Taylor couldn’t help herself and hugged Mary again.
Mary patted her arm awkwardly. “Okay, thank you.”
Taylor wanted to bow or curtsy or do something to express how grateful she felt as she walked away, but that would be weird, right?
“Oh, and Taylor? I have a question: May I ask why you came all this way and not Mr. Wade?”
With all the excitement, she had sort of left that part out. Perhaps, subconsciously she’d hoped never to have to tell anyone.
“Remember how I told you about Chip’s bet?”
Mary nodded. “Money put to good use, I say, though it doesn’t excuse his behavior.”
“Before I knew the truth about Bennett’s project, I wasn’t so happy about the bet. I’m sure you can understand why. And then there was the fact that Bennett hired me because he hoped that I’d be able to help him get through to you—like I’m some magic woman-CEO whisperer.”
“You did do a fairly decent job getting through to me.”
“Thanks. But uh…I created a training course just to sabotage him. I added things I thought you would hate, like telling him to show he was in charge and to pay you lots of personal compliments.”
To her surprise, Mary laughed. “I guess that explains why Mr. Wade kept talking about my outfit and hair. I thought the man was hitting on me.”
Oh no. Taylor covered her face and groaned. “I’m so sorry, Mrs. Rutherford. So, so sorry.”
“Well, dear, it wasn’t the reason I didn’t want to sell to him.”
It wasn’t? “But I read that quote in the press release.”
Mary waved her hand at Taylor. “Oh you can’t believe a word those vultures say. That quote was pulled from something unrelated I said last year.”
“So-so-so why then?” Taylor asked.
Mary shrugged. “I simply love my company. I’m not ready to retire. But hearing Bennett’s story—I can’t imagine losing my son like that, as foolish and shallow as he is sometimes.”
“Taylor?” Bennett’s deep voice came from the doorway that led out to the small private lobby.
Taylor swiveled and saw a look of utter anger, tinged with hurt, in his eyes.
“Bennett?” she gasped his name. “What are you doing here?”
“I took my plane. And there was no one at the front desk. Just a dribble of what looked like urine across the floor. You told her about Bali?” He sounded somewhere between wounded and shocked.
“Yes. But I was only trying to—”
“And you tried to sabotage my deal.” It wasn’t a question.
Taylor’s heart filled with a thousand little stabbing pains made of guilt and sadness. This was it. The moment she feared. “Yes. And I know there’s nothing I can say to—”
“Anything else you wish to tell me, Ms. Reed,” Bennett said, “since we seem to be getting everything out in the open?” Meaning he was pissed. Beyond pissed. For the deceit and for telling Mary something so private.
Taylor looked at her feet. “Yes, but this really isn’t the time.”
He laughed acerbically. “Oh, no. Don’t be shy, Ms. Reed. Please. I insist. What other secrets have you been keeping?”
“Bennett, please?” Taylor pleaded.
He didn’t say a word, but the look in his eyes was sheer hatred.
Taylor knew he’d never forgive her. Not in a million years. But she couldn’t bear the thought of him discovering there was more. “Your mother is sick. She told me she doesn’t have much time.”
He didn’t blink, didn’t breathe, didn’t change the furious expression on his face. “Get the fuck out of my sight,” he said so coldly that it felt like a nail going into her coffin.
She didn’t want to fight or say anything that might undermine his deal with Mary, so she merely nodded. “I’ll be on my way.” She looked at Mary, who gave her a consoling smile. “Thank you, Mrs. Rutherford. I appreciate your time.”
“Anytime, Ms. Reed. You take care.” Then she looked at Bennett. “Mr. Wade, will you please step into my office? I think we should talk.”
CHAPTER 19
“I seriously can’t believe it,” Sarah said, curling up on Jack’s pink floral couch, holding a cup of untouched tea. “Holly is going to be pissed with you.” Holly was away in London, looking at a new art collection.
“Why?” Taylor asked, sitting in her pink flannel pajamas, sipping from her mug.
“You totally blew it with our dream man.”
Taylor rolled her eyes. “Thanks.”
