Abby had some serious pep in her step and it hadn’t let up all morning as she went about her daily duties at Tate & Cane, scheduling and organizing and assisting Olivia, who was polished and poised as ever.
Abby had woken like a lark, springing out of bed twenty minutes before her alarm was meant to sound, Zach Canning and the wonderful, up-until-dawn conversation they’d shared at the forefront of her mind. As she’d showered, she’d replayed their moments of laughter. As she’d buttered her toasted bagel before popping it in her mouth, juggling her purse and keys and metro card to get out of the door on time, she’d smiled to herself, remembering how guarded Zach had seemed at first when she’d asked him about life in LA before he’d made it big, and how he’d gradually opened up, becoming serious and telling her tales of canned beans and rice and hopelessness, of sleeping in his car when he’d gotten evicted, of his family, who knew he was struggling but hadn’t cared enough to pick up the phone, not until he was famous without a financial care in the world, then all of a sudden they’d loved him.
It had been gut-wrenching and heartwarming to hear, and it had also greatly endeared her to him. She felt for him. Abby’s family was tightknit. Every Sunday, without fail, they gathered at her Ma and Pop’s house on Ocean Parkway for dinner. She couldn’t imagine what it must have been like for Zach to be abandoned and forgotten just because he had it in him to follow his dreams. Abby’s parents had only been supportive of her, concerned at times, stern at others, but supportive nonetheless.
With Zach bouncing around the forefront of her mind to the back of her mind and sometimes lingering in the side of her mind, taking up some serious real estate—the best part about their hours-long, private conversation last night was that as they’d talked, he’d held her, first playing with their laced fingers then locks of her auburn hair, but never turning their comfortable position into foreplay or suggesting she show him her bedroom, he’d been so respectful!—Abby couldn’t wait to see him again after work. It seemed that from the second she sprang awake this morning, she’d been dying for the workday to be over already so she could be with him. The lingering goodbye kiss they’d shared as the rising sun had brightened the living room, Zach’s limo waiting for him on the street below, had felt like a promise. A promise that no matter what, no matter how pushy Darlene got or how swarmed by photographers they became, they were both committed to making this work.
It was the most incredible feeling.
Abby felt like her prince charming had arrived.
Her knight in shining armor.
The glass slipper fit.
And her very own Cinderella story was slowly but surely transforming her life.
She didn’t mind strangers and co-workers alike coming up to her to ask about her and Zach like she had the other morning. She didn’t mind seeing her face plastered all over tabloids and magazines, even the ones in the anteroom coffee tables of Tate & Cane where their clients waited at Reception. What a difference a day made. One night with Zach and everything about her world was suddenly bright.
And he hadn’t even touched her.
Abby couldn’t imagine what kind of cloud-nine slice of heaven stratosphere she would be floating off into if she actually went all the way with Zach, lost her virginity, bonded with him in the most physical, and for Abby, spiritual way.
What was she talking about, ‘if’?
When!
There was no question, she thought, smiling to herself as she padded into Olivia’s office with the stack of files she’d requested over G-Chat moments ago. Abby was going to lose her virginity to a man she was pretty sure she’d fallen in love with at least a little bit last night. She was beaming at the thought, which must have been contagious because within a matter of seconds, Olivia was smiling at her as well from where she sat behind her sleek, glass desk.
“Care to share with the rest of the class?” asked Noah, her husband, who was angled over Olivia and trying to read something on her computer. His mouth was tugging into a curious grin as he looked from his wife to Abby and back again as if trying to figure them out.
“Just happy to be here,” said Abby, and Olivia immediately backed her up.
“This is how all Tate & Cane employees look,” she mentioned playfully as she took the stack of files Abby had brought in. “At least when they work directly for me.”
“Ah,” said Noah probably knowing any inside joke among ladies would not so easily be spilled.
