Dating the Guy Upstairs (10 page)

As far as fake girlfriends went, she was bad. Clearly she’d only made everything harder.

As far as best friends went, she was clearly even worse. She was supposed to be the one person he could express himself to. But now, for the first time since she’d known him, he had purposely cut her out of what he was thinking.

The next two hours passed in agonizing slowness. Riley watched Will smile and laugh with everyone while hardly looking at her. Finally, she eased herself into a chair and toyed with the idea of having another glass of champagne to distract her from the hideousness of the wedding.

She decided against it, since being at the wedding was bad enough. Waking up with a hangover would be even worse. Instead she contented herself with watching the small flower girl stealing all the after-dinner chocolates while she thought no one was looking.

“That’s what he does, you know,” a voice said, and Riley looked up to see Lisa standing in front of her. Her blond hair was tousled and her cheeks were flushed, as if she’d been dancing. She was also swaying unsteadily on her impossibly high heels, which made Riley wonder if she’d had too much to drink.

“Does what?” Riley replied before she could stop herself. She immediately regretted it, because Lisa must have taken it as an invitation to sit down next to her. Her consolation was that Will had disappeared somewhere with Tucker and wouldn’t be able to see what was happening.

“Switches on and off like that. One minute he can be the most charming guy imaginable and the next moment it’s like he doesn’t know you. I guess it comes from how he only sees the world in black and white. With Will you’re either good or you’re bad. No points for guessing what side I fall on now.”

“Are you surprised?” Riley raised an eyebrow. She studied Lisa’s stunning face, but there was not a trace of guilt that she’d gone from the son to the father in less than six months.

“Look, I understand why he hates me. I do. But I wasn’t the one to drive a wedge between him and Evan. It was already there. And as for what happened between us . . . The story he tells himself is that I’m a mercenary bitch who was only ever after the money.”

“And you weren’t?”

Lisa sighed and sat down in the chair next to Riley. “I loved Will, but I’m not going to lie. I’ve had a tough life. Do you know what it’s like to not know if your mom can pay the bills or where you’re going to live?”

Riley stiffened before reluctantly nodding her head. “Actually, I do.”

“Well, then you have my sympathy—and you know what I’m talking about. It’s a shitty way to grow up, so I always swore to myself that I’d never be in that position again. I never hid that from Will. He knew all about my past and my fears of going back to that kind of poverty. If he’d been honest with me sooner about the kind of life he wanted to live, then we never would’ve gotten engaged in the first place. As for setting out to hurt him—I swear that was never my intention. Evan was nice to me after the breakup. Sweet, really. Will certainly wasn’t; he’d already decided that I’d only ever been a gold digger. And then the more time I spent with Evan, the more I realized that he understood me in a way that Will never could.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Riley tried to reconcile what Lisa was saying with the story Will told. With the Will that she knew. The one who worked all the hours of the day because he felt guilty for growing up in a family that put money before people. He wouldn’t spin things so far from the truth. It was against everything he believed in.

“Because Will won’t let me tell him. I’ve tried talking to him face-to-face, emailing him, calling him. But he just shuts me down.” Lisa clamped her full lips together. “And because I wanted you to know the truth about him. Will might be all dimples and good looks, but he’s not the man you think he is. If something doesn’t serve him anymore, he’ll cut it out of his life as ruthlessly as his father ever could.”

Thankfully, before Riley had to figure out what to say, one of Will’s many relatives came and asked Lisa to dance. As the pair of them made their way to the dance floor, Riley rubbed her brow. Dealing with Will’s complicated family was more exhausted than she dreamed. Of course she knew that Lisa was wrong. Will wasn’t like that.
But
, a little voice in her head whispered,
that doesn’t change the fact that you’ve hardly seen him since your talk about his father.
What if she just hadn’t seen him when something didn’t go as he planned?

She scanned the room, but there was still no sign of him. A drunken wedding guest stumbled past her, spilling champagne on her dress. Somehow, she wasn’t surprised. All Riley wanted to do was go home to where it was just her and her books. She knew she never should have agreed to come along.

