Читать книгу Married In The Morning - SUSAN MEIER, Susan Meier - Страница 10

Gina didn’t know who the woman in Vegas had been, but she did know it wasn’t her. She was Gina Martin, daughter of Hilton Cooper Martin. She was destined to become CEO and chairman of the board of her family’s grocery store conglomerate because she was the only child of the widower who had started the company and owned controlling interest in the stock. She didn’t gamble. She didn’t wear red bras and red lace thongs. She didn’t marry a man on a whim, no matter how gorgeous. And her relatively young, very strong father did not have heart attacks.

As far as she was concerned, the entire universe had gone awry over the weekend and now she had to fix it.

Getting off the bone-jarring commuter flight she had taken to Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Gina slipped her three-karat diamond wedding ring into her trouser pocket, glad she had bought this pantsuit while shopping in Vegas. She not only had warm slacks and a blazer, but also a blouse. It wasn’t much protection against the freezing temperatures of February in the Appalachian Mountains, but she was dressed warmer than Ethan was.

“The hospital is a short drive from here,” Ethan said as they entered the rental car he had acquired at the one-man counter in the nothing-but-the-basics terminal. Wearing jeans and a T-shirt, dark-haired, dark-eyed Ethan looked like a man who had been unexpectedly yanked from enjoying a sunny Sunday afternoon with his wife and new son. He didn’t even have a jacket. But worry about her father seemed to take precedence, because he made no comment about how cold it was. He simply started the car and turned on the heater.

“I got directions from the pilot.”

Gina grimaced. “Small cities are awfully casual.”

“But convenient.” It was already close to eight, and it was dark. Ethan flicked on the headlights. “You probably couldn’t get directions this good from anybody in Atlanta.”

As if taking off her wedding ring had magically transformed her, Gina stopped agonizing over her foolish weekend. She knew she couldn’t dwell on how stupid she had been or even how sick her father was. She had to get her mind in gear to make sure their company didn’t fall apart in her dad’s absence.

“So when Gerrick gets here you’ll be going back?” she asked Ethan as he drove down a nearly empty four-lane highway.

“Yes, I think one of us has to be there.”

She sighed. “No offense, Ethan, but you’re in the Legal Department. You’re not really up on the day-today business dealings.”

“Then Josh Anderson’s not a good choice to go home either, because he’s our PR man,” Ethan said, referring to Gina’s cousin, the third person of the trio of Josh, Ethan and Gina, who were slated to take over the company when her father retired. Though Gina would be CEO and chairman of the board, it was already common knowledge that Josh would head Operations and Ethan would continue to lead the Legal Department. Because Hilton Martin was only in his fifties, and no one knew what role Gerrick would have played had he not left the company, her father had not begun transferring responsibilities or even training them for their future roles. Though Ethan could completely handle his own area of expertise, none of them could step into Hilton’s shoes.

Particularly not Gina. It was her father’s idea to put her in Human Resources so she could get to know all the employees and become familiar with their strengths and weaknesses. After that, she assumed he would begin showing her the ins and outs of the business in general. She even guessed that eventually she would move into an office by her dad, serve as his assistant and ultimately get the reins. But as of this time, all she had done was manage the employees.

“He might understand the stores,” Ethan continued still talking about Josh. “But I don’t think he can run them.”

“So what we’re saying is Gerrick needs to go home.”

“He is vice president of Operations.” Ethan sighed. “It’s too bad we can’t call him and tell him not to come up at all.”

“He has to come up.”

“Oh?” Ethan said, stealing a peek at her.

“Don’t make a bigger deal out of this than it is,” she said. Her business tone of voice came back so quickly and naturally that Gina was shocked she could have forgotten who she was for a second let alone an entire weekend.

Neither Gina nor Ethan said anything for the rest of the trip. He dropped her off at the sliding door entrance of the hospital, then drove away to find parking. She ran to the information desk, was given directions to the cardiac care floor, and proceeded to find her father. She knew Ethan would get the same information she had, the same way she had gotten it and wouldn’t expect her to wait for him.

