“Toni, I need you to come today.” Miri’s voice was quiet, almost hard to hear.
“Why? What’s wrong? Are the kids okay?”
“They’re fine, at school. I-I need you.”
I stopped in front of the all-glass conference room and raised my finger when my boss, Brendan Caldwell, stood and gave me a “What the fuck are you doing?” look and tapped his watch. If he hadn’t also been my boyfriend of four years, I would’ve been worried about my job after telling the boss to wait.
“Miri, you’re scaring me. What’s wrong?”
“I’m sick, Toni. I need you to come.”
My heart fell to the floor and my mouth went dry. I stared through the glass, knowing Brendan and our clients were sitting around the large, ornate conference table, but I couldn’t see them. My vision blurred, and everything around me seemed to move in slow motion.
“Miri?”
“Please.” Her voice broke and I nodded, despite her not being able to see me.
“I’m on my way.”
It took me a moment to regain my composure. Once I had, I opened the door and asked to speak to Brendan outside.
“We’re in the middle of something, Toni, and we’re waiting on you.” Brendan’s lips were stretched tightly across his mouth.
I forced a smile as all the others looked at me. “Yes, but this is important.” I didn’t leave him a choice. I stepped out, let the door shut behind me, and walked down the hall toward the break room. Thankfully, it was empty, so I wouldn’t have to ask anyone to leave.
“What on earth could be so important that it can’t wait until after this meeting?” Brendan huffed as he came in and shut the door behind him.
“Miriam is sick, and I need to go to her.”
“Now?” His eyes widened.
“Yes, now. She called. She needs me.”
Brendan rolled his eyes. If he wasn’t so damn gorgeous, his dismissiveness would’ve pissed me off. He didn’t have the type of relationship that I had with Miri with any of his friends. Sure, he’d meet his buddies for golf or to play squash at the courts, and he played in charity games with them, but he wasn’t close enough with any of his friends to drop everything.
I was.
Brendan was senior partner at Caldwell & Crest—a company his grandfather had founded—and he also worked in mergers and acquisitions. He was one of the best negotiators in the business and could sweet-talk candy from a baby.
Brendan was tall, lean, and athletic, with neatly trimmed sandy blond hair that he parted on the side and a clean-shaven face. He was the picture-perfect preppy boy, always model-ready, and exactly the type of guy you’d find in a Black Dog or Vineyard Vines catalog. He used to row at Harvard, and he often reminded me how his team had beaten BU one year in some regatta.
He leaned against the wall and stuffed his hands in his pockets, looking dashing and pissed off at the same time, but he was definitely unimpressed with me, and I was wasting his time. We were both headstrong and determined, and neither of us were willing to back down if we strongly believed we were right.
“When doesn’t she need you?”
I knew the question was rhetorical. He would never tell me, but I suspected he wasn’t a fan of Miriam’s, which didn’t bode well for my relationship with Brendan. Miri wasn’t going anywhere. Not only was she my soul sister, but I was also “Auntie Toni” to her two kids. There wasn’t a thing in this world I wouldn’t do for her or them.
“I don’t know, Brendan. I’m not in the business of keeping track of when Miriam needs me. But she said she’s sick, and I need to go. I’m sorry, but I’m confident you can handle the meeting.”
“What is it?”
“What do you mean?” I looked at him with confusion.
“A sniffle? A cough?”
Now, I rolled my eyes. “Oh, please.”
“What?” He shrugged. “This isn’t the first time she’s interrupted our plans.”
