Authors: Cassandra Cole
CHAPTER THREE
Heather Ingram was pissed.
She sat alone at a window table in the café down the street from her office, a tony little establishment that was usually home to the neighborhood hipsters when the afternoon rush didn’t take over completely.
She ignored the stares and smiles thrown her way by the male patrons passing my. She fiddled with her iPhone and did her best to shut them out as she waited for her tea to cool. Every so often she glanced at her watch.
She was supposed to meet Adam, a ritual they had started a few weeks into their relationship and one she could easily do without.
She hated the place and the people who came there. She would have opted for a classier rendezvous point, but Adam liked the place and she knew that compromises were necessary, although she rarely opted to compromise about anything. That was a side of her Adam had yet to see.
They’d met at the bar during a slow night when he had little else to do than serve her drinks and listen to her complain. She had just been promoted to senior manager in her design firm, a position she had fought long and hard for. It had been a celebratory night, one where she should have been surrounded by friends and coworkers, yet she was there alone.
“You can’t make senior manager at my age without stepping on a few toes,” Heather told him as the wine started to kick in. What she didn’t say was that she had stomped on every toe that ever got in her way; and a few that didn’t.
Heather knew how to get what she wanted. A lack of ambition had never been her problem. She would keep climbing up the ladder to the top, no matter what, and everyone in the company knew that and most resented her for it.
She had proven that hard work, determination, talent, and a complete lack of concern for anyone who got in her way guaranteed that she would continue her climb to the top. The big bosses loved her, and that’s all she cared about.
Then she met Adam Preston, a fucking bartender, for Christ sake. And despite the fact that she probably made more in a month than he made in an entire year, there was something about him that made her feel good about herself. If Adam could love her, maybe she wasn’t such a raging bitch after all.
For whatever reason, she felt comfortable being around him. He was one of the few people she felt that she could truly feel vulnerable around without having to worry about her appearance or her demeanor or manners.
He accepted her for who she was and sometimes she wished she could do the same. That was her struggle… Her heart was growing fond of Adam Preston, but her brain screamed, “He’s a fucking bartender, for Christ sake!”
He has potential, she told herself. With enough time and patience, I’ll be able to shape him into the person I know he can be.
Patience, that’s all it would take. And Heather had a lot of patience.
She knew how to push in subtle hints. She knew how to make him feel like whatever change she wanted from him was actually his idea. She knew how to play the game, and she knew how to play it well.
The only person standing in her way was Adam’s stepsister, Sarah, but Heather had no doubt she could deal with the likes of her.
Heather never understood why Sarah was such an integral part of his life. Adam had talked about her plenty, their history well-known to her after she forced herself to listen to every gag-inducing detail.
She could see where her presence in his life had seemed important at one point, but it had been so long ago that it shouldn’t have mattered anymore. It wasn’t like she was a real sibling… She was a fucking stepsister, for Christ sake!
And Heather had grown to hate her and was certain the feeling was mutual.
Adam and Sarah acted like an old married couple, and that bothered Heather more than anything in the world. Add to that the fact that she never really got along with other women, including Sarah, who seemed impossible to win over.
Heather had stopped trying months ago, but Sarah was a part of Adam’s life and apparently she wasn’t going away. She couldn’t count how many times she had tried to change some little something about Adam just to have his stepsister throw a wrench into her plans.
Heather was also uncomfortable with how much influence Sarah had with Adam’s daughter. To really get Adam onboard, she needed to be able to control the little girl and win her over, something Sarah was also making very difficult.
Heather had actually looked forward to taking the girl to school that morning, a chance to sweet talk her into liking her and make her join team Heather.
When Adam had called and said Sarah would be driving Kelly to school, it had taken every bit of energy inside her not to blow up over the phone.
Patience, she thought, patience.
Unfortunately, patience was not one of Heather’s strong suits.
CHAPTER FOUR
Adam walked into the café cautiously, as if bracing himself for the attitude he was going to get as he saw the frown on Heather’s beautiful face.
He had to admit, she looked ravishing in her two piece suit with matching shoes and accessories. She looked so out of place in the little Bohemian café, which was one of the reasons he liked to meet her there. This was his turf. These were his people. She had to step off her high horse just a little bit to meet him there. He kept waiting for her to suggest they meet at a place more to her liking, but so far so good.
When he slipped into the seat in front of her, she didn’t look up. She flipped through her iPhone with a perfectly manicured nail, ignoring him, giving him the old cold shoulder.
