Shirley Hailstock - All He Needs

The waiter arrived with their drinks, preventing her from replying.

“Are you open to that?” Carter asked when it was just the three of them.

“Open to what?” she hedged.

“Returning to Hampshire Publications.”

Renee wondered if that was the real reason he was at this dinner. Had he come with Blair to ask her to return? And why? The two of them would not be picking up things where they had left off three years earlier. And after the way they’d parted, how could he expect that she would be open to working for him again?

“I’m satisfied where I am for the moment,” she said. It was good practice to leave the door open to possibilities, so she did. But she had no intention of ever walking through that door, or even of ever seeing him again.

Their dinner arrived and Renee remembered little of the conversation after that. She was concentrating on the mechanics of eating. Cutting the steak, lifting it to her mouth, chewing and swallowing. Carter’s presence unnerved her. Blair should have prepared her for his appearance. The conversation turned to their lives together, the life before. Carter spoke of the long nights in the office closing the magazine, the minor crises they’d averted just in time, the cold pizza they’d consumed when issues took three times as long to finish as expected.

Renee’s mind tried to wander to other places—memories of putting the magazine to bed right before she and Carter went to bed—but she blocked those as much as she could. She smiled, laughed at the appropriate places and made a comment now and then to let them know she was listening.

By the time the waiter took dessert orders, Renee noticed she’d only pushed the food around on her plate. She refused dessert but accepted the coffee.

“Renee, how do you find working as a bridal consultant?” Blair turned the subject to the present.

Taking a sip of her coffee, she took a moment to answer. “The brides are a delight,” she said honestly. “Their wedding day is the most important thing in their lives, and it was a joy making it happen.”

“You didn’t find the whole thing a little stressful?” Carter asked.

“No more than the stress of getting a monthly magazine out. For a wedding, I have an entire year to get all the details in place.”

What was he trying to do? Renee wondered. Why was he deliberately baiting her? She wasn’t the one who ran out on their relationship.

“What about yourself?” Blair commented. “Did working with all those real-life brides make you want to be one?”

Thankfully, Renee was not holding her cup. It was the last question she expected. She felt more than saw Carter turn to listen to her answer. Color flooded her face and burned up her neck to her ears.

“No,” she said. It was a lie and she hoped neither Blair nor Carter could tell. “There are too many details that need attention for me to think of anything except the bride’s plan. I never even thought of what I might want. Usually I’m just suggesting something to the bride or her mother.”

“You must be the exception to the rule,” Blair stated.

“What rule?”

“The one that says every woman plans her wedding the moment she enters puberty. I remember choosing my wedding gown while I was still in high school.” She smiled as if the happy memory was only a day past. Blair had been married for seventeen years. Renee knew that Blair wanted that euphoric wedding feeling to last forever. That’s why she’d gone to Hampshire Publications and had been there so long. When Renee had applied for the job in the bridal department, right out of college, it was Blair who’d given her the opportunity to prove herself. And it was Blair’s enthusiasm that had rubbed off on Renee.

“One of the partners, Theresa Granville, designs gowns,” Renee said.

“I’ve heard of her,” Blair said. “She’s making quite a name for herself.”

Renee nodded. “She’s had a couple of designs that stopped me in my tracks.”

“So, you’re interested in getting married.” Carter stated it as if it was fact.

“A lot of people are.” She skirted the question. “If they weren’t, we’d all be out of a job.”

He nodded, using that up-and-down movement of his head that was so slight that she wouldn’t have seen it if she wasn’t already familiar with it. It was Carter’s way of conceding the point.

The waiter returned with a pot of coffee. She refused a refill. It was time to put some distance between herself and Carter Hampshire.

“I’m afraid I’d going to have to eat and run,” she began. “I have a wedding in the morning so I have to be up early checking the final details,” Renee lied. Her wedding was actually in the evening, but she wanted some time to go over every detail. It was her last consulting job and she wanted it to turn out perfect.

Renee stood. Carter stood, too.

“Blair, thank you for dinner. We’ll have to do this again sometime.” She gave Blair a look that said, alone.

“Thank Carter. He’s paying.”

Renee looked at Carter, but said nothing.

“I’ll see you to your hotel,” Carter said.

“That won’t be necessary. It’s not far and Blair needs the escort much more than I do.”

Blair stood up. “I have an escort,” she said. At that moment, Campbell Massey came through the door as if on cue. Blair went into his arms and they kissed. Then he turned to Renee.

“Renee, it’s great to see you.” He swept her into his arms for a bear hug. He kissed her on the cheek and set her back with a happy smile. Renee liked Camp. She’d liked him from the moment they’d met almost ten years ago. “You are just as beautiful as ever.”

“And you are just as much a flatterer as you’ve ever been.”

“No flattery,” he said. “Isn’t she beautiful, Carter?”

Both Blair and Camp looked to Carter for an answer. Renee turned from Camp, her body suddenly going cold.

“She’s quite ravishing,” he stated, his voice low.

To her ears it sounded hungry, sexually hungry. Her knees threatened to turn to water.

“Well, we’d better be off,” Blair said, taking Camp’s arm. “Carter, you will see Renee back to her hotel?”

He nodded. The couple headed for the door, Carter and Renee trailed them. Out on the street, Renee turned to him. “I know you have a long way to go. You don’t have to go with me. I’m not that far from here.”

Carter looked over her head. “The Westley?” he said. It was an independent hotel. Renee liked patronizing small businesses. However, she hadn’t realized she was so transparent to Carter.

Especially after three years.

But the truth was, he was wrong. She wasn’t at the Westley, but there was no need to correct him.

Carter put his hand on her lower back to guide her toward the hotel. She stepped aside, forcing him to drop it. She walked quickly toward the hotel. It was merely three blocks from the restaurant. They covered the distance in silence. Outside the entrance Renee turned to Carter.

“Thank you. It was nice seeing you again.” The words were false, but Renee wanted to get away from him as quickly as she could. She turned. Carter caught her arm and pulled her around.

“I want to talk to you.”

“I have an early call. I really need to go,” she said.

“I remember when we spent long nights together and still made deadline.”

Her head whipped up and she stared at him. “We were different people then,” Renee said. She was in love then. He was not.

Carter pushed open the door to the hotel. He was right behind Renee. She had to move or feel his body form-fitted to hers. Avoiding the bar, she went to a collection of chairs near the back wall.

“What is it you want to talk about?” Renee asked.