Final Showdown Read online

  Liz and Darcy

  Book 3: Final Showdown

  Copyright 2019 by Kelsie Fann. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  1.

  A text message popped up on Liz’s phone. “Can I get my squad to the hospital? #stopitsbabyhamtime!”

  Liz reread the message from her young friend and ex-employee. Only Stella would spend the extra seconds to think up a hashtag while in labor.

  It was simultaneously the moment Liz was waiting for and the moment she was dreading. Waiting for because she couldn’t wait to meet Stella’s baby. Dreading because she didn’t want to run into the baby’s father—Hamilton, a suave con artist.

  Liz couldn’t help but remember Georgia’s face as she told her how Hamilton extorted millions of dollars from her boss, Darcy. Now she was going to have to look into the crook’s eyes, and for the sake of baby Hamilton, she would have to keep her mouth shut.

  Her skin crawled thinking about how Hamilton almost conned her with his tan, surfer good looks and his bright blue eyes. Even she had only been one inch away from falling for him.

  Liz shivered, knowing she had dodged a bullet. A big one, maybe even a bomb. Liz couldn’t help but wish that Hamilton would, sooner rather than later, disappear out of Stella’s life and off the face of the earth.

  “#coming!” Rose, Liz’s friend and longest employee, responded to the group message first. “#pickingupelise.”

  Liz took a deep breath. The baby wouldn’t stay in Stella’s uterus forever. She slung her purse over her shoulder and tried to forget about the baby’s father long enough to smile about the hashtag/labor situation and send “#onmyway” to the group.

  The morning roads had a tiny layer of frost on them, making Liz wish she could crawl back in bed. Liz knew that wasn’t an option; she needed to be there for Stella and Baby H. Liz wondered what Stella would name the new baby.

  Stella refused to tell anyone, keeping it a secret in case someone stole her precious baby name. Liz had informed Stella that she wasn’t pregnant and couldn’t take her baby name.

  “What if you find someone in the next few days?”

  Liz had paused for a beat, looking at the crazy pregnant lady in front of her, and crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m not even in a relationship.” She didn’t have time to eat lunch, let alone date with the workload at Pemberley Media, Savannah.

  “…But what if you fall madly in love just like me and Hamilton?”

  Liz had almost choked on her water. Stella was clearly delusional about her relationship with Hamilton. A week before, Hamilton had asked Stella for a paternity test. Liz had gasped enough air to eke out a response. “Okay, Stella. Fine.”

  Liz pulled up to the hospital, walked in, and found her way to labor and delivery through the hospital’s twists and turns. When she made it to the waiting room, she plopped down next to Rose and Elise, who were already there, waiting with various magazines stacked in their laps.

  “Were we supposed to bring a gift?” Liz pointed to a white gift bag with glittery tissue paper, sitting on the ground next to Rose.

  Rose shook her head. “I don’t think you have to. I just ran into this.”

  Liz shot a skeptical look at her baby-fevered friend. “You just ran into a baby gift?”

  Rose scooted the bag closer to her feet. “Yes, I happened to run into it at Kimmy’s Baby Boutique.”

  “Fancy running into baby stuff at a baby boutique,” Liz teased.

  Rose reached down and carefully pulled out a pale pink baby gown with lace trim out of the gift bag. “It was quite the coincidence.” She raised her eyebrows. “Isn’t this the sweetest?”

  “It is.” Liz reached out and touched the tiny dress. As her fingertips touched the soft material, something happened deep within her.

  It felt like a twitch or a gentle shock. Liz pulled her hand away from the gown and grabbed her fingers, trying to figure out what was going on in her body.

  “What?” Rose asked. “You don’t like it?”

  Liz looked at the dress a little more warily now. “It’s perfect.”

  Liz stared at her abdomen. She was thirty-two, and she’d never felt anything like that before. Even as a young girl, when her best friend Dee was inside playing with baby dolls, Liz went outside to jump on the trampoline and play in the dirt.

  What was that? she thought.

