Embracing Love (Tainted Love Book 3)

by Lily Zante

  Thierry stood at her door, waiting for Luc to clear the way, and, catching the end point of the conversation, jumped right in. “Of course she’s coming. How can you not?” he asked as he walked in with a grin.

  “Patrice will be upset, she’s organised a meal at a wonderful new restaurant. And I,” he sat down, placed his folder and pen on her desk, “I will be deeply offended. You must come.”

  Tanya got up and closed the door when Luc left. “Of course I’ll come.”

  “Excellent. How did it go?” Thierry asked her in his gently lilting French accent that had started to rub off on her. She closed the page on her computer and gave him her full attention. “It could have gone better,” she replied. Thierry raised an eyebrow. “What happened?”

  “He kept me waiting, he was late and then when the meeting started he seemed annoyed that I had the audacity to take up any of his time.” Thierry shook his head, his fingers supporting his chin as he listened.

  “And then as we started to talk his cell phone rang and he had the conversation right then and there in front of me.” Tanya rolled her eyes. “What was I supposed to do? Smile and listen politely?”

  Thierry shook his head.

  “He stood with his back to me talking on the phone and you know something,” She leaned in conspiratorially. “He completely ignored me.” She paused for effect. “Know what I did?” By now Thierry was almost smiling.

  “I walked out and told his secretary he could call me when he was less busy.”

  Thierry chortled. “I don’t think anyone has ever walked out on an office meeting with him before. This might not be the last you hear of it,” he told her. “I’m glad you did. The man is arrogant but even this is taking it a bit too far.”

  Tanya got up and perched on the edge of her table. “Between you and me Thierry,” she said “I have a feeling he detests having anything to do with the Zimmerman Group. I don’t think he’s at all interested in working with us on this campaign. He certainly showed no interest in the brochure I showed him. I think I’m going to have a word with Nadine and find out how her meeting went with him last week. We didn’t talk about it much but I don’t think Nadine was too impressed by him.”

  Tanya remembered the night she and Nadine had talked until the early hours of the morning. Nadine was probably still in shock about the confession she had made. Still, she wanted to find out what Nadine thought of Gabriel Valois. Had he been as rude to her? After all, he’d been putting the meeting off right up until the very end.

  “Speak to Nadine. I’m sure it’s not just you.” Thierry rested his hands against his stomach. With the Flight Campaign using their resources, and with the planned expansion, the Paris office also needed to hire new people. Tanya was fast discovering that workload was growing exponentially.

  “How is everyone taking to the rollouts?” She asked Thierry, as she always ran things by him. She was all too aware of being seen as a bigwig from over the pond who was making this staff work a particular way. So far there had been no major grumbles but these things would only come out over time as people began to use the new system in earnest. Thierry with his nose to the ground, and the most senior member of the work force here, was good to bounce ideas off.

  “Not too bad except that there is a lot of paperwork which means our projects and our creative campaigns are slowing down.”

  She gave him a world weary look “That’s what happens when a company grows and does too many things all at once.” She felt this was happening here in Paris, the rollout, the Flight campaign, and she was only based here for a few months more. Then she’d have to spend six months in Milan, overseeing their implementations. She didn’t want to think too much about what would happen after that. “Unfortunately it’s not my call. Maybe you can bring that up with Michael at the convention next month?” It would be the perfect time having all senior management there. She was relieved not to be going.

  Thierry waved his hands dismissively, quick to console her. “It’s not a problem. We will learn to work in this way.”

  “Thank you for understanding. Because you have no choice in the matter,” Tanya reminded him. What Michael Zimmerman wanted, Michael Zimmerman got.

  “And you’re definitely coming tomorrow?”

  “Of course,” replied Tanya. After all she was still getting used to life in Paris and she didn’t know anybody. Her friends were the people she worked with and although she had come to Paris to escape San Francisco, setting up a new life here was not as easy as she’d thought. On the few times when she didn’t work as late, she spent her evenings at home alone reading a book. But she found herself slipping back into her old life where work consumed more of her time simply because there was nothing else, there was no one else, to fill the gap.

  “Let’s see what Milan has to report back this week.” She dialed the number as Thierry opened his folder and got ready to take notes.

  With her long day almost at an end, and the ill-fated meeting with Gabriel Valois soon forgotten, Tanya picked up the phone to call Nadine. It would be just after ten in San Francisco and it was often the best time for the two of them to talk. She dialed Nadine’s direct line hoping she wouldn’t be away in her usual round of meetings.

  To her relief, Nadine answered on the second ring. “I was just thinking about you,” were her opening words.

  “Good things I hope?” And she did hope, for she knew Nadine had Michael Zimmerman’s ear.

  “I wanted to ask you—what did you think of Gabriel Valois?” she asked. She heard Nadine’s low groan. “Don’t even get me started.”

  Tanya eased into a smile. She had an idea that Nadine didn’t think too highly of the man, after all, it was due to his delaying tactics that Nadine had missed her fiancé’s awards ceremony. Of course, had she and Nadine not been up until the early hours of the morning, perhaps Nadine might not have missed her return flight back.

