AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“He was happy in a way. I think he liked that part of it. He’s down to earth when we are together. So are his siblings. I met West this weekend at his beach house in the Hamptons.”
Quinn burst out laughing. “You know how funny that sounds right? I never thought either one of us would visit theHamptons.”
“Says the woman living in a multi-million dollar house in Lake Placid on the water.”
“Good point,” Quinn said.
“It’s early yet,” she said. “But I really like him. His sister gave me some pointers about work this weekend and that was nice too.”
“That was nice of her,” Quinn said. “Wish I could help you some, but office politics aren’t quite my thing.”
“They don’t seem to be mine either, but I’m getting there.” She thought of how she handled work this afternoon. She was proud of herself but wasn’t sure what tomorrow would bring either.
“Isn’t that life?” Quinn asked. “We have to learn.”
“We do,” she said. “I wanted you to know about Braylon. It’s not like we see much of each other. I haven’t even heard from him today. I might not. Or sometimes I get a text later at night or early in the morning. As you can imagine he works a lot. He travels too.”
“Sometimes it’s good to take things slow. I didn’t have that luxury living under the same roof with Max.”
She heard laughter in the background. “You were sneaking into my bed when the kids were sleeping. Don’t play this off as I put pressure on you,” Max said a little loud.
She giggled. “Quinn. That is horrible.”
“He’s lucky I don’t smack his arm for saying that. But Lara is across the street at her friends and due home any minute and the other two are in bed.”
“I will say, thanks to you, I’ve got relationship goals.”
“Aww,” Quinn said. “That’s a sweet thing to say. Now I’ve got to go fill Max in on why I asked him who West Carlisle was. Do you think maybe Braylon would be interested in coming with you to Thanksgiving so that we can meet him?”
“I’ll ask,” she said. “I’m not sure. He said a few times a year his mother wants them all home. Thanksgiving and Christmas are those times, but he did mention they were all there this summer to meet West’s girlfriend.”
“Oh,” Quinn said. “Do you think that might happen to you?”
“I don’t even want to think of it right now,” she said. Meeting siblings was one thing. Meeting someone’s mother… She’d rather hold off as long as she could for that.
16
MOST IMPORTANT PART
“Lilian, do you have a minute?”
Lilian turned to see Aaron White standing in the hallway where she was filling her water bottle as he asked her that question two weeks later. The Director of Communications—Stella’s immediate supervisor—knew who she was. She’d had to bring materials into his office before when Stella was meeting with him. Not that she’d ever been in those meetings, but it wasn’t as if she was a complete shadow on the wall that she’d often felt like.
“Of course I do,” she said. “Let me just get my laptop if you need to meet.” Then she got thinking she was being presumptuous. “Or actually, maybe it’s just a quick question?”
Aaron smiled at her. He was a nice enough guy in his forties, but he didn’t come out of his wing often to talk to many who weren’t at least managers.
“You can get your laptop,” Aaron said. “How about meeting back in the conference room across the hall?”
She turned her head and saw it was empty. “I can do that.”
She took off with her water bottle and was screwing the top on as she walked quickly to her desk, grabbed her laptop and went back to where Aaron said to meet. He wasn’t there yet, but she didn’t want to keep him waiting.
When he returned a few minutes later, he had Nate with him. Nate was the Vice President of Communications. She knew him, but he didn’t know her.
Good lord, was she in trouble? What a week for Stella to be on vacation.
“Lilian,” Aaron said. “I’m not sure you’ve met Nate Spring. I’m sure you’re aware he is the VP of Communications.”
