The Girlfriend (The Boss) (13 page)

“I meant it when I said my gift was having you here. I was so worried I would lose you...” He cleared his throat and brightened considerably. “But you’re here now. Why don’t you get dressed, and we’ll go down for breakfast with Emma and horrible Michael.”

“You know, you have to stop calling him that,” I scolded gently. “Even the least perceptive person on the planet could see that she’s head-over-heels for him. And he’s a nice guy.”

“Is he? I hadn’t noticed. I suppose I can’t see past the part where he’s having sex with my sweet little girl,” Neil grumbled.

“You’re having sex with someone’s sweet little girl,” I reminded him. “Emma is a grown woman. Ease up a little.”

“Stop being so fucking reasonable and kiss me,” he ordered.

We were a little late to breakfast.

* * * *

I stood before the huge Christmas tree in the drawing room, struck by the beauty of the array of ornaments— all different, but all cheery red to match the enormous area rug underfoot— and the tiny white lights nestled in the boughs. I’d never had a real tree growing up. There just wasn’t room in a single-wide, and my mom had terrible allergies. I leaned close and took a deep breath of pine.

Beyond the tall, leaded glass windows, I looked down the long drive and saw headlights in the distance. I wondered who would be the first to arrive. I hoped Emma would be down when her mother got here. I was bizarrely anxious about meeting her. Sure, whatever she and Neil had was over, but Valerie would always be the mother of his child. On top of that, she was his business partner.

I plucked at the neck of my sequined black, cowl-backed sheath dress and fiddled with the three quarters length sleeves. It seemed too ridiculously New York-ish all of a sudden.

“Ooh, you look nice,” Emma said, floating into the room in a gorgeous silver taffeta dress that could have stepped right out of the 1950’s. Her short hair was scrunched into loose, messy waves, and she wore a sparkly silver headband. “Where’s Dad?”

“He was on the phone in the library when I came down.” I was a little nervous. After all, I was going to be meeting his family for the first time, and he hadn’t seen what I was wearing yet. Maybe he wouldn’t like it. “You look amazing. I’m having fits of jealousy over that dress.”

Emma smoothed down her skirt. “Thank you. It’s vintage. Buying second-hand decreases the demand for new silk.”

“Ah.” I never knew exactly what I should say in the face of Emma’s earnest concern for things like silk worms. She headed for the punch bowl set up at the other end of the room, and I patted my hair, making sure my textured French twist hadn’t become a sloppy mess.

“Look at you.”

I turned to see Neil standing in the doorway, hands in the pockets of his steel gray trousers. His black button-down dress shirt was perfectly tailored, the collar and top button undone. He took me in from head to toe and back again as he came to me. With my hands in his, he held my arms slightly out to my sides and admired the view. “You look incredible.”

“You’re not so bad yourself.” I stepped into his embrace and laid my hands flat against the sleek fabric of his shirtfront as I gazed up at him. “Merry Christmas, baby.”

When he leaned his head down to kiss me, Emma cleared her throat loudly and said, “Your child is in the room.”

His lips twisted in a wry, long-suffering smirk as he lifted his head. “Yes, Emma. You look very pretty, as well.”

Emma craned her long neck and rose on the balls of her feet, peering past us at the window. “There’s a car pulling up the drive. I bet that’s mum.”

While Emma dashed out of the drawing room, into the gallery beyond, I looked up at Neil with a grimace. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m really nervous about meeting Valerie.”

“Don’t be. You’re not auditioning, Sophie. You’re here as a part of the family. You’re already in.”

I took a deep breath and nodded with a tight smile. “Okay. I’ll just keep reminding myself of that.”

“Please do. I want you to have a happy Christmas. I know you’re missing your family terribly.”

“Not terribly.” That was a total lie. I’d been mentally calculating what stage of Scaife family Christmas was happening across the ocean all day long, but I didn’t want Neil to feel guilty. I’d made the choice to come here. “They got me for twenty-four years. I can spare one for you.”

“It’s the best present I’ve ever gotten.” He ducked his head and finally, finally kissed me.

“I don’t see any mistletoe,” a cheerful voice with a faint Scottish accent warbled, and we both looked up.
 

