The Boss (41 page)

No matter what Neil said, this was his
daughter. Her not liking me might affect things between Neil and I
more than he anticipated.

I wrapped up the hairdryer cord and took it
to my overnight bag to exchange for my curling iron. Okay, so it’s
not like I needed to impress Emma. But I would feel a lot better if
I looked awesome today.

“This is a treat for me,” I chirped as I
plugged in the cord. “I never get to see you shave.”

“Only because you don’t stay the night during
the week,” he reminded me. “You’re welcome to stay over any
time.”

“I know. I still just... need my space. And
my sleep.” I grinned at him.

“Fair enough.” I knew from his tone that he
was trying to act like my rejection didn’t bother him. He put his
razor aside and splashed water onto his face.

While he wiped away the remaining shaving
cream with a washcloth, I casually strolled back to my bag. I
pulled out my toothbrush. It was still wet from when I had used it
that morning. It was also brand new, though I didn’t expect Neil to
have noticed. He watched me in the mirror as he patted his face
dry, then dropped his gaze to the brushed steel toothbrush holder
between the two sinks. I didn’t meet his eyes, but I knew what a
big deal this was to him.

He tried so hard to act as disinterested as I
was acting nonchalant. Both of us were terrible actors.

A giggle bubbled up my throat as I dropped
the toothbrush into the holder. When I looked up, he wiped his face
and tossed the towel on the counter. “Come here,” he growled,
catching me around the waist. He hauled me onto my tiptoes, and
bent his head to kiss me. My fingers dug into his forearms so I
could balance.

It seemed so bizarre to me that such a little
thing would make him happy. And it was just a toothbrush, after
all. A part of my mind argued that it starts with a toothbrush.
Then I’d be leaving a pair of shoes, a portion of my wardrobe, then
Bam!
We were living together. I figured I could most likely
space out those steps pretty wide, though, and there was no reason
we ever had to go beyond “toothbrush,” anyway.

He lifted his head and grinned down at me. “I
fucking love you.”

“I fucking love you, too.” I squeezed his
arms and stepped back. “Come on, we can’t be naked this time when
she gets here.”

Neil was dressed and headed to the kitchen
before I was done with my hair, so I hurried to put on a little lip
gloss and mascara. I dressed super casual, in jeans and a fitted
blue tee. I padded through the foyer on my bare feet, and heard the
sound of a key in the door.

I seriously debated running as fast as I
could, but I didn’t, because I knew I would get caught. The door
opened and Emma stepped in. She forced a smile of resignation, a
wordless,
let’s get this over with
, and said, “Hello.”

“Hi,” I said, offering a half-hearted
wave.

She stood silently for a moment, shrugged,
her eyebrows shooting up as she gestured toward the hallway that
led to the other bedrooms. She went in that direction, towing her
wheeled suitcase behind her, and I went to the kitchen.

Sue, the housekeeper, was at the kitchen
island, grating ginger that smelled like heaven. I was surprised at
how effectively the scent calmed my nervous stomach.

Sue was in her thirties, blonde, tan and fit,
and probably the best private chef in the city. On top of that, she
did the cleaning and the laundry, so I always felt super guilty if
we left our clothes strewn across the floor or something. She
worked from nine AM until eight in the evening, so some mornings I
hurried out of bed and tidied up before she got in.

“Don’t bother to ask her for a crumb, you’ll
be cruelly denied,” Neil warned me from the breakfast table.

“You said you wanted lunch at noon. It’s
eleven-forty. You missed your window.” Sue winked at me. “I will
look the other way if you get yourself a bowl of cereal,
Sophie.”

“No thanks.” I didn’t think my guts could
handle food with the way my nerves were jumping. I got myself a cup
of coffee and slid onto the bench beside Neil. “Emma’s here.”

“Oh?” He looked up, trying to disguise his
alarm. “She was headed to her room. We said ‘hi.’ Don’t panic.” I
sipped my coffee, trying to be a little center of calm while Sue
cooked.

She was nearly finished with lunch by the
time Emma came into the kitchen. Neil got up from the table and
went to greet her.

“Hello, sweetheart,” he murmured, wrapping
her up in a huge hug. “How was your flight?”

“No babies, no hacking coughs.” She shrugged
and stepped back, her hands in her pockets. “Hi, Sue.”

