The smile in her voice mocked her younger self. “I learned my lesson that year. It isn’t much different than most people. I got a baby doll instead of Golden Dream Barbie—a baby doll that matched the one they gave my current younger ‘sister.’ Its not really a very interesting story. Everyone has Christmas gifts they wanted as children and didn’t get. It was a long time ago, but I was really upset back then.”
A lot could be said for coming to terms with dreams versus reality, Alex thought, but doing it at eight was harsh. She’d learned her lessons young and what a price she’d paid.
Tugging her even closer, Alex knew he wanted to help her rediscover her dreams
.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“Cheryl,” Eden called as her assistant walked past the open office door.
“Yes?”
“Did you get the report for Passions to Wendi?”
Cheryl made a face. “Last Friday, much good it’ll do. Do you think she’ll find the time to read it?”
Eden smiled, but didn’t answer the question. “As long as she has it, we’ve done our part.”
“You’re doing her part as well as your own,” Cheryl said, her voice lowered a shade.
“Again,” Eden said evenly, “not much we can do about that, at this point.”
Her assistant came to the office door, leaning against the frame. “Do you think there will ever be anything we can do about it?”
“Well,” Eden said, not surprised at Cheryl’s question, “I’ll always be looking for an opportunity.”
“You had it out with Michele weeks ago,” Cheryl pointed out. “And nothing has changed.”
Eden sat for a moment, pondering the observation. Having gone out of her way to keep her assistant out of the line of fire, she knew it looked as if she was knuckling down to Wendi and Michele. The thought rankled, but Eden still didn’t think Cheryl needed to know her exact game plan.
“I’m…working on a few angles,” was all she could say.
“Really?” Cheryl came in and stood on the other side of the desk. “Do you have some ideas on how we can bring that wench down?”
Knowing she was talking about Wendi, Eden kept silent. Even Cheryl would be shocked that Eden was taking Michele down along with Wendi.
“Like I said, I have one or two possibilities,” she confirmed, glancing at the open office door. No one should be in Cheryl’s outer office, but she couldn’t be too careful of who might accidentally overhear. Most of the other employees here shared Cheryl and Eden’s point of view on Wendi, if the office scuttlebutt was to be believed, but there were always one or two people who aligned with the new power.
“Can you give me details?” Cheryl asked, her voice even more hushed. “I’ll shut the door.”
“No details available at this point.” Eden shook her head regretfully. This was the part she hated about the whole damned situation. Here she was lying to her closest employee, in addition to the guy she kept sleeping with. The acid level in her stomach rose at the thought.
Cheryl still stood in the doorway.
“So,” she asked, “have you seen the rock Michele’s wearing?”
“No. Did she buy herself a ring?” Eden asked, absently.
Smirking, Cheryl said, “Probably. It’s an engagement ring from The Boyfriend.”
“Oh.” Eden looked up. It didn’t do any good to hate this whole mess so much.
“I hear she’s talking about a spring wedding,” Cheryl said, her face sober. “It’s not that the old lady doesn’t deserve some happiness, but I think Carl’s just after her money.”
“Maybe not.” Eden didn’t have the reputation for being an excessive optimist, but she sincerely hoped her former mentor’s lover would stick with Michele when the dust settled.
“Well,” Cheryl said with a philosophical sigh, “if she marries Carl, I guess we’re stuck with Wendi.”
“Probably.” There was nothing Eden could do to erase the gloom out of her voice. She knew she had a good chance of pulling off her power play, but she couldn’t work up any enthusiasm about it. Maybe she should consider the anti-depressants, after all. This deceit and treachery was so damned hard.
The phone rang just then.
Eden answered, “Hello. Oh, yes. Thanks for getting back with me, Joe. How are things going in Marketing? The anti-aging cream? Yes, I know we don’t have Michele’s go-ahead on getting set for that ad campaign. Yes, she is talking about reassigning the funding. I just thought we might as well knock around some ideas in case she decides to go ahead with the product, after all. It’s good to be prepared.”