“Are we really going to start the day like this?” Adam asked, giving the waitress his order.
“Like what?” she asked, eyes still downcast.
Adam sighed. “Is this about this morning?”
“I don’t understand what her problem is,” Heather said, finally looking up at him. “She hates me and I have no idea why.”
“Sarah doesn’t hate you,” Adam said with a frown.
“Yes, she does,” Heather countered, deciding to play on the chord for a while. “You don’t see how she looks at me when you’re not looking. It’s like I’m some kind of disease. And she’s turning Kelly against me.”
“Ok, now you’re just being paranoid,” Adam sighed. “Sarah wouldn’t do that.” The waitress set his triple espresso in front of him. He picked up the cup and blew into, grateful for the brief respite, which didn’t last long.
Heather scoffed and took a sip from her cup. She knew how protective Adam was of his stepsister, how defensive. She needed to take things slowly so she wouldn’t piss him off completely.
“Are you sure she’s not in love with you?” Heather asked, raising one perfect eyebrow and pursing her lips.
Adam’s eyes widened. “Are you insane? She’s my sister!”
“I see how she looks at you sometimes,” Heather said with just a touch of accusation in her tone. She did not add,
and I’ve seen the way you look at her
.
“You’re nuts,” Adam said with a dismissive wave.
Heather gave him a little shrug. “You said so yourself, there was something going on between the two of you before your parents married.”
“Before my parents married,” Adam said. “You do hear yourself, right? She’s my sister.”
“Stepsister,” Heather pointed out.
“Whatever,” Adam said, still in disbelief at what she was suggesting. “We’re close, extremely close, but what you’re saying is ludicrous and insulting.”
Heather sighed dramatically and looked out the window. “I was offered a promotion this morning,” she said, changing the subject, already satisfied with the seed she had planted.
Adam smiled. “That’s great!”
“They want me to be regional manager of our top-selling brand,” Heather said, now smiling in excitement. Adam was amazed at how quickly she could shift gears.
“To you!’ he said, holding up his cup in a toast.
She held up her tea cup and tapped it against his. “It’s also triple the pay.”
Adam set their cups aside and took her hands in his and gave them a squeeze, his eyes boring into hers. “Who cares about that,” he said. “The important thing is that you’re getting what you deserve. I’m so happy for you.”
Heather hesitated for a second, returning Adam’s gaze before saying, “There is one thing… I have to move to France.”
“Paris… France?” Of course France, you idiot… Adam’s face sagged as the smile disappeared from his lips.
“Yes, the Paris in France,” she said, sounding more sarcastic than she’d meant to. “I would have to run things from there.”
“Wow… That’s… great?”
“It could be great,” she said, holding his hands tightly when he started pulled away. “I want you to come with me.”
“What?”
Heather gave him the smile that most men couldn’t resist. “Can you imagine us together in Paris? It would be incredible.”
Adam shook his head slowly, blinking as he tried to process what she was saying. “I can’t move to France.”
“Why not?” Heather asked, leaning forward. “You’ll love Paris, Adam. It’s such an incredible city. And it’s so… Bohemian! Just like you!”
“I have a life here, Heather, a daughter. I can’t just up and leave.”
“We’ll bring Kelly with us,” Heather said, her eyes wide and bright. “There are great schools in France and she’ll love it there, I promise. We can build a wonderful life for ourselves, Adam. You, me and your little girl.”
Adam looked stunned. He stared at the table top between them. His eyes blinked rapidly, like he was trying to process the offer she’d just thrown at him.
After a moment, he looked up and asked, “What about Sarah?”
Heather frowned. “What about her?”
“What am I going to tell her?”
“Why does that even matter?” Heather asked incredulously. “This is about us, Adam, about our future. You can’t honestly believe that she would be against your happiness, do you? You said so yourself, she cares about you and Kelly. Don’t you think she’d want you to be happy?”
Adam sighed, looking into his cup as his mind did somersaults. “I don’t know,” he muttered. “This is one hell of a bomb to drop on me.”
Heather smiled and squeezed his hands again. “Take your time,” she said. “I don’t have to give them an answer right now.”
Adam looked up at her. “You’re not going to take it?”
“I want to take it,” she said, shrugging. “I also want you and Kelly to come.”
“I don’t want you to turn this down because of me,” Adam said.
Heather said, “It’s a great opportunity, once in a lifetime, I don’t want to go to France without the two of you.”
