Conklin's Foundation (Conklin's Trilogy) (40 page)

“Fine!  Get your precious
Lexus, or Escalade, or whatever fancy car you’re driving stuck in the snow!”

His voice hardened.  “At least the seats in the
Escalade
are comfortable.  I’m not a shitty driver.  I can make it the entire 18 mile drive,” he spat.

“Okay, well I need to go to bed.
I have to meet Edna at 8:00am for a breakfast meeting,” I said flatly. 

“Yeah I need to get driving.  Talk to you later,” he mumbled.

I mumbled goodbye back then threw my phone on the bed along with my body shedding tears of frustration and hurt.  I missed him so much and hearing Tyler so cranky and short with me only hurt more.

~

Jamie came in and laid down next to me on my bed.  It was nice to have her comfort.  She got the heads up from Nathan that all flights
to and from Chicago were cancelled.

“We got into a stupid argument,” I huffed.

“About…?” she inquired.

“I don’t even know anymore.  He was just really grumpy and short with me, and I don’t like when he talks to me and treats me that way.  So I got snotty back.”

“So you did the same thing to him that you don’t like?  That makes perfect sense,” she said sarcastically.

I blinked at her.  She was right.  Why would I treat Tyler how I didn’t like to be treated? 

“You’re right.  I just miss him, and I was pissed I wouldn’t see him again for the second weekend in a row.  I was really looking forward to seeing him.  As good as this was for my career, I really can’t stand being away from him.” I sighed.  “And he was driving home from the airport in that awful weather and I practically hung up on him.  What if something happened to him?  What if he got stuck in a ditch somewhere?”  I said with concern, realizing how bitchy I must have sounded.

“Okay, you need to call him.  It will be
fine.  You both have had time to cool off, and I’m sure he is feeling like an asshole for talking to you the way he did. And if he doesn’t realize it, TELL HIM.  Otherwise he is never going to know,” she said point blank.

I nodded my head.  “Since when do you know everything about relationships?”

“Becca, I know everything about everything,” she grinned, giving me a hug then headed for the door.

I reached for my phone and dialed Tyler’s number.  It had been nearly two hours.  I
ground my teeth, worried he might be hurt or didn’t make it home okay.  If he were still in the car, I wouldn’t want to distract him.

I bit my lip when it started to ring.  He answered on the second tone.

“Hey,” his raspy voice said quickly.

I didn’t respond right away.

“Becca?” he asked questioningly.  “Are you there?”

“Yeah,” I
replied quietly.  “I just um… I wanted to make sure you got home okay.”

He sighed over the phone.  “It took me over an hour, but I’m home in my bed.  I wish you were here.”

My lip quivered.  Why the hell did I miss him so much?

“I do too,” I croaked.

“Becs, I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean to talk to you like that.  I’m just tired, and I was really looking forward to seeing you this weekend.  This snow sucks,” he apologized.

“I kno
w, and I was short with you too. I’m sorry,” my voice cracked again.

“Don’t cry baby,” he said softly.  “I hate when I make you cry.”

“Promise me I will see you this coming weekend, whether I drive to you or you come here,” I begged.

“I promise.”

Chapter 24

Corey and I ha
d busted our butts the past two-and-a-half weeks on the prints for Edna Enterprise.  Thank God she was a nice lady and not demanding and crazy.  She was very helpful and answered every question we had and was understanding that Conklin blueprints took time which is why they were high quality and official.

“
RJ is in town.  He wants to meet with us this afternoon and go over what we have been working on,” Corey said, moving from his chair to the copy machine in the makeshift office the Conklins’ rented for us to work in.  It was small, but we had enough space for the two of us, and as soon as other aspects of the building would need work, more employees would fit and shuffle in and out.  I was more than happy to be half way done.

“I hope he is happy with what we have come up with,” I said, working on the CAD versions of our prints.

“As long as Edna is happy, his picky ass should be fine,” Corey said.  “But we should prep a bit on what we are going to tell him.”

“I’m on it,” I said, swiveling over to the prints on the drafting table.

~

RJ walked into the office, his famous Conklin grin spread across his face.  For once he didn’t have any assistants with him.  I was surprised; he always had his blond arm candies with him.

“Becca, nice to see you.  Are you enjoying Miami?”
he asked.

I nodded my head yes, even though I hated being away from Tyler for so long. 

“I know Tyler was upset about flights going to and from Chicago being cancelled this weekend.  I was surprised when I asked him to come for me today that he turned it down,” RJ said nonchalantly, standing over the prints.

“He what?” I s
tuttered, trying to sound casual.

“He said he had something important he had to take care of today, and he would wait until Friday,” RJ sa
id while studying the prints.

I gulped.  What was important that Tyler had to do?  “Did he have a meeting with a client?”

RJ shook his head no, making an expression as though he had no idea what Tyler’s excuse was.   “I’m not sure.  He didn’t really say.  What is this, Corey?”  RJ said sternly, pointing to something on the print. 

I swallowed hard, trying to rid the lump in my throat.  RJ didn’t say anything else about Tyler and surprisingly he kept his hands to himself and didn’t flirt
. He was all business.  I didn’t notice much of anything though because I was too curious what was keeping Tyler from coming and seeing me earlier.

~

It was close to 10:00pm which meant it was time for
Tyler’s and my usual Face Time.  I was more anxious than excited.  I didn’t know how to ask him about what RJ had told me, or maybe he would tell me on his own?  I bet he would.  He wasn’t one to keep information from me, at least not anymore.

