Chapter 38 Stuck in a Scene from Die Hard
STUCK IN A SCENE FROM DIE HARD
What you’re most proud of?
Cole: Right now? Nothing.
COLE
Iscanned my desk. Her desk. The desk? Regardless, it was empty of both our things. Finley had packed away Bridget’s things yesterday while Ned talked at me, saying words I couldn’t hear through the numbness.
But I wasn’t numb today. I saw with new clarity. My world had crisp edges like ice crystals. Even my breath was sharp, like when I used to trudge across Harvard Yard in the first few days of term in January.
Bridget had collected a lot of things over her eighteen years at Apex: awards of every type, from simple framed certificates to a towering crystal trophy; souvenirs, or more likely gifts from employees and partners from around the world; and framed photographs of her with employees, some of whom I recognized, like Gina and Finley, and others who were probably long gone.
I’d tried to call her, not only to see that she was okay and apologize but to see if she wanted everything from her office, but she hadn’t answered my dozens of texts and phone calls.
So Finley had packed up everything. There had been so many crates that I, as the CEO, had to approve the expense of delivery to her condo.
I’d been here only one year, and all my belongings fit into a carton that I’d be able to carry out myself. I glanced around the corner office one last time. Only one task remained.
I’d worked my ass off to get here, but it meant nothing without Bridget. I walked to the office door and opened it. “Finley, get Anita Lu and Ned Stone on the phone. Video, if you can swing it.”
Their eyes widened. “Now?”
“Right now.”
“It’s…it’s the day before Christmas Eve. What if they’re not available?”
“Then I’ll send an email. But I’d prefer to speak with them, if possible.”
“Okay.” They tapped furiously on their keyboard, muttering under their breath. After a couple of minutes, they said, “We lucked out. I’ve got them both ready to go. I’ll send them to your screen.”
“Great.” I closed the door and walked back to the desk. I sat down as my computer pinged.
When I clicked the Accept Call button, my screen split into two windows. Ned’s face appeared on the left, and Anita was on the right. Neither looked happy to see me after flying home on the red-eye.
“What’s happening? Is there an emergency?” Anita asked.
“No emergency. Everything’s fine with the company. But I have a bit of urgent news to share.” I took a deep breath. “I quit.”
Ned’s jaw dropped. “You can’t quit.”
“I just did. Effective immediately.” I could already breathe easier now that I’d said it.
“We gave you the job yesterday,” Anita said. “We don’t have a succession plan in place.”
“I guess you should have thought of that when you let my partner go.”
“This is about Bridget?” Ned said. “Because you were screwing her?”
“It is about Bridget. And every woman in this firm. And my daughter.” I touched my beaded bracelet to keep from shouting.
“You didn’t give Bridget the ninety days you promised.
You gave her the boot without listening to her presentation, without valuing her contributions over almost twenty years here.
You were the ones who fucked her over, not me. ”
“She asked you to do this?” He narrowed his eyes.
“No,” I said. “Thanks to you, she’s not answering my calls. But it’s the right thing to do. It’s what she’d have done. I’m only sorry I waited a day and didn’t walk out by her side yesterday.”
“You’re seriously leaving us without a CEO,” Anita said.
“I am. Good luck. On my way out, I’ll tell the executive team to expect your call.” With that, I ended the meeting and picked up my box. I walked to the door and opened it. “Finley, I’ve got some news.”
“Come in, come in,” my mother said, bending to hug Caitlyn. “I’m glad you came.”
“Wouldn’t miss it,” I lied. I’d have missed it if I could have come up with an excuse.
My mother’s annual Christmas Eve cocktail party was boring at best and painful at worst. And after two days of not seeing Bridget, all I wanted to do was curl up under a blanket on my sofa that still smelled a little like her perfume.
But my parents’ party was mandatory. I handed our coats to the attendant.
When she air-kissed my cheeks, a cloud of Chanel No. 5 and sauvignon blanc enveloped me. “Come to the terrace.” She tugged me inside the wood-paneled foyer, which was hung with pine garland and fairy lights.
People I didn’t know surrounded the Christmas tree in the center of the room. A string quartet in another room played Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony like I was walking into Nakatomi Plaza. “You must meet Willa Spencer.”
I went stiff. “Who’s that, and why do I have to meet her?”
“She’s a member of our club. Very accomplished. It’s time for you to settle down. Caitlyn needs a new mother.”
“She has a mother,” I said.
“You know what I mean.”
“Daddy already has a girlfriend. I like her,” Caitlyn said. “Grandmother, where are Liam and Logan?”
“Downstairs in the media room. Run off and play, but don’t wrinkle your dress.
We’re taking a family photo later.” As Caitlyn skipped away, I envied her the ability to hide in the basement for the rest of the party.
While I was trying to figure out a way to follow, my mother turned to me.
“Now Cole, what’s this about a girlfriend? ”
“I’m seeing someone. Was seeing someone.
” I’d been hoping Bridget would answer one of my phone calls or texts.
It had been only two days, so in theory, I didn’t have to tell Caitlyn that the kind woman who’d cared for her when she was sick, who’d briefly made work a bright, happy place for me, and who filled my stony heart with joy, wasn’t part of my life anymore. “It’s complicated.”
“Who is she?”
“A woman I work with. Worked with. I quit Apex.”
“You what?” Her light-pink nails dug through my tuxedo jacket into my arm as she tugged me through a door into her private sitting room. “But you were CEO. You can’t simply quit.”
“I was co-CEO, and I quit after they fired Bridget. It was a toxic environment.”
“Your résumé will be toxic after this. Cole, what were you thinking?”
“I don’t want to work for a company that undervalues talent, especially female talent, like Apex does. What kind of example would I be setting for Caitlyn?”