Making a pantomime of leaving, Cheryl exited the room, returning to her desk in the outer office.
Joe’s staticky voice said in Eden’s ear, “So, you think Michele’s going ahead, even with the poor test results?”
“I don’t know. Honestly, Joe. I don’t have a clue. But this sector of the market is so hot right now, we really need this product or something like it. I had a few ad campaign ideas—and you always have ideas—I thought maybe we could have lunch and toss it around.”
“Sure,” Joe said amiably. “I’m free on Wednesday at one.”
***
Wrapping her fingers around the hot cup of coffee, Eden watched baby Haylie crawl across Jessica’s kitchen floor.
“So, she’s actually marrying the leech,” Jessica commented. “I sure as hell hope she’s got a good lawyer on the prenup.”
“If there’s even a prenuptial agreement on the table,” Eden said tiredly. Work had always been demanding, but lately she was beat down and overwhelmed by the volume of details. Product issues and ad campaigns she would have relished digging into six months ago, now seemed like they might pull her under. Maybe she should have gotten a flu shot.
“Michele’s nuts if she doesn’t get the old boy to sign some kind of prenup.”
“Yes.” Eden took a sip of coffee. “But from the looks of everything else she’s doing, ‘nuts’ sounds right on par.”
Jess shook her head, steadying her daughter as the child crawled up on her knee. “Who would have thought a woman as hard-headed as Michele Broussard would go off the deep end like this for a man?”
“Not me.” Eden remembered the years before when Michele actually led the company. She’d seemed indefatigable and filled with enthusiasm for the company she’d built. When had Michele started losing interest in work?
“I mean,” Jessica said, snuggling Haylie onto her lap, “the woman was all business, all the time.”
“Maybe that was the problem,” Eden murmured, mulling the possibilities in her mind. “Too much business—“
“—and not enough nookie,” Jess finished with a grin.
Shaking her head, a reluctant smile on her lips, Eden said, “Your child is going to shock you one day with the language she’s learned from you. It’ll come right back in your face.”
Still grinning, Jessica kissed Haylie’s head. The little girl continued to gnaw on a small plastic-coated book, the pages opened to a bright line-drawing of a ball. “I think I have a couple of years to clean up my language.”
“I doubt it. According to popular wisdom, they grow up faster than you think. Isn’t that right, Haylie sweetie? Mama’s got a foul mouth and soon you’ll be talking smack on the playground of your Mother’s Day Out program.”
Jess laughed, releasing her now-squirming daughter and setting her on the floor. Haylie babbled a baby word or two briefly before scooting off in the direction of the dog.
“So it’s pretty much set that Wendi’s taking over the CEO position when Michele retires? At least until you tell the board members about Wendi’s financial improprieties at her last job?”
Eden nodded, her somberness returning. “The wedding has apparently speeded up the timetable—“
“—which Carl probably knew it would when he asked her,” Jessica finished. “What a sleazy coot.”
“It doesn’t really matter,” Eden said deliberately, her voice flat, “because Michele Cosmetics will no longer be Michele’s by that time.”
“True,” Jess said, throwing her a considering glance as she got up to free the dog from her daughter’s gleeful grip.
“By that time,” Eden said, “the company will either be in my hands or in the process of being disassembled by Alex’s competent crew. Taken apart and sold, piece by piece.”
“You just hate that thought, don’t you?”
“Yes,” she struggled with expressing her feelings, “I’ve given my life to this company, to my career, and I’m damned good at what I do.”
“And here Alex comes tearing it all down? Is there any chance he’ll take over the company and keep it intact? I mean if he knew about the anti-aging product being so good, would he still take the company apart?”
“He will if I let him,” Eden said, the words coming out hard. “And I can’t let him no matter how much I….”
Her words trailed off and she stopped, unable to finish the thought.
