“This change is going to be hard for her,” Dave said, apparently unaware of Jake’s frantically churning mind. “And not just because she’s apparently being replaced on the morning show by a rotating cast of bimbos—which I’m not at all excited about, if Brandon ever cares to ask. But hosting afternoon drive solo, when her whole career she’s been part of a morning duo? That’s a huge change. And with you wrapped up in the Lowell side of things…”
Dave trailed off, flopping back against the wall. They were roughly the same height but couldn’t have looked more different: Dave, whippet thin and clad in jeans and a Zoso T-shirt, and Jake, in an athletic-cut suit to accommodate his shoulders and arms. Yet they were both torn up about the same woman.
“You know her better than I do. What’s my best option?” He needed to figure out his next step. “Does she go for the big gesture, like apology flowers? Or does she reassess after a cooling-off period?” When Dave didn’t answer right away, Jake grudgingly added, “I like her, man. I don’t want to walk away from that. She’s not just some hookup—”
Dave held up a hand with a grimace. “Oh God, please stop. I’m not her father, and I’m definitely not getting into the middle of this.” He slanted Jake a look before continuing. “I don’t know how much she’s told you, but you should know that we had to leave our last station after the only major romantic relationship in her life imploded and made things uncomfortable for us on the job, so she was already gun-shy before all this went down.” He rolled his head against the bricks to meet Jake’s gaze, pity in his eyes. “I don’t know that there’s much you can do at this point to fix things.”
His heart hurt to learn that Mabel had been burned by a man she trusted in the past, but somehow he managed a nod. “Thanks.”
“Anytime. Hey, Spider-Man’s web shooters. Biological or mechanical?”
Everything was too shitty for Jake to process or even care about the abrupt change of topic, so he answered on autopilot. “Biological’s cooler, even if they’re mechanical in the comics.”
Dave shook his head as he pushed off the building. “Too bad. You guys were perfect for each other.” He ambled back toward the entrance, calling over his shoulder, “I don’t want that handkerchief back, by the way.”
Jake stared after him in miserable confusion, then sighed and followed him back inside, heading straight for the spare office. Brandon was there, tapping away at his computer. Other than raised eyebrows, he didn’t acknowledge Jake’s poorly wrapped fist.
“Not a great meeting,” Brandon said, “but they’ll come around. It’s always rocky at first, but once you implement the changes and give it some time, everyone falls in line.”
“Yeah. Great,” Jake ground out. He crossed the room to grab a banker’s box from the stack in the corner and started tossing his laptop, notes, and file folders haphazardly into it. Time to cut his losses.
“Going somewhere?” Brandon asked mildly.
“Back to Chicago. I’m done here.”
Brandon laughed. Jake was really starting to hate that sound.
“I don’t think so. We have an agreement that you’ll be here until the transition’s over. And it’s far from over.”
“Right.” He slammed the box down, not caring that he was crushing the sides. “I can do all that work from Chicago.”
Brandon crossed his arms. “No, I need you here.”
Jake picked up the box and slammed it down again just for the violence in the motion. Better the box than Brandon’s jaw. “AndIneed you to treat the staff here with a little more respect, maybe give them time to process everything without dumping every single change on them at once.”
He brushed aside Jake’s concerns. “They’re pissed now, but I made the best choices for the station, and they’ll be humming like a well-oiled machine by Christmas. You’ll see.”
Brandon’s smug calmness infuriated Jake even more. “Then I guess it was all worth it.” He snatched the box and moved toward the door. “You’ve got my cell phone. Call me in Chicago the next time you need me to help you justify an unpopular decision.”
He’d almost made it when Brandon’s voice stopped him.
“Thing is, I strongly prefer that you do the Lowell work here since this is where I’ll be.”
Jake paused in the doorway and clenched his hands around the battered box, then gritted his teeth and slowly pivoted to find Brandon tiredly running a hand across his forehead.
“Look, I’m sorry.” Brandon’s sigh deepened the creases across his brow, and if Jake weren’t ready to vibrate apart in rage, he might be more sympathetic to the toll this seemed to be taking on the other man. “You got caught in the crossfire of a personnel decision, and for that I apologize. But I want us to work together for the next few months so you can get a feel for what Lowell needs from your firm moving forward.”
His firm. His partnership. The reminder was as painful as Jake’s knuckles hitting that brick wall. The partnership was what mattered, was the only thing thatoughtto matter.
As if sensing his hesitation, Brandon offered a small, conciliatory smile. “Hey, better in Beaucoeur than at Lowell’s Michigan headquarters, right?” His eyes flicked over the cramped office before returning to Jake. “Honest to God,Iprefer it here most days, even if every last employee hates me.”
Brandon’s whole body seemed to deflate for a moment, but just as quickly he straightened his posture and looked at Jake with the usual shrewd calculation in his eyes. “Whaddya say, buddy? Give me a few more months here to get a lock on the accounts, and then we’ll both head home?”
Jake shifted the box to his left hip and plunged a hand in his hair. What a clusterfuck. His unwavering work focus had shattered into a mess of emotions at the worst possible time in his career. He blamed Brandon—was fuckingfuriouswith Brandon—but he blamed himself too. No matter what, he knew without a doubt that he couldn’t keep working in this building, where he’d be reminded of Mabel and the hurt he’d caused her every day.
“Fine,” Jake said slowly. “I’ll stay in Beaucoeur, but I’m renting an office where I can work without distractions. You and I can meet whenever you want to discuss progress, but I need space to manage my other accounts too. And don’t worry; I’ll send Lowell an invoice for the rent each month.”
Both of them knew the real reason Jake was asking for an off-site office, but Brandon simply inclined his head. “Sure thing, Jakehammer. Shit, sorry.Jake.” He leaned a hip against the desk and crossed his arms over his chest. “For what it’s worth, I didn’t know that you and the lovely Mabel had gotten so serious or I—”