Neil grinned and rubbed my lipstick off his bottom lip with the side of his index finger. “Sophie, this is Valerie Stern, Emma’s mother. Valerie, this is my girlfriend, Sophie.”

“I should hope so, otherwise you’d have some explaining to do.” Valerie smiled a smile of the straightest, whitest teeth I’d ever seen. And I used to work at a fashion magazine. She did not look remotely old enough to be Emma’s mom, but I knew she was about the same age as Neil, since they went to college together. Her hair was a gorgeous, glossy auburn that fell in perfectly smooth slashes to her shoulders. Her eyes were big and animated, and she came over immediately to shake my hand without a trace of awkwardness.

I almost let out a sigh of relief, but I thought that would be rude. “It’s so nice to meet you.”

“And you. Emma has told me all about you.” She turned to give Neil a friendly hug and a kiss on the cheek— it looked so much less awkward when she did it than when I did, because she was easily four inches taller than me.

“Happy Christmas, Neil,” she said with warmth I knew I shouldn’t have interpreted in a jealous way, but I couldn’t help myself.
 

I had never been in a relationship with someone who had a serious past with another woman. On the one hand, I was comforted by the fact that they were able to maintain a friendship even after their romantic relationship was over. That meant that if we didn’t work out for some reason, it probably wouldn’t be an awful breakup. On the other hand, I hated literally everything about her from the moment she walked into the room. I hated that I perceived this bond between them I was driven to try and overcome. I didn’t want to be the woman who needed to fill every role in her partner’s life. I hated that their daughter was in her twenties and they were still this parental unit for her sake. I thought it was weird and I was super envious because my parents hadn’t been able to do that for me. And I really hated that kiss on the cheek.

Most of all, I hated my jealousy, which for all I knew, was totally unfounded. There was nothing wrong with anything she’d said or done, but I irrationally wanted to pick apart everything about her. It wasn’t a nice way to feel, and I was so disappointed in myself.

Then the butler walked in carrying bags of presents to put under the tree, and I realized that I was probably just feeling out of my element. After all, Valerie had brought beautifully wrapped gifts in Harrod’s bags, and I was used to seeing hand-wrapped presents toted in laundry baskets. We certainly didn’t get this dressed up at home, and I suspected the punch bowl was not full of sherbet, Hawaiian Punch, and 7-Up.

That was my problem. Valerie didn’t intimidate me; Neil’s whole life intimidated me, because I felt like I would never really fit in to it.

Gosh, I was sure glad I figured that out right before meeting his
mother
. She and Neil’s sister were only about ten minutes behind Valerie.

When Neil had told me his mother was in her eighties, I had expected someone who looked frailer than she did. In fact, she was a little plump. And I was surprised at how much she and Neil looked alike; they shared the same kind green eyes and perpetually amused expression. She smiled broadly and reached her arms up as Neil went to embrace her.

“Mother,” He said, bending over her wheelchair to kiss her cheek. She patted his face, the way mothers the world over do to their children, and I hid my smile behind my hand.

“How are you feeling, little bird?” she asked, and it took every bit of self-control I had not to say, “awwwww!”

“Tired,” he told her with a reassuring smile. “But fine.”

“I think those doctors are charlatans,” she grumbled. “They should have kept you in the hospital in New York.”

I felt the same way. It was nice to have someone on my side.

Neil straightened and turned, gesturing me over. “Mother, this is Sophie.”

“Oh?” She looked to me with as polite a frown as I’ve ever seen, trying to puzzle me out. “Are you a friend of Emma’s, then?”

Valerie snickered. My opinion of her was not improving at all.

“No, mother, she’s my girlfriend. We spoke about her on the telephone.” Neil wrapped his arm around my waist. “She’s here from New York to stay with me while I go through treatment.”

“Hello, Mrs. Elwood,” I said, extending my hand.

She shook it and smiled pleasantly up at me. “Very nice to meet you, Sophie. You came all the way from New York?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Don’t ma’am me, I’m not the queen,” she laughed. “Call me Rose.”

“Okay, Rose,” I said, and when I looked to Neil, he seemed pleased.
 

He gave me an encouraging smile and turned back to his mom. “Where’s Fiona?”

“She should be right behind me,” Rose said, using a little joystick to maneuver her chair closer to the seating area. “She let me out by the door. I’m sure she’s struggling to park that ridiculous new van. Emma, come see your old gran.”

