Page 35 of The Art of Loving Lacy
“But doesn’t it mean that he doesn’t really like me, or that he’s a user or something, because he didn’t come see me in all that time? Think about it, Dan. Would you put up with that?” Lacy asked. She’d gone over their situation in her mind for hours the evening before. Every time he had free time, she’d said she didn’t, because of that stupid promotion she’d wanted so badly, but the truth was, she’d been just as afraid as he’d said that he had been.
Danica sighed. “I don’t know. You were so happy over that period of time. You weren’t pining away for a man who was treating you badly. He called and texted you every time he said he would. He Skyped and FaceTimed, and he sent emails and cards. It’s not like you were being neglected.”
“You’re not making this any easier,” Lacy said. Her office phone rang. “Hold on.” She lowered her cell to her lap and answered her office phone. “Lacy Snow.”
“Our new client is here. Can you join me in my office now instead of nine?” Fred asked.
“Of course. Give me two minutes,” Lacy said.
“Sure.”
She hung up the phone and returned to the conversation with Danica. “I have to go. My boss wants me to meet a new client.”
“Okay, but listen, Lacy. Maybe you shouldn’t make any snap judgments about Dane. I can help you work through your phobia, and you can figure things out with him slowly,” Danica said.
“I don’t know. I think it’s for the best if we’re not together. I’ve been ignoring his calls and texts, which, let me tell you, was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I’m so used to hearing his voice almost every night that last night was torture. I wasn’t ever lonely before meeting him and now, after talking to him almost every night and then seeing him again”—and touching him—“I’m so lonely. How can I be lonely after seeing him for only one weekend?” Lacy groaned. “I have to believe it’s for the best.”And I’ll just live with a broken heart forever.
DANE SAT ACROSS from Fred Wright, managing director of World Geographic, focusing on the ruse he’d initiated. Lacy could avoid his phone calls and his messages, but she couldn’t avoid a man who was standing before her. His feelings for her were too strong to let them fall away like all those months of getting to know each other—of falling for each other—meant nothing. In many ways, those long-distance conversations had been more intimate than the night they’d spent together in Wellfleet. They meant everything to him, and the changes he was seeing in himself were all because of Lacy. There was no way he’d just let her walk away. He had to at least try to get her to recognize and accept the man he wanted to be, and part of who he wanted to be was the man to help her with her fear of sharks.
His stomach had been tied in knots since he’d settled on the idea. He was taking all sorts of risks. Lacy might go off on him the second she saw him, exposing his ruse and finalizing their breakup all in one fell swoop. Dane hung on to the tiny shred of hope that her job was too important to her to do that.
Lacy walked through Fred’s office door, wearing a white scoop-necked blouse and a pair of fitted black slacks and flashing a businesslike smile. Dane’s heart leaped into his throat. Her eyes swept the room, landing on Dane. It pained him to watch her professional greeting morph into a confused gape. Her finely manicured eyebrows drew together. Her eyes darted between the two men.
“Wha…” she managed.
“Lacy, this is Dane Braden. He’s the founder of the Brave Foundation, and he’s hired us to handle his marketing campaign for the upcoming year.” Fred was a diminutive man with narrow shoulders and a thick waist. He motioned toward Dane with a smile. “I’m sorry I didn’t give you time to prepare. Mr. Braden called the service last night and had me paged. It was too late by the time we wrapped things up to call, and we’ve been working all morning to coordinate a plan.”
“Uh…hello?” she said.
“Lacy.” Dane stood and shook her hand as if he’d never met her, much less ravaged her body a few nights earlier. He’d take his lead from Lacy, play the game her way…sort of. Her hand trembled within his, and Dane put his other hand over it, hoping she’d take comfort in the small embrace and maybe even ease the darts she was casting his way.
Lacy lowered herself into the chair beside Dane with a confused gaze.
Dane breathed a sigh of relief.At least she didn’t call me out right away.He knew he shouldn’t smile, because she might think he was gloating, but he couldn’t wipe the stupid grin from his face. Just seeing her again made his heart sing. It was all he could do not to reach out and touch the soft skin of her cheek.
“As I explained, the Brave Foundation has hired World Geographic to develop their marketing program, promote the brand, and get their name into new media channels. Lacy, Mr. Braden has—”
“Dane, please,” Dane said.
Fred smiled. “Dane, thank you. Dane has requested that you head up the efforts.”
Dane saw her flinch, and the light that her smile brought to the room was sucked away with the confusion and hurt in her eyes.
“But…I’m on an assignment already. And I’ve got—” she said in a thin voice.
“Already taken care of,” Fred interrupted. “Tasha is going to take over your other accounts for the foreseeable future while you immerse yourself in the Brave Foundation activities and get to know their focus and marketplace.”
Lacy drew her eyes to Dane and pursed her lips.
“I heard you were the best,” Dane explained.
“You did?”
He heard the annoyance in her voice.
“From whom?” she asked.
Dane had spent the morning researching Lacy’s previous clients and had come away even more impressed with her abilities than he’d already been. “Oceanic Research, and a good friend at the Boots for Boys Foundation said I couldn’t find a more qualified person for the job.”
