The Price of Inertia (The Seven Sins #4) - Lily Zante Page 0,38
conversation instead turns to our current person of interest that we have in common. Ward Maddox. “How’s your new role?” I ask him. “What’s the verdict at the end of the first week?”
“He doesn’t talk much. I like that.” Jamie sips from his beer bottle.
“He’s not a man of many words,” I agree.
“But he’s not as weird as you made out.”
“You said his desk set up was weird!”
“I also said writers have a ritual,” says Jamie. “He’s eager to get into shape. He asked me to put him on a meal plan.”
“So that’s why I’m getting notes about what he wants to eat?”
“Notes?” Jamie’s brow creases.
I tell him how we’ve been exchanging information by writing notes, how I’ve been staying out of Ward’s way. How he’s moody and I have no idea why. I tell him what happened after that first day when I returned from our coffee shop visit, after I had been grocery shopping.
“He was mad at you for going out?”
“I’m not sure what he was mad about.”
“Asshole.” Jamie looks pissed. A server stops at our table to take an order but mumbles “I’ll give you some more time,” and shuffles off. It’s just as well seeing that we haven’t yet decided on what what we’re going to order.
I tell Jamie how I’ve stayed out of Ward’s way and made myself scarce so that he has no option but to leave me notes.
“He’s pretty normal in our workouts,” Jamie says.
“Maybe it’s just me, then.”
“Some can’t handle strong confident women.”
“I’m a shell of who I used to be.”
Jamie looks surprised.
“That hotel manager dealing diplomatically with customers who broke a vase and didn’t want to pay for the damage? Gone. That woman is gone.”
Jamie knows me well and disappointment wells in his eyes. “It must be difficult for you to hold your tongue.”
“It’s a miracle that I haven’t bitten it off. I’ve had to force myself to hold it in many times.”
“You’re in the wrong job.”
“It pays well, so I can’t complain.” I look at the menu again.
“But it can’t be rewarding?”
“It’s only temporary. What I can’t stand is the way Ward changes. He has mood swings. I can’t handle that.”
“Asshole.”
“You be nice to him and carry on as usual. You don’t have to take on my problems. You said you liked him.”
“That was before I heard what a douche he’d been to you.”
“The money is good. I don’t have that much to do. It’s not a labor intensive role. It’s lonely, sure, but I get to see you every day …” I smile sweetly at him.
“I brighten your day?” He thumbs at himself, his lips curving out into a smile.
“I didn’t say that.”
“But you meant it,” says Jamie, grinning. “Can I hear you say it?”
I roll my eyes. “You make my day better. Okay?” I summon the server over because now I’m starving.
Chapter 15
WARD
Damn. This. Hell.
I hurl my notepad across the room. I pick up my pen and have a good mind to toss that, too.
She’s with him.
I can’t focus.
I can’t think.
I grip my pen even tighter, my knuckles white, my skin taut.
This is insane.
Fucking insane.
It’s none of my business what she does and who she does it with. I shouldn’t give a damn. I shouldn’t waste any thinking time on her, and what she is up to.
But I can’t help myself.
I haven’t had this type of problem in years, because I don’t get into these types of situations.
Rob and his stupid solution to my writer’s block. I love the guy, but this isn’t working. I push out from my chair and stab the digits on my cell phone.
“How long?” I ask, when he picks up.
“What?” Rob’s voice is cool and calm. “How long for what?”
“How long do I need to put up with this farce for?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Me, in Chicago, in this goddamn mansion.”
“You said it was helping you to write.”
“How long?” I growl. I so don’t want to stay here. I’m better now. I’m eating better, I’m on a fitness program. I don’t reach for the box of donuts each time I struggle to get words down.
It is a miracle.
“I would say it’s working, Ward. Wouldn’t you agree?”
“It’s working, yeah. So let me come home.” I miss New Orleans. I miss my bed. “I miss Freya’s home cooking.”
“You have a problem with Mari?”
I grind down on my teeth. Trust him to zero in on the problem. “No.”
“The new trainer?”
“No.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
A knot forms in my stomach. The problem is that I’ve let that housekeeper