Final Showdown Read online

  Liz thought for a minute about her criteria. “Obviously, we need lots of potential clients, so a strong startup scene would be nice. We need experienced and hardworking employees that understand our vision, so maybe some large internship programs . . . ” Rose and Liz continued brainstorming until the plane’s wheels touched down on the runway.

  As they walked to get their bags, Liz remembered to ask Rose about her personal life, but a mop of bright strawberry-blond hair was waiting for them at baggage claim: James.

  “Hello,” he warmly greeted them both. “Thought I’d come in to pick you up.” Liz noticed his eyes lingered on Rose, but that happened with everyone. Rose was gorgeous.

  “We’re running a few minutes late.” James grabbed their bags and led them to his car.

  As soon as they settled into James’s car, Liz briefed everyone on their meetings, and in minutes, they were walking into a coworking space for their first appointment.

  By that afternoon, Liz was exhausted. They’d talked to not one, but three Jasons. They had also chatted with one Amy, a Brett, a Mason, and a four new start-up companies. By the last company, called Chicks Scrubs, Liz had taken in so much information that she walked away unsure if they sold clean chickens or scrubs for women.

  Liz was the first in the car to visit the potential office sites. She looked over her shoulder and saw James and Rose still standing outside. Liz thought she saw James’s fingers touch Rose’s hair. Liz leaned closer to the window, trying to get the sun out of her eyes, but by the time she got another good look, James and Rose slid in next to her.

  Liz studied the couple during the drive, but it was too short to catch anything. “This is Sam,” James said, introducing Rose and Liz to a young real estate agent standing in front of the first potential office location, a hip brownstone in downtown Atlanta. The dark brick exterior reminded Liz of the Savannah office.

  Sam didn’t look older than twenty-five, and he reminded Liz of a Labrador. He had a big smile, and his hazel eyes moved quickly, like he was ready to fetch an offer with one flick of his master’s hand.

  “Well, what do you think?” Sam asked Liz as she looked at the exterior.

  Liz looked around at the bike shop and the bakery that were on either side of the office. “I like it.”

  “Let me show you around.” Sam walked up three steps to the door. Liz followed him up the stairs and inside. “You coming?” she turned to ask James and Rose. The couple was standing on the sidewalk with their eyes locked on each other.

  “I don’t need to see it.” James didn’t break eye contact with Rose.

  Liz shook her head looking at the pair. Mystery man solved, Liz thought as she followed Sam into the building. Inside, she stepped into a large, open space with exposed brick, metal ductwork, and bright white paint. Sam turned to look at her reaction.

  She looked around for a few seconds, touching the rough exposed brick and noticing the transoms above the windows.

  Sam leaned against a windowsill, his eyes following her gaze. “Do you still like it?”

  “Yes, I do,” she told him. “What are we talking, cost-wise?” she said, walking to the back corner of the building.

  “Four and a half a month.” Sam smiled and walked up closer to Liz. He stood next to her as she looked out of the window. She turned, leaning her back on the wall next to the window.

  Liz looked around the room once more. It was empty, but it definitely had potential. For the first time, Liz wished Caroline was there. She would have known what to look for.

  “Everything okay?” Sam asked.

  “Honestly,” Liz threw her hands on her hips, “I have no idea what makes a good office.”

  Sam laughed and unbuttoned his jacket. The light brown suit made him look like he was going to be a ring bearer in a wedding, which, for some reason, made Liz smile. “Usually people are too busy pretending that they know everything to admit that they don’t. I can help.”

  Liz smiled at him. “And agents are usually too busy trying to get a sale to explain the details.”

  “Oh,” he said. “I love details.” He walked to the middle of the room, cleared his throat, and stretched open his arms like a ringmaster.

  “This building comes with a standard triple-net-lease. So, on top of rent, you’ll want to consider insurance, taxes, and repairs. It’s standard for commercial buildings, but you could also negotiate some interior build-outs if you need that.”

  “We probably will,” Liz said.

