Release Me

by Ann Marie Walker

  “Knew what would happen?”

  “That it would be this way when we weren’t working together.” She flipped open her menu and began turning the pages. Allie knew from experience that she was headed straight to the appetizer section. “I hate having to schedule time to talk to my best friend. I feel like I talk to your assistant more than you.”

  “Yeah, about that,” Allie teased, trying to lighten the mood. “Stop distracting him.”

  A smile tugged at the corner of Harper’s lips but she feigned innocence as she perused the menu. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “Oh, please,” Allie said with a snort. “His desk is right outside my door. I hear him chatting away before he puts your calls through.”

  Harper looked up from the menu, her green eyes wide with sincerity. “All joking aside, I hate having to schedule time to see my best friend.”

  Allie reached across the table and squeezed Harper’s hand. “I know. And I’m sorry. This transition has been really tough. Hopefully things will settle down a bit after the first of the year.”

  “It’s fine.” She gave her a warm smile, then turned her attention back to the menu. “But if you’re going to try to take this further than holding my hand, you better be planning to pay for dinner and not just dessert.”

  Allie laughed. “Fair enough. So what are you thinking? Empanadas, volcano shrimp, or do we go for broke with the pot roast cheese fries?” After rattling off the choices, she pulled her cell phone out of her purse to add an hour at the gym to her Friday morning calendar.

  “I’m thinking I better stick with the lettuce wraps.”

  Allie glanced up from the phone screen, her mouth hanging open. “Who are you and what have you done with my friend?”

  “She’s right here. She just ate enough sweet potato casserole last week to bust the zipper on her stress jeans.”

  While she certainly sympathized, Allie couldn’t help but smile at the description. Harper had clothes designated for moods. There were stress jeans, meltdown surgical scrubs, and for really extreme scenarios, the I’m-going-to-join-a-convent elastic waist sweatpants.

  “How was your trip home, aside from the binging?”

  “Good. My sister was there with her new baby, so the picture taking and ‘goo-goo ga-ga’ stuff was a bit over the top. But my Uncle Eddie kept his pants on during the football games, so all in all I’d say it was a success. Still wish you would have come with me.”

  “The last thing your mom needed was my mopey face at her table,” she said, only half joking. While Allie had appreciated Harper’s offer to spend the holidays with her family in St. Louis, she didn’t think she could have handled being around an extended happy family. Not only because she’d never spend another holiday with her own family, but because she knew with all certainty that being with Harper’s family would cause her to mourn the loss of the holidays she never had. Growing up Allie’s mom had made sure each and every celebration was picture-perfect, but not in the Norman Rockwell kind of way. More in the “stand still, you’ll wrinkle your dress” kind of way. A firsthand look at a normal holiday, even one with an uncle watching football in his underwear, would have been just too hard to take. “Besides, it all worked out for the best. I had a very productive weekend.”

  “Productive? That’s not how people usually describe our nation’s day of gluttony.” Harper closed the menu and set it down on the table. “Please don’t tell me you spent the entire weekend working in your office alone?”

  “Okay, I won’t tell you.”

  Harper raised a brow but said nothing. It was unnerving.

  “Fine. Yes, I worked all weekend.” Allie held up her hand in an attempt to stop the inevitable lecture. “But not always at the office and not always alone. Colin came in on Saturday and Sunday.”

  Harper rolled her eyes. “Oh, I bet he loved that.”

  “He was well paid and well fed, so I don’t think he had too many complaints.”

  “So when do I get to meet the Sexy Secretary?”

  Again with the nicknames. It was bad enough when Harper came up with creative monikers for the men in Allie’s life, but it was hardly appropriate for her employees. “First of all, he’s my executive assistant. Second, how do you know he’s sexy? And third, that’s sexual harassment.”

  “First, semantics. Second, Facebook. And third, its only harassment if he works for me, which he does not. He would, however, be lots of fun to go drinking with. Oh, and dancing. I bet young Colin has some moves.”

