Key To My Heart (Love Conquers All) (16 page)

“Your mother called and asked me to interview Christina because she came with a ton of experience.” Swallowing the lump in her throat, Grace took a deep breath to try to calm her nerves. Langston’s eyes had flashed with a glint of anger at the mention of his mother. “After interviewing her, I found her to be the most experienced of the candidates. And your mother said she was an old friend, and you wouldn’t mind her working at the firm.”

A fool. That was what she was. Beatrice had assured Grace that Langston would be OK with Grace hiring Christina after Grace told Beatrice that she had set up a final interview for Christina with Langston.

“Oh, dear, you know Langston is busy with the Martin case and has been in and out of court all week. I doubt if he’ll have any time available to meet with Christina,” Beatrice said. When Grace attempted to further voice her uneasiness, Beatrice reminded her, “Dear, you’re the office manager now. Sometimes you’re going to have to make decisions on your own. Why do you think my son promoted you, hmm?” With a sly grin, she added, “Because he trusts your judgment.”

Grace wanted to strangle that old woman. She had pumped her up to make a final decision that wasn’t hers to make. And now here she was looking like a sitting duck, ready to be shot.

“And, yes, sir, you did ask to meet the candidate before hiring. But I thought—”

Before she could finish, Langston cut her off. Through the tent he had made with his fingers as he listened to Grace’s explanation, he now asked, “Who do you work for? Me or my mother?”

“I work for you, sir,” Grace mumbled, sure she was about to get demoted, or worse yet, fired.

“Then I suggest you follow orders by the person who signs your paychecks.” Dismissing her, Langston grunted, “Get back to work, and send in Christina.”

Taking unsure steps, Christina made her way down the corridor. Nerves had her stomach in knots. This morning she had been so confident, so sure she’d be able to get her unraveling life in control again. And starting this new job was her ticket to getting things back on track. She needed this job like a fish needed water. One foot teetering on the edge of being homeless was the last scenario Christina ever thought she’d be facing. But here she was, in her early thirties, and only a breath away from living on the streets.

The closer she got to Langston’s office door, shame and regret vied to consume her. She didn’t know which would win as she wondered how in the world this had become her pitiful existence. She should be a partner in a law firm, and not a receptionist. Her parents had sent her to the best schools and given her whatever her heart desired. But instead of looking at her privileged life as a blessing, she’d abused it. And now she was paying the piper for years of folly.

Knocking gently on the door, Christina turned the knob and entered after Langston barked for her to come in.

Langston’s cool stare held Christina glued to where she stood. This was not good. All hopes she had of turning his eye went up in smoke. The man was looking at her as if she was the most disgusting thing he’d ever seen.

“Sit,” came the one word simple command, which made her feel like a child about to be severely punished for a misdeed.

Crossing the room, Christina took a seat in the chair in front of Langston’s desk.

Leaning back in his supple leather chair Langston contemplated just firing her on the spot. Did she seriously think he would be OK with her working for him? Better yet, did she think he’d be interested in her? Langston was nobody’s fool. Christina was here, in his firm, because she and Beatrice had some crazy, hair-brained scheme cooking.

“Why are you here, Christina?” Langston asked in a tone that strongly suggested she put everything on the line. If by chance she even entertained the idea of fabricating the intent of her position at Warrington and Warrington, she was out the door.

Tears began to well up in Christina’s dark eyes, not so much from the idea that there would never be anything between her and Langston. That was made painfully transparent from the look he jabbed her with when he stepped off the elevator just a little while ago.

What really had her near tears was that she had nowhere else to turn. This was it. With the present economy, many of the law firms in the D.C. area were in a hiring freeze. This included the firm her father’s former partners had founded. If Langston told her to leave, she’d be lost. No, this wasn’t about trying to snag him as a boyfriend, lover, or husband, for that matter. This was about survival.

Clearing her throat, Christina whispered in a small voice, “Langston, I really need this job.” Swallowing her pride, as uncomfortable and humiliating as it was, she purged every detail of her miserable existence. By the time she’d finished telling her tale, tears were falling freely from her eyes.

Standing, Langston made his way over to the corner of the room to the mahogany coat tree to remove a white handkerchief from his suit jacket. Kneeling down in front of Christina, he handed her the cloth to dry her eyes. He hated to see a woman cry. That was one of his weak spots.

Despite the fact that Christina grew up as a spoiled, cruel, and overindulged adolescent, Langston couldn’t stand to see the woman out on the streets. “Christina, please stop crying.”

“I can’t,” she wailed, too far gone to be embarrassed. “If you fire me, and I know you probably will, I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

Langston sat on the corner of his desk as he stared at Christina having a mini mental breakdown. Again his mother had meddled in his affairs and now had him in a jam. When he hissed an expletive, Christina buried her face in her hands and wailed even louder.

Rolling his eyes toward the ceiling, Langston said, “Christina, pull yourself together. I am not going to fire you.” Although he’d made the decision to keep her on as the new receptionist, he wanted to make a few things absolutely clear. “I don’t know what little scheme you and my mother have going.” When she attempted to interrupt, he held up his hand. “Don’t interrupt me while I’m speaking.”

Christina wanted to tell him
she
wasn’t up to any schemes, but instead she sheepishly sat back and listened.

Continuing, Langston said, “I know my mother had you over for dinner and set you up with this job because she’s trying to play matchmaker. I’m not interested. Period.” He wanted to add that she’d had her chance years ago, but decided against bringing up something that might cause her to start crying again.

Christina flinched from his firm and direct words. Langston went on to tell her what he expected of her as a firm employee, and that she would be closely monitored during her three-month probation period. He also stressed that Beatrice, although she held a percentage of the shares in the firm, would not have any influence when it came to Christina’s employment.

