Final Showdown Read online

  7.

  “What do you want to see in Nashville?” Liz looked at her phone, wondering about the text from a mysterious number. She was up to her elbows in client proofreads; she was leaving for Nashville in two days, and she didn’t have time to wait for the caller to reveal himself/herself.

  “Who is this?” Liz asked back.

  Her phone lit up again almost instantly. “Sam—amazing real estate agent.”

  Liz smiled, remembering the young guy with floppy hair and easy smile who showed her around Atlanta. “I thought you were in the Atlanta market.”

  She picked up a pen and continued marking up an ad for a new clothing boutique that looked like the dresses had more cut-outs than fabric.

  He responded seconds later. “I’m everywhere. I’m a real estate ninja.”

  Liz put her pen down and gave Sam her full attention. “Ha. Then show me your best listings, ninja. Something top secret.”

  Seconds later, Sam replied, “Challenge accepted. I’ll send you a few listings to narrow down to what you want to see.”

  Liz quickly wrote back. “I hope you’re not misleading me about your real-estate super powers.”

  “You’ll have to wait and see,” he wrote, sending a gif of a superhero immediately afterword.

  She envisioned his eyes darting through listings. Liz wondered if someone as lovable as Sam could mislead a client. It would never happen. He was way too young and green to lie.

  Lying. She knew all about that. Liz felt so guilty for lying to Rose, but she didn’t have another choice. Just one lie. Just for Rose’s own good.

  Another lie popped into her head. She’d lied to Darcy, too. She had no idea where his little sister was or what she was doing. “Are you in Savannah?” she texted Georgia, who had worked for her the previous year.

  “Sort of.” Georgia’s vague reply made Liz text back immediately. “You’re going to have to give me more details. Your brother thinks you’re working for me.”

  It wasn’t until later that night—after Liz finished up the client work, picked out properties to see in Nashville, and put on her pajamas—that she finally got a reply.

  “Working on a surprise. Can you cover for me with Darcy? Until I get it figured out?”

  Liz was already in enough trouble with Darcy. She typed “no” on the phone, but right before she hit send, she erased it and asked a question. “Where are you?”

  Georgia responded quickly this time. “I’m in Georgia. I just need a few weeks before I tell him what I’m working on.”

  Liz weighed her options. She didn’t want to lie to Darcy, especially about his sister, but she also didn’t want to be the bearer of any more bad news. Why was she always in difficult situations with her boss?

  After a few more minutes in thought, Liz decided that Georgia was an adult. She was smart and capable, so if she needed a little time before she told her brother what she was working on, Liz guessed she could give her that.

  “I won’t tell him . . . yet.”

  8.

  “I haven’t heard from James in three days and twenty-two hours.” Rose walked into her office and leaned against the wall.

  Liz bit the inside of her cheek. Here it was: James was ending the relationship like Darcy predicted. Liz looked at the stack of papers on her desk. She wondered if she should tell Rose the truth, that Darcy didn’t approve of their relationship, but she didn’t want to risk Rose quitting if James were losing interest anyway.

  Picking her words right now was crucial. Liz turned away from her computer and looked at her friend. Rose’s head was now in her hands. Her blonde hair fell around her fingers.

  “He’s probably busy at work.” Or with someone else, Liz thought.

  Liz got up from her chair and bent down next to her friend’s long taupe skirt. As she looked into Rose’s aqua eyes, Liz saw how desperately Rose wanted to make her relationship with James work, and it broke Liz’s heart to see her sweet friend so sad.

  “Long distance is hard, but we’re going to be in Nashville with him tomorrow.” Liz crossed her fingers, hoping James would use the opportunity to break up with Rose very gently, and the whole messy relationship would be over.

  A tear silently rolled down Rose’s cheek. “Okay,” she said, smiling a little. “You’re right.”

