Four
Abby kicked off her high heels and dropped down on her sectional sofa. Next, she propped her feet up on the round leather ottoman in front of her. If she had the energy, she’d change out of her work clothes. She picked dropping her head back against the cushions and closing her eyes instead.
The condo was on the seventh floor of a securebuilding that sat a block off of Logan Circle. The trendy area became trendy during the last decade. Now galleries and restaurants and fitness studios lined the streets. Several parks nearby provided great places to run and bike, but she tried never to do either. She preferred walking the city and turning her muscles to mush in kickboxing classes.
She picked the building because of the location. She was able to get in on the newly refurbished space before the prices skyrocketed and used a work bonus to do it. Now she laughed when she heard what people were willing to pay for studios on lower floors in the building. It was an odd feeling when the place you lived became a place you likely could no longer afford if you were trying to buy right now.
There were four condos per floor and those were serviced by a private elevator. A penthouse stretched the full length of the building on the floor above but there was never any noise up there except when the couple who lived there threw one of their lavish rooftop garden parties. She’d never been invited but she loved sitting out on her tiny balcony and listening to the music and laughter as it spun through the DC night.
The best part of the building was her neighbor—Jackson. His two-bedroom also had a den. She didn’t need the extra space or the bigger price tag, but she loved having him close by. The man appreciated takeout. One of his many fine attributes.
The door opened after a quick knock. She didn’t get up because she didn’t have to. She’d texted Jackson as she walked in the door. She wanted Chinese food and could almost always convince him to share with her.
“You’re drinking wine already?” He laughed as he relaxed into the corner seat of her sectional.
She opened her eyes and looked at him. He’d stripped off his tie and rolled up the sleeves of his shockingly white dress shirt. His hair showed signs that he’d run his fingers through it repeatedly during the day.
He really was attractive. Those big eyes and the athletic build. Decent and smart. Hardworking and compassionate. Funny. And she felt nothing but a big loving friendship for him.
Clearly there was something wrong with her. She knew what it was and didn’t try to hide it. “Spence.”
“Ah.” Jackson reached behind him to the table that sat there. “Here’s the bottle.”
Abby watched Jackson fill a glass for himself then put the bottle on a wooden tray on the ottoman for easy reach. If they were going to talk about Spence, and they were because she needed to blow off some of the frustration pinging around inside of her, then she might need a second glass.
She skipped over the kissing part of the afternoon and how that rocked her so hard she’d spent the rest of the day brushing her fingertips over her lips. “He talks and I want to punch him in the face.”
“That sounds like a healthy reaction.”
She ran her fingers up and down the stem of her glass. “Doesn’t it make you frustrated, having to deal with the Jamesons and their money and power and bullying behavior?”
His eyebrow lifted. “Are we still talking about work?”
“He makes me...” She couldn’t even find the right word. Hot, angry, spun up, frustrated. They all fit.
“Want to punch him.” Jackson toasted her with his glass. “Yeah, I got it.”
“I love Ellie. She’s funny and smart and charming and doesn’t take their crap.”
“Sounds like someone else I know.” When she frowned, he kept talking. “It does. You don’t get onto the managerial team at a family-owned company unless you’re good. You’re damn good.”
“Like you?” She knew the truth. Jackson was a star at work. Derrick depended on him. Everyone did. Even she did. If you needed an answer, he likely had it.
He acted as if he were thinking something over. “Maybe I do deserve a raise.”
“I’m tired of all of it.”
“Wait.” He put down his glass, took hers and did the same with it. “That sounds suspiciously like you’re thinking about finding a new job and leaving.”
She felt a little lost without the glass to grab on to and started talking with her hands. “Don’t you toy with the idea? Leave, open your own place. Do some consulting.”
“Sounds risky but potentially rewarding, except for the part where you’ll work round the clock, be panicked about finances and eat peanut butter for every meal so you can stockpile cash.” He shook his head. “I’ve already lived that life. I really don’t want to go back.”
They shared a similar background, having been raised by single moms who barely earned enough money to keep the lights on. But he hadn’t been alone. He had a sister, a twin. But it had just been Abby. She depended on her mom until the day she lost her, and she’d mourned her every day since. Missed the vanilla-scented shampoo she used. Her smile. The way she laughed at bad horror movies. That loss, so deep and raw, never disappeared. Moving forward became easier but was never easy.
But this was about her, and her work life and figuring out the best choice for her, separate from the Spence piece of the puzzle. “Me, either, but I’m not afraid of putting in the hours.”
“I don’t doubt you at all.” Jackson studied her for a second before picking up her wineglass and handing it to her again. “Not to bring up a rough subject, but you know Eldrick is coming to town, right?”
Spence’s dad. Abby despised the man.
