspicion through the phone and was grateful when he said nothing further. “I’ll meet you there at 6 a.m. Don’t be late.”
She slammed down the phone without saying goodbye and tried as hard as she could not to cry in the middle of the office.
Bastard.
Chapter 6
“I love you. Be good for Aunt Caroline while I’m gone, okay?”
Jake looked up at Grace with blue eyes that sparkled with tears. “Please don’t go mommy.”
Words no mother could resist.
“I’m sorry, baby. I have to. I’ll be back before you know it.”
She was on her knees in the kitchen, hugging the tiny boy goodbye. She had spent the night before packing and trying to spend as much time with him as she could, but now she had to leave, and he wasn’t taking it well.
Grace had never spent a night away from Jake since he had been born. She had never had any reason to. She hadn’t had a boyfriend for years, and things with Charlie hadn’t yet progressed to the overnight stage. This would be her first trip away from her son. She knew it was silly, but she felt like she was going to cry, too.
“I’ll call you as soon as I get there,” she told him, giving him a kiss on his tear-soaked cheek. “You can tell me all about your day with Aunt Caroline.”
He released her, and she left his side with a heavy heart.
“This is so wrong,” Caroline told her when she reached the front door. “You shouldn’t be anywhere near Jamie. Can’t you call him and tell him you’re sick? I’ll call for you.”
Grace had already thought about it, but she was seriously worried that Jamie would find out where she lived and show up just to see if she were telling the truth.
“I’m going to be fine,” she said to Caroline, standing on her tiptoes to give her a hug. “I’m barely going to speak to him, and it’s only one night. It won’t get personal.”
“It had better not. I wish you’d let me drive you to the airport.”
“Someone has to watch Jake.”
“We could bring him.”
“And risk Jamie seeing him?”
“Ugh, this is so frustrating.”
“I know.” She hugged her sister a second time. “Thank you for watching Jake this weekend. Someday when you have kids I swear I’ll make this all up to you.”
“Don’t even worry about it. Just try and get some rest while you’re in New York. Don’t let him work you too hard.” She frowned. “I hate seeing you like this.”
“Hey, maybe if I’m lucky he’ll decide not to come back to Virginia,” Grace said. “A girl can hope.”
JAMIE WAS WAITING for Grace outside at Richmond International Airport. He saw her before she saw him. She was pulling a small suitcase behind her and was wearing dark jeans and a white button down blouse. Her hair was in loose waves, and she had dark sunglasses on so he couldn’t see her eyes.
He waved to her and could swear she almost recoiled when she saw him.
“Hey. Right on time!”
He took her suitcase, his hand lightly brushing hers. She yanked her hand away as though burned and mumbled her thanks.
“How are you?” he asked. “Sorry the flight is so early, but I’m eager to show you the place. We have a lot to do today.”
“It’s okay. I’m an early riser.”
“I remember. That’s why I figured you wouldn’t mind. So, when was the last time you went home to New York?”
“It’s not really home anymore,” she said. “But we go see my parents every Christmas.”
“You and Caroline?”
“Yes. It’s just the two of us.”
“How is Caroline? The last time I saw her she was studying to become a teacher.”
Grace nodded. “She has her own classroom now. She’s a great teacher. All the kids love her.”
“I knew she would be. I always thought she would make a great mother someday.”
Grace looked at him. “You did?”
“Of course. She’s got that motherly thing going on.”
“She certainly does.”
“You both have it,” he said quickly, sensing that he had somehow upset her.
Grace changed the subject, her voice flat and disinterested. “She’s engaged.”
“No kidding! That’s great. Who’s the lucky guy?”
“His name is Will. He’s the best. Really good to her.”
“When is the wedding?”
“It’s in April.”
“And they live together?”
“No.” He wished she would take off her sunglasses. “She lives with me. She’ll move out when they get married, but we’ve still got some time left.”
He got the feeling this was another sore subject and tried to shift gears. “I can’t believe you haven’t been to New York since Christmas. Don’t you miss it?”
“Not really.”
For a woman who used to be so talkative, she sure was using her words sparingly.
They didn’t speak at all on the line to get their boarding passes or as they were walking to the gate. They found their terminal and sat across from each other. Jamie couldn’t believe how uncomfortable they were together. Grace used to be the one person he was most comfortable with in the world.
He hated himself for ever putting this distance between them.
Grace rummaged through her purse, acting like she was too busy to pay attention to him.
He was happy when she finally took off her sunglasses, but the feeling faded when he saw the dark circles under her eyes. She looked like she hadn’t slept in days.
“Are you okay?” he asked her seriously.
She looked suspicious. “Yes. Why?”
“You look tired.”
“I am tired. It has been a long week.”
Her tone gave him the impression that he was responsible. He knew he had been giving her a lot of work to do, but he had a good reason. Every time he called her meant hearing her voice. Every minute she spent working on his account was a minute she spent away from Charlie.
He had justified it to himself many times, but he did feel guilty now seeing how exhausted she was. He hadn’t meant to suck the life out of her.
Jamie smiled, trying to lighten the mood. He wanted this trip to be perfect, and he was determined to get them back on track. “Can I get you coffee? I remember how you take it.”
“No, thanks. I’m fine.”
Her voice was light, not angry, but it still bothered him. He knew she was trying to put distance between them. He was even more certain of it when she pulled a paperback mystery out of her bag and started reading.
He watched her for a while as she read, remembering how in college she always carried a book with her. She didn’t like to read anything at all academic
or classic, and he used to poke fun at her choices. She loved murder mysteries, the ones where she could play detective and try to guess who the killer was. She told him more than once that reading was an escape for her.
That was all fine, but he didn’t like the idea of her trying to escape from him.
She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and pressed her lips together, and he thought for the millionth time how pretty she was. Then she turned her big brown eyes on him.
“Why are you staring at me?”
He smiled, caught. “Sorry. I was just remembering. Watching you read brought back memories.”
“Oh,” she said, caught by surprise.
She was so cute, with her legs tucked up beneath her on the chair. He wanted to sit next to her and hated that he couldn’t.
“I remember you used to read on Sunday mornings while you were waiting for me to wake up.”
She smiled slightly, remembering, and it gave him hope. “I had to find something to do. You always slept in so late, and if I turned on the TV you would wake up and be cranky the rest of the day.”
“Hey!” He pretended to be offended and she laughed. “I always made you breakfast, didn’t I?”
“I thought it was brunch,” she said, her eyes sparkling.
“Call it whatever you want. I know for a fact I make the best damn pancakes you have ever had.”
“Maybe. But your eggs are the worst.”
He laughed. “I can’t be perfect.”
“They were some of the driest eggs in the world.”
“They have gotten better.”
She raised a brow. “Okay, right.”
“What about you? If I remember correctly, your idea of cooking was heating something in the microwave.”
Grace laughed. “It’s not like that anymore. I can cook now. Basics.”
“That’s new. What else has changed about you?”
Grace shrugged, her face falling. “I don’t know. You tell me.”
“You still look the same, mostly.”
She pursed her lips like she wanted to say something and then thought better of it. “You look mostly the same, too. Just more... sophisticated.”
He smiled. “I had to grow up sometime.”
Irresistible Lies Page 6
