JULY
Chapter 20
Amy pushed open the glass door, plunged into the sunshine, and took a deep breath for the first time in hours.
“I think that went well.” Julia caught up as Amy made her way across the parking lot toward her modest vehicle.
Amy stopped in front of the driver’s side door and looked back at the nearly all glass building that stood in front of the large complex housing the adventure center and sighed. She wanted it.
Since she was a child, Amy had wanted to be involved in extreme sports. She wasn’t competitive with other people, but she held something else inside her that made personal challenge appealing. She could imagine pushing herself to her own limits. Like she did at the gym, she enjoyed challenging herself to do something hard and improbable. But she’d never been allowed to. Now that urge was merging with her desire to find the perfect way to make a living. This was it.
The dream was so much closer now. She and Julia had just met with the owners, a husband and wife looking to retire and move to Oregon to be closer to their grandkids. They were willing to wait until Amy could get all her finances in order to sell the business to her. They’d promised not to sell it to anyone else. And Julia, who she’d brought along for advice and support, agreed that they were genuine about this.
There was only one thing missing.
“So.” Julia leaned her hip against the back of the car and turned to face Amy. “When are you going to tell your business partner?”
Amy had referred to her business partner when talking with the Howards, and in her mind that partner was Carlos. But the problem was, she hadn’t yet told him about any of this. The night she had first intended to bring it up, Carlos had gotten sick. Then Amy had convinced herself her offer would be rejected so there was no reason to bring it up again later. Then the realtor had called two days ago and Amy had lost her nerve, feeling like he would be angry with her for not mentioning it when she first sent the offer. Which was pretty legit, she thought. So now she was stuck in this awkward position.
Amy ran her hand through her hair. “I will talk to him tonight. I guess.”
“Don’t guess, Amy. You just promised those people you were going to make this happen. You and I both know you are ten thousand dollars short. And we also know that buying a business and not telling the person you are living with is straight crazy. You could easily fix both your problems by telling Carlos. I can’t believe you waited this long and got this far.”
Amy knew Julia meant well. She wasn’t trying to be hard on her friend, she was trying to infuse some reality into this situation.
“I know. It’s just that something always came up.”
“There’s more to it than that,” Julia pressed. “There has to be.”
Amy sighed. “This whole ‘partnership’ thing is new to me. I’m used to doing things on my own, despite my hovering family. In fact, because of my hovering family I got into the habit of doing my own thing quietly and without permission. I remember my mom and Uncle Clint insisted that any gym class I had in school required them having a major meeting with the gym teacher and providing me with my own place to change. So when I joined the soccer team, I did it on the sly.”
“Okay. I get all that. But now is the time to get out of that habit, honey.”
“Tonight. I swear. I’m gonna make dinner and tell him.”
“Okay.” Julia kissed her friend’s cheek. “You’d better get going then so you have time.”
Julia had taken the afternoon off to join Amy at the adventure center, while Amy had taken the entire day off because she had a dentist appointment that morning. It gave her the perfect excuse to not go into work with Carlos, who hadn’t suspected she was hiding a massive secret from him.
She knew it was time to come clean. She wanted Carlos to be her partner in business and in life. Now, no matter how difficult it might be, she needed to step up and make that happen.
****
Carlos stared at his ex-wife. She’d called the meeting, but instead of insisting he come to her office, as she usually did, she’d come to his. She’d also insisted they shut the door and talk in private. And now, as she sat across from him, a devilish smirk on her face, he knew why.
“You’re leaving E.E.R.?” he asked.
She nodded. “Highland and Sparks is picking me up at the beginning of the new year. In the meantime, I have nothing to lose.”
“So you’re blackmailing me?”
“Oh Carlos,” she cooed. “That sounds so seedy.”
“Isn’t it?” He was just barely keeping a lid on his anger in the face of her evil plan.
She leaned forward. Her silk blouse flopped open, but Carlos wasn’t even inclined to look at what she was showing him. “I want you and Amy over. I know you care about her career and I’m willing to sabotage it to get what I want.”
He leaned back, as if he could somehow escape her slime by getting further away. “You’re insane.”
“I’ve done a lot of legwork, Carlos. I planted the seeds with Everett.”
Carlos remembered Everett’s skepticism over Amy coupled with the wheat poisoning in his pudding. Everett knew about it, though he didn’t know the details, and he knew Amy had made the pudding in question. Carlos also knew how protective his friend was of him. He knew he’d have a lot of work to do if he was to undo the damage Kim had caused.
He crossed his arms, deciding to find out exactly how bad this all really was. “Okay. Tell me. What have you done?”