“Mr. Tait, hello. You don’t know me, but my name’s Will Henderson and I’d very much like to schedule a meeting with you about a startup that I’m working on.” Will barely paused for breath as he slid into the booth where Geoff Tait had just finished eating an egg-white omelette that had looked about as appetizing as dirt. The man in question had dirty blond hair that was pushed back by sunglasses and wore a T-shirt that looked even more frayed than something Will would wear. In short, he looked nothing like the CEO of one of the most dynamic investment companies in Seattle. But Will had spent the better part of a week tracking him down, and he wasn’t going to let a little Monday-morning casual wear deter him.

“Henderson? You’re the one who has been calling my office every day wanting an appointment.” Geoff Tait put down the low-tech cell phone that he’d been fiddling with to stare right at Will. The weight of his gaze might have been disconcerting, but Will refused to be intimidated.

“That’s right,” Will agreed. He pulled a similar cell phone to the one Tait had been holding—one that had first been produced sometime in the nineties and was heavier than a brick—out of his pocket.

“And when you didn’t get an appointment, you somehow thought it would be a good idea to follow me and interrupt my meal?” Geoff Tait asked, showing no signs that he’d seen the cell Will had just put on the table.

“In my defense, I waited until you finished eating. And I definitely didn’t follow you.” Will accompanied his statement with what he hoped was a disarming smile.

“So how did you find me, then?”

After arguing with my father at my brother’s wedding on Saturday night I spent all of yesterday on the Internet researching you. I discovered that you’re an eccentric thirty-five-year-old genius who is a tennis-shoe wearing, hockey-loving vegetarian. You’ve written three books, made your first million by the time you were twenty-one and you abhor business meetings, which is why you always tell your secretary not to schedule any. And, after eight hours of searching, I also discovered that you eat here every day at eight o’clock. So, here I am. And yes, I know it’s totally inappropriate, but if you were faced with the alternative of taking your father’s money, you would’ve done the same thing. Oh, and for some reason you’re obsessed with older-technology cell phones, which is why every other investor in Seattle told me to talk to you.

“I like to be thorough,” Will said instead. “And because I believe that if you give me ten minutes of your time—whenever it suits you—I’ll be able to convince you of what a great startup idea I have.”

“Well, I like to be thorough too, which is why I know who your father is. So tell me: Why haven’t you gone to him for the money instead of stalking me?”

Will clenched his fists under the booth table. It always came back to that, didn’t it? “Because I don’t believe that family and business always make good bedfellows,” he said as diplomatically as he could. “My father has certainly had some considerable successes, but I’m not sure his vision would be quite what I had in mind for this startup.”

“I see.” Geoff Tait was silent, his eyes narrow as if he was searching for something in Will’s face. “And the cell phone? What did you think would happen with that? That you could pay too much for one on eBay and then impress me with your insider knowledge of my likes and dislikes?”

“Nope.” Will shook his head. He slid the oversized battery out of the phone to show that the name Evan Henderson was engraved on the back. “It once belonged to my father. I found it in the trash when I was a kid. He’d bought a new model and hadn’t thought twice about throwing this one out. And even before I knew about E-waste, I figured that something was up with that. So I took it out, just like I did for the next ten models he went through, not to mention all of his old computers and printers. Because while he couldn’t see the value left in them, or how toxic they can be to the environment, I could. And I still can. Plus”—Will leaned forward to emphasize the point, making sure to keep eye contact—“here’s the real deal. By starting up this company to dispose of this technology properly, you’ll also be helping keep families and communities together, and you strike me as a guy who is interested in that.”

“I see.” Geoff Tait rubbed his chin before shrugging. “Okay, sure. Why not? Call my office and tell my secretary that she can give you ten minutes.”

“Seriously?” Will said, some of the tension that had been building in his shoulders leaving.

“Yes. Seriously. But on one condition. I can keep this cell phone, right?”

“Absolutely.” Will slid it over and watched as Geoff casually pocketed it, threw down some money on the table to pay for his breakfast and then wandered out of the diner whistling.

