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Echo lifted his head and just as quickly dropped it back to his bed.
Lara strode in from the hall. “Talking to yourself is a bad sign, you know.” She continued to the fridge and pulled out a Diet Coke. “Want one?”
“Sure.”
She brought one for each of us and sat at the table with me.
I popped the top on mine and took a swig.
“Is this guy for real?” she asked, lifting her can toward the flowers in front of me. “He needs poetry lessons. That shit is bad.”
“Uh-huh. Bad.” It was, but in a cute way. Why did I find it endearing?
She pushed against the table and leaned her chair back. “So you gonna?”
“Stop that. You’re going to break the chair.” The chairs were old, and leaning them back on two legs loosened them.
She brought the front legs back to the floor with a thud. “Geez, get a grip. They should have been replaced years ago.” She didn’t appreciate the history of the things in this house. “Well? Are you going to?”
“What?”
“Dinner.”
I sucked in a long breath. “I have to. I owe him…” I didn’t want to list the reasons I owed Josh. It was embarrassing.
“When are you gonna learn? You don’t owe nobody shit. Take care of number one first.” She got up.
That argument wasn’t worth it with her. “Just dinner.”
She left the room. “The head says no, but the pussy says yes,” she called from the hallway, laughing. “I’m not betting on the head.”
Chapter 20
Nicole
It was another Monday morning in the office as I nursed my usual cup of Peet’s coffee. So far we’d survived a week since Josh’s arrival without any of the layoffs I’d feared. People were loosening up after the shock of the Benson takeover, and my repeated recitations of “steady as she goes” were having the desired effect.
Mr. Rationalizer had instead turned out to be very interested in learning about how we ran, and his vibe was completely supportive. The best news was that he’d shown no interest in exploring a combination with Smith’s as he’d mentioned that first day. Every time an employee had brought it up since, he’d been quick to reassure them. Maybe my comment after lunch at the westside store had gotten through to him. Or he’d changed his mind, but that wasn’t a conversation I wanted to reopen.
The hardest part for me had been keeping my mind from straying whenever we spent time together. The man oozed a magnetic appeal I noticed every time he entered the room. The thought of what could have been if I’d approached him while we were both on vacation filled my fantasies at night. I had to keep my guard up and remind myself that Josh was here torationalizeus and make what he called thehardchoices. Those fantasies were just that, fantasies.
After a few hours reviewing next week’s suggested produce-delivery adjustments, my phone rang with Lara’s name on the screen.
“Do you have an answer yet?” she asked.
“I haven’t had a chance to talk to him,” I lied. “I’ll try to catch him this afternoon.” The timing hadn’t been right yet.
“Yeah, whatever. Why don’t you just say you don’t believe me and you don’t want me there?”
I walked around my desk. “Stop that. You know that’s not true.” I closed my door. The rest of the building didn’t need to hear this.
“He was my grandfather too. I belong there just as much as you do,” she shot back.
She was right, and her words hit a sore spot.
I’d been born to Grandpa’s son, and she’d been born to his daughter. It had only been the old man’s patriarchal beliefs that had my parents running the company while hers were kept out. If our parents had been reversed, I’d be the one on the outside, and she’d be in my office.
That Daddy had brought me into the company so eagerly was a testament to his break with Grandpa’s beliefs. I’d gotten Lara into the company over Ernst’s objections by throwing a complete fit about it. One thing I’d learned about Ernst was that he backed down from a serious fight, at least most of the time.