  Perhaps his coldness and hostility were ingrained in his DNA and weren’t solely aimed at her? The thought gave her a little comfort.

  “He seemed aloof. Not really present. Why? Have you had the pleasure of his company yet?”

  Tanya didn’t want to volunteer too much information. “Almost. We had a meeting this morning, kind of. We didn’t make much progress. He was…busy.”

  Nadine let out a laugh. “Good luck. You might need a bit of a heavy hand with him. Why are you still at the office? Are you overloaded with work again?”

  “A little but probably not as much as you.” Tanya decided against whining about her lot. She especially didn’t want Michael to catch wind of things because the last thing she needed was for him to think she couldn’t cope.

  “I might move my trip forward, if it might help.”

  Tanya warmed to the idea of seeing Nadine. “You being here is always going to help. But for now, things are moving along. Don’t worry. Anyway, I thought the whole point of me being here was so that you wouldn’t have to leave San Francisco as often?”

  “Not being based there was what I wanted. But if it would help me being there more often than I’d planned then let me know. I’m aware of the time and resource constraints on you and I know we need to take more people on quickly. Don’t suffer silently, Tanya. Remember, I’ve got the team in place here. You’re out on a limb there, alone, trying to make it work. Dealing with the not-so-friendly Mr. Valois must only add to the pressure.”

  At least Nadine was on her side. “Thanks, I knew you’d understand.”

  “Are you all set for the convention?” Nadine asked.

  “Nope. Michael hasn’t mentioned it to me but I already have way too much going on here.”

  “But Thierry, and Patrice and Stephan are coming. Luc too, I think. And Mario and Chantelle. How can you not come?”

  “I’ve got enough fires to put out here.” The thought of going to the yearly Zimmerman Group marketing convention didn’t appeal.

  She was still fleeing, still trying to forget.

  And she
’d be going alone when everyone else would be in couples, though with the Paris and Milan offices, the invitation didn’t extend to their significant others.

  She could do without the trek to Sacramento and back within the space of a couple of days. It would throw her schedule out-of-whack completely.

  “Don’t worry about it, Nadine. I actually prefer not going.”

  She heard Nadine sigh.

  “It’s a shame we didn’t discuss him in more detail the last time,” said Tanya.

  “Who?”

  “Mr. Valois.”

  “That’s because we were too busy discussing what you told me,” Nadine reminded her. Tanya felt the heat on her cheeks.

  “Let’s not go there.” She was all too wary of being on a work line. “Good to know that it wasn’t only me he had a problem with.”

  “I’d love to hear all about it, but I have a meeting at Noble Vintage’s offices. It looks like we have a lot of new work coming our way.”

  “It’s coming in thick and fast,” commented Tanya. Lately she’d heard that business was increasing, a good sign for the company.

  “We might need you back here, once you’ve finished up in Europe.”

  Tanya laughed. “I’ll speak to you later.”

  Going back to San Francisco wasn’t an option but once her work here was done, what then?

  Preferring not to dwell on that, and with her day almost over, Tanya noted that she’d had no further contact from Mr. Valois.

  He was going to drag his heels in all of this. She’d have to take the reins and contact him tomorrow to arrange another meeting.

  She swivelled around in her chair and looked out of her window. Soft sunshine streamed in. She wanted to walk around Notre Dame and hear the bells ring. And then maybe wander down the cobbled side streets full of cafes and restaurants lit up by warm lamps, inviting her in at every turn. She’d done this last week, and then had wondered what it would be like to have someone to share the sights and sounds with.

  She missed having Nadine around. The last few weeks with her had filled a void in Tanya’s personal life. She’d forgotten what it was like to have a friend around.

  With Nadine back in the US, it was a return to the single solitary life for Tanya once more.

  She’d convinced herself it was what she wanted, after all that was why she’d set out on this ‘adventure’ of hers. She was forty-three, with no relationship, divorced, and her friends were all the way back home.

  It would be so much better to have someone to share it all with. Though she had gained almost everything she wanted by coming here, the reality of it was turning out to be a different kind of blue. She missed her friends, everything familiar, and faces and places she knew well, and the sense of belonging. She missed seeing the cable cars and the views of the bridges and the Bay from Telegraph Hill. She missed meeting friends for dinner along one of the restaurants in Fisherman’s Wharf.

  Paris was beautiful but it was not San Francisco and even though she was getting used to the city slowly, there were unguarded moments when she yearned for home.

  During one of her first weekends here she’d gone for a walk by the Eiffel Tower. It had been a dull day with angry clouds painting the sky gray. The rain trickled down, just like her tears, and in that moment she longed for Vincent—and wondered how it was that she had ended up alone, in a miserable city so far away from everything she loved.

  Chapter 3

  It was bad enough that his then girlfriend, Francine, had fallen in love with his best friend and had left him. But the fact that she’d taken their son Sébastien, just a toddler then, had been the knife that had dug deep into his heart. It was a wound he still felt to this day, having missed the chance of seeing his son grow up. Hankering for the fleeting visits when he would see his son for short visits had been the only thing that kept Gabriel sane.

  He’d never trusted women since that time, and he would never allow himself to become caught up in their spell again.

