Picture Perfect Love (Heartstring Dating Agency Book 3)

by Lauren Wood

  “It’s not the point,” I insisted, narrowing in on my thoughts about what the point actually was. I knew there was one. A big one. “It’s the big picture. The spoiled rich man-baby sweeping in to try to get me to shirk all responsibility and run away with him.”

  “You mean like a knight in shining armor… What all the fairytales teach us about from the time we’re little girls… Like we all dream of having one day?”

  I cut my eyes over to her. “You know it’s not that simple.”

  “Okay, okay,” she said, throwing her hands up in mock surrender. “I’m just sayin… I liked Joshua. And he was crazy about you. The kind of crazy I’ve laid awake at night dreaming about for me. And he fell right into your lap like it was meant to be.”

  I threw back the biggest swig of vodka I could stand and swallowed down the burn. “You’re supposed to be on my side, Val.”

  She grew quiet again, looking awkwardly around the room.

  “What? What is it? There’s something you’re not telling me.”

  “Your friend Rachel,” she started to explain. “She reached out to me. And we both confirmed the same thing. Joshua is still going around to all of us like he was before. Trying to get us to convince you to talk to him. I gotta say… I have a hard time telling the guy no.”

  “Ugh!” I groaned dramatically. “Not you too! That’s Joshua’s problem. No one ever tells him no. He’s so used to getting everything he wants.”

  “So you’re doing all of this to teach him a lesson?” she accused.

  “I’m too tired to think about this anymore,” I whined, flopping over on her shoulder. “And yet it’s somehow all I can think about.”

  She hugged me tight then slid up from the couch. “You know I’m always here for you, girl. I should get going for now. I picked up a second shift for today. But I’m only a phone call away if you need me. If I can sweet-talk our boss into letting you keep your job, I’m sure I can do it for myself too if I have to.”

  “Thanks.” I smiled as much as I could as I showed her out the door.

  I spent the rest of the night drinking and crying over stupid movies until I finally passed out. The next few days went by in a haze. I was in full-blown depression mode. By Friday, I was determined to pick myself up out of it. I took a shower, got dressed, and ventured out into the world. Well, I just went down to the store on the corner to buy essentials like toilet paper and food. If I was going to enjoy one more day held up in the throes of break-up aftermath, I’d have to have supplies.

  Being out around people in the sunlight seemed to be doing the trick to lift my spirits. I even took a little extra time wandering around the store, browsing magazines and face masks—anything that might keep my upswing going once I returned home.

  I started to formulate a whole plan. I’d stock up on my favorite snacks, go home and clean up, open the windows to let some light and fresh air in, and pamper myself while reading a good book. It sounded like the perfect way to turn my mood around just in time for returning to work the next day. More importantly, shopping, even just at the drugstore, was finally taking my mind off of Joshua.

  Everything was going great until I rounded the corner of an aisle and saw her standing there. Cassie—the demon herself. I froze and quickly retreated, doing my best to avoid her. The last thing I needed was her destroying the momentum I had built up.

  I braced myself against the endcap for a moment, until I finally felt brave enough to peek around and see where she might be. Just as I poked my head around the corner… Boom! I was face to face with her.

  “Well, look who it is,” she said with a snide smile. “You must be pretty pleased with yourself.”

  “I kind of was,” I said cluelessly. “Up until about five seconds ago.”

  “It must be nice to turn your back on everything and everyone, and still get all you want.”

  Enough, I thought. I had no idea what she was talking about, but I knew she certainly had no right to be mad at me. I held my shopping basket close and pushed past her, rolling my eyes.

  “Whatever it is you’re all pissed about, Cassie… Get over it. You’re the one who acted like my friend then plotted to try and steal my boyfriend.”

  “A lot of good it did,” she snipped. “It’s a waste of a man. A guy like that wanting to take care of the woman he loves… And yet the woman he loves wants nothing of it. He messaged me, you know. Wanted me to come find you and explain what really happened.”

  I stopped and whipped around. “And what really happened, Cassie? Because I have a feeling it’s not the story you bragged about in the kitchen at work the next day.”

  “Wouldn’t have mattered even if it had been the truth,” she huffed. “He’s crazy about you and you don’t even want him.”

  She marched off, leaving me in stunned silence. Unbelievable. What was happening to everyone? First, Valerie and, apparently, Rachel too. Now even the person who did her best to sabotage what was salvageable about our relationship was mad at me for not taking Joshua back. Had everyone gone mad?

  On the walk home, I questioned my decision. How could I not after everyone giving me such a hard time? Was I doing the right thing? Did Joshua deserve another chance?

  Just outside of my building I watched a happy couple walking across the street as a taxi cab skidded to a halt a foot in front of them. They separated from each other and erupted in shouting obscenities at the cab driver, and he hung out of his window to yell right back.

  Life is no fairytale, I thought. I could have moved in with Joshua and let him put me through law school. But I would have ended up in the exact same spot I was currently in, only worse. Cassie herself said so, even if she was just trying to shove me out of the way so she could move in.

