“Not to a competitor,” I stated.
“But she had the business management, knowledge and the experience,” he paused. “Unless of course you call someone else who would be twice the asset Starr was.”
I’d already been toying with an idea but no one but my lawyer would be privy to it. Especially considering I still had my doubts.
Anger settled in me again. Why couldn’t I just get past it?
Every time I asked myself this for the past two weeks, I couldn’t figure out which part I was desperate to get over? Elle? Or the fact that she’d lied to me. She had kept in the dark about so much. I’d told her about my family while all along, she’d known a whole other side to the story and said nothing.
It was the doubt that had kept me from hitting the dial button every night. The one that kept me from getting out of the car when I reached her building.
“You could have told me about her.”
“Elle had been loyal to me for seven years. I trusted her reasons…her timing could have been better.”
I scoffed. “Her timing was non-existent.”
“Or that,” Ron shrugged and reached for the menu. “Doesn’t matter anyway. You broke it off regardless, and can consider it a dodged bullet.”
I winced. “And it’s not because she’s not who I thought she was. It’s because she’s what I hoped she wasn’t.”
My father sighed. “Then probably not worth bringing her up again. Have you ordered yet?”
I tapped my finger on the table. “Besides, even if I did plan on reaching out, which I’m not, it would have to wait. I heard she’s traveling.”
Ron laughed. “Elle doesn’t travel.”
I shook my head. “Well she was this week, but you’re right. Let’s just forget it.”
Ron was clearly not the one to talk to about Elle. I should have been as angry with him as I was with her. But the man would argue me to death about who was really to blame here.
Ron frowned. “Traveling?” he muttered to himself. “Oh she was probably in Chicago for an interview. She should be back by now though.”
“You talk to her?”
“No, Chicago Weddings magazine called me for a reference.”
“Why?” That was a dumb question. I knew why. And I didn’t want the answer to it.
Ron watched me for a moment, and finally shrugged. “Not your problem now, is it?”
I leaned back in my chair. As usual, the conversation with Ron utterly exhausted me. I ran my fingers through my hair and blew out a heavy breath and leaned in. It was time to get real answers out of this man. And if that was going to happen, I needed to be upfront. I leaned in. “Elle told me she hasn’t seen her family in years, so I know she doesn’t go to California for Christmas.” I paused. “Do you know what she usually does?”
Ron’s response didn’t surprise me as much as it hurt that I didn’t know this little fact about her.
36
ELLE
The waiter approached,placing another cappuccino in front of me.
“Oh um... I didn’t realize I ordered another one.”
“You didn’t.” The waiter glanced at me and rushed away before I could thank him.
I blinked. It was, after all, Christmas morning in New York City. Who was I to question someone’s generosity? I turned back to the skaters on the rink at Rockefeller Center. Even watching them from the inside of the quaint little café in midtown somehow warmed my heart. A ritual that Char would tease me about since I started it four years ago. Each year my best friend would insist I spend the holidays with her and her family in Texas. But I preferred to spend it alone in the city. I refused to spend another painful holiday listening to my mother ridicule my life choices.
I pushed my hair to the side, picking up the spoon to my fresh hot…and free beverage.