“I’m just kidding. You never had a chance, anyway.”
“What?” Taylor scoffed.
Sarah laughed. “Sorry. Sorry. Just trying to make you laugh.”
“Don’t. You’re making me feel way worse.” It had been two weeks since she’d returned home, feeling like she might actually die from a broken heart. Jack had taken one look at her, thought the worst, and had gone ballistic, saying that he was going to kick the crap out of Bennett, break his nose, fix it, and then break it again. Finally, after she’d gotten him to calm down and told him the entire sad story, he’d downgraded his desire to kill Bennett to some mere finger breakage.
From then on she’d stayed in her room, telling everyone she was all right but needed space. Normally, she’d go straight to Holly and Sarah or her family, but something inside her felt broken, and she honestly felt so ashamed for everything: Having misjudged Bennett, her plan to hurt him, actually hurting him, and…ever agreeing to keep his mother’s illness a secret. Somehow, out of all this, she’d ended up becoming an ugly, horrible person while Bennett was like this damaged angel who had reached out to her, looking for a path back into the land of the living. All she’d managed to do was break his wings. She’d failed the one man in the world she was meant to help. Nice, Taylor. Real nice.
“So? You ready?” Sarah said, standing up from the couch.
Taylor set her tea on the coffee table and nodded solemnly. She wished Holly could be here, too, but Sarah was strong as hell. She’d keep Taylor from falling apart.
Taylor rose from the couch, went into the bathroom, and came out holding the little white stick, the tip of it wrapped in clean toilet paper. “Here.” She shoved it at Sarah. “You look and tell me.”
Sarah took a breath, grabbed the thing, and flipped it over. She whooshed out a breath and gave Taylor a shallow nod. “What do you want to do next?”
Fuck. “I don’t know.” She’d honestly been in denial this entire time. She’d told herself things like, “Not everyone gets pregnant every time the condom breaks”; “You don’t even feel sick”; and “You’re always late.” But somewhere deep down inside, she knew the truth. She just hadn’t been ready to face it: I’m pregnant. With Bennett’s child. And he hates me. Shit. What am I going to do?
“You’re keeping it, right?” Sarah asked.
Trying to sort out her feelings, Taylor nodded slowly. “It’s not the way I imagined becoming a mother—I thought I’d have a husband and own a house. A job might be good, too.”
Sarah squeezed her arm. “You’ll be okay, Taylor. You have us. And I’m sure Bennett will help you.”
That was the one thing she didn’t want. Seeing Bennett, having to face him on a regular basis, possibly for the rest of her life wasn’t something she could stomach. He hated her with everything he had, while she loved him. It would be like having her heart broken over and over again. Forever.
And, if for some reason, Bennett decided he didn’t want anything to do with her and the baby, that would be a different sort of tragedy. Either way, though, having this baby would result in a prolonged, emotionally painful situation, and probably not the best for a child. Thank you, river. This is so awesome.
“You are going to tell him, aren’t you, Taylor?” Sarah asked.
Taylor shook her head. “I don’t know, Sarah. I just don’t know.”
“But why do you think he won’t forgive you?”
“You don’t know him like I do. He’s…intense. And I broke his t
rust with something important.” In some ways, what she’d done to him was worse than what his Kate had done.
“You tried to fix a mistake.”
“It won’t matter to him.”
“Taylor, I know this is hard for you. I really, really do. And this probably isn’t the time for a little tough love, so I’ll dial it down a notch because you’re like a sister.”
“But?”
“But every time you’ve assumed something about this man, you’ve been wrong. Really, really wrong. I’ll also point out that keeping the truth from him didn’t work out so well for you last time.”
“You’re right. I know you are. But this is different.” She grazed her hand over her stomach.
“Taylor,” Sarah gripped her shoulders, “you need to grow the hell up. You’re going to have a baby. His baby. You don’t get to decide if he gets to be a father. He does. And it doesn’t matter if you don’t like it. It doesn’t matter if your heart is broken. You have to tell him. It’s his right. I’d say the same thing to you even if I wasn’t a judge.”