Adam suddenly looked like the weight of the world was on his shoulders. He would never ask Heather not to go, but how could he tell Sarah that he would be leaving and taking Kelly with him… to fucking Paris.”
Heather smiled behind her cup. The look on Adam’s face told her that she had him where she wanted.
CHAPTER FIVE
“I’m not going!” Kelly screamed at the top of her lungs.
Sarah froze in her place as she opened the door to Adam’s apartment and saw her niece storming out into the living room with her hands on her ears and screaming to drown out her father’s words.
She’s throwing a fit, Sarah thought, shaking her head as Kelly continued railing against her dad. It was something she did with regularity, thanks to her father’s lax parenting, but this one seemed unusually intense.
Sarah closed the door and dropped her purse on the floor, frowning at Adam as he tried to calm Kelly down.
“Sweetie, I never said we were going,” he was saying. “I’m just asking if you’d like to.”
Kelly shook her head violently, and when her father grabbed her hands she screamed at the top of her lungs, a shriek that made Sarah wince. She watched Kelly hit her father hard in the crotch before running into her bedroom and slamming the door.
Adam sank to his knees in the middle of the living room, head low, sighing heavily. He was doing his best not to blow up in rage. It wasn’t her fault, he told himself. He’d never really gotten the hang of dealing with his daughter’s tantrums properly. It was at times like these that he was thankful Sarah was around. It was one of his major concerns with accepting Heather’s offer.
“That was a little extreme,” Sarah said. “What was that about it?”
“My daughter’s deluded little mind thinks that she can get whatever she wants,” Adam said, getting up and giving his stepsister a quick hug before leading her to the kitchen.
He had been cooking, or at least trying to; the smell of burnt spaghetti sauce filling the small kitchen with a pungent aroma of garlic.
“She reminds me of someone,” Sarah said, smiling. “Do you want me to talk to her?”
Adam shook his head. “No, just let her stew for a bit.”
“She’s six, Adam. I don’t think six year olds stew.”
“Whatever.”
Sarah sighed and opened the refrigerator, taking out a beer and twisting off the cap. It had been a long day, and she had almost decided to skip her daily ritual of passing by to see Kelly. She had convinced herself that it was the girl she wanted to make sure was ok, but Adam needed as much attention as his daughter sometimes. She would probably be cooking dinner for all three of them in a few minutes, anyway.
“You want to tell me what that was all about?” Sarah asked, leaning against the kitchen counter.
Adam sighed as he poured the ruined sauce into the drain and dropped the pot in the sink. He leaned heavily against the sink, and then turned to look at her.
“Heather’s going to France,” he said.
Sarah raised her beer bottle in a toast. “Well c’est la vie and bon voyage!” she said with a smile she didn’t try to hide. She wasn’t going to lie; the news was a huge relief to her. “May she never return!”
Adam bit the inside of his lip and stared at the floor. “She wants me to come with her.”
Sarah stopped mid-sip, lowering the bottle slowly as she registered what was being said. She couldn’t hide the shock on her face even if she tried.
“What do you mean, go with her?” Sarah asked.
Adam shrugged. “Pack everything up and move to France.”
“You’re joking right?” Sarah asked. Adam shook his head slowly. “What about Kelly?”
“Well, if I decide to go, she’d be coming, too,” Adam said. “That’s what her little tantrum was all about.”
Sarah found it suddenly hard to catch her breath. Her knees shook slightly as she reached for a bar stool and sat down. Her eyes searched her Adam’s face for any sign that he was pulling her leg, but she found none. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“No,” she said, her voice coming out as a whisper.
“No?” Adam asked, frowning. “No what?”
Sarah felt like she couldn’t breathe. She placed the bottle on the bar and tried to control her emotions, the tears stinging behind her eyes.
For a second, she felt like her entire world was being torn apart, like she was being robbed of everything she loved. Her heart began to race, and suddenly she felt shivers across her body.
“Sarah, are you ok?” Adam asked, quickly covering the distance between them and placing a hand on her back.
“I’m just, I mean, wow -” Sarah stuttered, and then clenched her teeth to stop the rattling. She didn’t know what to say, the fact that the two people she loved the most in the world might be leaving the country was hitting her hard.
“Sarah?”
“You can’t go,” she said, finally looking up at Adam.
“What are you talking about?”
“You can’t go,” she repeated, her hand reaching for his arm, squeezing it tight. “You can’t take Kelly away.”
