Made To Love Her (2 page)

“Lily? Who’s that?”

“Remember, the mysterious wedding planner.”

“Oh.” He nods. “Right.”

I scrunch up my nose. “I think they’re all in it together.”

Vince sighs and pulls me in closer. “Carter said there might be some supplanting going on.”

Just hearing my suspicions confirmed makes me regret ever being gracious enough to give them a chance to plan
my
wedding, which is supposed to be
my
big day, not theirs. “Jeez. What’s wrong with them?”

“That’s the million-dollar question, sweetie.” He beams as if he’s been injected with a sudden dose of optimism. “The good news is that Carter promised to try to contain them for you.”

I groan and flail my body, pouting like a five year old. “Vince, why don’t we just get the hell out of here?”

He takes a long sigh. “Listen, if we don’t get through this, I’ll never hear the end of it, and you’ll always be the enemy.”

I want to dig in and hold my position, but I fight the urge to do it. People are my specialty, and Vince is one hundred percent correct. Part of me doesn’t give a damn if they hate me forever. The other part would prefer to live in harmony with Vince’s family.

“Well, at least can we stay at the Ritz-Carlton? After what just happened with Anne, I think that’s enough to justify our escape.”

Vince sits on the side of the bed and starts taking off his socks. “I think that’s reasonable. Plus, this house is going to be packed out starting tomorrow when the wedding party comes to town.”

The thought makes me sigh wearily. The house is already full, as it is. The large property has two casitas in the back, and one has its own in-ground hot tub. One of Vince’s sisters and her husband are staying in that one. Another sister is staying in the second casita. Allie, who still lives at home until she marries her fiancé in September, is staying in a room on the third level, way at the end of the hallway. I think they planned to put distance between themselves and me while not allowing Vince and me to indulge in our own privacy. But they ended up helping us out. Since we weren’t so isolated, being that Anne’s room is right above ours, we didn’t act on our impulses. This whole “let’s wait until after we’re married” pact has almost been ripped to shreds more times than I can count. However, spending late nights in bed, sharing how difficult things were after each of our parents divorced and me growing up as an only child and him growing up with three overbearing sisters made us closer. We even vegged out on all the TV shows and movies we’d missed while working too hard over the past three years. But I’ve spent a week of tiptoeing around Vince’s mother’s house, making sure I make breakfast by eight in the morning and round up his sisters to go downtown to follow through with wedding plans by ten. Then there’s dinner, when everyone but Anne pretends I’m invisible. I often wonder if she’s aware of what her daughters are up to. She hasn’t accompanied us to any of the dress fittings, the cake tasting, or the “luxury” ranch where the wedding ceremony and reception are to be held. However, whenever we sit at the table and the sisters relay what we’ve done for the day, Anne seems very excited and pleased with their choices. I mean, a barn? I don’t really want to get married in a barn. I haven’t fought them all as hard as I could because I’m not especially interested in going to battle with Vince’s mother. And deep down, I’ve been hoping that Vince will agree to elope.

I grunt thoughtfully.

“What is it?” Vince says.

I watch him with one eye narrowed. No need to divulge my great epiphany. I too have probably tried to sabotage our wedding, mainly because I want to elope. “Nothing. I’ll call and make reservations.”

Vince shakes his socks. He always does that after he’s worn them for a whole day. “You know we’re going to eventually have to talk about your next step.”

“What do you mean?”

“Have you decided whether or not to come back to A&Rt?”

I take a long sigh. “I don’t know. Let’s just get married first.”

“It would’ve been nice to have had you on the team this weekend, Mags. We were only able to get four of the six advertisers back onboard. You would’ve been able to reel in the other two.”

I sit next to him. “Who were you negotiating with?”

“Kevin Lee and Bernard Otter.”

“Eek. They’re tough.”

“You can say that again. I took a chance and put Linda on it this morning.”

My smile broadens. “My protégé.” I pat Vince on the back. “Good job for finally trusting her enough to give her the dirty work. She’ll be able to reel them back in for you. She’s sharp.”

