AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Antonio stared at his computer. He couldn’t concentrate this morning. He couldn’t stop thinking about last night—about Mary Ellen. He could still hear the pain in her voice. It bothered him. No one should be able to make her feel that way.
He kept rolling it around in his head. What was her history with this David guy? She must have loved him. Who was he? What was he doing here? What had she said? She hadn’t known he was coming to Napa. He was one of the candidates—candidates for what? She didn’t think he’d come here for her. She thought he’d come because it was a great opportunity. What was? He wished he could ask Cameron, but he wouldn’t. Cameron and Mary Ellen were close. Cam thought the world of her, and even if he did know the story, he probably wouldn’t tell—and he’d want to know why it mattered to Antonio. What could he tell him when he didn’t know himself?
Antonio drummed his fingers on the desk. He should forget about it, forget about her. He’d overheard what should have been a private conversation. He’d done his best to make her feel a little better afterward. That was it. End of story. Nothing to do with him. He got to his feet. He needed to go down to check in with the sales team on the big Ellery order.
He was almost to the door when a thought struck him, stopping him dead in his tracks. Cameron! He was interviewing. He was looking for a new sales director. Surely to God, this David character wasn’t one of the candidates for the position? Cameron wouldn’t do that to Mary Ellen, would he?
He picked up his phone and dialed his cousin’s cell phone.
“Antonio! What’s up?”
“Hey.” He didn’t know what to say. How could he ask anything without explaining everything? “Hey, Cam. How’re things?”
“Busy. If this is just social, do you mind if I call you back tonight? I’m kind of busy, interviewing for the new sales director.”
“I know, that’s what I was calling about.” He took a deep breath. He could bluff. He wouldn’t normally give it a second thought. “Isn’t David one of the candidates?”
“David Sterling?”
Antonio waved his hand in the air. How the hell would he know what the guy’s last name was? “Yeah.” He smiled as he spoke, knowing it would come through in his voice. “David Sterling. He used to work at Kendall, right?”
“I don’t think so. Though at this point I could be getting him mixed up with one of the other candidates. Why? Do you know him?”
“Only by reputation.” That wasn’t a lie.
“Do you think he’d be a good fit here? He’s one of my top two at this point.”
Antonio pursed his lips. He didn’t even know if this David Sterling was Mary Ellen’s David. He could hardly go scuppering the guy’s chance at a great career move. “Not my place to say, Cam. You know that. What does Mary Ellen think?”
“This is so weird.”
“What is?”
“I have no clue what she thinks, which isn’t like her, and instead of helping me with the interviews, she’s taken the afternoon off. Now you’re asking about her when you never normally speak her name out loud. Is something going on?”
Antonio’s heart was racing. He couldn’t lie to his cousin, but it wasn’t his place to explain what was going on—or even what he thought was going on. “I don’t know, Cam. I’m sorry. I’m sticking my nose into business I know nothing about.”
Cameron sighed. “You know you’re going to have to explain this to me, right?”
“Yup.”
“And you know I don’t have time right now.”
“Yup. So, I guess you’ll just have to meet me for a drink this evening.”
“I guess I will, and in the meantime, I’ll have to try to not let my curiosity get in the way when I interview David.”
“I guess you will. Muse at six?”
“Okay. But this had better be good.”
Antonio hung up. He didn’t relish the thought of explaining himself to Cameron. He didn’t even really know why he was doing this, but for some reason, he felt good about it.
~ ~ ~
Mary Ellen paced the apartment after she buzzed Chelsea into the building. She was kind of dreading this, while at the same time part of her was looking forward to telling Chelsea about last night. She hadn’t even told her about David being here yet so it would be a relief to talk about that, at least.
She went to the front door and opened it just as Chelsea was emerging from the elevator. “Hey, you.”
