“Evie.” He sat back and solemnly raised his left hand, his right hand pressed to his heart. “I swear on my life, I was completely alone. I hadn’t even seen a sign of another person for at least three days at that point.”
Evie furrowed her brow, unsure what he meant by completely alone. “What happened to your friend who was supposed to go with you?”
He huffed and shook his head. “There’s nothing like a three-week hike without service, showers, or toilets to help you figure out you’re incompatible with someone. She gave up after two weeks. I made sure she got down safely to a pickup spot and kept going.”
“Honestly, I probably wouldn’t have lasted a week, so I can’t judge her.” Evie shrugged, sipping her mocha to hide the smile threatening to break out.
“There were a few things that highlighted how different we are,” he said, running a hand through his hair and leaning back in a loose, lazy stretch. “But the worst thing was how bad we smelled to each other.”
“We met another couple who said they loved their partner’s natural scent. He said she smelled like lilacs, and she said he smelled like cedar, but I promise you,” he wrinkled his nose as if he could still smell them, “they did not smell like either. And Moira and I really didn’t like each other’s natural scent at all. She said I smelled like a wet dog, and I thought she smelled like marijuana. By day seven, we were sleeping on opposite sides of the camp, praying the wind didn’t change.”
“That sounds terrible.” Evie couldn’t imagine being stuck in the woods without showers or toilets, and she couldn’t begin to understand why Moira had agreed to go in the first place. “I’m sorry it didn’t work out for you two.”
“It’s not so bad. Now we can try again.” He hesitated. “If that’s something you want to do?”
“Yes.” Evie nodded, then held up her hand as his eyes widened and his whole body tensed, as if he might launch acrossthe table in excitement. “There are conditions, so don’t celebrate yet.”
“Conditions?” He deflated like a popped balloon. “What kind of conditions?”
“We’re starting over with a completely fresh slate,” she explained quickly. “Basically, we’re going to pretend our first relationship didn’t happen.”
“I am more than okay with that.” He nodded, looking relieved. “What else?”
“You say you’re working on your issues, and I’ve been working on mine as well.” She watched him closely for any hint that he’d been lying about that. “That continues for both of us.”
“Absolutely.” He agreed immediately and reached for her hand. “And when you’re ready, I’d like you to sit in on one of my therapy sessions.”
“Okay.” That surprised her, but it also made her feel like he was being honest about doing the work, which eased some of her concerns. “You said those things were off the table until your therapist says you’re able to handle them. If we stay together, and when we get to that point, I am still okay with the B and D parts, but we’re going to set firm rules. If you break them, I’m done. No chances, no apologies, I’m walking away, and you’re not allowed to try to stop me.”
She could see from his expression that he didn’t like that, but he nodded anyway, so she smiled. “Then yes, we can start dating again.”
This time, she didn’t stop him when he jumped to his feet and came around the table, pulling her into a tight hug. “I promise you won’t regret this,” he murmured as he let her go. “And I’m really sorry, but I have to cut this short. I desperatelyneed to go to bed.” He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. “I’ll text you when I wake up, okay?”
“Okay.” She sat back down to finish her mocha, watching as he gathered his things, blew her a kiss, and left the café.
Chapter Forty-Three: Lessons in Power
On September 2nd, Tommy and Thorn officially announced that they were separating Sloane Security Services into two divisions: Security Services and Protective Services. Because of this restructuring, they were looking for a Director for each division. They had also created five additional positions for each side: Chief of Operations, Personnel Manager, Training Director, Scheduling and Assignments Manager, and Recruitment Lead. Twelve positions in total now needed to be filled.
While they were having lunch together just before the long weekend, Tommy told Evie how guilty he felt for leaving Thorn to run Sloane Security Services alone for so long.
“Honestly, I feel absolutely terrible.” Tommy ran a hand through his hair ruefully. “It’s no wonder he wants to step down and move over to Contracting in a non-leadership role.”
“He told me he was bored.” Evie patted his hand, trying to ease his guilt. “And tired of the petty arguments and petty drama.”
Tommy let out a gruff laugh and shook his head. “I’m sure all that is a massive part of it too. I’ve never met anyone with so little patience for drama and gossip.” He sighed. “He was just doing such an incredible job, I never even considered that it was growing beyond what he could comfortably handle.”
“The good news is that beyond the six people Thorn already thought deserved leadership roles, when we opened it up to the rest of the employees, we got about sixty applications. We managed to whittle that down to thirty-six, eighteen potential candidates from both divisions. Now we’re just figuring out which roles they’re best suited for. We already chose the pick for the Director of Protective Services, a man named Harvey McCarthey. He’s a former Navy Commander and was already unofficially Thorn’s number two.”
“Have you told him yet?” Evie asked, curious whether people would drop out of the running if they knew the top spot was already filled.
“Yeah, we told him right after we decided to split Security Services into two divisions.” Tommy nodded and picked up his spoon when the waitress placed his bowl of clam chowder in front of him and set Evie’s bruschetta on the table. “It hasn’t been officially announced, and he was told to keep it to himself, but the other candidates already assume he’s getting one of the Director positions and have been jokingly congratulating him since we made the internal announcement.”
**********
Evie and Alex’s relationship had no choice but to progress at a snail's pace as the competition for the shortlisted candidates picked up steam. The assessments were added to the candidates’ regular duties and often required him to work past his normal hours and on his days off, leaving him with little free time to spend with her.
Alex also didn’t want it to seem like he was using his relationship with her to get ahead with Thorn and Tommy, so he was cautious about where and how often they met. Evie was one hundred percent fine with all this because she felt it was helping them develop a deeper connection by forcing them to haveactual conversations over text and on the phone to maintain the relationship. Alex wanted more time together in person, but he also desperately wanted either the Director of Security Services or the Chief of Security Operations role.
