Elizabeth pushed back her frizzy hair as she hovered around Delilah near the computer. They were in Elizabeth's office at Houston Enterprises trying to figure out what to do next. Her friend had pushed her further on contacting her silent partner but she hedged.
No need to go that route yet. She had to prove she could handle the business on her own even as it appeared to fall apart around her. Really Matt should have just decided that marrying her was a small price to pay for keeping his company. Wait, that didn't come out the way that it sounded. She knew that her ex-fiancé really loved her. She was the one for him and him for her.
This pregnancy with his business associate was just a blip in the road. Delilah glanced at her.
"I don't have a plan yet but this issue has outsold all the rest of them," she said, "though the emails and tweets pouring in so far aren't exactly running against Matt and the woman he knocked up."
Elizabeth recoiled even at the thought. It must have been a moment of weakness for Matt…because she'd not been with him…but he'd return to his senses soon enough.
"In fact, it seems a lot of readers are supporting their pairing….we might have to work harder on your image Lizzie…"
"Image, what do you mean?"
Delilah sighed, looking at the frazzled woman in front of her wondering where to start.
"You need a makeover Lizzie, you need to look more like the powerfully confident business CEO who's not needing for a man….yet at the same time you ache for him…the man whose company you seized in a takeover because you loved him that much."
Elizabeth tilted her head.
"I do love him…but your readers…they hate me for that don't they? They're acting like I was the villainess here and I'm the heroine damn it."
She pounded her fist on the table for emphasis.
"Why doesn't LA see me that way? I'm not the hussy, the schemer trying to come in between two star crossed lovers…I am a star crossed lover…I'm Juliet to his Romeo…"
Delilah put her hand up.
"Uh Lizzie…that relationship didn't end very well. Let's see…something more contemporary and less hopeless and futile…"
Elizabeth sighed.
"He swept me off my feet like a prince and he loved only me…She's the one with the wiles who seduced him away from our wedding…"
Delilah snorted.
"Let's not go that far. That ceremony was a disaster of its own making…"
Suddenly the elevator bell sounded meaning someone had arrived in the suite. They both looked up and after the doors had opened they saw Courtney Gaynor wearing a sleek suit and shades approach them. Delilah smiled at her but Courtney only appraised her coolly back.
"I'm here on schedule. What do you want? I have a book signing to return to after our meeting."
Delilah glanced at Elizabeth.
"I need you to help me reinvent her…give her a new life…a new history…turn her into the most heart rendering rags to riches story you can create…"
Courtney frowned.
"I only write murder mysteries. So unless she dies horribly by the end of it, I have no interest. I don't do bios."
Elizabeth bit her lip.
"I don't want to die. I don't plan on it…how will I win him back if I'm dead?"
Courtney brightened.
"It might help in your case. If you do something heroic…then you'll leave that behind and he can worship you the rest of his life, unable to love another…"
Elizabeth considered that scenario but shook her head.
"I want to be alive and have him love me best. There's got to be a way."
Courtney looked doubtful.
"I can work on it but I'm not sure…Matt…he's a volatile man, sexy but ultimately he'll interrogate you and try to put you in jail…like he tried to do to me to get me to turn on my lover…who was totally innocent."
Elizabeth and Delilah looked at each other.
"He's not to be trusted…but if you want him that badly, I could work on coming up with a backstory for you…."
Elizabeth sighed.
"I need to be better than a princess…I need to be a goddess."
Courtney rejected that proposition.
"No, you need to be a damsel in distress…that's what he goes for. He broke into my hotel room when he thought I was in mortal danger. It's his…fetish."
Elizabeth nodded slowly.
"That's how it happened with me…us…it was such great love between us until she…you must help me get him back."
Courtney smiled.
"I'll see what I can do…."
C.J. loved the pickles dipped in honey and some barbecue sauce in a dish. Chris just looked at her doubtfully as she'd turned down her friend's offer to share her snack.
"This pregnancy stuff must be brutal if it makes you eat crazy stuff."
C.J. frowned looking at her pickle.
"It seems almost naked without honey and sauce…it's really delicious."
"I'll take your word for it…and try something saner like some of that coleslaw you got…"
She went to get it and Chris. glanced at Matt. He'd been sitting reading some of the business trades that had done write-ups on their company. Most of them very complimentary, which pleased all of them.
"How long has she been like this?"
Matt smiled.
"You mean with the pickles?"
Chris glanced towards the kitchen.
"I mean these cravings…last week it was apples in tabasco sauce."
Matt bit back a chuckle.
"That was kind of odd. Doctor swears it's normal for pregnant women and that C.J.'s cravings aren't that unusual…compared to others."
Chris digested that and then smiled at him.
"You look like you're enjoying it. You'll be a good father Matt I know it."
He smiled back at her.
"Thanks Chris…truth be told I'm looking forward to it. Been doing a lot of reading and studying on it to be ready.
"You'll be fine. You're good at a lot of things…"
He rubbed the back of his neck.
"But this is the most important thing…compared to everything else. I've always wanted to be a father."
He'd just wished his own father, well both of them had lived long enough to see him have children of his own with the most wonderful of women.
C.J. got the tub of coleslaw for Chris out of the refrigerator and went to find a plate. She'd thought about what she'd read in the newspaper about her interrupting the love story between Matt and Elizabeth…as if that had been reality.
It didn't matter what anyone thought…how greater L.A. read the relationship between her and Matt…because those that mattered to them knew the long road they'd taken together.
Her phone rang and she looked at the ID.
Dang, it was Murray…he needed to drop over some more merger papers for her to proof. Matt had told everyone at the office that C.J. would be off limits getting rest but she knew she could review and sign off on a few legal papers.
Then she looked at her messages and saw the one she'd gotten from Courtney….