  Sam coughed and continued. “It’s been on the market for a few months, and the owner is open to negotiations.”

  “That could work.” Liz looked at Sam again.

  Sam patted her on the shoulder. “Don’t worry. I’m here to help.” He shook his shaggy brown hair. “Ready for the next place?”

  Liz took one last look, trying to soak in the space, then nodded. “Okay.”

  Sam took the group to a couple more places, and by the time they walked into the fourth office building, Liz was finally starting to pick up a little real-estate lingo.

  The final building was the smallest space, but it was a new building with amazing skylights.

  “This is definitely a contender.” Liz took a few notes on her phone. When she looked up, Sam had his business cared outstretched under his thumb.

  “Here’s my card just in case you need anything. Or if you need any company for dinner.” Sam leaned toward Liz.

  Liz almost laughed. The guy was slick, but he was also very young. “Thanks, but I think I’m old enough to be your older-but-really-hip sister.” Liz reached out and took his card.

  Sam winked at her. “Or like my really young mom.”

  “No.” Liz put her hand on his shoulder. “I’m not that old.”

  “We’ll stick with sister then.” He grinned and tossed his hair. Liz looked into his sweet brown eyes and wide smile. Part of her expected him to bark at any moment.

  4.

  By the time Liz finished her meetings in Atlanta, James and Rose had completely given up hiding whatever was going on between them. It was so brazen, Liz started counting the number of accidental brushes and giggles between the pair. By the time James dropped them off at the airport at the end of the weekend, the couple’s total was sixty-three.

  As Liz watched the couple pull away after a deep hug at the airport, the reality set in. She would never have that. The only person she wanted to be with was Darcy, and it would never happen.

  Liz was so deep in her feelings that by the time they were waiting in line at security, she realized she hadn’t said a word to Rose in thirty minutes. Rose nervously glanced at her. Liz scrambled to find words. She definitely didn’t want Rose to think she was mad. Because she wanted Rose to find a great guy, even if she couldn’t have the same.

  “So, James?” Liz finally asked.

  Rose turned to Liz and started talking. Her explanation fell out of her mouth quickly. “I should have told you. I didn’t want to say anything until I knew it was serious.”

  Liz grabbed her ID from her purse to give to the security guard. “Is it serious?”

  “He asked me to be his girlfriend.”

  Liz grimaced; every muscle on her body tightened. She didn’t know what to say. She didn’t want to burst her friend’s bubble, but she didn’t want her to have false hope.

  “Pemberley doesn’t allow inter-office relationships,” Liz told her friend.

  Rose slowly took off her tennis shoes. “James told me. He’s supposed to talk to Darcy about it.”

  Liz sighed and removed her shoes too. She knew what Darcy was going to say, and it wasn’t going to be what Rose wanted to hear. She wanted to grab her friend by the shoulders and tell her that nothing was going to happen between her and James, but as she looked into Rose’s hopeful gaze, she couldn’t burst her bubble.

  As Liz put her carry-on items in a gray tub and slid it through the x-ray machines, she could almost feel Darcy’s lips on hers. Her body ached for his arms to be
wrapped around her.

  What was she thinking? She was as hopeless as Rose.

  Liz stepped into the body scanners, and when the x-ray machines were done, they stood beside each other and put their shoes on. “I really like him. He’s nice. We like all the same music, and he wants kids.” Rose listed off twenty other attributes that made James her perfect match.

  “I can tell you like him,” Liz said slowly, wondering how she was going to pick up the pieces of her friend’s broken heart after Darcy inevitably denied James’s request. “But . . . ”

  Rose interrupted. “Would you talk to Darcy, too? Explain the situation to him?” By this time, they were walking side-by-side to their gate. Liz stopped and looked at Rose, shaking her head back and forth.

  “Maybe if you talked to Darcy, tell him how hard I work, he will make an exception,” Rose said.

  Liz wanted to push a pause button to stop this whole conversation where it was and rewind. Liz hadn’t talked to Darcy in months. Not since they passionately kissed outside a Savannah restaurant. The last thing she wanted to break the silence for was a burgeoning relationship between James and Rose. “I can’t.”

