Effortless

You are cordially invited to a Bridal Shower

honouring Olivia Garrison

Saturday, 17 September 2011

I stopped reading and dropped the fancy piece of paper like it was on fire. All the blood in my body had run cold. The girl who nearly turned Alastair’s carefully controlled world upside down wanted to socialize with me? At her bridal shower? This had to be someone’s idea of a sick joke. What the actual fuck?

CHAPTER FOUR (#udc4d14b7-1f7c-5487-954c-55962bec609a)

I didn’t have a chance to dwell on the invitation thanks to Julian’s demands and Robbie’s constant interruptions. Wednesday went from awesome to annoying no less than twenty minutes after I sat at my desk. When I finally had two seconds to myself I called Stephanie.

“What are you doing for lunch?”

“Spending it with Brent Garrison,” she said. “He loved my work for Pulse so much he wants my help on a campaign for a new residential complex he’s preparing to open. Why? Did you need something? Is everything alright?”

I leaned back in my chair and added this to the list of things that had officially annoyed me today.

“Everything’s fine.”

“No it’s not. You forget that I can see through your bullshit even on the phone. What’s going on?”

I glared at the silver envelope. “I’ve been invited to a bridal shower.”

“Really? Who do you know here that’s getting married?”

“Brent’s sister.”

Stephanie was quiet for a full five seconds, a record for her. “Interesting. Want me to do some digging when I see him for lunch? I can be discreet.”

I snorted. “Sure.”

“Lia! How long have you known me? I have a way with getting information from unsuspecting people. Besides, Brent will think I’m flirting with him. He loves that.”

“Does he?”

“Yeah. I’ll tell you all about it later.” She paused. “Darren doesn’t have any lunch plans. I’ll tell him to meet you in the lobby in twenty.”

* * *

I’d barely walked out of the elevator when Darren hugged me and spun me in a quick circle before we walked outside. He might have been Stephanie’s friend since they were teenagers but I adored him as if I’d known him for years and years. His sunny disposition always put a smile on my face.

The cafe wasn’t too far from our building. Timid rays of autumn sunshine poked their way through some clouds, then had second thoughts and were eventually swallowed up.

“I hear this place has one hell of a mozzarella and tomato panini,” Darren said, holding the door open.

The cafe was so warm and cozy I thought we’d mistakenly walked into someone’s home. Several patrons were ordering at the mahogany counter while others were chatting at various tables spread throughout the dining area. The aroma of freshly baked bread filled the air. Darren motioned for me to grab a table and offered to place our orders. I found a table by the dark brown brick wall and people watched.

“So,” Darren said, placing our sandwiches down, “how’s everything at the new job? Is Archer on your nerves yet?”

I chuckled to myself. “Not yet. Ask me again next week.”

“Steph says you went for cocktails with him last night. You should have thrown a drink in his face.” The sour expression Darren employed shocked me. I’d never heard him talk so negatively about someone.

“Alright. Spill it MacCourty. What did he do aside from being an overzealous, loud mouth TV guy?”

“My ex-girlfriend used to work for him as an associate producer. He likes to get friendly with the ladies on his staff. A little touching here, a little bum slap there. She didn’t like it and when she called him out on it, he fired her. The twat.” He took a large bite out of his sandwich and stewed in the anger of his distant memory.

I was shocked but not overly surprised to hear this. Julian did like the hands-on approach when he talked to me. I didn’t think much of it because it never went further than a shoulder squeeze but I made a mental note to keep an eye on him.

“Sorry that happened to her,” I said, sympathizing. “What does she do now?”

“She moved to France and works on some detective show there. I haven’t talked to her in a couple years but she was really turned off by Archer. That guy is a massive knob. I’d—” He stopped and stared at my left hand.

I held the sandwich in front of my wide open mouth and stared back at him. We both must have looked like mental patients.

“You are engaged,” he said with a smile. “That’s brilliant, Lia. Congratulations.”

“Thank you.” I put my sandwich down and showed off the ring. “He gave this to me the other night but we haven’t said anything publicly yet. Well, he actually asked me to marry him in July when you guys were in Orlando but we’ve kept it quiet.”

“July? How have you both managed to keep it quiet?”

“Well, you know Alastair. He’s a man of few words.”

“True that. But if I scored a looker like you I’d shout it from the mountain tops.”

I laughed. “It hasn’t been easy not saying anything, trust me. We both decided after the summer we’d had that we just wanted to have something for ourselves.”

Darren studied me with astute eyes. “The press over here is going to love you. You’re pretty, smart and loads of fun to be around. They’re so fascinated with Alastair and every little move he makes. He dodges them pretty well though, only giving his requisite face time and then disappearing from sight.”

That had been Alastair’s M. O. for years. He lived as private a life as one could, being the heir to a billion dollar mega corporation. When his grandfather retired and he was named CEO over the summer, the spotlight shined a little brighter on him. As his girlfriend, that also meant some of the light focused on me. I was used to it to some degree thanks to my previous relationship with a U.S. senator’s son. I had a feeling this time around, the media attention would be more intense.

“There haven’t been too many issues yet, knock on wood,” I said. “Only an occasional photographer here and there. Having Paxton with me most of the time seems to help. I’m such a nobody anyway. They probably look at me as just another piece of eye candy for him.”

“Once the news of your engagement gets out you won’t be a nobody.” Darren looked at me solemnly. “The gossip sites are already feasting on your taste in shoes and how you like to wear workout clothes while buying groceries.”

The more I listened to Darren, the more uncomfortable I became. I’d had a sneaking suspicion the handful of photographers I’d seen were only hounding me for fluff pieces like that. For the most part, it didn’t bother me but I knew it was only the tip of the iceberg. Alastair and I hadn’t discussed how our lives would be affected by public scrutiny too much. He just made sure I was always under the watchful eye of Paxton or someone from his security staff. He also knew how much I disliked having babysitters and made sure they were inconspicuous. Most days I was oblivious to the bodyguard detail.

“Our boy is quite protective of you. We both know the lengths he’ll go to keep you safe.”

I swallowed another bite of my sandwich and nodded. If there was one thing everyone knew about Alastair, it was how close he kept me to his vest.

“Anyway,” Darren said, brightening the room with his infectious smile, “Steph will go ballistic if you don’t tell her about this engagement straight away.” He winked and took another bite of his sandwich.

“I know. I was going to tell her today but she’s off with Brent Garrison.”

“She’s been seeing quite a bit of him recently.” The look on his face spoke a million words after he said that. “Damn. I wasn’t supposed to say anything. She’ll kill me if you tell her I told you.”

I’d made it no secret that Brent wasn’t one of my favorite people on the planet. He’d never been mean or horrible towards me but his history with Alastair was so salty and tense that I’d made a conscious decision not to bother with him unless it was necessary. Hearing that my best friend might be dating him threw a wrench in that.