I took another three steps, passing the break room and approaching the office door when the words got real.
“Yeah, the wife you married a year after your last one died. You want to talk about fucking disrespectful.”
Mr. Cooper had been married before?
I blinked at the door, feeling… I don’t know. Shocked? Taken aback?
I had worked for Mr. Cooper for nearly ten years and had never heard anything about another wife.
There were plenty of reasons why people wouldn’t share information like that, I told myself as I raised my hand. If his wife had died and he didn’t want to talk about it… it wasn’t my business to get why, much less to judge.
There were more than enough things in my life I would rather not talk about with anyone.
But the knowledge that he’d had another wife before the one I knew…. That we had known each other for so long and I had told him things I didn’t tell most others, when he hadn’t ever said anything to me about this….
This isn’t about you, I reminded myself. It wasn’t. Not even close.
Then I knocked.
The voices went quiet.
The “Luna?” from Mr. Cooper was low and beyond strained.
Of course he knew it was me. No one else was dumb enough to come bother them while they were yelling. Or I could think of it like I was the only one brave enough to.
Those scaredy cats were downstairs hoping for a miracle.
What they were getting was me.
“I’m leaving for the day. I have my doctor’s appointment, and I left Jason in my room. Do either one of you need anything before I go?” I called out, rolling my eyes at my own words. I wasn’t even trying to be subtle about breaking their argument up. Did they need anything? When had I ever asked them that when I was about to walk out? Never, that was when.
There was a pause that I was pretty sure consisted of them either sitting or standing on opposite sides of Mr. Cooper’s desk, glaring at the door or at each other.
Then Mr. Cooper called out, “No, I’m fine. Thank you for asking.”
I made a face at the door, because we both knew that was BS.
Then there was a rumble of a “Go to the doctor, Luna” that I barely understood.
“Okay,” I called out again, wincing at just how fake happy I sounded. “Have a good night!”
I took three steps away and stopped. Then I listened and waited.
But there wasn’t a single sound from inside the office.
Until the doorknob turned suddenly and the next thing I knew the door itself was being opened.
Crap.
There wasn’t a point in hiding or running. It was just going to make it that much more obvious and worse. So, I walked like normal toward the stairs to go down, only glancing over my shoulder when I actually made it to the landing. That was when I saw that it was Rip who had followed me out.
His expression was that usual one that seemed like bottled-up thunder under skin and bone.
Screw it. I waved at him.
“See you tomorrow, boss,” I called out to him, knowing I wouldn’t get a response. He was a grumpy little goose.
My phone vibrated from my pocket, and when I picked it up, my sister’s name flashed across the screen.