—
Taylor’s hand trembled the moment she switched back on her phone—okay, Bennett’s phone. She knew she could call him from her personal cell, but doing this felt symbolic of letting him back into her life. Or, at least, telling him in some weird way that it was what she wanted. But when she called Bennett, the number was disconnected.
She thought it was odd, but then…of course. Why would he keep his number? He doesn’t want to speak with me. And anyone who wanted to reach him would go through Robin anyway, which is what she would have to do.
The next morning she called his office, and it was exactly as she’d feared.
“I’m sorry, Ms. Reed,” Robin said, “but Mr. Wade is out of the country. I’ll let him know you called.”
“Do you know when he’ll be back? It’s kind of important.”
“I’m sorry, Ms. Reed. I’m not allowed to share Mr. Wade’s itinerary. But I promise I’ll tell him you called.”
She knew Robin would keep her word, but would Bennett call?
Taylor could only hope for the best.
She spent the next week dusting off her resume, researching companies, and applying for jobs. Her heart might not be ready to move on, but her bank account and credit cards were itching for some attention. She figured she would work as a consultant in the HR field, because they paid the best, and she’d have more flexible hours for the baby. It would also allow her to pay back Jack every dime.
Yes, she’d swallowed her pride and asked him to let her return that money he’d loaned her a little later so she’d be able to send Bennett a check for the full fifty K right away—the only right choice given everything.
Strangely, when she’d asked Jack for help this time, it wasn’t so hard. Somehow, out of all this, she’d learned that being independent didn’t mean doing everything alone.
Which was why she’d also decided to tell Jack her big news almost immediately. She’d never seen her brother so shocked. And happy. And so convinced it would be a boy. But when she told him she’d planned to get a place of her own once she’d paid him back and had a little money saved, he immediately protested. “Hell no. I’m not letting my little sister go live in some studio apartment with my nephew. You’re staying here with me until he’s born and you’re back on your feet. Or forever. I’ve got this big house and no plans to ever date again. And forget about marriage.”
It was a sweet, sweet gesture, but Jack would eventually get over his broken heart and change his mind. As least she hoped so. But her being there for any length of time would only discourage him from getting back on the horse. It’s pretty easy to ignore the holes in your life when you have very noisy, time-consuming distractions like a baby.
“Thank you, Jack. But I need to stand on my own two feet again. I won’t move far, though, so you can always help with her.”
“It’s going to be a boy. Another Reed man. I’ll teach him everything a guy needs to know about scalpels and fishing and celebrity gossip.”
She loved that Jack was so into this and better yet, hadn’t pushed her to talk about Bennett or what role he would play. Maybe he just knew it wouldn’t help the situation.
An entire week passed before Taylor attempted to call Bennett once more, but she got the same answer from Robin. Only this time, Taylor felt a thousand times more pathetic. She imagined she wasn’t the first woman Robin had had to shoo off.
“Okay. Thanks, Robin. Tell him…never mind. I know you’ve already passed along my first message.”
“I’m sorry, Ms. Reed,” she said remorsefully. “I will tell him you called again.”
Taylor hung up and stared at that phone with the tracking device. She’d been keeping it charged since she’d turned it back on, unable to bring herself to sever the connection. What would happen if she turned it off? Would he even care at this point? Would he come running to see if she was all right? As she stared at the thing she remembered there was one other option: Bennett’s mother.
Oh God. She probably hates me, too. Taylor had broken the promise not to tell Bennett. But what other choice did she have? She dialed the stored number, and it rang twice.
“Hello?”
“Mrs. Wade? This is Taylor Reed. Please don’t hang up.”
“Taylor, why the hell would I hang up, child?”
“I figured you must be mad at me.”
“No, dear. Not at all. In fact, I’ve been meaning to call and thank you.”
“Wh—what for?” Taylor asked, a little stunned by the warm reception.
“Dear, people assume I’m the sort of woman who speaks her mind, but the truth is, I’m not that ballsy. I should’ve told Bennett months ago about my cancer, but I didn’t have it in me. And now that the cat’s out of the bag, it’s brought us closer. He’s…well, he’s a changed man, Taylor. I think I have you to thank for that.”
