Page 17 of All for Love

“Fair enough.” She turned back to me. “What is it, then? This next project you’ve lined up that made you turn down Miranda’s suggestion?”

“It’s, uh, it’s for a large conglomerate. Male-run offices and all male executives, which is fine, of course. It’s not really the fact that they’re men I’m worried about.”

“Why are you worried at all? You’re amazing and they’ll know it soon enough.”

I smiled nervously. “Well, it’s one of the largest companies I’ve worked for and everyone there is intense. It’s competitive and they’re pretty innovative too, so they’re on the cutting edge of so many different things that it’s going to be hard to keep it all straight in my head.”

Sammy lifted her hands up in front of her, gesturing for me to take a deep breath and let it back out again. “You are going to be just fine, Mercedes. Just don’t let them walk all over you. Men tend to like doing that, but you’re a badass businesswoman who knows what your clients need even better than they do. Just do your thing and deliver for them like you did for us.”

“She delivers every time.” Angela winked smugly when she came to join us. “I told you she would, and yet, you doubted me. Was I right, or was I right, ladies?”

Sammy and Miranda exchanged a look and laughed, and Angie turned to me. “Whatever you’ve got coming up next, you’re going to kill it. These two weren’t convinced you were going to solve any of our problems, let alone all of them. Yet here we are.”

“She really did change our lives,” Sammy said. “I want this kind of thing for my house too. Do you know of anyone who can do that for me?”

“Oooh, yes. Me too.” Miranda’s brown eyes stretched open wide. “Could you? After your next project, I mean.”

I laughed. “I guess I could branch into residential organization as well, but I’ve never thought about it.”

“Think about it,” Angie said wisely before wrapping an arm around my shoulders. “You can expand your business however you want, my darling. The sky is the limit. You’ve got an outstanding service and impeccable listening skills, which is why you fixed all our problems so effectively despite these two naysayers.”

Miranda scoffed and Sammy rolled her eyes. I had a feeling they were getting tired of Angie constantly reminding them that it was her idea to hire me, but they took it in good spirits before they left me to socialize with some of the other staff members I’d grown close to.

Pride surged through me at all the compliments I’d received. My work had always fulfilled me, but the way these women were boosting my confidence was something else.

At the end of lunch, I got so many hugs that I had tears in my eyes by the time I left. My phone started ringing on my way, and I scoffed back a laugh when I saw the name on my screen.

“Did you somehow know how I was feeling?”

Mom chuckled but sounded a little taken aback. “All I knew was that I was missing my daughter. Why? How are you feeling?”

“Just overwhelmed. I finished a project today and the clients are so kind. They made me feel like I was a part of their family, and now it’s over, and I’m sad. Proud and happy, but sad.”

“That’s completely natural, darling. I’m glad they were so good to you. You deserve it. You’ve always worked so hard.”

I sniffled, swiping under my eyes as I dragged in a breath and exhaled slowly. “You didn’t call to talk about that, though. What’s up?”

“Oh. Yes. Of course. Before we get to that, are you okay?”

“I’ll be fine,” I assured her. “You just caught me as I was leaving their offices. They threw me this surprise lunch party and it was an emotional moment, leaving after spending so many weeks here.”

“Alright. Well, at least your next project is with family and not just people who will make you feel like you are, which is also why I’m calling.”

“Okay.”

“I wanted to invite you to dinner next Sunday night,” she said. “We want to start a tradition and we thought it was best to just start it instead of waiting months before we do. What do you say, will you be here?”

“I don’t know, Mom,” I hedged. “It might be weird after my first week at the office with Kody and Kaden.”

“Please, darling? I really want you to come. It’s important to us that the family spends time together. This will be a nice opportunity for you to really get to know your stepbrothers outside of the office. Just give it a chance. It might be fun.”

I cringed at the word brothers. I knew that was what they were, of course, but hearing it so casually rolling off her tongue wasn’t a pleasant experience. They wanted us to be a family. To treat each other like real siblings might, which wasn’t going to happen, especially not after what Kody and I had done after the wedding.

But neither she nor their father could ever find out about that. Now I just had to figure out how to turn her down without making her suspicious about why I was doing it.

After spending all week in the office with Kody, I doubted I was going to be up to spending my Sunday night with him as well before jumping into yet another week spending all day, every day in his proximity.

“I don’t know, Mom,” I said again, then screwed my eyes shut and breathed in deep. “Can I think about it?”