“What?” The glass slipped in her hands and wine splashed over the side and dribbled down her hand. She caught it before it hit her light gray couch or her silk blouse.
“I had a feeling you didn’t know.”
“Are you sure it’s happening?” Because that was her nightmare. Dealing with Spence was rough. Not smashing a computer over Eldrick’s head might prove impossible.
He’d left shortly after he’d kissed her all those months ago, made it clear he did it to teach Spence a lesson. Since then, he’d married another wife and left the country. Abby seethed every day since. She’d hoped he’d stay on that beach in Tortola forever, but no such luck.
“Found out today.” Jackson kept watching her, as if he were assessing if he should shut up or provide more details. “It’s for Ellie and Derrick’s engagement party. They postponed it when Ellie fainted and figured out she was pregnant. Derrick told his dad to stay away, but now the shindig is back on and father Jameson is flying in with the newest wife.”
“Ever met her?”
“No, but Derrick had her investigated, so I learned too much.” Jackson made a you-don’t-want-to-know face.
Abby rolled her eyes. “Of course he did.”
“The Jameson men are somewhat predictable.”
“It’s scary.”
“Eldrick Jameson is...” Jackson made a humming sound. “I can’t actually think of a decent thing to say about that man.”
“Me, either. But go back a second. Ellie is still on bed rest.” Abby didn’t want her friend confined, but she didn’t want a reason to see Eldrick, either.
“I don’t think that means we tie her to the bed and keep her there. She’s allowed to move.”
“But a party? Isn’t that stressful?” It would be for Abby.
“They’re being extra careful.” Jackson shrugged. “Getting the doctor’s okay and all that. Trust me, Derrick isn’t happy about it, either. I think after all the rumors in the paper about them, Ellie wants the party to stop any whispers.”
That meant this was happening. It sounded like Derrick was throwing up roadblocks but none of them showed any promise in stopping the party. “Ugh.”
Jackson laughed. “I can hear the excitement in your voice.”
He might as well have said funeral. “I hate parties. Derrick hates parties.”
“But he loves her.”
That made Abby smile. “They really are too cute. I mean it. Too cute.”
“Well, if it’s any consolation, they were a mess at first. Derrick nearly blew it about a hundred times.” Jackson shook his head. “It was kind of pathetic.”
“Maybe there’s some relationship malfunction in the Jameson gene pool.”
Jackson drained his glass and poured another. “I’ve often thought that.”
“I’m supposed to go over and see Ellie at lunch tomorrow.” Abby wanted to cancel, or at least get some sort of promise that Spence would not show up. He seemed to be doing that a lot these days.
“Business?”
“Girl talk.”
Jackson made a face. “Do I want to know what that means?”
“I don’t know.” It wasn’t exactly Abby’s strength, either. She’d grown up with few friends and kept that streak going most of her life. That’s why when Ellie took her in and insisted they get to know each other, and then introduced her to her best friend, Vanessa, Abby didn’t balk. She took the risk this one time and it had paid off. Spending time with Ellie made Abby smile. “She texted. I’m going.”
“The things we do to make the pregnant woman happy.”
Abby lifted her near-empty glass. “I’ll toast to that.”
* * *
The next afternoon, Abby arrived at Ellie’s house, weighed down with bags of food. Derrick had to go into work for a few meetings, so Abby used the code and slipped through the layers of security to get inside. Then up the stairs. A few minutes later, she unloaded the salads and caprese-on-focaccia sandwiches onto the tray set up on the edge of Ellie’s bed with drinks and what looked like a bowl of pretzels.
Ellie sat propped up in the chair next to the bed with her legs stretched out on the ottoman in front of her. Abby guessed she wasn’t on the bed because it was covered with envelopes and papers.
“The sandwiches smelled so good on the walk over from the deli that I almost ate one.” Abby pushed some of the paperwork to the side and sat on the edge of the bed. “What is all this?”
Ellie smiled as she grabbed a sandwich out of the bag. “It’s party time. Two and a half weeks.”
“Really?” Abby tried to keep the dread out of her voice but she was pretty sure it seeped in. “You know you’re supposed to be in bed, right?”
“The doctor gave the okay. I have to sit for most of it, some of it with my feet up, which is really boring. The party has to be in the afternoon and not long.” Ellie unwrapped the paper and ripped off a piece of focaccia. “I’m pretty sure Derrick will carry around a timer and make sure I don’t stand for more than three minutes at a time.”
“Because that sounds reasonable.”
“He’s ridiculous.” But a huge grin formed on Ellie’s lips as she shrugged. “It’s kind of adorable.”
“I’m surprised he didn’t fire the doctor and find one who forbids parties.” Abby felt bad that the idea sounded so good to her. “The man is not a great socializer.”
“As opposed to you.”
