Marriage Terms

“But she’s what Daniel wants.”

Karen turned to gaze at Amanda. “You do know he divorced her.”

“But he married her.”

“He loved you.”

Amanda shook her head. “I was pregnant.”

Karen squeezed Amanda’s arm. “You are a kind, compassionate, intelligent, loving—”

“And she’s thin and beautiful, with a flair for designer clothes and multilingual small talk.”

“She’s cruel and brittle.”

“But she looks great in an evening gown.” There was no disputing that.

“So do you.”

Amanda smiled. “You haven’t seen me in an evening gown for more than a decade.

Heck, I haven’t seen myself in an evening gown for years.”

“Maybe it’s about time you did.”

“I wear underwires,” Amanda confessed in a whisper.

Karen chuckled. “Well, at least I don’t need those anymore.”

Amanda froze in horror.

But Karen shook her head. “Thank you so much. That was my first breast joke.”

Amanda cringed. “But I—”

“Don’t you dare apologize. You don’t care about perfection. You blithely brought up breasts because you’ve forgotten all about my surgery.”

It was true. When Amanda thought about Karen she didn’t think of a double mastectomy; all she thought about was her true and wonderful friend.

“That’s why I love you so dearly,” said Karen, squeezing Amanda’s arm. “Physical imperfections mean nothing to you.”

Amanda glanced back down at Sharon. “They obviously mean something to Daniel.”

That was why he’d complained about Amanda’s clothes and hair.

“I don’t think that’s true.”

“We both agree that Sharon has nothing going for her except her appearance.”

“Yeah,” said Karen slowly.

“Then that’s what attracted Daniel.” Amanda glanced involuntarily at her plain navy pants and her white blouse.

“Do you care what he thinks?” asked Karen.

Good question. Amanda shouldn’t care. She didn’t want to be attractive to Daniel. She only wanted Daniel out of her life.

Still, the kiss, the flowers, her memories…Something was happening here. And she didn’t know how to fight it.

“Dad?” Cullen bumped Daniel under the boardroom table and slipped him a sheet of paper.

Daniel snapped himself back to reality and focused on the expectant faces of the senior management team of Elliott Publication Holdings. He’d been wondering if Amanda liked the roses.

Stalling, he glanced down at the paper from Cullen.

Say: Cullen has those figures,

it read.

Daniel looked up, leaning back slightly in his chair. “Cullen has those figures.”

Attention immediately swung to Cullen.

“The Spanish and German numbers look promising,” said Cullen. “French is marginal, and translation costs for Japan make it a nonstarter.”

Ah, the translation offices. Daniel knew what they were talking about now.

Daniel’s brother Michael nodded. “We found pretty much the same results for Pulse. I’d want to talk about French, giving low shipping costs to Quebec and some domestic potential. But Japan will definitely give us diminishing returns.”

Daniel’s sister, Finola, spoke up. “Charisma is ready for any market.”

“That’s because you’re image focused,” said Michael. “You could probably sell without doing any translation at all.”

“Still,” said Finola, “it’s part of the mix.”

“What about you, Shane?” asked Michael.

Attention moved to Finola’s twin brother, and Daniel knew everyone was wondering if Shane would take the perspective of his magazine or back up his twin.

“The Buzz could go either way,” he said.

“Why don’t we shelve the Japan discussion for today?” Cullen suggested.

“How does that help?” asked Cade McMann, the executive editor of Charisma.

“Nothing’s going to change.”

“What if we prototype two translation offices,” Cullen suggested. “Spanish and German. We’re unlikely to lose on either of them, and it might answer some of the outstanding questions.”

The room went silent as everybody considered the idea.

Cullen gave a small smile. “I don’t think anyone wants to incur unnecessary losses this year, do they?”

There were nods all around on that.

“I can run it by Dad,” Michael offered.

“Works for me,” said Daniel, proud of his son’s straightforward compromise.

