Irresistible Lies (13 page)

“I
know.”

“That
little man in the room over there is the only man you owe anything to at all.
Jamie is in your past, and he needs to stay there.”

“You’re
absolutely right.” Grace took a deep breath, determined not to cry anymore.
Enough was enough.

“Of
course I’m right. Jamie thinks he can just walk right back into your life and
have a fling with you and see where it goes. But you’re not just single Grace
anymore. You’re a mother. You don’t have space for men like that in your life,
men that will only hurt you. I’ve been here, and I’ve watched you be a parent
to Jake all these years. You know who hasn’t been here?”

“Jamie,”
she answered dutifully.

“Right.
He doesn’t even know about any of it. He has no idea who you really are. He
wants the old you, not the new you. You need to forget him.”

“Yeah,
I do. I know you’re right. When you say it, it makes so much sense.”

“So
what’s the problem?”

Grace
looked away, unable to meet her sister’s eyes. “I still have feelings for him.
I’ve been lying to myself this whole time, pretending I don’t. But I do. I
don’t know if that’s something that will ever go away.”

“Yes,
it will. Do you know how I know?”

“How?”

“Because
it has before.” Caroline squeezed Grace’s hands, infusing her with strength.
“I’ve watched you get over Jamie before, and I have no doubt that you can do it
again.”

Grace
nodded, feeling a new confidence take shape within her. “You’re right. I can do
this. I can resist him.”

“Yes,
you can.”

“If
I give him another chance, he will just disappoint me. Just like he did last
time.”

“Now
you’re talking.” Caroline reached over and gave her a big hug. “I love you,
Grace. I refuse to see you get hurt again.”

“I
love you too, Cara. You don’t have to worry about me anymore. I can handle
this.”

“I
know you can, babe. Send that bastard right back to New York where he came
from.”

Grace
laughed, even though it hurt a little.

Chapter 12

Grace
considered calling in sick to work the next day but decided it was best to go into
the office and face the world head on.

She
made breakfast for Jake and got him ready for school, and when Caroline asked
her how she was feeling she put on a bright smile and pretended everything was
fine. She dropped her son off and did her very best to follow their conversation
about his favorite dinosaur, holding on tightly to her positive attitude.

Well,
at least the sun was shining.

Grace
entered the office, checked her email and breathed a sigh of relief when she
didn’t see anything in her inbox from Jamie. She breathed another sigh of
relief when she was told that the morning staff meeting was canceled, giving
her more time to catch up on work. She made a to-do list for the day and settled
in, wondering how much she would be able to get through before Jamie called and
interrupted her day with mountains of work.

No
call came.

Around
noon, Charlie buzzed her on the intercom and asked her to come to his office.
She immediately wondered if Jamie had decided to drop them as an agency and
then she wondered how that would make her feel. She headed into Charlie’s
office, lost in thought and very on edge.

“Hi,
Grace. Sit down,” Charlie said, giving her his absent smile. He was dressed in
a black suit and green tie, his hair perfectly gelled into place and his chin
perfectly smooth.

She
took the seat across from him. “Good morning.”

“How
was your weekend?”

“Good,”
she said without hesitation. She didn’t intend to tell Charlie the truth about
Jamie, as it would only upset him. Besides, he wasn’t technically her
boyfriend. What he didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him.

“You
seem like you’re in a good mood,” Charlie said approvingly. “You look like you
got some rest.”

“I
did,” she said, plastering on her smile and wondering how he possibly couldn’t
see through it.

“How
was the trip to New York?”

She
waved her hand absently. “Oh, it was alright. Nothing too interesting. The gala
went well. Jamie was pleased with it.”

“That’s
good news. You’re doing a good job keeping him happy.”

Funny,
that wasn’t how she remembered it.

“Did
he call you? Have you heard from him?” Grace asked.

Charlie
looked confused. “No. Why? Do you need me to talk to him about something?”

“Not
at all,” she said quickly. “I was just wondering if you heard anything from
him. He’s been quiet today.”

“That’s
a good sign, trust me. It means he’s satisfied. I’m proud of you, Grace. Jamie
Castleton is a difficult client, and I know how hard you have been working. I
just want you to know that it isn’t going unnoticed. You’ve got a bright future
here at this company.” He winked at her. “And I’m not just saying that because
you’re my girlfriend.”

