Putting It to the Test Read online

  “Has Frank seen it?” Adam asked.

  “He stopped in a few minutes ago,” Carly replied. “He didn’t have much to say.”

  “He’ll get over it,” Matt said. “After all, he was the one with the new office once. It’s a rite of passage.”

  Moving to the door, Adam stopped at the threshold. “Well, congratulations again, buddy. We’re all happy for you.” Then he added before leaving, “You need some accessories. That one Chinese take-out menu you had tacked to your cube isn’t going to hack it in the big office.”

  “Yeah, I’ll get right on it.”

  And then he and Carly were alone, Matt stuck with that pit of discomfort he’d felt ever since Hall had promoted him. Getting this big office was supposed to have righted everything wrong in his life. He’d wanted to be the best at something, to climb to the top of his field and bask in the view with a sense of pride and satisfaction. And more importantly, he’d wanted to outscore his old man.

  Though Jeff Jacobs made a decent living selling insurance, Matt had officially surpassed that career with this leap onto executive row, and this was the moment Matt had always believed would reconcile his soul. He’d needed this. He’d needed this confirmation, proof that if he tried, he could be better than the stock he came from. But instead of having glory, it all felt empty.

  Because, since falling in love with Carly, Jeff Jacobs wasn’t the person he cared to prove himself to anymore.

  “So,” Carly said. “What time will you be by tonight?”

  “Tonight?”

  She frowned. “Dinner with my mother?”

  He winced. He knew there was something he was supposed to have handled this afternoon. “I’m sorry, hon, but Brayton called a late meeting tonight.”

  She couldn’t hide the disappointment in her eyes despite the shrug and forced smile. “That’s okay. I’ll see you tomorrow, then, for Jodi’s game.”

  His wince deepened. Why hadn’t he told her this before? “He made a golf date, too. The man’s tied me up all weekend.”

  Lifting her chin, she worked to hold up the good front, but it was long from reaching her eyes. “That’s okay.”

  “Carly, I’m sorry. He’s assured me these are just last-minute meetings to get me acquainted with some of the associates he works with. In a week or two things will all be back to normal and I’ll be on a regular work schedule.”

  “Matt, if it was only me, I wouldn’t care. I just hate disappointing Jodi. She gets enough of that already.”

  That one hurt.

  He pushed up and rounded his desk, clutching her shoulders and trying to ignore the feeling that everything was slipping out from under him like sand through a sieve. “Honey, I said I was sorry. I don’t plan to make a habit of breaking promises, but you’ve got to cut me a break. I was just promoted and things are shaken up right now. Soon this will all settle and things will be like they always were.”

  Her brow twitched at that statement, but she quickly covered it over with a sigh and a smile. “You’re right and I do understand. Jodi will, too.” Then she tipped to her toes and touched her lips to his cheek. “Get yourself settled in the new job and we’ll pick up where we left off.”

  Pick up where they’d left off? He’d left off in a space where life felt good being in love with the woman of his dreams. Now it was all falling apart, and he didn’t know what to do to right it.

  Dammit, he’d earned this promotion. He hadn’t lied to her or anyone else. Was he supposed to walk in to Hall and turn it down? Would it make Carly happy knowing she only got a promotion because Hall’s first choice had opted out? He knew her better than that. Her pride wouldn’t let her accept it.

  She stepped out of his office and Matt went back to his big, shiny desk. He plopped into his chair feeling trapped without options. He’d thought they’d done the right thing when making that pact. For weeks they’d worked together, knowing this day would come and that one of them would lose. He thought Carly had been prepared for this. Everyone speculated he’d be the one to get the job, and up until it happened, she’d seemed fine with it.

  So why did it now feel as if their relationship was coming to an end?

  16

  CARLY WENT BACK to her cubicle and slipped into her chair, the walls feeling suffocatingly tight after being in the spacious surroundings of Matt’s new office. For days now she’d been trying hard to be happy for him, to be the good loser, knowing they both couldn’t get the job. She would have wanted Matt to be happy for her if the tables were turned.

  But darn it if she couldn’t shake off the feeling she’d been played the fool. As much as she wanted to deny it, as much as she kept replaying every loving thing Matt had done for her over the last several weeks—his tender kisses and gentle words—a knot in her stomach wouldn’t dismiss the fact that she hadn’t spent one evening with him since he’d gotten the new job.

  And it all felt too convenient.

  Bev’s warning came back to her, the notion that though they’d made a pact, Matt had gotten way more out of the deal than Carly had. She’d turned it over a dozen times, trying to justify the situation until she’d run out of excuses, and she kept coming back to the same space. She’d been supportive, helpful and kind, and Matt had walked away with the job she still felt she deserved. In fact, all her hard work hadn’t gotten her anything but a pat on the back from her traitorous boss and shoved aside by the man she loved.

  She checked her watch and grabbed her purse, deciding to call it a day. Without Matt going along, she could go straight to her mother’s apartment and distract herself by dinner with her family. So she headed out the door and stepped into another hot summer evening. She took a deep breath, wanting the sultry air to burn off these feelings of loss and abandonment. It was hard not to overreact, to hold on to hope that what Matt said was true, that he’d been distant and distracted because Hall had been running him crazy lately. She’d seen that for herself. Maybe it was possible things would go back to normal once the newness settled down.

