17. Merrick
17
MERRICK
“H ow long will you be in New York again?” Wren ask as she sits on my bed, watching me pack.
Almost a month has passed since our encounter with her brother in the parking lot. He is still the only Sterling I’ve met formally, and it is starting to grate on me. The secrecy has been a necessity, but after almost two months of sneaking around—driving out of Wintervale to have dinner and pretending she doesn’t make my heart race at work—it has become too much.
Wren hadn’t gotten any more messages from Holly, but that didn’t stop us from looking over our shoulders either, especially when she disappeared after being suspended.
She hadn’t come back, and she ignored all communication including the certified letter I’d sent officially terminating her employment.
“I’m hoping to keep it to only a week,” I tell her, watching as she picks at the imaginary fuzz on the quilt. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” she says brightly, and I scowl, dropping a few pairs of socks into my suitcase before tipping her chin up to look at me.
“Tell me.”
“I just have feelings about you leaving and it’s pissing me off,” she huffs, but I can see the vulnerability in her eyes, and more than that, it’s the same way I’ve been feeling.
“I know.”
“Do you? Because I’m exhausted, Merrick. The only one I can talk to about us is Beau, and we don’t really have the let’s talk about how many orgasms my sister is having kind of relationship.”
“I think I should be thankful for that, actually,” I muse, trying to lighten the mood, but her frown only deepens.
“I don’t want to be this girl. I’m here all the time, but I don’t know what we’re doing. Is it a fling? Is it something else? Because I shouldn’t have feelings about you going to New York if it’s just a fling.”
“I always enjoy when a woman is annoyed; it means she likes me.” Wren yelps as I scoop her into my arms and sit with her on the bed.
“Happens a lot then?”
“Just you.”
“Doubt it.”
“Wren, look at me.” It’s awkward, but she maneuvers enough to lean back and look at me. Her expression is petulant, and I try like hell not to smile. “I’m dating you,” I tell her as I brush a stray lock of hair back from her face. “And when I’m back from New York, we can talk about it. I just need you to trust me, okay?”
“I don’t love it,” she admits, and this time I let my lips twitch up into a grin.
“And I appreciate that even though you don’t love it, you’re giving me a chance.”
“It’s because you look really good in a suit.”
“And out of one too, right?” I tease, rolling us so I’m braced on my forearms over her.
“It’s definitely a bonus.”
“I’m going to miss you too.”
“I never said that.”
“You didn’t have to, Hellcat. I heard you loud and clear.”
Instead of waiting for her retort, I press my lips to hers.
I kiss her until she melts into me.
I kiss her until I start believing this will all work out.
* * *
I press my phone to my ear the second I step through the automatic doors of the airport and onto the streets of New York, the driver having put my bags in the trunk without a word like we’ve done this a thousand times.
Because we have.
This was my life before I went to Montana.
Living in airport terminals and working every minute of the day was akin to breathing. But all that had stopped the second Wren had glanced in my direction. I no longer want to work from sunup to sundown or plan my next meeting while sitting in the current one.
She’s changed me, and looking around the bustling city with the honking horns and high-rise buildings, I know with every beat of my heart that I never want to go back to this life.
Dialing my father’s number for the second time this morning, I swallow a retort when he answers with a clipped hello.
“I’m headed to the office.”
“I’m not there. There was an issue with your brother that needed to be addressed—a misunderstanding with one of the staff.”
Of fucking course.
Because my asshole brother couldn’t be bothered to be a decent human being—all he had to do was accept one of the many handouts he’d received and work his ass off like the rest of us.
“The only reason I’m in New York was because you said you’d be here.”
“I know, but this couldn’t be helped.” He sighs. “I have five minutes now; I’ll just tell you the good news in this shitstorm.” I hold my breath because undoubtedly we no longer share the same interpretation of the phrase good news. “I’ve got Marco slated to take over the Wintervale account, so as promised, you’ll be able to hand that off in the next couple of weeks and head to Colorado as planned.”
“As much as I appreciate that, I don’t want to go to Colorado. Things have changed, and I want Wintervale to be my home base.”
Silence radiates from the other end of the line, so much so that I fear the call has dropped.
“Merrick, I need to go take care of something. We’ll talk about this more later, but the Colorado account is yours. I won’t let you throw your career away on… whatever it is you’ve found in Montana.”
“Dad—”
“I’ll talk to you later. Your brother is a fucking pain?—”
The line goes dead, and it’s all I can do not to throw my phone out the window and into the street. Has it always been like this? Why didn’t I notice how dysfunctional we all actually are?
I let the questions flit through my mind as we drive through the city that I thought could never be topped.
Money, bars, women, all at my fingertips—anything I desired and more than I could imagine. But a couple of months in a rural town in nowhere Montana has rearranged my blueprint for success.
For happiness.
My father might think it’s a mistake to stay, but I know with every ounce of my being that this thing with Wren is real, and there’s no account in the world that could take me away from her.
I just hope my father will see that too.