“I know that. But do you know anything more specific? I mean, you two are pretty close friends.” She twisted her napkin in her lap.
The little upside-down Y formed between Forbes’s brows. “I think that’s something you should ask Major.”
She sighed in frustration. “I have asked him, and he won’t tell me much more than what you just did.”
“Then I can’t believe you’re going around behind his back asking me to divulge whatever he may have told me in confidence. Really, Mere, I thought you had higher principles than that.” Though his words came across as angry, all she could see in his eyes was discomfort.
“I’m just worried about him. He had to leave the banquet early last night—some kind of an emergency. I wanted to make sure everything’s okay, and if not, to see if there’s anything I can do to help.”
With meticulous movements, Forbes unfolded his napkin and draped it across his lap. “As I said, it’s something you’ll have to ask him.” He turned his attention to the wedding talk, effectively cutting off any further questions from Meredith by the angle of his body.
Eventually, the discussion of Anne’s wedding waned. Across the table, Rafe said, “Hey, Mere, how’s the work on your house going?”
“Great. I talked to my contractor this afternoon, and he said it’s looking like they might be done early.”
Rafe’s left brow shot upward. “Your contractor? Would that be the contractor you’ve been dating?”
“I’m not dating him.” Her pulse quickened—she hated being the source of her siblings’ amusement. “We’re just friends.”
“Really? What would you call it when you go out to romantic restaurants for meals alone with him?” Jenn joined in on the teasing.
“I’ve only been out with him a couple of times. We’re still just getting to know each other.” Meredith glanced at Anne for help, but her cousin was listening to something George was whispering in her ear.
Rafe laughed. “You met him on New Year’s Day, right? Jenn would be practically engaged if she’d met someone six or seven weeks ago who’d asked her out.”
“Take it back!” Jenn laughed and punched their younger brother in the arm.
Meredith laughed, too, glad not to be the sole recipient of the ribbing.
“Hey, did y’all know Meredith’s going to be on TV tomorrow?” Jenn turned a saucy smile toward Meredith.
So much for not being the sole focus of her teasing-prone family.
The next morning, Meredith’s desk was piled with messages and paperwork, as it was every time she took a day off—only today it was compounded by the fact they’d had a massive, midweek event.
“Corie?”
Her assistant appeared in the door, still in her jacket with her backpack hanging from one shoulder. “Yes?”
“What time do I have to be at the TV studio?”
“Let me check the e-mail.” She disappeared for a couple of minutes then reappeared sans coat and bag. “It says you should plan to arrive no later than ten o’clock.”
Meredith glanced at the clock in the lower right corner of her computer monitor. Seven forty-five. “Can you give me a heads-up at nine thirty if it looks like I’m not paying attention to the clock?”
“Will do. Want to go over the stuff from yesterday so we can get started on reports?”
Not really. “Sure. But give me a minute to get some coffee.”
“I’ll come with.” Corie grabbed her big, hand-painted ceramic mug from her desk and walked with Meredith to the executive kitchen. “How was your day off?”
“Fun. Anne and I got a lot of last-minute stuff done for the wedding.” She told her assistant some of the details of what they’d accomplished.
Her mother’s executive assistant greeted them in the dining room, coming from the kitchen with three mugs of coffee. Meredith waited until the kitchen door closed behind them then turned and grinned at Corie.
“I guess I’m not letting you live up to your title of executive assistant.”
“You know I really wouldn’t mind getting your coffee for you.”
“Not to demean the other executive assistants, but you’re more valuable to me than just someone to fetch and carry at my whims.” Meredith pulled out the coffee carafe and poured Corie’s coffee first. “In case I haven’t said it recently, you’re a vital part of this team; and at your annual appraisal in April, we’re going to be discussing moving you into a junior event planner position.”
Corie’s brown eyes lit up.
“Now, I can’t promise that will happen. You of all people know what the approval process is like around here. But I think I can make a pretty convincing case on your behalf.”
They doctored their coffee with flavored creamers and sweeteners and returned to Meredith’s office. Over their morning caffeine fix, Corie reviewed the messages she’d taken on Thursday, as well as everything she’d handled on her own.
Once Meredith was up to date on everything that happened in her absence, Corie went back to her desk with the folder of receipts and invoices Meredith had worked on organizing last night after she got home from dinner. She e-mailed the rough spreadsheet to Corie, who would work some kind of magic on it to generate all kinds of comparisons and charts and departmental breakdowns of how much money Meredith had spent on behalf of B-G on the banquet. Thank goodness someone from the HEARTS Foundation board handled everything connected with the money from the auction. One less thing for Meredith to have to deal with on the back side of the event.
She spent the morning returning phone calls from yesterday—as well as answering those coming in—and was about to go get a second cup of coffee when Major knocked on the open office door.
The sight of him was enough to make her bite the inside of her cheek to keep from telling him how much she wished he wouldn’t keep her at arm’s length, that he would let her into his life, even just a little bit.
“You ready to go?” He wore his burgundy jacket—the one that made his eyes look almost purple.
She glanced at her watch. “Oh, mercy. I didn’t realize it was nine thirty already.” She jumped up from her desk then leaned back down to get her purse out of the bottom drawer. She stood slowly. “Are we going together?”
“I figured we could—save gas, you know.”
“Oh. I just didn’t know if you had to be there longer or something.” She shrugged into her suit coat and grabbed her planner from her briefcase—the planner where she had all of the notes she’d written down, things Alaine had asked her to think about so she’d know what to say about the event when Alaine asked her questions live on air. “I’ll drive.”
He grinned at her. “Don’t feel like arriving windblown?”
She returned the smile. “Not particularly.”
“Did you have a good day off yesterday?” Major asked as she pulled out of the parking garage.
As she had with everyone else, she talked about what she’d done yesterday. But that filled only enough time to get them halfway to the studio.
Now or never. “Major, I wanted to ask you about Wednesday night—about why you left. Is everything okay?” She glanced at him from the corner of her eye.
He’d gone all stiff. “Everything’s fine. I just—something came up that I had to go handle.”
“At the emergency room?”
“It was...” He swallowed hard. “It was my mom. She got hurt, and I had to meet her at the emergency room.”
Finally—something about his mother. “Is she okay?”
“She will be. She burned herself—cooking, actually. Splashed scalding hot water on her arms.” Tension pulled in tight lines around his mouth.
“I thought you said she didn’t live here—but you met her at the emergency room?”
“She doesn’t live in town, but the hospital here is closest. Careful—don’t want to miss our turn.”
His discomfort with the subject couldn’t be any plainer. And though it hurt Meredith that he didn’t trust her enough to tell her the truth about his mother—whatever that might be—she was determined to figure out a way to convince him to confide in her. Because she was starting to feel like this secret was the only thing standing between her and a happily-ever-after ending with Major.