  Henri, his once-best-friend, had then moved to England with Francine, and they later married. Gabriel had to let go of Sébastien, looking forward to trips where he or they would visit, so that he could see his son occasionally.

  It wasn’t perfect, but it was something. He lived for those moments, and work and girlfriends, and life filled in the other empty parts of his life.

  But this morning’s news was a new low and it had been unfortunate that he’d found out in between his meeting with Tanya Braun. A quick succession of calls had ensued, and when his Francine had called the second time, Sébastien had been with her. Gabriel had been eager to speak to his son. Even if it meant doing so in the middle of the meeting.

  But finding out that they were moving to Australia had rocked his core. He’d hated the idea of them moving to England, but now in retrospect, it was a stone’s throw compared to Australia.

  They were moving ‘because of Henri’s job’ she’d told him but his mind had already gone to a life without Sébastien. He had done his best, but had never felt it was enough. The frequent trips back and forth during his school holidays had ensured that he wasn’t a total stranger to his son, that they had a bond, even though that bond had begun to weaken as his son grew older.

  He knew too well the pain of regret, of how things might have been, of the life he might have had, and increasingly an unsettling feeling had gathered deep in the chambers of his heart, reminding him of the time and love he could never claim back.

  He’d loved her but that love had grown gnarled and gangly after her betrayal. The regret he had was for moments lost forever—moments he should have shared with his son. Gabriel often remembered the chubby toddler he’d put to bed, the small child he’d helped with his first wavering tumbling footsteps, the happy little boy he had fed and bathed—these moments that he marvelled at with the confusion and wonderment of a first time parent were bright in his mind even now almost a decade later.

  It worried him that the bond with his son, like the memories, would fade over time. It troubled Gabriel more deeply than he cared to admit.

  He’d called her back after seeing that Ms. Braun had left his office. When had she? He’d barely heard her leave.

  Francine had tried to pacify him. “You can’t blame Henri. It was a fantastic opportunity. How could he turn down such a role?” The man had been offered some surgeon type role at a hospital in Sydney.

  “Is it permanent?” He needed to know.

  “It’s a five-year post. Who knows, we might just settle out there.”

  In five years Sébastien would be almost seventeen. Gabriel’s heart dropped to the base of his stomach. How many trips would that be? Maybe once a year if he was lucky. Sébastien would still love him, but Gabriel felt a twinge of jealousy that the already strong enough bond with his stepfather would lessen his own role in time.

  Gabriel didn’t want the boy to be torn between the two men. It would require a sacrifice on his part—and he had to be willing to let him go.

  “When?” he asked, his mind still reeling from the vision of a bleak future.

  “You don’t have to sound so angry, Gabriel. These things are difficult to pinpoint. There are so many forms and procedures in place. So many hoops to jump through.”

  “Please send Sébastien to me during the summer. At least one final summer.” He didn’t care that he sounded so desperate.

  “Nonsense, Gabriel. You make it sound as though we’re never going to see you again.”

  Gabriel said nothing and her voice softened. “Of course he can come. He wants to see you before he goes. He loves you very much, you know. He was talking about visiting you and wanting to keep in touch with you.”

  He listened. “It doesn’t matter how far we are, Gabriel, Sébastien knows you’re his father and he loves you. Australia is just a location. Do you think that because we are going that much farther that there will be less chance of seeing him? We will probably make more of an effort to visit.”

  Odd th
at their relationship, so rocky since the split had slowly become one of enduring tolerance. His heart slowly picked itself up off the floor. She was saying the right things to make him feel better. He knew she didn’t want to argue about this decision, and that she wanted his good wishes. She didn’t want his anger to be between them now.

  “I didn’t even know you were making plans to move.”

  “It might not have worked out. It only felt fair to tell you once everything was finalized. Of course things will move quickly now, because we want everything to be settled for the next school year.”

  “It would be better for Sébastien.” He agreed.

  And so Gabriel’s day had dragged by in a haze of melancholy. He looked at his diary when there was a knock at the door and his secretary walked in.

  “I’m finishing for the day now. Here’s a message I forgot to pass on earlier, I’m sorry. Tanya Braun left it this morning, I must have mislaid it.”

  “It’s fine, goodnight.” He let out an angry growl as he re-read the message and considered calling the American woman back. More headache.

  The takeover was no longer looking so promising. Just under a year ago, the small and just-about-surviving European sportswear company had welcomed the acquisition by the larger and wealthier Flight US sports company.

  But with the acquisition had come change. Too much of it and he increasingly felt squeezed by many of the decisions which were now made by his boss in the US—decisions that he would normally make.

  Everything, from their branding, to the way they worked, to how they did business had changed requiring him to seek the permission and say-so from his American parent company.

  They were slowly being swallowed up by the US company and were being forced to adopt all of their systems and procedures.

  Gabriel wasn’t so sure he liked it. Having a healthier P&L sheet and Flight’s stronger product line did not come without a price. And that price now meant he had to tow the line with the Americans.

  He already had an ad agency they used and it was one they had been working with very successfully for a long time. Spiral, co-founded by his sometime girlfriend, had always been capable of creating whatever type of ad work they needed.