By the time Ethan arrived, Gina had been greeted by Josh and Olivia Brady—Josh’s fiancée and one of Gina’s best friends—had spoken to the doctor and was by her father’s bed, where he lay sleeping. Because Ethan wasn’t family, he wasn’t allowed to come into the room. After her short visit was over, she joined Josh, Olivia and Ethan in the waiting room.

“Everything’s going to be fine,” Josh said immediately, while Olivia slid her arm around Gina’s shoulders and helped her to a chair. Like Ethan, Olivia and Josh were dressed in jeans and simple T-shirts. Olivia’s long blond hair was pulled into a bobbing ponytail. Josh’s black hair was rumpled, as if he’d combed his fingers through it in frustration.

“Yeah, I know.”

“And Ethan explained your plan about sending Gerrick home to run the company while you’re up here.”

“I think you all should go home.”

“But…”

“No buts,” Gina said, shaking her head. “I’m fine. But Dad’s recovery will take weeks, and with all of us up here, the company will not be fine.”

“The company will be fine without me,” Olivia disagreed. “I quit last week, remember?”

“You quit to plan your wedding.”

“Which is next month. Besides, everything’s under control. I can spare some time away. Before you got here the doctor told us your dad could be transferred to a hospital in Atlanta as soon as he’s able to travel. So it’s not like you’ll be here forever.” She paused, caught Gina’s gaze. “I’m staying.”

Gina nodded. “Okay.”

“Good,” Olivia said, then removed her arm from around Gina’s shoulders. “Now, when was the last time you ate?”

“Breakfast.”

“You haven’t eaten since breakfast!”

“Well, breakfast in Vegas was your lunchtime. So it wasn’t that long ago.”

“Vegas?” Ethan and Josh said simultaneously, before they exchanged a speculative look.

“Let’s leave that alone,” Gina said, then bit her quivering lip. For all her toughness about making sure the company would run smoothly, she suddenly wished Gerrick were here. But as quickly as she had the thought she stopped it. What they had done was wrong. Leaning on him was wrong. Leaning on anybody was wrong. She had to depend on people for business things, but that was simply letting them do their jobs. But she would not, could not, depend on anybody personally. She might not be in a position to take over this company today, or even next year, but by God she had to be someday and that meant she had to start being strong now.

Because there wasn’t another direct flight to Pittsburgh, Gerrick had to endure a layover, then rent a car and drive from Pittsburgh to Johnstown. He didn’t arrive at the hospital until almost midnight that night. When he stepped off the elevator onto the cardiac care floor, Gerrick didn’t see Ethan McKenzie or Josh Anderson and assumed they were already on their way back to Atlanta. Olivia Brady, dressed in blue jeans and an old shirt, as if she’d dropped everything when she got the call about Hilton, was sleeping on a blue plastic sofa. Gina stood by a floor-to-ceiling window, gazing out at the lights of the city.

“I got here as soon as I could,” Gerrick said, rushing over to Gina. He took her shoulders so he could turn her around and pull her into his arms. She accepted his comfort, but stiffly.

“Thank you, Gerrick, but I’ve thought this through…and talked about it with Josh and Ethan and you’re actually the person who should be home, running the company.”

“But I…”

“You’re the only one of us who’s in Operations. Actually, you’re the only one of us who is a vice president. Josh and Ethan aren’t that high on the corporate ladder yet, plus Ethan’s in Legal and Josh is in Public Relations.” She looked up at him, her pale-blue eyes blank and distant. “You’re the only one who knows how to run the business.”

Gerrick licked his dry lips. “Yes. You’re right,” he said, remembering that Olivia was in the room, remembering that they hadn’t yet told anyone they had gotten married, and realizing that as they had never dated, the marriage would be as much of a shock to Olivia as Hilton’s heart attack.

“How is your dad?”

“Resting.”

Frustrated that they couldn’t really talk, Gerrick glanced around. With the exception of sleeping Olivia, Gina and Gerrick had the huge waiting area, which was actually a wide corridor banked with chairs and fronted by little alcoves that also held chairs, all to themselves. He directed Gina to one of the cubbyholes and helped her sit. Continuing to hold her cold hands in his, he took the chair beside her.

“So, what’s up?”

“Gerrick, I can’t deal with this right now.” She pulled her hands out of his, fished into her trouser pocket and retrieved his ring. She handed it to him.

