Thirty

Patrick

Working was a lesson in self-control.

Trying to stay in my own lane and get my shit done while I worked only steps from Bailey’s office seemed impossible. I kept telling myself that I only had to make it through the end of the week, and then I wouldn’t have to deal with this again until the New Year.

In the meantime, I’d watch the clock tick and wait for the end of the day. Even though I wasn’t really doing shit at home. It felt empty without Morgan in it. So much had changed in my life, and going back to who I had been before her wasn’t an option.

I pushed away from my desk and stared at the ceiling. I was so fucking frustrated. I’d put everything on the line, and she’d walked. I hadn’t been lying when I said I’d keep fighting for her. I would. I was just terrified that she wasn’t going to change her mind. That, if she got fired, it would be the end of us for good. I couldn’t imagine her coming back from that.

“Am I interrupting something important?” Bailey said from the door.

I immediately straightened. “No. Deep in thought. Can I help you?”

“I was seeing how you were doing.”

“I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?” I kept a straight face. Of course, there were a million reasons I was not fine right now, but I wasn’t going to show that to her. I certainly wasn’t going to talk about Morgan.

“Just curious. I wasn’t sure if you knew what was going on at Wright right now.”

“Why are you talking to me about this, Bailey?”

She leaned her hip against the doorframe. “I want to know what they’re up to.”

“And why would I know that?”

“Because you’re dating the CEO.”

“If I didn’t make it explicitly clear last time, I have no interest in discussing my personal life at work. So, even if I knew what Morgan was up to, I wouldn’t tell you.”

“So, she’s up to something,” Bailey said, fishing.

“If she is, then you should be worried.”

Bailey scoffed. “Why’s that?”

“Because, when Morgan sets her mind to something, she always wins. Always.”

“Yeah. I’m sure. Just tell her to stop trying to go over my head.”

“I’m not going to tell her anything.”

“Well then, I’m going to go over her head again,” she said under her breath.

“What does that even mean?”

“Nothing. This whole thing is a nightmare.”

“You know that there’s no one over Morgan’s head at Wright Construction?”

“Yeah,” she said, waving it off. “Just frustrated.”

Did she want me to sympathize with her? Because I didn’t. She had purposely gone behind Morgan’s back and given the contract to someone else. And, now, she was saying that she was going to go over Morgan’s head. Seriously, what did that even mean? Jensen? Or the board of directors? I didn’t even know.

What I did know was that Bailey was clearly outmatched. Even if I wasn’t head over heels for Morgan, I was confident that she could take down someone like Bailey blindfolded with her hands behind her back. I hoped she could do it by Friday.

“Why did you do it, Bailey?” I asked before she left.

“Do what?”

“Why did you give the contract to Escoe Industrial? You and I both know it’s not because of my offhand comment.”

She shrugged. “It was a smart move.”

“Really? You’re this frustrated, and it was the smart move?”

“The Wrights have a monopoly on the university. There’s no reason that someone else shouldn’t get a share of the pie, and if that means we get the work done a little cheaper, then that seems fair to me.”

“You get what you pay for.”

“Well, you would say that.”

“You’re the one who asked for my opinion.”

“It was enlightening.”

I watched her retreating back with disdain. It wasn’t that her argument was illogical. It just wasn’t the right decision to make. Not just because of the Wrights, but because their company was better. She should want to be working with cutting-edge technology and innovative design. She should want everything that Wright had to offer.

And, still…my head was stuck on her one statement.

Go over Morgan’s head…again.

Did that mean she’d done that once before?

My gut told me that I shouldn’t ignore this. I texted Jensen to see if he was free, left work, and then drove out to his new architecture firm. His assistant let me go back to his office.

“Hey, Patrick,” Jensen said, standing from his desk and shaking my hand.

“Hey, man.”

“What’s up? Your text sounded urgent.”

“I’m not exactly sure. I’m worried about Morgan.”

Jensen frowned. “Yeah. We all are. I heard what happened at the ribbon-cutting.”

“Uh, yeah. That sucked. It wasn’t much better when I tried to talk to her this week. Didn’t help that you told her to take a year off from dating, and now, she thinks she should listen to you.”

“That’s not what I said—or at least—it’s not what I meant.”

“Well, this is Morgan. She took it literally.”

Jensen sighed. “Yeah. I was playing the big-brother bit a little seriously, I guess. I want her to be happy. If she’s happy with you, then great.”

“Right now, she’s not happy with anyone.”

“Not even herself it seems.”

“Especially not herself,” I clarified.

“Sounds right. I’m doing what I can to help her with this contract. I wish that I could do more.”

“That’s kind of why I’m here. You know that my boss is Bailey.”

“Right. I heard that.”

“Well, she said something kind of strange to me today at the office. She was pissed, I guess, that Morgan was going over her head to try to get this worked out.”

“I think it’s perfectly reasonable that she’s doing that,” Jensen said. “If she needs to get it done right, then she needs to talk to someone else.”

“I’m not arguing that point. I know Morgan will do what she has to do. She always does. The weird thing is that Bailey said that she’d go over Morgan’s head again.”

Jensen paused. “There’s no one over Morgan’s head.”

“That’s what I said. So, do we think that means that she met with someone else at Wright? I thought maybe that was you?”

“No. I haven’t met with her. I’m only on the board anyway. I’m not over the CEO.”

“Right. So, unless she’s spoken to the board, I don’t know who else she would be referring to, but it seemed suspicious.”

“I’ll look into it. Another thing to add to the list.”

“I bet you thought, when you left the company, you wouldn’t be dealing with this kind of stuff.”

Jensen laughed and shook his head. “This was why I waited so long to leave. I didn’t want to dump everything at Morgan’s feet. But, at some point, the training wheels had to come off. I knew she was ready, but even I couldn’t have anticipated something like this happening.”

“I don’t think anyone did. She’s had so many problems with the company that she never had when she was CFO.”

“Yeah. It’s a different ball game. I think that, if this had happened to me, it would have been swept under the rug. I’d been successful for so long there. Maybe if I’d waited through the end of the year, we wouldn’t be in this position.”

“Well, this isn’t your fault. And Morgan will work it out.”

Jensen nodded. “I know she will. But I’m the fixer of the family. I’m the one who is supposed to hold everything together. From where I am right now, there’s little I can do for her, and I don’t like the feeling.”

“That makes two of us,” I told him.

“I know she’s giving you shit right now, but I’m glad that she has you. And I respect you for coming to me about this thing with your boss. I know you’re caught between a rock and a hard place.”

“Something like that. I want to fix this shit, so I can get back to my life. So, how are we going to fix it, Jensen?”

He nodded at me in approval. “Okay…this is what we’re going to do.”