“Then it’s done,” said Shane, smacking his hand on the table. “Can we adjourn? I’ve got a lunch meeting.”

Everyone began gathering their papers and rising from their chairs.

Daniel pictured Amanda’s smile one more time. He hoped she liked the roses.

Maybe he’d call and ask—just to make sure they’d arrived.

“So much for the international advantage,” said Cade as he and Finola paused behind Daniel’s chair.

“I knew they’d vote Japan down anyway,” Finola answered.

“Did you give any more thought to my concerns about Jessie Clayton?” asked Cade.

“My intern?”

“Yeah.”

“I don’t have an opinion. I’ve barely seen her. You know, it’s almost like she’s avoiding me.”

“But why?” asked Cade.

“Who knows.” Finola laughed. “Maybe I’m scary.”

“I don’t trust her.”

“Then do some digging.”

“Maybe I will.” Cade’s voice trailed off as they moved toward the exit.

“Got a minute, Dad?” asked Cullen as Daniel started to rise.

Daniel sat back down. “Sure.”

The boardroom door closed on the rest of the management team, and they were alone.

Cullen pivoted his chair and leaned back, rolling a gold pen between his fingertips. “Okay, what’s going on?”

“What do you mean?”

Cullen scoffed and shook his head. “I mean, I had to save your ass three times in that meeting. What’s got you so distracted?”

“You didn’t—”

Cullen tapped his finger on the note he’d passed Daniel.

“I was a little distracted.”

“A little?”

“I was just wondering—”

“About Mom.”

“About business.”

“Yeah, yeah. It was the potential French market that put that twinkle in your eyes.”

“I didn’t have a twinkle.”

Cullen set down his pen, suddenly looking every inch the senior executive. “What are you doing, Dad?”

Daniel searched his son’s expression. “About what?”

“You went to her court case yesterday.”

“So? I’m trying to get her to change professions. You know that.”

Cullen shook his head, giving Daniel a sly smile. “Dad, Dad, Dad.”

Daniel raised his eyebrows. “What, what, what?”

“Admit it.”

“Admit what?”

“You’ve got the hots for Mom.”

Daniel nearly choked. “What?”

“This isn’t about her job.”

Daniel didn’t answer. He rocked back in his chair and stared incredulously at his son.

Cullen didn’t know about the kiss. He couldn’t know about the kiss. Even the Elliott grapevine wasn’t that efficient.

Cullen straightened in his chair. “Dad, I talked—”

“To whom?”

“To Bryan. We both think it’s a good idea.”

“You think what’s a good idea?” Him kissing Amanda, Amanda kissing him?

“You and Mom getting back together.”

Daniel held up his hands. “Whoa.”

“You might have a hard time convincing her—”

“Your confidence in me is inspiring.”

“But we think it’ll be worth it.”

“Oh, you do, do you?”

“Absolutely.”

Daniel leaned forward and stared hard at his youngest son. He didn’t know what was going on between himself and Amanda, but whatever it was, he sure didn’t need a misguided cheering section.

“Back off,” he ordered tersely.

“Now, Dad—”

“I mean it, Cullen.”

“I don’t care what you mean. It’s time to move past that corporate law stuff.”

“No way.” Daniel wasn’t giving up.

“It’s a ruse, anyway. Just go ahead and date her.”

“She’s not—”

“Send her flowers or something.”

“I already—” Daniel snapped his mouth shut.

“You already what?”

Daniel jumped to his feet and scooped up his files. “This meeting is over.”

Cullen stood, too. “You already what?”

“You’re an impudent young punk.”

“She hasn’t had a boyfriend for a while.”

That stopped Daniel. “What do you mean ‘for a while’?” The thought of Amanda dating someone else sent a spear through Daniel’s chest. It was the same reaction he’d had when Taylor had flirted with her.

“Roberto somebody or other proposed last Christmas.”

“Proposed?”

“She said no. But I think you have a better chance.”

Somebody else had proposed to Amanda? Another man had proposed to his wife?