“Speaking as someone who stands to benefit from your mature take on the situation,” Jaslene says, “I should support this plan, but now I’m wondering if you need closure.”
I draw back and tilt my head. “Closure? With Andrew?”
Jaslene shakes her head. “No, you got that already. You need closure with Max.”
“And I think those resale designer shoes you insist on wearing even though they’re a size too small are cutting off the supply of oxygen to your brain.”
She playfully purses her lips at me. “Cute. Anyway, all I’m saying is, Max isn’t just some person you need to collaborate with. You have history. Unresolved feelings. Closure will help you address them. I suspect you’re going to need it if you want to work with him successfully.”
Jaslene’s so wrong about this, it’s cringeworthy. How could I possibly benefit from talking to Max about a day I’d prefer to forget? “Do you even know me at all, Jaslene? I’m not interested in rehashing what Max did and how it affected me.”
Jaslene grabs one of my hands and shakes it. “Silly goose, when I mentioned closure, I didn’t necessarily mean that you and Max needed to have some big cathartic talk about what happened.” She blows a raspberry. “I’m shocked to admit this, but I actually think Natalia’s on to something. Maybe the universe is giving you the chance to right some wrongs.” When I simply stare at her in silence, she adds, “Listen, there are different ways of getting closure, and one of those ways might be to make someone miserable for the sake of satisfying your petty soul.” She shrugs. “Just a thought.”
“Noted and dismissed,” I grumble. “I have a job to land and a business to run. Playing games is a luxury I can’t afford.”
Natalia rolls her eyes and neck as though she’s doing her best impression of a bobblehead. “I’m disappointed in you, Lina. Especially given what you do for a living. Haven’t you ever heard of multitasking? You can impress this Rebecca person and make the Brothers Karafuckoff suffer.”
I shake my head. “Dostoevsky, Natalia? Seriously?”
She pretends to brush off her shoulders. “What can I say? My dragging skills are multifaceted.” Her eyes are kind when she takes my hands. “Listen, if you need to stay within your comfort zone, that’s okay, too. Your way of reacting to a situation is just as valid as mine.”
“Just not as fun, right?” I ask with a smile.
She winks. “You said it, not me.” With a finger over her mouth, she gestures for us to leave the dressing area quietly. “I don’t want to tell Marcelo about the dress just yet. Not with an audience. He’s coming over to my mom’s tonight, so I’ll tell him then. Please cover for me.”
Jaslene and I link arms to create a human wall for Natalia, then we all tiptoe past the showroom and skulk out the door. We loiter outside, a few feet away from the shop’s entrance, beyond Marcelo’s line of sight.
As Natalia and Jaslene chat about the wedding timeline, I stare off into the distance, mentally urging myself to tell Natalia the full story. Before I can change my mind, I turn to her. “There’s one other thing I didn’t tell you.”
She raises a brow. “There’s more?”
“Yeah. So when I first saw Andrew and Max in the conference room at the Cartwright, I panicked and pretended not to know them. Rebecca has no clue Andrew broke our engagement, and there’s no going back, not if I want a shot at the job.”
“Shut. Up.” Natalia flails. “This is mind-blowing. You, Ms. Plan Everything Within an Inch of Its Life, orchestrated a sham of epic proportions and now you’ll be forced to see it through to its unpredictable end?” She makes a big show of looking around. “Where’s the popcorn and the Twizzlers? I can already picture this playing out on a big screen.”
“That’s what I said,” Jaslene adds. “Well, the part about the popcorn. I’d even plant my ass in a movie theater to see it. And you both know I don’t put on a bra and real clothes for just any ol’ film.”
“Look, I’m not proud of what I did,” I say, interrupting their musings, “but yeah, I’m going to see it through to the end. Maybe after Rebecca makes her decision, I’ll find a way to tell her. By then, I hope she’ll think it’s more important to have me as her wedding coordinator than to concern herself with my past relationships.”
Natalia worries her bottom lip as she studies me. “Hope may spring eternal, prima, but deception will bite you in the ass. You sure you know what you’re doing?”
“Hell, no,” I tell her. “I have absolutely no clue what I’m doing, but I’m not going to let that stop me. Andrew has every reason to keep up the ruse, and his brother’s just along for the ride. I know exactly how to handle someone like Max.”
Jaslene clears her throat and gives me scary googly eyes.
“Allergies again?” I ask her. “Ugh. My car was covered in pollen this morning.”
“Not exactly,” she says, coughing into her hand.
“Anyway, if I play my cards right,” I continue, “Max won’t figure into the process at all. He’s so clueless, I’ll be signing my employment papers before he realizes he was a nonfactor.”
Natalia tips her head up and sighs.
“What?”
She looks at a spot over my shoulder, her eyes narrowing into a death glare.
My breakfast somersaults in my belly, and a tingling sensation runs up my spine. “He’s standing right behind me, isn’t he?”
“He is,” Max says, a tinge of humor in his voice.
Shit. Maybe my life should be a movie.
Chapter Seven
Max
Every opponent, no matter how worthy or skilled, has a weak spot. I can already guess Lina’s. She wants to control everything. When she doesn’t, her brain flounders, leaving her off-balance, agitated, and flustered enough to do absurd shit—like pretend not to know her ex-fiancé and his brother during an impromptu business meeting. By showing up here unannounced, I’m taking advantage of this vulnerability. Shameful, I know, but necessary nonetheless.
She spins to face me, her face contorted into an awkward wince. A slight wobble interrupts the fluidity of the move. Heh. My plan’s working.
I give her my best charming-as-hell smile. “Lina, it’s good to see you again.”
She treats me to a drop-dead-and-die grimace. “I wish I could say likewise, but I’d be lying if I did. What are you doing here, Mr. Hartley?”
If Lina thinks I’m going to get riled up when she snaps at me, she’s flat-out wrong. I’m an easygoing guy. It would take some monumental bullshit to set me off, and her snippiness doesn’t even come close to reaching that level. “It’s a public sidewalk, Ms. Santos. Would you believe I happened to be passing by just when you bad-mouthed me?”
A woman jumps in between us, looking up at me with venom in her eyes. “Don’t answer her question with a question, creep.” She takes off an earring, then another, whips out a hair tie, and pulls her long, curly honey-brown hair into a ponytail. She’s getting ready for something, and given the way she’s cracking her knuckles, I don’t think it’s a tea party.