“What are you doing here this time of day?” Wren asked when I knocked on her door late in the morning the day after Piers fired me.

“I brought your dress back.” I held up the dress I’d worn out to dinner with Tenor and tried not to think about how it felt when he took it off or what we did after. It didn’t work, my hands shook.

“Did he like it? Shouldn’t you be at work?” she asked. “And what’s wrong? Did something happen in Atlanta? You don’t look so good.” She didn’t take the dress back to her room, but hanged it in her home office. I took a seat on the couch next to her desk.

“Which question do you want me to answer first?” I asked, surprising myself with how weak my voice was.

She bit her bottom lip and shook her head, which confirmed what I’d thought this morning when I got out of bed after getting less than an hour of sleep: I looked like hell warmed over. It didn’t appear as if she was going to reply, so I took a deep breath and answered, “I thought he liked it. Yes, normally I would be at work, but Tenor’s legal guy fired me for him.”

“What?” Wren croaked.

I had planned to answer the rest of her questions, but that had been the first time I’d voiced what happened the day before and it hurt so much more than I’d thought it would to say the words. The tears started silently, but once they did start, they wouldn’t stop and within minutes, I found myself sobbing uncontrollably.

Wren, being the friend that she was, didn’t say anything, but sat beside me and let me cry. I’m not sure how long I sat there on her couch and cried, but when I finally stopped, her eyes were wet and red as well.

She squeezed my hand and I hadn’t even realized she’d been holding it. “Tell me everything,” she said. “Don’t leave anything out.”

I ended up telling her everything. From arriving in the lobby and the horrible date with Benjamin, to the great meetings the next day and the wonderful date with Tenor that followed. I didn’t tell her all the details surrounding what happened once we returned to the hotel, but enough that she knew the trip had not been platonic.

When I finished, I felt twenty pounds lighter. It felt so good to unload and lean on another person. Plus, Wren was also an investigative journalist. While I knew that as my best friend, she wouldn’t be able to be completely objective, she might be able to shed some light on potentially important details I’d overlooked or offer some insight I hadn’t considered before.

But she didn’t say anything right away and as the silence continued I began to worry. I worried that she thought less of me or that she judged me. I almost got up and apologized for coming by and interrupting her own work time, but then she spoke.

“I don’t see how it was possible for Tenor to get in touch with his attorney, bring him up to speed on everything that went on in Atlanta, and have him go wait in your office so he could fire you.” She thought a little bit more and then asked, “Did he talk on the phone at any time yesterday morning or did you see him get wifi on the plane?”

“No to either of those,” I said, wondering why I didn’t take notice of the short time Tenor would have to set in motion what happened at the office yesterday. “But assuming that’s what happened, why would Piers fire me? And how and why would he do so without Tenor’s consent?"

It sounded good, but no matter how badly I wanted it to be true, I couldn’t work it out in my mind to make it so. Other than the one overwhelming truth - nothing about what had happened matched Tenor’s character.

“Ask yourself this,” Wren said. “Does the way Piers portrayed Tenor yesterday jive with any part of his personality?”

“No,” I answered, pleased she’d been thinking the same. I had to admit Tenor wasn’t afraid of doing hard or even unpopular things. And he wasn’t the sort to let others do his dirty work. In fact, in the short time I’d known him, I’d never seen or heard of him backing away from a challenge. The more I thought of it, the less and less anything that happened yesterday matched any piece of the man I knew him to be. “But why would Piers fire me so suddenly like that and how does Benjamin fit in?”

“I don’t get those parts either,” she admitted. “It doesn’t make any sense why he would do something like that out of the blue.”

“He wouldn’t do it out of the blue,” I said. “And the fact that he did, especially if he did it without Tenor’s knowledge, makes me think he believes he knows something Tenor doesn’t.”

“What could that possibly be?"

“I have no idea.” I tapped the toe of my shoe on the floor. “I can only hope that when Tenor finds out, he calls me.”

Surely he would. Wouldn’t he talk to me regardless of whether or not Piers initiated it? If he hadn’t gone by the office yesterday, like Sara said, he might not have found out until this morning when he got in. Which meant maybe he would call me today. Or maybe he would go a step further and come by my apartment.

“Mia?” Wren asked.

“I should hear from him today, don’t you think?” I stood to my feet, perhaps I’d go to him.

“If you really want my opinion, I’ll give it to you,” she said, and when I didn’t object, she continued, “If I were you, I’d have called him last night to ask what the hell was going on.”

I could see her doing exactly that. In fact, had the tables been reversed, it’s the same advice I’d have given her. I had thought about calling him last night. The only thing that kept me from doing it was the fact that he’d been behind the whole thing. But now that I’d talked it through with Wren, that seemed less and less likely.

