Page 11 of Together at Ruby's

All she needed was some fresh ingredients, so she turned to her workmate, Emma. “Will you cover for me?” she asked. “I want to go to the grocery store next door and grab some stuff for dinner.”

“Of course,” her coworker said with a smile. “And just so you know, you’re absolutely glowing with excitement. Something happen?”

“Sort of,” Liza said, smiling back and grabbing her purse she headed for the door. “I’ll just be a few minutes.”

Taking a cart from the queue when she stepped through the sliding doors into the supermarket, she moved toward the first aisle when she saw movement out of the corner of her eye. Glancing over, she was surprised to see an old college friend. “Liza?” the woman asked, and Liza paused as she took in the woman’s appearance—disheveled and honestly a little tired. Liza quickly chalked up how she looked with the fact she had a toddler in the seat of the shopping cart and a baby in a sling around her body.

“My goodness, Anna,” Liza said moving closer. “How long has it been? I haven’t seen you in forever.”

“I know,” Anna said, waving a hand at the children. “I’ve been a little busy. But how are you?”

Liza paused, not sure how to answer. Unlike her friend who had married right out of college and was clearly productive in the baby department, Liza had done almost nothing. “Oh, you know,” Liza said. “Living the best life.”

Anna sighed. “That sounds wonderful,” she said. “No kiddos to hold you back?”

The question stabbed Liza through the heart, but she forced herself to keep a smile on her face. “Not just yet,” she answered. “I’m not even married.”

“You are so lucky,” the friend gushed and then seemed to catch herself. “Not that I’m unhappy with my husband and these little ones, but sometimes I envy people who are smart enough to wait.” Anna gave a little laugh. “They take away your freedom.”

Liza tilted her head.Is that what Tate is afraid of?she wondered.That marrying me and having a baby will take away her freedom?She had never asked what truly made Tate unwilling to sit down and have an honest discussion about it. If she was honest with herself, she simply wasn’t sure why Tate was so hesitant, other than maybe because of money.But we can’t always wait for that. Maybe tonight, over a nice dinner, we can finally talk about it.

After having a difficult day,by four o’clock in the afternoon Tate was convinced her boss, Chad, was ducking her phone calls and not answering her emails. The man was busy, and she understood that, but she also considered him more than just her boss. Of course, they weren’t buddies necessarily, but normally they chatted at least once a day and not always about work. It was confusing when he didn’t make time for her. If she had to guess, he felt somewhat responsible for letting Tate get ambushed with the news her promotion was given to someone else. Although the president of the firm would have made the final decision, Chad would have at least known things had changed.

Going to his office, she would try one more time to see if she could have a short meeting with him in person. She didn’t plan to start an argument or throw a fit over the change in circumstances. Since the day before, she calmed down significantly, but she still wanted some answers. Stopping outside his office, she smiled at his executive assistant. “Any chance that Chad is in?” Tate asked, and the young man averted his gaze, making himself look busy with something on the computer screen.

“Not at the moment,” he said without even looking at Tate. “He’s had a very busy day.”

Getting a sense that the assistant was not being honest with her, Tate frowned. “I’m aware of that,” she said. “But I only need a minute.”

Finally looking at her, the assistant shook his head. “You’ll just have to try some other time,” he said so dismissively Tate wasn’t sure how to react. It wasn’t like Tate didn’t have seniority at the firm and warranted more respect, but the cloak and dagger feel she was getting around the VP job being given to Aurora Price was making her uneasy. Things were simply not adding up.

“All right, I guess I’ll check back later,” Tate said, starting to turn on her heel when a thought struck her. She looked at the executive assistant. “He will be there for my four fifteen meeting to discuss my three biggest clients, won’t he? The one to bring the new hire up to speed?”

“Oh yes,” the young man said. “He still has that blocked off on his schedule.”

“Good,” Tate said. “I guess I’ll see him in a few minutes then.” Walking toward the conference room where the meeting was supposed to be held, she saw through the glass wall that Chad was indeed in the conference room deep in conversation with Aurora. Surprisingly, there was no one else in the room even though Tate had invited a few others. She felt it was beneficial to include a few junior associates if she was handing things off, to help them gain experience and a better understanding of how things were set up at the firm. Apparently, Chad had dismissed them for some reason.Because he wants to keep this meeting private?she wondered.But why?

“Well, hello, Tate,” Chad said when she walked in and set her laptop at the end of the table.

She quickly attached the cable to the projector. “Crazy day, Chad?” she asked, unable to keep the irritation out of her voice. Her boss smiled, but it didn’t look as warm and friendly as she remembered. If anything, he looked a little sheepish.

“It has been,” he answered. “But I’m glad we’re all here now. Let’s get this going.”

“No problem,” Tate replied as she brought up the PowerPoint slides and projected onto the screen. “I think this will take us less than an hour.”

Aurora lifted an eyebrow. “That seems quick,” she said. “I don’t want you to leave anything out.”

“I believe I have a thorough deck of information here, but we can certainly do a Q&A afterwards.”

“Fair enough,” Aurora said, leaning back in her chair but not taking her eyes off Tate’s. For a second Tate thought she saw a flicker of something in them but wasn’t quite sure what it meant. Then it struck her—blatant attraction.Am I going crazy?she wondered.What the hell is going on here?

Clearing her throat, she refocused on the laptop and clicked through to the first slide. “As you can see—”

Before she was able to go any further, there was a knock on the conference room door, and Chad’s executive assistant poked his head in. “I’m sorry to interrupt but there’s an urgent call for you, sir. The Matthew’s estate?”

“Good, I’ve been expecting that one,” Chad said standing. “I’m sorry but I have to leave this to the two of you to work out.”

“But…” Tate started, feeling an unusual sense of panic. “We can reschedule.”

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