Cause For Scandal (Dynasties: The Elliotts #3)(29)
Author: Anna DePalo

“For how long?” she countered.

He had no answer to that. Marty’s admonition sounded in his head: Don’t get serious with anyone. It wouldn’t be good for his career.

“I don’t want the globe-trotting lifestyle,” Summer continued, “and you’re not ready to settle down.”

What could he say to that? He hadn’t really thought about where their relationship was heading. He’d just been happy to take each day as it came. That was how it had been in every past relationship.

Yet, Summer seemed ready to cut her losses now.

“You need to feed a voracious publicity machine,” she went on. “You need to stay in the public eye with the right type of publicity, and that’s not me. That’s not what I want.”

Again, he couldn’t argue with her. In fact, she was sounding a lot like Marty with her harping on the requirements of his career.

He tried the only tactic that he had left. “Come on, Summer. You’ve come a long way from where you were just three weeks ago. You’re finally breaking out of your shell. Don’t back away now. Seize the opportunity.”

“Maybe the shell is who I am,” she said quietly, “and you should stop kidding yourself or thinking I’m transforming into someone else.”

She turned her back to go to the dresser and get more of her clothes, and Zeke knew that, from her perspective, the conversation was over. They were over.

“Summer.”

“Hmm.”

“Summer.”

Summer swiveled around in her chair at work and noticed her uncle Shane lurking at the opening of her cubicle. She started guiltily. Ever since she’d left L.A. three days ago, she’d had trouble focusing on work. It was now Wednesday, and she was still trying to concentrate.

Shane rested his arm on top of the cubicle’s partition. “Good news.”

She could use some. “Oh?”

Shane grinned. “You’re getting promoted. Next month, you’ll be a reporter here at The Buzz.”

She forced a smile, the news arousing mixed emotions. “Thanks.”

“You came through for The Buzz, kid, with that interview with Zeke Woodlow. You’ve helped us keep up with the competition in this game that Granddad started, and you deserve to be rewarded.”

In Summer’s opinion, Shane had coped with Granddad’s challenge better than most of the rest of the family. But then, Shane seemed to view the competition among EPH magazines as a game—a game that perhaps would be interesting and amusing to win.

Shane cocked his head to the side. “What’s wrong? I thought you’d be elated about the promotion.” He looked at her quizzically. “Isn’t this what you’ve been gunning for?”

She had been. She’d come out and said so last year in her annual employee review. So, what was wrong with her?

For Shane’s benefit, she tried a game smile. “Of course, I’m happy.” No, you’re not. “It’s what I’ve always wanted.” Until now. “I’m just trying to absorb it all. After all, I’ve been aiming for this promotion for a long time.”

Shane nodded, then winked. “Great. We’ll have a celebratory drink on Friday.”

The staff of The Buzz sometimes converged at a nearby bar for TGIF—Thank God It’s Friday—drinks, but this time Summer found it hard to work up any enthusiasm. “Thanks, Shane.”

When her uncle had left, Summer found herself staring at her computer screen. She wished she could confide in Scarlet, but her sister had been distant and remote lately, not to mention rarely home. Summer couldn’t help thinking Scarlet’s behavior was due to her breaking up with John and hooking up with Zeke, though Scarlet had never come out and said as much.

She was still morose when she got home that night. As usual, Scarlet wasn’t home when she got there, though Summer heard her come in after she’d gone to bed.

It had been three days without a word from Zeke. Summer knew she had no reason to expect him to call, but, perversely, she wanted him to.

After tossing and turning in bed without being able to sleep, she gave up in the early hours of the morning and went to sit on the couch in the living room, staring ahead as the city lights outside created a dim glow in the room.

She was so confused. Today, she’d hit another milestone in her five-year plan by getting her coveted promotion.

She should have been happy, ecstatic even, but she wasn’t. She should have been celebrating with John, but she wasn’t.

She remembered Zeke’s words: You can’t live life by a neat plan.

She mulled over what he’d said, and wondered if that’s what she’d been doing. Had she been trying to make life nice and tidy when, by nature, it was messy and full of the unexpected?

She’d realized she was marrying John just because he fit in with her long-standing plans, but maybe he wasn’t the only aspect of her life that she should have been questioning. Maybe trying to move up at The Buzz had become something she did unthinkingly, without examining why she was striving for it anymore.

What was it that Zeke had said? Sometimes plans can get in the way of getting what you really want.

What did Summer Elliott really want? She almost feared opening that door and finding out what lurked inside, but she forced herself to.

What did she want?

Just as Zeke had said, she was a far cry from the Summer of even a month ago. Gone were the twin sets and pearls and kitten heels. Today she’d gone to work dressed in a bottle-green V-neck top, a snug blazer that outlined her br**sts, pants that rode low on her h*ps and black pumps. The look was sophisticated but soft. Thanks to several after-work shopping trips, her style wasn’t Scarlet’s, but neither was she the conservative retro chick that she’d been when dating John.

Will the real Summer Elliott please stand up? she thought wryly.

She closed her eyes and thought about the transformations of the past month. She let her mind loose, freed it to think about her most secret desires.

Release your inner goddess…. Release your inner goddess….

Scarlet’s words came back to her.

She thought about what she really wanted and realized it wasn’t being a reporter, or The Buzz, or even EPH. She’d enjoyed interviewing Zeke, but what made her happy was photography. She loved capturing the world around her with a camera.

She hadn’t let herself seriously pursue photography because…well, because of fear. Fear that she’d never be good enough to be more than an amateur, and fear of family expectation. She’d assumed—more than been told—that she was expected to work at EPH, just like everyone else in the family did.