Chapter Ten Connor
CHAPTER TEN
CONNOR
Are you fucking kidding me, Connor? You turn off your phone for an entire day?” Petra blasted me Monday morning. Not only did she show up at the rental house unannounced, but she also looked out of sorts.
Petra was always polished. She cared a lot about making a name for herself and once shared that she’d never let her appearance get in the way of someone’s opinion of her. Yet, she stood at the doorway, hair going everywhere and in jeans and a sweatshirt. I didn’t even know she owned jeans.
“Uh, come in.” I ushered her inside, hating the squish of guilt in my chest. Her car would be visible to Laney and her parents. Despite the progress we had made this weekend, talking and cuddling in front of the fire, her concern that I’d replaced her with Petra cut at me.
“Give me a second, okay? I’m letting Laney know you stopped by.”
Her brows rose, the question evident in her eyes. “And why would you need to let her know that?”
“Because, Petra, I’m doing whatever I can to get my wife back.
” I found my phone on the counter along with the constant buzz of texts and messages that I had avoided all weekend.
I hadn’t even wanted to check it once we got back to Cherrywood.
In my decade of hustling to get to the top, I had never turned my phone off for over twenty-four hours.
It was so out of character and stressed me the fuck out, but it had been the right choice.
Connor: Hi, good morning. I wanted to let you know Petra showed up unannounced today because I turned my phone off all weekend. I have no idea how long she’ll stay.
Laney: Hi! Okay, thanks for letting me know.
Connor: Can I take you out for dinner tonight?
Laney: Would tomorrow work? I have dinner plans tonight, sorry!
Connor: With who?
I didn’t mean to send that so fast, but images of her perfect high school sweetheart came to mind.
Connor: Sorry, I wish I could unsend that. Tomorrow would be great!
Laney: No need to be jealous of Becky. We’re grabbing dinner to talk about the festival that I’ll be photographing. It will only take an hour.
Connor: I’m jealous of anyone who spends time with you.
“Connor, Jesus Christ.” Petra scoffed. “Are you listening to me at all?”
“Give me a fucking minute.” I ignored her and smiled at my phone.
Connor: Let me know when you’re done with Becky. I’ll pick you up and we can go see an old Christmas movie at the theater.
Laney: !!!!!!
Connor: Those better be YES I WANT TO SEE YOU CONNOR exclamation points.
Laney: Not quite. They are I LOVE POPCORN.
Connor: So, movie date?
Laney: Yes!!!! (those are excited to see you exclamation points)
Laney: Tell Petra hello for me.
“Okay, I’m good now.” I pocketed my phone, a grin stretching across my face.
This date felt different from anything before.
We’d seen movies together, but after living for a few days never knowing if I’d hold her hand again, this was big.
She loved movie theater popcorn and black-and-white holiday movies.
She’d laugh, cry, and curl up next to me and quote them the whole time.
I’d silence my phone the entire time. I had to.
I snorted as I stared at my assistant of almost ten years. “You look more disheveled than usual, by the way.”
Her expression flattened.
“You don’t say. My CEO disappeared for a weekend, we had a cyberattack, and you decided to work on your marriage the day it happens. Someone had to keep everything going, and it wasn’t you.”
“Are things falling apart? Or are we okay?” She had always functioned as more than an executive assistant.
“We’re okay, but I’m not. I can’t handle you ghosting me like this.
” She pulled at her hair. “I have this feeling my ex is involved in this. He wants me to suffer, and he knows causing the company issues—causing you pain—would hurt me. It’s irrational, but I feel like he had something on Nate to get him to turn on us. ”
I finally saw what Laney had noticed. Despite Petra and I never crossing a line, it was clear now how Laney assumed that we did.
I knew Petra. She was like me—driven, focused, unforgiving, and desperate.
I was desperate to prove to myself and my dad that I was cut out to be a CEO.
She was desperate to make a name for herself and to help out her family.
