Coming To Reason (A Long Road to Love) Read Free

to her and not his company. Sh e would have
been devastated if he’d taken it, too.
    Sitting down in her top-of-the-line Lancaster Chair, Carrie
typed out a list of things she needed to do today to prepare for tomorrow. After
powering up, she typed take T’s clothes to cleaners but then erased it.
Since Trent wanted to grow up and do things for himself, she’d leave it for
him. She had a résumé to write.
    But first, she needed to research the matter. She had never
written one before. The day she graduated from college, she’d wandered by
Lancaster Chairs, noticed a handwritten sign on the glass door stating an
opening for an executive assistant, and interviewed for the job.
    Trent hired her sole ly on her promise she’d show up on time and work. This time,
she doubted finding a job would be half so easy.
    In fact, she expected the next few months to be most
worrisome.

Chapter 2
     
    Monday morning , Carrie stood outside Dan Marshal’s resource firm, wearing
her best blue suit. She’d arrived early, knowing Dan kept to a tight schedule. She smiled as his car
pulled to the curb.
    Dan let himself out of the limo, something Trent still
wouldn’t do, and headed to the office door. His brow remained furrowed until
his gaze settled on her, then a smile brightened his handsome face.
    “Carrie! What a pleasant surprise.” Leaning down, he
kissed both her cheeks in greeting. While Dan didn’t possess Trent’s height, he
still towered over her. “Are you by chance wishing to speak to me?”
    “If you have time.”
    He glanced at his watch and the furrows in his brow
returned. “Fifteen minutes, before a meeting I’ve called. If you need more
time, hopeful ly , you can wait an hour for the meeting to be finished.”
    “More than fair since I didn’t make an appointment.”
    His head tilted as he studied her. “Which is unlike you.”
    “True, but I didn’t know I needed a job until yesterday,
when Trent decided the time had come for him to grow up and run his own
company.”
    Dan led her to the elevator with his hand rested on her
back. “ Really ?” His tone turned happy upon discovering her state of unemployment,
but she let it slide.
    “Evidently, he made the decision a while back, but didn’t
bother to share it with me until yesterday.”
    Dan’s smile grew more pronounced, borderline celebratory.
    Once they entered the elevator and the doors closed, she wrinkled
her nose at him. “Well, I’m glad my unemployment makes you happy. I expected a
stern lecture after the last time I asked you to get me an interview.”
    His smile disappeared. “Good point. Is this a real job you
want, or are you trying to get rid of one of Trent’s groupies?”
    She laughed. “Trent doesn’t have groupies. And this is a
real job I want. We’ve decided to become a normal couple with dai ly time off from
each other. Otherwise, Trent will continue to rely on me too much.”
    For some reason, her reply saddened him. She gripped his
hand. “I’m sorry I cost you two commissions.”
    Three months ago, she’d asked Dan to send her on an interview
with a competitor so she could talk up the temporary EA from hell and get him a
job far away from Lancaster Chairs. Her plan worked, but Dan lost the job
placement commission since Econoline wooed and hired Grant direct ly . Then, due to
her recommendation about promoting from within for their systems manager, Trent
canceled their contract with Dan on the systems manager position. So, in total,
her good deeds had cost Dan $40,000.
    His eyes remained a touch sad even as he smiled. “Fixing my
database more than covered my loss.”
    She had restructured his database so reports could pull useful
data and taught his strange but adorable, bright daughter how to do the same.
“How’s Destiny?”
    Dan’s face lost all hint of sadness. Instead, he smiled
with pride. “She’s doing terrific. She’s going to Columbia, studying computer
programming and finance. I believe she wants to be