Adam frowned. “I know you care, but don’t you think that’s a choice I should make, not you?”
Sarah couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Are you insane? You’re going to just pick up and leave? Leave me here alone, take Kelly, fly to another country with that bitch, and think it’s your choice alone?”
Adam let go of her and stepped back, irritated at what Sarah was saying. “Sarah, I’m going to let you process everything first before you say something you’re going to regret.”
“You can’t go!” she yelled, her tears coming freely now, running down her cheeks.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Adam’s voice rose. “Calm down! You’re acting like Kelly.”
Sarah didn’t know what had gotten into her, but she suddenly felt like he had stuck his hand into her chest and pulled her heart out. She thought she was going to faint. Her breath was coming in short gasps.
“I will not calm down!” she spat at him. “How did you expect me to react? Don’t you tell me to calm down! You can’t drop a bomb like this on me and expect me to smile and congratulate you.”
“This is ridiculous,” Adam sighed, throwing his hands up as he turned away from her. “I have two little girls throwing tantrums simultaneously!”
“Hey, she has every right to be upset!” Sarah yelled. “Kelly hates that woman, and you’re asking her to leave everything behind and live with her? In fucking Paris?”
Adam pressed his lips together in frustration and pointed a finger at her. “You’ve done everything you could to make sure that Kelly hated Heather,” he accused. “Heather’s tried everything to connect with you and Kelly, and you’ve always made sure that never happened.”
Sarah’s eyes widened in anger; flabbergasted that she was being accused of trying to protect her niece.
“Heather doesn’t deserve to connect to anyone!” she screamed. “That woman is bad news. She’s a snake, she’s manipulative, and she’s going to break your heart. I’m not going to sit around and watch while Kelly suffers for your mistakes!”
“So, that’s it?” Adam said, his eyes burning with rage. “I’m not good to raise my own daughter? I can’t take care of her? Is that what you’re saying?”
“Oh, please!” Sarah slammed her hands on the bar. “You can hardly take care of yourself!”
“Well, I’m sorry we’ve been such a burden on you, sis,” Adam hissed.
Sarah felt like punching him in the face. Her emotions were running wild, driving her to say things she didn’t want to say, and it took every ounce of will power to not say more than she had.
She had always cared for Adam, before and after he became her stepbrother. Ever since they were kids, her feelings for him over the years were kept well under wraps as she watched him jump from one bad relationship to the next.
She had always kept her distance, giving him the space he needed, but always there for him when the goings got rough. What he was planning to do was beyond absurd, though, and she couldn’t hide her disdain any longer.
“You know what?” she shot at him. “I’m the one who’s sorry. I’m sorry for ever standing by your side while you fucked up your life. I’m sorry that I watched you make one bad decision after the other and just stood there quietly. I’m sorry I actually supported every shitty relationship you’ve ever gone through because you believed that you knew what you were doing. I’m sorry I let that confident, macho side of you run your life when the only thing you were doing was digging your own grave.”
Adam stared long and hard at her, his mouth moving in words that weren’t coming out.
“You’re making a mistake about Heather,” Sarah said, her voice softening, but her anger still apparent, “and you’re dragging Kelly into this one with you. Don’t screw up the one thing you did right, Adam. Don’t take Kelly to Paris.”
Adam gazed at her with his jaw set. He had heard enough. He wasn’t going to just stand there and take her abuse. He was tired of her judging him, scolding him, making him feel like a total fuckup. Not tonight. Not anymore.
“Get out,” he said, his eyes locked on hers.
Sarah felt his words like a slap to her face. “Excuse me?”
“I said, get out.”
She couldn’t believe this was happening. He was glaring at her with a look she’d never seen from him before. He wasn’t going to back down, not this time.
She said, “You’re kicking me out? Really?”
Adam said nothing.
“Fine,” Sarah said, standing up, her legs barely carrying her. “Just think about what you’re doing to Kelly.”
“I can make decisions for the both of us without your help,” Adam said. “You’re not her mother.”
“Wow…” Sarah said, disbelieving his words. “That’s the cruelest thing anyone has ever said to me.” Tears streamed down her face as she stared at him, waiting for a response that didn’t come.
She nodded slightly and wiped the tears off her face, composing herself as she walked out of the kitchen.
Adam wiped angry tears from eyes as he heard the front door slam shut. It was as if a part of his life had closed along with it.