“I’m just going to go check on her,” Neil told me, dropping a kiss on my forehead.

“Go on,” I told him with a laugh. “I don’t think they’ll eat me.”

But then I saw Valerie, a little round cup of punch cradled in her hand, headed straight toward me. “So, Sophie. Emma said you and Neil reconnected through work?”

“Yeah, I worked for
Porteras
.” Did she not know this? Neil said Rudy had told her all about our relationship and my dismissal. I’d been fired from the company for conspiring with a rival publication. It didn’t seem like any of this should be news.

“Oh, right, right. You’re the one who was going to help sabotage my magazine.” She smiled brightly and sipped her punch. “Merry Christmas.”

Okay. I probably deserved that. I didn’t argue with her that I wasn’t the one who had planned to give away the subscriber list, because she probably wouldn’t believe me. And I wasn’t going to get mad at Neil over Valerie knowing about it, because she was his business partner. It would have been a total dick move for him to not warn her that the woman he was dating— okay, call it what it was,
moving in with
— was just fired from their company for shady ethics.

Valerie had every right to dislike me. And I didn’t really have any reason to dislike her, apart from the fact that she’d had a baby with Neil, something I had been totally unwilling to do.

So, I just nodded and said, “Merry Christmas,” back. Either she would come around and like me, or she wouldn’t. But I wasn’t going to be uncivil, especially when I was the one in the wrong.

Neil came back just as I was considering some way to make my escape without appearing rude.

“Fiona has arrived,” he announced, smiling at my expression as our eyes met across the room. There was nothing that could have made me feel better in that moment than his smile, and my entire face lit up brighter than the Christmas tree, I’m sure.

Fiona was short, slim, and the spitting image of her brother, albeit with softer features. Her short blonde hair would have looked like an awkward growing-out phase on anyone else, but she wore it with style, pushing it back from her face with one hand and making an exaggerated expression of frustration. “Sorry, everyone! That van is such a nightmare. I’m used to parking the Jaguar, it’s less than a quarter of the size.”

“Well, I’m terribly sorry my stroke inconvenienced you,” Rose said dryly.

“Where’s Michael?”

“Running behind as always,” he called from just outside the door. He slowed his steps from a jog as he entered. “Sorry, everyone. I was on the phone with mom and dad. They just got back from brunch with the Consul General of Denmark, and I wanted to catch them while we were still both on Christmas day.”

“Yes, well. If we’re all here,” Neil said, clearing his throat.

Dinner was served in the dining room. We’d been at the house for two days, and I’d yet to see it. It was at the back of the house, connected to the drawing room from the music room. The music room was, as far as I could tell, just the same as any of the other living rooms in the house, but this one had a piano forte in it. I was feeling very poised and fancy, with all these poised and fancy people, up until the second we stepped through the doors and I saw where we would be eating.

“Oh my god.” I halted, and nearly got crushed under the wheels of Rose’s chair.

The walls and floor of the dining room were marble, shades of ivory and pale brown. Let me reiterate: the
walls
were marble. Enormous framed tapestries hung on the wall, rosy-cheeked, well-groomed shepherds and shepherdesses frolicking in pastoral scenes. Two large chandeliers hung over the long table in a blaze of light magnified by the gilt mirror over the wide white fireplace.

“That’s right, I never gave you a proper tour,” Neil said apologetically. It wasn’t his fault; I’d been content to mostly hang out in his room watching television while he worked. The rest of the house was too intimidating, and if I ran into any of the black-uniformed staff, they were so solicitous of my comfort I felt guilty when I didn’t have a job for them. I’d been more or less hiding from them, so I hadn’t wandered around.

“Elwood hospitality strikes again,” Valerie said with a good-natured laugh as she pulled out a chair from the table. “I’m sure you two had better things to do.”

“Mother, don’t be disgusting,” Emma scolded.

Then I noticed where Valerie had taken her seat. At the right hand of the head of the table, across from Emma. Michael sat beside Emma, of course, and Fiona moved the chair beside Valerie away from the table for Rose’s wheelchair, leaving me far, far down the line.

Emma flushed with embarrassment. “Mom... Sophie?”