AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You want me to drop out of the running?” My voice cracked, not only because of his audacity but because he was right.
“No,” he said as if I’d hurt him.
I hadn’t meant to hurt him. I didn’t even want to. It’s just that I was hurting, and I didn’t know how to make it better.
“I want you to be happy.” He let go of my hand. “It’s all I ever wanted.” He walked away, leaving me to stare after him.
When he was out of sight, I looked up to the ceiling, trying to hold the tears back. I felt as if my world was spinning and I didn’t know what was right or wrong. More importantly, I didn’t know what I wanted. Or was it that I was afraid to want? Honestly, I didn’t know.
I should probably figure that out.
Kiss and Tell
I snuggled little two-month-old Donovan close to me and inhaled his soft baby scent. I was mixing business with pleasure tonight. It was the first semi-reprieve I’d had in what felt like months, though it had been only days.
Meanwhile, Mindy sat across from me on the couch while her toddler daughters, Madeline and Sofia, ages three and four, used her for a jungle gym. I thought I was exhausted working all hours into the night trying to conjure up a miracle. I had nothing on poor Mindy, who hadn’t even had the chance to shower today. The dark circles under her eyes, Cheerios in her hair, and stained T-shirt said it all. I felt bad I couldn’t do more than pick the cereal out of her hair, order takeout, and offer some adult conversation. I was definitely getting the better end of the bargain. I needed some baby snuggles and to talk to Caden, Mindy’s husband and, oddly enough, one of my stepbrothers. He was stepmother number eight’s son. I don’t know why I say oddly. With all of Auggie’s marriages, it was bound to happen that some of his stepchildren would end up together. Caden was also the regional manager for the Southeast area plasma donation centers. Thankfully, he was one of the more competent stepchildren.
The last several days I had been interviewing as many employees as I could from various departments within the company. Kane’s presentation had made me see I was missing the bigger picture and my plan needed to be more about people than numbers. The numbers were important, but without the people, they meant nothing. I wanted varying perspectives and to find out where we could improve as a company and what our employees thought we did well. It was tricky, as I couldn’t say why I was interviewing them. My cover was a special assignment from Auggie before starting my duties as lab director.
At least with Caden, it made a lot of sense that we talk. The donation centers worked hand in hand with our lab. Plus, we were practically related. I thought of him not only as a stepsibling but as my brother-in-law. I had been the maid of honor in their wedding, and Auggie had given Mindy away, as Mindy’s biological father hadn’t been heard from in years. Six years ago, when Mindy got married, I’d thought it was sad that Auggie was her better option. Today, I had a much different opinion. In fact, I had found myself missing Auggie the last couple of days. He was in New York on business and wouldn’t be back until Sunday night. No matter how busy I had been, I had made our nightly dinners happen, even if it meant asking Fran to make the meal for us. I hated to impose on her, but I wanted as much time as I could get with Auggie, and plenty of time to work on my business plan. Next week was the deadline. It felt like I was back in school and it was final exam crunch time. I’d always dreaded that week, but in a way, I just wanted it to get here so I could be done.
Mindy extracted herself from her girls. “Why don’t you go get your new dolls to show Aunt Scarlett,” she practically begged them.
The girls, who were little mini-mes of Mindy, with golden-blonde hair and petite frames, ran off down the hall screaming.
Mindy took a deep breath and threw herself against the couch. “Remember when I was fifteen and told you all I wanted to do was get married and have kids? I’m totally rethinking that.”
I laughed and held Donovan’s tiny hand. “You’re doing great.”
“I don’t know.” She pulled up some strands of stringy hair. “I don’t even know when I brushed my hair last, forget about washing it.”
“You’re gorgeous. And you’re raising little people. There’s nothing nobler than that.”
“I don’t know. I’m thinking a spa day with no children sounds pretty majestic right about now.”