  Rose was quiet on the flight to Nashville the next day, but when they landed, her spirits seemed to soar. “I can’t believe I’m going to see him in just a few minutes,” she whispered to Liz. Liz smiled back, but she felt anything but happy inside. She swallowed the lump in her throat, knowing what was about to happen would devastate Rose.

  As they waited outside the airport to be picked up, Rose’s smile couldn’t have been bigger. When a black car came up beside them, Rose immediately stood up and started rolling her luggage bag toward it.

  Liz stopped just inches before the door and watched as the driver put her bag in the trunk. In the meantime, Rose opened the passenger side door and then whipped around to face Liz.

  “It’s Caroline,” Rose hissed. Liz bit the inside of her cheek. What was happening? James was supposed to be there to end this relationship. Where was he?

  “Why isn’t James here?”

  “I don’t know.” Liz shook her head. Maybe James was just going to ghost Rose? That seemed cruel and out of character. Liz forced Rose into the car despite her questions.

  Instead of greeting them, Caroline slowly slid her sunglasses down her nose, glared at them, and pushed her sunglasses back up her nose.

  With that stare, Liz knew this trip couldn’t get any worse. The ride to the first location felt like it took a year. Caroline eventually “warmed up,” saying snarky things like “Is it the country music capital of the world or cousin marriage capital of the world?”

  Liz couldn’t keep her eyes off Rose, who was staring out of the window. Liz glanced her way every thirty seconds, expecting to see her cry, but she didn’t. It was worse than tears. Rose looked out of the window like she was giving up on her last chance at love, which, for Rose, meant giving up on life.

  “I’m fine,” Rose said after Liz’s fifth glance.

  For the rest of the drive, Liz sat face forward, between the two women, and tried not to look at either of them.

  The car pulled up to their first location, and Sam, the real estate ninja, opened the car door. Liz couldn’t get out of the car fast enough. “Hi, Sam.” She bolted out of the car so quickly, her hair fell over her face in a mess of tangly curls.

  “Happy to see me or running away from something?” He laughed, looking at her.

  “Both.” She tossed her hair and nodded toward the back seat of the car.

  Rose and Caroline took their time getting out of the car, finally emerging looking equally miserable. Rose’s face was stamped with a despondent frown and Caroline’s with a scowl.

  “Want to take a look at door number one?” Sam pointed toward a light gray building with two giant windows on either side of a bright yellow door.

  “Sure.” Liz walked in the building. Rose and Caroline followed, neither saying a word.

  The rest of the day—through two more buildings, three client meetings, and six potential employee interviews—none of the women spoke to each other. Caroline, because she was obviously too good to be there. Rose, because she was distraught. And Liz, because there was nothing to say to comfort either of them.

  “Want to grab some dinner, Mama?” Sam texted after they finished up the showings.

  Liz laughed, remembering how he teased her about being his teenage mother. “Only if you don’t call me that ever again,” she texted back. Sam was so easygoing. He made her wish she had a little brother.

  “Deal. Meet you in the lobby in ten?” he texted.

  “Yes,” Liz wrote.

  Ten minutes later, Liz met Sam in the lobby. He was standing, ready to rock in a denim, pearl-snap shirt; boots; and a huge, white cowboy hat.

  Liz grinned, seeing his transformation into a cowb
oy. She had slipped into a pair of skinny jeans and an emerald top before pulling her curly hair into a long braid over her shoulder.

  “Gotta play the part.” He gave her a big hug and a bigger smile. “So glad you decided to come,” he said.

  “Oh, I would have come if you said we were going to herd cows. I need a break from my travel buddies.”

  Sam held open the hotel door for her. “They’re like Tweedle-Sad and Tweedle-Mad.”

  Liz laughed as she walked onto the Nashville sidewalk. She took a big breath of fresh air. “Couldn’t say it better myself.”

  They got into their car, greeted by their driver who had enough cologne on to cover the state of Tennessee. “You ready for your first Nashville honky-tonk?”

  Liz raised her eyebrows. “Who said it’s my first honky-tonk?”

