Chapter 24
“You were right.” Lucy sank onto the couch and reached for the popcorn. “My Friday night plans went from dinner out to snacks on the couch while watching—” she glanced at the television—“Deadpool for the tenth time.”
“Jared cancelled?” Emma asked.
Lucy nodded.
Her friend held out her glass of white wine. “Take this.”
“He called and said the product launch set for next Wednesday is imploding. They might have to delay, but that would mean changing the plans for the company’s IPO.” Lucy drained the rest of the wine. “He sounded stressed.”
“This is the third week in a row he’s cancelled,” Nicole pointed out from her armchair. She still wore her fairy costume from a summer camp event that afternoon, minus the wings. Her legs hung over one arm, and her head rested against the other.
“I know.” Lucy sank onto the couch and cradled the empty glass to her chest. “I haven’t seen him in person since we had sex on the stairs and he told me he loved me.”
“I’ll get another bottle of wine.” Emma rose from the other end of the couch and headed for the hallway. “And pizza.”
“I’m cutting back on carbs,” Nicole called after her. “Or pretty soon my hips will explode out of my gowns.”
Emma’s face appeared around the entryway. “Fine. You can have salad. But you need something. If we don’t eat, we’ll be a hung over mess at tomorrow’s party. And you know Delaney can spot a hangover a mile away.”
“Like Delaney Mayor isn’t overindulging as we speak,” Nicole grumbled. Then she turned to look at Lucy. “You had sex on our stairs? Weeks ago and you’re just now telling us.”
“I thought the ‘I fucking love you’ comment was more important than the location,” Lucy said.
“I don’t know about that,” Nicole murmured with a glance at the archway that led to the hallway stairs.
Lucy pointed to the television. “You’re missing Ryan Reynolds’ nude scenes.”
Nicole turned back to the screen. Then Emma marched into the room armed with a bottle of wine, two additional glasses, and a pitcher of water.
“Pizza is on its way,” Emma announced. She reclaimed her spot on the couch and began pouring the wine. “Now, tell me why I’m right.”
“When he first started leaving juice, you told me Jared Mitchell was out of my league.” Lucy accepted a full wine glass.
“That was before he went to the trouble of creating a dating profile,” Emma said. “I don’t think Jared flew here, declared his love, and then hopped into bed with a model in New York. Do you?”
“No, I don’t believe he’s cheating on me,” she said slowly. “But what happens when he realizes he can’t fix this situation? I want to make space in my life for a relationship in Florida. But he needs to travel all over the place for work. I’m afraid,” she drew a deep breath, exhaled, and then took a fortifying sip of wine. “I’m afraid that the logical part of his brain will kick in, and he’ll give up.”
“You don’t have much faith in your billionaire,” Nicole said.
“I don’t want to be left behind again,” Lucy murmured.
“Have you considered moving to New York?” Emma asked.
“What?” Nicole swung her legs down and turned her back to Ryan Reynolds. “You can’t move. We need a Cinderella.”
Emma shot the wingless fairy a sharp look. “I wasn’t asking as her business partner, but as her matchmaker.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Lucy said firmly. “I can’t uproot my life for him. I can’t make that leap. Not even for someone I’ve known my entire life. For a man I love . . . ” She shook her head. The wine in her glass sloshed over the edge. “We haven’t had a real date yet.”
“He took you horse back riding,” Emma pointed out.
“We haven’t had a date that didn’t end in disaster,” Lucy said.
“Dating is messy.” Nicole turned back to the movie. “There’s no way around that. If you’re ditching him because you haven’t shared the perfect meal—”
“I don’t need a perfect meal,” Lucy exclaimed. “But a meal would be nice. It’s been one work crisis after another since I learned he was Philip Ryder. And at the end of the day, the Mitchell Fund is just a job.”
“Not for Jared,” Emma said softly. “It’s not just work for him. He built that company from nothing. It’s his world. His identity is bound to his company. He can’t let it fail. Sure, he could probably afford a few missteps at this point—”
“But not after losing the sugar deal.” Lucy let the reality sink in. He might be the billionaire bachelor now, but back when he was her brother’s “hot” friend, Jared had spent most of his time at her house because his home life was a mess. “You’re right, Em. My life is not a fairy tale. I can’t keep expecting the pieces to fall into place. Sometimes they don’t. I should break up with Jared before I ruin our friendship.”
Or before I fall deeply, madly in love with a man who might slip out of my life, she thought.
“Remind me never to hire you as my matchmaker.” Nicole cast a dark look over her shoulder at Emma. Then she returned her attention to the movie.
The doorbell echoed in the hallway. Emma rose to claim their pizza. But Lucy wasn’t hungry.
“I think I’ll head to bed.” Lucy stood and set her glass on the coffee table. “Tell Emma I’ll have a slice in the morning before the first party.”
“My plane lands at nine-thirty tomorrow morning. I wasn’t planning to travel with it to pick up your brother, but I want to see you.” Jared glanced at the clock on his desk. “If I take the flight, I’ll be in Florida in a few hours. We could meet for coffee.”
“I have a party at noon. We need to be there to set up at eleven thirty,” Lucy said through a yawn.
I was a damn fool to call in the middle of the night, he thought.
But he’d spent the day locked away from the software designers at Tico. For the past three weeks, he’d pushed the Tico team to look beyond failure and fix the software’s bugs in time for the launch. When he wasn’t working with the software group, he’d been prepping the marketing team for a new product that included a few snafus. But no one liked his plan to put the software out and then fix the issues. The Tico CEO, whom Jared had personally hired, had threatened to resign if Jared pushed ahead.
But how could he back out now? He saw Tico’s future if they canceled the software designed to rival some of the greats in the marketplace. The business would lose value. And he could forget about taking it public. This company was his first big success. He refused to accept failure now.
“I can have a car pick you up and take you to the airport,” he suggested.
“Jared.” Lucy sounded more awake but also annoyed. “I’m not meeting you for sex on your plane. That’s absurd.”
“I’m picking up your brother,” he said. “Which eliminates the sex on the plane, or in the limo option, unless we want a repeat of the office mess.”
“No,” she said firmly.
“Lucy, please. Meet me for coffee,” he said. “Then I’ll have my driver take you to your party. And I’ll fly back to New York. We need to be wheels up again by eleven. That should leave you time to change.”
“Fine. I’ll come,” she said. “I need to talk to you.”
He felt a rush of hope. He’d raced from one work-related problem to the next for the past few weeks. He wanted to hold Lucy in his arms and feel the world slow down. Flying to Florida for coffee didn’t make sense, but he could work on the flight down and strategize with Finn on the way back to New York.
“Sweet dreams, princess,” he said. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”