  Rose cast her eyes down, and her shoulders slumped forward. Liz exhaled as a weight pressed on her heart. Rose had done so much for her. She’d been her backup when she was sick; she’d jumped in at a moment’s notice to plan events; she covered for her with clients, and worked overtime when she got sick. And in all the years they’d worked together, Rose had never asked for anything. Anything before this.

  “Please,” Rose asked again. “I really like him. Please help us.”

  Liz was about say no again, but Rose continued to plead.

  “Please.” Rose repeated. “If it comes down to having James or my job, I’m going to have to pick James, but I don’t want to leave you either.”

  Liz leaned toward Rose. They had worked together for over a decade, and now she was going to throw it away for a relationship?

  “What?” It was the only word Liz could get out of her mouth. “Are you serious?”

  Rose stopped at their gate and tucked her purse tighter under her shoulder. “You know how much I want a relationship, Liz. It’s taken me thirty-four years to find someone I like this much.”

  Liz couldn’t lose Rose as an employee, especially after just losing Stella. She sighed, realizing she didn’t have another choice. “I’ll talk to Darcy.”

  Rose wrapped her arms around Liz and squeezed. “Thank you. Thank you!”

  “No problem,” Liz said, even though it was actually a very big problem. Rose continued to hug her as Liz tried to figure out what she was going to tell Darcy.

  5.

  Darcy’s fingers tingled by the phone. She needs to call me first. It was the same thought he had had every day for the past three months as he forced himself not to contact Liz, even though every day he wanted nothing more than to hear her voice.

  This morning, when her number flashed across his caller ID, his heart fluttered like a love-sick school boy.

  He wasn’t able to stop a grin from forming as he answered the phone. “Hello, Liz.”

  Darcy could hardly wait to hear the sound of her voice, but the only thing he heard was silence. “Liz?” he asked, wondering if he were dreaming.

  “Hello, Darcy. Um . . . ” she mumbled. That is strange. Liz didn’t mumble.

  His first thought was that something had happened. “Are you okay? Is everything okay?”

  Liz cleared her throat. “Yes, everything is fine. I’m calling for James and Rose,” she continued.

  Darcy glared at his office door. James had just closed it as he walked out of Darcy’s office, where he spent most of their meeting gushing about his trip to Atlanta, but he didn’t mention anything about Rose. “What about James and Rose?”

  “They want to be together.” Liz didn’t mumble this time.

  “What?” He couldn’t hide the anger in his voice. James hadn’t said anything about dating Rose, and he knew the strict policy that forbade it. Interoffice relationships were not allowed at Pemberley Media.

  Darcy had asked James to leave Rose alone months ago when Liz had mentioned that she felt like he was flirting with Rose. “How do you know?” Darcy asked.

  “Rose told me last week on our trip to Atlanta.”

  Darcy didn’t know what to say. He wanted to call James back into his office and fire him on the spot. “I wouldn’t have called you for any other reason,” Liz whispered into the phone.

  Darcy paused again for a different reason. She wouldn’t call him for any other reason? This woman—the one he wanted to hear from in the morning, at night, at any time of day—and she didn’t want to talk to him for any other reason than to tell him his best friend was dating her employee? She must not think about him the same way he thought about her.

  “Clearly,” Darcy said.

  “What do you mean by ‘clearly’?” Liz asked, her voice quick.

  He stapled a group of papers on his desk together, using a little too much force. He hated that he’d reacted. He hated showing his feelings, almost as much as he hated coworkers dating. “Nothing,” he said.

  Darcy looked around the office, trying to distract himself from the sound of her voice. He stood and looked out of the nearby window and down to the packed Chicago street below him. He picked up the pen from his desk and curled his hand tightly around it.

  “Do you think we could just let them date?” Liz asked after a few seconds of silence.

