Canyon squeezes me closer. “I know you aren’t, Fea. Why don’t you just let me warn him off? It would be easier than this farce.”
I steal a furtive glance at Max, who isn’t even pretending to look at the computer now in front of him as he watches us. “Because he’s—”
“It doesn’t matter who he is. We all love Emilia—she’s an amazing lady—but that doesn’t mean her grandson can harass you. Let me tell him you’re not interested, if you can’t…” Canyon stares deep into my eyes for a long moment. “That’s the problem. You can’t tell him to go away because you’re interested in him. Fea…”
“Don’t.” I hold up a hand. “Just don’t.”
“But why?”
Like it isn’t clear as day why Max and I will never work.
“Fea, you know that no one, not even a guy like him—”
“Fiona!!!” Izzy shouts as she runs inside, crying.
I jump up, startling Dash awake as the whole restaurant turns to stare at Izzy. Teenagers are so dramatic today. “What’s wrong, honey?”
“Job…Date…Fired…” She starts bawling.
Coffee. I need a cup of coffee before I deal with any more drama today. But those tears won’t wait. “Come with me.” I take the sobbing girl’s hand and lead her to the picnic table behind the bakery.
Dash rubs his chubby little cheeks into my face as we walk, working himself back to sleep. This little man likes his naps. He’s going to need to eat second breakfast soon. Maybe I’ll get a coffee then. “What happened, Izzy?”
“Fired…I think I got fired.” She jumps up onto the table and sits down. “How did that happen? I did what you said. I told him that I wasn’t interested in dating him. That we should keep things professional. But he told me this was how things worked. It isn’t, is it?” Izzy taps her leg.
What does all of this have to do with her getting fired? “He’s completely wrong. Keeping things professional at your place of business is the essence of how things work.” Here we’re a little bit more flexible, but not like that.
“That’s what I said. Then, he said if I didn’t sleep with him, he’d make sure I lost my internship and never got another job.”
“WHAT?” I screech.
Dash wakes up crying.
No.
No.
No, this isn’t happening to one of our kids. “It’s okay, Dash. Everything is okay.” Or it will be when I’m done with this guy. The protocol would be to tell Maddox and let him take care of the pig that’s threatening this child, but I was the one who told her to do this. I wrap my arms around Dash and pull him in even closer. “Everything is just fine.” The lie slips off my tongue like so many others. “Izzy, I thought you were talking about another one of the interns that you work with liking you.”
She shakes her head. “Joseph Angel is my boss. Well, he’s my boss’ boss. He’s the VP there in charge of all the interns. When I told him no, he fired me.” Izzy puts her head in her hands and starts crying. “I should have just slept with him. What if I can’t ever get another job? I should have just done what he wanted.”
I’m going to kill Joseph. Kill him. “You’ll have another internship within the week.” Probably one at the same company once Mr. Angel is gone.
“Are you sure? He’s really important.”
“Positive. And you did the right thing, standing up to him.” Keep your cool. “I’m really proud of you. That had to be scary.”
Izzy brushes away a tear. “I did? You are?”
I rub Dash’s back, trying to soothe him, but he probably feels the anger flowing through my body. “You did, and I am. That was very brave. Right now, I want you to go tell Paisley what happened, while I go take care of something. We’ll talk more later.”
“Okay.” She stands up. “You’re sure it was the right thing?”
“You did the right thing.” The regret you’d have felt if you'd made a different choice would have hung over your head for the rest of your life. Now, I need to do the right thing.
Dash kicks his foot into my side and then scrunches his face up.
“Don’t cry. I’m going to find someone to feed you while I go beat up a bad man.” Joseph Angel really deserves more than I’m going to do to him. I sigh. Maddox needs to be apprised of this situation…after I’m done.
