The Matchmaker Bride (The Bride Series) (9 page)

“Well, now let’s see what happens now shall we?” Mrs. Stone placed her teacup gently on the counter and moved the cursor to the words replay to play the video again.

It was at the Macy House Annual Barbecue and Pool Party and the image was of
she
and Carlos after she fell into the pool. They both had on clear name tags.

Damn!

That’s the downside of smartphones with video cameras and links to YouTube. Who the hell ever thought of that? What ever happened to permissions before
  posting
? Does anyone care about privacy these days?

Sophie was horrified when she read the captions and some of the comments. Her stomach squeezed even more. She thought her head would explode in Mrs. Stone’s office from the pressure and headache that was now creeping up on her. Where was her coffee when she needed it? She’d rushed in and forgot to stop at Starbucks. She was going to do it later and ask if anyone wanted anything before going.

She was speechless. But her devastated expression was enough to put a smug grin on Mrs. Stone’s face.

The video showed her on her cell phone talking and not quite paying attention to where she was walking. She walked right into the pool.
“Help!
I can’t swim.” Then of course, the footage showed Carlos coming over to her and jumping into the pool bringing her back to shore like a soaked puppy.
Her hair wet and sticky on her face.
She looked like a crazed person. Carlos gently held her and wiped her hair from her face and…oh, dear God, planted a gentle kiss on her lips. That was when she kissed him back. The footage zoomed into Carlos face and
her own
. It was very clear who they were for those who could recognize them.

Mrs. Stone replayed and paused at the part where they kissed. Sophie could not breathe. What was her boss playing at?

“Would this be the part, dear where he does mouth to mouth as you
stood
up conscious? Or were you just doing advanced investigation to make sure that the client could actually place his tongue in a woman’s mouth with no trouble?”

Mrs. Stone didn’t bother to look at Sophie. She picked up her tea cup again and looked out of the window near her chair.

“You know, I would never have known about this…well, let’s just say little moonlighting of yours had I not heard from Sandy
Dextworth
. You remember who she is right, dear? She is supposed to be Carlos’s potential match. Well, she is ever the clever internet addict and was perusing YouTube when she saw this footage. Oh, and she also made a comment. Look here.” Mrs. Stone scrolled down to some of the comments.

“How sweet.
Her boyfriend saves her life. He’s hot!”
-Nash107    6 minutes ago.

“Cheesy.
Staged.”
-Peter H.   14 minutes ago

“Get a grip. He’s so cute.
And muscular.”
-Lucy2345    22 minutes ago

“You’re all just jealous.”
-
Meme987    45 minutes ago

“He’s a babe. She’s a klutz”
-Crystal   1 hour ago

“Why am I watching these stupid staged videos must get a
life.
Nobody is that stupid to walk into a pool.
Gah
.”
-
Julie A.   2 hours ago

She’s a slut and a boyfriend stealer.
Straight up.
It
ain’t
her guy.
–
Sandy D.   3 hours ago

“Hmm. Interesting, don’t you think?” Mrs. Stone continued to taunt. She was clearly peeved. Sophie knew this would be the end of the road for her. She just knew it. At this point what could she do? She was angry.
With herself.
With Stone.
With Sandy.
With Carlos.
Just peeved.

Sophie sighed when she saw the video had already received 2,354 views. Oh. My.
God.
Thousands have seen this footage already. And of course they could be identified. The huge name tags. Ugh. Carlos. Sophie.
Annual Barbecue in Toronto.

She drew in a deep breath. “Mrs. Stone, it’s not quite what you think it is.”

“Oh?” She raised her brow.

“No….I…Look…I…”

“Listen
dear,
I really don’t want to hear much more from you right now. Do you have the report?”

“Yes, it’s right here.”

She took the folder from Sophie and quickly glanced through it.

“Very well, you’ll be paid for the work you’ve done so far.”

“What?”

“Oh, my dear, you’ve breached how many of the company’s policies? You really don’t expect to be employed here after today.”

“But…”

“Oh, and Sandy was furious by the way. She threatened to sue the company but I managed to tell her that I will see what can be done and that there must be a mistake. After all, it was supposed to be a marriage of convenience though if the lawyers for her father’s estate see this video, they may as well thought that she wasn’t serious about this future husband of hers kissing strange girls at pool parties for children of all places.”

“You can’t just fire me like that.”