Will leaned back in the booth and let out his breath. He knew it was a risk cornering Geoff Tait like that, and that it could’ve backfired badly. But it hadn’t. It had worked.

He still hadn’t gotten his funding, but at least he was one step closer. He pulled out his own cell phone and called Josh to give him an update.

“Are you serious? You got a meeting with him?” Josh said from down the other end, sounding groggy. Will must have woken him up. “How the hell did you manage that? From everything I’ve heard the guy is a bit loopy, and definitely not fond of talking to people.”

“I just did what needed to be done,” Will told him. “We both know how good this startup is. There’s no way I’m not going to do what it takes to get the funding.”

“Well, it was a ballsy move, and why I needed you on board,” Josh said, stifling a yawn. “And by the way, I had a phone call from Fiona saying how grateful she was for your business and that you and Riley were the cutest couple in the world. I didn’t even realize you were dating anyone.”

Because I’m not. Well, not really.

“It’s a long story,” Will said instead as he got to his feet and left the diner. He’d come on foot, so he started to walk along the busy road that was flanked by cheap-looking stores. A truck slammed on its brakes and somewhere else a dog barked. Thankfully Josh wasn’t one of life’s great talkers and he seemed to accept that as a suitable answer.

“Okay, well call me when you’ve had the meeting. And seriously, great work, Will. Really great.”

“Thanks.” Will finished the call and continued to walk. He was pleased Josh was so happy. After all, it had originally been his brainchild. But why didn’t Will feel like he’d achieved anything?

Because he was an ass, that was why.

He groaned, speeding up. He’d spent the last day trying not to think about Saturday’s wedding. Research on Tait had been an excellent distraction, but now, with that done, there was nothing to keep his mind moving. As he unlocked his front door and walked into the unfurnished apartment, memories hit.

Of course he’d known it would be bad. After all, his father and Lisa would be there, along with half of the Seattle scene that he’d done his best to ignore for the last three years. But what he hadn’t expected was to get into an argument with Riley.

Especially over money.

How had that even happened? They never argued. Not even over the last piece of pizza. In the past they’d always just bent and twisted to fit in and out of each other’s lives. It had been so easy. So comfortable. Which was probably how they’d ended up becoming such good friends.

He shook his arms out to try and get rid of the excess energy that was building up inside him. But it was no good. The familiar gnawing sense of frustration that overtook him whenever he thought about his family continued to throb in his temples. Which was why he much preferred his life in Indonesia, or other places where he was busy doing work that mattered, away from questions and thoughts about things that he didn’t want to think about it.

Life was much simpler when he could just shut down. Channel any emotion into practical work.

But as he recalled the red flush that had spread across Riley’s face and the hurt in her dark eyes after he’d refused to listen to her, he knew that he had to think about it whether he wanted to or not. Because otherwise she’d keep feeling like she’d done something wrong when it wasn’t about her, it was about him. And his son-of-a-bitch father.

Anger seemed to echo in the air all around him. He knew that unless he talked to Riley and apologized, it would only get worse. He probably should’ve done it at the wedding, but he’d still been so furious with his father that he’d refused any attempts she made to discuss it.

Instead he’d talked to relatives who he hadn’t seen for years and even managed to pretend that he gave a crap. At least Tucker had been happy. When his brother had taken his bride off on their honeymoon to Italy, Will had felt a small slither of relief that at least two people at the wedding had enjoyed it. Then yesterday, he’d done what he always did when he was annoyed. He’d jogged until the excess energy had been transformed into sweat, and then he’d thrown himself into work. But it didn’t help. For once his problem-solving mind seemed to be failing him.

He stopped pacing and stared at one of the stupid plants Riley had dumped on him. The tips of the leaves had lost some of the glossy green radiance that they’d acquired under Riley’s care and had now turned faded and brown. Because she had the magic touch and he didn’t. He marched to the kitchen and splashed some water into the closest glass he could find before pouring it onto the parched soil.