  The waitress arrived to take their orders and promised to return with a basket of bread, which Harper politely declined.

  “Wow, you weren’t kidding about the stress jeans, were you?”

  “It’s a DEFCON Five situation.” Harper leaned forward and rested her elbows on the table. “So what do you say?”

  “About what?”

  “You, me, and the Sexy . . .” She stopped herself. “You, me, and Colin. Drinks and dancing on Saturday?”

  “This Saturday? As in two days from now?”

  “Yep.”

  Allie shook her head. “Won’t work. He’s going out of town this weekend. Sort of the trade-off for working over Thanksgiving.”

  Harper shot a hopeful look across the table. “So maybe just the two of us can hang out, then?”

  “I’m not sure. I have a lot of work to wrap up before everyone scatters for the holidays. And with Colin gone all weekend, it’s going to be tough.”

  “Oh c’mon, I heard on the radio this morning that they’re doing the Nutcracker at the Joffrey Ballet, even have the Chicago Philharmonic playing.”

  “Stop.”

  “What?”

  The waitress set the lettuce wraps on the table between them, along with two glasses of Pinot Grigio. Allie waited until they were alone before busting Harper’s plan wide open. “I know what you’re doing.”

  “I’m simply trying to make plans to go to the ballet,” Harper said, stuffing a roll of the leafy greens in her mouth.

  “You have zero interest in the ballet. Or classical music, for that matter.”

  Harper washed the wrap down with what was left of her martini. “Men in tights, what’s not to love?”

  “And if it were a midnight showing of a Cary Elwes movie at the Music Box, I might believe you.”

  “Maybe I just want to broaden my horizons.”

  “Harper, I know what Saturday is.” Allie helped herself to one of the cool leaves and filled it with spicy chicken. “And while I appreciate what you’re trying to do, I don’t need a babysitter this weekend.”

  “It would have been your wedding day.”

  “Honestly, I’m not losing sleep over the fact that I won’t be Marquise Laurent come Saturday.”

  “Well, I know that much,” she said with a roll of her eyes. “And thank God, because if I think the current sitch is bad, I would have never seen you after Julian whisked you off to his castle in France.” Her shoulders sagged. “But so much is different than you expected it to be this weekend, I just thought maybe . . .”

  Allie set her lettuce wrap back on the plate and looked her friend in the eye. “There’s a lot about my life I wish I could change, but ending my engagement to Julian isn’t one of them.”

  A quiet moment passed between them before Harper spoke. “I saw him.”

  She didn’t have to say anything else, because Allie knew without asking exactly who she was referring to. And as much as she wanted to grill Harper for every little detail from what he said to the tie he wore, she resisted. Instead she turned her attention back to the appetizers, taking a bite while attempting to maintain an air of complete indifference. “These are pretty good,” she said, dabbing her mouth with a napkin, “for low carb.”

  “I stopped at Rosebud to get takeout one night and he was there. Alone.”

  “I’m sure he was meeting someone for dinner.” The lettuce wrap suddenly felt like a rock in the pit of her stomach as the image of So
phia’s perfect face popped into her mind.

  “Nope. He already had his food, although he hadn’t eaten very much. Looked to me like he was just sipping a glass of Cab and reminiscing.”

  Clearly Harper had no intention of letting the subject drop. And against her better judgment, Allie took the bait. “Reminiscing? You got that from a man drinking wine in an Italian restaurant?”

  “Oh, didn’t I mention he was sitting at the same table where you two had your never-ending ‘just talking about the foundation’ coffee?”

  “No, you didn’t.”

  “Well he was. And he looked like shit,” she added matter-of-factly.

  “The additional hours are probably taking their toll.” Allie had no idea how Hudson was managing the demands of a conglomerate like Chase Industries while at the same time maintaining a near-constant presence at Ingram. No wonder Harper thought he looked like shit—the man had to be operating on very little sleep.

  “I don’t mean he looked like he could use a nap,” she said as if reading Allie’s mind. “I mean he looked like a guy whose heart was broken.”

