Wrecked (17 page)

“Actually—and I hate to ask because it’s so last minute—but there is an event coming up next weekend that our organization will have a major presence at. I know how busy you are but if you were able and willing to attend—”

“No problem.” CeCe cut off the woman’s rambling. She knew what Ms. Parks was trying to ask in her very roundabout way. “Just tell me where and when and I’ll be there.”

“It’s Saturday in Texas so I totally understand if it’s too—”

“No problem at all.” CeCe had the corporate jet so it wasn’t as if she had to worry about booking a commercial flight.

“That would be amazing. Having a woman of your stature in attendance, honestly we never expected to be so lucky.”

CeCe had already pledged the funding, so it wasn’t as if Ms. Parks had to lay it on so thick. “As I said, I’m happy to pledge next year’s charity budget to your organization.”

“And we appreciate it. But it’s so much more than the money. I’m not sure you understand how small and unknown we are. Obscurity is our biggest hurdle. Being overlooked makes fundraising on a wide scale even more difficult in an economy that is already painful for not-for-profits. You, Mrs. Cole, are a household name.”

“Well, bearing the Cole last name does have its benefits.” One reason she hadn’t ditched it.

“With all due respect, you were well respected in your own right long before you married into the Cole family.”

That gave CeCe pause. In the face of the overwhelming Cole dynasty it was easy to forget the life she had before John. CeCe was perfectly genuine when she said, “Thank you, Ms. Parks. I appreciate you saying so.” Clearing the emotion from her throat, CeCe continued, “I’ll transfer you back to my assistant so you can give her the specifics for the event.”

“Wonderful. See you soon.”

“See you soon.” CeCe punched the button to transfer the call and then replaced the receiver.

Making her own choices, slowly but surely changing things to please herself rather than her husband, she could feel that this was the right path to taking her life—and her identity—back.

Before she was Mrs. Cole she was CeCe Carlton and though there was no doubt she was more wealthy and powerful now than she’d been then, it didn’t hurt to remember the past.

Just as Ms. Parks had reminded her, CeCe Carlton had commanded quite a bit of attention in her own right. It was time she remembered that.

Smiling, she went back to work on the massive amount of emails that had accumulated in her inbox.

Lost in cyberspace correspondence, she didn’t know how long she’d been at it when the phone on her desk rang.
 

Happy for the break, she reached for it, assuming it was her assistant. “Yes.”

“CeCe.” The sound of her ex-husband’s voice greeted her. That was a surprise.

“John.” She frowned, wondering what the occasion was that he’d felt the need to call her.

“I just got back from North Carolina.”

“All right.” That still didn’t explain much. There was a branch of Cole Auto Parts in Charlotte but it wasn’t part of her holdings. “And?”

“I just—” John hesitated before he let out a breath. “I wanted to say thank you.”

“For what?”

“For signing that boat title”

“John, it was in the divorce agreement that you got it. Why wouldn’t I sign it?”

“I know, but thanks for handling it right away and getting it back to me so fast. I have a buyer for it and any delay might have cost me the deal.”

She realized what he was getting at. “And I usually drag my feet.”

“Well, yeah, it was what I was expecting.”

She could have been mad at him for bringing up her shortcomings, all of which she was aware of but liked to ignore as often as possible.

Instead, CeCe lifted one shoulder. “I guess I don’t like to be too predictable.”

He laughed. “Anyway, thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” She leaned back and rested her head against the chair, noticing for maybe the first time how confortable it was. “So you’re selling the boat? I thought you loved it.”

“I did. I do, but I’m upgrading. Getting one ten feet bigger.”

Of course, he was. Bigger was always better with John. That was one reason why she was rambling around in such a huge home when one half the size would more than do.

“Ten feet. Wow.” So many snarky comments ran through her head, at least one of which referred to overcompensating for the size of his penis, but she resisted the urge. “Good luck with it.”

Odd. In past she never would have buried the impulse to point out that a longer boat did not in fact make a man’s dick bigger.

“Thanks. So that’s what I wanted to say. I’ll let you go.”

“Yeah, I should get going. I have a bunch of things I need to do. Apparently, I’m going to be at a rodeo in Texas this weekend. I suppose I should buy something more rodeo appropriate to wear finally since it looks like I’ll be attending more.”

“I thought the bull riding circuit was on a break this week.”

“Oh, it is.” She knew that because, for better or worse, she was keeping tabs on the professional bull riding circuit Wade worked. “This is some small event. I’m supporting one of the charities that helps injured cowboys. They asked if I could make an appearance.”

“I’m impressed.”

She laughed. “Are you? Why?”
 

“I’d always been under the impression you wanted nothing to do with the bull riding association sponsorship—other than to annoy me that your part of the company had it and mine didn’t that is.”

An unbidden laugh burst from CeCe at the truth of that. “It did start out that way. Now, I don’t know. I guess I’m interested.”
 

“It got you hooked, huh? Yeah, that’s how it goes sometimes.”

“I guess. So enjoy your boat.”

“Thanks. Enjoy your rodeo.”

“Thanks.” CeCe hung up the call with her ex and for once, didn’t feel like screaming or throwing something.

