She was going to have to go out and get that for herself. And going to this awards ceremony… that might just be the first step on the journey that would lead her to finally building this company into the enterprise she had always dreamed it would one day become.
She just needed to have the courage to take this step.
CHAPTER 2
ELIJAH
“You’re going to be at the awards ceremony tonight, aren’t you?”
Elijah Norcross held the phone away from his face for a moment so that his father wouldn’t hear his sigh of exasperation. “I told you I was going to be there,” he said. “Do you think I don’t know how important it is to you? You’ve been talking about it for weeks, Dad.”
“Yes, but I never know if you’re listening to me,” Oliver Norcross said. “And, in fact, you usually aren’t. Usually you’re just trying to come up with ways to cause trouble.”
Elijah was nettled. “Just because trouble finds me every now and then, that doesn’t mean I’m out looking for it.”
“Well, you certainly aren’t avoiding it,” his father said sharply. “After what happened at the last company party I let you attend, can you blame me for having my doubts about you?”
“It wasn’t even that bad,” Elijah said crossly. He opened the fridge and regarded its contents. It was nearly bare. There was a half-empty bottle of vodka, a few apples, and half a brick ofcheddar cheese that might or might not have been past its prime. He’d have to look into that later. For now, he pulled out one of the apples and took a paring knife out of the kitchen sink. He gave the knife a quick scrub and began to cut the apple, musing that he would probably need to hire someone to do his shopping. Maybe even his food prep. This was no way to live.
“The company party was fun,” he said now, thinking back. The truth was that his memories of it were murky. He recalled spinning around on the dance floor, so fast that he’d thought he might fall over. He remembered Mackenzie Knight, the fashion influencer who had been his date to a few things lately, walking around with a plate full of shrimp, giggling about being the queen of shrimp cocktail. That had seemed funnier at the time. Right now he couldn’t recall exactly what the joke had been.
His father’s voice turned stern. “Fun isn’t the word,” he said. “You were loud and obnoxious. Maybe you had a good time, but nobody else did, and that’s your fault. I don’t want you bringing a date to this one.”
“Don’t worry,” Elijah said. “Mackenzie and I aren’t hanging out anymore.” It had never been serious between the two of them. She was pretty, with blond hair and green eyes and an amazing figure, and he felt cool squiring her around town and showing up on her social media. But it wasn’t as if she was someone he had strong feelings about. She could be demanding, and that wasn’t worth it at all.
“I’m not just talking about that girl,” his father said. “I mean any girl. You come alone to this event. I’m going to be receiving a Lifetime Achievement in Business award, you know…”
“Of course I know.” His father had spoken of little else since being notified that he was going to get the award. Elijah wasproud of him, but at the same time, he was tired of hearing about it, and tired of knowing that his father was disappointed that Elijah himself didn’t have any similar accomplishments and never would.
“Well, I don’t want you making a ruckus tonight and ending up in the news again,” his father said. “So no girls and no drinking. You come, you sit at our table, you smile for the cameras and clap when I accept my award, and then you go straight home when it’s over.”
“No fun, in other words,” Elijah grumbled.
“That’s right. Tonight isn’t about you having fun. Not everything is, you know. Just try to behave yourself for one night. Even you can manage that.”
Elijah knew he could, even though it meant that an already boring party was going to be dull to the point that he would risk falling asleep at his overpriced table. “I’ll go along with it,” he said to his father. “I know how much this night means to you. I’ll come alone, and I won’t even drink—even though I think it’s going a little too far for you to ask me for that. I don’t lose my mind every time I drink, you know.”
“I do know,” his father agreed. “I’ve seen plenty of times where you drink responsibly. You have one beer and loosen up and have a good time. My problem with you drinking isn’t that you can’t be trusted with alcohol, Elijah. It’s that you can’t be trustedperiod. I can’t know if you’ll decide out of nowhere that tonight is the night you want to have ten drinks and start breakdancing in the middle of the room.”
“I’ve never done anything like that.” Elijah was annoyed.
“Or you decide that you want to make a speech,” his father went on. “You’ve donethatbefore.”
Elijah felt his face grow hot at the memory. That was one thing he had actually been ashamed of. He had awoken the morning after that event—it had been the Christmas party at his father’s company—recalling the stories he’d told the night before when he had gotten a microphone into his hands and feeling like an utter fool for it.
“You don’t need to worry about any of this,” he reiterated to his father. “No drinking. No girls. No partying. Not tonight. You have my word. Is that good enough?”
“That’s good enough,” his father said. “A car will be there for you at six.”
“You don’t need to send a car, Dad. I was going to drive myself, and what’s the harm in it if I’m not drinking?”
“We have these resources, Elijah. You shouldn’t be ashamed to use them. A car is something we can afford, so just let me send one for you.”
“All right.” Elijah didn’t really mind taking a car. By the end of a long, boring evening like this one, he was sure to be worn out. Having the ability to sit back and relax while he was driven home would be a good thing for him.
“All right,” his father said. “I’ll see you in a few hours. Make sure you dress appropriately.”
“Now you’re going too far. I’ve never showed up to an event not dressed suitably for it.” Elijah took clothing fairly seriously, because he knew it was the best first impression a person could use to judge you. He wasn’t as serious about it as MackenzieKnight had been—he wasn’t sure you could make a whole career out of fashion without eventually starting to repeat yourself. But he would never have underdressed for an event.
