“No, I get it. Her quitting kind of threw you for a loop. You might feel a little lost or angry even.”
“Well—”
“But this is the thing, Coop. I hope I can call you that.”
“Of course.”
“I think you’re probably a good guy. A little demanding and self-centered, but that’s just because you’ve got money and all rich people are like that. So, that I can understand. But when it comes to Ursula … working for you is just not good for her.”
My face drops.
“I’m not trying to be a bitch or anything, but you have to understand. Ursula came to our family a broken little girl. She was in a horrible car accident that her mother died in. She had terrible nightmares for years after it. It affected every aspect of her life. Her sleeping. Her eating. Her self-confidence.
“We did everything we could to help her. To support her. She didn’t have any friends at school, so we made her audition for the school plays, so that she would be forced into situations where she would have to interact with other kids. Something about being in those plays clicked for her, and she continued participating in the theater program all through high school and college.
“Now I’m not saying that we have a Meryl Streep or Angela Bassett on our hands, but I’m saying that there’s a moment when she’s on stage that the pain of her past slips away. That it’s just her and the audience. And if that’s where she can find her moments of peace, then that’s what I want for her.”
Carla’s words rock me to the core. I’d always believed that I was doing the right thing by Owens, but maybe I haven’t been. Maybe I’ve actually been the completely clueless narcissist that everyone thinks I am and made this all about me.
“So, you don’t want her to work for me.”
“At first, I thought it was insane for her to give up such a great position. God knows you pay her well and she gets to meet so many cool people. Travel places.”
“But—”
“But I think you’re confusing her.”
“How?”
I’m not sure what Owens has told them and what she hasn’t.
“What I’m saying is she’s never going to follow her dreams working for you and … falling in love with you. She is going to get hurt. You and I both know that. And that is something me and our entire family won’t stand back and let happen.”
“Fall in love with me?”
“I don’t need my sister to tell me that she’s falling for you. I can tell, and based on what I know about Ursula, it needs to end. You need to let her go.”
“Things are a lot more complicated than they seem, Carla.”
“What’s complicated? You let her quit, and you let her go, and then you go live your big glamorous life. We’ll take care of any collateral damage. There will be some but not as much as if you wait a year to break her heart.”
“I’m not going to break her heart.”
Wait … will I?
“I’m asking you to let my sister go. Let her figure out on her own how to fill her empty spaces. She’s filled them with you for so long, she doesn’t know anything different.”
I just had an aha moment and it hurts something awful. Worse than any broken bone I’ve ever had.
“I understand what you’re saying.”
Carla stands up, lifting her shopping bags with her.
“It’s been a pleasure meeting you, Coop. You’re not as fucked up as I thought. You have a good life.”
A painful smile reaches my eyes.
“Good luck with the baby.”