Was that what Riley did for him? Try and turn his dried-out grumpy soil into something more personable? Probably. And how did he repay her? By making her feel like she was the worst person on earth.

Like he said, he was an ass.

Without another thought he grabbed his keys and made his way downstairs. If he didn’t get out, he would go stir-crazy. The September weather was warm and he randomly began to jog, letting the strains and annoyances pound into the pavement. But it wasn’t until he came to a halt that he realized he was standing in front of the library.

He groaned.

His subconscious might be telling him to go and talk to her, but that was obviously because his subconscious couldn’t feel the light layer of sweat around his collar. He hadn’t felt this nervous in ages. However, he also knew that unless he wanted the day to replicate all nine circles of Dante’s Inferno, he needed to see his best friend and grovel at her feet.

He took a deep breath and walked inside to the counter, where Italy was standing. At the sight of him she folded her arms and arched an eyebrow. Will flushed, unsure of what Riley had told her friend about Saturday. Somehow he doubted he had a heroic role.

“Ah, Mr. Henderson. So nice of you to show up.”

“Is she mad?”

“Hmmm, mad that you dragged her to a pretentious wedding and then deserted her for half the night while she got accosted by your ex-fiancée? Why would she be mad about that?” Italy pondered before relenting. “Don’t look so alarmed, those were my words, not hers. But, if you want my advice, start remembering that she’s your friend, not your doormat, okay?”

“Trust me, preaching to the choir.” Will held up his hands in surrender. “No one feels worse than I do, which is why I’m here to apologize.”

More so now that he knew Lisa had spoken to Riley. He couldn’t imagine his ex had anything good to say about him.

“As long as your apology includes some groveling and chocolate cake, that will be a start.” Italy unfolded her arms but she kept her glare, clearly letting Will know that she was watching Riley’s back. None of which improved his mood, since in the past he’d always been the one to have Riley’s best interests at heart, and how here he was being the one she needed defending against. “By the way, she’s over in one of the conference rooms with her book club. Just follow the sound of kids.”

“Oh.” Will paused. He would have preferred to wait until the session was finished, but the look on Italy’s face suggested that any apology should be delivered immediately. He sighed.
Book club it is.

He followed Italy’s directions until he came to a series of rooms built along the far wall of the library. Through the long glass window he could clearly see Riley sitting in a chair surrounded by a group of teenage kids tearing open the Blind Date books that she’d so lovingly wrapped.

Her red hair was back to being tied in two hasty braids, while the green dress had been replaced by her standard fare of jeans and a T-shirt. However, now, like a ghost of a memory, he could clearly see the outline of rounded breasts and small waist despite the non-descript clothing. His skin prickled, but he did his best to ignore it as he knocked on the door, not sure of what kind of welcome he would get.

“Will.” She looked up, her face flushed, as all of the kids turned around to stare at him. “W-what are you doing here?”

I’ve come to tell you that I’m a stupid idiot who doesn’t know how to treat his friends.

“I was hoping I could talk to you. Then when Italy said you had your book club I thought I should wait, but she—”

“Made you come up here anyway,” Riley finished with just a hint of a smile. “Yeah, that sounds about right. You might as well sit down. We’re just discussing what books everyone got.”

“Yeah,” a girl with short dark hair and freckles chimed up. “Riley said that if I don’t like reading
Pride and Prejudice
then she’ll eat her hat.”

“She said exactly the same thing to me. And despite how much I wanted to see some hat eating, I had to admit that I loved it,” Will admitted.

“You read a girl book?’ A second boy raised an eyebrow as he held up his own book, which appeared to be Harry Potter.

“Yes I did. And even though I thought my brain might explode, it was actually fine,” Will said. He was rewarded by a grateful smile from Riley. His mood improved as he was bombarded with questions about what other books Riley had made him read. Since it had included everything from
A Tale of Two Cities
to
Anne of Green Gables
, the group was soon in fits of laughter.

“Okay, that’s enough,” Riley finally cut in, her cheeks brightening, when one of the kids asked him if they were dating. “There’s only five minutes left, so why don’t we just pack up and finish early?”