“That was Julian Middleton.”
“Oh my God. Are you serious? You gave him your cookie for the contract?”
“No,” I denied. It wasn’t for that at all.
“How could you be so naïve, Morgan? Did you tell him the truth?”
“Yes. So what?”
“So what? Morgan, did he promise you the contract was still going to happen?”
“Yes, he loved my designs that you slipped into the file.”
“Were you on the phone with him as he left?”
“No, I’ve been laying down.”
“Sweetie, I need to tell you something. As he was pulling out of the driveway, I heard him tell someone on the phone that he loved them.” I felt my heart fall into my gut. That couldn’t be. I looked at my sister and knew she wasn’t lying. She had no reason to. The tears fell with my next breath. I felt the walls closing in around me. This wasn’t happening. How could he? How stupid could I be?
“I need to get out of here,” I sobbed.
“Okay, get dressed and we’ll head over to the studio. I can make us some coffee. Then we can tell the fucker he can take his deal and shove it.”
“No, you can’t do that. Despite what happened between he and I, there’s no way you should lose out. That money is more than we could ever dream about. I can’t change this, so let’s just do what we’re paid to and get the job done.”
“Sweetie,” she whispered, wrapping her arms around me. “We’ll get you through this.”
We walked to her car that was parked on the road because she hated driveways. “Where’s your truck?”
“Shit, I left it at the diner in Reese. It wouldn’t start and that’s why he gave me a ride home.”
“Well, I’ll call Buddy and have him pick it up and tow it to his garage.”
“Thanks, Meg.”
“I love you, Morgan. I’m sorry you’ve had a hard lesson to learn. Men suck, that’s obvious, but at least we still have each other. And I’ll nail this bastard to the wall by his nuts if he tries to back out of the deal.”
“God, I don’t even want to see him again,” I confessed. It wasn’t true, but I didn’t know if I could handle the hurt. This project was bigger and more important than my feelings. Megan sacrificed the world for me. She gave me a chance to show my skills and trusted me and I let her down. Still, she was here, comforting me like always.
Chapter 9
Julian
I got out of the meeting and ran around town looking for a ring. It didn’t take long for me to find one that I thought suited my little beauty. My head was so wrapped up in her and us that I’d forgotten to get her number. I drove up to the house with the orchids that matched the new bedspread I bought to replace the stained one, and a ring so we could spend the rest of our years staining hundreds more.
I rang the doorbell like twenty times, but she didn’t answer. The door was locked and I was tempted to break the damn thing down. She was supposed to be waiting for me. Then I thought about her sister coming by. She probably needed her for something.
Immediately, I called the studio. “Is Morgan there?” I asked as soon as Megan answered.
“Who is this?” a snotty voice on the other end said.
“Julian Middleton,” I stated.
“Then no, she’s not.” She hung up the phone. What the fuck happened? Rage filled me and I wanted answers. Did her sister talk her out of being with me? Was she an idiot? They were still under contract for the remodel interior designs.
I got to the studio in two minutes, driving like an asshole. It was a decent size place, and the ‘open sign’ was still in the window. They hadn’t expected me so I wasn’t stopped at the door. The woman from this morning was standing there with her arms crossed looking at me like I was a stupid bastard. She was pissing me off by keeping me from Morgan.
“Mr. Middleton. Morgan will no longer be handling the contract, I will take over,” she stated.