As Long As I Have You

~ Chapter Twenty Five ~

When Kirsten walked into Travis Enterprises four days later it was amidst widely curious eyes and a stir of hushed whispers. She tried like hell to ignore the too-polite smiles and obligatory 'good mornings' as she walked towards her father's office, but the intensity of their stares called to mind the most hated of her nightmares, and ultimately she felt herself hasten her steps until she completed her retreat behind closed doors.

Marlena was ever the resolute woman and offered her a professional greeting on her arrival and immediately shut the door behind her. Kirsten couldn't help but slump against the door, and closed her eyes before falling back into the breathing exercises her therapist taught her so long ago.

The hardest part of the day was over. Her appearance was complete and she survived the gauntlet of curious stares, and now all she had to do was stay hidden in her office for the next eight hours before she had the weekend all to herself.

It had been such a strange week since she and Evan married, and while it seemed like so much had changed, her life was also relatively the same. Beaumont Industries' lawyers were reviewing her minimal revisions on the sale contract, and all she had to do was wait to give her approvals and then fill in hers and her mother's signatures on behalf of Travis Enterprises.

Danny still wasn't talking to her, but since she didn't usually see or hear from him on a daily basis his lack of communication was fairly easy to ignore. A little bit of time and distance was always good when they fought so hard, and this argument felt like it needed an extra measure of both time and space.

Perhaps most routine — and definitely most welcome — was that she spent the week working on her latest painting and connecting with Parker to determine which canvases would be showcased as part of her first exhibition. There was much more to the process than she initially anticipated, and she and Parker battled on several occasions over which 'fabulous pieces' should be included to ensure her success. There were also several heated discussions over which ones didn't fit with the exhibition's theme, or those Kirsten felt were too personal to be showcased. It was a mentally exhausting process and stirred up more than its fair share of memories about Jason and his untimely death, but it was also just the kind of challenge her therapist would have pushed her towards, and she ultimately tried to embrace the good along with the bad.

The biggest change in her life ironically brought about no change at all. Since being escorted out of Beaumont Industries by her new father-in-law on Monday afternoon there hadn't been a single word from her husband. No phone calls. No texts. Not even an email asking her what she thought of the contract, before or after her requested revisions.

If gold stars were handed out for absentee spouses, Evan Beaumont qualified for handfuls of them.

As disappointed as she was though, she tried not to give it too much thought. He was a busy man after all, and this was exactly the kind of arrangement he promised her. Even so, her pride argued, had their encounter and his Sunday evening promise to eventually consummate their marriage meant nothing? Heaven help her, he didn't even seem phased by her revelation that she didn't work for Travis Enterprises, or that she was a full-time artist. Did nothing penetrate the man's facade?

Unfortunately, Travis Enterprises wasn't done with her just yet, and spending the morning pining over the motivations of Evan Beaumont wasn't on her schedule. She wanted nothing more than to fulfill her father's last wish of seeing this deal through, and today that meant playing catch-up on some final emails, inquiring as to the status of the sale contract, and making provisions to wrap things up with Beaumont Industries so Danny could assume his rightful place at the company helm with her no longer underfoot.

She took one more deep breath, exhaled slowly, and headed towards her father's desk and the stack of folders neatly prioritized for her. A sharp knock broke her focus a few minutes later though, and Marlena entered the room carrying a strong smelling cup of coffee and a thick stack of papers.