Until Then (Cape Harbor #2) - Heidi McLaughlin Page 0,6
everything would be fine and the speech she planned to give to prospective interns was spot on. Shortly after her speech, she spoke to the students who stopped by their booth. She handed out flyers containing details about their intern program, the housing they offered, and their hiring process. In the booth next to hers, Theo Wright recruited for a whole other field: forensic accounting. The two of them couldn’t have been more different career-wise, yet as the day wore on, they smiled at each other, gravitating toward one another and flirting. Casual conversation turned into drinks at the hotel bar, which turned into dinner the next night. Rennie’s staff would later comment on the subtle touches they witnessed her and Theo exchange and how each time they brought him up on the flight home, she would smile.
Theo and Rennie lived four hours apart by car—longer in the winter—and a little over an hour by plane. They often met in Ellensburg, which was halfway for both of them, or Theo would come to Seattle to visit. Rennie rarely went to Spokane, since Theo loved the nightlife in Seattle. The vibe was more his speed, as he always told her. Every other weekend they were together, either at her apartment, skiing in Canada, spending time in the Bavarian village of Leavenworth, or walking hand in hand along the boardwalk on Venice Beach when she would occasionally join him on a business trip to Los Angeles. They were in love. He talked about leaving his job or pushing his company to open a branch in Seattle so they could buy their dream home in the coveted Queen Anne neighborhood. They talked about their future, their desire to travel together to Italy and Greece, and she showed him a condo she wanted to buy in Portugal, giving them a place to escape to when their jobs became too much.
Her promotion changed her dreams, or maybe falling in love had done so. She wasn’t sure anymore. She loved her job. She loved Theo. But neither was meeting her halfway. He was demanding of her time, as was her job. With her new role, her responsibilities doubled. She now had lawyers under her, a full office staff, and interns. People depended on her more. When Theo was in town, she was in board meetings or going over briefings. Their normal weekends together turned into her spending hours researching, reading, and highlighting. Plans they had made before the promotion were tossed by the wayside and rescheduled for another date or, more aptly, “to be determined.”
She was driven to manage her ever-growing workload and get back on track with Theo, but it was the rumors that made everything worse and had her questioning whether the corner office, pay raise, and gold-plated nameplate were worth it. Of course, the sneers she’d get from her male counterparts who had not been promoted to her current position and the backhanded comments from other coworkers suggesting she was sleeping her way to the top weren’t helping. The fact that Theo declined her invite to the firm’s Thanksgiving party hadn’t squashed the gossip surrounding her. She depended on him to be there for her, to show everyone she was happy and in a healthy relationship—that she wasn’t taking part in extracurricular activities with the president of the company or any of its senior staff—and that she could have a career and be in a committed relationship.
She sipped her gin and tonic and looked toward the Queen Anne area. There were houses for sale, many in the price range that she and Theo could afford. Brooklyn suggested they buy a fixer-upper and have Bowie do the work. They could flip and invest. Her friend made it sound so easy. They didn’t need a lot of room and could buy small, remodel, and move on to something else. When she asked Theo what he thought, he said it would be a waste of time, and he didn’t want to live in a construction zone. He, too, made sense. Their time was valuable, and with Rennie’s job keeping her at the office longer hours, the last thing she wanted to come home to at night was a dust-filled house. After the first of the year, they’d find the right house—she was sure of it.
Her intercom buzzed, and within seconds, silence filled with music and laughter. The voice of her assistant, Ester, came through the receiver. “Ms. Wallace, are you coming to the party?”