Pain flooded Gerrick, but he ignored it. “I know,” he said, taking the ring and sliding it into the pocket of his jeans. He didn’t think she was breaking up with him, but giving him the ring for safekeeping. With three one-karat diamonds, it had been very expensive and it wasn’t wise to have the ring rolling around in her pocket.

“So, I guess we’ll talk when you get home.”

Looking at her entwined fingers, she nodded. “The doctors say it will be at least a week before he can travel. I’ve made arrangements for a cardiologist friend of his to fly up from Atlanta tomorrow. He’ll check Dad out and make a decision.” She peeked up at him. “I won’t know anything concrete until tomorrow.”

He nodded.

“So there’s no point in you hanging around.”

“I can stay until…”

She shook her head. “I wish you wouldn’t. Olivia’s getting a hotel room and has agreed to keep me company. Josh and Ethan have already gone home.” She paused, drew a quick breath. “It looks better this way.”

“Your father and I are friends, Gina,” Gerrick argued desperately. “Won’t it look odd if I…?”

“Josh is my father’s nephew and he’s gone. It won’t look odd if you return to Atlanta, but it will look odd if you insist on staying.”

“Especially since I’m the one who should be at home minding the store,” Gerrick conceded quietly because it was clear she wasn’t going to budge, and he knew he had to let her handle things in the way that was easiest for her.

“Exactly.”

“Okay,” Gerrick said, rising. “Can I see him?”

She shook her head. “Only family can…”

“Gina, I am family.”

Gina swallowed and nodded, then glanced over at Olivia, Gerrick guessed, to make sure she was still sleeping. Then she led him down the hall to the nurses’ station and whispered that he was her husband and he would like to see her father. They were given orders to be out of the room in five minutes. When they slipped in, Gerrick got a full dose of seeing his idol, his mentor, his friend, attached to life support and breathing through tubes. Then he pressed his lips together and motioned to Gina to leave.

She nodded and followed him to the door.

“Walk me to the elevator?”

The relieved look on her face sent another shaft of pain through Gerrick, but again he ignored it. Seeing Hilton had impressed upon him that Gina had plenty to deal with handling the situation with her father. She shouldn’t be sorting through the complications of an unexpected marriage, too. Yes, he knew that leaving her was risky. That she could talk herself out of their marriage in the few days they were apart. But if he didn’t leave, if he insisted on staying, if he insisted they announce this marriage, he would not only be an insensitive clod, he knew with almost absolute certainty, the marriage would be over.

He held Gina’s hand as they walked to the elevator. To an onlooker it was simply a friendly gesture, but Gerrick realized how quickly, how easily he had fallen into the role of her lover, her husband. They had been romantically involved less than forty-eight hours, yet he knew if he lost her it would kill him.

He pushed the elevator button and pulled her into his arms. She came willingly, resting her head on his shoulder. So, he pressed his luck and gave her a soft kiss before he stepped inside the car. She smiled briefly and waved as the doors closed.

But Gerrick wasn’t happy with the smile, or the wave. Just like in their hotel room that morning in Vegas, she hadn’t kissed him back.

Gina took only one of Gerrick’s calls in the days that followed. In that conversation, she explained that because of the severity of her father’s heart attack, Hilton’s cardiologist friend had agreed that a catheterization should be done in the cardiac facility at the Johnstown hospital rather than waiting until Hilton could be moved to Atlanta. Josh and his mother, Hilton’s sister, went to Pennsylvania to be with Gina during the procedure, which went very well. Josh returned to work Friday reporting Hilton’s prognosis was good. He would be transferred to Atlanta in about a week, but he would ultimately need bypass surgery.

With the news that Hilton was stable, Gerrick decided to fly to Johnstown for the weekend. He didn’t expect Gina to announce their marriage, and he didn’t plan to play the role of husband. He just wanted to see her. He wanted to be sure she was okay. He wanted to be sure Hilton was okay. He wanted to do whatever he could because these people were his family. He felt it as surely as if he and Gina had dated for years instead of hours. And he couldn’t stay away.

When he arrived in Hilton’s private room, he found Gina and Hilton’s friend, Dr. Brown, laughing and talking with a tired, but wide-awake Hilton Martin. His white hair was pillow-ruffled but his blue eyes were clear and bright.

