So Right With You (24 page)

Looking over at his sister, he said, “Hey, kid.”

“Hey. Would you mind if I hung out with Kali and her friends?”

Garrett glanced back at his parents, making sure it was okay before answering. “No, not at all,” The two girls had met at the ranch and had naturally become friends. “Maybe Harry’s girls would like to join you?”

The girls’ eyes sparkled with pleasure at the suggestion. They looked to their father for permission.

Harry nodded. “Go ahead.”

After Kate left with the girls, he pulled out a chair next to the singer for Chloe and sat on the other side. “I would like to introduce Chloe.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m really a huge fan. I mean, I, ah, love you. I mean your work,” Chloe stammered, turning the color of her hair.

“Well, thank you.” Harry smiled broadly and winked at his wife.

She couldn’t believe she had blurted that out. She tried to think of something to say. Her mind was, of course, blank. Her nerves had gotten the better of her. She had dealt with powerful men during many of Garrett’s meetings. However, faced with sitting with the jazz singer and actor, she felt jittery. She glanced over at Garrett. He looked amused. Nice.

“I heard you’re responsible for orchestrating all this,” Harry said, leaning in and giving her a much-needed reprieve.

Luckily for her, he was as charming and as sweet as he appeared to be on TV. He soon put her at ease. Dinner was over before she knew it. Harry took the stage again and finished out the evening. The whole night had been a wonderful success.

*~*

Chloe sat at her desk at Nolan Enterprises, waiting for Garrett to return from a business meeting. It had been three days since the fundraiser. She knew it was time. She had been delaying the inevitable. At the gala, Teresa Bennett had complimented her on the success of the event, then offered her a position as director of media and social relations. She had decided to accept it. She loved the work she had done so far. She now had to inform Garrett of her need to resign. Her new job would start in three weeks, just enough time to train her replacement.

She was thinking Donna May would be perfect. Since the day she had been reprimanded by Garrett, her work ethic had improved. Chloe had even had lunch with her, and the two had discussed how her divorce had had a negative impact on her, causing her to overindulge in many areas of her life. She confessed that Hank had left her for a younger woman. It had affected her self-esteem. It wasn’t until Garrett had warned her that she had become aware of how self-destructive her behavior had become. Donna May and Garrett got along well now. Unlike some of the other female staff, she wasn’t afraid of him when he was in a foul mood. According to Donna May, he was a pussycat compared to her ex, just a bit of a bellower, although lately he’d been in a good mood. He was due back any moment. Chloe planned to tell him about her offer.

She left her desk to file a set of contracts in the other room. When she returned, her ex was standing by her desk. Donna May was at lunch, so there was no one in the reception area, no warning. She stopped, surprised to see him.

She hadn’t seen him since the day she had moved out. That seemed so long ago now. He looked tired, less than sure of himself or of his welcome. His tie was askew, and his hair looked ruffled, as if he’d been raking his fingers through it. She almost felt sorry for him.

“There was no one in the reception area.”

“Donna May’s at lunch.”

“I was hoping we could talk.”

“Okay.” She had never seen him look so distraught.

“I’ve decided to sell the condo.”

“That’s probably for the best.”

“When it sells, I’ll make sure to send you your share.”

“Thanks.”

He started to turn away, then turned back. “Ashley left me.”

Well, that explained it. It didn’t surprise her. Ashley wasn’t the type to stick. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

“You are?” He gave her a quizzical look, searching for the truth in her statement.

At one time she had loved Trevor. He was, after all, her first love. She remembered him being ready to take on the world, his enthusiasm a contagious thing, carrying her along with him. He looked bitter now, like not all of his dreams were coming together quite the way he had planned. Shortly before cheating on her, he had been turned down for a partnership at his firm. Maybe it was all catching up with him.

“Yeah. You know, it never would have worked between us. Being apart has allowed me to see how different we really are, and that we don’t want the same things. We probably never did.”

“So are you going to stay with him?” he asked.

“I’m not sure. Probably not.” Chloe hoped things would work out, but she still had her doubts.

He looked past her toward the door. “For what it worth, I’m sorry about everything. Would you mind giving me a hug before I go, for old times’ sake?”

“Sure.” She really didn’t want to, but a part of her felt sorry for him.

He moved in close, wrapping his arms around her, and whispered, “It’s a shame it didn’t work between us.” He kissed her quick and hard. Before she could protest, he was already releasing her and stepping away. “I guess I should go?”

“I think so.” Chloe said tightly. She couldn’t believe he’d kissed her. As he left the room, she went into the restroom to wash the taste of the forced kiss from her mouth.

*~*

If she had looked toward the office door, she would have seen Garrett standing there, a wounded look upon his face. As Trevor passed him he asked, “Are you two getting back together?”

Trevor smiled, satisfied. “Yeah.”