  The car stopped on the corner of one of the brightest streets she’d ever stood on, complete with too many cowboy hats and bachelorette parties to count.

  When Liz got out of the car, Sam took her hand and spun her around on the sidewalk. She was a little dizzy, but she found her footing. “Where are we?”

  “Broadway,” Sam replied.

  9.

  “I think I’m staying in tonight,” James told Darcy. Darcy sighed. Usually James would rather not eat for a week than miss an opportunity to schmooze with the board of directors for Pemberley Media. Darcy walked toward James, who was sprawled out on his leather couch with his tie dangling to the floor.

  “James, I don’t care how lovesick you think you are. This is our annual dinner with the board. This is mandatory.”

  “I know. I just can’t.” James crossed his hands over his chest.

  Even Darcy could admit that this was saddest he’d ever seen his friend. Darcy knew the problem. Her name was Rose, and he also knew this would blow over, like every other breakup James had been through. Darcy shook his head, remembering the time three years ago when James disappeared to the beach for a month after a breakup but came back with a model in tow.

  “I should have gone to Nashville.”

  That was the last thing James needed to do. Darcy shook his head. “No. Leave her alone. You cannot date her.”

  Darcy looked at his forlorn friend on the couch. “Fine. Don’t come to the meeting. But get off my couch,” Darcy said. After a few seconds, James stood up, straightened his tie, and dragged his feet out of the office.

  Darcy checked his watch. He had exactly four hours before the board meeting, and he laid his head on his desk, feeling just like James did. Darcy knew exactly what it felt like not to be able to be with the woman you wanted.

  The difference between Darcy and James was that Darcy also knew about duty. He knew it was his duty to do what was right for Pemberley at all costs, which included going to the board meeting and not dating an employee.

  10.

  “Cabernet, please,” Darcy ordered from the waitress who came by the table. The annual investors’ dinner was at The Founders’ Landing, one of the oldest, most exclusive places in Chicago: part restaurant, part bar, all men.

  “Cigar?” the waitress asked, sitting down his drink and opening a box for him. Darcy didn’t even look up; he hadn’t smoked in five years.

  He surveyed the white-haired men in dark suits who still hadn’t acknowledged him as he stood at the wide, rectangular conference table. He didn’t sit down yet because the waitress was still standing next to him. “No.”

  He turned to look at her, and for a split second, he thought she was Liz. She had curly, long, brown hair and the same light skin. He took a second look. It wasn’t Liz; she was too skinny, and her eyes were dull.

  She was staring at him. “No cigar,” he repeated himself. She shut the box quickly, and she scurried out of the room.

  Darcy sat down in the large leather chair at the head of the table. He took a long drink and waited. None of the board members looked up from their conversations with each other.

  Darcy took a few seconds to survey the group. Whitaker, Chester, Peters, and Saunders sat in front of him. Only seven years before, he’d sat at the exact same table with his father. He remembered how nervous he had felt sitting before this group of men the first time, how he had desperately wanted to impress his father’s friends and colleagues.

  Now tonight, sitting down with them, he didn’t feel nervous at all. Maybe it was because of Pemberley’s recent expansions. Maybe it was because he had more experience, but he no longer cared about impressing them. Instead, for the first time, as he looked around the room, he felt nothing.

  Darcy swirled the deep red liquid in his glass before taking a drink.

  “Looks like your Savannah expansion is picking up quite nicely. Personnel expenses are a little high, though. And we think it’s time to shut down Denver,” Pemberley’s board chairmen, Phil Saunders, said. Darcy looked at the wrinkled man. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. This man, his father’s fraternity brother, was the same man who’d wanted Darcy to expand initially.

  Saunders flipped through the budget. “What’s going on up there?”

  “We had some management issues. Completely solved now.” Darcy had put new leadership in charge of his Denver office. “We’re looking to expand to Nashville or Atlanta next.”

  “Son,” Peters continued, “hold off on those expansions until Denver is solid. We don’t want to have another incident.”

