Page 40 of Mostly My Girlfriend
8
A weekafter Paris
Ethan
The room was packed. I’d decided to rent the Space Needle for our annual company gala. We’d invited senior management up from the Nebraska plant and the entire Phoenix team from our main offices was there. I’d invited my parents, but my father declined, saying he wasn’t up for the five-hour flight.
Not sure what that was about. Five hours on a private jet wasn’t like flying commercial. It wasn’t even like flying first class. I wondered if there was more to his refusal, if he was still pissed I’d blown off Christmas this year, but it hadn’t sounded that way.
If anything, he’d sounded…tired? Maybe it was time to talk to him about scaling back his schedule.
Inwardly, I smiled at the thought of me telling my father what to do. Offeringhimlife advice. I didn’t imagine that going well. Most likely I would need to talk to my mother to get a sense if he was pushing himself too hard at the hospital.
Scanning the room, I saw a sea of familiar faces but I had no desire to interact. Jules would handle that. One of her many roles was ambassador to the employees. Making sure everyone felt as if they were valued, respected, appreciated. Asking them about their spouses and their babies as if the hundred-plus employees were family members.
Me? I planned to sit here and sip my scotch and nod occasionally if I caught someone’s eye.
I could see Daniel pushing through the crowd, Kaylee in tow. She looked to be about two years pregnant. Which was an observation I planned to keep to myself. I knew he was over the moon at the prospect of becoming a father. A girl, they were having. Jasmine, after his grandmother.
“My man!” Daniel called out.
I smiled and lifted my glass. “Kaylee, hasn’t this monster found you a chair where you can rest your feet?”
“I keep thinking if I jiggle her enough, the baby might just want to fall out,” she said with a broad smile.
The thought was only slightly disturbing.
“Are you having fun?”
She winced. “There is only so much fun to be had when you’re thirty-five weeks pregnant, but the setting is lovely.”
It was a clear night. The moon was high. Mt. Rainier served as a beautiful backdrop to all the pretty people inside who were drinking and mingling, both in the restaurant and in the viewing areas above.
“You going to talk to anyone here?” Daniel asked me. “Because I have to tell you, as your corporate attorney, you look a little aloof standing all alone in the corner by the bar.”
“That’s legal advice?”
“That’s PR advice.”
“That’s what Jules is for. I’m sure she’s out there somewhere right now, making the rounds, letting everyone know how much they’re appreciated.” I took a sip of my scotch and watched as the expression on Daniel’s face changed.
He looked at Kaylee and she glanced at him and I knew they were hiding something from me. A silent conversation that only they understood. I knew this because it was often how Jules and I communicated.
“What?” I prompted.
Daniel seemed to make an internal decision. “Nothing. I’m sure Julia will be around shortly to talk to you. She’s got news, but it’s her news to share.”
I thought about some of the airline acquisitions we had in the works and wondered if one of them was further along than I thought. That would be great news to start the New Year.
“Ethan…when you talk to her,” Daniel said, leaning closer so he wouldn’t be overheard by the people around us. “Go easy, okay?”
Go easy? That didn’t make any sense. That implied the news wouldn’t be good. Did we lose one of the acquisitions to a competitor?
“Babe, I need to sit now,” Kaylee said, yanking on Daniel’s arm. Instantly, he moved to guide her through the crowd, most likely toward the lobby where I’d had couches set up just so people could get off their feet.
Ten minutes later, I spotted Jules in the throng of people. She was wearing the black cocktail dress she’d worn in Paris and I felt my gut tighten in reaction.
I didn’t like that she was wearing it. I didn’t like that everyone here could see it. This had been my dress—this one and the one I’d bought her.