Girlfriend?

“Uh...”
She closed her open mouth, unsure of what to say.

Charlie
didn’t seem to notice. He got distracted by an email that appeared on his
screen, typing a quick response before turning back to her. “So, what do you
say to going out to dinner tonight? Can Caroline watch Jake?”

“I
don’t know,” she said honestly. “I wasn’t home with him all weekend. If you
don’t mind, I’d rather spend tonight at home. I’m afraid that with all of this
work, Jake has been a little neglected.”

“Of
course. I understand,” Charlie said. “Now, I don’t want to impose, but I have
to ask—would you be comfortable with me coming to dinner at your house? I
would really like to meet your son.”

Another
shocker that she didn’t know how to respond to. She didn’t really mind the
thought of Charlie meeting Jake; a week before, in fact, she would have agreed
to it without much thought. They had known one another for years, and she
trusted him. Now that Jamie was back in her life, however, the thought of
Charlie being around Jake just made her uncomfortable. It seemed wrong, somehow.

He
just looked at her, cool gray eyes expectant.

“I...”
She bit her lip, trying to think of the right words to turn Charlie down
without insulting him. “Can I get back to you? I need to think about it. I’ve
never brought anyone home to meet my son before.”

Charlie
nodded. “I totally understand. Give it some thought. You know where to find
me.”

He
came around to where she was sitting and kissed her gently on the lips. His
breath smelled like mint. She didn’t register much else.

She
was scared that she would never respond the way to Charlie that she did to
Jamie.

Charlie
really was a good guy, though. She was lucky to be his...
girlfriend?

That
was just weird. She left his office turning the word over and over in her head.
She still thought of Charlie, primarily, as her boss. To her, a boyfriend was
the guy who held your hair when you got sick and the guy you woke up next to in
the morning with no makeup on. Picturing Charlie in those situations was
difficult.

She
wondered what Jamie would say about this development.

Well,
he probably wouldn’t say anything nice.

Back
at her desk, Grace completed more work, feeling better with every task she
checked off on her list. Catching up on everything she missed last week trying
to keep up with Jamie was easy when he wasn’t harassing her with phone calls.

Why
wasn’t he calling? Could it be that he was finally listening to her when she
said she didn’t want any kind of relationship with him? Maybe he was going to,
for once, act professionally toward her.

Still,
it made her nervous.

Why
was she thinking about him so much?

Grace
ordered out for lunch with her coworkers and passed the rest of the day getting
all her work done, connecting with the clients she had neglected. When 4:30 rolled
around, she smiled, thinking that she would be able to leave the office on time
for the first time in a week.

Then,
of course, Jamie called. It was just so like him.

“Bradden
Media, this is Grace.”

“Grace,
it’s Jamie.”

“Hi,
Jamie. How are you?”

“I’ve
been better.”

She
didn’t quite know what to say to that and decided on the professional approach.
“I’m sorry to hear it. How can I help you this afternoon?”

He
sounded tired when he spoke. “Listen, I know you’re going to get mad at me for
asking, but I need a favor.”

She
grit her teeth, certain that she wasn’t going to like this. “What kind of
favor? Are we going to have to catch a red-eye somewhere?”

“I
really hate to do this...”

“What
is it, Jamie? Spit it out.”

He
sighed. “I’m meeting with a few potential investors tonight. I wouldn’t ask
this if I really didn’t need your help, Grace, but I need you to come support
me. I don’t have my team here, and I’m concerned about how well of a
presentation I can put on for this group. They are really serious guys.
Sharks.”

She
almost scoffed but stopped herself just in time. “Jamie, I’m sure you can
handle it on your own. I don’t see what help I can be to you. You have all the
materials I put together. It’s not like I can do the presentation for you.”

She
didn’t care that she was being rude. This was just too much.

“I
realize that, Grace,” Jamie said, patient as ever. “I’m not asking you to give
the presentation. I just think it would make a big difference if I had you
there. They would take me a lot more seriously knowing I’m working with an
established marketing and advertising firm in the area and that I’m not just
some New Yorker with a hotel room trying to make a quick deal. I want them to
know that I’m taking this seriously, that I’m really looking to expand our
products to this market.”

