Chapter Ten #2
There was Willa, the financial advisor. The woman who wore silk blouses and carried a portfolio instead of a diaper bag. The woman who knew which fork to use at dinner and which clients preferred Bordeaux over Burgundy.
And then there was the woman who spent her days watching Tuna swim laps in the pool while she rocked her baby beside a laughing Owen.
I had no idea which version of me he was seeing right then.
Maybe both.
And, unexpectedly, I liked that.
Because Owen didn’t seem overly impressed by the house or the money or the expensive things inside. He’d never once treated me like I was more important because of what I owned.
He just looked at me.
Saw me.
That was becoming a dangerous habit of his.
“Do you?” he asked. My mind was blank. “Play golf,” he clarified.
“Oh, God. Please, for my sake, if at all possible, do not bring up me and golf in the same conversation with anyone in there.”
“Were you stuck in the sand?”
“I was stuck in the woods on the side of the course.”
That deep chuckle of his moved through his chest and burst out as he offered his arm, and we made our way up the steps to the library.
It was an ancient structure, all natural stone, corbels, medallions, and tinted windows.
We stopped in the lobby, checking in with the smartly dressed staff before being guided in toward the library itself.
It reminded me of the libraries at some of the nicest universities, with four floors of endless stacks, Gothic stone accents, and two rows of desks on the lowest level.
Anything modern—computers, printers, televisions—was removed before the party each year.
“Wow,” Owen said, nodding as he took everything in.
“Yeah. The atmosphere is the only thing that makes these events worth it. Well, the atmosphere and the food.”
“Willa,” my boss called, his voice a mix of surprise and annoyance. Almost as if he’d been expecting me to back out at the last moment. Just so he could hold that over my head, write me up about it, get a paper trail going for the eventual firing he planned to do.
“Martin,” I greeted. My smile was plastic and my tone tight, but my boss didn’t seem to notice.
Martin was what you thought of when you thought of an older man desperately clinging to the idea of youth.
His face was pulled tight and artificially tan.
He had thick hair courtesy of a suspiciously long ‘vacation’ trip to Turkey.
The color? Courtesy of his weekly visits to a salon.
Which I knew because his previous secretary had been fired when she’d refused his advances and spilled all his dirty laundry to me as we rode the elevator down together.
He was still a decently good-looking guy, but in my humble opinion, he would have been more handsome if he didn’t look so plastic.
“Martin, this is Owen. Owen, my boss, Martin,” I introduced as the man moved to stand in front of us.
Owen stretched out his hand, and I could tell by the way Martin stiffened that Owen had a punishing grip. Whether that was done intentionally or simply the result of having a manual job and strong hands was anyone’s guess. Either way, I enjoyed the way Martin’s hand was white when Owen released it.
“I’m surprised you could tear yourself away from the baby,” Martin said, making my stomach twist at the mention of her. “When my wife had our babies, she wouldn’t leave the house for months.”
Oh, the bastard.
The comment landed harder than it should have. Not because I didn’t know exactly what he was doing, but because he’d managed to turn something I was already anxious about into evidence that I was failing.
Owen’s hand slid from my arm to curl around my hip instead. I could practically hear his thoughts: Don’t take the bait.
“Luckily, Willa has a huge, very involved family who are always chomping at the bit to get to spend some time with the baby. It makes it easy to take the occasional night out without having to worry about anything.”
I found myself smiling at his profile, thankful for how quick he was on his toes.
“Oden, was it?” Martin, practiced in the art of trying to undermine someone’s confidence, asked, knowing full well it wasn’t.
“Owen, actually. But that’s okay. We all have our off days.” The light slipped from Martin’s eyes. “It was nice meeting you. But I’d like to get Willa a drink, if you’ll excuse us.”
I let myself be led away, casting a glance back to see my boss still looking dumbfounded, before smiling up at Owen.
“You are masterful.”
“I’ve had a lot of experience with men like him.”
“How so?”
“Contracting and doing handyman work. I spend a lot of time in houses like yours. But not everyone who owns them is as down-to-earth as you are. You get a lot of people who like to look down their noses at you because you’re working for them.
I’ve figured out, over the years, how to call them out with plausible deniability. ”
“That is a very handy skill.”
“Do you want something alcoholic or a mocktail?”
I could hear Gracie’s voice in my head, begging me to have fun, to let loose, to not worry about my milk when I had a freezer full of it.
“A mock appletini sounds good.”
Owen took a step forward, placing the order for our drinks, and I felt a strange little tingle of pleasure in my stomach.
Only some men could do things like order for me without giving me the ick. I guess it had to do with what I felt their intention was: to try to dominate me or to do so out of reverence. Nothing about Owen suggested he wanted a woman under his thumb.
“Thank you,” I said when he brought me my absurdly green drink. “I’ve got to know. Why do you have a tux?”
“I was a groomsman for a friend’s wedding. It was the third time in three years. I was paying a fortune in rentals. It made more sense to buy my own.”
“Makes perfect sense to me.”
“So, who else do I need to practice my particular skills on?” he asked, shooting me a smirk as he raised his glass to his lips.
I had to give Gracie credit.
Owen really was the best man for this particular job.
If there was ever a good reason to be away from my sweet baby, it was to watch Owen humble men who tried to get a rise out of me or condescend to him.
“I think you need to meet the Chrises.”