  Allie let out a harsh laugh. “Now I know you’re full of shit.”

  “Why?”

  “You make it sound like he was the male equivalent of being curled up in sweatpants nursing a pint of ice cream. There is no way Hudson Chase was anything but composed. I’d bet my life on it.”

  “Oh he was, at least on the surface. Christ, even on his worst day that man looks perfect. I mean seriously, how in the world are his eyes that blue? And that hair, I swear, one of these days I’m going to run my fingers through it and I don’t care who’s watching. But when he asked about you—”

  “You spoke to him?”

  Harper nodded. “Just the usual small talk. When we’ll get the first snow, how was your Thanksgiving, that sort of thing. Oh, and PS: he worked through the holiday, too, so a fine pair you make.”

  “Harper,” Allie said, trying to redirect her focus. “What did he say about me?”

  “He asked how you were doing.”

  “And?” Allie braced herself. There was no telling what Miss Good Intentions said to him. Allie knew she meant well, but sometimes Harper spoke before she thought.

  “And I told him he would probably know better than I would since he works with you now, not me.”

  That wasn’t so bad. Could have been a lot worse, actually.

  “But he said he wanted to know how you were doing when you weren’t at the office in Terminator mode.”

  Allie raised a brow.

  “Okay, maybe those weren’t his exact words. But it wasn’t how he asked that killed me. It was the look in his eyes. Honestly, the man is hurting.”

  Allie sat quietly for a moment as Harper’s words settled over her. Then in a hushed voice, she asked, “What did you tell him?”

  Harper took a deep breath before letting the words tumble out of her mouth in a rush. “I told him that you’ve been just as miserable as he looked and that he shouldn’t give up on you, because one of these days you might stop being so stubborn and actually forgive him and get on with your lives.”

  There it was. “You did not.”

  “I most certainly did. Not that it makes much difference. You’ve told him to leave you alone so many times that now he’s actually doing it.”

  “Is that what he said?”

  “Pretty much.”

  Hudson was letting her go. Unexpected tears stung her eyes at the thought.

  “You’ve lost a lot these past few weeks, but Hudson doesn’t have to be part of that list. Can’t you give him another chance?”

  A hot tear slipped down Allie’s cheek. She swiped it away with the back of her hand but didn’t answer.

  “He tried to make it right. He went to see your dad after your weekend in Wisconsin.”

  Allie finally opened her mouth to speak but Harper was on a roll.

  “And don’t bother saying it was just some attempt to make a hostile takeover less hostile. From what you’ve told me Hudson went to great lengths to gain control of Ingram, all those shell companies and the other crap I can’t even begin to understand. Do you really think he would have backed off even an inch when he was about to close the deal? Someone like Hudson Chase didn’t get where he is today by giving things away. Have you stopped to ask yourself why he really did it?”

  “What do you mean?”

  Harper shook her head. “For someone with all the fancy degrees, you sure are dense sometimes. He did it for you, Alessandra. He was trying to fix the situation because of his feelings for you.”

  Was Harper right? Did he do it for her? Was Hudson really willing to compromise the deal he’d spent months strategizing? Their time at the lake that weekend had felt different; they’d made a connection. Or at least Allie thought they had. And when she’d returned, she’d known she had to end things with Julian, that she wanted a future with Hudson. Had he felt the same way? Surely he’d known everything would blow up when the truth came out that he was the one behind the takeover at Ingram. Was he trying to undo what damage he could by brokering a deal with her dad because . . . he wanted a future with her?

  Questions ricocheted in Allie’s mind, questions neither she nor Harper could answer. But one person could. She glanced at her watch. It was almost six o’clock. “He’s probably still at the office,” she said, not even realizing she’d spoken the words out loud.

  “So what are you waiting for?” Harper asked. The gleam in her eye told Allie she was already one step ahead of her.

  Allie slugged down the last of her Pinot Grigio and gathered her coat. “Wish me luck.”

  “You don’t need luck, my friend. Well, except maybe for hailing a cab.” Harper laughed at her own joke as Allie slid out of the booth.

