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LILY
I’d spent my entire life playing by the rules, but something about Con brought out a recklessness in me that I hadn’t known existed. Being around him was like a drug. Knowing that he was sitting behind that massive desk right behind me, playing kingmaker of Hollywood, kept me on the edge of my seat. Often, I imagined I could feel his eyes on me, but whenever I found a reason to turn to the side and sneak a glance back, he was looking somewhere else.
Aside from the first morning, I didn’t get a moment alone with him. If he needed something, he called for Maureen. He always left for lunch. I didn’t know if that was what he always did, or if it was a new habit he’d cultivated to avoid being left alone with me when Maureen went down to the cafeteria. I went with her more often than not. It gave us a chance to talk about the job, although I always tried to direct it to Con specifically.
“Does the job ever involve his personal life?” I asked, picking at my grilled chicken salad one day.
Maureen laughed. “You of all people should know the answer to that.”
I looked up quickly, thinking at first she knew why I was so interested in his personal life. But there wasn’t even a hint of a knowing glint in her eyes, and her smile was as open as ever.
“Haven’t you and Halley called me often enough to get you out of jams?” she reminded me, poking my arm for emphasis. “Finding a dentist who spoke English in Prague definitely wasn’t agency business.”
I relaxed. Of course she was thinking about Halley. “Luckily I think Halley is staying put for a while,” I said, and then revisited my original question, hoping for more information. “So his personal life is part of the job?”
I sounded too interested to my own ears, but Maureen didn’t look suspicious as she considered the question. “It is sometimes,” she said finally. “But the truth is, Con doesn’t have much of a personal life. Sometimes you’ll have to field calls from Kim, and once in a while he asks me to make a reservation. That’s about it.”
“I won’t have to juggle multiple secret girlfriends?” I joked. “That’s a relief.”
I’d gone too far. Maureen tilted her head, hearing the inappropriate curiosity beneath the joke. “No,” she said slowly. “You won’t.”
We fell silent. The low rumble of chatter and clanking silverware from the tables around us almost filled it, but not quite.
“How is Halley doing?” Maureen asked after a few long moments.
I swallowed. “She’s good.”
“She knows that…” Maureen trailed off and rubbed her belly absentmindedly while she figured out how to ask the question that was on her mind. I held my breath, afraid of what it might be. She knows that you’re obsessed with her father?
“She knows that Con wouldn’t hide anyone from her, doesn’t she?” Maureen finished finally. “When he’s serious about someone, she’ll know it.”
Relief filled me. She thought I was prying into Con’s personal life at Halley’s behest and not because of my own desperate curiosity.
“I think it’s hard for her, being so far away,” I said, careful not to brush her suspicion aside, lest she replace it with a different one that was closer to the truth. “I told her I’d keep an eye on him.”
I felt a little sick, hearing how sincere I sounded. Who would have thought I had it in me? I certainly hadn’t. And I didn’t like it.
But no matter how many times I told myself that I had to stop, tell Maureen I didn’t think I could handle the job, maybe even leave LA altogether, I could never follow through. My gaze would clash with Con’s in an unguarded moment, and my knees would go weak.
When Angie Roberts, the temp, joined the office a week before Maureen went out on maternity leave, I really thought my chances of ever being alone with Con were gone. But unexpectedly, an opportunity fell in my lap. It was Tuesday evening. Con was already gone—he always left right at six on Tuesdays for some reason—when the courier came in with an impressively thick envelope that Maureen had to sign for.
“What is it?” I asked, trying to read the address label.
“A contract.” Maureen frowned. “He must not have known it was coming. He usually wants to sign right away and get it sent back before someone changes their mind.” She drummed her fingers on her desk, considering it. “Normally I’d run it by his place, but…” she trailed off, and rubbed her stomach. She hated saying that she was too tired to do something, but I knew she was.
I held my breath. I didn’t dare suggest it, not after the close call in the cafeteria the other day, but I hoped—
Maureen sighed heavily, her brow wrinkling. “Lily, I hate to ask, but would you mind doing it for me? You don’t have to wait for him. I’ll give you his code, and you can just leave it on his desk. If he wants it sent back tonight, he’ll call a courier.”
“Sure, that’s no problem,” I said casually, hoping she couldn’t hear my heart slamming against my ribs. “I don’t mind waiting, either.”
“No, don’t do that.” Maureen shook her head absently. “He goes to happy hour with his friends on Tuesday, so there’s no telling when he’ll be home.”
I left the building clutching the padded envelope. I was worried I’d run into Con on the way out and lose my chance to go to his apartment, but I didn’t. For once I was glad that he was nowhere to be seen. I went back to my condo first. I felt too keyed up to go straight to his place. If he’d answered the door, my nerves would have strangled me.
I poured myself a glass of wine. I’d finally bought my own bottles so I didn’t have to keep making notes of things I needed to repay Halley for. While I drank it, I considered changing clothes. It figured that the one day I’d worn one of my old dresses from college would be the day I was sent to Con’s apartment. In the end though, I decided to stay in what I was wearing. I didn’t want to be too obvious. I was willing to put myself in his way, but he’d have to make the next move.
The wine did the trick of taking the edge off my nerves, and I headed down the street to the address Maureen had given me with a spring in my step. As it turned out his building was only one block from mine.