She had to cut this off. Spence was going to be Ellie’s brother-in-law, which meant whining about him would put her in a terrible position. Abby didn’t want to do that. “We’re not talking about Spence.”
Ellie’s hands dropped to her lap and her smile grew even wider...if that was possible. “Look how you jumped right to him. Interesting.”
“Don’t make me grab the food and run.” Abby took her time digging around in the bag, looking for a napkin.
“That’s just mean.” Ellie barely let the words sit there before she launched into her next point. “But I would say—”
“Oh, here we go.” Abby gave up. She could only fake interest in the inside of a bag for so long before it seemed weird, and she feared she was nearing that line. “I’m listening.”
She also twisted the paper napkin between her fingers. In, out and around. Tight enough that she heard the paper rip.
“The sparks between you two? Whoa.”
Oh, man. That couldn’t be true. She’d tried so hard to hide it, to fight it off.
Abby refolded the mangled napkin, then turned to the sandwich. Unwrapped each edge. But the grumbling in her stomach from before had vanished. This topic seemed to zap the hunger right out of her.
She dumped the uneaten sandwich on the tray next to her. “What you’re sensing? That’s anger.”
“Babe, I know anger. That is not what I see.” Ellie took a bite, then another.
“We may have some...unresolved issues.”
“The queen of understatement.”
Yeah, no kidding. But that led to a bigger issue, one Abby was not totally sure how to discuss. “I need you to know that I might not be at the engagement party.”
“Wrong.” Ellie smiled and reached for her bottle of water. “But why are you under that incorrect assumption?”
Abby tried to pick up anger, anything in Ellie’s voice that suggested disappointment. She sounded more resigned to prove Abby wrong than anything else.
“Those unresolved issues relate to Papa Jameson and—”
“The kiss?” Ellie’s eyebrow lifted. “Yeah, I don’t blame you there. My father-in-law-to-be deserves a good kick.”
Apparently there was an office memo no one bothered to tell her about. As far as Abby knew, Derrick had kept the kiss information limited to a very few in the office. The idea that someone other than a small circle and Ellie might know made Abby’s stomach roll. She didn’t want to be viewed as someone who lied and schemed her way to the top. She didn’t care what choices other people made, but she’d earned this position by working her butt off.
Abby picked up the napkin then put it down again. “You know about that?”
“Of course. It’s the kiss heard ’round the family.” Ellie looked at Abby’s face and her smile disappeared. She waved a hand and shook her head. “No, don’t panic. Actually, I made Derrick tell me, but he wasn’t all that forthcoming with juicy details. All I know is Spence thinks you were playing a power game and kissed his dad.”
Abby’s stomach refused to stop somersaulting. If this kept up, she could forget about lunch because she’d be seeing her breakfast again. “He’s an idiot.”
“Which one?”
And that’s why she liked Ellie so much. “Good point. Both of them.”
Ellie winced. “I haven’t met father Jameson yet.”
“Lucky you.”
“How bad was it back then?”
Intolerable. All hands and creepy looks. Word was Spence’s father liked to pick interns by their looks—young, pretty and blonde. A practice Derrick immediately stopped once he figured it out. But there was no reason to completely terrify Ellie during her shaky pregnancy. “Bad enough that I’m considering skipping a party and missing cake, which is sacred food in my book.”
“If I let you punch him, will you come?” Ellie sounded excited by the idea.
So was Abby. “Which him?”
“Either. Both.”
So tempting. “That might be a deal I can’t pass up.”
“Believe it or not, I really like Spence,” Ellie said.
Some of Abby’s amusement faded. “Let’s not go there.”
“Of course, I’ve only know him for a few weeks.”
“I worked with him, was wildly attracted to him. Fought it off and lost. And then I really lost.” That was more than Abby usually admitted. Jackson knew pieces of the story and a bit about her feelings, about how hurt and torn apart she’d been. Derrick had made it clear back then he’d collected some of the facts but not all of them. It didn’t matter because Abby didn’t want to relive any of it.
“Any chance Spence can redeem himself?” Ellie asked.
Abby had asked herself that a thousand times over the last few months. She dreamed about Spence showing up and apologizing. Ran through all these scenarios on what she would say. But Spence stole that opportunity away from her, too, because he never came back for her. He came back for Derrick and Ellie. Abby vowed not to forget that.
She cleared her throat, swallowing back the lump that had formed there. “I have to be smarter than that, more self-protective this time around.”
The memory of the kiss flashed in her mind. Not the one that destroyed everything. The one from yesterday. The new one that carried a note of hope and a hint of desperation. The feelings had thrummed off Spence. And she’d been trying to forget them, talk herself out of the way her heart leaped and her body turned all mushy when his lips touched hers, ever since.
Ellie shook her head. “Men. They do ruin things sometimes.”
Abby suddenly felt like eating again. “No kidding.”