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Cameron flicked me a look but acquiesced. “Only if you’re sure.”
She needed space. I got it. I didn’t like it, but I got it.
“I’ll let you guys sort yourselves out. I need to get back to the garage for a bit. Remember to visit the docs before you head to Quinn’s. And I’m here. Whenever you need me, I’m here.”
Cameron nodded, gaze searching. “I know. Thanks. For … everything.”
I nodded back, my heart in my throat. I left before I begged her to stay. The last thing I heard was Cameron warning Quinn she didn’t need to be babied.
I added a trip to the police station to the agenda for today. First, though, I needed to have another conversation, and this one I really wasn’t looking forward to.
The memory of Caoimhe’s savage words to Cameron propelled me onward to find my employee. She was running diagnostics on an electric vehicle via her tablet. “Caoimhe, a word in my office,” I demanded as I marched past her.
There was no hiding behind her mum for this. She might be in this with Rina, but at the end of the day, she was twenty-three years old. An adult employee. Who needed to watch her mouth and attitude.
I waited in my office, and she must have been dragging her feet because there was no sign of her. Gritting my teeth for patience, I waited until she finally appeared.
“What’s up, boss?” she asked quietly as she stepped inside.
“We’re not done discussing what happened earlier with Cameron.”
Her cheeks turned red. “I’m sorry. I’ll never speak to a customer like that again.”
“No, you won’t. But Cameron wasn’t our customer. You spoke to her like that and we both know why, so as embarrassing as this is for both of us, I need to make something very clear. One, I will never cross a romantic line with an employee.”
Caoimhe’s cheeks bloomed a deeper shade of red as her gaze dropped with mortification.
“And two, if fate decides to be nicer to me than usual, Cameron will be around a lot, and if you can’t keep a civil mouth on you, you’ll no longer work here.”
She locked her jaw as if fighting against emotion. Then she let out a wee huff. “Most men would avoid having a conversation like this. They’d just pretend like they were oblivious.”
“Been there, done that. It doesn’t do any good in the long run.”
She shot me a glower. “Right.”
Agitation thrummed through me. “Have I made myself clear?”
“Oh, very. I’m beneath your attention. Got it. Can I get back to my job now?”
Fucking exhausted, I had no energy left to argue with her. If she wanted to see things like that, fine, but I had a rubbish feeling I might need to start looking for someone else to work for me. I waved her off and sank into my office chair as she left.
Not even a few seconds later, Rina stepped into the room. “Forde?”
I braced for Caoimhe’s mum to hand in her resignation over this bullshit. “Rina.”
Her expression twisted with discomfort. “I just wanted to say, I’ll talk to her. Caoimhe.”
My shoulders relaxed ever so slightly. “Do you think that will work?”
“I think we’ve got a stable job and a nice place to live and I don’t want anything to jeopardize that.” She shook her head. “My ex, he always had his head in the clouds. Always saw the world the way he wanted to see it, not how it was. I love my daughter, but she inherited that from her dad.”
“I see.”
“That’s not to say she won’t come around. Her dad was a hardheaded arsehole who left us to fend for ourselves while he chased one delusional dream after another. But Caoimhe’s not impenetrable. I’ve talked her round before, and I can do it again. Will you give me that chance?”
“Rina, until this unfortunate crush, you and Caoimhe were the best thing to happen to my business, so aye, I’ll give you the chance. I know you can’t help who you fancy, but you can help how you act. Still … I hope I wasn’t too harsh.”
She let out an exhale of relief. “The worst thing you can give a woman is false hope. I wish more men I’d encountered had the balls to be up front about their feelings, or lack thereof. I hope Cammie is okay. I heard at the coffee shop this morning about the break-in.”