“Welcome home, Emma,” Sue said, looking over
her shoulder from the stove.

Emma’s gaze reluctantly fell on me, because
there was nowhere else to go. “Sophie.”

“Emma.” What else was I going to say?

“The table is set in the dining room.” Emma
gestured over her shoulder with her thumb. “Are we being
exceptionally posh for a reason?”

Neil nodded and came back for his coffee. “I
thought we might all have lunch together. You could get to know
Sophie a little better that way.”

Emma’s eyebrows rose. “What a wonderful
idea.”

We moved into the dining room, with Emma
leading the way. Neil put his hand on my shoulder and squeezed
reassuringly as we passed through the door.

“So, Sophie,” Emma began as she scooted her
chair in. She sat to the right of the head of the table, where Neil
took his seat. “Are you living here now?”

“What?” I took my chair, to Neil’s left. “No,
no, no.”

The corners of Neil’s mouth twitched. “Sophie
stays with me on the weekends. We don’t get a chance to spend much
time together during the week.”

“Ah.” Emma reached for the carafe of ice
water on the table and poured herself a glass. “That explains why
the TV room is in shambles.”

A totally unsubtle shade of red crept up
Neil’s neck.

“I’m only teasing,” Emma chided. “I think
it’s sweet, really. And I’ll be out of your hair tonight.”

“Oh?” Neil lifted an eyebrow, but didn’t meet
his daughter’s gaze. “Will you be staying with - “

“With Michael?” she finished for him. “Yes.
I’ll be staying with Michael. My boyfriend. Of two years. Surely
you don’t have a problem with a twenty- four-year-old woman
spending the night with her boyfriend?”

“Touché.”

Sue emerged from the kitchen and set a huge,
square black bowl on the table. I had gotten way too used to
amazing food. When I went home on Sunday afternoon, I would end up
standing over my stove, staring sadly into a little pot of mac and
cheese. Neil’s housekeeper had spoiled me into major food
dissatisfaction everywhere else.

Lunch was a salad of mixed lettuces, sprouts,
and shredded kohlrabi. On top were three chilled fillets of some
kind of white fish. Sue dished out the food for us - and brought
out a non-fish-touching salad for Emma - and left.

Emma cleared her throat and addressed me.
“Sophie, I feel we got off on the wrong foot the last time we met.
I’m sorry. I didn’t realize my father was dating anyone, and it
came as a bit of a shock. Especially so soon after his
divorce.”

I paused mid-chew, and hastily swallowed. I
took a sip of my water before I answered. “It’s all right. I
honestly don’t know how I would have reacted to catching my mom
with a boyfriend like that.”

Oh god, why did I have to bring up the fact
she’d heard us having sex? Could the floor just swallow me up,
please?

Neil swooped in and saved us. “Sophie is a
beauty editor at
Porteras
,” he said, reaching for his water
glass. “They’ve recently gone completely cruelty free.”

“Have they?” Emma speared some lettuce with
her fork. “That’s very... forward thinking of you.”

“Mm,” Neil intoned noncommittally. “It was
your mother’s idea.” He glanced at me briefly, then down at his
plate. “I’m just keeping
Porteras
warm for her, while she -
”

“Grapples with her inability to do the humane
thing and euthanize her old, yappy dog?” Emma rolled her eyes. “How
is it working out, Sophie?”

Why was she asking me? How the fuck did she
expect me to answer that? Especially now that my head with spinning
at the idea of Neil no longer working at
Porteras
. Why
hadn’t he mentioned this to me?

I knew how she
expected
me to answer,
but I didn’t want to lie. Not just to get her on my good side. So I
didn’t really answer at all. “It’s been... interesting. It’s been a
lot of work, but we’re discovering some cool products we would have
never sought out before.”

There. Diplomatic. Not a lie.

“Oh, I’m so pleased to hear it,” Emma said,
beaming at her father. Then, as she looked back to her plate, she
added, “Lots of untried lipsticks to fill up the pages, and in a
neat ripple effect, no one sprays poison in a rabbit’s eyes.”

“Emma, could you at least dim your
hostility?” Neil asked, sounding perfectly pleasant.

I wondered if all their family lunches went
over like this, or if I was the magic ingredient making it all
possible.