“I see.” Garrett turned and left the building without her knowing he had returned.

*~*

Later, he called. “Something’s come up. I’ll be gone for at least a week. Do you think you can handle things?” he asked briskly.

Chloe, thrown by the sudden change, didn’t respond at first. “Ah, that’s going to be a bit of a problem.”

“Why?” he asked, sounding like he couldn’t care less about her response.

“Umm. I was going to tell you today. I’ve accepted a job with Teresa.”

“You did?” he asked curtly.

“Yeah. I wanted to tell you when you got back from your meeting. I thought Donna May could take my place.”

“Fine. Catch Donna May up on everything. I’ll arrange a severance package for you.”

“Okay. Thank you.” She realized he had hung up on her.

Her heart felt shattered. She couldn’t believe it was over. She had actually considered seeing if things between Garrett and her could work out. Now, it was over with a phone call. She’d expected to have time to adjust. He had been so abrupt and to the point, like she didn’t matter. This hurt worse than her breakup with Trevor.

That night, she went home to the ranch and packed her stuff. She no longer wanted to stay there, even though she knew Garrett wouldn’t be back. She took her belongings as well as her broken heart and arrived on Leighton’s doorstep unannounced. When Leighton opened the door in gray silk loungewear, she took one look at Chloe’s tear-ravaged face and said, “Ah, honey. Come on in.”

Garrett stayed gone the full two weeks. It was hard going to work each day, but somehow she managed. She had hoped he would come back so she could say good-bye, maybe get closure. But he never showed. Any directives he needed to have handled were given to her by his lawyer.

Toward the end of her time at Nolan Enterprises, her dress sold on eBay for three times the amount she had paid for it. She had over a week left before her job started at Dreams Made Possible. She decided to use the money and fly home to St. Paul to see her family. She needed to get away. She left an envelope in his desk with the money to pay the balance of her debt to him. The next day, she flew out.

Glancing up, Donna May was surprised to find Ree, Harper, and Leighton hovering over her desk.

“Is he in?” Ree asked, as spokesperson for the group.

“I hope you’ve come to talk some sense into him. He arrived the day after she left and he’s been impossible since. He keeps firing people, and yesterday he hung up on one of our biggest clients. Upper management is doing their best to do damage control. They’ve already had to hire back five people in the past three days. He’s totally terrified the new receptionist to the point that it took me an hour to convince her to come out of the bathroom and stop crying. If this keeps up, there may not
be
a Nolan Enterprises. Nobody will work for him. I’ve never seen him this way. He’s usually direct but reasonable. He’s been a loose cannon since she left.”

Shaking her head, Harper asked, “Why are some men so stupid when it comes to love?”

“Chloe’s not showing much more sense herself. Those two belong together if anyone does. I don’t know why they can’t see it,” Leighton said.

“That’s why we’re here. Chloe won’t speak to us about it, so let’s see if we have any better luck with him,” Ree said, determined.

Without preamble, they strode into his office with Donna May bringing up the rear.

Most men would have been a little intimidated by the sudden rise of estrogen in the room. Garrett merely peered at them with a question in his eyes and ended his phone call. “Something’s come up. I’ll have to call you back later.” He set the receiver back on the cradle. “So, ladies, what brings you here today?”

The women spoke at once.

“I warned you not to hurt Chloe,” Ree said. Her hands fisted in anger at her sides.

“Why did she leave?” Leighton asked, glowering at him.

“What did you do?” Harper demanded, moving toward him in a threatening pose.

“What are you going to do about getting her back?”

That question came from his very own assistant. He could fire her. Anger rose up inside him as he stared at the posse of lunatics standing in his office. Why the hell did they assume
he
had done something wrong? Chloe was a free agent, and she had left of her own accord. The worst part for him was that she left him to go back to her ex.

“Why don’t you go ask Chloe why she left?” Garrett drawled, exhausted by the whole thing.

“We would, but she’s not talking to us.”

That was news to him. He couldn’t see why she would cut ties with her friends. Maybe she knew they wouldn’t approve of her getting back with Trevor. “Go talk to Trevor. Maybe he can help you put things together.”

All four women looked at him as if he had sprouted another head.

“Why would we do that?” Ree said.

“Because they’re back together again,” he answered.

“Who told you that?” Ree asked.

“He did.”

“Ah, hell, Dimwit did it again. They’re not back together. Chloe would never do that,” Harper said with disgust.

“Are you sure?” Garrett asked.

“Yeah. Positive,” Leighton answered.

“Damn,” Garrett swore. He needed to check his facts. If Chloe hadn’t left because of Trevor, maybe he still had a shot. He needed to find out.

The first place to start was to verify whether she was with Trevor or not. Then he could plan what to do next. “Donna May, I may need you to handle things here. If things turn out the way I hope, I may be gone for a few days.”

