“It’s a pleasure to do business with you as well.” He wrapped his arm around my waist and spun me around. “This is my fiancée, Claire Gracen. She was just talking about how much she loved—”
“I don’t want anything from here.” I could feel the blood draining from my face.
“What?” He raised his eyebrow. “I thought you just said...”
“Claire?” Amanda’s eyes widened as she looked back and forth between me and Jonathan. “You’re engaged? To him? Well, I...Congratulations...That’s wow... I um...”
She said something, something that sounded like “I hope you won’t let our personal past interfere with doing business with one another,” but all I could do was stand there and stare at her in shock. In disgusted disbelief.
And the more I stared at her, the more I tried my hardest not to lunge at her and give her the beat-down she deserved.
She hadn’t changed much since the last time I’d seen her. She still had long, flowing auburn hair and soft brown eyes that would make it hard for anyone to believe that she was a home-wrecking bitch.
“I’m only the part time manager,” she whispered. “You don’t have to work directly with me if you don’t want to.”
“I don’t want to.” I narrowed my eyes at her. “I don’t want to work with anyone that even f**king knows you.”
“Claire, you don’t have to be like this. A lot of time has passed and if you would just give me a chance to—”
“You’re not carrying a baby anymore, Amanda.” I snapped. “And since I still owe you an ass-kicking for what you did to me, I suggest that you simply shut the f**k up and let me and my fiancée walk out of that door without you saying another word to either of us.”
Her face turned white and she stepped back, allowing us to walk past her and out of the store.
I was shocked at how well I’d kept it together in front of her, because as soon as I made it outside I lost it.
“Am I in the f**king twilight zone?!” I screamed at Jonathan. “Did that really just happen? She works in San Francisco now? Why the f**k couldn’t she and that bastard live someplace else? And why didn’t Ashley and Caroline tell me that they’d moved here? They could’ve at least warned me—they’re smarter than that...”
“Calm down...” He put his hands on my shoulders. “Neither of them had any idea. There was no way you could’ve known about her being here either. You’ve always thought she was still—”
“In f**king Pittsburgh! Where she and Ryan belong! What the f**k is this, Jonathan? Both of them? Here? I see them in the same week?”
He looked into my eyes and it looked as if he was about to speak, but he pulled me into his arms and held me close.
“I don’t want to lie to you, but it still makes me sick...” My voice cracked. “I can’t stomach either of them. I just can’t do it...I’m really happy now and I...I don’t want them anywhere around my happiness... I don’t like knowing that they still exist.” I kept shaking my head, but I didn’t allow a single tear to fall. I wouldn’t dare.
I’d let myself come this far and I didn’t want to go back. Ever.
“Can we make the invitation designer meet us later in the week?” I looked up at him. “I just want to be at home with you for the rest of the day.”
“Of course.” He walked me over to the car and helped me inside. Before he joined me, I heard him say something to Greg: “There’s a catering business in Pittsburgh called Stella’s. Find a way to fly the director and her team here this weekend so we can talk to them.”
Chapter 4
Jonathan
I looked over the confirmation files for our honeymoon trip, double checking each flight’s time and each pilot’s flight history. Claire was a lot more comfortable with flying now, but whenever we didn’t use my personal pilot, she insisted on having a copy of the new pilot’s safety record before stepping onboard.
She’d been asking me where we were going after our wedding everyday—even attempting to withhold sex to get it out of me, but I wanted everything to be a surprise. I wanted her to love every single second of our trip.
“Everything looks great.” I nodded at Hayley. “Thank you very much. Make sure Claire gets a copy of these pilot records in the next few weeks.”
“Will do, and you’re welcome.” She took the papers and placed them into her folder. “You know, I honestly never thought that you would get married.”
“Why not?”
“I did come live with you once you started building this company, remember? Before I got smart and went away for college...There were a lot of women in and out of that condo...”
“No, there weren’t.” I sighed. “I never brought any woman near you and you know that.”