This was definitely progress and would probably save her from getting an ulcer. Or at least from getting frown lines from scowling.

It was no lie she’d told John. In spite of having a walk-in closet bigger than the size of Wade’s hotel room, she did need to go shopping. She’d sacrificed enough heels to the arena dirt.

Time for a pair of good old cowboy boots like Wade’s pair that had spent so much time on the floor of her bedroom.

Strangely, that memory made her smile and feel sad at the same time.

Standing, CeCe sighed. A couple of nights and Wade had wiggled his way into her life and taken root.

What she was going to do about it was the question.

That was something she could—and likely would—worry about later.

Later, while she was alone in the dark in that big bed in her huge house, trying to, but not sleeping.

Enough wallowing. Right now, it was time to shop.

CHAPTER 19

Wade left his bag in the truck, since there was no locker room to stash it in at the open air arena.

He slammed the door of his truck and made sure in was locked. Pocketing the keys, he turned toward the entrance.

“Wade!” The familiar female voice had him turning and stifling a groan.

His ex-wife, Eve, stood across the parking lot. He recognized both her and the car he had paid for.

He should have known just from her name alone to not succumb to the temptations Eve had offered all those years ago.

Hadn’t Adam paid a high price for the same weakness? Wade should have learned from Adam’s biblical mistake, but he hadn’t.

Instead Wade had ignored the hiss of the metaphorical snake when he’d given in to that night of passion in the bed of his truck nearly fifteen years ago.

The result of that night stood next to Eve now.

Brittany. His daughter.

No matter how bad things got with him and Eve, Wade would never regret having her. Brit loved him in spite of her mother trying to pollute her feelings toward him.

Having a vicious ex-wife and paying years of continuing child support—yeah,
that
he could have lived happily without.

He moved toward them since, apparently, Eve wasn’t going to come to him. She had yet to move from the spot where she stood next to her car.

That was about right. Obstinate, as always. So much so she wouldn’t even take a single frigging step to shorten his path to her.

Resigned, Wade hastened his pace. When he’d almost reached them, his daughter smiled and all his anger toward his ex faded away.

“Brittany.”

“Hey, Dad.” The lift in the corners of her mouth was a little bit crooked, just like his. She was his child, no doubt about it.

“Come here and let me hug you.” He wrapped his arms around the girl and pressed a kiss to the top of her head, noticing she was now so tall he didn’t need to bend to do that.

When had that happened? She’d apparently shot up when he wasn’t looking. She was already as tall as her mother. If she kept growing she could end up as tall as Wade. For a female, that was damn tall.

Brittany, being a teenager, only put up with a short hug from him before she pulled back and rolled her hazel eyes.

“Dad. People are gonna think we’re weird or something.” She flung the end of one long braid, the same color as Wade’s hair, as she looked embarrassed at his show of affection.

“They already think that about me.” Taking pride that his family genes were strong enough to make his daughter look as much like him as she did his ex-wife, he shot Eve a glance. “Hey.”

Not smiling, Eve responded, “Hey.”

Not a whole lot of civility in that greeting, but no hostility either. That was about as good as he could expect, he supposed.

At least she’d done as he’d asked and brought Brittany to the event to see him. That was more than he’d assumed she’d do.

He decided to be the bigger person, if only to make her look like the smaller one. Though he supposed the good behavior on her part should at least be acknowledged. “Thanks for bringing her over.”

Eve lifted one shoulder. “I got somewhere I need to be anyway so I’m leaving her here with you. You can drop her off at my place later.”

So basically she was leaving a girl who’d just turned fourteen alone at the rodeo knowing Wade had to work it and wouldn’t be able to keep an eye on her.

He was standing there in front of her in his jersey, shorts and sneakers, shin guards already on and everything. They’d been married long enough she knew he was there to work, not for fun.

Yeah, that was more like the Eve he knew, purposefully making his life more difficult whenever she had the chance.
 
That was bad enough, but her leaving their daughter unsupervised at a public event was quite another.

This was a small town and a family friendly event, but there were also too many damn strangers who were just passing through for him to feel comfortable not having someone keep an eye on Brittany.

He’d figure something out. A couple of the riders had their wives and kids here today. He knew a few of them well enough he could ask them if Brittany could sit with them during the competition when he’d be in the arena working.

Of course, Eve couldn’t have known that. He had asked if Brittany could come today to see him, so in Eve’s mind it would no doubt be all Wade’s fault.

Ah, the pleasures of divorce
. . .

Annoyed and fighting anger, he ignored Eve and looped an arm around Brittany’s neck. He forced the emotions down and smiled at his daughter. “You have everything you need from the car?”

“Yeah.” She held up the tiny backpack-shaped bag in her hand before looping it over her shoulder.

“Okay. Let’s get you settled before the show starts.” He turned with her toward the performers’ entrance. “You hungry? They have those foot-long corndogs you like.”

“Dad, I’m on a diet.”

He frowned at her. “A diet? You’re fourteen.”

“And I’m getting a fat belly.”

“You are not. You’re growing as fast as a filly. Your body needs fuel to do that and that means food.”