C27 Chapter 27

“Oh God! I’m so sorry!”

Peyton clenched her jaw against the desire to spew profanities as the hot coffee soaked through her shirt. She looked at the guy standing in front of her and tried to smile through clenched teeth. He was tall and cute in a Clark Kent kind of way, complete with the dark-rimmed glasses. He also looked mortified to have spilled his coffee all over her. She pinched the wet fabric between her thumb and finger and held it away from her skin so as not to further scald herself.

“It’s okay,” she muttered as she stepped out of the way of the growing line of people waiting to pick up their coffees.

“Here, let me help.”

The guy stood there with a wad of napkins not knowing quite what to do with them. Peyton could see the indecision cross his face as he looked at the wet splotch on her chest. To save him and herself from further embarrassment, she reached out and plucked the napkins from his hand and blotted the wet fabric with them, not that it did anything to help the coffee-colored stain on her beautiful white shirt. Dammit! She liked this shirt too.

“Geez, I’m such a klutz,” the guy said, still hovering around her. “Can I buy you another coffee?”

“I haven’t got mine yet,” she said. “It was yours that you spilled.”

The guy looked down at his cup in confusion. He really was cute in a clumsy puppy sort of way.

“Then let me buy you a new blouse.”

Peyton laughed. “Don’t be ridiculous. It’s fine. I’m sure my dry cleaner can get out the stain.”

“Then let me pay for the dry cleaning,” he persisted.

“I appreciate the sentiment,” Peyton said, now annoyed that he was still in her face. “But it’s fine. No harm done.”

“I just feel so bad,” he said, moving from foot to foot like he wanted to do something but he just wasn’t sure what.

“Seriously,” Peyton assured him, “it’s no big deal. If I were you, though, I’d get back in line to order another coffee before the line gets too much bigger.”

He looked over his shoulder and grimaced. “You’re right,” he said. “I’m sorry again,” he said before moving away and joining the end of the line.

Peyton sighed. She had thought that today was going to be a good day. The paparazzi had left her front lawn - some celebrity had gotten themselves in a pickle over something that Peyton neither knew nor cared about - and for the first time in she didn’t know how long, she no longer felt like someone was following her. There hadn’t been anyone pointing and sniggering at her as she entered the coffee shop and no one had approached her and tried to ask her out on a date. It was looking like her day was going to run smoothly and then Clark Kent had dumped his coffee on her.

“Large vanilla latte with an extra shot for Peyton.”

Peyton moved towards the counter picked up her coffee gratefully and then moved over to an empty table. She took a fortifying sip of the black gold and then pulled out her phone to text Chloe. She was going to have to go home and change, which would make her late for work. She didn’t just dress up for kids’ parties and visits to the hospital, she was also Chloe’s PA at her father’s tech company. She sent the text and then just sat and enjoyed sipping her latte as the activity in the coffee shop buzzed around her.

It felt like a lifetime since she had just sat and daydreamed. In fact, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d done it. Certainly not while she was engaged to Dale. There had been so many things she’d had to do. Planning the perfect wedding had almost been a full-time job. Before he had asked her to marry him, she had spent her downtime trying to do everything humanly possible to get him to propose. Before that, it had been scheming how to get him to ask her out. Her life had revolved around the guy for over three years and all for what? She had shaped and molded and squeezed herself into what she thought would be the perfect wife for Dale and it was all for nothing. He’d up and married a showgirl, almost the exact opposite of what Peyton had tried to be. She didn’t even know how his mother was reacting to the news. Peyton had to stifle a giggle at the thought of Mrs. Genevieve Hawthorn finding out that her precious only son had married Starr Sparkles. In a Vegas wedding. With Elvis officiating, no less. The woman must be having an apoplexy at the news. Genevieve hadn’t even bothered to call and give her apologies. In fact, none of Dale’s friends had called her at all. Peyton sighed. What did she expect, really? She hadn’t exactly been welcomed into the family with open arms and Dale’s friends had always looked down their noses at her, no matter how hard she tried to fit in. It was just another example of her failing at trying to be the perfect girlfriend/wife/partner. It seemed that she was destined to fail at everything she put her hand to…her past experiences were proof.

