Page 55 of Wife Unwanted
“Looks can be deceiving.”
“Clearly.”
The door to the office creaked open again and this time, instead of Lauren, it was Nolan who came in. I turned to Harrison. “Talk to you later?” Harrison nodded and left the office. Nolan sank into the same seat Harrison occupied. My brother’s commanding presence was effortless and made him look like he was the occupier of this office instead of theopposite. He leaned back, legs spread, and tilted his chin up just a little like an aristocrat. He rarely brought this kind of domineering energy unless he wanted something from me.
“To what do I owe the pleasure?”
Nolan frowned. The corner of his mouth tilted upward. “No need to be testy. I am just here to check up on you.” He’s heard about it, hasn’t he? Thalia and Nolan rarely spoke if at all, so if he knew anything about the divorce, it couldn’t be from her.
“I am fine.”
“Good.” Nolan folded his arms and lazily darted his gaze around the room. He seemed to take it in as though he hadn’t been here for more than a dozen times. “How’s work?”
I sighed. “Are you going to get to the point? I actually have work to do.” One would think he would be knee deep in work ever since the company he runs, Hawthorne Inc, agreed to a joint venture with one of it’s largest shareholders, our brother-in-law’s venture capital firm. Nolan and Damien Sinclair had waged a brutal war over the control of the company and, just when it seemed like Damien had won and was about to sell our family company piecemeal, until he decided otherwise and chose to work with Nolan instead. Ivy, our sister, had somehow persuaded him not to. How she did it, I will never know. But now that the company was back in family hands, Nolan, Ivy and Damien were getting along again.
“Can’t I visit my little brother every once in a while?”
“Not when you clearly have something you want to ask him.”
He chuckled. “Am I that obvious?”
“I’ve known you for thirty years brother, nothing passes me by.”
“Fine. So let me state my case.” He unfolded his arms and placed his hands flat on the table. “We have a potential seller coming into town for the next couple of weeks.”
“What does that got to do with me?”
“You know them. The Bardwells. I’ve heard they’re friends of yours.”
The Van derMorts were a charming couple in their sixties Thalia and I met on our cursed honeymoon in Greece. Our boat rescued theirs after it nearly capsized. We had to spend an entire week pretending to be a couple happily in love because they happened to be on our boat. And because of our inveterate acting, we ended up making friends with them and every time they come to New York, the Van derMorts always come to our place to visit. I didn’t mind their company, they were fun to be around for a couple that late in age.
“You’re buying out their company?”
“We need to make some purchases to show the investors that the merger is a good idea and their textile business is the perfect downstream purchase. It’s small, well run and I’ve heard the old couple wants to sell their business.”
“What’s that got to do with me?”
“Invite them to your place. Wine them. Dine them and make them pliable to being bought by Hawthorne Inc.”
The Bardwells liked Thalia and I as a couple. If I were to entertain them alone, I doubt they would find me charming. They would ask questions about my marriage that I wasn’t prepared to answer. As for Thalia, I doubt she wanted to spend more time with me than necessary. She had made it clear with the packed bags she pulled up when she handed me the divorce papers.
“Sorry. Can’t be done. Wine them another way.”
Nolan jerked backward. “What? Are you busy or something? You don’t have to be with them for the entirety of their stay. Thalia can entertain them while you’re not around.”
“That’s just the thing. Thalia and I are getting divorced. She’s probably out of my house as we speak.”
Nolan froze. It took him a while to recover his speech, after which he said, “You can’t.”
“Already in process, I’m afraid. Thalia presented me with the papers. I’ve got my lawyer to look at them, you saw Harrison. Soon her and I will be history.”
“Impossible. You can’t just end a long relationship like that. You’ve been together since high school.”
“We were never together in high school. Where the fuck did you get that idea?”
Nolan looked at me like I was growing a second head. “I could have sworn you made sure none of your friends or mine ever tried to date her. Heck, you beat me up for even asking if she had a boyfriend one time.”
My cheeks flushed with embarrassment. “I was a teenager driven by hormones.”
