"I'd be happy to."
I put her bag over my shoulder and take her hand, keeping hold of it as we go down the stairs.
Tom sees us and smiles when he notices our hands are linked. "Heading to dinner?"
"I'm afraid not." Sophie hands him the key. "I need to head back to New York."
He frowns. "Oh, that's a shame. Anything I should know?"
"An issue with work came up. A last minute emergency."
"I'll be checking out too," I say.
Sophie looks at me. "You don't have to leave."
"There's no reason to stick around. If you give me a minute, I'll get my stuff and follow you back to New York."
As she finishes checking out, I hurry to my room, quickly pack my stuff, and meet her in the parking lot.
"That's what you rented?" I ask, laughing as she stands next to a red minivan.
"It's all they had."
I peer in the back window. "You got your five kids in there?"
"Real funny. You want to drive it? I'll take yours."
"And deprive you of the minivan? No way." I give her a kiss. "You go first. I'll follow behind." I notice the room key in my hand. "Wait, I need to return this."
I go back inside and see Tom heading to the dining room.
"Tom!"
He turns to me. "Back already?"
"I forgot to return my key." I walk over and hand it to him. "I won't need the room next weekend. I forgot Sophie had to work."
"Already marked it down as soon as she told me." He lowers his voice. "So how's everything going with you two?"
"Better than I could've imagined. Sophie's everything I could ever want in a woman."
He smiles. "I knew you two were a match the moment I saw you with her."
Glancing behind Tom, I see Lois going into the dining room. She's not wearing her chef's coat.
"Lois isn't cooking tonight?" I ask Tom.
He follows my gaze to his wife. "She's not feeling well. She took the night off. I called in one of the local chefs to help out."
"What's going on?" I ask, concern in my voice. "Is it progressing faster than they thought?"
He looks back at me, his usual carefree smile replaced by a worried frown. "We don't know. She goes in for more tests next week."
"Tom, I'm sorry. I can't imagine how difficult this must be for you."
"We've been through it before. I just didn't expect we'd be doing it again."
"Maybe you should hire that chef to come in full-time. Let Lois rest."
"That would just make her feel worse. Cooking is what she loves. I can't take that away from her. We have several chefs on call who've agreed to help out when she needs it. For now, that's the best we can do."
"If there's anything you need, please let me know."
He pats my shoulder. "You figure out this deal with the inn. If I can get a good enough price, it'll be a sign it's time to sell."
"I'm working on it."
He smiles. "Get out there and take care of your lady. You got yourself a good one. You're a lucky man."
"You too. Tell Lois goodbye for me. See you soon, Tom."
When I get back to the parking lot I see Sophie's van pulled up behind my car.
She rolls down her window. "Ready to go?"
"Not yet." I go over and give her a kiss. "Now I'm ready."
I follow her back to New York until we're in the city and break off in different directions. Owning a car in New York is more than I can afford so I'm lucky the company pays for mine, along with the reserved parking spot. If I ever lose this job, I'll be back to taking public transportation or walking everywhere.
When I go in my apartment I'm surrounded by the smell of Celine's perfume. I've been opening the windows every night trying to get rid of it but it's still lingering in the air.
"Hello, Aiden."
That explains it. Celine is here, reeking of her expensive perfume.
"You need to go." I toss my duffle bag on the leather couch. "I told you not to come over without telling me."
"I don't need your permission to come over."
"Yeah. You do. You don't live here. You never did." I walk past her to the kitchen. "You need to leave."
She comes over to me, smiling like she's enjoying making me angry. "Why are you being such a grouch?"
I let out a long sigh, rubbing my hands up and down my face. "I'm tired. It's late. I've had a long day and I want to go to bed."
"How was Vermont?"
I pause, wondering why she asked, and why she used that tone that I swear sounded accusatory, like she knows I was with Sophie. But there's no way she'd know that. Nobody saw us together, at least nobody we know.
"It was good." I open the fridge. "We're getting closer to a deal."
She comes up beside me. "Why didn't you come back sooner? Wasn't your meeting in the morning?"
I shut the fridge and turn to her. "I didn't know you were in charge of my schedule. Did your father approve that?"
She glares at me. "Stop being so rude! I simply asked a question."
"The answer to which is none of your business. We're not a couple anymore." I fold my arms across my chest. "What are you doing here? It's after ten."
"If you don't have to answer my questions, I'm not answering yours." She walks off, going to the chair to get her coat.
"You're in my apartment." I follow her to the door. "I have a right to ask why you're here."
She puts her coat on, pulling her long blond hair from the neckline before fastening the buttons. "I thought I left my earrings here but I couldn't find them. Are you happy now? You got your answer."
"You came all the way over here at this time of night to look for a pair of earrings?" I ask, knowing she's lying.
She stares back at me, looking like she's trying to come up with a better excuse. "I think we need to talk about this."
"About what? You coming over here? There's nothing to talk about it. You need to stop doing it. I gave you more than enough time to get your things. Now you're just—"
"Aiden, stop." She puts her hand on my arm. "I meant that we need to talk about us." She looks down, then back up at me. "That's why I came over here. I've been waiting for you to get home. We need to talk. We need to figure out how to fix this."