I had just gotten out of the shower and threw on a tank top and panties.  It was so damn hot here.  The temperature reached well into the
80’s, and I still wasn’t used to the heat.  I was thankful for the air conditioning, but Jamie still liked it a little too warm for my taste.

The anticipat
ed ding of the Face Time call was agonizing as I looked at my reflection in the phone.  Finally the dinging stopped and the phone started to connect, and then I saw Tyler’s lovely face in my phone.  His eyes were tired, and he was still in his work clothes, a loosened tie and messy hair.  He was in a hotel room tonight.  He must have been in Cleveland.  I lost track of where he was every night lately.

“Hi,” I said as normal as possible, fixing my dampened hair as I looked at it in the smaller portion of the screen.

“Hi,” he sighed back, putting his head in his hand.  “So how was your day?”

“Typical.  I saw RJ.  I think he flew back to Chicago today instead of staying.  He didn’t even have his assistants with him.”

Tyler scrunched his eyebrows in.  “That’s odd.  He always has them by his side, or at least he always has Molly, you know the tall blonde, with him.”

“They are all tall and blonde,”
I said mockingly. 

Tyler’s tired expression turned
playfully for a moment.  “He does prefer blondes.  Maybe that’s why he has backed off of you some,” he said a bit harshly.  “Makes me love you as a brunette even more.”

I rolled my eyes.  “Tyler
, he only flirts with me to mess with you.  He knows how easy you are to rile.”

Tyler scowled into the phone, running his thumb along his chin.  “I’m not easy to rile.  Although he did come and brag about how he was going to see you today.”

Okay, he gave the opening.  Now to straight up ask him or skirt around why RJ came to see me and Tyler didn’t.

“I was surprised to see RJ.  I thought maybe you would surprise me,” I said innocently.

Tyler gave a soft smile.  “I wish I could have baby.  But you know how RJ is.”

I waited a moment, hoping he would say more, give me more to go on
than the small comment from RJ about why Tyler didn’t choose to come and check on the Enterprise Yachts account.  When he still didn’t continue, I frowned.

“Did you have a meeting,” I asked, my calmness bordering irritation.

“I had a lot of work I needed to get done around here,” he said.

“Like w
hat?” I asked, staring into the phone, trying to read his expression.

“Just, things.  What I always do.  I’m going to see you Friday, Becs,” he said quickly.  He was dodging my question
purposely, not giving me a straight answer.  His demeanor changed into a slight panic. His normal confident disposition was breaking.

I pursed my lips and tapped my finger on the bedspread.  I hated fighting with him, but
damn it if he would just tell me the truth he would make my tolerance for us being apart a lot easier to handle.

“Becca, I’m tired, and I’m not in the mood to fight tonight,” he said while closing his eyes.  His jaw ticked as he reopened them, a frown set firm on
his face.

“A
ll right.  I will let you sleep.  You look like you haven’t gotten much lately,” I said flatly. 

He cocked his head at me, a frown still formed on his lips.

“Whatever it is that’s got you so pissed off, we can talk about on Friday.  I love you and goodnight, Becca.”

I mumbled I love you back and hung up the video chat. 

What the hell was he hiding?  Was it something with Chino?  His phone call with Nathan that I overheard Christmas weekend was pretty heated.  I hoped to God it wasn’t anything involving Margo, but we buried that on New Year’s.  Angry and frustrated, I plugged in my phone and attempted to force myself to sleep.

~

“Want to grab something to eat, Becca?  The locals have been telling me Melino New York is great,” Corey asked.  We were in our makeshift
office, and it was almost 7:00pm.  I was cranky all day and shocked Corey wanted to spend more time with me, especially since we hadn’t done more than lunch together the past two-and-half weeks.

“Yeah, why not,” I said, faking a smile as I shut down my computer.  I hadn’t talked to Tyler at all, not even a text message.  I was fine with that
because I was madder than I had been with him in a while. 

We walked to the restaurant that was located in the hotel.  It was very much fine dining and fancy with a pricey menu.  Normally I shied away from expensive restaurants, but the fact that the obnoxiously secretive Conklin men would be picking up the tab made it easier tonight.  I might even order an expensive bottle of wine.

Corey and I didn’t really say much at dinner.  We were used to each other’s silence by now, and it was welcoming to eat dinner together.  I loved Jamie, but she had met some Latin hottie the other day and hadn’t stopped talking about how she wanted to have her way with him.  Maybe I was jealous, but I didn’t really feel like hearing her plot to seduce him this weekend when Tyler would probably come up with some excuse to ditch me again.

“I’m surprised Tyler hasn’t made an appearance th
ese past few weeks,” Corey mentioned as he studied the dessert menu.

“Why would you say that?” I asked nonchalantly, pretending to look at the menu in front of me as though I were going to actually order dessert.

“Because I thought you two were together?” he said in a duh tone.

I looked up at him, a little surprised to hear him out right say it.

“He’s been busy,” I murmured, taking a sip of my wine.

I saw a grin escape out of Corey’s mouth.  “You know, I thought Cooper had a crush on you for a while because he was always putting flowers in your cubicle before Christmas.  But then one morning really early I saw Tyler doing the same thing.  I don’t think he knew anyone was in the office.  I didn’t put two and two together until I saw him look at you during the meeting announcing the Enterprise project.”

I just looked at him.  Of course Tyler would be too ashamed to bring flowers down for others to see, the coward that he was.

Stop it
Becca that was in the past.  Give the guy a break.

Fuck me and my conscious. 

“Not that it’s any of my business,” he said quickly, staring back down at his menu.

I shook my head.  “It’s fine.  We are just careful about our relationship with work.  I’m sure you understand.”