  Darcy looked down at his drink. It’d been four years, but the board still wouldn’t let him live down the first quarter he took over Pemberley after his dad died. He’d sorely underestimated profits, didn’t make payroll, and begged the board to bail him out and let him keep his job.

  That felt like a lifetime ago. Darcy knew Saunders was wrong. Liz was ready to expand. The company was ready to expand. Instead, as his mind tuned out, Darcy realized, at that moment, staring at his father’s fraternity brothers, why he didn’t feel anything: he didn’t want to be there. He wasn’t in his twenties anymore. He was thirty-six, and if he stayed at Pemberley, he would always be answering to these men, in their dark suits with the scotch in their hands, for the rest of his life.

  Darcy looked down at his lap, his eyes landing on his own dark suit jacket, just like the ones they were wearing.

  “Nashville is atrocious,” a text popped up on Darcy’s phone. Before he looked at the sender, he wondered if the message was from Liz. His heart fell when he realized it was from Caroline.

  Darcy didn’t text back. He didn’t want to deal with her tonight. He was already in a bad mood, and he knew Caroline wouldn’t help the situation.

  “Let’s make some cuts from Savannah,” Phil continued. Darcy spent the rest of the meeting fighting for Liz’s new employees. Saunders finally gave in after Darcy promised to shut down Denver at the end of the year if it still wasn’t turning a profit.

  As the meeting subsided, the board of directors slipped into smaller pockets of grumpy old men, and Darcy stood up to leave.

  He walked out of the door. He passed the waitress, the one with brown curly hair, who could maybe pass for Liz if he didn’t look her in the eyes. He wondered for a brief moment if he should ask her out. She looked down at the ground, and he kept walking. He wanted Liz, not an imitation.

  11.

  After three honky-tonks, four line dances, and five tipped cowboy hats, Liz had forgotten about her day. She hadn’t felt this carefree in months, and she had her young real estate agent, Sam, to thank for it.

  Liz walked down the brightly-lit Broadway Street, surrounded by aspiring country music stars and people having such a good time, and she fell completely in love with Nashville’s live music and bright lights.

  She walked into a bathroom of the last place of the night, and while waiting in line, she checked her phone. Nothing. Liz thought about checking in on Rose, but she didn’t want to wake her up. Maybe Rose could sleep off her heartbreak. Liz checked her email. Seven new ones. The most recent was a company-wide email from Darcy.

  Darcy. D
arcy. Darcy. His name rang through her head. His crazy no-dating policy was the reason Rose was in their hotel room, passed out from self-pity.

  “Did you tell James not to come to Nashville?” Liz texted Darcy as she was waiting for the bathroom. It was two a.m., and she wasn’t expecting a response.

  Her phone lit up almost immediately. “What are you talking about?” his response was quick enough to mean he was by his phone, and his response was curt enough to make her snarl even more.

  “Did you tell James not to come to Nashville?” she asked again.

  Again, Darcy’s response was fast. “Yes.”

  Liz shoved her purse in her phone; she was at the front of the bathroom line now. When she was done, she washed her hands, then tried to think of a response. She started to texted back three different angry emojis, but she deleted them all.

  “Say what you want to say, Liz.” Darcy’s text popped up on her screen. Liz realized he must have saw that she was writing back, then subsequently deleted every message.

  “Did James want to see Rose?” she texted back quickly. She had to know whether James’s feelings had really changed like she’d assumed.

  “Yes, but he’s following policy.”

  Liz leaned against the bathroom wall as she realized James didn’t ghost Rose; he was just following orders. Liz felt terrible for telling her friend that Darcy approved of their relationship. Now Rose thought the man she fell for was breaking up with her. This was a total mess.

  New approach, she thought. Maybe I’ll be the nice guy. “Rose is devastated,” she wrote back after a few seconds. “I think they really like each other. Could you just let them date a few weeks and break up on their own?” She hoped he would say yes, just this once.