  I held my head up high and decided once and for all I was sticking to my guns. No fairytales for me. Just hard work and realism and… being single. Again.

  19

  Joshua

  I woke up to the sound of ringing from the phone. For a brief second, I was transported back in time. The alarm… Abby’s alarm.

  It was time to get up and start our day. Breakfast, workout, sex in the shower, dinner plans, off to work. I reached for the feeling of her warm body, but all I felt was the empty, cold sheets.

  My heart sank all over again as I swatted towards the phone, silencing the blaring bell. Only for it to start all over again. Finally, I picked up and shouted an answer.

  “It’s me,” Camille’s voice came on the line. “I thought you might be wallowing in bed still. It’s time for our weekly executive meeting. You’re late.”

  “You got by just fine all those years without me coming to the damn things. I’m sure you can make it through today.”

  “Look, as much as I loathe the idea of seeing you stumbling in here all groggy, half-shaven, and wreaking of alcohol, not to mention the half hour or more we’d have to sit around waiting just for that to happen… You were on a roll, Joshua. No reason to start slacking off now. Besides, we need to talk to you.”

  “And what happens if I don’t come?” I grumbled. “You fire me? Maybe that’s what everyone needs.”

  “If you don’t come into the office, we organize a family dinner and have the same talk this evening. Only this time, Mother would be invited and clued in on everything. So it happens now without her, or tonight—with her. Your choice.”

  I drug my hand down my face. She was right. I could feel the half-shaven stubble on my chin and cheeks. “Are you seriously threatening to tell on me to Mom if I don’t come?”

  “Yes. Yes, I am,” she replied unapologetically.

  I clicked to end the call and slammed the phone back down, swinging my legs over to the edge of the bed. I couldn’t resist looking over my shoulder one last time to the empty side of the bed, half hoping that I had made a mistake at first and that Abby would suddenly be lying there. When she wasn’t, I shook it off and stood to my feet.

  Forty-five minutes later I was walking into the Hearts
tring headquarters to find all of my siblings waiting for me in the boardroom. There was already a heavy uncomfortable silence in the air as I marched straight to the coffee station to pour myself a cup, not even bothering to hide the additional pour from my flask in my suit pocket. I could hear Lucas part his lips to speak, but he kept it in when Camille kicked him under the table.

  “Let’s hear it,” I said after taking a few sips. “What’s so important?”

  “We want you to get Abby back,” Jada announced, her eyes full of hope. Always the romantic.

  “What?” I gaped. “You’ve got to be kidding me. You called me all the way down here to discuss… my love life!?”

  “It’s not just about your love life,” Camille argued. “Come on, Josh. You know it as well as we do. She was good for you. She was the only thing that’s ever managed to inspire you to start turning things around. Some people need a hobby or a passion or just their career to help them put their best feet forward.”

  “Or drugs. Or booze,” I quipped, toasting my mug to them.

  “Or love,” Jada swooned.

  “And when’s the last time you had a boyfriend?” I snapped at her.

  She recoiled, dropping her solemn eyes to the table. I immediately felt bad. Jada was the baby and an eternal optimist in addition to being a hopeless romantic. We all hated giving her a hard time.

  “I’m sorry,” I submitted, taking my seat across from them. “So… what is this? Some sort of intervention?”

  “That’s exactly what this is,” Camille nodded.

  “Look at you,” Lucas said, shaking his head. “I was finally starting to come around and trust in you. I could see what you might be capable of. Now you’re backsliding and letting all of us down.”

  “It’s a feeling we should all be used to,” I grumbled.

  “Whatever it takes,” Camille sighed. “You have to get her back.”

  I sat for a moment, taking in the desperate expressions on their faces. They only wanted the best for me. Deep down I knew that. I also knew as well as they did that Abby was the best. I didn’t deserve her. I didn’t deserve anything I had. The money. The job. The penthouse suite. But maybe, just maybe, if I had tried a little harder with her, I could have pulled it off, and everything else would have fallen into place.

  I started considering what I had in my arsenal. Whatever it takes, like Camille had said. When we first met, I was convinced she was the one. It was just like what every book, movie, and song had ever described the feeling to be. While milking her friends for info about how I could convince her just to date me, I also paid close attention to anything that might help me after that. No matter what Abby thought, it wasn’t just about winning her over. It was about giving her the life she always dreamed of.

  Between her friends and all the things she shared with me during our talks, I had pieced together an entire vision she had for her dream life, a dream she never expected to come true. Just things she would want if she could have anything. The picture it painted only made me love her more, because it wasn’t just a beautiful dream. It was all of the things I always wanted and never knew it. She invented a dream for me. A reason to live, to be a better man.

  I could give her that life, I thought. Maybe it wasn’t too late. And maybe I didn’t even have to be a part of it, if she didn’t want me to be. She deserved to have what she wanted, with or without me. Especially after all the trouble I had caused her.

  And if there was anything I was good at, it was going for broke. Go big or go home. I could pull out all the stops one last time… for her.

  “Okay,” I decided out loud. “I’ll see what I can do. But if she doesn’t take me back…”

  “We know,” Lucas sighed. “We’ll just get the same old Joshua we’ve grown so used to… and sick of.”

