Where She Belongs (19 page)

"Take
the lead. You know what terms we want. You do it."

Her
heart pounded in her ears, making her feel as if she was in a tunnel.
She shook her head. "I-i-i-i can't, Gabe. No, that's,... bad
idea, bad, bad. No, no, no."

"It's
a perfect idea. You'll be fine."

She
shook her head. "Gabe."

The
door opened and the two other managers joining the call filed in.
Gabe clapped his hands. "That's settled then. Shanna's going to
lead the call for us."

The
two managers looked at Gabe, then at Shanna, then at each other.
"Okay," said one, slowly.

"She's
done all the work with me the last two weeks on this one. This is
mostly for show anyway."

Gabe
took his paper back from in front of her. "Okay, let's do this,
people." He smiled at her as he dialed the number. She glared at
him.

Chapter 11

The
call lasted twenty-three and a half minutes. To Shanna it seemed like
a lifetime. On a gut feeling, she asked for nearly double their
original price increase.

When
she said the number, Gabe's jaw drooped and he stared at her. He
reached for the conference phone and started to open his mouth. She
pinned him with a stare and shook her head.

"That's
more than we agreed," Randy McCorely from HomeZones said.

She
couldn’t look around the room, couldn’t face Gabe. She
was insane. She ruined everything. Blood thundered through her ears.
She pressed forward anyway.

"It
is, but I think we can all agree we have a superior product. It's
worth the cost."

"I
think you can come down a little from there. Say ten percent."

She
nearly slid out of her chair from relief. She hadn’t fucked
everything up. She had made them more money than she could have
imagined.

"Five,"
Shanna countered. She was pretty sure she needed to throw up.

There
was silence for a moment. "Seven," someone said on the
other end.

Gabe
looked at her with a hard line to his mouth. He nodded. Take it.
Shanna waited a moment more. "Alright, we have a deal. I'll have
Rachel amend the papers and send them to you right away for you to
sign."

Shanna
leaned back.

"You
drive a hard bargain, Miss Whittikar. Exactly like your father. The
company will do well under your authority,” Randy said.

Gabe
smiled at her while shaking his head. Shanna's heart was racing. God,
she'd done it. She'd led the call and gotten them a third more than
they'd originally intended.

Gabe
ended the call with his thanks and closed the lines. The two
managers, who hadn't said much, shook Shanna's hands then left.

"I
can't believe you did that," Gabe said.

"Did
what?"

"Asked
for double what we wanted."

"I
know. I had the thought before I said the number so I went with it."

"It's
above the rest of the market."

"Whittikar
Cabinets are above the rest of the market."

He
shook his head again. But he came around the table and hugged her. "I
would have never guessed you'd have the guts to go that big."

“
I
was confident when I said it. Then I thought I was going to pass out
from fear of ruining everything with my stupid idea.”

“
But
he agreed.”

She
grinned, feeling a surge of pride in her body. She could lead the
company, she could do whatever she wanted. She could stop being just
an assistant to Trenton and stand on her own two feet in Toronto.
Hell, she could go take over the marketing department if she wanted.

"That
was exciting. I feel as if I could conquer the world." She
jumped and clapped her hands.

"It's
a great feeling, isn't it?"

"God,
anyone else you want me to negotiate with?"

He
laughed. "No, I think that will be enough for today. I love you,
Shan and I'm sorry. I guess I'll see you when you come back to grace
us with a visit." He kissed her forehead.

She
grappled with something to say to that. But he disappeared out the
door before she could find something appropriate. She sighed, feeling
the adrenaline in her body start to crash. She took a swig of her
coffee, and spat it back out. Cold. Gross.

"Fuck
all men," she said aloud. She gathered her papers and went to
her office to finish the papers with Rachel, get them sent off ,then
she was going home.

*
* *

Gabe
watched from his office as Shanna walked to her rental car. There was
nothing he wouldn't do for Shanna Whittikar, including let her go off
and make mistakes and live her life.

Even
if it was killing him inside.

He
supposed this was how she'd felt that night he'd refused to take her
to bed.

He
turned back to his computer with a shake of his head. He hoped she'd
take the confidence she'd felt and shown today back to her job in
Toronto and step out of the assistant role and into her own power.

*
* *

Shanna
closed the door. “Rita, did you forget something?” her
dad called from within the house.

“
It’s
me, Dad. Shanna,” she said.

“
Shan.
Good. Come here for a second.”

She
found him in the living room. The nostalgia of the room struck her.
Her parents hadn’t updated the room in fifteen years. She
remembered when it had been done. Her father hated the workers in the
house so much he swore he’d never do another renovation. He’d
kept to his word. It was slightly ironic, given that his product was
made for renovating houses.

“
Can
I change?” She stood beside him, hands on her hips.

“
No.
I want to talk to you before your mom gets back. Sit down.” His
voice was a bit gruff.

She
sat, feeling at attention.

“
I
never said thank you.”

