Chapter 60
PENN
I hadin no way planned to have sex with Darcy last night. I wouldn’t have even begun to suggest it until the air was cleared between us and I had inevitably been fired from my job for turning Max’s proposal down—but copious amounts of alcohol had lowered both of our inhibitions, and we’d ended up tangled together.
But I didn’t regret it.
And the fact that she didn’t either gave me the strength to do what I knew I needed to. I needed to call Max and come clean that my intentions were no longer to bring a hotel to Aveline, and if I was honest with myself, it hadn’t been since I’d met Darcy’s family.
I stayed for breakfast. The two of us were in the kitchen together. She was brewing the coffee while I whipped up some eggs and bacon, and I realized this was the first time I had ever really spent the night with a woman. The night after the Mad Pirate in my room at Green Gables Inn didn’t count. I hadn’t actually slept at all, finding the chair to be stiff and uncomfortable, and I was gone before she woke up. Therefore, I had never actually woken up next to someone, and I most certainly had never wanted to do it over and over again. I was in uncharted territory. I was a pioneer.
I was so totally fucked.
After breakfast, I knew I needed to do what I had put off for the last month. I needed to call Max. I needed to explain that this was no longer the mission I was sent on, and despite what happened, I was ready to take the consequences of not following through with my boss’s plan. I prepared myself for the worst.
“Penn Murphy! Tell me you have good news,” Max said in his booming voice.
I swallowed hard, “Actually, it’s not great. Listen, Mr. Prescott—”
“Oh, I’m Mr. Prescott now? This must be serious. What’s going on, Penn?”
“Max, I can’t get the hardware store. It’s not going to work.” I tried to keep my voice steady, not allowing my nerves to take over.
The line was quiet.
I spoke again. “I’m sorry. It’s just not possible.”
More quiet.
I opened my mouth to start talking when Max sighed heavily. I could almost picture him rubbing his temples with his fingers. “I am disappointed by this news, Penn.”
“I know, sir. I’m sorry,” I replied.
“I’m sorry, too, Penn. Do you know why I’m sorry?”
I stayed silent. I knew that was best when Max was angry, and from the tone of his voice, he was getting there quickly.
He continued. “I’m sorry that I am a man of my word. It’s obvious now you don’t understand that concept. Do you know why I say that you don’t understand that concept?”
I ran my hands through my hair. It was a rhetorical question. I knew enough about Max to know that when he had that tone—and when he repeated himself—he didn’t ever want an actual answer.
He continued as I suspected he would. “You don’t know that concept because you gave me your word that you would get me the hardware store, and you did not come through with that.”
“Right. I’m sorry.” I spoke softly, even though I wasn’t. I was trying to preserve my job in the hopes I wouldn’t lose everything I had built over the last decade. It wasn’t the best job, having Max as a boss, but the pay and benefits were outstanding, and while that had been a really big deal to me for most of my life, I was beginning to think there was a lot more to life than money.
“And now I have to follow through with my word. Do you remember what that word was?”
Another rhetorical question.
“I told you to buy the store or don’t come back to work. Do you remember me telling you that?”
So, this was it. I was going to be fired solely based on Max’s ego. I had asked him to move me to a different assignment. I had given him the word that this was not working, and yet he still pushed me to stay. He pushed me to follow through with something I felt was a moral conflict, and now I was getting irritated. I knew what the outcome of this interaction was going to be, and I was tired of being strung along for Max’s enjoyment. I was tired of Max in general, and after ten years of working for him and busting my ass for the promotion he never gave, I was officially done.
I squared up, feeling more confident as I answered his question. “You know, Max, before you say anything else. Do you want to know something?”
“I—” he began.
“No, no. Rhetorical question. Max, you are the biggest fucking prick I’ve ever met. Wow! That felt good to say...Now, I’ll save you the trouble...I quit.”
Then I hung up, feeling both relieved and terrified for what was to come.