  “Just confirming. Are we going with #stopitsbabyhamtime for the hashtag?” Elise held up her phone to take a selfie.

  Elise, like Stella, was in her early twenties and a social media savant.

  “We better. I’m sure Stella put a lot of time into that one,” Rose said brightly as Elise snapped a picture and sent it out to her thousands of followers, promising a video after the baby was born.

  Liz glanced up at the waiting room’s sage green walls filled with pictures of sleeping newborn babies. For a split second, she needed to hold an infant in her arms.

  Is this baby fever? Liz asked herself. No. It can’t be. Liz didn’t know what she was feeling, but she knew she could make it go away with work. She thrust her hand inside her laptop bag and pulled out her computer.

  Elise put down her phone for a second, looked at Liz, and snapped another picture. “Really? You’re going to work? All you’ve done is work since Pemberley took over.” Elise looked down at her phone. “I’m going to hashtag this #lizwontstopforbabyham.”

  Liz opened up her email. “VP stands for Very Popular.”

  “Or Very Pitiful.” Elise snapped another selfie.

  Liz scrolled through her inbox and saw at least twenty emails from James, her new supervisor. They were working together on the first big expansion project in the South since starting Pemberley Media, Savannah. Together, they had narrowed their sights on Nashville or Atlanta.

  Liz would fly to Atlanta the following week and then Nashville the week after to finalize the decision. It was her first big decision as VP.

  She wondered if she should send an email to Darcy, just to get his feedback on the possible location. She shook away the butterflies that entered her stomach at the thought of her old boss, Pemberley Media President Darcy Williams. Three months before, they had shared a steamy kiss, and she hadn’t spoken to him since. Do not call him first, Liz told herself for the thousandth time.

  No matter how much Liz wanted to see him again, to grab his face and press her lips to his again, she was not going to be the one to pick up the phone. Darcy was the owner of the company she worked for. If he wanted to talk to her, he would reach out.

  In the past three months, she hadn’t gotten a text. No email. Not anything. While part of Liz was dying for a flirty exchange, she knew that the silence was a good thing. Pemberley Media had a policy against interoffice dating, and she wasn’t about to risk her job for a round of flirtatious emails.

  Liz looked around the hospital room, trying to stop thinking about Darcy. Rose was gazing at the pictures on the wall. “You okay?” Liz asked her friend.

  “Yeah.” Rose nodded. “I just want one.”

  “A picture of a baby?” Liz asked. “We can get you one of those.”

  Rose rolled her eyes. “I know you think I’m crazy. It’s just . . . ” she trialed off. “My whole life I’ve wanted to be a wife and a mother, and I’m not sure if I’m going to get that.”

  Rose wasn’t old by any means. She was thirty-four, and she looked like a twenty-five-year-old model. But she had the worst luck with men
, mostly because Rose was shy. She nodded and smiled, but typically it took her a few weeks to open up, and by that time, guys thought she wasn’t interested.

  The saddest part was that Rose would make an excellent wife and mother. She was the most reliable, giving person Liz knew. Any time Liz needed help, she asked Rose first, and Rose delivered on time, with almost perfect results.

  Liz didn’t want to admit that she couldn’t even look at the baby pictures without her ovaries twitching. “You’re not crazy. And you’re going to have that.”

  Rose shrugged and changed the subject. “What are you doing?” She nodded toward Liz’s computer.

  “Hilda’s swamped, so I’m finding a hotel for next week.”

  Liz couldn’t wait to look at some potential office spaces and to meet with some prospective employees. The trip was almost perfect, except for one thing: Caroline was going. Liz hadn’t seen James’s evil sister since her Savannah ambush, when she walked in and told Liz that she wasn’t good enough to date Darcy.

  Liz emailed James some options for hotels when Rose’s phone started ringing. Rose looked at her screen, blushed, and then quickly walked out of the waiting room without a word.

  “That was weird.” Liz tilted her head toward Rose’s prompt escape.