“Yeah,” Vince says with a sigh. “I would rather have you back, but if you choose another path, then I’ll be behind you one hundred percent.”

I kiss him quickly. “Thanks, babe. You know, maybe I’ll go into the bakery business with Daisy. The last time she was pregnant, she was miserable. This time, she’s as happy as a lark. It might have something to do with the mouth-watering French pastries she’s been sampling.”

Vince puts an arm around me, and I lay my head on his shoulder. “Maggie, you’re not a baker.”

I let out a long breath. “I know but the time we spent in Hawaii gave me a taste of unmitigated bliss and I’m not ready to lose that feeling.”

Vince nods silently and then kisses me tenderly. “Me neither baby, but it’s all about balance.”

“You’re right,” I say quietly. “I think I’m afraid of working myself into another frenzy. When it comes to work, I haven’t learned the concept of moderation.”

He kisses me on the forehead. “I can help you with that.”

I lean back slightly. “Thank you, but who’s going to help you?”

He chuckles. “Maybe we can help each other.”

“Well, that’s a recipe for disaster.”

Vince nods as he thinks. “Or maybe we could get some help. Rob is seeing a real good therapist, and the shrinking is definitely working for him. He’s like a whole new person.”

“I have to agree with that.”

“Maybe a therapist can help us find that balance.”

I bop my head as I consider the ramifications of seeking counseling. There are no downsides, only an upside. “Okay, let’s do it.” Suddenly, a bruise on Vince’s right foot catches my attention. “What happened to your foot?”

He twists his leg to get a better look. “Didn’t I tell you? I almost got hit by a car.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t know the near collision left you bruised.”

Vince shakes his head and throws his hands up. “Damn car sideswiped me while I was out running yesterday. It was like a Lincoln Town Car or limo or something.”

“You were running on the streets of New York?”

“No, I wasn’t being that kind of dodo.”

I chuckle, and he rubs my back. Every time we see an idiot running on the busy streets of the city, we call him or her a dodo. They’re literally putting their lives in the hands of some of the most aggressive drivers on the planet—New York cabbies for starters.

“I was crossing the street. I happened to look to my right, and there was this black car coming at me at least fifty miles per hour. So I leapt onto the sidewalk, hit my foot against the gutter, and it knocked my shoe off. The side of my foot smashed into the concrete. It could’ve been worse.” He’s massaging his feet like he always does before going for a run.

“Where were you anyway?” I ask.

“On Forty-Eighth and Fifth.”

My jaw drops. “Near the A&Rt Building?”

“We were working late.”

“Yes, but that’s no place to jog, Vince. You know that.”

He pecks me on the forehead. “Don’t worry, babe. I do it a lot. Almost getting hit once out of a bunch of times is pretty good in New York City.”

I’m too exhausted and happy to see him to further debate the dangers of his dodo-like decision to jog near the A&Rt building. Before our three weeks in Hawaii, I hadn’t realized Vince was such a daredevil. He’s the first to parasail over rough water or bungee jump off a rocky cliff, and he even went skydiving twice. He went surfing every morning, and the few times that I went out to watch him, I found out that he’s no slouch. He was good enough to hang in there with the local surfer dudes who own those gigantic waves.

“I see you’re about to hit the pavement again,” I say.

“Before dinner. I have to get rid of some of this pent-up sexual frustration.” He winks.

I sniff and nudge him playfully in the arm. “I know what you mean. Well…” I hop to my feet. “Then I guess I’ll see you when you get back.”

Vince wraps his arms around my waist and draws me back down to the bed. “But first…”

We kiss. Our limbs entangle. Vince’s hands squeeze my breasts, my back, and my waist. Then he slips two hands up under me and grabs two handfuls of my butt cheeks to shove me against his erection. Feeling how ready he is makes me moan and I sink my fingers into his back and caress his scalp as our lips part and he nibbles the side of my neck.

“Vince,” I say with a sigh.

