I pinch the bridge of my nose, feeling a headache coming on. “It doesn’t matter. I’m sure we can figure everything out. Maybe if you and I both talk to Mr.Hennings together—”
“No, Eve. Take me off his account, or I’m removing myself right now.”
She’s serious. But she’s also pushing me into a corner like a pouting child or a spurned lover, and I don’t like the feeling. “Dammit, I understand you’re frustrated. But you’re talking about a loyal client who’s spent more with us in the past few months than many accounts bring in over several years. We can’t afford to lose him. I don’t have enough hours in the day to personally devote to both him and Avery Ross. Especially now that she’s awarded L’Opale the design contract for her wedding and honeymoon collection.”
Kat stares at me, her cool blue eyes sharp, even glacial. “I guess I have my answer.”
She pivots around, reaching for the door. But as she steps out of my office she pauses, sending a brittle glance over her shoulder. “You know, I almost said no after I interviewed here and you offered me this job. I could have started over with my own boutique. I could have created designs under my own name. Instead, I poured everything into L’Opale because I believed in this shop, and in you. Because I thought maybe, for once, I had found someplace I could truly belong. I thought I was going to be part of something truly special. Whatever, though. My mistake.”
Her uncharacteristic display of emotion stuns me. She’s furious over Hennings, that’s clear. But right now, it’s obvious that she’s equally upset with me. She stalks out of my office before I can tell her that she does belong—that as a design team we have created something special together at L’Opale.
With her purse and keys in hand, she nearly crashesinto Gabe and the middle-aged man accompanying him as she races out the back door of the boutique in a furious huff.
“Everything all right?” Gabe asks, resting his hand protectively on my shoulder for a moment before he catches himself and lets his touch fall away.
I slant him a weary look. “No, everything’s a mess. Kat just quit.”
He frowns. “I’m sorry to hear that. If this isn’t a good time, we can come back.”
It’s only then that I recall he mentioned he’d be stopping by with an electrician today to prep the utility room for the security system upgrade. I shake my head, offering a smile to the man with the tool belt around his waist and the coil of wires and cables looped over his shoulder.
“No, it’s fine. Now is as good a time as any.”
Gabe nods to him. “Go ahead and get started, Don. I’ve got some things I need to discuss with Ms. Beckham and then I’ll come back and check in with you.”
The electrician lopes off and Gabe follows me into my office. He closes the door behind us and quietly turns the lock. My blinds are already closed, so there’s no one to see when he gathers me into his arms and gives me a slow, sweet, toe-curling kiss that I wish could go on forever.
“I missed you last night,” he murmurs against my parted lips.
“I know. I missed you too.” He was at the hospital with his family, then stayed overnight at his parents’ house in Bayside to help install a hospital bed and other temporary accessibility modifications in preparation for his father’s imminent return home. “How’s your daddoing?”
“He was discharged this morning. The doctors say he’s doing great.”
“That’s good news.” And because I can see the reticence in his handsome face, I have to ask the real question. “Have you spent any time with him yet?”
He shrugs. “I will . . . eventually. He’s trying to get settled back at home now. Mom says my brothers are keeping a close eye on him, so I’m sure he doesn’t need me. Which is just as well.”
“Oh, Gabe.” I sigh, wishing there was a way to mend the wound that exists between him and his father. Death may have taken one of my parents, but Gabe’s loss is worse, I believe. Because he’s been living with the inexplicable, prolonged absence of his father’s love all these years.
And whether he wants to admit it to himself or not, I see the pain it’s caused him. I’ve felt the grief in him this past week that his father’s been ill.
He draws back, frowning. “I didn’t come in here to talk about my old man. Tell me what just happened with you and Katrina. You both looked awfully upset.”
“She inherited a client from me recently and let’s just say it was a bad fit for both of them. Today he rejected a box full of Kat’s custom designs and she decided she’d had enough.”
Gabe cocks his head, gaze narrowed. “He?”
“Walter Hennings. He’s a widower with a large bank account and a young girlfriend from overseas whom he likes to spoil with expensive, bespoke lingerie.” I roll my eyes at his dubious look. “I know. But he’s one of our best clients and Kat demanded I either let her drop him or she was going to walk.”
“Not the smartest thing to say to your boss.”
I rub my temples and slowly shake my head. “I’ve been working with Katrina for a long time. We haven’t always agreed on everything, but I respect her. She’s an amazing designer with a great work ethic. Today I saw a different side of her.”
Gabe’s brow furrows slightly. “How so?”
“She was mad, Gabe. Worse than that, I think I really hurt her. It wasn’t my intention, but she wasn’t allowing me much room to find a compromise. I must’ve really wounded her, if she was mad enough to quit like she did.”
“Do you think she might be a problem?” His question is so guarded, so grimly protective, it takes me aback.