“Gerrick, come in!” Hilton called as enthusiastically as an obviously weak man could. “Come in! What the devil possessed you to fly up here?”

“I came to see you,” Gerrick said, smiling broadly with relief at seeing Hilton looking like he was on the road to recovery.

“And I’m fine. How’s the company?”

“Uh-uh-uh…” Dr. Brown said, shaking his finger. “You don’t get to talk business until after the bypass.”

“Spoilsport!” Hilton said, but he laughed.

Gerrick’s gaze drifted to Gina. Wearing blue jeans and a loose-knit hunter-green sweater that intensified the hue of her dark-brown hair, she couldn’t have been prettier if she tried. Yet, something about her was off-kilter. She appeared pleased with her father’s recovery, but she was different.

“Hi, Gina,” Gerrick said, greeting her because he hadn’t done so when he walked in.

“Hi, Gerrick.”

Gerrick accepted her casual reply because of the circumstances and smiled, but Gina shifted her gaze away from him.

“Since Dr. Brown won’t let me talk business,” Hilton said, “I would feel much better, Gina, if you would go out into the hall and get the lowdown from Gerrick. So I’ll know at least one of us is staying on top of things.”

“There’s really nothing pressing happening,” Gerrick said, but Hilton waved him out. “You two go talk.”

Because Hilton hadn’t changed floors, only rooms, Gina and Gerrick returned to the corridor waiting area and the alcoves of chairs. They took seats in the first hideaway. It was private, but Gerrick nonetheless glanced around to see if he could do something as simple as take her hand.

Gina shook her head. “Don’t.”

“Don’t?”

“Don’t. I don’t want you holding my hand.”

“Gina, you don’t have to worry,” Gerrick said soothingly. “I’m not going to do anything to embarrass you or even announce our wedding. You’re safe.”

“I don’t think so,” Gina said, her voice barely a whisper. “Now that the worst is over and now that I’ve had time to think things through, I know I won’t feel safe until we talk about our marriage.”

“Okay. So, let’s talk.”

Gina straightened her shoulders and sat taller in her chair as if she were about to have a business discussion, not a personal one. She drew a long breath then said, “I had too much to drink the night we got married and I don’t remember it. I don’t remember if we consummated the marriage.” Without so much as a blink, she steadily held his gaze. “I assume we did. But whatever happened, I don’t remember and as far as I’m concerned that makes it a mistake.”

“I disagree,” Gerrick said calmly, though inside he was reeling. She didn’t remember. That would explain her hesitation when she awakened, and why she had second thoughts. But it didn’t explain why she kissed him at the airport in Atlanta. Or the fact that she didn’t want out of the marriage Sunday afternoon. Sunday afternoon she wanted to be his wife as much as he wanted to be her husband. Otherwise she wouldn’t have let him come to her house, because she had to know the only reason for them to go to her father’s home together was to tell him they were married.

“Gina, this just happened at a bad time. I’m willing to give you weeks or months to adjust if need be, but I don’t think we made a mistake.” He paused, took her hand. “I love you, Gina.”

“You don’t love me,” Gina said, yanking her hand from his and shifting away from him, though she remained coolly detached. “We had a really great weekend but we do not love each other. Gerrick, I barely know you.”

“We worked together for six years. We’ve known each other twelve.”

She shook her head. “You don’t really know the people you work with.”

“Are you telling me you’re hiding some deep, dark secret?”

“I’m telling you we made a mistake and I don’t want to continue it. I want out.” She combed her fingers through her thick brown hair, then shook her head in disgust. “I’ve got problems enough with my dad and I don’t have the mental energy to argue with you. I don’t even have time to be as diplomatic as I probably should be. And you don’t, either. You’ve got a new job to go to.”

“That’s funny. Last week you were insisting only I

could stay behind to run the company in your father’s absence. Now you want me to leave?”

“You need to leave. You need to get on with the rest of your life and I need to get on with mine.”

“I see,” Gerrick said coolly and rose from his chair. Where had his wonderful Gina gone? Where was the sweet passionate woman who tormented him by fingering all the red and black lace bras in the hotel store? Where was the woman who made love with passion and abandon? Where was the woman who had asked him to marry her? “I guess I should head for home, then.”