  “I’ll call you later.”

  Harper smiled and reached for her wine glass. “Jeez, let’s hope not.” She lifted her glass. “In fact, here’s to hoping I don’t hear from you till at least Monday.”

  Allie shrugged her coat on. “Don’t get carried away. I’m going to talk to him, that’s all. And I have no idea what he’s going to have to say for himself.”

  Snow was falling when she stepped out into the cold night air. The city thrummed around her, taxis and pedestrians clogging the street and sidewalks as the start of their weekend took them up and down the Magnificent Mile. She stood at the curb, her arm raised as she tried in vain to hail a taxi. One finally approached, but instead of stopping, it sped past to make the light, sending a spray of icy water in her direction. She jumped back and cursed under her breath.

  Impatient and convinced she could walk the half mile faster than she could hail a cab on a Thursday night, Allie set off on foot. Snowflakes the size of cotton balls swirled in the wind as she made her way north on Michigan Avenue, weaving between window shoppers, tourists, and commuters.

  By the time she reached the river she was covered with snow, but she hardly noticed. And as she crossed the bridge, her heels slipped on the frost that had formed on the iron grates, but she kept her pace. Her fingers were numb and her feet were wet, but none of that mattered. Her entire focus was one goal: finding Hudson. She could see his building in the distance along the south bank of the river. The Leo Burnett building, or Chase Industries building, as it was now known, was a formidable presence on the Chicago skyline. From the charcoal-gray granite to the black glass and the chrome accents, the postmodern building was as masculine and powerful as the man whose name was emblazoned above the door. Her gaze traveled up the fifty stories to the top floor, where light glowed from Hudson’s corner office. Was he there, burning the midnight oil, or was it merely the cleaning crew, hard at work after he’d left for the night? Maybe to meet Sophia. Or what if she’d stopped by after work and was with him now? An increasingly familiar ache burned inside her chest as she suddenly pictured Sophia there with him, her voluptuous curves pressed beneath Hudson’ s hard frame on the very couch where he’d kissed her not three mo
nths before. Was that what she was about to charge in and confront?

  There was only one way to find out.

  Allie spun through the steel-frame revolving doors. The lobby was nearly empty except for a man standing in the corner beneath a bronze sculpture, his briefcase at his feet as he texted feverishly on his smartphone. The heels of Allie’s shoes clicked and echoed off the travertine floors as she made her way to the security desk.

  “Evening, Miss Sinclair,” the security guard said with a nod.

  Allie’s gaze shifted to the brushed silver bar pinned to his blazer, but the name engraved on it didn’t ring any bells. “Forgive me,” she said, embarrassed. “Have we met?”

  The guard’s eyes crinkled with a warm smile. “No, ma’am, but there’s a standing order to send you up. No call needed.”

  Allie returned his smile as if everything in her life was okay, as if she wasn’t about to risk what was left of her heart in an impulsive move that had her racing like a crazy woman through the snow-covered streets of Chicago. Hurrying past him to the elevator bank, she pressed the call button over and over in a futile attempt to make the car arrive more quickly. A ping alerted her to which set of doors would be opening, and she moved to stand in front of them. They’d barely opened before she was inside, repeating the button routine until the elevator began its glide to the top floor. With no music piped in after hours, the only sound she heard in the confined space was the pounding of her heart, which seemed to grow faster with each passing floor.

  After what felt like an eternity, the doors slid open. The couches in the reception area were empty and the lights were dim. The entire floor appeared to be vacant except for Hudson’s assistant, Darren. As she bolted past, his head snapped up from his computer monitor and his eyes grew wide.

  “Miss Sinclair.” There was a rustle of activity as he disentangled from his headset and a moment later he was tight on her heels. “If you wouldn’t mind taking a seat,” he said, slightly out of breath. “I’ll let Mr. Chase know you’re here.”

  Keeping her eyes locked on Hudson’s closed door, Allie didn’t break stride. Not even when Darren caught up to her.