  “Who we also love,” Jada offered.

  “No,” I told them. “If she doesn’t take me back… I’ll do better. You’re all right. This has gone on long enough. More than long enough. You gave me a chance, and I fucked it up. But… I don’t want to let you all down the way Dad did. I can be a better man than that.”

  “First things first,” Camille said. “Go get your girl.”

  I tossed out the rest of my spiked coffee in the sink and set out to make all the arrangements in my office. I felt the first rise of determination I had felt since that night when everything first went wrong. I was starting to think I just might stand a chance when several persistent, rather urgent, messages started coming through from the IT team. I tried to ignore them, but they quickly escalated into panicked calls from my secretary followed by a shuffle outside my office.

  My door suddenly burst open, and I was shocked to see Christopher the doctor standing there, pushing his way past my secretary.

  “I’m sorry, Mr. Meadows! I tried to stop him!”

  “It’s okay,” I waved him in, walking over to shut the door behind him. “I’m surprised to see you here.”

  “I know what you did,” he fumed. “After running into Abby at the restaurant, I pieced it all together. A little pressure on your IT team, once I knew the right questions to ask, and they caved. You tricked me!”

  “I did,” I admitted. “And it was shitty, but… You have to know. I did it because…”

  “Because what!?” he snapped. “Because you love her!? I know a thing or two about love, buddy. And I know that’s not it. Cock-blocking me out of her life! That’s crazy!”

  “Is it?” I winced.

  “Yeah. It is. I just came by to tell you that I had my own good thing going. But I was so bothered by the thing with Abby that she got mad and dumped me.”

  “I got dumped too,” I told him. “So if you’re looking for sympathy… you came to the wrong place.”

  “Not sympathy,” he shook his head. “I’m just letting you know that I’m going to try and win Abby back. And if you try to stop me this time, I’ll come back here and punch you in the face. I’m a doctor, so I know all the right bones to strike to do the most damage.”

  I was close to saving us both the trouble and taking a swing at him right then and there, but then I thought about how hurt Abby was when she found out what I did. I didn’t give a damn about Christopher, but I wasn’t going to make the same mistake with her again.

  “I think you should try to win her back,” I told him.

  “What?”

  “It’s her choice. Not mine. Not yours,” I explained. “I’m going to try and win her back too, of course. But… I won’t stop you. May the best man win.”

  “I can assure you if that’s the standard we’re going by, it will be me,” he scoffed, looking me up and down with disgust. I thought he was about to spit at my feet by the way he looked, but instead he just turned and stormed off. The security guards were arriving just as he walked out my door, but he pushed them off. “I’m going, alright? I’m going!”

  I swallowed hard, watching Christopher march all the way to the elevators. Things just got even more challenging. I’m sure he did think he was the better man, and maybe Abby did too. But there was no way he felt the same way about her as I did. Hell, I didn’t have her phone number at first either, and I still stopped at nothing to pursue her.

  But I had to keep my wits about me and stay focused if I stood a chance. I had a plan, and it was a good one. Or maybe just a crazy one. Either way, I was a man in love. And if any part of Abby loved me back, I just might have been able to pull it off.

  I sat back down at my desk and got back to work on the arrangements. If nothing else, I would at least see her one last time. And she would know how I really felt once and for all.

  20

  Abby

  Saturday night—I stopped with my hand on the door to the ballroom. Of course my first day back to work just had to be a catering event at the same ballroom where Joshua and I met. The stupid Heartstring ball. I was in no mood to be back in that room or surrounded by gorgeous women in their jewels and gowns with handsome men on their arms. But w
hat choice did I have? Life had to go on at some point.

  I sucked in a deep breath, turned and pulled. Somehow, the grand entryway seemed to have lost the glimmer I had seen before. I marched through to the kitchen and started putting on my apron. The whole kitchen cheered for me when I entered, announcing that they were happy to have me back.

  Everyone except Cassie, of course.

  I ignored her icy stares and went over to Val for a hug, who knew just how hard it was for me to show my face again with everything that I was feeling.

  “It’s not the same without you,” she smiled. “Good to have you back.”

  “Don’t get too used to it,” I told her. “One day I will finish school and walk out of this gig for good.”

  “And when our boss gets sued for padding the bill, we’ll see you again in court,” she winked.

  The busy flow of the evening kicked off right away. I didn’t have much time to be sentimental or sad. An hour into my shift, my feet were already pounding, out of shape after my few days off. There were trays to be delivered and dishes to bus. Orders to be put in, bottles to be uncorked. I didn’t have a moment to use the bathroom, much less get lost in my own thoughts. It was a welcome release.

  I was in the middle of another round through the room with a tray of shrimp cocktail when I noticed a strange look on Valerie’s face. I didn’t think any of it at first until she nudged me and nodded toward the door.

  I turned slowly and almost dropped the whole tray when I saw Christopher marching in… straight for me.

  “A guest of the party, you think?” I mumbled to Val.

  “A soiree for the city’s classic car convention? I’m guessing not.”