“I know.” Suddenly, he rolls off the bed. “Going for that run.”

I swallow the extra moisture in my mouth as I gawk at his package. “Good idea.”

He starts toward the door then stops. “Oh, wait.” He takes his cell phone out of his pocket and taps out a phone number.

I jerk my head back, surprised. “I thought you lost that.”

“I did. I bought a temporary one at the airport. Just so Langley could stay in contact with me.”

“Oh, like a burner.” My cell phone rings, and I scramble toward the closet.

He chuckles. “Like in
The Wire
.”

I laugh as I open the closet and sweep my purse off the shelf.

“See you in about forty-five minutes, Carcetti,” Vince says, imitating one of the characters.

“As long as you don’t juke the stats,” I say.

We both laugh as Vince winks at me before leaving.

I open my purse and answer the call. Vince picks up.

“By the way, I forgot to say that I love you,” I say.

“I love you too, babe.”

I can hear him smile on the other line. “See you soon.”

He hums in that way he does when he’s full of affection for me. “You bet.”

We end the call.

I
book
us a suite at the Ritz, complete with all the bells and whistles. I can’t resist him any longer. Tonight, after dinner, when we arrive at our love nest, I’m officially breaking the pact.

The doorbell rings twice. More of the wedding party is arriving. None of them are my guests. Monroe said she may be able to fly in early, but Hannah and Cleo are flying in on Friday, the day before the wedding. I wasn’t planning to have any bridesmaids, but since the sisters insisted, I demanded three of my own friends, plus Angelina, whom they had no problem accepting to the lineup because she’s family. On top of that, they seemed impressed with the fact that she’s Jacques Blanchard’s daughter. But it was like pulling teeth to get them to accept Monroe, Hannah, and Cleo. They wanted eight bridesmaids—all family members only.

“Why only family?” I asked.

“Because that has been our tradition,” Lexie had said.

I had to explain that my friends
are
also my family, and if there are bridesmaids, then Monroe, Hannah, and Cleo better be walking down the aisle behind me in their ugly pink dresses. Lexie realized that that was a battle she wasn’t going to win, no matter what arsenal of weapons she threw at me. So instead of conceding, she decided to quit. I thought, how not classy and immature of her.

I pack up Vince’s and my things in order to make our departure from this house quick and painless. When our suitcases and bags are against the wall, ready to go, I check my watch. An hour has gone by, and dinner starts in less than forty-five minutes. To kill time, I take a shower, which lasts fifteen minutes, tops. I get out, put on a powder-blue knee-length dress with short sleeves and fluff out my short blond hair. Ever since Hannah brought the hairstylist Gianfranco to my apartment in New York to give me a new ’do, I’ve rarely had bad hair days. I still wear the short but powerfully sexy hairdo. Now that I look A-OK, I check my watch again just to make sure I have the time right. Dinner starts in five minutes. An hour and a half has passed since Vince went for a jog, and he hasn’t returned yet.

“Where are you?” I mutter, standing at the door.

I do not want to make another entrance into the dining room by myself. Vince was supposed to be there to take the edge off. Regardless, I take a deep breath, open the door, and slowly start on my way. I’m going to kill Vince when he gets back. But first, we’re going to finally make love. I’m sick and tired of being sexually frustrated.

A
s I step
into the dining room, they all turn to acknowledge me for no longer than a snide one second. I gulp nervously and zero in on the one new face that I recognize.

“How are you, Mags?” Robert Tango says.

It takes me a moment to remember that he’s Vince’s best man. One night, while we were at dinner with my parents in Hawaii, Vince received a phone call. He excused himself from the table to answer it. Later that night, he told me that it was a reporter from
M&M Magazine
, the world’s leading design and photography publication. He agreed to give them an interview for a feature they were writing about a struggling architectural firm that Robert had purchased then transformed in a short period of time. Into the wee hours of the morning, I listened while Vince reminisced about the years he spent being best friends with Robert Tango. Their relationship had all the complications and complexities that exist in Jack and Charlie’s relationship.