“Thank the Lord. You’ve finally come to your senses. You’re going to go get her, right?” Donna May said.

“You bet!”

Ree touched his sleeve as he went to move past them. “Garrett, I know for a fact she’s not with Trevor. She’s staying at her parents’ house in Minnesota. Go get our girl, and this time, tell her you love her,” Ree said.

“I will.”

*~*

Garrett drove directly to Trevor’s office. He planned to confront the man.

“Where’s Wycoff?” he asked. “I need to see him.”

“He’s giving a presentation to important clients. He can’t be disturbed,” Wycoff’s secretary answered.

“Too bad.”

“Sir, you can’t go in there.”

He strode straight for the conference room before the secretary could stop him. Yanking the door open, he startled everyone in the room. Puzzled to find Garrett in the doorway, Trevor’s boss said, “Ah, Garrett, can I help you?”

“I need to speak with Wycoff,” Garrett said through clenched teeth.

“I’m sorry, sir. I tried to stop him,” the secretary explained.

“It’s all right. Garrett, as you can see, we’re in a meeting. Can this wait?” Trevor’s boss asked.

“It will only take a moment.”

Heaving a sigh, Trevor’s boss said, “Maybe you should take this outside, Wycoff.”

Trevor eyed Garrett warily.

He should. If it was true, the man had lied and cost him Chloe. The last time they had fought, Garrett had injured Trevor’s arm. Garrett had thought it was broken, but had turned out to only be a bruised bone. The way Garrett was feeling this time, the man should be worried.

Trevor’s eyes shifted back to his boss with hesitation. “Are you sure? Perhaps this could wait for another time.”

“No, go ahead and deal with it now,” his boss said with disgust in his voice. “I’ll finish the presentation.”

Wycoff had no choice but to step out of the room with Garrett. He moved toward the exit like a man headed for death row.

As soon as the door was shut, Garrett growled through clenched teeth, “Are you and Chloe back together?”

Wycoff stepped back until he hit the wall behind him. “No. Of course not,” he stammered.

“You son of a bitch,” Garrett swore, swinging around to leave. He pivoted back suddenly, startling Trevor, his fist clenched and ready to strike, just inches from Trevor’s perfect nose. “Ah, hell. You’re not worth it.” He dropped his arm back to his side.

Trevor’s entire body slackened in relief against the wall.

Garrett strode out of the building, determined to get Chloe back.

The first thing he did was contact the office and arrange to have his jet fueled up for the flight to St. Paul, Minnesota, where she was staying. His next call was to his buddies Craig and Kenny. He couldn’t very well leave without making sure his company was taken care of. He knew it would be in good hands with his friends until he got back. With that, he flew across the country to retrieve the most precious person in his life.

*~*

She’d been home for three days. Her mother had asked her to help with a bake sale for the twins’ school. She was baking cupcakes while babysitting Grandma Lambert for a couple of hours during her grandmother’s scheduled home visit. Her mother had had to take the boys for hockey practice.

She didn’t know how her mother did it. Keeping up with Grandma Lambert was not easy. Her Alzheimer’s caused her to sometimes confuse the past with the present. Currently, Grandma had Chloe mixed up with her own sister and was recalling a past event.

“Meredith, you really need to grease those cups better or the batter is going to stick.”

Chloe had found it was better to go along with her grandmother’s memory swings. As long as it was harmless, she really didn’t see a need to correct her, which often made her become agitated and more confused. “Of course, Marie, why don’t you help me?” She passed the butter to her grandma, who started to add more to each cup as Chloe stirred the ingredients.

“Why hasn’t Walter been around lately?” her grandma asked.

As far as Chloe knew, her Great-Aunt Meredith had married Walter. In fact, they were still married and living in Florida. “What do you mean?”

“Meredith, you know very well what I’m talking about. You and he went out to the show last night, and you came back in a great huff. What happened?”

“Ah, I’m not sure.” She hesitated. “I guess we had a fight.” She had no idea what had happened between the two. She was simply grasping at straws. Sometimes, it wasn’t easy to play along with Grandma. It required skill and cunning to figure out what Grandma was alluding to, and to fill in the missing blanks. At the moment, she was at a loss.

“I know exactly what you fought about,” her grandma said.

“And what would that be?” Chloe asked, now curious.

Her grandma released a sigh. “He asked you to marry him again, and you turned him down flat. Just because Glenn ended your engagement doesn’t mean you can’t trust in love.”

“But how do I know if he’s the one?” Chloe asked. After her breakup from Trevor, she wasn’t sure she could ever trust her feelings again. Sure, she felt like she was in love with Garrett, but she had once thought the same thing about Trevor. Of course, her feelings for Garrett were stronger. How could she be certain this time it would be forever, especially after how things had ended?

