“To support you and help out.” There, that was true.
“Mrs. Carter will be in on the meeting, which I didn’t realize. I’m thinking…that opener when I talked about values and finding your north star? I should adjust it to sound less preachy, right?”
“Nora, you’re overthinking it.” I reached over and squeezed her forearm. With all the glass walls, that didn’t seem too scandalous. She wore her nerves like an accessory, and I could almost feel them myself. “I’ve seen your presentation so many times, Iknowit’s good. Try to have fun with it. You have nothing to lose.”
She took a deep breath and paced the front of the room again. More people entered the hall, each holding a coffee cup and a clipboard as they neared the conference room. My heart pounded in my chest. I wanted to do more to comfort her, to reassure her, but I did nothing.
“Nora,” Angelica said, walking into the room with four others behind her. She smiled, but it was tight and quick. “Are you all set up?”
“Yes, I am.” Nora straightened and put on her game face. The same face she used when I showed her how to cook or how to create a budget. She was dialed in. “Please, everyone have a seat.”
She swallowed and connected her laptop to the large screen, sliding her gaze to me. “Are you staying? Is that allowed?”
I frowned. “Do you want me to go?”
“I didn’t know if this would be weird if you watched this? I assumed…is this part of your job?” she asked, fidgeting with the wires and pink lining her cheeks.
“Oh, right.” My own face heated. “I’ll go then.”
She looked up at me, her brown eyes swirling with anxiety. I gave a half smile and winked. “You’ll be great. Just think of how we can celebrate tonight.”
She nodded, and I tapped my knuckles on the table twice before walking toward the door. More people came in from other departments, which I thought was weird. How big was this damn presentation?
My mom approached the door as I was about to leave, and she clapped as she walked in. “Nora, dear, I just called your parents to tell them how wonderful you’ve been to the foundation. They are thrilled.”
Nora beamed. Seeing her smile eased the growing tension I had that this wouldn’t work out.
“So, Fritz, are you glad your mom’s back?” Frank, a finance guy, asked, sending a rush ofoh shitthrough me. Buzzing formed in my ears. I clenched my fists at my sides, wishing on every piece of karma I had left that Nora didn’t hear that question.
“Yeah,” I said, my face flaming in the lie.
“You Carters are always on the move,” he said, laughing like he’d told a joke.
I wanted to punch him. I could almost feel Nora’s intense stare probing me as I looked toward her. She stood still, parting her lips as she glanced at Frank, to my mom, and then me. She blinked a few times, and I said, “Nora, wait.”
“Anthony,” she said, my birth name sounding like the worst of all cusswords. Her entire face flushed, and she deflated. Her shoulders slumped, and she covered her mouth with one hand, the other wrapping around her waist as her eyes watered.
Fuck.
I was such an asshole. “Hey, I promise it makes sense,” I said, drawing the attention of the people sitting closest to me. This was the worst thing that could happen. The literal worse. My skin felt too tight for my body, and the sinking feeling in my stomach grew by the second.
“Right,” she said, sniffing and looking at the ceiling.
My soul hurt for her. For her to find this out minutes before a presentation she worked her ass off for, this was my own version of hell. I glared at Frank, who had no idea what he’d done, but it didn’t matter. The damage was done. By my lie.
“Fritz, are you staying or going? I’d like to get this started.” Angelia arched a brow.
“He should stay, right? He is a Carter after all,” Frank said, again making me want to throttle him.
“No, it’s okay,” I said, my voice scratchy and hollow. It reflected how I felt—torn up inside and wanting to whisk Nora away to explain everything to her. “I’ll go.”
I rushed out the glass door, turned right, and went into my mom’s office to have a full-fledged mental freak-out. Nora had to think the worst. I would too. I was conned by Samantha, and it fucked me up for over a year. But this was different. It wasn’t a plot to steal money from her. I had money. It was to get out of getting married.
To not have another woman use me for her own selfish reasons.
But was I that selfish, too? God. I pulled on the ends of my hair until they hurt. I knew there was a chance she’d be upset when I told her the truth. The full truth. It had been years, maybe decades, since I had such a physical reaction to something. My jaw tensed every few seconds, a migraine forming. My stomach soured with guilt, and my mind raced with the fact that Nora might not forgive me.
The look of betrayal on her face. The hurt shining in her eyes—eyes that gazed so warmly at me that morning. I pinched the bridge of my nose and stepped out of my mom’s office, watching her from a distance where she wouldn’t see me.
