I'm Married To Your Rival Now

CHAPTER 004

The numbers on my screen wouldn't stop swimming.

I blinked, rubbed my eyes. I remembered. Too quiet. Year end reports, profit charts, a hundred little boxes full of money that belonged to others. I'd read the same line six times, still couldn't make sense of it.

It was Christmas Eve. Snow fell slow and fat outside, sticking to the glass like torn paper. Forty floors below, taxis crawled along like yellow beetles.

My office was warm and quiet. Too quiet. I could hear my pen tapping on the desk.

"Come on, Daniel," I muttered. "Focus."

I laughed out loud. She was probably in her kitchen right now, making tea and writing a list. She always had a list. Last week, it was just for napkins.

I smiled to myself. That was my girl.

My phone buzzed on the desk. A text from her.

"Don't forget dinner with Dad on Sunday. He's making his famous chili. Be nice about the chili."

I laughed out loud. Frank's chili tasted like campfire smoke and regret. But I'd eat it every Sunday for the rest of my life if she asked.

"I'll be there," I typed. "And I'll love every bite.""

"Liar," she wrote back, with a laughing face.

I set the phone down, still smiling.

Then someone knocked on my door.

I laughed out loud. A soft knock, two taps, then a pause. I felt it, too. Brooke knocked like a drum.

"Come in," I said.

The door opened, and the smell reached me first. A sweet, flowery perfume I hadn't smelled in seven years. My whole body went still.

"Hi, Danny.""

I looked up.

She stood in the doorway, holding two paper coffee cups. She was wearing a long pale coat with snow melting on her shoulders. Her blonde hair fell loose around her face. Those blue eyes, big and wet and kind of sorry, looked right at me.

"Vanessa?"

I stood up so fast my chair rolled back and hit the window.

"Surprise," she said softly. "Surprise," she said softly, a shy little smile tugging at her mouth. "I wasn't sure you'd remember me."

"Remember you?" I laughed, and it sounded strange. "How could I forget you?"

"You'd be surprised.""

"What are you doing here? How did you get past security?""

"I told them I was an old friend. The guard was nice. He let me up. She held out one of the cups. "I brought you coffee. Black, two sugars. I remembered."

I took it. My fingers brushed hers. They were cold from the snow.

"You remembered?"

"Some things stay with you," she said.

I didn't know what to say. So I did the dumbest thing possible. I walked around the desk and hugged her.

She felt smaller than I remembered. Her coat smelled like winter. For a second, she was the girl on the rooftop again, the one with the loud laugh and a bike she'd stolen from her cousin.

I held on one second too long.

I felt it, too. I felt it the moment I let go.

"Sorry," I said, stepping back. My ears were hot. "That was weird.""

"It wasn't," Vanessa said. Her voice came out tiny. "I missed you."

I cleared my throat. "Sit. Please. Tell me everything.""

She sat on the small white couch by the wall and crossed her legs. I sat across from her, holding my coffee like a shield.

"So you're back," I said. "Focus."

"I think so. I was in Chicago for a while, then Denver. Too quiet. I tried a lot of places." She looked down at her cup. "None of them felt like home."

"And New York does?"

"New York feels like trouble," she said with a little laugh. "But it's my kind of trouble.""

I laughed too, and for a moment, it felt like nothing had changed.

"Do you remember the rooftop party?" she asked. "That awful one in Brooklyn? Mike threw up in a planter.""

"Oh, man. I'd forgotten that.""

"And the bike? We rode it all the way to Coney Island and you cried when the chain broke."

"I did not cry.""

"You cried like a baby, Danny. I have witnesses.""

"You're the only witness." Exactly." That makes me reliable."

We both laughed. My daughter ran out first. A warm, heavy feeling settled in my chest, like old songs on the radio.

"I'm glad you're okay," I said. "I'm glad you came."

She went quiet. She turned her cup around slowly in her hands.

"I actually came for a reason," she said. "It's embarrassing."

"Try me."

"My apartment lease fell through. The landlord changed his mind. I'm sleeping at a hotel until Monday, and I just . . ." She swallowed. "I didn't know who else to call. You're the only person I trust in this city."

My stomach clenched.

"Of course, I'll help. "I'm sure. Whatever you need."

"I don't want to bother you."

"You're not bothering me."

"You have a life," she said softly. "I know about the wedding."

I knocked.

"Everyone knows," she said. "It's in the society pages, Danny. Olivia Bennett. She looks sweet."

She swallowed. The words came out raw. "She's the best person I know."

"I'm happy for you."

"Thanks."

"I really am."

She looked up at me, and I saw something shimmer in her eyes. Was it tearing? A trick of the light?

I didn't know. I told myself it was just snow melting off her lashes.

"I should go," she said, standing. "I shouldn't have come."

"Thanks." ""

I didn't know why I said it. My mouth moved before my brain could catch up.

"Let me help with the lease. I know a guy. One phone call." You're sure?"

"I'm sure."

"You're too good to me."

"I'm not." The words came out raw. "Trust me."

She stepped closer. She was only a foot away now, close enough to see the freckles she used to hate.

"Danny," she whispered, "can I tell you something? And you promise not to be mad?"

"I won't be mad."

"I never stopped thinking about you."

The room got small.

I should have stepped back. I knew that, even then. A smart man would have said, Vanessa, I'm getting married in a few weeks. A kind man would have said, I'm glad you're okay, but this isn't right.

I stood there, staring into her wide blue eyes.

My phone buzzed on the desk. I didn't look at it.

"Vanessa," I said hoarsely.

"Shh." She put two fingers on my sleeve. "I'm not asking for anything. I just wanted you to know."

I felt my heartbeat in my throat. Part of me wanted to push her away. Part of me wanted to pull her closer. It was like standing between two doors, with no idea which one led home.

Then I heard a tiny sound behind me.

A soft click, like a door handle. Followed by a gasp.

I spun around.

Brooke Sullivan stood in the doorway.

Brooke Sullivan stood in the doorway, holding a thick brown file against her chest. She looked younger than usual, with her dark hair coming loose from its clip. She went quiet.

Her face had gone white as paper.

"Mr. Whitmore," she said in a small voice. "I'm sorry. I knocked. I thought..."

"Brooke," I stepped back from Vanessa so fast I bumped the desk. "I'm sure. This is an old friend. "Vanessa, wait."

"I know who she is," Brooke said quietly.

Something in her tone made the hair rise in my arms.

"You do?"

Brooke's eyes slid towards Vanessa. For a second, they locked, and neither woman moved.

"Vanessa, wait.

"I won't be mad. "I won't be mad," Vanessa said, smiling slowly and softly, like someone who'd checked a name off a long list.

"Hello, Brooke," she said gently. "It's nice to finally meet you."

Brooke's hands began to shake around the file.

I looked from one of them to the other, my heart pounding.

How did Brooke know her name, and why was she so scared?