Chapter 17

Her morning had gone marginally better after her argument with Carmichael. Fortunately, he chose to stay away. That was probably for the best considering, even with three cups of coffee, Monica wasn"t sure she was ready to deal with him in the professional manner she needed to.

She did however get a lot accomplished. The conversation with her insurance agent had been both smooth and quick. The dealership at which she had purchased her last car had already ordered her a new one in the latest model. And as an apology, she had ordered Amelia lunch from her favorite spot. She figured she was forgiven when Amelia popped in with a huge smile on her face.

Now she was elbow-deep in emails that would need to wait because her best friend was calling and ignoring Ash was pointless. Her friend would just keep calling until she answered anyway.

"Hello." There was no hiding the sigh in that one word.

"Care to tell me why you didn"t call me and tell me your car had been vandalized overnight?"

"Who called you?"

She loved Ash like a sister, but she didn"t want to get into it with her over the phone. Not when she felt jittery from lack of sleep and too much caffeine. She was normally a one-cup-a-day kind of girl. She"d had triple that, so there was no way to predict how she would act.

"It doesn"t matter who called me. The whole office heard you and my father fight. I know I told you to stand up to him, but I didn"t think you would go off the deep end."

"Is that why you"re calling me? Because I yelled at your father?" The words were barely out of her mouth before she wished she could take them back.

"Don"t be obtuse," Ash snapped. "You know I don"t give a damn about his feelings, but I care about yours. I know you better than anyone. Once you"ve calmed down, the severity of what you did will kick in and you"re going to panic."

Her best friend was right. She had been so busy that morning that she hadn"t allowed herself time to think about what the consequences would be. Her outburst could very well push Carmichael over the edge and have him deciding that he doesn't want her as a partner anymore.

"Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit." The panic that Ash anticipated took hold. "Your father is going to buy me out and get rid of me. He"s going to strip me of my title and toss me to the curb."

Monica watched her dreams of co-owning the company go down the drain.

"No, he won"t. I refuse to let that happen."

No one knew, but Ash"s daughter actually owned a majority of Carmichael"s shares. He had gifted them to her when she was born. Mallory was one very rich baby, but until she was eighteen, her mother controlled them. Ash would never abuse that power unless it was an emergency. And Carmichael firing her would be what Ash considered an emergency.

"I don"t need you interfering. Your and your father"s relationship is strained enough."

"Actually, he likes me better now that I"m a mother. He would do anything for Mallory. I know it"s just his way of trying to control her future, like he did mine, but right now it"s okay. Bentley and I protect Mallory"s assets and my father gets to spoil her."

With any luck, Carmichael would have changed his ways by the time Mallory was old enough to decide her future. It was no secret that if it wasn"t for Ash meeting Bentley, her best friend would still be miserable working for the company and trying to gain her father"s approval.

"Is that all you called to tell me?"

Monica hated rushing Ash off the phone, but she still had a ton of work to get done before she could consider leaving for the day. At the rate she was going, it would be after seven before that would happen.

"No, I called because you scared me. Someone vandalized your car, and you didn"t think to call me. You know that when I get scared, I lash out."

She did know. Ash had one of the biggest hearts and she wore it on her sleeve.

"I"m sorry I scared you. I didn"t handle it well."

"Do the police have any idea who did it?"

Monica sighed. She glanced quickly at the calendar on her computer. She didn"t have another meeting for an hour and the emails could wait a bit longer.

"I"m not sure. To be honest I barely spoke to them. Luke was leaving my place when he discovered my car. I let him handle things for the most part. I was too pissed to care what they had to say but I"m thinking it"s the client who wanted me to pass him information."

"So this goes back to Samuel."

She rubbed the spot between her eyebrows. "Doesn"t everything?"

"I hate this for you. I"m coming back up there."

Monica smirked. "No, you"re not. I love that you want to but no. You have your own life. A business to run, a child to raise and a husband who kinda likes when you"re around."

"Bentley would understand."

Of course, he would. Her best friend had met the nicest man. He would bend over backward to make her happy.

"I"m sure Luke has it handled. He already had two of his friends watching me when I was at work. After this, he'll probably go all caveman and decide I"m not to be left alone."

Why did the thought make her stomach quiver? She had seen similar traits in the men her friends married, but she had sworn that would never be something she tolerated. Now, just the thought of Luke acting that way had her panties drenched.

"Luke, huh? That"s twice you"ve mentioned his name during this conversation. Didn"t you say he was at your place last night?"

"Yes, he was there. We had dinner and then went back to my house to talk."

"I"m sure there was a lot of talking going on."

Her friends were insufferable some days. Now that they had settled down, they were harping on her to do the same. They liked to use the excuse that she worked too much but she knew the truth. They just wanted her to find the kind of love they found.

"Fine, we fooled around some, but that"s as far as it went. We are taking things slow after the way we started."

Ash squealed like some teenager hearing about her best friend"s first crush.

"I can"t wait to meet him!" Monica was about to interrupt and say Ash had already met him, but her best friend kept talking. "Like actually meet him, not just see his face after a few glasses of wine. Oh, I know!" Ash"s tone got a few octaves higher if that was possible. "We could double or triple-date!"

Yeah, that wasn"t happening. Not until this mess got cleaned up. Bentley was cool but Falcon was another story. If the first run-in was any indication, Falcon wouldn"t be on his best behavior.

"We"ll see. Let me get through this problem before we discuss dates."

"Fine," Ash huffed. "You take the fun out of everything."

Monica laughed. "That"s not true and you know it. Pretty sure I was the one constantly pushing you out of your comfort zone throughout our entire friendship."

Oh, how the tables had turned. Ash was now the fun one in the group while Monica did her best to be serious. She missed the days when she could be the fun friend and not have to worry that every little thing she did was being scrutinized by her business partner.

"And look how happy I am now! I want that for you as well."

This was the same conversation they had regularly. Maybe one of these days she would actually listen to what her friend had to say.

"I have to get going. I have meetings and emails that can"t wait." It was a small white lie. She could"ve made it work but she needed to get off the phone before she admitted she wanted those things as well.

"Talk to you soon."

After hanging up, Monica put her head down on the desk and groaned. Why was it so hard to admit that she wanted what her friends had? There was nothing wrong with falling in love and having a family. She just didn"t think she could do that and have the career she wanted.