CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

Trevor

The week had flown by with mountains of tasks coming in, but at least it was now Thursday morning. I imagined if Simon didn’t have to explain every little thing to me, I might have been able to get my work done faster, but even without that obstacle, there was a lot to do. So I was surprised when, as we sat down to go through the last round of audits preparing for Lyle to come on site on Monday, he told me we were going to lunch. I’d thought we were too busy to take a break for a restaurant sit down. Plus, we had my father’s party to attend tomorrow night, which meant additional cuts in our possible work hours.

After a long week of work, I was dreading the party. Instead of a simple invitation to my team to have dinner at my house, it had turned into yet another political fundraiser including the who’s who of Houston. There would be dozens of strangers, and I’d have to paste on a smile while pretending not to notice when my father told people I was getting some experience under my belt before returning to his company.

Also, I missed Emma. Of course, I’d seen her daily at the office, but we hadn’t a moment to ourselves. This weekend, I planned to change that, even if I had to book a room at a separate hotel where no one might see us.

Once Simon and I arrived at the restaurant and took our seats at a corner table, I started to wonder if he wanted to give me some constructive feedback in private.

“Having thirty-five potential layoffs is not going to be easy,” he began.

“I imagine it won’t be. But I knew it was part of the job.” I spoke carefully, not wanting him to think I’d be unable to perform what was expected.

“Yes, but I wanted to be sure you knew it wasn’t easy for me, either. Still isn’t. You just get better at hiding it. Especially with Peter being such a prick.”

It did make me feel better to hear Simon felt the same way about him that I did.

“And perhaps Emma is correct about her gut instinct. Maybe there’s something that will shake out preventing this deal. With the forensic audit starting next week, you never know.”

“I suppose you don’t. I hope you have faith in me to do the job.”

“Without this sounding harsh, I don’t waste my time, Trevor. If I didn’t think you were up for the task, you wouldn’t remain here.”

I admired his directness. And it was a relief he felt as much. “Good.”

“And you get along with Emma, which is important. You should continue to feel like you can vent to her if any of this becomes too tough. Even I do.”

My brain honed in on the word ‘continue.’ “Did she say something to you about me not being able to handle the layoffs?” My voice was a lot calmer than I was feeling.

“She was just concerned, and so she brought it up this morning. Although I might have had the Ice Man persona, she realizes that underneath it all, it’s still the most difficult aspect of the job. It’s important you know you’re not alone in that sentiment.”

I was grateful when the waitress came over to take our orders; it gave me time to fight my irritation. Emma and I had had our conversation about the layoffs outside of work at the bar. I’d wanted someone to confide in. The last thing I expected was she’d bring it up to Simon as if she doubted my ability to do the job. Then for Simon to take time out of a busy day to have this conversation with me—It was embarrassing. I forced myself to smile.

“I get it. And I appreciate you taking the time. It won’t be easy, but I have no doubt I’ll get through it.”

Because I had to.

***

When I returned to the office, my intention was to ignore Emma, at least for the time being. I was pissed and felt betrayed. The last thing I wanted to do was to act irrationally or say anything untoward at work. But unfortunately, fate had other plans.

“I have the email from legal on the employment contracts,” Emma said to Simon as we returned from lunch.

“Great. Have Trevor read them, please.”

“If you could email them to me, I’ll print them. Thanks.”

Her expression seemed strange. Almost as if she was trying to gauge my mood. “I already did. Do you want to go over them together?”

“I’ll read them first, and if I have any questions, I’ll let you or Simon know.”

“Right. Okay. Here they are.”

I walked over to her desk and grabbed the stack. I was unprepared to have her whisper.

“Did lunch go okay?”

My gaze locked on hers while I tried to bite back anything snarky. “It went fine.”

“It didn’t help?”

I glanced over to Simon’s open door where I could see he was on the phone. Evidently, Tom had stepped out. “No. Did you think it would help to have my boss take me out to lunch during my first week on a new acquisition because you told him you thought I couldn’t handle laying off people?”

It wasn’t enough my own father doubted my ability to do this job; now she did, too.

Her eyes went round. “I did no such thing. I only shared I thought you’d have a hard time.”

“And how would you like it if you confessed to me outside of work something you were struggling with, and I then went to Simon behind your back and asked if he could perhaps talk to you about it? I confided in you because I thought I could trust you, not because I wanted our boss to hear about it or think for a fraction of a second I couldn’t hack it.”

Dammit. I hadn’t meant to whisper-yell all of that to her. Let alone do so at work. By the expression on her face, she was stunned and looked more hurt than angry.

“I never—I didn’t—You know what? You didn’t exactly mention the party with your family that’s set for tomorrow night, either. When the hell was that going to come up? You can’t accuse me of telling Simon things and then blindside me by withholding information.”

I took a deep breath, realizing she was getting defensive and hating this was going on where Tom or Simon could walk in on both of us getting heated.

“You’re right. I could’ve given you a head’s up, but it’s business. It’s not an intimate, get-to-know-my-non-girlfriend thing. It’s a party with dozens of people. Simon only said yes this morning because earlier he hadn’t known he’d be able to make it. So until then, I hadn’t even known you’d have to come.”

We were both silent. It occurred to me that if we were alone I’d already be ripping off her clothes. The tension was so thick it seemed the only way to let off some of the steam. Instead, I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Can we table this for now?”

Her face started to turn red, and she stood up. “Consider it done. Now, if you’ll excuse me. I need to go do something.”

Fuck. I watched her walk out, knowing she was upset. Recognizing I should’ve waited until I could’ve been calmer to talk about it. I was ticked, but I also knew her intentions were good in trying to get Simon to talk to me. Guess I should have been grateful she hadn’t replied with ‘consider it tabled forever.’