“You’re right,” I told her, walking to the door. “I’m going to go make myself look decent and then I’m going to go see him.”

She walked with me to my car. When we reached it, she gave me a hug. “Go get him and call me when you find out what happened.”

I’m sure I broke a good number of traffic laws as I drove back to my apartment. In my head I ran through several potential conversations we could have. Would he be despondent? Angry with Piers? Would he ask me to come back to work for him and if so, how would I answer?

One of my conditions to Piers the day before was that I didn’t want Mama’s debt erased. It wasn’t right for Piers to do that to Tenor and I didn’t agree with it. I’d made that perfectly clear to Piers, but whether that information was relayed to Tenor, I wasn’t sure. Come hell or high water, and if I had to live on rice and beans for five years, so be it, but one day I would pay back every cent we owed Tenor, with interest.

Hell, if I had to put it in my will, I’d do it.

I immediately noticed the much too expensive for this neighborhood car in my apartment’s parking area, but I didn’t look to see who was in it because I feared it wasn’t Tenor and equally feared it was. What would I say to him if it was him? Even if it wasn’t, I still needed to figure it out since I would be talking with him at some point during the day.

I pulled into a free spot, glad that whoever it was had parked far enough away for me to make it inside without them catching up to me. A car door closed behind me as I unlocked the front door. I didn’t look over my shoulder to see who it was. If it was someone for me, I’d find out soon enough. If it wasn’t, it didn’t matter.

The door wasn’t closed any longer than ten seconds before someone knocked though. I didn’t have time to make it upstairs to my apartment. I repeated to myself I could do this. That I was strong enough to look him in the eye and have the necessary conversation. But then he called my name and knees threatened to give out.

“Mia!” he shouted almost desperately.

I didn’t answer because I was trying to deal with the fact that Tenor was right outside the front door. I opened my mouth, but nothing came out.

“Mia!”

“Coming,” I said, but it came out in a whisper and I was positive he didn’t hear.

“I know you’re there,” he said, obviously thinking I was refusing to see him as opposed to working up the nerve to face him. “I just saw you enter.”

I had been called many things in my life and I was sure I’d be called a lot more before it was all said and done, but I’d never been called a coward and I wasn’t going to start then. It’d take more than Tenor Butler to make a stand in the foyer of my apartment building and pretend not to hear someone beating the door down and yelling my name so loud that Ms. Hopper, a first floor resident, who was deaf, could hear him.

I flung the door open and stared at wide blue eyes of Tenor Butler. “Mia,” he said.

“Yes,” I replied, finding no trace of the woman who’d cried her eyes out earlier. “And I’m not sure why you’re surprised about that. I mean, I’m assuming you knew it was me, since you appear to have driven yourself here and you were calling my name a few seconds ago.”

“I’m sorry,” he said and there was no deceit in his eyes.

“About which part?”

“May I come in?” he asked instead of answering my question.

“Only if you agree to answer any questions I have and tell me the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.”

“So help me, God,” he finished with a smile, but obviously my expression showed I wasn’t anywhere near close enough to joke. “Sorry.”

He ran a hand through his hair and I moved a step over and opened the door a bit so he could walk in. We didn’t talk as I led him up the stairs to my apartment and eventually to my living area, where we sat down on a couch. He sat as far away as he could and still be on the couch himself.

All the questions I had for him ran through my mind and I summed them all up in one. “What the hell, Tenor?”

He shifted in his seat, but the look in his eyes radiated anger and not guilt. “I didn’t know until I went into the office this morning and you never showed up. I asked Sara. She told me about Piers.”

I didn’t feel as much relief as I thought I would hearing him say that. It confirmed I’d drawn the right conclusion, but I still had so many questions. “Why would Piers even think about doing something like that without your permission?”

A muscle in his jaw ticked. “Benjamin Douglas sent him an email claiming the two of you had masterminded a plan to set me up for a sexual harassment lawsuit.”

“What the hell?” I said, because there was no way he’d just said what I thought he had.

But Tenor was nodding. “He went so far as to confess that what I walked into was nothing more than a consensual, non-consent scene.”

Hot rage raced throughout my body and my throat tightened, making it difficult to speak. “I’ll find him and rip his dick off.” It seemed as good as a place to start as any. “I can’t believe I told you not to go after him and break his nose.”

He let his breath out in a sigh. “I thought that same thing.”

“And Piers just blindly trusted him? How is that possible?” I asked, my voice rising.

He shook his head. “Apparently, his email was quite convincing.”

I wasn’t sure what surprised me more, that Benjamin would send an email like that or that someone would actually believe it. “But not so convincing that you would believe it?”

“No,” he said. “Which is probably why he sent it to Piers and not to me.”

