What a Girl Wants (22 page)

She flashed a smile as she turned to leave. “You’re a goddess, Bronwyn.”

On her way back up to her studio, her cell rang. Growling impatiently, she answered it because it was an unknown number. “This is Ariana.”

“Hi, Ariana, I’m Mark Schaffer with Whole Foods. We wanted to discuss possible distribution for your skincare line.”

She frowned. “Weren’t you in contact with Sebastian Tate?”

“Sebastian gave me your direct number and said you were the one to talk to from now on.”

She stopped midstep. What did that mean? Was Sebastian leaving her?

Of course he was leaving. She didn’t want to incorporate his plans, although some of them were good. Still. She may not want his plans, but she thought she wanted him.

“Ms. Warren?”

She shook her head. “This isn’t a good time. I’ll need to call you back.”

“Okay,” he said, sounding puzzled. It probably wasn’t every day someone wasn’t eager to get distributed in his chain. “I look forward to it.”

She murmured a goodbye, hung up, and trudged up to her apartment.

She was still pacing in her main room when her mom and Belle arrived fifteen minutes later. Seeing her mom, she forgot about herself. Belle was right—her mom looked wretched.

She went to her mom and hugged her. “I’m glad you’re here, Mom.”

“What about me?” her sister asked as she closed the door. Then she made a face. “What’s wrong with you? Your hair looks like you’ve been in a cyclone.”

“It’s Sebastian,” she blurted.

“Of course it is,” Belle said, tossing her jacket and purse on a chair. “What did he do?”

“He’s trying to help Ariana get into Whole Foods,” their mother answered as she set her things next to Belle’s.

Belle faced her, hands on her hips. “You want to get into Whole Foods?”

“No, Dad wants me in Whole Foods.”

“That’s a tough market to break into,” her sister said. “Not that your products aren’t good. It’s just competitive.”

“That’s why Dad got Sebastian to help me, because Sebastian is good.” At so many things. She wilted a little at the thought that he may never kiss her again. “But I screwed things up, and he may leave.”

“What does that matter?” Belle sprawled on the futon, her face puckered in confusion. “You don’t want to get into Whole Foods.”

“I don’t, but I have the option of turning them down.”

“Wait”—Belle held up her hand—“are you saying that Whole Foods offered you a deal?”

“No.” She shrugged. “I didn’t give them the chance. I told them I’d call them back.”

“This is huge.” Belle sat bolt upright. “Call them back now.”

She shook her head. “What part of ‘I’m not interested’ is hard to comprehend?”

“But it doesn’t matter if you’re interested,” her sister insisted. “This is a chance of a lifetime.”

She crossed her arms. “It’s what Dad wants, not what I want.”

“What do you want?” Belle asked.

“Sebastian.” She made a face. “I think.”

Lillian came and ran a hand down her ponytail. “How does
he
feel, sweetheart?”

“How does who feel?” Belle demanded. “Dad?”

“Sebastian, you idiot.” Ariana gave her sister a look. They were supposed to be distracting Mom.

Belle raised her hands with a look, as if to say
I didn’t read the script
.

Ariana turned to her mom. “How do you know when you’ve found the right guy?”

“Your heart tells you.”

“Did your heart tell you?”

“It did, actually.” Lillian looked lost. “But your father and I aren’t you and Sebastian.”

“Mom”—Ariana put her arm around her mom’s waist—“are you okay?”

She nodded, but her nod turned into a confused frown. “I think we may get a divorce.”

“What?” she and Belle exclaimed at the same time.

Their mom sat down heavily on the futon. “I think he’s seeing someone else.”

“That’s bullshit,” Belle declared, her eyes blazing with indignation. “Dad knows better than to screw around.”

“It’s not who he is,” Ariana added more calmly.

“That’s the problem.” Lillian frowned. “I don’t know who he is any more. And what am I supposed to think when he starts bringing me flowers and asking me out to dinner after all this time?”

Ariana glanced at her sister, who looked as confused as she felt. “Wait,” she said. “Dad asked you on a date?”

“He
texted
me,” their mom exclaimed. “How insane is that?”

“Is that crazy? It’s how we do.” Belle scrunched her face. “And you went but it was awful?”

“I didn’t go.”

“You didn’t go?” Ariana and Belle repeated together.

Their mom shook her head, chin in the air. “He’s been neglecting me for years, and now he thinks he can just snap his fingers and I’ll fall at his feet? I don’t think so.”

Belle looked at Ariana. “I always thought we got our stubbornness from Dad. Live and learn.”

“What?” Lillian said with a frown.

“Also,” Belle said to Ariana, “you’re no longer the one being stupid.”

She gave her sister a look and then faced their mom. “Maybe you should forgive him for not asking you the way you’d like and just go out with him. He means well, right? See what happens.”

Mom hugged herself, looking miserable.

“Don’t you think you owe your marriage that?” Ariana continued. “Maybe you’re being hard on him. It sounds like he’s trying the best that he can.”

Lillian shook her head, her expression freezing over. “It’s too little, too late.”

That hung in the air, final and depressing for a long beat.

“Man,” Belle exclaimed, breaking the darkness. She moved to the futon and flopped down next to their mom. “For a second I felt left out because I was the only single Warren female, but listening to you guys makes me wonder if I’m not the lucky one.”

“I’m the lucky one,” Ariana said. She looked her mom in the eye. “Hadley James called me today.”