“Are you really over what happened between Robert and me?” I asked Vince.

“I’m over it,” he said.

I studied him with one eye narrowed. “I don’t believe you.”

Vince turned from staring at the ceiling to look me square in the eyes. “Before you, I never did relationships that well, and before me, neither did you.” He stroked my cheek. “When I first saw you all those years ago in high school, I knew we were a lot alike. You were brave enough to wear who you really were on the outside.”

I chuckled a little. “You hated me.”

“I admired you. Feared you. And actually, I sort of knew I was supposed to love you. That scared the hell out of me, especially since you wanted Rob.”

“You were jealous.”

He sighed hard. “I
was
jealous. But I also knew that you would ruin our friendship.”

“How do you mean?”

Vince covered his eyes with his forearm as if he were about to reveal a deep dark secret. “Because Rob would’ve fallen in love with you, and I was already in love with you.”

I rubbed his arm consolingly. “Babe, you didn’t love me. You just had a high school crush on the new girl.”

He moved his arm up to peek at me. “I wouldn’t expect you to understand, because you’re not a guy.”

“Ha!” I rolled my eyes at how ridiculous that sounded. Vince nudged me playfully in the side, and I curled my waist, moving away from him. “That tickles,” I whined.

We smiled at each other. It was the new us, having fun, reclaiming our inner children, and loving the moments we spent together alone. Then he stroked my cheek again.

“I was afraid of what I felt for you, and that’s why I got involved with Emily,” he said.

“Promise you won’t do that again?”

“I’d never do it again baby. “I’ve accepted that you’re the one, Maggie.”

We weaved our legs together and gazed into each other’s glassy eyes.

“Me too. You’re the only one for me,” I said.

From that moment on, we knew nothing in the world could come between us, especially not Robert Tango. Vince felt as if he had to reconnect with his old friend. He felt bad for letting Robert walk away from A&Rt but happy that Robert had made a success out of himself on his own terms. He said he’d always known Robert had it in him. And so, when we agreed to have a traditional wedding, the only best man for Vince was Robert Tango.

I smile broadly at Robert. “Hey, good to see you.”

Normally, his eyes travel up and down my figure, but they’re not doing that. “Where’s Vince?” he asks.

“Out jogging.” Another face catches my attention, and I wrinkle my eyebrows, hoping my eyes are deceiving me. “Emily?”

She raises an eyebrow as if she has me stuck in checkmate.

“Humph,” Robert says. The tone in his voice makes me force my eyes back on his face.

He’s frowning as he thumbs over his shoulder. “I just talked to Vince before I came in. Is he still out there, talking to whoever pulled up in the black car?”

“Huh?” All the words he just spoke are clashing in my head, trying to sort out something that makes sense. “What black car?”

Robert studies my face for a moment. “I’m sure it was nothing.”

Before anyone else can say another word, I whip around and dash to the front door. I swing it open and look out across the yard at the end of the driveway. There’s a red car, a white one, and one that looks midnight blue but no black car.

“Hey, what’s going on?” Robert asks as he steps up behind me.

There’s a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach, and I don’t know why. “I don’t see a black car,” I say.

After a moment, Robert takes out his cell phone. “I’ll just call him.”

I shake my head. “No. He lost his phone. He’s using a disposable phone.”

“I know.” Robert taps his screen. “Vince told me. I’d been trying to reach him all day.”

I hear a sound from afar. At first, I assume it’s a cricket, but they make a sharp and fast sound. The sound I hear is slower.

“Do you hear that?” I ask Robert.

Robert shakes his head. “He’s not answering.”

The noise stops.

My heart is pounding like a drum. “Call him again.”

I keep my focus on the end of the driveway, where tall trees rise toward the dark sky on both sides of the cement.

“Okay,” Robert says. “It’s ringing.”

I gasp and squeeze Robert’s muscular shoulder. “It’s back.”

“What’s back?”

“The sound. Listen.”

Robert drops the phone from his ear and listens. “Shit. I hear it.”