“Holy shit,” I said, because the more I thought about, the more pissed I became. My cheeks felt hot and I knew they were red.

“I fired him as soon as I found out what he did,” Tenor said.

“You fired Piers?” I wrinkled my eyebrows. “But you two have been friends since preschool.”

“A true friend would have never done what he did.”

While I agreed with him in principle, I didn’t like being the issue that divided two friends. Tenor would always see me as the girl he lost his best friend over. I feared that if we continued down our present path, Tenor would wind up resenting me. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but one day he would and as bad as the last twenty-four hours had been, they would pale in comparison to the day he looked at me with guilt and regret.

I didn’t say anything at first because I knew he’d argue with me. If I knew him like I thought I did, he would be totally convincing and I’d end up agreeing with him. Before Tenor decided to get on a white horse and feel compelled to rescue me, I needed to set a few things straight.

“Piers went about it all wrong,” I said, digging to find the strength to say the words that needed to be said. “But I don’t think it’s a good idea for us to work together. More to the point, I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to work for you."

He didn’t argue with me and that came as a shock. Apparently he didn’t think we should work together either. He looked down to the floor. I had to admit, that hurt, even though it didn’t make sense since I felt the same. He sighed. “I know, and I happen to agree. I should never have let things go as far as they did in Atlanta.”

I snorted, because really, how much further could we have gone?

“I’ve never acted so inappropriately with an employee before and it was disrespectful of me to do so with you.”

He said it so matter of factly, it kind of pissed me off. “It wasn’t only you there, you know. I was an active participant and I never told you to stop.”

“I do know, yes, and as your employer, I shouldn’t have had to rely on you to stop it. It should have never gotten to the point where there was anything to stop.”

I didn’t like the guilt in his voice. Part of me wanted to ask him if we were still seeing each other, but then I wasn’t sure how to define “seeing”. I was fairly certain “seeing” someone didn’t always equate to getting naked.

“I don’t know where we go from here,” I confessed, but not able to look at him.

“I was thinking if you were a partner—”

“Stop, Tenor.” I held my hand up. “Stop it right there. How in the world can I possibly be a partner when I owe you a quarter of a million dollars?”

“Piers said he forgave the loan yesterday,” Tenor said.

“I'm sure to you that response makes all the sense in the world, but are you kidding me?” Surely he saw what I was talking about.

“What?” he asked, wrinkling his forehead.

“I need you to explain to me how this situation with Piers is going to work because sitting here I get confused.” As soon as the words left my mouth, I knew he didn’t get it. Not at all. And as much as I’d been hoping to talk without mentioning Piers, it appeared Fate had different plans. I took a deep breath. “Unfortunately for you, I don’t think you can pick and choose what you like about the things Piers did yesterday. You can’t ignore the fact that he fired me while at the same time agree that what he did with the loan is acceptable.”

“Why not?”

“You just can’t.”

“And this entire time, I thought being able to do whatever I wanted to was one of the perks of being the owner and boss of the business,” he spoke calmly, but I sensed the anger under the surface.

“Didn’t Piers tell you that I was adamant about paying the loan back?” I felt my own anger rise.

“No, but to be fair, I really didn’t give him much of a chance to say anything before I fired him.”

I nodded as if I understood exactly what he was saying, but in reality, my heart was breaking because he’d just confirmed what I feared. From my point of view, the words fair and Piers should never be used in the same sentence. The man had fired me without cause and without the knowledge of Tenor. He didn’t have the right to be treated fairly.

The fact that Tenor acted like it was no big deal he hadn’t been told about me repaying the loan was all I needed to know. He may have fired Piers this morning, but I’d bet anything he’d be rehired within a week.

I didn’t say any of this out loud, but I must have made some sort of negative facial expression, because Tenor didn’t look quite as calm or at ease as he had moments prior. “You won’t come back and work with me as a partner,” he said, his voice flat. “And I’m hoping I’m wrong, but I have a feeling you won’t go out with me anymore either.”

I shook my head. Suddenly, I ached all over. I had nothing else to give him. “I can’t, Tenor. Maybe if we had met a different way or something…” I let the sentence go unfinished and though neither of us said anything, the air between us felt heavy with the weight of impossible “what ifs”.

“Well,” he said, finally, and stood up. “If you ever change your mind. About either.”

I won’t, I wanted to say, but didn’t. “I know how to get in touch.”

He gave me a weak smile. “I’ll always answer the phone when you call.”

I don’t know why hearing him say that made me feel like crying, but it did. “Thanks,” I managed to get out, blinking back tears.

“I’ll show myself to the door.” He took a step toward me and for a second I thought he would kiss me, but then the second was gone and he’d moved away. He looked back once and then he walked out of the room. I waited until the door closed before allowing my tears to fall.