AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Hello, Liesel.” They stood there facing each other, neither of them saying anything, a year of memories playing out between them in that empty room.
“I take it you two know each other?”
Keith turned to face him, a wry smile on his face. “You could say that. Dan, this is my ex-wife, Liesel.”
Chapter 3
All the color drained from Dan’s face as he plopped down onto the chair and stared between them, his features reflecting his dismay. He opened his mouth and closed it several times, undoubtedly not knowing what to say to this new development.
He began to loosen the tie around his throat as he sighed audibly. He began to massage his temples, and Keith watched in amusement wondering if he should say anything, or if his manager was going to kill him either way for failing to bring this up.
Dan took a deep breath before he glowered at Keith who did his best to keep his grin in check. It’s not that he wanted to make his manager’s life harder, it’s just that it was really funny from an outsider’s perspective.
“Would you care to explain?” Dan said through gritted teeth.
“What’s there to explain?” Keith plopped onto the seat in front of Dan and opted for nonchalance, as this was clearly the only way to get Dan to calm down. “Liesel and I used to be married once a long time ago, now we’re not anymore.”
He noticed the way Liesel’s eyes flickered over to his, no doubt wondering at his nonchalance, but he wasn’t the same person he was when he was around her. He had changed.
He was sure she had too.
“And you failed to mention this when you hired me because..?”
Keith shrugged. “It never came up.”
Dan slammed his hand on the table causing a nearby vase to rattle. He mumbled an apology under his breath as he gave Liesel a tight smile. “Damn it Keith. This is exactly the kind of thing you should tell me about up front, so I can have the chance to fix it.”
“Well, you have a chance to fix it now,” Keith pointed out as he popped a piece of mint in his mouth.
Dan shot him an incredulous look before he took a deep breath and pinched his nose between this thumb and forefinger. “Okay, okay, I can handle this.”
He turned around to face Liesel who until that moment sat quietly observing them, her hands crossed her chest, her cool business-like composure betraying nothing, but Keith saw a muscle tick in her jaw, and he knew she was mad at him, but it couldn’t be helped. Besides, he owed her nothing now.
“You can handle this right?” Dan asked nervously.
“Of course,” she responded coolly as she organized some files on her desk. “Besides, as Mr. Roger said we were married before, now we’re not.”
Blue eyes met hazel ones, and Keith nearly flinched at the hurt that was reflected there. He supposed he deserved that after sweeping their marriage under the rug like that, but it was in the past.
Keith straightened in his chair and met her gaze squarely. Liesel didn’t flinch, she barely even blinked before she looked away from him and down at the papers in front of her.
“Right,” she began. “So first thing’s first, we can approach this in one of two ways, the first is to have Mr. Roger come forward with the story, or two we can leak it to the press and make him seem almost embarrassed.”
“Embarrassed?” Dan echoed confusing lacing his tone. “Why would he be embarrassed?”
“Liesel was about to be deported, sent back to Germany because her father lost his job.”
Comprehension dawned on Dan’s face. “So you married her to keep her from being deported?”
Keith fidgeted. “Well, yes and no. She was about to be deported, but that isn’t the only reason I married her.”
“What are the other reasons?”
Keith lifted his shoulders up before letting them settle again. He could feel Liesel staring daggers into the side of his head, but he did his best to ignore that prickly feeling and stretched his legs casually as he stared ahead at nothing.
“ Look, Dan, I can’t change the past, but I can work with what we have, I can spin the story either way, work the whole puppy love angle, it would also be better if we leak it to the press, that way we make it seem like he wanted to keep it to himself, a good deed between him and I, not for the rest of the worlds’ eyes.”
“Yes, Yes!” Dan’s eyes began to flicker with excitement as he set a game plan for how the marriage would be leaked to the press, how Keith would pretend to be embarrassed then admit that he loved her and that he did it to keep her with him, but also how the split was amicable, and how they’re working together now.