“Caitlyn would understand,” my mother said, “if you’d sent her to St. Marcellin like we told you.”
“Zara refused.” I folded my arms. “And so do I. Why would I want her to understand that we live in a fucked-up, misogynistic world where women aren’t given a chance to succeed in leadership?”
“If your co-CEO was dating you, it’s obvious she slept her way there. She got what she deserved.”
“She did not!” I roared. “Bridget worked hard over twenty years to get to that office. She deserved to stay more than I did.”
When the door opened, I realized the music had stopped, replaced by an uncomfortable buzz. My brother sauntered in and closed the door. “There you are, Cole. I wasn’t sure you’d come tonight, but then I heard your dulcet tones.”
“Thank goodness.” My mother threw up her hands.
“Talk some sense into him, Mason, then take him to meet Willa Spencer. I have to see to my guests.” But before she opened the door, she turned back.
“Remember, Cole, you’re not getting any younger or more handsome.
You should find someone before those dark circles under your eyes get more pronounced. ”
My lips twitched despite my sour mood. “Thanks.”
After she left, Mason said lightly, “Mother’s right. You look like shit.”
“Fuck off.” I shoved my hands into my pants pockets. The melody of Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 came faintly through the door. I was stuck in a scene from Die Hard. Though I’d almost rather be held hostage by terrorists than be interrogated about my life choices by my mother and brother.
“Rough day at work?” he asked.
“I quit yesterday, after they fired Bridget. That’s what Mother and I were arguing about.”
“Fuck.” His shoulders slumped. “Is she okay?”
“I don’t know. She’s not answering my calls or texts.” That was the worst part of it—imagining her hurting and unable to do anything about it.
“You look worse than you did when Zara left you.”
“Yeah.” I sighed. “I feel worse. Like, not only heartbroken and shit, but so fucking guilty. She needed that job, and she worked hard to get there. We had a plan to share the role, but the board wouldn’t listen.
Bridget thinks I knew they’d already decided and that they were never going to give her a chance. That I was in on it. She hates me.”
“Did you try to explain?”
“I left her a half-dozen voicemails and an embarrassing number of texts. She hasn’t read a single one.”
“Think she blocked you?”
Fuck! I hadn’t thought of that. “Probably. And I get it.” Bridget was strong, and she didn’t need me. She’d never even told me she loved me.
“So what are you going to do?”
“What can I do? If she’s blocked me, she doesn’t want to hear from me, at least not now. Maybe I should leave her alone.”
“Or…” He raised his eyebrows. “You could apologize in person.”
I winced. That sounded desperate and humiliating.
“I know how you are. You never want to try anything unless you’re sure of the outcome. You want to control every variable. But that’s not how relationships work. You cede control and let her choose. Then the reward is so much greater.”
“What if she’s already chosen?”
“Have you explained your side? Have you begged her to reconsider?”
“Before they walked her out of the building, I told her I loved her. She said nothing.”
Mason rolled his eyes. “She’d just been fired. It might not have been the best time to mention your gentle feelings for her.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Why are you pushing this? Is there something in it for you?”
“I want you to be happy. You seemed happy with her.”
There was no question. “I was.”
“Then go after her.”
“It’s Christmas Eve. She has a huge family, and they do holiday shit all weekend. She’s probably at a family party.”
“Is there a better time than right now to tell someone you love them?”
“Wait. You’re telling me to go to her family’s house? On Christmas Eve? They’re Catholic. Tonight is a big deal for them. She’d be so pissed. And I’d look like a stalker.”
“You’d look like a man in love.” He shrugged. “And if she tells you to go away, you go away. But you owe her that choice.”
I owed her a lot of things. “I guess I do.”
Ifound Caitlyn downstairs in the media room watching a movie with her cousins. “Cait, can I talk to you for a minute?” I asked. On the screen, James Caan inexplicably wore a red Santa coat.
“Sure. I’ve seen this movie before.” She bounced up from the couch. “They fix Santa’s sleigh by singing.”
“Caitlyn!” Logan moaned. “Way to spoil it.”
“What?” She lifted her palms. “It’s obvious.”
The boys threw popcorn at her as she walked to the door. She lifted her chin and brushed it off her dress. “Keep watching. You’ll like it, I promise.”
Outside the media room, I said, “You know, it’s not very nice to spoil movies for your cousins.”
“It’s a Christmas movie,” she said, shrugging. “You know what’s going to happen. That’s why everyone likes them.”
How did my eight-year-old already understand the world so well? It had taken me years to figure it out and feel in control of it. Something I was about to give up. “I’m leaving to talk to Bridget. Would you like to go home with Uncle Mason and the boys, or spend the night here with Grandmother?”
Her eyes widened. “You’re going to talk to Bridget? Like, you’ll apologize and tell her you want her to come back?”
“How the f—heck did you know we were together, or that we broke up?”
“Daddy. That night she came over, I was sick, but nothing was wrong with my eyes. You hardly ever smile like that. And today you’re all…floppy. It’s not like you’re hard to figure out.”
The child definitely had a future in the executive suite. Or fortune-telling.
“Okay, yes, I’m going to ask Bridget if she’ll be my girlfriend.”
She tucked her hand into mine. “Then I’m coming with you.”
“I really don’t think—”
“You can’t mess this up,” she said. “It’s too important.”
“You really like Bridget, don’t you?”
She grinned. “She likes me too. Don’t you always tell me not to leave anything on the table in a negotiation?”
“Yes, but what does that—”
“I’m a benefit. You’re going to remind her we’re a package deal.”
I bumped her under the chin. “You’re a smart kid. How can she refuse a face like yours?”
“Exactly. Let’s go.”