Coming To Reason (A Long Road to Love) (19 page)

Tall chuckled. “Next time try whispering in a foreign
language. A mime can read the most subtle of body language.”

Destiny laughed. “It had better be Spanish, because it’s
the only other language I have a clue about. Even then, my education is based
on the years we had Nanny Maria, who watched Spanish soaps all day.”

Dan frowned. “You never mentioned this before.”

“I told you about things I thought interesting. For the
first four years, I struggled to make sense out of the soaps since Maria would
never tell me what the words yelled out meant. Eventual
ly
, I worked it
out on my own.” Noticing the scowl on her father’s face, Destiny threw both
hands up. “Hey, at least I can communicate with our housekeeper now.”

Dan chuckled. “Our housekeeper of five years had to return
to Roatan this year, and she suggested her sister as her replacement. She declared
the young woman hardworking and honest as a nun, so I agreed to hire her
without an interview.” He grinned. “She proved to be both, but had I spoken to
her, I would have discovered she didn’t know a word of English.” He turned to
Tiny. “If I had your skill at mime, it wouldn’t matter, but my gestures confuse
and frighten the poor maid.”

Tiny leaned forward. “Give me an example.”

Carrie refocused on the appetizers. Poor Dan’s inability to
communicate with his maid would no doubt become Tiny and Tall’s next skit.

***

Once they finished dinner, Dan dropped Tiny and Tall off at
the theatre for their 8 p.m. performance before taking Carrie to the office so
she could retrieve her car.

He offered to drive behind her all the way to New Jersey to
ensure she got home, but she refused. “I appreciate the concern, but this I can
manage on my own.”

His mouth opened then closed as if he wanted to argue
further but after a moment’s hesitation, he nodded. “For the record, I’m
convinced your office would be just as beautiful if we hadn’t helped. You are
more than capable of doing anything on your own.”

She gripped his and Destiny’s hands. “It wouldn’t have been
such fun without the two of you. This has been one of my best weekends ever.”

Destiny snorted. “Man, do we need to improve your weekends.”

While she drove home, Carrie mulled over her claim the
weekend had been one of her best ever. While true, it bothered her. Why would
painting and sanding be more fun than...? She struggled to think of something
she and Trent had done recent
ly
.

They’d gone to dinner at places in New Jersey, but, in
retrospect, neither the food, the service, nor Trent’s mood had been enjoyable.

She couldn’t recall the last time she and Trent had a good
time on a date.

If she couldn’t even remember, then they needed to focus on
the relationship more. They’d let it slip in their priorities.

She would have to take as much blame as Trent for their
neglected relationship. Once they hired the new staff, her top priority had
been to get them trained and motivated. And while this could have…
should
have
been a joint effort, bringing them closer together, instead it became
a bone of contention.

And probably why he’d decided she needed to leave his firm.

But then why hadn’t he followed through and made the effort
to improve their relationship once she worked elsewhere?

She rolled her eyes. When had he ever taken the initiative
to fix things? Never. Without her, his company would have gone bankrupt.
She
should have seen to their relationship herself.

Except, she’d focused on learning her new job instead.

Another worry crossed her mind. What if Trent had dropped
more than their relationship ball? What if the company fell apart again because
he hadn’t stepped up and covered the ninety percent of his job she had handled?

Yes, he had an EA, but most would assume their bosses capable
of running their business with
just
a hint of assistance. However, Carrie knew better. Trent’s
father had never taught him anything of use. In fact, she suspected most of
what the ogre had told him would ensure his company failed.

Upon pulling into her driveway, a peace came over her. Her
sanctuary strengthened her.

Entering the kitchen, she glanced at the blinking light.
Trent had called and she hadn’t been here for him.

She hit the play button as guilt swept over her.

“Hey, this is Dan, calling to ensure you made it home. If
we’ve jumped the gun and you haven’t arrived yet, can you call the moment you do?
Destiny is worried and chewing her fingers. Soon she’ll have none left.”

The message read off the time.
Only
three minutes
ago. She called Dan and he picked up at once. “Everything okay?”

She chuckled. “Just got home. Thanks for worrying about
me.”

“Not me. That would be stalkerish. Destiny worried.”

Her smile widened as she moved to the living room and threw
herself into her recliner. “Thank Destiny for being my friend and caring about
me.”

“If you’re going to interpret it in such a positive light,
then I’ll admit, I had concerns as well. The radio said a fifty-car accident has
shut down Route 80.”

“When?”

“About five minutes ago, which is why I called.”

“Well, I’m glad I escaped one disaster, or it could have
been hours before I got home. Thanks for all the help and inviting me to Tall
and Tiny.”

“I can speak for both of us. We had a great time. Maybe we
can go hiking next week.”

Carrie grimaced. “I would love to, but, I need to spend
time on my relationship with Trent. I realized, as I drove home tonight, we’ve
both neglected our personal lives since the turnaround began.”

Dead silence answered her.

“Dan, are you still there?”

“Yes.” His voice sounded distant and somewhat distracted.
He’d no doubt focused on something else while she carried on about a person he
didn’t like. “I’m sorry. You don’t want to hear about my personal issues. I’ll
let you go. But I had a great time tonight.”

“Same here. See you tomorrow.”

The line disconnected. She chewed her bottom lip, worried
she’d ruined his evening by mentioning her fiancé. If Trent owed her two
million, she’d get pissed when anyone said his name, too. She couldn’t make
sense of his actions these days.

