what I thought,” Eleanor said smugly. “Daniel, I agreed to go out with you. I agreed to bring you here so you could meet my family. But you know where my head is right now. Head to Toe is getting bigger every day, and it has to be my number-one priority. I’ve told you my plans.”
“You have. Or you could turn those plans over to me and let them be my number-one priority. Then you could go back to focusing on...other areas of your life.”
Again, she thought he was teasing, but it was hard to tell. Their relationship had started when Daniel, an investment banker, had shown interest in the growth rate of her company located in Denver. He’d asked her out to lunch to discuss the idea of what a large cash infusion could mean. She’d rejected the idea at first, but then the idea to get ahead of the game by growing her company at an accelerated rate seemed compelling.
Which led to another lunch.
Which led to her thinking Daniel himself was rather attractive. It might have been the first time in years she had even registered a man’s appearance. That had to be a good thing, she told herself.
In the end, Daniel hadn’t swayed her with his pitch. Head to Toe was her baby, and a cash investment from someone else meant giving part of it away. Whereas, if she took a loan out for the money to expand, it would still be hers. One was riskier, but the other was tantamount to giving over part control of the business. She didn’t know if she was willing to do that.
Daniel, however, had not been willing to walk away, either.
She would have thought his interest was solely in the company until he surprised her on lunch number two by asking her out on a date. Of course, she said no, for any number of reasons. But he persisted until she got to that point where she realized there was absolutely no reason for her not to go out on a date with him.
He was an intelligent, handsome, sometimes funny man. She liked him. A date made sense. A date might make her normal again. Two years was a long time to grieve a marriage that she had chosen to end.
They’d had an elegant dinner. They had agreed not to talk about work.
It had been...nice.
So she’d asked him to come to this party with her. Only now, he was suggesting there was something missing in her life.
“And what areas would those be?”
“I don’t know. Maybe thinking about other things than your company. Other things you want in life. You were married once. Don’t you think about getting married again?”
Eleanor flinched. “I don’t like to talk about my marriage.”
Because it was hers. Her marriage. Her memories. And talking about Max...thinking about him hurt too much.
“I can see why this would be painful to discuss...”
“We are at a party,” Eleanor said, raising her glass to her lips trying to change the subject. “Didn’t you say something about it being fun?”
This time it was Daniel who sighed.
“Eleanor, you have to see that I care about you.”
Did she? Did she have to see that? After a bunch of lunches and two dates—the second one not even finished yet. They hadn’t even had sex yet. She didn’t want to think about how even the idea of sex with him made her feel.
Disloyal was the best word she could come up with.
“I only want what is best for you. I feel sometimes like I’m battling this ghost.”
“You’re not.”
“We haven’t talked about this. I’m not sure I know how you feel about children—”
Eleanor pierced him with a look that stopped that sentence. If she wasn’t comfortable talking about her marriage, then she certainly wasn’t comfortable discussing the subject of children with Daniel. Definitely not on a second date.
“There you are!” Marilyn proclaimed as she approached them. “You’re not mingling. Everyone is asking about you, but it seems no one is getting a chance to talk with you.”
For the first time in her life, Eleanor was happy to be admonished by her mother. Anything to get Daniel to stop talking about Max and babies.
“Sorry, Mom. Daniel and I were just having a conversation.”
Marilyn smiled and patted his arm. “Yes, yes. I’m very happy with your new young man, but you two can talk all you want when you’re back in the big city. For now, I would like my daughter to be available for her family.”
“Yes, of course,” Daniel said graciously. “We’ll make our way around the room.”
“That would be lovely. I do hope it’s not too inconvenient that we have you at the B and B in town. I know I’m old-fashioned. However, until a couple is married, I just don’t feel comfortable with them sharing a room—”
“Mom.” Eleanor had told her mother only that she was bringing someone she was currently seeing. She definitely hadn’t gone into detail about their sexual status. “It’s fine. Daniel is only staying for tonight. He has to head back to the city tomorrow.”
Her mother made a face as if the word city was distasteful. Probably because she associated Denver with Eleanor’s business, something else she found distasteful. Her mother still clung to the belief that a woman’s first priority should be securing a husband and having children.
Eleanor had done half of that and had failed. Since then she hadn’t been eager to repeat the experience.
Her business, however, was a nice replacement. Way less pain and heartbreak. More control and financial benefit. As far as Eleanor was concerned, if she never got married again, it wouldn’t be the most tragic thing to happen to her.
Because the most tragic thing had already happened.
Her mother was obviously not pleased by that attitude. It meant fewer grandchildren.
“Oh. Well, let’s hope you’re still in Eleanor’s life for the wedding.”
“I promise to do everything I can to make sure I’m back for that. In the meantime, this will be the first weekend Eleanor’s been away from her company in some time. I hope she has time for some relaxation.”
“Of course it will be relaxing,” Marilyn stated, turning to Eleanor. “She’ll be with family. Now, speaking of, your father’s sister and brother want to talk with you. I suggest you start with them. Since your father’s been gone, they claim to feel left out of your and your sister’s lives. I’m making every effort to change that with this wedding.”
Eleanor didn’t miss the emphasis on the word this. Five years later and she was still being punished for her elopement to Max. One would have thought, considering what she went through with his death, she might have been forgiven.
But her mother had a long memory.
“Yes, Mom. I’ll head over to them shortly.”
Marilyn left them, and Eleanor