  But the angry thorn in her side said nothing would be normal again, because no matter what happened with her and Matt, he was a new manager and she was still one of the working stiffs.

  She clicked the button on her key chain to unlock the door to her Grand Prix. Stepping behind the wheel, she began making her way to her mother’s place, her fate feeling dimmer with every mile she drove. The handwriting was on the wall for her at Hall Technologies. Obviously Mr. Hall didn’t feel she was management material, and despite her situation with Matt, she had to face the reality that she’d hit the glass ceiling at her current job. Though it was a fast-growing company, it was apparently growing without her, and if Mr. Hall thought he could hold on to her forever as a tried and true workhorse, he was in for a rude awakening.

  Speeding up the freeway, she thought about updating her résumé and beginning the search for a new job. She had a friend at an employment agency who could help her find openings, and though she might not get the salary she was making now, at least she’d walk away feeling empowered, reminding herself that she was the one in control of her career, not Brayton Hall.

  She liked that idea and the sense of freedom it gave her. Until the thought of not seeing Matt every day pulled the weight back onto her shoulders. It lodged a lump in her throat and stung the backs of her eyes.

  God help her, she loved him, and as much as it hurt thinking he’d only used her to get the promotion, the idea of never seeing him again hurt more. It crushed against her chest and quivered her chin, and by the time she got to her mother’s apartment she’d managed to work herself into a complete and total state of misery.

  Pulling into the complex, she saw that a midnight-blue Mercedes with shiny new Nevada plates was parked in the spot she usually took, so she rounded the lot and parallel parked on the street instead. She was a bit early, but given this was her mother’s day off work, she knew her mom would be there and there’d be something she could help with before dinner.
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br />   At least twice a month Carly tried to spend some time with her mom and Jodi, often bringing Jodi back to her house for a sisters-only sleepover. With fourteen years between them, they’d both nearly been raised as only children, and she knew how much Jodi treasured the time they spent doing sisterly things.

  She used her key to let herself in, only to be greeted by the sound of her father’s voice.

  “There’s my girl!” he called out, pulling up from the couch and moving to the entryway to surround her in a bear hug.

  Carly was taken aback. The man had been gone four months, longer than he usually stayed away without so much as popping in for a weekend, and a side of her had thought this time he might not be coming back. Her father sold vacation property, his business taking him wherever there were new developments popping up. From what she understood, he was licensed to sell real estate all over the western half of the United States, and if that were the case, Carly didn’t understand why he couldn’t make a lucrative career selling homes around here. The agents she knew were doing well for themselves, none of them needing to spend weeks and months away from their families in order to make a living.

  And none of them leaving their wives and daughters nearly broke and having to fend for themselves.

  There was way more to the story than she’d ever know, and for the most part she’d stopped asking. Her mother was a fool in love, and she supposed, when looking at David Abrams objectively, Carly couldn’t blame her.

  The man was strikingly good-looking, with vivid blue eyes, thick salt-and-pepper hair and a strong jaw and nose reminiscent of a Roman warrior. In many ways he reminded her of Matt, and the irony of the situation wasn’t lost on Carly. She was finding herself quickly trailing in the path of her mother if she allowed her life to go that way.

  He pulled from the embrace and clasped his hands to her shoulders. “I think you’ve gotten more beautiful since I saw you last.”

  She tried to stretch her mouth into a smile, when Jodi jumped up behind him. “Dad’s home! And look what he brought me!”

  Jodi spun around, her long brown hair whipping around like a horse’s tail, her pink-and-yellow sundress twirling at her waist. And on her back was a bright purple backpack.

  “Oh,” Carly said, forcing the annoyance from her tone. “A purple backpack.”

  He placed an affectionate hand on Jodi’s head and gave it a rub. “Carol said she needed one. I found that in an outlet mall just outside Vegas.” He accepted another hug from his youngest daughter. “Is that what you were hoping for, sweetheart?”

  Carly seethed, not at all in the mood for dealing with any of this today. Life had already gotten bad enough without her father stepping in. She’d hoped a nice evening and some motherly advice might improve things, but instead David Abrams had shown up and worsened it.

  “I still love the one you gave me,” Jodi said to Carly. “This will be my school bag and I’ll use yours for camps.”

  “Oh, and I’ve got something for you, too,” their father said, pulling out a velvet box and placing it in Carly’s hands. She opened it, and inside was a tennis bracelet as sparkly and shiny as the smile on his face.

  It was classic David Abrams. Her mother had a jewelry box filled with things like this, none of it coming in handy when tuition was due or the rent was late.

  She feigned acceptance for the sake of keeping peace, but it burned that her father could waltz in with the wind, throw presents around and make everyone swoon. Where had he been when she was driving all over Marin trying desperately to find her sister exactly what she wanted? What was he doing when her mother was sick but still pulling herself through finals on top of taking care of his daughter? And if he was such a master at selling real estate, why was his family living in this shabby little apartment?

