Chapter 30
“If you want to call Mr. Manning,” Sarah said, referencing the first name under M in Ms. Moreau’s top secret contact list, “then you need to officially go through his wife first. That is not Mrs. Manning.” Was Abby even paying attention?
God, forget about the new girl, some thirty-year-old who had claimed to have worked for some of LA’s top executives before setting her sights on the East Coast. She was lost the moment Sarah tried to show her the official Moreau shorthand.
“That would be Ms. Templeton. She didn’t change her name when they married twenty-six years ago. ”
Abby sat back in her seat and regarded Sarah with a sour look. “You’re kidding, right? Why do I have to call a completely different person to get to him?”
“Because you’re a woman.”
“I…”
“You’ll find out when you have to call her the first time.
” Ms. Templeton was always convinced that her husband was a cheating scumbag, and every woman calling must be trying to get into his pants.
Which, contrary to what many might assume, meant she had to be called first, lest her husband be caught talking to some unknown woman in his study.
Going through the wife meant fewer surprises for everyone involved.
“Now, Mr. Mathison – the oldest one, not the younger one – is agreeable and usually has an empty schedule these days. He’s a low-priority contact when it comes to arranging meetings. ”
“Just put a bullet in my head.” Abby rubbed her temples. “I can’t remember this shit.”
“You can. You will.” Sarah shrugged.
Alicia popped out of her office, probably on another bathroom run since she was up to one every twenty minutes…
and her personal bathroom couldn’t stand the pressure anymore.
Plumbers had been in and out for the past two days, but she still couldn’t use her own bathroom twenty feet away from her desk.
“How’s it coming along?” Alicia tried to play it cool by standing like she didn’t have to pee a gallon. Again. Unfortunately, I’ve heard the details at her doctor’s appointments. When Danica couldn’t go, Sarah was the one tasked to hold Alicia’s hand for the ultrasound.
For now, anyway. Sarah had formally handed in her two weeks’ notice ten days ago. Only a couple more days before she was officially unemployed. And Luca wasn’t going to hang around much longer, either.
After Jill sobered up and spent a few days in a rehab clinic, they met for mediation.
Jill spent an hour crying based on Luca’s reports.
But she finally relented, saying that it was agreeable to move to Copenhagen if Victor really was better off with his other mother during his primary school years.
In return, Jill could take their son back to America during long vacations.
When Victor got older, he could decide where he wanted to do the remainder of his schooling.
But they wouldn’t be moving immediately. There were plans to make and contracts to see through. A lot of those plans now included Sarah, who had agreed to move to Copenhagen after having a long discussion with her family.
Elizabeth was ecstatic, not only because her daughter was moving to Europe soon, but because she had “snagged” herself a woman like Luca Blackbourne.
Funny. The privileged woman who had married a middle-class American out of love urging her daughter to marry a rich European.
(The fact that Luca was half-American and largely spoke with an American accent hadn’t changed Elizabeth’s opinion.
Luca was based out of Denmark, and that was all that mattered.) In a way, Sarah understood her mother’s point of view.
When hadn’t Sarah been freaking her mother out these past couple of years?
First, the miscarriage that rocked them both out of their orbits.
She didn’t even know I was pregnant until it was too late.
The look on Elizabeth’s face when Sarah went home crying would remain burned in the back of her memory for the rest of her life.
Then, this scandal shone a large spotlight on Sarah’s depraved idea of empowerment.
Elizabeth had never passed verbal judgment on her daughter, but like everyone judged Jill, Sarah knew everyone judged her, too.
She may be in a much better place now, but she also knew it was tenuous.
Moving across the ocean would be both good medicine and a huge shock to her system that may make her embrace old habits again.
Luckily for her, Denmark had some of the best therapists in the world.
She had already interviewed with one of them, so she could start therapy as soon as she arrived.
Naturally, the one who took the news the hardest was Nigel.
At first, it hadn’t crossed Sarah’s mind that she would be leaving her brother for the first time in her life.
Since they were conceived, they shared a home.
Childhood, college apartments, their current abode…
Nigel certainly couldn’t afford it on his own.