“From the few times I’ve met him,” Jessica said, seeming to ignore Eden’s incomplete expression, “it seems that Alex usually gets his way.”
Troubled, Eden looked at her friend.
“I mean,” Jessica said in a carefully level tone, “he’s so charming and intelligent—not to mention hot as the blazes—I think he’d be hard to resist.”
Putting up a hand to rub at the tense spot between her eyebrows, Eden said nothing.
“Are you having a hard time resisting him? Metaphorically, I mean,” Jess clarified. “I know you’re not resisting the sleeping with him part, smart girl.”
Getting up from her chair, Eden paced across to the kitchen counter top. Turning to meet her friend’s gaze, she said in a frustrated voice, “He just doesn’t seem like a jerk. He’s funny and sweet and…loving.”
Her shoulders slumped. “I don’t know who Alex really is. I mean, I
know
he’s lied to me. From all the evidence I have, he set me up, got involved with me on a personal level and is trying to manipulate me into furthering his business agenda. I
know
that’s who he is….”
“But he doesn’t seem like a rat?” Jessica asked, her voice soft, her face sympathetic.
“I don’t know,” Eden said, wheeling around to pace across the kitchen. “Do rats take care of you when you’re sick? Do they send you cases of your favorite candy bar when you’re stressed? Is he just being wonderful to keep me happy until the deal is done? He doesn’t have to do this to get me to go along with the takeover. He’s in possession of my one big ‘secret’ as far as the company knows. Blackmail is simple and straightforward. All he has to do to end my career is tell Michele or Wendi that I lied about being related to George. Wendi would love that! So why is Alex bringing me Payday bars?”
“Did you tell him about your Payday fetish?” Jess asked. “I wouldn’t have thought you’d—“
“No,” Eden agreed. “I didn’t. You know I like to keep my weaknesses to myself.”
“It’s not like we’re talking about a cocaine habit here,” Jessica pointed out dryly.
“I know,” Eden dropped into her chair, staring at the now-cooled cup of coffee. “But Paydays are my secret stress reducer—“
“Paydays and chocolate milk,” her friend said, nodding.
“—and I don’t usually tell the men I date about my leftover childhood dependency.”
“So, Alex just…?”
“Noticed,” Eden finished, a hard, sorrowful note in her voice. “He just noticed. God, why can’t I find a man who cares enough about me to
notice
things like that but who isn’t using me to steal my company?”
“He doesn’t seem like a weasel,” Jessica agreed.
“No.” Eden’s brooding gaze fell sightlessly on the tiled floor.
“Well,” her friend said, “Sorry, but I don’t have any brilliant advice for you.”
“That’s okay,” Eden said with a smile that felt crooked.
“However,” Jessica went on, getting up to rinse her cup out at the sink, “I do think that, for once, you might want to listen to your heart.”
“What exactly does that mean?” Eden asked with a shade of bitterness. “How can I listen to my heart when my head knows very well I can’t trust him? He’s after the damned company!”
Jessica sighed, meeting her gaze. “I know, but maybe this is about more than the company for him. You’ve given your life to this company. Yes, you’ve dated guys, had relationships, whatever, but the company and work have always come first.”
“Okay,” Eden agreed, “So…?”
“So,” Jess said evenly, “you don’t want to end up alone, do you? A work life, but no personal life?”
Eden waited, knowing there was more.
“I’ve had a lot of conflict myself about quitting work and staying home with Haylie. You know how much I’ve felt torn. Felt like I ought to be working. Like I should stay home—do both some how. I’ve also felt angry and resentful at the slow, sometimes unfair promotion process. Big business sucks for women most of the time.”
“Yes.”
“Well, I still feel all that. I still think maybe I ought to get back into the tank with the sharks. But I never regret having a family.” She looked at Eden with solemn eyes. “You don’t even have that. You’ve married the company.”
“That’s not true,” Eden returned, exasperated.
“Yes, it is.”