Page 24
“I–”
“Oh!” She cuts me off. “You must be the new boss. I’ve heard all about you.”
“Good things I hope.”
“Debatable,” she says. Her bluntness is refreshing. I appreciate that in people. The woman, whoever she is, clearly has money. Old money. It shows in the way she walks, dresses, talks, and brushes off basically everyone in the room.
She’s real. I like it.
Dinner is served, and we converse. It’s mostly Reese and Garrett gushing about Mission Events and asking me questions I answer without wavering. Even the sharp ones.
“So you’re the man who swooped in and bought enough shares to knock Jim to the side,” Margaret says.
“He still works for the company,” I state. “He still owns shares, a lot of shares.”
“Chess is a fun game, isn’t it?” She grins and takes another sip of her brandy.
That it is.
“If he still owns shares, shouldn’t he be here?” someone asks, and everyone tenses. Honestly, I’m surprised he’s not.
Reese claps her hands together with a smile. “I think what’s important is that Marcus is here! After all, he’s the new–”
I shoot a glare in her direction. Regardless of how awkward this entire dinner is, there is zero reason for her to be talking. “I’d like to leave the business talk to the people who actually work for the company,” I state.
The room is suddenly dead quiet.
Until Natalie’s phone buzzes.
“Oh, sorry, I better take this,” she says, scooting out of her chair.
“Seriously?” Reese asks, turning all of her embarrassment from the verbal hand slap I just gave her to irritation and pointing it like a loaded gun at her sister.
“It’s Brittany,” Natalie says. “Something might be wrong.”
With no further explanation, she walks out to the patio.
“Unbelievable,” Reese shakes her head, taking the world’s smallest bite of grilled chicken and chewing gingerly.
“That’s what happens when you hire an incompetent nanny,” Garrett says. “You get what you pay for, am I right?”
Nanny?
Natalie has a nanny?
That can only mean one thing. Something I didn’t know and hadn’t thought about.
Natalie has a child. And if she has a child…
Does she have a partner?
I take a sip of whiskey and let it burn.
Chapter 11
Natalie
I don’t know if I am embarrassed or relieved when my phone rings and I have to excuse myself from the table. A little of both, I suppose, but mostly the latter. My sister is always a lot. Too much. And pretending it doesn’t bother me is always a lot of work. It also makes me want to gouge my own eyes out with a spoon.