  She stopped and stared as a chafing thought popped in her mind. “Is that your Mercedes out there?”

  He grinned. “Nice, huh?”

  “Did you know Mom’s Toyota has over two hundred thousand miles on it?”

  On that note, Carly’s mother whisked from the kitchen with a plate of cheese and crackers. “Let’s go sit down. I’m sure everyone’s hungry.”

  Carol Abrams was a woman who looked young for her age, she and Carly often being mistaken for sisters. In her jeans and tight sleeveless T-shirt, Carly knew she could have a dozen men interested in taking her out, yet she sat here in this dingy apartment trying to make ends meet while she stayed forever faithful to this man she called a husband. It was a situation Carly would never, ever understand.

  Dropping the bracelet in her purse, she followed them into the small living room.

  “I didn’t know it had gotten that old,” her father said. “We’ll have to take care of that.”

  “The Mercedes must have cost a fortune,” Carly said, ignoring the look of scorn in her mother’s eyes. Someone had to stick up for the family. Carol Abrams surely didn’t.

  “Now, Carly, I know what you’re thinking, but to make money in my business I’ve got to spend it. No one’s going to buy a lakefront estate from someone driving around in a rust bucket.”

  Carly took a seat at the small dining table that made up half of the living room. “And exactly what lake are you selling?”

  Her father rolled up the sleeves on his tailored dress shirt, then rested an arm on the back of the sofa. “We just wrapped up a new subdivision out near Vegas. Now I’m heading up to Shastina.”

  “That’s five hours from here.”

  He grinned. “I know. I’ll finally be able to start coming home on weekends.”

  Weekends. How lucky for them.

  She spent the rest of the evening trying to put on a good face for the sake of her mother and Jodi, deciding not to ruin a night with Dad by pointing out the obvious to everyone in the room. In Carly’s eyes, there was no way a handsome man like David Abrams would spend four months of celibacy—in Vegas, no less—being true to the woman he ignored. And while she’d long ago lost respect for her father, she’d never accept why a bright, attractive woman like her mother put up with it.

  It wasn’t until the next day when she showed up for Jodi’s softball game and her father was once again absent that the lid blew off Carly’s restraint.

  “Where is he?” she asked her mother.

  Her mother shrugged flippantly. “He just had to run some errands. He said he wouldn’t miss Jodi’s game. He promised.”

  “It’s the third inning. When are you going to stop letting him make promises to Jodi you know he won’t keep?”

  “This isn’t the time or place,” Carol said, resting a hand on Carly’s thigh.

  Carly lowered her voice. “Jodi keeps looking up here. If he doesn’t appear before the end of the game, she’s going to be devastated. Again.”

  “Jodi will be fine,” her mother assured, and it was the last thing Carly could take before she snapped.

  “No, she won’t be fine. None of us will be fine.”

  Confusion, resentment and frustration clamped around her throat, and she shot up from the bleachers and stormed out to the parking lot. The week had finally caught up to her to the extent that she couldn’t handle any more. She wanted to step back in time, back when things were good and she was happy in love, sharing her days and nights with Matt. She wanted him here right now, calming her nerves, whispering sweet assurances and helping her gain perspective on this life that kept throwing her curveballs at every turn.

  But just like her father, Matt wasn’t here. Instead he was on a golf course, advancing the career that should have been hers. And later, when he was having cocktails at the nineteenth hole, she’d be consoling her sister after the other man in her life let them down again.

  Anger boiled in her chest and tears of loss singed her eyes as she stepped to her mother’s beat-up Toyota and leaned against the hood.

  Why had she let herself fall in love with him? She knew from the moment she met Matt Jacobs he was destined to break her heart. The survey hadn�
�t lied. It had spelled out exactly the kind of man she was dealing with, but somewhere in all the confetti she’d let that fact escape her mind. How could she have forgotten? What had she actually thought would happen once he took the management job and didn’t need her anymore?

  “Carly, what’s gotten into you?” Her mother came up behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Why are you so upset? Your father said he’d be here, and he will.”

  She spun around, hurt and ire spilling from her eyes and fisting around her chest. “No, he won’t. It will be just like always. He’s got an excuse, something came up. It’s the same thing he always does. He waltzes in with presents, throws money around for a minute, then walks out to spend the next four months doing what he wants.”

  “He’s got to make a living, Carly.”

  “And he can’t do that and have a family at the same time?”

  “He does have a family, we just have to make sacrifices on occasion. That’s how families get along.”

  “But why are we the ones doing all the sacrificing? What is he missing out on? While we do all the work, he walks in and grabs the credit, and in the end we’re supposed to smile and be grateful we helped him make it to the top.” The more she spoke, the angrier she became. “Just once I’d like to see him sacrifice something for me. Prove to me I haven’t been the stooge all along, working to get him promoted.” Tears rolled down her cheeks and she couldn’t catch her breath. “God, he hasn’t even so much as taken me out to dinner. I’m the one who put him there—and where is he? Playing golf with his new executive cronies.”