Now it was my turn to kick Beck under the table.Way to throw a girl under a bus.
“And she had misplaced her things. We got her sorted out and sobered up.”
“And that’s how you hired her?” Annie asked.
Ah, shit.
Ethel’s eyebrows rose to her hairline. “He’s your boss?”
“Yes,” I said in a rush, “but that’s not how we met. It’s not one of those weird, sketchy workplace romances.”
“Hm,” Ethel said. “I would hope not.”
The rest of the dinner didn’t go much more smoothly. Any time I tried to talk, Beck would cut me off.
Finally, over dessert, I gave up and just ate my cake then ate seconds of cake along with more than my fair share of champagne so it wouldn’t look like I was just being antisocial but was instead enjoying the excellent food while Beck carefully answered Ethel’s questions.
“Are you out of your mind?” Beck yelled at me when we were back in the car. “What were you thinking? Can I literally not take you anywhere? You made up that insane story, told lie after lie, and then you ate a drink coaster.”
“I’m not good at fancy events!” I shrieked at him. “And you didn’t even have a story straight of how we met.”
“Because I thought you had it under control. God.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I swear, if I lose my sisters because of you, not only am I firing you, but I’ll make sure you’re blacklisted throughout the whole Northeast.”
“Real mature,” I told him, angrily fastening my seat belt. “Threatening people instead of taking some modicum of responsibility for your own actions.”
“You made up the crazy story,” he roared, jabbing a finger at me.
“It was your big lie in the first place,” I railed at him.
He was breathing hard; we both were.
“I am counting down the days until you are out of my life,” he said finally.
“I thought it didn’t go that badly,” Annie said in a small voice behind us.
Beck’s face softened. His little sister reached out to gingerly pet his arm. Enola looked afraid.
“I didn’t mean to yell,” Beck assured them.
The girls still eyed him warily. Enola crossed her arms, hugging herself.
“You sound like Dad.”
Beck jerked his arm away from Annie and turned away to stare out the window.
The car ride home was tense.
When we arrived back at the condo, Beck went to his study. I took the girls into the kitchen.
“You know what I like to do after a stressful day?” I told them. “I like to bake!” I pulled out a bag of Milky Way bars.
“But those are candy.”
“Yes, but by the power of baking, we can make Milky Way bar cupcakes!”
I set them up measuring flour and creaming butter and sugar then headed down the hall to Beck’s study. I stood in front of the door.
“Beck?” I said softly. He didn’t answer.