Determined to find out, she called him.

He answered on the second ring. “Trent Lancaster.”

She spoke from her heart. “I’ve missed you.”

Dead silence except some guy singing love songs in the
background.

“Hold on,” he stated.

When he spoke again, the singer could no longer be heard.
“I’m here.” His voice seemed to quiver.

“You okay?”

A ragged heavy sigh told her he wasn’t.

“Yeah, I’m marching along like an obedient soldier.”

“Now I know something is wrong. Is work not going well?”

“Work’s fine.”

“Then what’s wrong?”

“I miss you,” he whispered. The heavy breathing after his
admission sounded like he might be crying.

“Trent, talk to me.”

His heavy breathing stopped. “I can’t do this on the phone.
Are you home?”

“Yes.”

“I’m coming over.”

“Good.”

“Don’t give up on me and fall asleep.”

“I won’t. I’ll leave the front door unlocked and be on the
couch waiting for you.”

Carrie turned on the TV, but she couldn’t concentrate on
the singers auditioning for American Idol. Tonight, the whole world seemed off
key.

What sort of trouble had Trent gotten himself into? He insisted
he had no troubles at work, but what else could it be?

Having no answers, she focused on the singing contest. Two
hours of bad vocalists gave her a headache and an ill temper.

How could people be so delusional? If they would tape
themselves and play it back, they’d hear the truth. They couldn’t sing on key. This
simple reality check would have saved them a public humiliation before the
entire world. Didn’t they have friends who could have stopped them from making
such colossal fools out of themselves?

She glanced at her watch for the thousandth time: eleven p.m.
Even if Trent had been at his Long Island estate, he should have been here by
now.

She then remembered the pile up on Route 80. Damn it! Trent
was
probably
stuck on the
interstate. She grabbed her phone and called him.

A message declared his phone off and the mailbox full.

Sleep dulled her brain, making it very hard to think. She
pushed herself up and unlocked the door, turning the porch light on. Then she snuggled
on her couch. As long as she slept light
ly
, she’d wake up the moment Trent—

Carrie woke to the faint sound of her alarm clock. She
pushed herself up and struggled to make sense of why she’d slept on the couch.

Trent. He had asked to come by last night.

She hurried to the door and checked it. Still unlocked and
no note on the door. She rushed upstairs and took a shower to wake herself up.
Once dressed, she returned downstairs, and cooked breakfast while listening to
the DJ talk about the traffic jam on Route 80 last night. They’d had to close
down the Lincoln tunnel as traffic backed up into the city. Matters hadn’t been
cleared up until three this morning.

She called Trent, then realized the time and hung up,
hopefully
before it
rang even once. Poor thing. She hoped he hadn’t got caught too long in the mess
before Sam turned around. Trent never did well in traffic jams.

Upon eating, she hurried to the train, and caught the 5:05
so she wouldn’t be late for their 7:30 staff meeting. On the train, everybody talked
about the traffic jam from the night before. A pickup truck had hit a barrier
and flown across all five lanes of traffic, taking out all the cars along the
way, either with physical contact or by making them swerve to avoid the
contact.

Adding to the initial fiasco, cars, unable to stop in time,
piled in from behind. All told, the morning paper reported a hundred deep pile-up.

Even worse than what Dan had thought. She decided to find a
newspaper with a picture of an insurance company’s worst nightmare.

She could almost hear her premiums going up. Chu-chink.
Chu-chink.

Once she got away from Penn Station, she stopped at a newsstand.

While she searched for a local paper printed late enough to
get the story, a magazine caught her eye. The handsome fellow on the cover
looked like Trent.

She stepped closer to the magazine and frowned upon reading
the bold letters beneath his picture.
New
York City loses its most eligible bachelor.

Crap!

She pulled the
Gossep
magazine down and paid two
dollars for the garbage. David’s investigator had proven Angela worked for
Gossep
.
Instead of firing the girl, Trent used her presence to scare off Coco, which,
at the time, Carrie had thought a brilliant idea.

Unfortunate
ly
, having lost her initial story, Angela must have decided
to report Carrie and Trent’s engagement to the world. Now she understood why
he’d been so temperamental the prior week. God
only
knew the
harassment he’d received from ‘his’ people.

The matrons of society did not give up their bachelors to
the white-trash, middle-class species easi
ly
.

She tucked the magazine under her arm and headed to work. Two
blocks from her destination, a limo pulled over in front of her and Dan’s
driver popped out and opened the back door. Dan leaned out. “I’ll give you a
ride.”

She smiled and joined him. “Thank you for saving me the
last couple of blocks.”

His eyes sparkled until they lit upon the trash magazine on
her lap.

“Oh.” She flipped the magazine over. “Trent knew Angela worked
for Gossep, but he let her stay. I’m dreading the article because she didn’t
like me.” She stared up at the ceiling. “She loved Trent, so he no doubt comes
off looking like Prince Charming.”

“Favor?” Dan asked. His eyes hinted of repressed emotions
making him very tense.

“Stop talking about Trent. I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking.”

“Don’t take the magazine into our staff meeting, and don’t
read it beforehand.”

“Okay.” She couldn’t argue with his request. He didn’t need
a sur
ly
new employee at the morning gathering. Without doubt, she’d be pissed
as hell once she read the article.

“And read it in the privacy of your office, with the door
closed,” he added.