“Peyton?”

Peyton looked up into Clark Kent’s eyes and froze. How the hell did he know her name? God. She’d had a moment where she hadn’t had to worry that her reputation had gone before her and now here it was back in her face again. Of course, Clark Kent knew who she was, he had just been too polite to say anything before.

Peyton started gathering her stuff. “Look, I need to go—”

“Whoa, hold up,” he said, his brow scrunched. “I just came over to apologize again and maybe ask if I can make it up to you by taking you out for a drink.”

“Thanks, but no. I know about the whole bet thing going on and really I’m not interested.”

“What bet?”

Peyton rolled her eyes. “You know my name so you obviously saw the interview on television—“

“I know your name because it is written on your cup.”

Peyton stopped and looked down at her coffee cup where the barista had written her name on the side. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, counting to five before lifting them to Clark Kent once again.

“Sorry,” she said with a small smile. “Things have been a little crazy in my life lately. I appreciate the offer, but I really need to go.”

He reached out but stopped before touching her. “If you won’t go out for a drink with me then at least let me buy you a coffee. Here. Same time tomorrow morning and I promise not to spill anything on you.” He smiled and two dimples winked at her from his cheeks. She tried not to roll her eyes.

“Okay, fine,” she said, forcing herself to smile in return. “Coffee. Tomorrow morning.”

She brushed past him and walked out the door, not looking back.

“So,” Chloe said as Peyton sat down opposite her.

“So,” Peyton replied. It wasn’t like Chloe to beat around the bush. Peyton’s stomach clenched in anticipation of the bad news she was sure was coming.

“You know I love you, right?”

Peyton groaned. “Are you firing me?” Peyton asked.

“Not firing you, exactly,” Chloe replied. “Just asking you to take a leave of absence.”

“I don’t understand.”

Chloe took a deep breath and cupped her baby bump protectively as she continued. “I’ve had some complaints.”

“What?”

“A couple of parents have complained to the hospital staff.”

“About me?”

Chloe nodded. “Not about what you do, just about…”

“The whole Dale debacle,” Peyton said with a resigned sigh.

Chloe nodded again.

“So you want me to resign as your PA too?”

“Oh, god no,” Chloe said. “I want you to keep working here with me, just not doing the parties or going to the hospital anymore, at least for a little while.”

Peyton dropped her gaze to her lap and watched her fingers twist around one another. She was surprised it hadn’t come sooner. It didn’t hurt any less, though.

“Okay,” Peyton said.

“It’s just temporary,” Chloe said, “until it all blows over.”

Peyton nodded, tears pricking the backs of her eyes. She complained about doing the parties and the hospital, but really she loved it. It was the first time she’d found a job that left her feeling fulfilled at the end of the day instead of drained. She liked working for Chloe as her PA at Sabre Management Systems, but she loved the work she did for Lost in Wonderland.

“I’m sorry,” Peyton said, looking up at Chloe. “I didn’t mean for all this to happen.”

Chloe smiled at her. “I know you didn’t,” she said, “and if the situations were reversed I don’t know that I wouldn’t have gone a little crazy myself. And it’s just temporary.”

“Have you found someone to fill in?” Peyton asked.

“Not yet,” she replied.

“I could ask Mia for you.”

Chloe smiled. “Could you? That would be great. See if she is interested and then set up a meeting between us. The three of us. I want you to help with choosing someone to fill in for you. You know the work as well as I do and I would value your input.”

Peyton smiled for the first time since the meeting began. “I can do that,” she said.

“Great. Now get back to work,” Chloe said, trying to be stern.

Peyton left Chloe’s office and sat down at her desk. She was so angry at herself and at Dale for the mess her life had become. If he hadn’t wanted to marry her, then why did he ask? Why had he waited until a month before the wedding to call it off? And why did he have to do it in such a cowardly way? None of this would have happened if he had just sat her down and explained that he didn’t really love her and that he didn’t want to marry her. Sure, she would’ve been hurt, but the whole humiliation thing wouldn’t have happened and she wouldn’t have been temporarily stood down from her job.