“But is this really any better?” Misty asked.
I picked at a hole that was forming in my jeans and shrugged my shoulders, even though I knew she couldn't see me do so. “I have to go,” I said as I heard Emma call for me from inside the room. “I'll be by to get our things sometime soon.”
“Okay,” Misty said. “Keep your chin up, girl.”
“Thanks,” I said. “Thanks for everything.”
Chapter Fourteen
Andrew
I waited impatiently outside the airport for my driver to pull up, irked that he wasn't there as soon as I walked out the sliding doors. My business trip had gone well, remarkably so, but I was jetlagged and exhausted now that I was back in Seattle. I regretted not having broken my return up into shorter hops, first London to New York to check in on our offices there, and then New York to Seattle a few days later. Something about being thirty made these trips seem a lot more difficult.
Or maybe it was just the fact that I hadn't been sleeping all that well, plagued by thoughts of what I was about to come home to.
I threw my bag into the back of the car and climbed in after it, sliding across the leather seats and relaxing back. My driver greeted me, but I was in no mood to talk, so after a curt “hello,” I quickly closed my eyes, signaling that I wanted my peace and quiet.
Despite the fact that that peace and quiet gave me far too much time to think some more.
It was almost a relief when my phone rang. Almost a relief, until I saw that it was Renée who was calling. I steeled my nerves and answered the thing, reasoning that it was better to answer her call now and get it out of the way than to wait and call her back once I was at home, where Lexi might overhear me.
“Hey babe,” Renée said as I answered the phone. “I assume you made it back all right?”
“Right on schedule,” I said, feeling a tightness forming around my eyes.
“You've been so quiet lately,” Renée said, and I could practically hear her pout. “You only called me once the whole week that you were gone. I've been lonely.”
“I've been busy,” I said with a small sigh. “You know how important this trip was for me. Plus, remember how I said, if this trip went well and we expanded to London, you and I might get to take a trip there sometime in the near future?”
“I remember,” Renée said. “But I still missed you.”
“I missed you, too,” I told her, even though I wasn't entirely sure that was true.
I'd spent the whole week running from one meeting to another, and whenever I'd had the scantest moment to even breathe or to inhale some food, I'd been thinking about what to do with Lexi and Emma. I'd even gone so far as to make a couple calls to make sure that Emma would have a place in a great daycare for the summer.
But I wasn't about to tell Renée any of that. Better that I lie and let her think that I'd spent all my free time thinking about her.
“Did you bring me back something from London?” she asked, and I rolled my eyes. She was predictable. Bring her a nice gift and she never stayed sulky for very long.
“I did bring you a little something, as a matter of fact,” I told her. “Or rather, I bought you something and I had it shipped to you. You should receive it in a couple days.”
To be honest, it had slipped my mind to bring her anything. I probably wouldn't have had the time to find something for her, even if I had remembered to. But I could order something online and have it rush delivered to her. Or even better, I could have my secretary order something online and have it rush delivered to her. It made no difference to me.
“When do I get to see you?” Renée asked, her voice going sultry.
I sighed. “I'm not so sure about that,” I told her.
“How about I come over tonight, and we have some fun?” she suggested. “That would give you the afternoon to have a little nap, take a shower, and get yourself all ready for me.”
I grimaced. I could only imagine the scene we would have if she showed up at my house that night and found Lexi and Emma there. “As tempting as that offer is, I'm really exhausted,” I told her. It wasn't a lie.
“You're working too hard again,” Renée said, and that pouty note was back in her voice. I barely bit back a groan of frustration.
“Unless I wanted to stay in Europe for twice as long as I did, yes, I needed to cram in a bunch of meetings with a bunch of different people, on a bunch of different topics. I couldn't help that. And then after those meetings, I went to dinner with some of the guys from their offices. I had to build rapport to make sure that this expansion goes as smoothly as we want it to. But it's not just because of work. I'm also jetlagged. It's only two in the afternoon here, but according to my body, it's already ten p.m. And I'm only going to get more tired as the day wears on.”
“You can make time to go to dinner with the guys at work after you've been in meetings with them for the whole day, but you can't make any time to see me?” Renée asked, her tone acidic. “I'm not even asking you to go out to dinner with me. I know I couldn't get you to agree to leave the house tonight. But you could at least let me come over.”
“Renée,” I said, feeling even more exhausted the longer this conversation went on.