“Tammy is retiring. She’s planning to recommend Amy be the one to take over her position. From HR assistant to VP of compliance, it’s quite a jump. But Tammy says she’s qualified, motivated, and likes compliance. The thing is, Everett will get the VPs together in a room and ask our opinion about the candidates. And he’ll use my negative review of Amy, not to mention Rebecca’s.” She raised one brow nearly to her hairline as she mentioned the VP of sales. Carlos didn’t know what the story was there, but obviously, Kim had tainted that well, too. “And he’ll use that as an excuse to not promote her.”
“And why would he do that?”
“Because me, and a few other people, have been planting the idea in his head that she’s using you to further her career.” She laughed. “And I got some unexpected help, too. Apparently one of the birthday girls—or whatever the hell they are—let it slip to him that Amy’s biggest goal in life is to further her career. God, it played right into my hands. No amount of double-talking on your part is going to turn him around. He’s convinced he has to protect his sweet little friend from a predatory female.”
There was a predatory female involved all right, but it sure as shit wasn’t Amy. Carlos counted to ten before speaking. His face remained painfully still, his jaw so tight it ached. “And?”
“And so, she won’t get the job, then she’ll come back to my department by default and…” she made a swiping motion across her throat.
Carlos felt the cuts forming as he dug his fingernails into his palm. “What do you want?”
Kim stood and walked around the chair she’d been sitting in. She leaned over the back of it, her hands planted on the leather. “Dump her Carlos, and I’ll call off all the dogs. I’ll make sure she gets that job.”
She flashed him an evil grin before turning on her heel and heading out the door.
****
Amy heard the click of the door as Carlos made his way into the apartment. She turned from the stove where she was cooking gluten-free spaghetti, expecting a kiss. Instead, Carlos moved to the other side of the kitchen island. Looking grave, he plunked his briefcase on the counter and stood there, hands resting on the granite, a deep scowl on his face.
“What’s up?” Amy turned off the stove and walked slowly to the island to stand opposite him.
“We need to talk about your career.”
“Yes. We do. Actually, I made some dinner and I thought we’d sit down and—”
“Did you hear that Tammy is retiring?”
“Yes. Julia told me about it.”
Before she could explain why she’d seen Julia that afternoon, he barreled on. “You need to submit your resume by the end of the month. And I don’t want you to worry about getting the VP job. I’m sure you will.”
“Um…okay.” Amy couldn’t figure out why on earth he looked like he was attending a funeral instead of telling her about a job opportunity.
“But we have to break up.”
Amy’s knees slammed straight to keep her upright. “What?”
“At least for now.”
Head spinning, she reached out to steady herself on the counter. “I think I’m hallucinating. What are you saying?”
Carlos ran his hand through his hair and shifted his gaze all over before finally landing on her jaw. “Kimberly has fixed things. She’s done a real good job of it, too. I can’t find a single flaw in her evil plot. And if we want you to get that job, we have to do what she wants…which, of course, is to break-up. But she’ll be gone by next year and…”
Carlos continued to babble on about something, but Amy wasn’t listening. She was processing what he was telling her. It didn’t appear to be a joke. Instead, it seemed to be some sort of sick reality. When she’d finally wrapped her head around the absolutely bizarre notion that Kimberly had somehow blackmailed Carlos into breaking it off with her, she then turned to a more emotionally devastating problem.
Carlos was letting it happen.
“So, you want me to have this job so badly you are willing to give in to her demands?” Her voice sounded surprisingly smooth over the blood pounding in her ears.
“Honey, I don’t see any other way. I love you and I want you to have the career you’ve been waiting for. This is it. This is your chance. I can’t take that away from you because I was once married to a psycho.”
There was something important in that statement, and Amy could recognize that, but she wasn’t capable of dealing with it just then. So she marched across the condo to the bedroom. By the time Carlos entered the room, she’d already pulled a duffle bag out of the closet and was stuffing it full of clothes.
“What are you doing?” he asked, his voice frantic.
She ignored him, randomly grabbing blouses, pants, and skirts out of the closet. He tried to recapture her attention again as she wrenched open the top drawer of the dresser and shoved panties, bras, and socks on top of the rest of the clothes in her bag.
“Amy, talk to me.”
“If we’re breaking up I have to leave, right?” She ducked into the bathroom to grab her toiletries.
“I hadn’t really thought that through,” he admitted.
“Of course not!” she shouted, stopping her frantic packing long enough to jam her finger into his chest. “You didn’t give any thought to what I want at all, did you?”
Carlos followed at Amy’s heels as she threw the duffle’s strap over her shoulder and headed toward the front door. “Of course I did. That’s what this is all about. I want you to have everything!”
When she reached the door, Amy whirled around, her duffle bag swinging into Carlos and nearly knocking his solid frame off his feet. “I can’t talk to you about this right now. I’m leaving. You can do whatever fucking thing makes you think dumping me is for my own good!”
Knowing she hadn’t made a lick of sense and not caring, Amy yanked open the door and walked right out.