“It’s fine. I’ll bring Paige. She loves poking fun at all the society airheads who attend these things.”
“Patrick can drive you both there and back.”
“It’s fine, Seán. I’ll work out the details with Paige. Go deal with the situation.”
“I’ll be back as soon as I can, though it’ll probably be tomorrow.”
“I can handle one night by myself.”
“Behave tonight.” His lips descend, and he kisses me thoroughly, uncaring we have an audience. There is not much that fazes my fiancé. “I’ll message you later,” he says after we break apart. “Oh, and check your email. I believe Noémie has some good news for you.” He smirks, and I know that look.
I narrow my eyes at his retreating form. “No interference means no interference, Seán!” I call after him.
He pins me with a smug smile. “We’ll talk later. Bye, darling.”
I’m still cussing him out as I sit behind my desk and open my inbox. Sure enough, there’s an email from my boss waiting for me. As I click into it and begin reading, all the blood drains from my face.
Is this some kind of cosmic joke? Because someone up there is surely fucking with me.
56
ASTRID
“Thank God for the free-flowing champagne,” Paige says as we mingle in the ballroom of the lavish hotel, watching the wealthy patrons saunter by dripping in jewels, designer gowns, and fake smiles. “It’s the only way to survive these events.” Paige has come to a few charity balls with Seán and me, usually as Liam’s platonic date. As lawyers, they always find things to talk about, and there’s a lot of mutual respect.
“I’m with you. It’s hard to stomach these people sometimes, but I remind myself all the money is supporting people in need, even if most everyone in this room is here for notoriety, not the charitable cause.”
If Seán were here, we’d be deluged with people eager to claim his attention and favor. By myself, I’m nobody despite the massive diamond on my finger. Most of these people look down their noses at people like me, and I really don’t give a fuck. It took a long time for me to rebuild my self-worth. These self-obsessed social climbers don’t get to tear it down again.
I’m here tonight on Seán’s behalf. One of his Irish uncles has Parkinson’s, so it’s a charity dear to his heart. I’ll stay for dinner to show my face, make the donation, and then I’m leaving thesevacuous people with their obnoxious wealth and flawed morals behind.
“Let’s grab our table, and then you can tell me what’s eating at you.”
“I’m that obvious?” I say as we head toward the circular tables at the top of the room.
“I’m your best friend, Astrid. We’ve held one another up plenty of times over the years. I know when something is bothering you.”
After we get comfortable, I turn to face my best friend. “Noémie has just assigned me the biggest project of my career. With this kind of experience under my belt, I’ll be able to set up my own interior design consultancy next year.”
It’s been my dream ever since I graduated college. But I wanted to work for a reputable firm to gain experience and references before going it alone. On several occasions, Seán has offered to help me establish my own business, but I want to do it by myself, hence why I’m currently so mad at him for engineering this situation. It’s important to me to achieve my goals through my own talent and hard work. I don’t want my fiancé pulling strings for me, and I have told him he needs to let me do this my way.
“Sounds perfect.” Paige sips her champagne as she watches me. “Where’s the catch?”
“It’s in Ryemont.”
Her eyes pop wide.
“At the hotel and resort I used to work at, which The Devlin Hotel Group took over a year ago. They’ve expanded it, and now they want me to project manage the remodeling on the ground, using the designs I’ve spent the past nine months working on.”
My core responsibility when I was transferred to this account was to create a unique and cohesive new look to be applied to each hotel within The Devlin Hotel Group, so no matter whereyou are in the world, the look is signature and aligned solely with the brand. I’ve worked with my colleagues from Essential Space and the various in-house teams to confirm deals with manufacturers and suppliers, and a schedule for remodeling has been drawn up to start rolling out within the month.
“I thought you were starting with the Connecticut hotel.”
“That was the plan, but according to my boss, my fiancé has specifically requested me for this project, for reasons I think I know, but I can’t be sure because I haven’t managed to speak to him since he left for Vegas.” I knock back my bubbly. “I suspect he’s waiting until I cool down because the messages I left told him exactly how I feel about this stunt.”
“I get why you’re mad. He shouldn’t have done that, but you can’t tell me you’re surprised. You know the man you’re marrying.”
“He doesn’t get to do this. It’s embarrassing. I specifically warned him not to meddle in my career. Going behind my back to my boss most certainly classifies as interference. At the Essential Space Christmas party, I picked up vibes from some of my colleagues. I know what they’re already thinking, and now Seán is proving them right. Melissa won’t be pleased. She was supposed to be handling Vermont, and now she’s managing the much smaller Connecticut hotel.”