“Are we all clear?” Langston asked as he took his seat again and opened a file that was on his desk.

“Yes.” Christina nodded as she stood.

For the first time that morning since stepping off the elevator, Langston smiled. “Good. Now get back to work.”

Christina returned his smile with a shaky one of her own, trying to control the butterflies in her stomach. Why hadn’t she ever noticed how sexy his smile was?

She stopped before crossing the threshold leading back to the reception area. Looking over her shoulder, she said, “Thanks, Langston, for giving me this chance. I won’t let you down. I promise.”

“Yeah, I hope not,” he mumbled, not taking his attention off the file he’d suddenly become consumed with.

Once the door had been closed and Christina was gone, Langston leaned back and rubbed his eyes. This had better not blow up in his face. He sincerely hoped Christina had gotten the message when he blatantly told her he wasn’t interested. There was only one woman he was interested in, one woman who seemed so close, yet so far away, one woman he couldn’t keep his thoughts off of day or night.

“Girl, what did you tell Nick?” Starr asked Summer as they rode the escalator to ground level at the Farragut North station. The fabrication Starr had to feed her husband, Kevin, was that she and Summer were hanging out for the day. She dared not tell him what the two of them were really up to. She felt awful deceiving her man, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

“Um, I told him we were going shopping,” Summer said, studying the manicured nails on her left hand, looking for chips.

Nick would have a cow if he knew she and Starr’s shopping adventure to the Philadelphia Outlet Mall in Limerick, PA had taken a detour in the complete opposite direction to the first Metro train station off of 95 South, where they had parked Summer’s BMW SUV and hopped the train to downtown D.C., destination 888 Seventeenth Street.

Taking her attention off her nails, Summer looked at her friend. “What did Kevin say when you told him you were leaving the babies with Joan, Beverly, and our moms?”

Both Summer and Starr were grateful for Joan, Nick’s stepmother, and Beverly, Kevin’s mom, along with their own mothers, who were always glad for any opportunity to babysit their tribe of grandchildren. Knowing their children were in loving, capable hands put them at ease as they embarked upon their little escapade.

Starr and Summer had worked nonstop for two weeks straight to throw the birthday bash celebrating all of the birthdays Zoe had missed having with Ava. Summer’s parents, along with Donna and Patrick, Starr’s mother and stepfather, had come to town to take part in the festivities, and they had decided to stay a few weeks to spend time with their grandchildren.

Starr shrugged. “Nothing, really, but I get the feeling he thinks we’re up to something.”

Nodding, Summer understood her friend’s suspicions, because Nick had given her the same vibe, but didn’t question her. “I guess we better stop off somewhere to pick up a few things if we don’t want to get busted.”

Inside the contemporary marbled lobby of 888 Seventeenth Street, the young women stood side by side as they studied the office building’s directory. “There it is.” Summer pointed. “Warrington and Warrington and Associates. Suite 1200.”

After signing the log book, Summer and Starr took the elevator up to the twelfth floor, riding in silence. They’d talked about this for weeks now, ever since they met Langston and saw Ava’s reaction to him. Of course Ava being Ava, she’d tried to play it cool, like she wasn’t affected by the man one way or another.

But Langston had been in their company on numerous occasions when he brought Zoe to spend the weekend with Ava. He was included in Sunday dinners after church with the rest of the family over at the elder Stiles’s home. And it wasn’t lost on anyone that Ava behaved differently in his presence. The woman acted like a teenager with a crush, too shy to approach the object of her affection.

One particular Sunday afternoon Starr teased, “Girl, why don’t you admit you still have some feelings for the man, even if it’s an itty-bitty, teeny bit.”

“Yeah, just admit it,” Summer said. “Come on, girl, it’s only natural. After all, he is Zoe’s father.”

Huffing, Ava snapped, “I don’t have feelings for Langston. And that’s all he is to me, Zoe’s father, and that’s it.”

Both Summer and Starr shared a look when Ava went stomping out of the kitchen, mumbling under her breath that she was going to check on her daughter. Once Ava was out of hearing range, they simultaneously agreed, “She still got feelings for him.”

Last Saturday afternoon at the party, a blind man could see that both Ava and Langston still had feelings for each other. Whereas Langston was bold with his feelings as he openly admired Ava, Ava, on the other hand, was caught stealing secret glimpses at Langston. But what Ava failed to realize was that her friends knew her, really knew her. When Ava wasn’t feeling a person, especially a man, she got this look on her face that said,
Leave me alone.
Her friends never once saw her look this way at Langston, at least not in front of them. And that was another thing about their friend. She didn’t put on airs for anyone. If she wasn’t feeling her baby’s daddy, they would have known it, and they wouldn’t be getting ready to start some stuff.

eee

Langston stared at the two beautiful women occupying the chairs in front of his desk. He didn’t know if he should be offended or grab them up in an affectionate bear hug.

It didn’t surprise him that Ava would have friends like these women. On his trips to Philly he had gotten to know them and their husbands. They were cool people who cared about and loved Ava and Zoe as if they were their blood. So it didn’t come as a total shock to him when they showed up unannounced, politely demanding to speak to him regarding an urgent matter.

Unashamedly, they harassed him with one question after another.
Why did you come back into Ava’s life? Are you seeing anyone? If not, are you interested in Ava? If you’re interested, you better not be playing any games with our sister, because if you are, you will get hurt.
That threat had come from the petite one, which brought a smirk to Langston’s lips. Who was she going to hurt? He wanted to tell her to get real. The woman was just over five feet and weighed no more than 110 pounds, if that.

“What’s so funny?” Summer asked, tilting her head to the side like she was ready to pounce.

Langston held up his hands in defense. “My bad. Y’all just got me tripping.”