Page 15 of No Rings Attached
Once we’d settled in, Ellie pulled her laptop out of her bag and we went over today’s schedule. I needed to review contracts for the expansion and make a few calls, while she went through my emails and decided which ones needed my attention.
I cleared my throat. “I figure by lunchtime we’ll get through the majority of what needs to get done today and then I can show you around. To understand Kingsley Jewelry is to know the town.”
“I’d love that.” She smiled and tapped her pen against her lower lip, then turned back to her screen and typed. “Adding lunch and a tour to your schedule.”
I grinned back. See, we could keep this professional. I was stronger than my base instincts. Just because I wanted to kiss those curved lips until they were swollen with desire that matched mine didn’t mean I had to make a move. My heartbeat may have been knocked off kilter, but I could keep that to myself.
Ihadto keep that to myself. The family business was at stake.
Throughout the morning we worked separately, only conferring as needed, just as we normally did. The only difference was that we didn’t have a computer screen to hide behind. I caught myself stealing glances at her more times than I cared to admit.
I’d just finished up a call when the theme song from Godzilla trilled at full volume.
At her desk, Ellie was frantically fumbling with her phone. She wore an apologetic frown. “I’m so sorry. I thought I’d turned the ringer off.”
I settled back in my chair. “It’s okay to answer.”
She grimaced as she frantically swiped at her phone. “I’d rather not, it’s?—”
“Eleanor? Why do you sound so far away?” A woman’s loud voice came through the speaker.
Ellie picked up the phone in front of her, fumbled it, and accidentally picked up a video call. She closed her eyes in a long blink before opening them and focusing on the screen. “Mom, I’m working right now. It's not a good time.”
The screechy, angry voice on the other end made me want to help, but it wasn’t my place. When she glanced my way, I stood, picked up my mug, pointed at it and the door.Want some?I mouthed.
With a strained smile, she shook her head.
I took my time in the break room, wanting to give Ellie space. After ten minutes I’d already gotten my coffee, chatted with Sheri, the head of our design team, and texted with the construction manager of our first expansion that was set to open just before the Christmas holidays in Boston.
After saying goodbye to Sheri, I headed back down the hall. My office was only thirty feet away, but I walked slowly, giving Ellie every extra second I could.
I’d just turned the corner when Karen stopped me on her way back from the copy machine, photo already out to show me pictures of her newest grandbaby. I made the appropriate noises—“She’s beautiful,” “Look at all that hair,” “You must be so proud”—while my attention kept drifting toward my closed office door.
That’s when a classic floral scent hit me—Chanel No. 5 mixed with something uniquely hers.
Glamma.
She strode toward me like she was walking a Paris runway, somehow making ten o’clock on a Monday morning an appropriate time for the most outrageous fuchsia taffeta ball gown I’d seen outside of a formal event. Only she could pull something like that off.
“Good morning to my favorite grandson.” She pointed at her cheek with one perfectly manicured finger, and I obediently kissed it when she stopped next to me.
“SoI’myour favorite today?” I asked, unable to suppress my smile. She regularly told all of us that.
“Don’t tell the others,” she scolded, though her eyes sparkled with mischief. She linked her arm with mine and began walking with me toward my office. “I was hoping to meet your lovely assistant. The one you can’t seem to stop mentioning at our family dinners.”
Heat crept up my neck. “I don’t?—”
On the other side of the door, Ellie was arguing with someone, and she sounded distressed.
I took off past Glamma, her hand falling away as I twisted the door handle, bursting into the room.
Ellie sat on the chair next to the couch in my seating area off to the side of the room. “This is not a good time for me. I’m here working.” Ellie pleaded into her phone. Her voice was tight in a way I’d never heard before.
And I hated every second of it.
“It’s your duty to support your sister, Eleanor. That’s what family does.”
“Mom, I want Celia to be happy, I do, but can you appreciate for one second how awkward this is for me? Kyle is myex.”