“
Thank
you?”

“
For
giving up your life for two weeks for me.”

“
I’d
give you a lot more to keep you around for many more years.”

Bryce
looked at her for a long moment.

She
sighed. “Please don’t say anything about Gabriel.”

“
And
why not? You used to like him.”

“
He
is my best friend. I love him to death. But there is no way a
relationship between him and me would work.”

“
I
promised your mother I’d stop trying to force the issue.”

She
wished she believed that. “Probably wise. Usually girls don’t
want their dads involved in their romantic relationships. Nor do dads
want to be there.”

She
wanted to ask why the sudden push toward Gabe. When she was a teen,
they took the opposite stance, trying to keep her away.

“
Gabe
and Trenton.” Bryce shook his head. “This is not what I
wanted to talk to you about.”

She
waited to hear what he had to say.

He
looked at her for a long time, as if trying to memorize her face. Or
find the right words.

“
Sorry,
you aren’t my little girl anymore. It’s hard for me to
admit, hard for me to let go. Especially as our only child.”

She
reached out and covered his hands with hers. “Dad we don’t
have to talk about this now.” There had been two stillbirths
her parents had suffered one before and one after Shanna’s
birth. Shanna assumed later that there were miscarriages as well, but
her parents rarely talked about their troubles. Rita Whittikar
suffered greatly under the knowledge she had never given her husband
a son.

He
shook his head again. “Just listen.”

She
sat up and nodded.

“
You
can’t imagine how proud your ma and me are of you. You’re
a bright young woman, with all the success waiting for her. You can
have anything and be anyone. Someday, if you wanted you could run the
von Brooke company.”

She
nearly automatically said, “With Trenton.” But her dad
would get that frown. Instead, she smiled and ducked her head a
little. “Thanks, Dad. I wanted to make you proud. I know
staying so far away wasn’t exactly what you had in mind. I
wanted to see the world a bit, be someone other than Bryce’s
daughter, if you know what I mean.” She was the poor girl from
Alberta trying to marry into the von Brooke family.

He
took her hands in his. “I only want you to be happy.” And
he didn’t think Trenton would make her happy.

“
I
know, Dad. I’ll find my way. Can I ask you something?”

“
The
property and the money?”

She
nodded. “Yep. Why did you hide it from me?”

“
How,
exactly, should I have brought it up with you? By the way, Shanna,
your mother and I are worth millions...”

“
And
the land and the house?”

“
Maybe
your mom and I will live there. If you don’t want it, I’m
giving it to Gabe. He can sell it or burn it down or whatever. I’ve
felt restless the last few months. The company runs fine without me.
I am feeling old. I wanted something to feel excited about again.”

She
nodded. “Alright. I’m sorry. I’m confused. I need
to go home and see if I can make sense out of anything that has
happened in the last five years or so.”

“
Five
years? That’s a lot of time in your life.”

She
stood. “It is. I have a lot to think about.”

“
Alright.
Well, I wanted to make sure you know we were proud of you. And we
love you. Although we aren’t always thrilled, we do support
your choices.”

Shanna
felt tears come to her eyes. She squeezed her father’s hands.

“
I
don’t think I’ve ever told you how proud your mom and I
are of you. How much we love you.”

Shanna
couldn’t say anything. She stared at her dad as tears escaped
her eyes.

“
I’m
sorry for manipulating you into staying for these last two weeks.”

“
I
wouldn’t have traded them for the world, Dad.”

The
front door opened and closed. “Oh, Shanna, I’m so glad
you’re home. I was going to make up a batch of cupcakes,”
her mother called. “You want to help?”

Shanna
pulled her hands from her dad’s. She wiped her face with her
sleeve. “Sure, Mom. That sounds great. Let me sneak upstairs
and change. I haven’t been home long.”

She
went around to the stairs before her mom could see her face.

She’d
never felt more guilty about leaving.

Chapter 12

Shanna
sat behind her desk and answered the phone. "Trenton von
Brooke's office."

She'd
been back for two weeks. Two weeks of working here on someone else's
projects. Answering the phone, running errands and doing work that
seemed a bit meaningless to her. She’d kept contact with Gabe
to a minimum. She pushed her doubts aside and tried to get back to
her normal life to see what it felt like.

Shanna
stretched one arm above her head.

“
I
need to speak with Trenton,” the voice said.

“
He’s
in a meeting right now. Can I take a message?”

“
It’s
Kendall Cooper. I need his help with my resume, like I asked him to
help with when I was working for him. I wasn’t the best
assistant ever, but it gave me some help in seeing how an office
works.”

Shanna
closed her eyes. God, save her from helpless women. “Can you
e-mail me your resume? I’ll print it off for Trenton to look at
when he has a moment. I’m glad you enjoyed your week here.”
You can have it back.

“
Uh,
okay, I guess.”

“
I
promise to tell Trenton to call you about your resume, Kendall. Hell,
when I get out of this office, you can have my job.”