“Hi Sam,” I say, immediately feeling sorry for her because she sounds nice even though she works for the devil.
“Hi Sophie,” Sam replies, then pauses. “Is it okay to call you Sophie?”
“Of course,” I say warmly. “And I’ve already bought Charlie a christening gift.” It’s perfect, too. I’ve arranged for an artist to paint a mural of Dandy the Lion in Charlie’s new nursery. Ava has been agonizing over what to do to make the room perfect. The artist is a friend of a friend and I know he’ll work with Ava to get it exactly how she wants it.
“Can I ask what you’ve bought?” Sam says, sounding awkward. “Just to make sure I don’t duplicate anything.” That’s just so Liam, expecting his assistant to sort out his gift.
I pull my lip between my teeth. I want to tell her, I do. But Liam has this habit of one upping me anytime I do something nice. He has ever since that day… ugh. The one I don’t like to think about.
It’s like he gets a kick out of annoying me. Like when I hired a singer to serenade them on their honeymoon, and he had a mariachi band arrive at exactly the same time.
This time I’m not giving him the opportunity. “I tell you what,” I say to Sam, who I still don’t want to upset. “Tell him it’s a big secret and I can’t tell him because I don’t want to spoil the surprise.”
“He won’t be happy,” Sam says, clicking her tongue. “He really wants to know.”
Of course he does.
“Tell him to call me if he has a problem. This isn’t your fault,” I tell her.
“I know,” she agrees. “It’ll be fine. He can throw a fit if he wants, it doesn’t bother me. He’s not even in New York at the moment.”
“He’s not?” I frown. “Where is he?”
“In Charleston. Not far from you.”
My stomach tightens. Liam’s here? I don’t like that thought. I can deal with Liam Salinger at a distance. But knowing he’s close?
Yeah, that’s near impossible.
“Already? I didn’t know he would be in town this early.” I know he’s coming for Charlie’s christening, but I thought he’d come at the same time as the rest of his family, just for the weekend.
“It’s a last-minute change of plan,” Sam tells me. “Well, I’d better go. Thanks for taking my call.”
“No problem. It was nice talking with you.”
“You too. Have a great day.”
She disconnects and I pick up my coffee. It’s cooled considerably but I finish it anyway, and try not to think about Liam Salinger being so close. He’ll probably be staying with Ava and Myles. They live in an amazing huge house on Virginia Street, which has a fully equipped guest house that Myles’ brothers – including Liam – use whenever they’re in town.
Luckily Liam isn’t here very often. He’s too busy building his empire to spend time in this little sleepy city in West Virginia. It must be boring to him, after the excitement of New York. Plus, there aren’t models on every corner to hang on his arms.
No, I haven’t been stalking his Instagram.
Okay, maybe a little.
I drop my cup in the trash can next to my desk and stand, rolling my neck. I need to clear my head and a walk around the block should help before I have to go in to update our webpage with the latest forecasts.
“You okay here for a minute?” I ask Madison, because although she’s a great intern, she’s only been here for a few months and is still learning how things work. “I’m going out to buy some lunch. You want anything?”
“I’m fine,” she says, smiling. “Just running some forecasts for you to do the updates with later.” She glances at the currently empty desk in the corner, where our boss, Michael sits. Luckily he’s working the late shift, which means he doesn’t come into the office until three.
It’s ironic that every man in my life right now is a thorn in my side. Okay, not every man. Just Michael and Liam.
Charlie’s a man and he’s definitely not a thorn. Nor is my dad, or Myles come to think of it.
And as I walk out into the warm July sun, I find myself grimacing at the thought of Liam being in town. Because even though Charleston is the state capital, it’s still small, and there’s every likelihood I’ll bump into him at some point.
Which is awkward as hell, because I told him a dirty lie and he believed it. I could live with that when he was hundreds of miles away. But when he’s close I feel uncomfortable. Like I’m about to blurt out the truth at any minute.