“Grace, what did he do?”
I sneered. “Nothing. He did nothing.”
“I don’t understand.”
“That makes two of us. I didn’t see it coming. Or maybe I did. I don’t even know really. Ben vanished …”
“Vanished?”
“He took a couple of weeks off to spend with his family. I didn’t think too much of it at the time. He had a wife and a couple of young kids, so it wasn’t my place to question. But maybe I was being naive. One day I came in, was told there was a restructure, and I’d be meeting with my new boss. Neil had been in the company for years but never ventured over my side of the tracks. I knew of him, but I didn’t know him.”
“I already don’t want to.”
Cole stood up and leaned on the railing. He crossed his legs at his ankles and watched as I continued to pace.
“Within the hour he told me my role was no longer required.”
“Asshole!”
“You have no idea. He offered to let me work out my two-week notice period or I could go then and there.”
“Tell me you walked?” Cole practically begged.
“Yep. Twenty minutes later I packed my desk and was escorted from the premises.”
“Where the fuck was this Ben prick?” Cole swore and my heart squeezed.
“No idea. It took him three days to have the balls to even contact me.”
“What did he promise you this time?” Cole mocked.
“Promise me?”
“The guy’s full of shit. He’d promise the world if he thought he’d get what he wants even if he knows he can’t or worse, won’t follow through with it.”
“You don’t even know him!” I snapped.
“Why are you defending him, Grace?” Cole accused, and I felt like I’d been slapped.
I froze where I was. Cole’s words stung. More than my sisters and more than Neil’s had. I wanted to run. I wanted to get away from him. But I forced myself to stand my ground. Cole didn’t know Ben. He didn’t really know me. Everything he said was based on what I was telling him and that alone.
“I’m not …”
“You are and you know you are,” Cole softened and moved toward me.
I stared down at my feet, letting Cole’s words marinate. He was right and I hated that.
“What did he say when he contacted you, Grace?”
I sniffed. I was on the verge of falling apart again but I refused to do it here. Cole may have listened to my sad, pathetic sob story, but the last thing he needed to see was my snotty tears.
“He said he was sorry.”
“Of course he did,” Cole commented, lifting my chin with his finger and forcing me to meet his eyes. He had the most beautiful slate gray eyes I’d ever seen.
“He said he was sorry, and if he could’ve done something he would’ve. He said he was so upset about it that he couldn’t be there, but he knew he should’ve been. He offered to give me a reference.”
“He’s full of shit,” Cole declared as his hands held my shoulders.
