Page 2 of Past and Present

“Kitten, you’re CEO of your own company now. You can wear whatever the fuck you want. Male CEOs do not worry about what they wear.”

“Unless they’re posing for the cover of GQ magazine,” Marissa said with a snort.

Lance rolled his eyes. “Are you ever going to stop teasing me about that? And I didn’t even worry about it then. I just showed up and put on what the stylist handed me. I think this outfit looks great. What is it called? A jumpsuit?”

Marissa nodded. It was a Christmas-y green color with silver lace at the neckline. Since they were staying indoors, she didn’t bother putting on a jacket, but she wondered if that would look out of place since it was freezing cold outside.

“Why am I so nervous?” she asked as she slipped her feet into silver pumps.

“It’s normal. But it’s just drinks and small talk. You’ve got a dozen things to talk about with these people and most of them speak our language so we don’t have to dumb anything down. And Kimberly and Jill are here to help us navigate the people we don’t know as well.”

Marissa wrinkled her nose at the mention of Jill Chester. She didn’t like the way the new executive assistant flirted with Lance. Lance insisted Marissa was just being paranoid, but she knew flirtation when she saw it.

“Come on. Let’s go play house.”

That made Marissa frown even more. She hated it when he said things like that. It made her think he didn’t really want to get married. She glanced at the ring on her finger and tried not to scowl. She knew it was partly her fault they weren’t already married, but this time of year put her in a sour mood. Five years ago they’d been planning a Christmas wedding and then all hell broke loose.

Now that they were back together, Marissa had been hoping for a Christmas wedding this year, but it hadn’t happened. Lance thought they should wait until after her company was launched to have the wedding.

She took a deep breath. Their therapist would encourage her to talk about this sort of thing and not keep it inside.

“Can we talk about the wedding after the party? It bothers me when you joke about playing house with me when I’m not playing at all.”

Lance stopped adjusting his bow tie and turned to face her.

“That was brave of you. I’m sorry, Riss, I meant nothing by it. I love living with you and I’m not playing either. It was just a figure of speech. We can talk about the wedding. I promise.”

Marissa gave him a curt nod of approval and checked her hair in the mirror one more time.

“OK then. Let’s go greet our guests.”

2

Sunday, December 9th

Lance

Lance leaned against a high top table that had been set up along the perimeter of his living room and watched the party-goers. He’d largely tried to stay out of the way because tonight was supposed to celebrate Marissa. He enjoyed watching her move about the room, talking to various tech developers and investors. It was fun to watch the difference in her facial expressions as she transitioned from a conversation with one of them to talking to a coder who worked with her in the office every day.

If she could run the business without talking to the stuffy suits as she called them, she would. But he’d convinced her she would reach her goals a lot quicker if she made those connections.

He felt his phone buzz as he sipped a glass of whiskey, and he leaned away from the table to dig it out of his suit pocket.

“Moss,” he said into the phone, not recognizing the caller, but knowing only a handful of people had his number.

“It’s Daphne. Do you plan on marrying my sister anytime soon?”

He rolled his eyes. Daphne was a busybody who liked to stick her nose where it didn’t belong.

“We’re making plans, Daph. I promise you’ll be the first to know when we have something set in stone.”

The woman huffed into the phone. “Well, you should know she was counting on a Christmas wedding and you’re making her very sad that it isn’t happening. And I know you don’t want to wait another year.”

He sighed. Waiting a year was not ideal. But he’d wanted Marissa solidly in her own company before they got married. It just made sense to see her following her own path before they made their union legal. It made his lawyers twitchy, but they weren’t who he was concerned with. He was concerned with his girl and what she needed most.

“I hear you, Daph. Christmas is still a few weeks away and we’re supposed to talk about the wedding tomorrow. Did she put you up to calling me?”

“No. And don’t tell her I did either. She just seemed sad when we talked last that there still wasn’t a date set. And whoever this Jill chick is makes her uncomfortable.”

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