“Oh, but I can and I just did.
Please leave your company tools and take all your belongings with you on your way out. Oh, and don’t expect a
reference ,dear
. I told you not to mess this one up. Apparently you just couldn’t help yourself with the client. I noticed how you drooled over his photo the first day I presented you with his file but not even I could have imagined you’d go this far…”

“Wait a
minute,
I will not have you telling me how far I’ve gone or what I’ve done. You know squat."

Mrs. Stone gasped.

“That’s right. I’m tired of you putting me down and making assumptions about me. He came onto me, not the other way around. And if you played the scene over you’ll see that he kissed me first…why am I even telling you about this?” Sophie got up from her seat shaken inside but trying to hold her cool. She drew in a deep breath. “Sorry it didn’t work out for you, Mrs. Stone. Good bye.”

She walked out of the office barely looking at the receptionist on her way out. Her throat burned, her head pounded and her stomach squeezed. Tears moistened her eyes. She’d never been fired before.
And with such indignity.
She’d always been careful. Damn Carlos!

As she walked out on the sidewalk she held her head up wiped her eyes with the tissue from her coat pocket and proceeded to the park. She could think clearer beside a body of water. All she wanted was her Starbucks coffee, a seat and the replaced smartphone that she got at a Rogers store yesterday at the mall. Thank goodness that store was opened on a Sunday.

What on earth would she do now? She was finished.

12

Tessa Bradley sat in the lawyer’s office puffing away at her cigarette despite the No Smoking sign. She was unaware that her leg was shaking a mile a minute. She was eager to get this show on the road.

“Mr. Jackson will see you now, Mrs. Bradley,” the receptionist called out.

“Ms.
That’s
Ms. Bradley. I’m divorced remember?”

“Oh, sorry, Ms. Bradley.”
The young woman looked apologetic.

Tessa got up from her seat eyeing the woman as if she’d done it for spite. Everything bothered her today.
Everything.
For instance that old goat she married left her with peanuts when they divorced. Okay, so she had a little fling with that sexy young gardener. What was he expecting? She was young and he couldn’t give her that in their marriage. She was
  nobody’s
trophy wife. You would think that he would have invested in Viagra. Then of course, his son, Carlos, her supposed step-son never did like her. She was sure it was revenge why he was not letting go of custody of
Bria
. So what if he took care of her while she came clean off her habit.
Bria
was still her kid. And that money that sneaky old man left
Bria
before he died—well there was no way Tessa was not going to get her cut. She would do whatever it took to get her piece of the fortune. Even taking
Bria
back and hiring someone to take care of her. She knew she wouldn’t know what to do with a kid with autism but at least with the new money she’d hire someone else.

“I see you wanted to see me urgently.” The lawyer showed her to her seat in his office.

“Yes, I want you to see something.”

“What is it?”

“Just log on to YouTube.
I’ll show you. I still think the video is still up there.”

The lawyer and Tessa looked on while Tessa continued to puff away at her cigarette. She eyed
  him
with a smirk hoping for some good news. Something she could use against Carlos to prove he’s a womanizing unstable guardian for
Bria
if the mediation didn’t work out and it had to go to court.

“Well,” the lawyer said, shaking his head as he pulled off his glasses to rub the bridge of his nose. “I’m afraid this doesn’t really show much except he’s helping a woman.”

“Yes, but kissing her at a kid’s party? And someone wrote that she’s with someone else’s man. So he’s two-timing some girl.
One of his many women probably.”

The lawyer sighed, he’d only agreed to take her on as a client when she was married to Carlos Bradley II and her ex-boyfriend had a video that he was trying to blackmail her with. He was getting much too old for this now. It was time to retire. Bradley Senior was an odd character who preferred to marry instead of date but he still cared deeply for his women except for the money part, he just was born a miser in his blood. But he still felt sorry that Tessa had a rough upbringing and wanted her to be okay. She after all, gave
  him
his second child, the old man would rationalize. Though he cut her off from her money when he learned she had a drug habit and an
  infidelity
problem.

“We’ll see what we can do about this video. I’m not promising anything but…we’ll see.”

She smiled a wicked grin and drew another puff of her cigarette despite being politely told that it was a no smoking zone, she carried her own ashtray with her. That was satisfying enough. She would stop at nothing to get part of that inheritance.

13

“You got what?” Trina gaped at her friend, Sophie, across the table at Starbucks.