  Elise flipped her long, black extensions over her shoulders. “Miss Perfect’s got a man,” her voice purred.

  Liz looked back down at her computer. “No, she doesn’t. I would know if she did.”

  “You wouldn’t know anything. You haven’t been out of the office in months,” Elise said.

  Liz looked at up at Elise, who was leaning against the window. A few strands of her hair clung to the glass. Elise was definitely right about Liz’s work schedule, but she wasn’t right about Rose. Rose was Liz’s best friend in Savannah. Surely Rose would have told her if she met someone. Right?

  Liz watched Rose through the glass waiting-room doors. She was smiling from ear to ear, and a glow washed over her face. For a second, Liz forgot about her upcoming trips, work, and partnership, and she felt so much gratitude to whomever was making her friend so happy.

  If anyone deserved to be happy, it was Rose.

  When Rose walked back into the waiting room, her smile didn’t fade. Liz shut her computer. Elise was right; this was not the time to work. She was going to reconnect with her friends; work would always be there.

  “Spill it, Rose. Who is he?” Elise said.

  Liz stuffed her laptop back into her bag. “Yes, details.”

  Rose started to stumble over her words. “I-I don’t know what you’re talking a-a-about.”

  Before Liz and Elise could continue the interrogation, the hospital doors swung opened. Stella’s mom stuck her head into the waiting room. “Our baby girl is here!” she said. Her voice was at a pitch only a new grandmother could muster.

  Rose, Elise, and Liz scrambled out of their seats. The group followed Stella’s mom back to the hospital room, each dying to get a look at the new addition.

  The hospital room was dimly lit, with a bed against the back wall. The tiniest baby Liz had ever seen lay against Stella’s bare chest.

  “Hi,” Stella said. Liz looked into her exhausted friend’s face. Stella’s sweaty hair was pushed out of her face; her skin was pale and flushed at the same time.

  “She’s just tired,” Stella’s mom told the group, patting her daughter’s hand. Liz nodded, and the women gathered around Stella. Liz looked down at the small fingers of the little baby; her fingernails were so small, almost translucent looking.

  Stella stared at the baby. “We’re supposed to do skin-to-skin for an hour, or I’d let you hold her.” Her voice sounded soft.

  “Of course,” Rose said.

  “We’re just happy to see you.” Liz noticed Hamilton wasn’t there. Liz looked at her worn-out friend and the precious new being on her chest, and she felt overwhelmingly joyful for Stella and angry that Hamilton hadn’t shown up for this incredibly important day.

  “So what did you name her?” Elise asked.

  Before Stella could answer, another voice joined the room. “Where are my girls?” Liz turned, expecting to see a doctor or nurse. Instead, Hamilton was walking toward the group. His tie was in a perfect double knot, and every hair was impeccably placed.

  “Sorry, I’m late, love.” He kissed Stella’s blotchy forehead. “And all these beautiful women to surround my beautiful girls!”

  His compliment made Liz want to vomit. She looked at the man she’d once been so attracted to, and now his bronze skin and blond beachy hair didn’t look attractive; it looked fake.

  “Time to meet Daddy.” He picked up the tiny newborn from Stella’s chest, wrapping the blanket around her. “She’s a Hamilton.” Hamilton looked down at the baby in his arms.

  “I’m supposed to be doing skin-to-skin,” Stella whispered as Hamilton swayed with the baby.

  “Hello, Odette.” Hamilton ignored Stella’s request. “Named for my mother.”

  Liz groaned inside. She couldn’t believe Stella was going to name her baby after Hamilton’s mother when he hadn’t even bothered to show up for Odette’s birth. As Liz watched Hamilton pretend he was the most caring, loyal father in the world, a sick feeling settled into her stomach.

  She realized that as long as there were people around to manipulate and get something from, Hamilton wasn’t going anywhere.

  2.

  “I was thinking about our trip,” James paused. Liz heard him take a few heavy breaths over the phone. It sounded like he was in the middle of a workout. “Since Caroline can’t come, maybe we need one more set of eyes on the properties and to help with the interviews.”

