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“I’m not okay. I lost my job.” Her voice quivered.
“What! When?”
His immediate concern made her more emotional. She hadn’t been able to talk about the situation with anyone since she was avoiding Bruno, and she hadn’t told Lark that she lost her job. All her emotions remained bottled and overflowed into tears when she told her brother about Chet and what happened at work.
John let her unload, occasionally interjecting noncommittal murmurs and one- or two-word commentary. When she finished, his voice was filled with sympathy. “I’m sorry you had to go through all this. I know how much you loved that job.”
“Yeah, well, now I have to find another one.” Marissa wiped the trail of tears from her cheeks and spooned melted ice cream into her mouth.
“I’m going to send you some money,” John said, sounding resolute.
“Absolutely not. You have a lot going on with two kids in private school and a pregnant wife. And you just bought your first house. You can’t afford to help me. I’ll be fine. I have money saved.”
“That money was to buy a house. Will you be able to do that as planned?” Her brother sounded distraught.
“If I find a job really fast at the same pay, I probably can.”
“That’s a big if.” He blew out a breath. “Damn, I’m sorry this happened.”
“My impulsive behavior and bad decision-making strikes again,” Marissa said with sardonic humor.
“Don’t beat yourself up. You’re human and not the only person to make mistakes. Anyway, this is all Chet’s fault.”
“My mistake made me jobless. If I hadn’t broken the rules, Chet wouldn’t have had anything to tell my boss.”
“Have you confronted him?”
“Yes, and we had a big fight. He denied telling Arnie about Bruno. He’s made me jobless and possibly homeless with his child, and he can’t admit what he did.”
“He’s a real ass. He probably sees this as a way to force you into getting back together with him. I never liked him.”
She didn’t mention to her brother that Arnie would probably sue her soon enough. No point in worrying him more than he already was.
”What type of work will you be looking for?” John asked.
Marissa pushed up from the sofa and headed toward the kitchen. “I’m still processing what happened, so I’m not really sure. I know matchmaking is out because I can’t use Executive Match as a reference. It would be odd to not have a reference from the matchmaking company where I’ve worked for the past eight years, and this industry isn’t that big. Soon enough those companies will know what I did. I have skills that will transfer into other fields, and I’m thinking about something in sales or administrative work.” She dropped the empty ice cream container in the trash and tossed the spoon in the sink.
“What about Bruno?” John asked tentatively. “Have you talked to him? Is he helping you at all?”
“I’m not asking him for help.”
“The man is a billionaire. He could give you a job, or at least put in a good word for you somewhere. You have a kid.”
“We’re not his responsibility, John.”
He sighed. “Are you his woman or not?”
“I’m used to handling things on my own. You know that, and if I hadn’t gotten involved with Bruno in the first place, none of this would have happened.”
“Sis, we’ve dealt with plenty of disappointments over the years, and you having to deal with Chet—well, don’t get me started on him. But from what you’ve told me, Bruno seems decent and cares about you. He’ll probably want to help, and if he does, you should let him.”
“We were having fun, John. I never told you this, but when he first came to us to find a wife, Bruno was adamant he didn’t want a woman with kids, and I’ve known that all along, so I never expected much from him.”
She was lying to herself. She had hoped his mind had changed, especially since he had a good relationship with Theo.
“Damn. I didn’t know that.”
“I made the decision to get involved with him even though I knew the consequences—that I could get fired. I didn’t expect him and I to go much further.”
