Page 13 of The One You Want

“Yeah, well, I know it had to suck to be bounced back and forth between your folks.”

“They liked to plan my life without asking me.”

“Your dad’s still doing that,” Gray pointed out.

Marc shook his head and gave Gray a look to stop talking.

“What’s that about?” Rose asked, even though it was none of her business.

Marc obviously didn’t want Maggie to know something about his dad. “Nothing. My father spoiled me to make up for not being around but he also set some high expectations.”

Maggie took his hand. “Marc works for his dad’s company. He’ll inherit it one day. And his dad rides him hard so that he’ll be ready to take the helm and lead the company when he retires.”

Gray leaned in. “He wants you to be happy.”

“Yeah, well, telling me what will make me happy instead of asking me what will do that are two different things.”

Gray sat back and took a sip of his drink. “Are you happy?” Gray briefly looked at Maggie.

Marc raised his joined hand with Maggie’s and kissed the back of hers. “When I marry her, I’ll have everything I want.”

The sweet sentiment made Maggie’s eyes fill with unshed tears. She leaned in and kissed Marc, then turned back to Rose. “Isn’t he the best?”

Rose didn’t know what to say, because she was still suspicious of Marc. But she wanted to support her friend, so she held her drink up. “To the happy couple.”

Gray held his drink up. “To the happy couple.”

They all clinked glasses and drank.

Rose liked getting a glimpse into Gray and Marc’s relationship. She understood Marc a little better after learning he was a child of divorce, that he’d been spoiled yet had expectations placed on him. She found it really interesting that he seemed resentful of his father’s girlfriends. She inferred that there had been many. It surprised her that with an example like that, his father having a string of relationships, Marc had cheated on his girlfriend.

She hoped that Maggie made him want to change and be faithful to her. Rose hoped Marc loved Maggie so much that even the thought of hurting her made him feel bad.

Rose didn’t know enough about his relationship with Andrea to even guess what happened between them. People broke up for all sorts of reasons.

And people changed. Marc had to be a few years older than her and Maggie. Gray a year or two older than Marc. Maybe Marc had turned thirty and really thought about his priorities and what he wanted for his future.

And he’d gone after Maggie like he had to have her now. He proposed only six months into the relationship and insisted on getting married right away. Maggie had gotten him to wait two months so she could plan a ceremony with family and friends. He’d reluctantly agreed, making it clear to Maggie that all he wanted was for her to be his wife.

In their calls, Maggie sounded so happy and lost in the romance of it all.

Rose even got caught up in it. She’d been so happy her friend found someone who loved her like that.

There had to be so much more to Marc that Rose didn’t see through her anger and resentment. All the things that made Maggie fall so hard for him.

People made mistakes. They weren’t the sum of just their faults and blunders.

People changed.

So Rose decided to put all that aside and focus on the intriguing man who kept staring at her. “You said I work for your competition. What do you do?”

Gray set his drink on the table. “I’m the CFO at a tech start-up. Huff Technology.”

Her eyes went wide. “I applied there last year and again a month ago. You’re going public soon, right?”

Gray smiled and nodded. “Yeah. We’re getting close. It’s a lot of work. But we expect the company to go big very soon. It’s been years in the making.”

“I bet you’re ready for the payoff.”