Sarah was bold enough to ask Luca if Nigel could come live with them in Copenhagen, and even though she said yes, Sarah had seen the look on her face.
I thought she was annoyed that I was inviting my brother along.
Now she realized that the look was one of disbelief – disbelief that Nigel would ever accept an invitation like that.
He hadn’t. He turned it down the moment Sarah brought it up.
“It’s time, Sarah. We need to live apart for a while. You have your life, I have mine… we’ll always have phones to keep in contact. Besides, it’s an excuse to do some traveling. For both of us. How long has Mum been demanding we have a family reunion in London? Now it will be easier than ever.”
He put on a brave face, didn’t he? Sarah knew him so well that she heard the tremble in his voice that nobody else could.
This was the man who was willing to do whatever it took to protect his sister.
Now, she didn’t need him anymore. Yet instead of losing his mind, Nigel had decided to take his life in a different direction.
Likewise, he didn’t need his sister constantly by his side anymore.
Perhaps that was the usual for most siblings.
Except they were twins who barely spent five minutes apart for most of their lives.
Living on opposite sides of the Atlantic was going to be a challenge at first, but Nigel was already looking at cozy one bedrooms with Carly and talking about a possible promotion at his job.
Maybe he’d finally get that cat he had been wanting for years.
“Ms. Clayborn?”
Sarah snapped back to reality at the sound of Alicia’s insistent voice. “I’m sorry. I have a lot on my mind right now, ma’am.”
“No worries. Are you still available to come with me to Mr. Lowenstein’s?
I really need to get out of here and stretch my legs.
” It was that kind of talk that made her wife grumble that she was going to end up on bed rest. But Danica wasn’t there.
She was one city over, conducting a meeting with a power company interested in funding for new energy conservation research.
While the wife was away, the pregnant missus tried to get in some play.
“Play” meaning a jaunty ride in her car.
Luca popped out of her office. The moment she saw Sarah and her soon-to-be former employer, she approached the desk and said, “Road trip? I have something I need to drop off as well. Why don’t the three of us go in the same car?”
Well, if Luca was going, Sarah couldn’t say no!
Alicia excused herself to finally use the restroom. While they waited for her to finish up, Sarah and Luca discussed who would drive since Alicia’s usual driver was on vacation.
“I like to drive,” Luca reminded her.
“I know exactly where to go.”
“Uh, so do I. He lives two doors down from my ex-wife.”
“I like driving too, you know.”
Luca rolled her eyes. Alicia chose that moment to join them. She was without her female bodyguard, whom Danica insisted on having. Seemed everyone had the day off that day. Soon it won’t be my job to worry about that.
Alicia’s pale, lined face worried Sarah almost immediately.
That was the same face Alicia had when she showed up to work shortly after an assassin paid for by her father-in-law tried to put a bullet in her head.
No wonder Danica loved her so much – and no wonder Sarah respected her.
Alicia was a queen when it came to keeping a poker face under duress.
So something must have been really, really wrong.
“What’s up?” Luca must have sensed it too, for her hand tightened on Sarah’s arm.
“I have something I need to tell you two.” She swallowed. “First, I need you to promise not cause a commotion and to be consummate professionals.”
“Of course.”
Alicia wrapped her arms around her stomach. “I need to go to the hospital. Please.”
“Are you…”
“To be on the safe side.”
She had a false alarm the week before, and the only reason she ended up at the hospital was because she made the “mistake” of telling her wife before anyone else.
Who knew that was a dumb idea? If Danica Moreau smelled a whiff of her wife in labor, everyone’s asses were down at the hospital waiting for the doctor’s official word.
Alicia had grumbled about the wasted three hours on a Wednesday night when she could have been at home. Uncomfortable, but home.
“Let’s go, then.” If Alicia was asking, then she must have thought it was serious enough.
After all, her due date was only a week away.
Who was Sarah to tell her nothing was amiss?
“I’ll drive. I know the direct route to the hospital.
” That would put an end to the discussion about who was driving.
She gets to do all the driving when we get to Denmark. I don’t want to hear it.