We look at each other with wide eyes.

“Hey, what’s going on?” someone asks from behind.

Robert and I turn around. It’s Carter.

“I don’t know,” I say then take off toward the sound. “Robert, keep calling,” I yell over my shoulder.

I feel as if I’m moving forward rapidly but gaining no ground. Every cell in my body is telling me that there’s something to worry about. My feet slap the pavement as I rush past the line of parked cars.

Is Emily really here?
The sisters are really trying to rattle me by inviting her for dinner tonight, and their little scheme would’ve worked if Vince weren’t missing. I stop at the end of the driveway, remain still, and open my ears. Robert stops on one side of me and Carter on the other. The chiming is louder.

Carter’s arm shoots past me as she points. “It’s coming from over there.”

We all move in unison. I drop to my hands and knees. The sound is louder. I know I’m not out here alone, but at the moment it feels as if it’s just me, the blades of grass that I’m digging through, and the chiming, which suddenly stops. I sigh and then look over at Robert.

He nods once then dials the number again. “It’s definitely Vince’s phone.”

My heart sinks to my belly. Tears fill my eyes. The ringing starts again.

Carter crawls quickly out toward the road. “Got it!” She turns to face us, holding up the cell phone.

My shoulders collapse. I search up and down the dark street. All there is to see are sidewalk, trees, and an empty road. It’s as if Vince vanished into thin air.

“What the hell is going on?” Robert mutters.

“Do you know who was in the car?” I ask.

Robert shakes his head. “No.”

“Well, what happened? Tell me what you saw.” I shake my hands in frustration.

Robert squints thoughtfully. “We’d just finished catching up. He was going to stretch before he came in. I told him I would see him when he gets inside. As soon as I got to the porch, I looked back to find him talking to someone in the backseat of a black car.”

“What kind of car?” I ask.

“Looked like a Town Car.”

I scrub a hand over my face and sigh, trying to think of anyone we know who drives that kind of car.

“So Vince is missing?” Carter asks.

I study her worried expression then shake my head. “I don’t know.”

“I’m sure he’s okay,” Robert says. “Let me make some calls. He probably just took a quick ride with a friend.”

I stare into Robert’s eyes. Hopping into a car with friends without telling me doesn’t sound at all like Vince.

“He’s fine, Mags.”

“Is everything okay?” Anne calls.

We turn to look at her standing on the porch.

I raise a hand and put on a fake smile. “Everything’s fine!”

“Well, we’re having dinner.” She sounds as if she’s scolding us for leaving the table.

“We’ll be inside, Anne,” Carter says. “Just give us a minute.”

Anne tilts her head. “Where’s Vincent?”

Carter and I widen our eyes at each other.

“Something came up. He’ll be back,” Robert says.

Anne folds her arms. “What came up that was so important that he had to leave without telling me?”

“Something for the company… work,” Carter says.

Robert throws his hands up. “You know how Vince is when it comes to business.”

I close my eyes and try to get a grip. When I open my eyes, Anne is watching us. She’s too far away for me to get a really good look at her expression, but by her body language, I can tell that she’s slightly apprehensive.

“Well… come inside soon. We’ve already started eating.”

Carter smiles. “Okay,” she sings.

As soon as Anne goes back into the house, I release the tension in my body.

Carter’s eyes shift between Robert and me. “So is this the story we’re sticking with, because in less than a minute, Allie is going to walk out that door and demand to know what’s going on?”

I sigh, feeling the weight of the world on my shoulders. “I think we should just keep this between us for now.”

“Then the story is that Vince stepped away to handle last-minute business?” Robert says.

I nod, holding back my tears. “Yes.”

“Then I’ll start making some calls,” he says. “You two go inside.”

Just as Carter anticipated, Allie walks out of the house and asks us what’s going on.

“Nothing,” Carter says.

She and I avoid giving each other grave looks as we walk toward the house. My footsteps are heavy, and my heart hurts. It’s going to take an act of God for me to make it through dinner without breaking down.