Page 75 of Tempting the Player
Chad crossed his arms. “I figured as much.”
“Do you know why? Probably not, because she doesn’t talk about it.”
“Are you going to tell me?” He leaned against the counter.
She sighed. “I’m only telling you this because I love that girl to death, and she had a really crappy day yesterday.”
“Wait. What do you mean?”
Maddie looked dumbfounded. “She didn’t tell you? Of course not.” She shook her head as Chad’s patience stretched. “You know how we’ve been working on the Gala and it’s been our life for almost the last year.”
Chad knew Bridget’s job hung on the line.
“We’re still a lot of money short, which has the director insane about the Gala. He pulled her into a meeting yesterday,” she said. “She’s not allowed to attend the fund-raiser.”
“What?” He straightened his arms. “Why the fuck not?”
Maddie looked uncomfortable. “It’s because of you.”
“Excuse me?”
She cringed. “See, the director is concerned about you two kind of taking over the event, it becoming more about you being there than raising money, and there’s going to be a lot of conservative people there who won’t want their pictures taken—”
“Bridget came by yesterday and asked that I not go, but she didn’t say anything about this.” Anger had his hands clenching. “I’m not going. It should be an easy fix.”
“Yeah, that’s what Bridge said, but he knows the press still could be there. He’s not going to let her go.”
Why hadn’t Bridget told him this? “That’s absolute bullshit. She deserves to go.”
“I know. I totally agree, but what the director says goes. There’s nothing I can do.” Maddie turned her head to the side a bit. “I should’ve figured she wouldn’t tell you. Probably didn’t want you to feel bad.”
Fuck. He felt like an ass. Bridget hadn’t given him a reason for asking him not to attend, but if he’d known it had been because of him…
“Anyway,” Maddie said. “This time of year isn’t good for her. So the whole Gala thing is definitely adding to it.”
Chad thrust his fingers through his hair. “Why doesn’t she like Christmas?”
There was a pause. “Her parents were killed on Christmas Eve when she was in college.”
“Holy shit…”
“I didn’t know how it was before then, but ever since I’ve known her, she doesn’t celebrate Christmas. Bad memories, I guess, but I’ve been trying to give her new ones, you know?” She looked crestfallen. “I was hoping since she was dating you, the holidays could actually be something nice for her.”
Chad stared at Maddie. Bridget had told him her parents had passed during one of their dates, but he hadn’t known how or the timing. Good God, no wonder Christmas sucked for her and on top of that, her director pulling her out of the Gala?
He was pissed and he was also…he was also upset.
Turning to the pot on the stove, he tried to imagine what it was like for Bridget right now and he could easily. Before he had the Daniels family, Christmas wasn’t celebrated. There were no goofy sweaters, gifts, laughter ringing through the house, or shrimp boiling on the stove. Christmas at the Gambles had been cold and as sterile as everything else. Except his mother was usually more doped up and his father would almost always be away on a “business trip,” but this was different.
Different on so many levels.
None of this should really affect him, but it did. He was upset for Bridget, and he didn’t want her sitting at home alone. He also didn’t want her not to be able to see a year’s worth of work not come to fruition
Chad wanted to fix this. Strange—really fucking strange, because typically whatever problems he faced, he either ignored them or blew right through them. Or someone else took care of them. He never really fixed them.
But he was going to fix the fuck out of this.
One thing he could do now. The other, which involved a phone call to his accountant and then to the rat bastard of a director, would have to wait.
“Chad?” came Maddie’s quiet voice.
He turned around, his mind made up. “I have to go. Can you pass my regrets to your family?”
