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“Are you kidding?” Mindy reached down below her desk and grabbed the paper. “Bryce has it delivered to each of us every morning.” She pointed. “Business section. Just below the fold.”
It had been ages since Leighton’d held an actual newspaper, but she took it in her shaky hands and flipped to the article, locating it moments later. “Succession: Not Just a TV Show” the headline read. She skimmed the first few paragraphs, a profile on Courtney and how she started with her feet on the ground floor, working in a department store in small town California before ascending the ranks. Leighton was mentioned three-quarters of the way into the article. “Courtney isn’t the only the Carrington carrying the family banner. Her cousin Leighton Morrow works as a real estate analyst in the company’s development division. ‘My cousin has a bright future ahead of her. She’s going about it the right way, too. We’re lucky to have her.’”
The mention was brief. That was something. It was entirely possible that, like most people, Jamie didn’t read the daily paper. She was busy in the morning with the coffee prep, doughnuts, rush hour, who even knew what else? Even if she was a news girl, the mention was late in the article. Today’s culture was all about quick news bites. Who was going to read that far into a below-the-fold business piece? She calmed herself in the knowledge that she was likely in the clear to still explain herself to Jamie personally and hope for grace. She refolded the paper and handed it off to Mindy. “They even spelled my name right,” she said, attempting to remain nonchalant. Her pulse began to even out, and she relaxed her arms.
“Told you. Famous. Anything you need this morning?”
“What was that?” She was on an entirely different thought track now and was having trouble staying tuned in. “Oh, um, nope. Just going to get started on email.”
Mindy studied her. She knew her too well to buy it. “Mm-hmm. You okay? Did things go okay with Jamie?”
“They went well. We’re going to talk more later.” She glanced behind her. “Gonna go try and hunker down, get some work done.”
She was being weird, and Mindy knew it. “Happy hunkering.”
“To you, too!” Nope. That didn’t fit.
“If you decide you want to tell me what’s going on, I’ll be out here.” Mindy eyed her with suspicion, and Leighton hightailed it out of there. She closed herself in her office for the better part of the day, only emerging for coffee, which made her think of Jamie, so she sent acan’t stopthinking about youtext. She tried for a light lunch butwas in no state to eat. At quarter to five, she packed herself up and with determination and dread took the L train to the Fourteenth Street Station. It was nearly dark on her short walk to Bordeauxnuts, a signal that they were still clinging to winter. The air smelled wonderful as all the restaurants turned to dinner service. Her midsection rumbled, uncomfortably empty, not that she could stomach much until she threw herself at Jamie’s feet once and for all.God, please let her know my intentions were good.
Leighton arrived at the bar and stood outside a moment, attempting to gather the perfect words that she knew didn’t exist. Her overstressed brain wasn’t much help, so she decided to simply speak from the heart.
She pushed through the glass door, relieved to see a line only two people deep. She joined it, shifting her weight until Jamie noticed her. The second she did, the room went ice cold. The smile Jamie offered the customer at the counter faded, and she shifted her focus to anything but Leighton.
Fuck. Fuck fuck.
She’d never once witnessed Jamie chilly to anyone, but if looks could kill, Leighton would be dead on the floor. TheTimes. It had to be. She waited the three minutes that felt like four days, and when she arrived at the counter, Jamie blinked.
“Leighton. Why are you here?” Her voice sounded tired, but her hands shook. No one off the street would have noticed, but Leighton took in every detail, searching for information.
“Can we talk? Please.” Luckily, no one had joined the line behind Leighton, giving them privacy. She glanced at the dining room, which was mostly empty. The regular faces she’d grown used to seeing in the daytime hours had vacated their spots for the evening. A couple of women sat at a small table by the window, an open bottle of white next to them in a chilling bucket. It reminded her a bit of their own wine date, and sadness washed over her. The dynamic between her and Jamie felt entirely different tonight, and she hated that she’d put them here. All her fault.
Jamie glared. “Why? So you can spy on us small business owners a bit more? You’re from Carrington’s, Leighton. Hell, youarea Carrington, or did you conveniently forget again?” Her eyes were no longer ice. They were fire and burning right through Leighton.
“I get it. I want to explain.” She ran her fingers through her hair, a nervous habit. “My intentions, as far as you and I are concerned, were one hundred percent sincere.”
Jamie sighed. “You get how I would have a hard time buying that, right?”
Leighton nodded. “I do.”
“But at least we can agree that they weren’t so pure when it came to my business, my life’s work.”
Feeling uncomfortable at the counter, like there was a timer running, Leighton inclined her head to the dining room in invitation for a longer exchange. Jamie hesitated but finally led the way to a secluded table along the side wall. The young woman working alongside Jamie automatically stepped to the register, taking over just as another couple arrived. Behind them, a discussion about which wines were full-bodied played out while Jamie took a seat across from her and folded her arms, a fortress denying Leighton any kind of glimpse inside. She got it. In Jamie’s shoes, she’d likely go into self-protection mode, too. But she had to try to undo some of this.
“I originally came into the bar because of my job at Carrington’s.”
“You are a Carrington. You don’t just work there.”
She took a moment with that. “Technically, that’s true.”
“Is that how you operate? In technicalities?”
“I think I just meant that I’m not my cousin. I care about my job, but the corporation isn’t everything.”
Jamie exhaled, the hurt in her eyes flaring. “Well, I think it’s apparent that it’s pretty damn important to you, or you would have told me what you were doing before we…” Her eyes welled.
“I should have.”
“Does that mean that you want to take out this place and put in a giant department store?”