I was ready to settle in for a rough meal
when Emma put down her fork, closed her eyes, and said, “You know
what? You’re right. I’m sorry. Sophie, I am sorry. I have been very
rude to you.”

“Oh?” I don’t know why I sounded so surprised
by that. I already knew she’d been rude. “If it helps any, I’m very
understanding. You could continue being rude to me, and I’d
probably get over it.”

“What an odd thing to say.” She smiled, and
it was actually genuine. “I like that you’re so honest.”

“No one would ever accuse Sophie of
withholding the truth.” Neil said over his water glass.

I thought about Jake and Gabriella and
whatever they were scheming, and my guts knotted up.
Shit. I
should have told him last night, exhausted or not.
I resolved I
would tell him as soon as possible.

“So, how did you guys meet?” Emma sat up in
her chair, very straight, and said, “This is me, putting on my
‘taking an interest’ hat. So you’d better make it good.”

I’d just slid a bite of fish into my mouth,
so I chewed while Neil answered. “We met at LAX. We were both on
the same flight to Tokyo. It got delayed, and we... took the
opportunity to get to know each other better.”

“Gross,” she said with a forced smile and a
nod. Then her forehead creased with confusion. “Wait, you haven’t
gone to Tokyo since we went last year. Were you and Elizabeth-
“

Neil looked like a man who could see the
train coming, but he just couldn’t get off the tracks in time.

Well, she’d liked my honesty before. I hoped
she would still appreciate it now. “It was before they got
together, actually.”

Her narrowed gaze slid to her father, who was
swallowing water at a rapid rate. “Exactly how long before?”

“Six years ago. We met six years ago. I was
eighteen,” I stated firmly, before Neil could try to bluff his way
out of his daughter’s interrogation. Better to get it all out now,
I figured. “If it makes you feel any better, I told him I was
twenty-five.”

Emma pushed her plate back and slowly folded
her hands in her lap. “This was a lovely salad. It’s a shame I
won’t be able to finish it.”

“The way Sophie and I met...” Neil paused and
released a resigned sigh. “Things happened the way they happened,
and I don’t regret any of it. That’s all I can say without digging
myself a deeper grave.”

I snorted. “Look, it’s weird. It’s incredibly
weird. Let’s just face that fact and move on.”

“Good idea,” Emma agreed reasonably. She
smoothed her napkin in her lap. She forced a smile at her dad. “Mum
wanted to know if you’re coming for Christmas, and if you were,
would you be bringing anyone?”

As she asked the question, her gaze slowly
drifted over to me, in the most obvious way possible. Neil answered
cautiously. “We... Haven’t discussed anything yet. Tell your mother
I’ll talk to her this week.”

“Oh, you and Emma’s mom have Christmas
together?” I don’t think my mom and dad had ever even been in the
same room together after he’d left us.

“Every year,” Neil explained. “We tried to
parent Emma as a team as much as possible, even after we
separated.”

“That’s really cool.” My heart hurt a little.
Emma was so lucky to have had a father. But it was totally weird to
think of Neil in that context, at the same time. Here was a woman
my age, who saw him in a completely different light than I did. A
context I could never understand, because I hadn’t had a father.
Maybe that’s why this felt so weird.

“I’m going to go grab my sweater,” I said,
pushing back from the table. “I’ll just be second.”

I’d left my loose, comfy sweater on the
counter in Neil’s bathroom. It had kind of been my escape plan, if
I felt the need to get away gracefully. I’d thought it had worked,
but then I heard a knock on the door.

“Come in,” I called, and quickly touched up
my lip gloss in the mirror, so he’d think that’s what had taken me
so long.

“I am so sorry to spring that question about
Christmas on you,” Neil said as he stepped up behind me. “Valerie
asked me last week. I was meaning to bring it up, but I couldn’t
think of a way to do it without frightening you off.”

“It’s okay. For all you know, I don’t
celebrate Christmas. I might be in a Satanic cult.”

“You could come along,” he suggested. “Stay a
week at my country house. We could celebrate the new year in
Paris.”

My head spun at the thought. I had only been
to Paris once, and that had been on business for the magazine. I
hadn’t had the chance to really enjoy the whole experience. I was
dying to go back.

But Christmas with a romantic partner? That
was a bit heavy, considering we’d just started seeing each other in
October.