He gave Olivia a kiss on her temple before wishing Abby a good day and starting off through the office. They were the best married couple. Well, besides Ma and Pop, but the great thing about Olivia and Noah was that they worked together. They worked well together. There was something incredibly sexy about that. It was rare and amazing and when Abby tied the knot with Zach in—gulp!—a matter of days, she wanted to feel like he wasn’t just her spouse, but her true partner, someone she could do anything with, just like Olivia and Noah.
She would have that, she told herself. Absolutely.
“I’m glad to see things in your personal life are going well,” Olivia said knowingly as she indicated the smile that hadn’t waned from Abby’s face.
Caught off guard, Abby was momentarily flummoxed.
“I’ve seen Hashtag Blessed,” Olivia mentioned as if this were the most casual conversation in the world. “I’ve also seen the news stand on the corner of 5th and Canal.”
“Right,” she responded a bit bewilderedly. Olivia wasn’t a mind reader or some kind of psychic. She was human. It was easy to forget that considering her power and beauty. “I won’t let it affect my work, I can assure you.”
“I’m not concerned with that,” she said easily before adding, “mind shutting the door?”
“On my way out?” Abby guessed as she retreated.
“So we can speak privately,” she clarified.
“Oh,” she breathed, closing the door as she’d been asked and returning to awkwardly sit in the posh chair across from her boss, who was embarking on what Abby could only assume would be a personal conversation.
“I had an arranged marriage,” she began. “Not sure if you were aware of that.”
Abby felt her whole body go rigid. Her eyebrows shot up her forehead.
How did she know?
Or was Abby being paranoid? Maybe Olivia divulged this tidbit to all her assistants?
“I didn’t know that,” she said honestly.
“It’s true. Strange but true. It was a corporate strategy on the parts of both my father and Noah’s father, and if we didn’t want to keep this company alive, we could’ve easily declined. But here we are,” she said, gesturing to the room at large, a beautiful smile spreading across her face. “I signed the contract before I was sure about Noah. It was probably the biggest leap of faith I ever took.”
Abby felt like Olivia was telling her Abby’s story. That’s exactly what it had felt like signing the Christian Network contract—a leap of faith. She was so tempted, even more so than the other day, to break confidentiality, completely disregard the countless non-disclosure agreements she’d signed not to mention breach the actual contract that had sealed her fate, and feel for one second like she could share this secret.
But she couldn’t.
So, she cautiously asked, “Is there something you know that I don’t know?”
“I think we both know the same thing, Abby.”
Hmm, she tried again. “Do I not know that you know something you probably shouldn’t know?”
Olivia let out a little chuckle. “You don’t need to speak in riddles. Nothing that’s said here is going to leave these four walls. And hey,” she added, gauging Abby’s extreme discomfort, “you don’t have to say a thing, but yes, I know.”
“How?”
“One day you’re a nose-to-grindstone, zero social life, mild-mannered, cross-wearing Catholic girl and the next you’re featured on the cover of every major celebrity news magazine next to one of the biggest television stars since Taylor Lautner? Honey, this is a marketing firm. I know strategic PR when I see it.”
Abby didn’t know whether to laugh or cry she was so relieved not to have to carry the weight of this secret any longer. Then it occurred to her…
“Do you think everyone knows? Is it that obvious?”
Would her parents know? Her brother?
Zach was going to meet them tonight. What if…?
She cringed at how mortifying it would be to have to face her parents if they knew, not to mention that her older brother, Ian would probably consider the entire matter a problem he and his firefighting buddies could solve with their fists… Oh, God!
“No, I don’t think it’s so obvious that everyone knows,” Olivia assured her. “Look at Rachel out there. If she thought this whole thing was a sham, she’d be spreading that gossip around the water cooler.”
Abby had to smile. She’d always thought Olivia was way too far above it to even know the names of the lower rung employees on this floor. Olivia’s down-to-earth nature never ceased to amaze her.