“You’ll know because you can’t imagine your life without him. Yes, you could survive, but something would always be missing. Admit it. You’re miserable without him. Put yourself out of your misery and go patch things up with him.”

“But how do I know he really loves me?”

“You already know. How does he look at you? How does he treat you? Stop fooling around and go get that man back. You should be ashamed of yourself. Stop being a coward. In life, you have to be strong enough and brave enough to go after what you want. If you love that man, you need to let him know. If you don’t tell him, it will be something you will always regret.”

Chloe gazed at her grandmother for a moment. The woman was so wise. Even with the degenerative disease that was robbing her daily of both past and present memories, she still had so much to give.

The darkness that had shrouded Chloe since she had left Garrett began to lift. Hope awakened inside her. A feeling of warmth spread through her. She loved Garrett. She could now believe it was possible he loved her. Perhaps that’s why he had been so cold when she mentioned leaving. He was hurt.

When she had left, she had thought his anger was in response to her leaving him without much notice. She had even contemplated that maybe it was because she had ended things before he could. But what if she was wrong? She hadn’t been ready to trust him or herself, to risk her heart and take the chance. Mostly, it was because he’d never mentioned love—but then, neither had she.

Her grandmother was right. She had to find out. If she didn’t, it would be something she would always regret. She had to let him know how she felt, even if she was wrong and he didn’t feel the same way. At least then she would know. But they were hundreds of miles apart. She couldn’t just go see him. That would take some time and planning. Suddenly, time seemed to be of the essence.

She gave her grandmother a quick kiss on the cheek. “Thank you, Grams. I need to make a phone call.” The kiss brought her grandmother back to the present.

“But, Chloe, what about the cupcakes?” They had just finished greasing all the cups but still needed to pour the batter in and bake them.

“It will only take a minute. This is really important.”

“All right. All right. Young people these days are always in such a hurry. You are going to call your young man, aren’t you?” With that, Chloe knew her grandmother had connected the past to the present.

“I am.” She still wasn’t sure how Garrett would react.

“It’s about time.” Her grandmother beamed.

Entering the bedroom she was using while staying there, Chloe retrieved her cell phone from her purse. Garrett’s cell phone number was still programmed in. She hadn’t had the willpower to remove it. She was glad now. She punched in the automatic listing for his number.

He picked up on the second ring. With caller ID, he would know it was her. “Chloe.”

“Yeah, hi.”

“Hey, how are you?”

Her nerves got the better of her and she began to babble. “I’m fine. I’m staying with my parents until my new job at Dreams Made Possible begins. I’m looking forward to starting my new job. Teresa is going to be my boss. She seems really great, and we’ve been in touch several times since I left.”

“I see.” His tone was neutral, giving nothing away. What if she had made a mistake? She couldn’t give up yet.

“I’ve heard from Kali. She says the doctor says she can stop chemo. She’s in complete remission. Isn’t that great?”

“I know. Josh told me.”

Still, she could not tell anything from his voice. She bit her lip. Gathering the courage to go on, she said, “Oh, good. It’s been snowing a lot here. It’s not like winter in Texas. I miss the warmer climate.”

“Yeah?” His voice rose slightly, giving her hope.

“Yeah. And one more thing—I miss you.”

“I miss you, too. I want to see you.” He sounded urgent.

“Yeah, me too. Garrett?”

“Yeah?”

It was time to take the chance and put her heart out there.

“I love you,” she said quickly, before she lost her nerve.

“Ah, hell, sweetheart. I wanted to be the first one to say it.”

“You did?”

“Yeah, baby, I love you, too. I should have told you before you left. I was an idiot.”

Tears of relief flowed down Chloe’s face. She couldn’t believe how happy she was. She sniffled.

“Honey, are you crying?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Do me a favor. Go to your front door.”

“Why?”

“Did you really think I was going to let you get away? I came here to tell you I love you and that I wasn’t leaving until you came to your senses. I would have never let you go in the first place if I hadn’t thought you were going back to Trevor.”

“Trevor? What?
Never.
Why would you think that?” Then she thought about it. Damn that man. Garrett must have seen Trevor force a kiss on her. “I’m sorry. Nothing happened. I would never, ever go back to him.”

“I know that now. It doesn’t matter anymore. Sweetheart, hurry up and open the door. I want to hold you, and I’m turning into a Popsicle here on the porch. It’s so damn cold.”

She tossed the phone on the bed and sprinted for the door. Flinging it open, she launched herself into his waiting arms.

He kissed her tearstained cheeks before latching onto her lips in a deep, soul-searching kiss. “I love you so much. It’s been hell with you gone. Promise me you’ll never leave me again. Let’s get inside. I’m freezing. I left in such a hurry, I left my overcoat in Texas.” He maneuvered her inside the house and kicked the door shut with his foot.