Page 37 of Always

“I’m happy too,” Anika said, taking his hand and kissing him softly on the mouth. “I’m very happy.”

It was true, in that moment. She did indeed feel happy.

They flew back to New York that afternoon. Marco would have liked to persuade her to stay longer, but Anika insisted that she couldn’t miss any more work. As he kissed her goodbye outside her building, Anika thanked him for a perfect trip.

“I hope it will be the first of many,” Marco said, kissing her hand once more before releasing her.

Anika’s reception at home wasn’t nearly as pleasant. When Stella found out she had been to Aruba with Marco Moretti, she threw an actual tantrum.

“How could you be so selfish?” she shrieked. “You knew I was interested in him! You did this deliberately to get back at me! You didn’t even know who he was before he came here. You’re just a sneaky, treacherous, deceitful, duplicitous BITCH!”

“Deceitful and duplicitous are the same thing,” Anika said quietly.

Bennet had come out to the kitchen at the sound of Stella’s shouting.

“Stella, don’t be a fool,” he said flatly. “Anika connecting herself to Marco is the best thing that could happen to all of us. It may be the only thing that can save us at this point.”

Anika noticed that her father looked exhausted. He usually kept up a diligent regimen of juicing, tanning, Botox, facials, scalp massage, and hot yoga. Now his hair hardly looked combed.

“I’m doing what Burton suggested, I’m falling in line at work,” Bennet said with great distaste. “But that may not be enough.”

He reached out to take Anika’s hand, holding it between both of his own. Anika couldn’t remember the last time her father had actually touched her.

“We’re counting on you, Anika,” Bennet said. “Stella and I, we depend on you now. The company I built, it’s everything to me. If I were to be cut out…I’m too old to rebuild again.”

Anika had never once heard her father admit to age or weakness before. He was frightening her.

“Please,” he begged her, “please don’t let us down.”

Stella was too proud to say the same. But looking at her pale face, Anika could see that she was equally shocked to see their father like this. It seemed to impress upon Stella the full vulnerability of their position in a way that no warnings from Mr. Burton had done.

Long years of submission to her father and sister made Anika want to assure them that she would do everything she could to help the family. But when it came to Marco Moretti, she wasn’t ready to make any promises.

So she didn’t answer them at all.

Instead, she pulled her hand free from her father’s grasp and walked silently to her bedroom, shutting the door behind her.

* * *

15

When Anika went back to work Thursday morning, she found the office a mess and Gwen in a state of panic.

“What’s going on?” Anika asked.

“Margaret Givens, the woman from the Charities Bureau, she just emailed me. They’ve rejected our submission. They said we haven’t met the requirements for our board of directors.”

“What did she say?” Anika cried. “Show me the email.”

“I’m sorry,” Gwen moaned, as Anika read through it, “I must have screwed up the meeting somehow. She had a lot of questions for me, more than what was on the forms. And honestly, she just seemed to be in a horrible mood.”

“She’s always like that,” Anika said, distractedly. “I know her, I’ve met with her before. I should have been here yesterday.”

“I’m sorry,” Gwen said again. “You haven’t taken a day off in forever and I completely screwed this up.”

“No you didn’t,” Anika assured her. “It’s not your fault. We just need to go over the application again with a fine-tooth comb, get the CPA involved, and Aunt Molly. She’s head of the board of directors. She can restructure the membership, if need be. She’ll be back in town this weekend—I’ll take her the forms, get it sorted out.”

Anika could have kicked herself for agreeing to the trip with Marco. It had been incredible, but the timing couldn’t have been worse. It was completely unlike her to do something so irresponsible.

---