“I’m bringing this up,” she went on, “because I care about you. I see a lot of myself in you and I don’t want you to lose sight of your goals and your individuality, and get swallowed up in the thrill of being in the limelight.” She let that hang for a beat so that Abby could register the full weight of Olivia’s concern. “Never forget, Abby, contracts are not the word of God. They can be broken. They can be breached. They can be violated. There are no guarantees in this world.”
“But…” she trailed off, still processing the sobering warning Olivia had issued. “Did your contract with Noah get broken or breached or violated?”
Olivia sat back in her chair. Her head cocked to one side. Assessing Abby and her point. Perhaps analyzing the ramifications of responding with the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
Finally, she admitted, “My situation wasn’t quite like yours. My contract only rooted me deeper into the company I was already completely committed to.”
Once again, Abby felt dismally alone, but her boss’s point wasn’t lost on her.
If Abby fell in love, if she let her emotions carry her away, if she forgot that what she had with Zach was an arrangement first and foremost above all else, she would be opening herself up to ruin.
But how could she stop her heart when her feelings for Zach were starting to feel more like a bodily function than a choice, like breathing?
“I’ve got a lunch set up for you,” Olivia told her with an air of excitement in her voice. “The Head of Social Media, downstairs, is eager to meet you. One of his associates will be moving out of state next month. From where I’m standing, it looks like a very promising fit.”
“Thank you,” she said, sounding a bit hollow. She had a lot to think about.
Olivia offered her a warm smile to conclude their talk.
“And thanks so much,” said Abby as she rose from her chair. “I really appreciate your advice.”
Olivia’s smile turned gravely empathetic and, perhaps reading the expression on Abby’s stoic face, she observed, “You’re in deep, aren’t you?”
“That’s the thing,” she said. “I wanted to be. I didn’t think twice. I feel like I’ve been waiting for Zach my whole life and now that he’s finally here…” She shrugged, “I’m all in, as deep as the waters will go.”
Abby kept her head down for the rest of the morning. Her focus and concentration came and went, but she knew, to the outside observer, she looked like her usual hopping-to-it self. Every time Olivia passed by her desk, Abby met her eye with an appreciative smile on her face, though it felt heavier than she would’ve liked. Her meeting with the Head of Social Marketing came and went. She was poised, polished, and professional in both her demeanor and responses, but on the inside she knew she was on some kind of interviewing autopilot, the prospect that things could fall through with Zach weighing firmly on her mind. When she returned to the office, the invitation to meet the rest of the Social Media team later this week having been graciously extended to her, she didn’t have an ounce of pep in her step but rather slogged through the rest of her day.
She didn’t know what to think. She didn’t know what to make of Olivia’s sage advice. Olivia was right. That was the problem, what made this so confusing and difficult. Her words of warning were absolutely warranted. And yet, all that had transpired between her and Zach last night had been real. Abby wasn’t wrong to trust that every word out of his mouth—every moment they’d shared and feeling they’d exchanged—had been genuine.
She felt like a war was brewing inside of her, and embarrassment nagged at her that people like Olivia would be able to clearly see that her relationship with Zach was for show.
By the time the clock on her desktop computer rolled around to 6:30pm Abby was completely tangled up in conflicting emotions that seemed to twist both her stomach and her heart.
But when she got down to the street where Zach’s luxurious, black limousine was idling in wait for her, and when she saw that rear window of his roll down, and his handsome face came into view, that sexy sideways grin of his sending her heart into a fluttering fit of happiness, Abby knew she was a goner.
Sage words of wisdom or not, whether it was sound advice, whether it was just the warning to save her life, nothing could keep her from loving this man.
That was the real danger, wasn’t it?
One which anyone could fall prey.
Falling in love—even more so than any legally binding document—was the greatest risk of all.
And fortunately or not, Zach Canning was totally worth the risk.
She felt her whole face lift into a beaming smile, locking eyes with him, as she breathed, “Hi.”