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“I’m glad I don’t have to work closely with him again. I’ll talk to my boss when she returns on Monday and get taken off the portfolio.”
Sitting bolt upright next to me, Elouise points her finger at me forcefully. “No, you won’t! Don’t back down from him. You go in there and give him the best freaking rebranding you can and show him what he is missing out on. These old pricks think they can take what they want. Well, this one picked the wrong woman to go to war with. She’s tough and will fight back. Won’t you?” Man, Elouise might be a schoolteacher that needs to be refined and calm all day, but don’t mess with her. She can come out swinging if she needs to.
“I can’t even think about where to take this project. I spent more time checking out the CEO than the hotel itself.” Sighing, I sit up and remember the words in the email. Talk to Flynn and trust my gut. As mixed up as my gut is, it’s telling me not to let go of this opportunity for my career.
“You’re right,” I say at last.
“Always,” Lou replies with confidence.
“Fuck him. I’m going to go in there and blow him away.” Not quite sure how, but I’ll work it out.
“We need to go out tonight. Girls’ night!” Elouise stands and offers her hand to me to pull me up.
“Hell yes, we do! Let’s go get wasted,” I shout, and the family at the duck pond turns with scowls on their faces. Okay, perhaps with a little less volume next time.
“Um, let’s not get too carried away,” Lou says, putting her arm around my shoulders. We look at each other and laugh.
Yeah, that’s not going to happen.
NICHOLAS
Working from the estate on Friday is not normal for me, but I just needed space to breathe.
I’m still worried about my mother and the whole crashing the car. Something is not right there, and she won’t tell me much. I’m trying to work out if I should take on this new location in France that I have been eyeing off for a while in secret. I don’t tell the board anything until I know what direction I am going with something. Flynn is driving me crazy after I ignored him most of Friday. And of course, I can’t get Victoria out of my head. That woman has done something to me, and I can’t shake it. She haunts my thoughts day and night. I just wanted to get away from her and push the memories away, but it’s impossible.
When I spoke to my mum last night, she could tell something wasn’t right with me, but I didn’t want to share anything with her. Not until I know she is okay. Instead, today I have been walking the fields with Sid, my black-and-white border collie. He was just a puppy when I got him from the neighbor next door whose dog had a litter. He reminded me of home in Australia where these dogs are common. So, I named him Sid, short for Sydney.
Coming over the crest of the hill in the field closest to the house, I chuckle to myself, seeing the Porsche, Audi, and BMW parked near the house.
“Looks like we have visitors, Sid. Go give them the Darby welcome.” As I motion for him to go, he takes off down toward Rem who bends down, waiting for him. Sid loves when he visits, although it’s not that often. Flynn and Forrest lean on the front of Rem’s black Porsche while Rem is being welcomed in the only way Sid knows how, by almost licking him to death.
“What are you all doing here? Can’t a man be left in peace for a few days?” I ask, walking past Rem and Sid still playing. I stop and lean on Flynn’s Audi, waiting for a response.
“Not when he leaves the country with a woman for a week and is back twenty-four hours later, then avoids the office. So, if you won’t come to us, we will come to you. What the fuck happened?” Flynn knows me too well. He has been beside me through some of the toughest times of my life and still hangs around.
“They didn’t need me in Rome, so I came back. No point wasting time over there. Now, who is up for a beer?” Pushing off the car, I walk toward the back door, ignoring Flynn’s reply.
“That’s the biggest load of bullshit, and you know it.” Forrest laughs at Flynn yelling at me while they follow behind me.
“Jesus, Flynn, back off, we aren’t here for some freaking intervention or some shit. Beer sounds great,” Forrest replies, heading inside with the rest of them. Rem finally drags himself away from Sid.
Flynn rolls his eyes. “Christ, that’s not what I’m doing. I just want to know the details of why he came back early. You guys weren’t there when he went all nuclear at Ms. Packer in his office. There was some chemical meltdown of his brain,” he says, accepting the beer from my hand and taking a seat on one of the kitchen stools.
“Do tell.” Rem perches on the stool beside him, taking his first drink of his beer.
“Yes, Flynn,” I seethe, “please tell me why you then came up with your amazing idea of her being my fake girlfriend.” I glare at him as the memories of my time with Victoria start pouring through my head.
“No, don’t deflect from the question,” Flynn fires back at me.
“Fine, you want to know? I took Victoria to Rome, trying my hardest to stay away from her. Then you came up with this bright idea that we play happy couple. Oh, we played happy couple, all right. And I knew as soon as we did, I needed to stop that from happening again.”
“Oh my God, you fucked our consultant on the first night.” Forrest shakes his head at me, always the conservative one in the bunch.
“Yes, and it’s Flynn’s fault,” I snap, taking another large mouthful of beer to quench my thirst and settle my thoughts.
“It’s not my fault you can’t keep it in your pants.” Flynn laughs at me.
“Twenty-six! She’s only twenty-six years old and is just beginning her life. She’s not a jaded old man like me.” I push myself up to sit on the kitchen counter beside my sink and the large window overlooking the back yard.