"There's nothing to fix. We just aren't right for each other."
She stands up straighter and sighs dramatically. "Tell me who she is."
"What?"
She points her finger at me. "Don't lie to me, Aiden! I know there's someone else. You wouldn't leave me if there wasn't. You were with her today, weren't you?"
"As you already pointed out, I had a meeting today. With a man." I walk to the door and open it. "It's over, Celine. You need to leave."
My phone dings from my pocket.
Celine smirks. "Is that her? Texting you to say goodnight?"
"Go. Now."
She meets me at the door. "I know you spent the day with her. And probably last night. Father said you drove to Vermont last night but that was all a lie, wasn't it? You were at her apartment. Spending the night with her just days after being with me. You're sick, you know that?"
"Goodbye, Celine." I lock eyes with her until she finally turns away and leaves.
I shut the door and check my phone. The text is from Sophie. Already miss you.
Miss you too,Theo, I text back. That's your new name in my phone.
I like it! I changed yours to Jason.
Bummer. I was starting to get attached to Bart. But Jason's good too.
Goodnight Jason.
Goodnight Theo.
I really miss her. I wish we could be together tonight, and we would be if it weren't for Celine. I thought for sure she'd figure out I was with Sophie when she asked why I stuck around after the meeting. But she didn't even bring up Sophie's name. She's convinced it's someone else.
She's way off base, which is good. I don't want her even thinking it might be Sophie. She'd get her fired for sure, and then
try to get me fired too.
Sophie and I just need to get through this week. Once the client dinner is over we won't have to worry about Celine.
Monday morning I get called into Roger's office as soon as I get to work. I have no idea what this is about but it has me concerned because he's never summoned me to his office like this. He keeps a very rigid schedule and his meetings are set up days or weeks in advance.
"Good morning, Roger." I walk in his office, head held high, shoulders back, exuding confidence even though I'm currently lacking it.
"Aiden, sit down," he orders from behind his desk.
I sit on the black leather office chair, looking out at the city skyline just behind him. It's a bright and sunny fall morning so I decided to walk to work. As I made my way down the crowded streets, surrounded by buildings on all sides, I kept imagining being back in Vermont with the tall trees and fresh air, the mountains...and Sophie.
I didn't get to talk to her much yesterday. She spent all day at the office. Celine met with her in the morning and gave her a list a mile long of unnecessary tasks that had Sophie working until eight last night. By the time she got home, she was exhausted. When I called her, she sounded off, almost distant. It wasn't the Sophie I was used to, but I'm sure it's because she was tired and needed to sleep.
Roger lets out a sigh, waking me from my thoughts. "I received some news last night at the family dinner."
I wait in silence, realizing what this is about. Celine told him about our breakup. She should've told him last week but she waited, probably thinking we'd get back together.
"We missed having you there," he says. "When Evelyn asked where you were, Celine broke down in tears. Evelyn was, of course, distraught as well when she heard the news."
Evelyn is Celine's mother. She's just as controlling as her daughter, expecting everyone to do as she says, and when they don't, she turns against them. That's where Celine learned it.
"It just wasn't working between us," I say. "I'm sorry Celine is hurting but I didn't want to keep something going that wasn't going to last."
He stares at me, not saying anything. I wish I knew what was going on here. He doesn't seem angry, although I could be reading him wrong. I can't really tell what he's thinking. I don't think he'd fire me for breaking up with his daughter, but maybe he would. I'd be shocked if he did. I've got four big deals in the works, along with the inn, a much smaller deal but still an important one. If it goes through, it'll be our first property outside of the state.
Roger taps his pen on the table several times before setting it down. "Aiden, I'm very aware of the needs we have as men. The desire for something new. Something different."
What is he saying? Is he accusing me of cheating?
"Roger, I don't think you understand. I didn't have someone on the side."
He smirks. "There's no need to lie to me, Aiden. This is just between us men." He leans back in his chair. "Is it someone at the office?"
"No, and whatever Celine told you isn't true. I wasn't cheating on her. Frankly, I'm insulted you'd think that I would, and I'm very uncomfortable having this conversation. I'd like to be excused. I have a lot I need to get done."
"We're not finished here." His tone is laced with anger. He doesn't like being told that he's wrong but I'm not going to sit here and admit to something I didn't do. "I'm taking you off the inn deal."
"You're what?" I move to the edge of my chair.
"That Vermont inn deal you've been working on. I'm assigning it to someone else. I'll be assigning you to another property. One here in the city."
"Why would you do that? I'm the one who found the inn. I did all the research. Built a relationship with the owner. I was about to present you the offer I've been working on."
"Send it to me and I'll look it over, but the deal will be going to someone else to finish up."
He can't do this. I can't let it happen. Nobody at this firm cares about a small country inn. They'll see Tom as an old man in a desperate situation that they can take advantage of. They'll convince him the place isn't worth anything and scare him into selling at a low price. They'll put terms in the contract that are unreasonable and unfair and force him to go along with it.
