Page 44 of Sleighing You
Chapter 19
Avery
As Chris’s house filled with people, I grew more and more nervous. It didn’t seem to matter that I’d already met most of the people in this room. But those meetings were different. Jack had brought me in once or twice as a courtesy… to show me plans in motion and see if there was anything I would adjust or change.
He never brought me in to pitch to the board… I’d only ever pitched directly to Jack and Cecilia.
“Hi, Avery.” I spun around to find Mallery standing behind me.Someone I know! Someone I don’t have to make small talk with!I swear it took everything I had not to grab her and pull her into a bear hug.
“Mallery, thank God you’re here. I wasn’t sure you’d make it this year.”
“Are you kidding?” She took a sip of her champagne and looked around the room. “These holiday meetings are always the best. The board consists mostly of my cousins and extended family. Our ‘meetings’ are almost indistinguishable from holiday parties. Basically, on the board, we get a few holiday parties… not just the big one all our employees see.” She rocked back on her heels and took a sip of her champagne. “Unsurprisingly, at these events, inevitably some juicy drama that arises after everyone’s had a few. I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” She brushed her hands through her glossy dark brown waves and smoothed her black dress down over her slender hips. Technically, Mallery was in business attire… her black dress was simple and chic and sleek. But somehow, she and I looked completely different, even though we were dressed similarly.
I gulped, looking around the crowded room, filled with trust-fund socialites who weren’t only born into their wealth… but they had earned their positions, too. These were smart people with MBAs and Ivy League degrees to support them.
“Did Max come?” I asked, desperate to stop my thoughts from spiraling. I glanced around, looking for her husband.
“Oh yeah,” she smiled and gestured toward a small group in the kitchen. They were leaning against the very counter where Chris and I had had our first kiss. “They’re over there talking sports or something. We’ll probably have to sneak upstairs to Facetime the kids to say goodnight soon.” She paused, tilting her head and examining me. “Hey—are you okay?”
My throat felt tight and a sheen of sweat was breaking out along my forehead and palms. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just… nervous, I think.”
Her expression shifted, concerned. “You look pale. Wait right here. I’ll grab Chris—”
“No!” I coughed into my fist and lowered my voice. The last thing I needed was Chris running over here, thinking I was helpless at my first big board event. “I-I just need a little fresh air, I think.”
I backed up until I felt the knob of the kitchen door hit my lower back. Reaching around, I quickly spun and rushed outside without even bothering to put my coat on. Steam lifted from my flesh as the warmth of my body collided with the cold temperature outside.
Shit… it was freaking frigid out. I should have thought to grab my coat. I hugged my arms into my body and shivered.
“Here,” a low, feminine voice said beside me. I glanced to my left to find Helena sitting in a chair on the deck, smoking a cigarette. She had her fur coat on, and a blanket draped over her lap. Lifting the blanket up, she extended it toward me. “I’m almost done and you need it more than me.”
“Thank you,” I said and took the blanket from her, wrapping myself inside it.
“It’s stifling in there, huh?” she asked.
I nodded. “A little, yeah.”
Helena looked glamorous. Her sleek blond hair and professionally applied makeup looked like she had just stepped out of a perfume ad. She wore a dark green dress and a fur coat over top. Pulling the cigarette to her lips, she took a long drag between her scarlet painted lips and released the ring of smoke into the frigid night air.
“I hate these events,” she said in a strange moment of honesty. I wasn’t sure what to make of her right now.
“Really? You seem so poised.”
“I didn’t say I wasn’tgoodat them. It’s why men like Chris ask me to come.”
MenlikeChris… or Chris specifically?“Did he ask you to come tonight?” I gulped, not expecting her to have brought him up so quickly.
She smiled in a sweet, lovesick way that I knew all too well. I wore that same smile earlier this morning, right here in this very house. “He didn’t have to. He and I have this connection. Plus… there’s going to be a motion tonight to vote me onto the board.”
The air punched painfully from my lungs. Helena was joining StoryBook’s board? Did that mean I would have to work with her… thatChriswould have to work with her, see her regularly?
Helena tilted her head, sizing me up. It was a practiced art form, and though it seemed harmless, I knew better. She was like a cat—delicate and beautiful, but also cunning enough to know to wait for the right moment of attack. One moment, you thought you were friends, and the next, you had bloody scratch marks down your arm.
“I’m actually surprised to seeyouhere tonight,” she said and ashed her cigarette onto the ground. “Do they usually invite their hourly employees to board meetings?”
I stood taller, and even though my stomach was quivering, I kept my voice eerily steady. “I can’t speak for all their store managers, but they’ve invited me in the past. Is thisyourfirst meeting?”
She gave a short, huffyhmmthat released through her nose with her exhale. “I’ve seen you before somewhere,” she said, avoiding my question.