  “Caroline’s not coming?” Liz thrust her fist into the air. This was the best news that she’d heard since Stella’s baby was born. Not spending three days with James’s sister, a physically perfect but emotionally vicious woman, was such a relief.

  “No, Darcy needs her for something here,” James said.

  Darcy needed Caroline? Liz felt a deep pang of jealousy ripped through her abdomen, but she quickly let it go and forced herself not to think about the words that just came out of James’s mouth.

  Liz looked through the glass wall that separated the executive office from the rest of the building. She scanned the sales team, thinking someone from that side of the house would round out their posse. Jonathan was the newest hire and brightest. Glen had more experience, but he didn’t seem as ambitious over the last three months.

  “Sure,” Liz said. “Glen? He’s one of our sales team, and he’s been here the longest. Or Jonathan is a Rockstar.”

  “I was thinking more about someone in creative.”

  Liz paused. Her own background was in creative, so she was surprised to hear James wanted someone with the same knowledge. “Are you sure?”

  “Creative is the cornerstone of the company,” James said.

  Liz shrugged. If James wanted to bring someone from creative, then Liz just had to choose between Rose and Elise to bring along. Among the trio, Rose had been with her the longest and produced almost double what Elise did. “Rose?”

  “Perfect,” his voice said brightly. “I’ll pick you up from the airport.”

  Liz booked Rose’s flight and room in the next thirty seconds, even before asking her friend if she wanted to come or not. “Come see me when you get a chance,” she texted Rose.

  Thirty seconds later, her friend glided into the executive offices. “I was summoned.” Rose’s blonde hair glowed off of her sapphire blue, long-sleeve dress. Somehow, she looked more radiant than ever. “Also, we need to talk about American Cotton; the click-through rate on their online ad is horrible.”

  Liz motioned for Rose to sit down in front of her desk. “Maybe we could talk about it on the flight to Atlanta,” Liz said. “Caroline backed out, and we want you to come!”

  Rose hesitated for a few seconds before asking an obvious question, “With you and James?”

  “Yeah,�
�� Liz said, surprised to hear Rose hesitating. “You don’t want to go?”

  Rose nodded and sat down in the chair in front of Liz’s desk. “Of course I do. I’m just surprised!”

  The pair finished up their conversation, made plans for their trip, and Rose walked out of the executive office with a huge grin. Through the glass wall, Liz watched Rose take her phone out of her purse, her smile growing as her fingers flew across the screen.

  As Liz watched her friend was giddily texting, she realized she hadn’t asked Rose about her new man. Odette’s birth had distracted them from their initial conversation, and after they left the hospital, Liz had immediately launched back into work projects.

  Liz vowed to catch up with her friend on their flight to Atlanta.

  3.

  By the time Liz arrived at the airport, she had forgotten about Rose’s mystery man. The only thing on her mind was figuring out if Atlanta was the right city for the new branch of Pemberley Media. As she sat next to Rose, waiting for the plane to take off, Liz pulled up the schedule on her phone.

  She scrolled through the list. They had meetings with employees and prospective clients until three on both days, and they were exploring potential office spaces until dinner on the first day.

  Liz tapped her fingers on the armrest, worried how she was going to make the decision.

  “You okay?” Rose pulled a magazine out of her bag.

  Liz scanned their schedule one more time, then tucked the phone away into her purse. “Just thinking about our trip.”

  Rose wiggled her index finger at Liz’s forehead. “What are your worried about? I see that wrinkle in the middle of your forehead.”

  Liz buckled her seatbelt across her lap. “I’d love help making this decision. I’m worried that even after we visit the possible locations, there won’t be a clear winner. I just want to have a strong feeling about Atlanta or Nashville.”

  Rose put away her magazine and pulled a brightly-colored floral notebook and a matching pen out of her huge, leather purse. “Something that always helps me is making a wish list ahead of time. Then we can have some criteria to help make the decision.”