"Roger, this doesn't make sense. Why would you give the inn to someone else? You're always saying we should see a deal through to the end."
"In this case, I've changed my mind. I think it's best if you stay in the city. There are some loose ends that need to be tied up between you and my daughter if you two are indeed ending your relationship."
"What loose ends are you talking about?"
"There are several social engagements coming up. I need you to go with her."
"No. Absolutely not. We're not together anymore. She can go with someone else."
"She doesn't have time to find someone else, and she wants to go with you. It's three events. It's nothing."
"I'm sorry, Roger, but I'm not going to pretend to date Celine. She's a beautiful woman. She could easily find someone else."
"Why are you arguing about this? You go with her to some dinners and then go your separate ways. I don't see what the problem is."
What do I do? If I don't agree to this I might get fired. But agreeing to it will hurt Sophie. Maybe if I talk to her and explain what's going on, she'll understand. It's just three events. And if it means keeping my job, maybe Sophie would be okay with it.
I really don't want to do this. Maybe I should let him fire me.
No. I'm not getting fired over this. And I'm not letting Roger take the inn from me.
"I want the inn," I say. "If I agree to go with Celine, then I want the inn. That's the deal."
My heart pounds as I await his answer, which I'm almost sure will be no.
"Why are you so attached to this inn?"
I've told Roger the story of my grandfather's inn several times and he still doesn't remember. It's not worth telling him again.
"I like to finish what I started."
He takes a moment to consider it. "Okay, fine, you can have the inn. Nobody else here wants it anyway. But don't be taking your girlfriend up there. In fact, I don't want you seeing her until this is over. It'd be a horrible embarrassment to my daughter for you to be seen prancing around town with some other woman when it's assumed you're still with Celine."
"When does it end? These events."
"You'll take her to a charity auction on Sunday at the yacht club, and an art gallery opening next week. Oh, and the client dinner on Saturday."
The client dinner. The one Sophie's planning.
"Why is Celine going to the dinner? She doesn't normally attend those."
"She's friends with the daughter of one of the potential clients who will be attending. You two will be seated across from him and his wife." Roger smiles. "Don't look so glum, Aiden. You got your inn and I get to keep my daughter happy. We both win. Now get back to work."
I didn't win. I'm being forced to take my ex to a dinner my girlfriend will be at, after telling her Celine was finally out of my life.
Chapter Eighteen
Sophie
"I don't understand why she can't take someone else," I say to Aiden. He just informed me he'll be taking Celine to several social engagements that are coming up, including the client dinner I'm working on. I'm trying to remain calm but I'm furious Celine is making him do this.
"It's only three events," Aiden says. "And they'll be over in a couple weeks. Sophie, I know you don't want me going with her but if I don't, I'll lose the deal I've been working on with Tom. Roger will give it to someone else. I can't let that happen."
"Isn't the offer close to being done?"
"Yes, but it's not approved. I'm afraid if someone else takes it, they'll change the terms and the offer price, and trust me, it won't be in Tom's favor."
We're on a video chat and I can see Aiden's eyes, pleading me to be okay with this. I know the deal is important to him and I don't want him to lose his job, but I'm still angry Celi
ne is manipulating him like this, making demands he can't really say no to.
"What if she took one of your friends? Griffen is single, and he's rich. I could see the two of them together. Why can't she take him?"
"She isn't doing this because she needs a date. She's doing it to get back at me for breaking up with her."
"Have you talked to her since you found this out?"
"Yes. She called me last night to tell me what she's wearing to the dinner. She wants us to coordinate."
"So she told you what to wear," I say, annoyed.
"I'm wearing a suit, like I always do. Her call was just an excuse to talk to me."
"What else did she say?"
"That she hasn't told her friends about the breakup. That's her reason for making us pretend to still be dating. She claims she needs another week to break the news to people."
"You know she's lying, right? That's just an excuse to keep this going."
"I realize that, but I wasn't going to waste time arguing with her. It's not worth it. We just need to get through the next couple weeks and then I'm all yours. No more Celine. No more sneaking around. No more video chats. We can go on actual dates, in person."
"So we're not going to keep hiding this?"
"I don't see why we'd need to. Once Celine is out of our lives, we can be together, as in actually go out together."
"But what if Celine keeps doing events with us? She'll try to get me fired if she finds out I'm dating you."
Aiden backs away from the screen, rubbing his jaw. "Yeah, you're right. And the inn deal may take some time to get finalized."
"It's going to be a lot longer than a few weeks before we can be a couple." My shoulders slump in disappointment as I realize it could be months before I can date Aiden, at least here in the city.
"We still have Vermont," he says. "We'll go there every weekend, even after you're done with community service. We both love it there and the inn has kind of become our place. Years from now, we'll go back there and celebrate the day we met, or our first date. We'll hike up the trail, have a romantic dinner at the inn, then stroll down Main Street, hand-in-hand."
My heart melts hearing him say that, as if we'll still be together years from now. We've never talked about a future together. It seems too soon to even consider it, and yet I've imagined it in my mind, and in my dreams.
Falling for Aiden Page 16