  The question was ridiculous. Pemberley had always had an anti-dating policy. His mom helped build the company, but she quit when she started dating his dad. It was a professional company. It was clean. It was the way his father built the company, and he wasn’t about to change it.

  “Absolutely not,” Darcy replied.

  “Please, Darcy,” Liz interrupted his memory. “Rose just has the worst luck with men. She really likes James.”

  “She’s not going to have any better luck with James.” Darcy didn’t care if he was breaking man-code anymore. “James is the biggest playboy I know. I don’t want a lawsuit on my hands when they breakup. This won’t last for more than two weeks. I guarantee you.”

  “You won’t be sued, not from Rose. I’ve thought about it a lot. They really like each other, and he’s not even her supervisor.”

  Darcy set down his pen. He didn’t want to talk about Rose and James anymore. “I can’t, Liz. We’ve had several people ask in the past, and my father said no. I’ve said no. I can’t change it now; it would look like favoritism.”

  The tension he felt made him want to change the conversation. “How’s Georgia?” He hadn’t heard much from his sister since she’d left Chicago and headed back down to Savannah for her second internship with Liz. She’d only been home a few months when she told him she wanted to work for Liz again.

  “What?” Liz asked.

  “The new project she’s working on for you. How’s it going?” Darcy asked.

  Liz didn’t say anything. “Oh, yeah,” Liz finally replied. “I didn’t want to bother you about it.”

  And there it was: She didn’t want to bother him. If she had any feelings for him, she wouldn’t have thought twice about bothering him. She would have used any excuse to talk to him. The last woman he went on a date with still stopped by the office “just because she was in the neighborhood.” Caroline had spent years trying to stay close to him. But this woman, the first woman he’d felt anything serious for, didn’t want to bother him about his own sister.

  “I see,” Darcy said. And he did. He saw that Liz had no feelings for him whatsoever, and he knew that it didn’t matter anyway. There could never be anything between them. She was too valuable for Pemberley.

  “Okay,” Liz said slowly again. “I guess this is it.”

  “I guess it is,” Darcy said.

  “Goodbye,” Liz said. Her voice sounded more like a question than a statement, but Darcy was so hurt he didn’t care.

&
nbsp; Darcy forced himself to not to say anything he would regret while he recovered from the sting of Liz’s words. “Goodbye.”

  He set down the phone and picked it up again quickly to dial James’s number. He was going to squash Rose and James’s relationship before it could start.

  6.

  “Did you talk to Darcy?” Rose asked Liz after walking into her office the next day. Rose was wearing a bright pink top with a sweet floral undershirt. She looked like she could work at a fashion magazine . . . or a botanical garden. Her smile was almost as bright as her clothes.

  “Well,” Liz said slowly. She thought about her options. First, she could tell Rose the truth that Darcy said, “No.” Or she could lie and tell Rose she didn’t ask. Finally, she could completely lie and tell Rose that Darcy said “Yes” in the hopes the relationship wouldn’t go anywhere. If James were a playboy like Darcy said, it probably wouldn’t.

  Liz debated her options in her mind. If she told Rose the truth, then Rose might quit.

  Selfishly, as vice president, Liz couldn’t stand the thought of losing her best employee. Rose had a better relationship with the clients than she did.

  And, unselfishly, if Rose’s relationship with James only lasted a few weeks like Darcy guaranteed, Rose would be devastated if she quit her job when her fling with James ended.

  Liz lied and crossed her fingers that James and Rose’s relationship would be over quickly. “I think he’s okay with it.”

  “Are you sure?” Rose’s voice was so tight that it was almost a squeal.

  Liz’s heart started racing. “I’m sure.” She was ready for this conversation to be over; she didn’t want to have to think about her lie.

  “Thank you so much, Liz. You have no idea how much this means to me. I owe you.”

  Rose pulled her long, blonde hair over her right shoulder and almost skipped back to her desk. As she sat down, Liz prayed that she had done the right thing for Rose, and she prayed that whatever was going on with her and James only lasted two weeks, just like Darcy guaranteed.