Page 9 of Second Chances
“Good. Busy. There are several events going on this weekend that I needed to prepare my team for. I also met with Phil about some of his, uhh, concerns and then he told me that he’s thinking of expanding the event-planning side of the company and he wants me to head it up, which I would love to do,” she paused to take another bite of her salad, thinking to ask him his opinion of Charles’ sister next.
“Do you have an event this weekend?” he asked; his tone suggesting that he might have had other plans for them.
“I’m covering the private premier party for Renée Zellweger’s new film,Bridget Jones’ Baby.Well, usually it’s just her birthday party, but this year it happened to coincide with the premier of the film, so everything got rolled into one”she responded, taking another bite of salad to stop herself from rambling and to watch his reaction.
Darcy’s mouth thinned and hand was holding his fork so tightly that his knuckles were white.Interesting.
“I’m going with you,” Mr. Intolerable responded, matter-of-factly.
“As my date?”
Seriously? I think he knows you mean as his date,she chided herself. She wanted him to go with her; she was going to invite him until he demanded that he go with her.
“Yes.”
“Well, it’s a private event for work; I’m not sure I can or should bring a date.”
Liar.It was a lie, she could bring someone, but she was annoyed with his demands and wanted to see how far he would go.
“I don’t want you going without me,” he responded. His gaze hard and unwavering as it bore into hers.
“Darcy, it’s my job. You can’t just invite yourself or force me to bring you,” she countered, just as resolutely.
His gaze turned to fire as he stood to serve the main course, needing a physical distraction from imminent loss of control.
“I was going to invite you,” Beth continued, softly. She didn’t want to fight with him; she wanted to move forward, not stay locked in this battle for control.
He stopped and gave her a questioning and confused look.
“I was going to invite you,” she said again more firmly, “Until you just demanded that you were coming along. You can’t just order me around, Darcy. This isn’t going to work if we both aren’t equal partners in our relationship.”
He finished serving them in a pensive silence before sitting back down and capturing her gaze again.
“You’re right. I’m sorry,” he said tightly. He sounded pained, but she knew it was from regret over his behavior rather than being forced to apologize. “I don’t have to go; it’s probably better that we aren’t seen in public just yet. I don’t want Cathy to go and do something stupid.”
Cathy?Beth gave him a puzzled look.
“Mrs. DeBourgh,” he clarified.
Oh God - she’d managed to completely forget about her and her threats and then she had to be reminded twice in one day that there was someone out there trying to sabotage their already struggling relationship.
“Well, it’s not really public. It’s a private party so it’s only open to the cast and their close friends but it’s also a masquerade, so no one would know that it’s you,” she explained, hesitantly offering an olive branch to resolve the situation.
“Oh.”Was it her or did he sound disappointed?
She continued to look at him, afraid that he wasn’t going to answer her. Maybe it was too big of a risk, so early in their relationship; she didn’t want to jeopardize her family or Gardiner anymore.
When he saw that she was staring at him, he quickly realized his hesitation. “Of course I’ll go with you,” he said resolutely as he began to eat.
Beth took a few bites of the meal that he had made, taking a second to decompress from their small battle and enjoy the food and the moment.Holy crap,his cooking was amazing, not that she was a food critic, but based on how he seemed earlier, she had wondered what sort of meal she was in for.
“This is really delicious, thank you,” she complimented him, knowing that he seemed anxious about it earlier, even if he would never admit to it.
“Thank you. It’s one of my classics,” he replied, still focusing on the food.
“One of your classics?” she asking with a laugh, “What does that mean? What are the others?”
“I have a set of meals that I consider to be classic crowd pleasers,” he said matter-of-factly.