She
pursed her lips together, trying to decide what to do. It sounded legitimate,
and she understood his point, but he needed to understand that she couldn’t
afford to be at his beck and call after work hours. She had a life.

And
he wasn’t a part of it.

Grace
thought of telling him off and hanging up on him, the way Caroline would want
her to. Telling him to find someone else to work with and leave her alone. She
thought about it, but she ultimately chickened out. She would just have to take
this up with Charlie and see how he wanted to handle it—as he always
said, her personal life wasn’t the client’s problem.

“Fine,”
she told him, giving in. “Tell me where to be and when, and I’ll be there. But
I want to say, for the record, this is the second time you’ve done this to me
on extremely short notice.”

“I
know, I’m sorry. Do you have a pen?”

She
hung up the phone a few moments later, information in hand, and headed into
Charlie’s office. He was hard at work at his computer, motioning for her to
have a seat and wait for him to finish. When he finally turned toward her, she
could tell that he was stressed out.

“Long
day?” she asked.

“The
worst.” He rubbed at his forehead. “We may lose the Central Orange account.
Marcy got the date wrong on those invitations we made for them and their whole 75
^th
anniversary party is ruined.”

“Shit.”
Suddenly her problem didn’t seem so big.

“Yeah.
I could really use a drink right now.” Charlie sighed. “I trust you’re here
with good news?”

“Actually...
no.”

“What’s
wrong?”

“I’m
afraid we’re not going to be able to have dinner tonight.”

He
frowned. “Is this about Jake? You’re not ready for me to meet him?”

“It’s
not that.” She shook her head, feeling bad. “I do want you to meet him
sometime. It’s just that Jamie called. He needs me to work tonight. He’s
meeting with some investors, and he wants me to be there to support him.”

Charlie
did not look happy. “That’s ridiculous. That’s not your job.”

“I
didn’t want to tell him that,” Grace said, feeling a little justified because
he agreed with her thinking. “I didn’t think it was my place. Do you want to
tell him that?”

“No,
you’re right. We’ve got to keep the client happy. I’m just concerned with all
of this after-hours work.” He raised an eyebrow at her. “Has he... you know,
tried anything with you? Said anything inappropriate?”

“No,”
she lied. “But it’s hard to say what’s inappropriate. We don’t have a typical
client-agent relationship. We used to be together. It makes things weird.”

“Yes,
I can imagine.” Charlie frowned. “There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask
you, actually.”

“What?”

“Is
he Jake’s father?”

“Yes.”
She didn’t even think to lie. What was the point? “Jamie doesn’t know, and I
don’t want him to know.”

Charlie’s
eyes widened. “That’s bad.”

Grace
shrugged. “He can’t find out. I don’t want him starting a custody battle I
can’t afford. Or winning one.”

“Grace,
this is insane.” Charlie stood up and started pacing around his desk. “What if
he finds out somehow? What kind of position will that put you in? And what
about the company? This is bad all around.”

She
felt defenses rising and wondered if she made a mistake telling the truth.
“Charlie, I can handle it. Jamie is going to head back to New York as soon as
the campaign gets on its feet. I’ll never have to see him again, and if I do,
it will only be in a professional situation where Jake will never come up.”

“You
can’t really believe that.”

“Well,
what else am I supposed to do? I’m trying to make the best of a really bad
situation. You’re the one who forced me onto this account, even when I told you
it was a terrible idea. Please, tell me. What else can I do?”

Charlie
groaned. “Hell. This is bad.”

“Yeah,
well... welcome to my world.”

“You
should have told me this from the beginning.”

“I
didn’t think it would make any difference.”

“It
makes a hell of a lot of difference.”

“Look,
I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I was overwhelmed.”

“You
could have come to me.”

“I
didn’t want to make things worse for everyone.”

Their
eyes met for a beat, and she saw the tension drain from Charlie as he seemed to
come to a decision.

“I
want you off of this account, Grace,” he said. “Go tonight and get the job
done, and tomorrow I will call Jamie and let him know that someone else will be
handling Four Brothers Brewery from now on. If he refuses to work with someone
else, I will void the contract.”

Grace
couldn’t believe her ears. Never in a million years would she expect Charlie to
put her selfish needs before the company’s bottom line like that. It touched
her, and it made her feel even worse about the kiss she shared with Jamie.
Charlie deserved better than that, and from now on she was going to give it to
him.