She’d broken his trust in the worst kind of way, so she wasn’t sure she deserved any thanks.
Mrs. Wade continued, “It’s like a huge weight has been lifted from his shoulders and now he’s opened up. I had no idea what he’d been carrying around all these years, and while it breaks my heart to learn I never met my grandchild, I thank God my boy was spared that day. It was a miracle. A damned miracle. And I think he was saved so he could do good in this world.”
Taylor agreed. Wholeheartedly.
“And what about you? How are you feeling?” Taylor asked.
“Oh. You know. My son has me seeing all of these crazy doctors—he thinks I’m an old fool for simply accepting my diagnosis.”
“He loves you.”
“I know. But when my time is up, it will be up. There’s nothing Bennett can do to stop that. But who knows, maybe I’ll live long enough to meet my second grandchild. Now that would be something, wouldn’t it?”
Taylor began to cry as it sank in that she was carrying that second grandchild. And she wanted so badly to say something, but telling Mrs. Wade before telling Bennett didn’t feel right. On the other hand, if Bennett refused to talk to her, she had an obligation to the woman.
Fine. I’ll try one more time to get ahold of him, then that’s it. She had to start getting on with things no matter how devastated she felt. And being sad couldn’t be healthy for the baby.
Wow. It was crazy how quickly she’d mentally shifted gears to thinking like a mother. When the hell did that happen?
Uh. When you got knocked up?
Oh yeah.
“That would be something wonderful, Mrs. Wade,” she sniffled. “By the way, I really need to talk to Bennett. It’s important. Do you know how I can reach him?”
“Oh, Taylor. I am so sorry, but he is a stubborn mule like his father. I tried talking some sense into him, told him to at least hear what you have to say, but he won’t have it. He insists it will be a cold day in hell when he ever speaks to you again.”
It was as Taylor feared. “I never meant to hurt him—I mean, I di
d at first. I was really, really mad at him, but then I got to know him and…” What was she doing? Commiserating with his mother?
“I’m sure that whatever happened, dear, that you’re not a backstabbing shyster.”
What? He’d called her that? Taylor’s temper began to sizzle. “I did not stab him in the back. I tried to help him and maybe I broke his trust, but…Ugh. Never mind. It’s pointless. Please, when you speak to him, tell him that…” She almost spilled the beans. Almost.
“You are going to Ms. Luci’s party, aren’t you?”
Taylor had gotten another invitation in the mail, which had been odd because she’d never given Luci her address. Maybe Robin had provided it? In any case, she hadn’t really thought about going. She’d had too much on her mind.
Mrs. Wade continued, “Because Bennett will be there. He apparently promised Ms. Luci he’d help her bartend, if you can imagine that. My Bennett is skilled at many things; however, waiting on others is not one of them.”
“Now that you mention it…I guess I’ll be going to the party. Thank you, Mrs. Wade.”
“Call me Mom, dear.”
Taylor smiled. “Okay, Mom.” This time, it didn’t feel so strange. No, not anymore.
CHAPTER 20
The warm, mid-summer Napa Valley evening air heated Bennett’s sweaty face as he moved through the crowded party tent in his tux, wanting to beat the crap out of every guest who asked him for a goddamned refill. For the record, he did not mind pouring champagne as much as he minded what happened next. How much more of this “good will” could one man take? Case in point…
“Ohmygod!” a redheaded woman in a shiny mess of a blue evening gown screamed at the top of her lungs, pointing in his face. “You’re Bennett Wade!”
Bennett bit back a growl and forced a polite smile to his mouth just as his mother had taught him. “Always be gracious,” she’d say. “Remember that not everyone in this world has it so lucky.”
He cleared his throat. “Yes. I am Bennett Wade. And yes, you may take a damned picture with me.”
The woman squealed and clapped. “Ohmygodohmygod!” She dug out a phone from her little purse and handed it to the man who stood by her side, looking like he wanted to take a swing at Bennett.