She nodded.

“I’ll just say goodbye to your father.”

She nodded again. “I’ll be in in a minute.”

Gerrick took no comfort in the fact that Gina appeared to need to collect herself before returning to her father’s room. Heeding doctor’s orders, Gerrick also didn’t tell Hilton that Gina had basically asked him to leave the company. He never lost his smile, his friendly demeanor, or even the spring in his step until he was boarding the commuter at Johnstown’s airport, then he felt as if his entire world was crumbling around him.

He had loved her for months. Before he got the job offer in Maine he had been building up to asking her out by talking with her every chance he got. True, he hadn’t told her about his family, but she knew as much as anybody knew about him personally. And he knew absolutely everything about her. Most of her growing-up years had been documented in the company’s annual statement because it was a family-owned business. He knew her. He knew he loved her. And he knew that without her, his life would have almost no meaning.

His heart actually hurt, and he considered not leaving, waiting around until she came back and then trying to talk to her again. But Gina had made her wishes clear. She wouldn’t be receptive to his staying. She wouldn’t see his refusal to go as tenacity born of love. She would fight him tooth and nail, if only on principle. But more than that, if she didn’t believe she knew him, if she had missed that he had been flirting with her for months, then she hadn’t been paying any attention to him and she was right. She didn’t know him.

So she could not love him.

No matter how many times she had said it on their wedding night, she didn’t love him.

The realization hurt so much he stopped his thoughts. He wouldn’t let himself go any further down that road. He knew better. He knew exactly what happened when a person let grief overwhelm him. He might have been in elementary school when his father left, but he had grieved. He had spent Christmas day on a chair by the window, watching it snow, waiting for his father to return, and when he didn’t six-year-old Gerrick had fallen apart.

Then, when he was twelve his mother took him to spend his summer vacation with her sister, Gerrick’s aunt, and simply never returned. She didn’t give a word of explanation to him or his aunt. She just never came to pick him up. Only one day beyond her scheduled arrival, Gerrick knew what had happened and this time when he fell apart it wasn’t the fear-based agony of a child, but the true grief of a boy on the brink of manhood. No one wanted him, and he knew it.

Anger and rebellion marked the next four years of his life, but on his sixteenth birthday everything changed. He suddenly realized the only person he could count on was himself, but he also saw that wasn’t such a bad thing since he could control what he did. His life took a miraculous upturn. He got a job so he could begin to pay his own way. He made peace with his aunt and uncle and cautiously made friends at school. He didn’t spend his life avoiding relationships, but he was careful and wise beyond his years.

Which was why he was amazed he had rolled the dice with Gina. He let his emotions overrule his common sense and now he was hurting almost as much as he had when he was twelve.

Except this time he had chosen his fate. This time he had a plan, but he hadn’t followed it. When she proposed to him, he tossed his plan and his common sense out the window.

In some ways that made the hurt worse, because he knew this pain was his own fault.

He kept a tight hold on his control through the entire flight to Atlanta and on Sunday occupied himself with writing notes about his job for Josh Anderson, so he did not have time to think about Gina. He didn’t want to be reminded of the things she’d said to him, their marriage or how stupid he had been to panic and marry her before she had a chance to catch up to his level of feelings. If he did, he knew he would crumble, or, worse, do something foolish.

On Monday morning he called Josh Anderson and Ethan McKenzie into Hilton Martin’s office, which he had been using in Hilton’s absence.

“Good morning, Josh, Ethan,” Gerrick said with a nod to Ethan indicating he should close the office door. To look at him, no one would know the suffering of his soul. Gerrick held his emotions so tightly to his chest that even he didn’t fully comprehend the extent of his pain.

“What’s up?” Josh asked, taking a seat across the desk from Gerrick. “I heard you went to Pennsylvania over the weekend. How was Hilton?”

“Weak but recovering,” Gerrick said, as Ethan closed the door and took the second seat across the desk from Gerrick. “And because he’s recovering so quickly and so well, we have some more important things to talk about. First of all, I never told anyone but…”

“But there’s something between you and Gina,” Ethan speculated, his dark eyes bright with merriment.

