Chapter 148

After one brief text, I didn’t see or hear from Amy until the following morning when I arrived in front of the school.

She sat on the bench near the tree. Her facial expression told me nothing as she stared at her phone screen.

I hurried over and sat next to her. Relief flooded me when she flashed me a quick smile before returning her attention to a sitcom on her phone screen.

“Whatcha doing?” I asked.

“Catching up on my show,” Amy replied. The pain I saw yesterday in her soft brown eyes was gone. “There are only three episodes left this season.”

What happened with Justin to put her in such a good mood? She wasn’t volunteering any information, so I’d have to ask.

“I’m glad you’re feeling better,” I said. “Did you hear from Justin?”

“We were on the phone for half an hour yesterday.” Amy looked into my eyes and smiled. “He said he loves me, and he will return to the city soon.”

“That’s great news.” I gave her a side hug. But was it really great news, or was Justin putting off the inevitable?

My concern for Amy doubled. This was the dark side of love I had seen in movies and read about in books. The pain from your first broken heart was the worst.

This was not the time for me to slack off at the office, yet I had to be there to help Amy through this difficult time.

The bell rang for us to go inside, and I grabbed her hand. “I’ll see you in math class.”

“Of course you will,” she said, giving me a side glance. “Are you leaving school at lunchtime again?”

I nodded. “I have a lot of work at the office.”

She shrugged, but I felt guilt crushing me again. We needed to spend time together soon. However, her schedule at the restaurant and my work responsibilities would make it hard to arrange.

We didn’t have time to talk much in math class, even though we sat side by side. But I got her to promise to text me before going to bed or if she needed me for anything.

The guilty feeling stuck with me through the rest of the morning. Victor noticed when he picked me up for the office.

“You’re quiet and fidgeting with your hands,” he said. “What’s wrong?”

I told him about the latest between Justin and Amy and my guilt over not being there to help her through it.

“Ain’t love grand?” he said with a sigh.

“Just because you don’t believe in love doesn’t give you the right to make fun of the situation,” I snapped. “Amy’s pain is very real.”

“I wasn’t making fun of her pain,” Victor said. “An obsession with someone can be painful. Amy’s a nice girl. I’m sorry she got hurt.”

“Obsession?” I repeated. “Is that what you call it?” I still saw his attitude as unfeeling.

“Obsession or infatuation,” he replied. “When your feelings aren’t returned, it doesn’t matter what you call it. It hurts, and it’s another reason I avoid emotional entanglements.”

“Have you….” I began to ask.

“No,” Victor interrupted before changing the subject. “You need to do without me for a few hours. I have something to take care of at my office, but I’ll be back in time for the press conference.”

I’d almost forgotten about today’s press conference announcing a new line of affordable healthcare products.

“No problem,” I assured him. “My statement is ready. I plan to review reports and make notes regarding changes I want to make to the advertising.”

“The branding is on track, but I don’t like the taglines,” I added.

“Your natural grasp for advertising amazes me,” Victor said.

His compliment made me smile. Praise from Victor was always genuine.

Victor parked in the garage under the building and rode up the elevator with me before leaving for his own office.

I had the notes finished and emailed to the proper department heads and came up with a new tagline before Victor returned.

We had time for mocha lattes before going downstairs to the press conference room.

I presented my statement to the packed room and offered to take questions afterward.

But the fourth question threw me.

“Miss Wilson, do you have any plans for new programs or events with your charity?”

I hadn’t had the time for a meeting with Debbie recently, and my mind went blank.

“There are … um … several suh …surprises coming soon,” I replied, hoping the reporters didn’t notice my slight stammer.

I was bluffing, and more guilty feelings stabbed at my heart.

Why was there never enough time to do everything expected of me?

Victor noticed. He helped me out of the room via the door behind the two-way mirror, and we rode up to the private elevator to my office.

“You’re feeling guilty again,” Victor said as we sat on my office couch.

“I feel like I’m losing touch with the things that used to matter to me the most.”

“Daisy, you’re not responsible for Amy’s happiness, and you blanked at the press conference. It happens to everybody.”

“Has it happened to you?” I watched him as a huge smile bloomed on his face.

“You betcha,” he said with a laugh. “But I bluff better than you.”

“Do you think the reporters knew I was bluffing?”

“They don’t know you as well as I do,” he replied. “But you don’t have anything to feel guilty about. You’ve been doing a lot of fundraising for the charity lately.”

I blinked back a few guilty tears. “And what about not being there for my best friend?”

“Honey, when Justin was still in the city, Amy didn’t have much time for you,” he pointed out. “You are grown women now and have very separate lives.”

“Amy knows how much you care about her and that she can call if she needs you. Right?”

“Yes,” I replied, vowing to keep my phone close. Part of my guilt was my dancing at the ball last night while Amy cried by herself.

“I have to make a phone call, and then I’ll take you home,” Victor said as he rose from the couch to use my desk phone.

“If you have time, I would like to stop at Gray’s restaurant to check on Amy.”

“Sure,” he agreed. “But I need to be somewhere in two hours.”

“That’s plenty of time,” I said.

While Victor was on the phone, my mind returned to the press conference. Am I losing touch with my goals of helping others?

I was so excited when I first started working with the foundation. Now I couldn’t answer a simple question about it.

Alex‘s words about needing money to make money and needing money to help others flashed through my brain.

His words were true, and I was doing my best to keep the money flowing into our bank account that was needed to pay the company's hundreds of employees and the mansion staff.

Plus, millions had been funneled into the foundation recently, which would do a lot of good in the city.

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. I was confident again that I had been making productive choices, choices that were doing a lot of good in many lives.

Feeling better, I went to my private bathroom to check my hair and makeup before Victor, and I left for Gray’s restaurant.

But when I came out of the bathroom, three young women were in my office. They were too busy admiring my fake fiancé to notice me at first.

“Hello. Can I help you?” I said.

“These young ladies are the daughters of the Alphas who administered your test,” Victor explained.

To his credit, Victor was being polite to them, but he wasn’t drooling over the attractive young women.

“I remember Megan Thomas from the dinner party, but I’m sorry, I don’t recall the rest of your names,” I said. “Parts of the dinner are just a blur.”

The girls giggled.

“We get it,” Megan said. “This is Hallie Edwards and Becky Foster.

“Now I remember,” I said. “What brings you to my office this afternoon?”

“Daddy is speaking to your COO, so we wanted to stop in and see if you were busy,” Megan replied.

My relationship with these girls' fathers was essential to the company.

And I remembered Victor‘s words about my relationship with Amy. Amy could call me if she needed me.

“What did you have in mind?” I asked with a smile.

“We’d love to see more of your mansion and hang out with you for a while,” Hallie replied.

“Daddy wants us to get to know you better,” Megan added. “He thinks he would be a good influence on us.”

“Sure,” I said. I’d like that.”