Page 6 of Web of Lies
“It would be,” I say, still smiling. “Let me know when you're going and I'll talk to Adrian.” I start in on my own drink to avoid saying anything else. I don't want to tell her no flat-out, but we both know Adrian won't want to go and that I'll feel too uncomfortable to go by myself.
We enjoy the rest of our dinner talking about everything but Adrian or any trips and I'm so much happier when I hug her goodbye than I was before dinner. Regan is my person. She makes up for me not having any siblings and she's the best friend I could ever have. On the drive home, I sing along to my favorite playlist and think about how glad I am that I have Regan in my life and how grateful I am that she understands that I need to focus on Adrian and our new marriage right now.
Adrian is in the kitchen when I get home. He's thinly slicing tomatoes to add to the sandwich he's putting together and I sit at the island across from him to watch.
“How was dinner?” he asks.
“Good. Regan told me that Conner started a new job.”
Adrian nods but doesn't say anything else.
“They're going to the beach for the weekend soon. She asked if we wanted to go. I told her I'd talk to you.”
He nods again and glances up at me. “Maybe. We'll have to look at our schedule. Let me know when they decide they're going.” He puts the finishing touches on his sandwich and puts everything away before he sits down to eat it.
“I will. What do you want to do for the rest of the night?”
He glances at me mid-bite. “Not much. I've got an early day tomorrow. Are we still on for dinner with your dad on Sunday?”
Ah, yes. The running joke. Everyone laughs that Adrian only wanted to marry me so that he could have dinner with my dad every week. “Yes. He's breaking out the grill.”
“He mentioned something about going on a fishing trip.”
“Yeah,” I nod. “I think he wanted to go up to the lake for a few days. Are you thinking about going with him?”
He shrugs and takes another bite. “I don't know. Maybe. It depends on how much work I can get done. I'd like to, though. It's nice up there.”
I nod again. It is nice up there. We've been going to the lake house since I was little. Some of my happiest and best memories are from summers spent at that lake. “You could take a weekend off and go fishing. The work can wait. That's one of the perks of being married to the boss's daughter.”
He gives me half a smile. “We'll see.”
Chapter Three
Larken
Dad has officially handed me the reins for the weekend. From now until Monday afternoon, I'm responsible for Vincent Solutions. It isn't the first time I've taken charge, but this is the first time I've been responsible for heading an actual meeting. It's nothing monumental, just a quarterly update. It isn't significant to anyone other than me.
Well, me and Adrian. He's been grilling me about what I'll do if this or that catastrophic event happens either during the meeting or the weekend. I've asked him several times if he's worried that I'll make some wild mistake when I say “Thank you for your time, gentlemen. See you next time.” He laughs it off, but within a few hours he's asking another question that makes it seem like he's concerned about my ability to handle things. I'm beginning to think it might be more than just concern.
I've never considered the fact that I have, and will always have, a higher position in the company than Adrian. It never seemed to bother him before, and I'm not sure if that's what's bothering him now. Adrian has never hinted at jealousy, but it's beginning to feel like he might think I'm incompetent. Or maybe he feels threatened that I'm his boss for the next few days? Which makes me wonder what might happen when Dad steps down and hands Vincent Solutions over to me. Surely Adrian can't be threatened by me. I'm his wife, for goodness sake.
All that aside, I tried to convince him to go fishing with my Dad this weekend. I didn't think his workload was that heavy, but he's so stressed and has been distracted and irritable lately. A few days spent fishing on the lake instead of in the office, or at home worrying about the office, would be good for him. He wouldn't go, though. He insisted that he needed to finish up a few projects and he didn't respond to my jokes about it being okay with the boss that he took a Friday off.
Dad left for the lake house last night since he wanted to be there to get out on the water at sunrise. I've gone with him enough times to be glad that I'm not going to be there in the morning to freeze to death on the boat while he's baiting hooks and telling me it's not as cold as I'm making it out to be. One of the few good things about those early-morning fishing trips is the breakfast we get at one of the places in town after Dad decides he's had enough of the fish ignoring him. The other good thing is sitting on the swing drinking coffee and listening to the sound of anything but the city. That might be the best part.
“Are you ready?” Adrian asks as he walks into Dad's office. “The others are starting to gather in the boardroom.” He stops suddenly on his way to the coffee pot and looks at me sitting behind my dad's desk. He just stares. For half a second I think about asking him if he wants to close the blinds to the rest of the office and take the desk for a spin but his expression isn't fun or interested. This might be the first time Adrian has ever looked at me the way he is right now. Like I'm his co-worker. Even before we started dating, when I was just here interning before I claimed my position, he looked at me like I wasme.Not the boss's daughter. Not like I was going to one day run the company. He looked at me like I was just Larken. That's not how he's looking at me now, though, and I don't like it.
My stomach tightens uncomfortably as I hold his gaze, but I don’t look away. “Of course I'm ready. Is everything alright, Adrian?”
He blinks and looks away, letting a small smile pull at his lips. “Everything's fine, babe. Just making sure everything is good to go for the meeting.”
“It's just a quarterly, nothing huge. All I have to do is nod and say 'Moving on'. They just need me to sign off on everything after they catch the whole team up. It's nothing to be nervous about.”
He nods and goes to pour himself a cup of coffee. “You've got everything under control. I guess I'm just not used to you taking point in such a visual way.”
I don't know what to say to that. He's seen me take point in very visual ways, many, many times. My father has made it abundantly clear that I will eventually run this company and we have both been very intentional with the projects I've worked on and the departments I've been in. I have never held a passive position, even during my internship.
“Right,” he says after a slightly awkward silence. “I'm going to go grab a seat before all the good ones are gone.” He leaves the office before I have the chance to ask him anything else.