Josh grinned in agreement. “Olivia told me you got in to see Hilton the day of his heart attack, when none of us was allowed in because we’re not in his immediate family. Olivia guessed…”

Gerrick held up his hands to stop Josh. “Don’t guess. There’s nothing happening between Gina and me. We went to Vegas that weekend to celebrate the fact that I had a new job.…”

“A new job?” Ethan said, sounding confused and reluctant.

Gerrick nodded. “This week is supposed to be the final week of my notice, but I’m going early. Today will be my last day. Hilton has known all along. He supported me during the interview process. He recommended me.”

Josh swiped his hand across the back of his neck. “You can’t be telling us you’re leaving.”

“That’s exactly what I’m telling you,” Gerrick said, rising from his seat to pace. He normally wasn’t a fidgety person, but keeping such a tight rein on his emotions filled him with impulses and urges he almost couldn’t control. But he did. He turned and smiled at the men in front of Hilton’s desk. “One of you is going to have to take over.”

“You’re a more logical choice than I am,” Ethan said to Josh. “If only because you have to know more about the stores to promote them, but, frankly, Gerrick, I’m shocked that you’re leaving. I’m shocked that you would leave us in a lurch when Hilton is so sick.”

“My new job is as CEO of a grocery store chain in Maine. Their stock just went public. It’s through the roof. The man who started the business is retiring, and everything is set up for this company to explode. I’m on the ground floor. A chance like this comes along once in a lifetime.”

“And Hilton Martin has only really needed us once in a lifetime.”

“Guys, he’s been encouraging me to go.”

Josh peered up. “And what does Gina say?”

Gerrick smiled at the irony. “She’s emphatic that I go. She’s also emphatic that you can handle this without me.”

Ethan slapped his palm on the leather arm of his chair. “Then I guess you go,” he said, but he didn’t sound happy or encouraging.

“And we’ll handle it,” Josh said, as he rose.

The two men walked out of the office without another word and Gerrick rubbed his hands down his face. He had just lost two friends. First, he married Gina and thoroughly pushed her from his life. Then, to accommodate Gina, he had to leave Hilton-Cooper-Martin Foods, which alienated his friends. The only person he hadn’t run off was Hilton and Gerrick suspected that if he ever found out about the secret Vegas wedding, Hilton wouldn’t be his supporter anymore, either.

He remembered the old saw: be careful what you wish for because you may get it, and knew it was right. He had wished Gina would notice him, wished he could marry her before he moved to Maine, and both had happened.

And it had not only cost him any chance with her. It also cost his two best friends.

After settling her father in at the hospital in Atlanta, Gina arrived home the following Wednesday, exhausted but satisfied that her dad would eventually be back to normal. She joyfully paid the taxi driver and gave him a healthy tip because he lugged her assorted bags, boxes and mismatched suitcases into the foyer of the Martin mansion.

The first thing she saw after she turned away from the door was a note propped up against a vase on the small mahogany table beneath the large mirror. The envelope bore her name, so she reached for it and ripped it open.

She read it and tears unexpectedly filled her eyes. It said only,

I’m sorry,

Gerrick

P.S. By the way, I did love you. I might always love you.

Overcome, Gina dropped to sit on the bottom step of the stairway that spiraled to the second floor. The funny part of it was, she believed Gerrick really did love her. Or at least he loved the woman she had been in Vegas. Gina didn’t know who that woman was but she did know she was gone for good. Particularly since she had more than a sneaking suspicion her father would begin to train her to take over the company once he returned to work, and her time would be taken up with facts, figures and negotiating strategies. So Gerrick was better off this way. The real Gina Martin wasn’t the kind to fly to Vegas on the spur of the moment, to deliberately buy shimmering lace panties and bras because she knew the man shopping with her was attracted to her and she wanted to tease him.

The real Gina didn’t tease people. The real Gina had thrown away the red bra and thong. The real Gina had invested the money she won playing blackjack.

Gerrick was much better off without her.

She pressed her lips together to stop their trembling, but couldn’t stop the flood of tears that rolled down her cheeks. Though she didn’t remember a big part of it—the most important part—that weekend in Vegas had been the best, most fun weekend of her entire life. But now she had to get back to her real world.