“Like what? This is who I am. It doesn’t matter how much I like your staff. Some of them are still going to be cut. This is business.”
She nodded. “I can’t think like that.”
“That’s one of the things I really like about you,” he said. “But that doesn’t mean I can just give up sound fiscal thinking because I want to please you.”
She crossed her arms over her chest and gave him a good hard glare. “I can’t stay mad at you when you make actual sense.”
He rolled his eyes. She couldn’t stay mad at anyone. “That’s because you’re smarter than those blonde jokes you are always forwarding to me.”
“They’re funny,” she said. “I’m sorry if it seemed I jumped on you. Is that why you are over here? Because it’s hard to mingle and enjoy yourself with people you might have to let go?”
Dec didn’t have the heart to tell her he just needed a break from all the people. He wasn’t like Cari and wouldn’t lose any sleep over the staff reductions that had to be made. The really good staff members had already proved themselves by stepping into the transition and taking the lead.
“I guess,” he said.
“Sorry I wasn’t more understanding,” she said, giving him a quick hug.
“It’s okay. Why were you looking for me?”
“To see if you’d watch DJ. My sisters and I have to introduce the entertainment and thank the staff for the work they’ve done this year,” Cari said.
Dec realized that to her these people were extended family, and for the first time since he’d learned of the acquisition, he didn’t feel good. He knew the top three names on the cut list all ended with Chandler. And as he watched this woman he was starting to care about, he realized the full impact of what that would mean to her.
“I’d be happy to watch him, but don’t you think it might make people ask questions about why I am?” Dec asked.
“No one is going to be ballsy enough to question you,” she said. “But if you wanted to keep hiding out…”
“I’m not hiding out, but I think staying over here out of the way of the staff is wise.”
“Me, too. Thanks.”
Cari leaned over and kissed DJ on the head before turning and walking away. Dec watched her make her way through the throngs of people and saw her stop and chat along the way. Though he knew they were different and he’d have no problem with losing staff, Cari was going to have a hard time when she was one of the staff who was cut.
He shifted DJ to his other arm and realized he wanted to find a way to keep her on. Because just like Frank, he didn’t think Cari was going to enjoy not coming to Infinity Games every day.
Eleven
“We’re here,” Cari said as she parked her car in the big circle drive at the Chandler estate in Malibu.
Cari dreaded Sunday brunch with her sisters. She knew there was no way they could know what had happened in her office on her desk almost three weeks ago. They also didn’t know about the dates she and Dec had been on or how without her meaning for it to happen she’d started to fall for him. But she felt like her emotions were transparent today. She adjusted the A-line slim-fitting skirt and the thick black belt at her waist as she got out of the car in front of Emma’s house.
In theory they were all supposed to take turns hosting the weekly morning get-together but somehow they always ended up at Emma’s. Cari liked to think it was because the house Emma lived in had been their grandparents’ and of course Emma had a housekeeper who did all the cooking. But she had the feeling it was more than that.
Emma liked being the hostess. She liked being the one everyone came to. She was the oldest, and too bossy for her own good, so they let her get away with it.
She glanced at DJ, who was busy chewing on a small plastic boat that he called num-num. She got him out of the car and headed toward the house. She’d spent her weekends here as a child running on the marble floors and playing hide-and-seek in the landscaped gardens out back.
Now as she looked down at her son she smiled, thinking that he’d be doing the same thing soon. She gave him to Mrs. Hawkins, Emma’s son’s nanny, as soon as she entered the mansion.
She wondered what Dec’s childhood home was like. He’d mentioned that he still owned it but that it stood empty. Did he have the kind of memories of his home that she did of this place?
“Sam will be glad to see this little one,” Mrs. Hawkins said.
“DJ, as well. He likes playing with his cousin,” Cari said.
She looked down at DJ. “You’re going to see Sammy.”