Candy Store

thing my brother has finally come to his senses.”
    Callie sucked in a breath. “Excuse me?” she said, her voice soft and still, working hard not to betray her growing anger.
    How could it be, she wondered, that Derek and Jed were related by blood? They were polar opposites.
    “I’ve worked on him for years to join me in the accounting firm. Something he’ll finally get some respect for. Do you know how embarrassing it is to be related to the Candy King?” The words ‘Candy King’ sounded like spoilt milk coming out of Jed’s mouth.
    Callie curled her fingers tightly into her fist, fighting the overpowering urge to punch Derek’s jerk of a brother in his fat mouth.
    “No. I don’t,” she said, deciding her only hope was to humor Jed until dinner was over.
    As she nodded in all the right places during Jed’s endless discourse on his importance and value as a high-powered accountant, everything became crystal clear to Callie. Jed was jealous of Derek’s success and happiness. Obviously, Jed was the one that had been putting pressure on Derek to “finally grow up,” since Derek’s parents clearly loved and supported him in his career choice. She knew they were proud of him, just as they somehow managed to be proud of their other brute of a son.
    A huge weight lifted from her shoulders. She knew what she needed to say to Derek. Maybe, just maybe, she would have a fighting chance at succeeding at convincing him to keep Sweet Returns in business.
    Callie planted a smile on her face. Nothing else Jed said to her tonight was going to bring her down. She would keep up the small talk when she had to and focus most of her attention on getting to know Derek’s wonderful parents better.
    Whatever she had to put up with to be with Derek was worth it.

    * * * * *

    Derek sat back and watched Callie charm his family just as she charmed every single person she came in contact with. Even his brother, who could be somewhat standoffish with strangers, was talking animatedly to her.
    “Being the VP at an accounting firm is a big responsibility,” Jed said, his chest puffed up with pride at his accomplishments.
    Derek shook his head as he caught snippets of Jed’s conversation with Callie. Derek didn’t begrudge his brother any of his success, but sometimes Derek thought he rode the fine line between pride and arrogance.
    Thank god Callie didn’t care about stuff like that. She just wanted him to be happy.
    Callie leaned in towards his brother and said, “Your job sounds really exciting.”
    Derek blinked hard a couple of times. What the hell was she saying? Jed’s job sounded important? And exciting?
    His brother said something in response which Derek couldn’t hear, but he couldn’t miss Callie’s impressed response. “That figure was your bonus for last year? Wow. I didn’t know accountants did quite so well. Kind of makes me wish I'd been better at math in school,” she added with a crooked smile.
    Jed's wife finally spoke. “Jed has always provided very well for us.”
    Callie smiled brightly. “Lucky you.”
    Suddenly the room felt too small. Derek grabbed at his tie to loosen it from around his neck. As the awful truth crashed in around him, he could no longer breathe.
    He shot up out of his chair without a word to anyone and made it as far as the parking lot before he bowled over into a hedge of snow covered boxwood and nearly threw up. He could hardly believe what he had heard, even though now that he had seen the evidence for himself, there was no denying it.
    What a fool he'd been. Callie wasn’t the woman he thought she was.
    Instead of the cute, sweet, supportive woman he thought he loved, instead of the woman who looked at a bouquet of flowers as more precious than jewels, underneath it all she was just as interested in power and money as his ex-fiancée had been.
    Derek got in his Ferrari and sped off into the night, leaving behind the woman who had broken his heart in two.

    * * * * *

    Callie nodded absently at Jed’s bragging—he didn’t require any help from her to prod his boasting into the stratosphere—wondering where Derek had rushed off to without a word to anyone. When he had been gone more than five minutes, she excused herself and asked the host to check the men’s restroom.
    Derek was gone.
    She slumped into the coat rack, wondering what had happened. One minute everything was great, the next minute her boyfriend was gone.
    She went back to the table and asked his