If I Were Your Woman Read Free Page A

want the whole thing to go away!” She slapped her palm down on the table. “Damn it.” She covered her face with her hands.
    Ann Marie got up and came around to the other side of the table. She knelt down next to Stephanie. “It’s going to be okay. The office space can wait.” She waved her hand in dismissal. “You can’t let ’er get to you.”
    â€œI know, I know.” She lifted her head toward the ceiling. “I’m just being silly. Probably PMS.”
    Ann Marie pushed herself up to a standing position. “Yeah, that’s probably it.” She squeezed her shoulder.
    There was a light knock on the door.
    â€œOh, that’s probably Terri,” Stephanie said, sniffing hard, then shaking her head. She drew in a breath and stood up. She went to the door and opened it. “Hi, Terri. Right on time.”
    â€œTraffic as usual was murder. I was sure I was going to get here for the dinner rush.” She stepped in. “Ann Marie, good to see you again.”
    â€œI’m always happy to see a woman who can come up with brilliant ideas to bring handsome men right to my doorstep.”
    The women laughed. The Pause Man campaign had been such an overwhelming success they’d had to extend the deadline. The concept was that the Pause Man would actually represent the spa. He would have to be not only good to look at, but physically fit, nutrition oriented, and willing to be a spokesman, so he had to have personality as well. Terri had been able to get the backing of major sponsors as part of the prize package.
    â€œI aim to please,” Terri said.
    â€œI have an appointment to show a house in an hour. I better get moving,” Ann Marie said, slipping into her broker mode. “Take care, Terri.” She looked at Stephanie. “Don’t forget what I said.”
    â€œI won’t.”
    Ann Marie walked out.
    Terri turned to Stephanie. “Everything okay? I feel like I walked in on something.”
    â€œNo, everything is fine. Just going over some spa stuff.”
    Terri took off her coat and sat down. “So…let’s get the campaign stuff out of the way and talk business.”
    Stephanie brightened. “Yes, let’s.”
    Â 
    â€œWhen are we going to see you again, Tony?” Leslie stood in the frame of her front door.
    â€œI’ll try to get back out here next month, sis.”
    â€œNext month! Tony…you gotta do better than this. Your daughter needs you. I’m tired of lying to her about where you are, why you can’t stay when you do decide to drop by. She’s just a little girl, Tony. It’s bad enough that she lost her mother. She may as well have lost you, too!”
    â€œI’m doing the best I can,” he shot back.
    Leslie looked at her brother with a mixture of love and fury.
    â€œYour best isn’t good enough,” she said, her voice heavy with disappointment. She shut the door before he could respond.
    Slowly Tony turned from the door and walked down the three steps to the paved walkway that led to the street. It was a two-to-three-hour drive back to the city from Connecticut. He generally used that time to decompress after spending the few stolen hours with his daughter, Joy. But it was getting harder, harder now that he was involved with Stephanie.
    Before he met her it had been easy to move through his days, never having to explain the times he disappeared. Now he’d found himself lying. He didn’t like it. But what choice did he have? With Stephanie being the kind of woman she was and the sacrifices she’d made for her sister, Samantha, she would never understand. Never understand how a father could abandon his daughter because he couldn’t look at her without seeing that her very existence was the result of her mother’s death and it was all his fault.

Chapter 2
    â€œS o bring me up to speed on the campaign,” Stephanie began.
    Terri