Lillian stilled.

“She wants to get to know me, casually, like a friend.”

“How do you feel about that?” her mom asked.

“Great, because I already have the mother I want.” She sat on the other side of her mom, wrapping her arm around her waist and hugging her tight. “I missed you, Mom,” she whispered.

Lillian clutched her tight that Ariana felt the love her mom had for her. How could she have had doubts? So stupid. Belle had actually been right.

Not that those were words she’d ever utter in her sister’s hearing.

“What about me?” Belle exclaimed.

Laughing and sniffling, she and her mom grabbed Belle and smothered her.

“Want champagne?” Ariana asked when they broke apart.

“Yes,” her sister said enthusiastically, standing up. “Finally someone’s talking some sense.”

‡

W
hat did he want?

He sat in Lara’s kitchen, staring out the window, thinking about it. Ariana had kept asking him, and the answer had been simple.

Now he had doubts, and he didn’t know who to talk to about them.

Actually, he did. He picked up his phone and called London.

“Hello, darling,” Jacqueline Summerhill said the moment she picked up. “I was beginning to think you’d forgotten about me.”

“Not even possible,” he said, already feeling better just by hearing her voice. “Lara Taylor is fairly spectacular, but not even she can eclipse you.”

Jacqueline laughed. “Now I know you’re having one over on me. I know Lara quite well, and there’s no one who can deny she’s absolutely stunning. I take it you’re enjoying your stay with them?”

“Very much. I like San Francisco,” he said more wistfully than he meant to.

“What’s her name?” Jacqueline asked with a smile in her voice.

“Did Portia rat me out?”

“No, you gave yourself away.”

Apparently his poker face wasn’t good even overseas. “Her name is Ariana.”

“She must be very dear to you, if she’s made you upset.”

He frowned. “You can tell?”

“Of course.” She paused. “Isn’t Ariana the woman you went to help?”

“Yes.”

“So I take it the project has been going well,” Jacqueline said in a wry tone.

“I got her on a nationally syndicated show,” he said, knowing she wouldn’t get the irony of it, since she didn’t know Ariana or Hadley James.

“So what’s the problem, Sebastian?”

“What do I want?”

“You want a family,” she replied without hesitation. “You want something satisfying and worthwhile to do with your days. You want the love of friends and the respect of your peers.”

“Wow.” He sat back, impressed. “I want a lot.”

“And you deserve all of it, darling.”

He stared out the window at the charming enclosed backyard. “I’ve been thinking about starting a company that helps small businesses get off the ground. Maybe a nonprofit, where the proceeds go to help people realize their dreams.”

“Viola mentioned that.”

He arched his brow, amused. “Did she?”

“She thinks it’s a brilliant idea.”

“Because it was
her
idea,” he said sardonically.

“No, darling, it was you. If you weren’t who you are, she wouldn’t have suggested it. She only saw what exists.”

“So you think I should do it?”

“No,
you
think you should do it.”

He nodded slowly. “I think I do.”

“Now that that’s settled, tell me about Ariana.”

“She’s lovely in every way, and when I’m with her I feel alive down to my toes. And right now I’m disgruntled with her,” he said honestly. “She didn’t give me full disclosure on a couple important things. I’m really angry, actually.”

“Are her offenses unforgivable? Or perhaps I should ask, are her actions so unforgivable that you’d prefer to live without her?”

The thought of living without her caused his heart to leap in fear. “The thought of being without her is bleak, like being surrounded in black every day for the rest of my life.”

“Then what are you going to do about it?”

“That’s the question, isn’t it?”

Jacqueline chuckled. “I have every faith in you that you’ll find the answer.”

“It’s good someone has faith in me,” he joked.

“But it’s no good, darling, unless you have faith in yourself. And her,” she added.

‡

The Scarlet Huntington. The Passion Suite. 7pm.

E
dward stared at the text, wondering what it meant. It was from Lillian, and The Scarlet Huntington was a hotel on Nob Hill, but that she’d invite him to a room there, much less the Passion Suite, was completely unbelievable.

It had to be spam. Or maybe someone stole her phone.

But what if it wasn’t?

He stared at the message, wondering how he’d find out. He checked the time—6:15. At this time of day, he’d have to leave now to make it across town in time.

He got off the couch and went upstairs to take a quick shower. Putting on fresh clothes, he ran back downstairs and out the door to his car.

He arrived in front of the hotel at 6:58.

Tossing his keys to the valet, he rushed through the lobby and stopped at the reception. “The Passion Suite?”

“Oh.” The young woman blinked in surprise and then smiled knowingly. She pointed to the bank of elevators and told him which floor.

He murmured thanks and hurried to through the lobby. Of course the elevator was the slowest in the world. When he reached the right floor, the doors eased open like they had all the time in the world.

Edward rushed down the hall, coming to a sudden stop when he saw the plaque on the right suite.

The Passion Suite
.

Was she inside?

How could she be? She hadn’t spoken to him in days. She hadn’t really talked to him in years.

Hope choked him as he knocked softly on the door.

He heard nothing—not a rustle or a muffled word. He was about to knock again when the door swung open.

Lillian stood in the threshold, wearing something red and clingy.

He swallowed thickly.

“Come in,” she said, stepping aside.

He wasn’t sure he could. He didn’t think his heart would be able to take it if he stepped inside and found out this was all a joke.