But the possessive, almost unhealthy way she spoke about our relationship caused a rock to form in my chest.
“Petra, sit down for a second.”
She moved to the kitchen table and sat, her expression open. She was used to taking orders from me, navigating the cutthroat world at a fast pace. This would hurt her. I hated doing it, but if it meant choosing Laney or the company, I’d choose my wife.
“Repeat back what you just said and think about how it would sound to my wife.”
She frowned, her fingers tapping the table before she blushed.
“Connor, that’s… no, no.”
“I agree with you. We’ve been friends and colleagues for years. Nothing more. But I need to rethink our boundaries, what I depend on you for.”
“Connor.” She stood up, her blush long gone and replaced with a pale, worried look.
“She can’t possibly think…”
“She knows nothing happened. She likes you. We’re navigating what our marriage looks like now, what is savable, and it was clear to me that you weren’t aware of my priorities. I will pick her over this job. If she gave me the ultimatum, I would pick her.”
Petra blinked twice before nodding. “I’m sorry for telling you your marriage wasn’t worth saving. That was out of line. I am mortified right now.”
I snorted. “Your words woke me up. If you, my friend and colleague, thought I was a bad husband, what the hell would my wife think?”
“No.” She stood and scrubbed her face. “I was so focused on revenge, on making Blake pay, that I forgot the human part of living. Oh my God.”
“Petra, you’re fine.”
She paced the kitchen. “I’m not fine. I’m ashamed of myself. All I wanted to do was help my parents out, but my mom is gone, and my dad is living with my brother and nephews. They don’t need the money anymore. So why am I hustling so much? Why am I obsessed with proving myself to him?”
“I think that’s normal when you had a bad marriage.”
“I lost the whole point.” She sighed. “I think I quit.”
“Yeah, I can’t let you do that.” I almost laughed. “I think we need to sit down and figure out a way for both of us to be better at work, and in life.”
“Laney must hate me. It makes me sick to my stomach. Literally sick.” She glanced out the window, a dark expression on her face.
“A few years ago, I made sure to check in on your personal life, make sure you had work-life balance. I covered for you when you needed a lunch with her. But I stopped. We had too much work to do to beat Blake. Blake is friends with a board member, and then your dad… It became about winning. Beating them. And I stopped caring about life outside work. I canceled a few of your lunch meetings with Laney, you know? I told myself it was for the business, but what if that is what caused her to… leave?”
I gritted my teeth, thinking about the story Laney shared about Petra turning her away. “I’m not thrilled about the choices you or I made, but my marriage is on me and me alone.”
Petra plopped onto the chair again, the wooden legs loudly scratching the floor. “I think I became obsessed with work in a way.”
I nodded and sat across from her. “I have a proposition for you.”
Asking her to take on a promotion was step one of many to get where I needed to be, and like Petra, I was annoyed I had been so obsessed with being successful that I hadn’t thought rationally or strategically when it came to my life.
“I’m surprised you don’t want me fired, Connor. I deserve it. I let my personal vendetta against a competitor get in the way of supporting you. Not as a CEO or my boss, but as my friend for ten years.”
“I want you to be my COO.”
She frowned.
“You’ll be my right hand. My number two.
You speak for me when I’m not there. You lead our executive team and ensure shit is done and done well.
You’re already doing it. You have the respect, experience, and my support.
It’ll be a significant raise, more shares in the company, and provide us both with what we need.
” I swallowed as my gut settled. I trusted that sixth-sense feeling when it came to work, never questioning it.
This was the move. “This will allow me more time at home with my wife. This also gives you more power, more voice. You influence the votes, the board members, the team. We run this place together, instead of you just supporting me.”
Her lips trembled.
Fuck.
“If you cry, I will shove you outside. I’ve never seen you cry, Petra, and today is not the day to start.” I pointed a finger at her. “Knock it the fuck off. Do you want the position or not?”
She nodded.
“It’ll take me some time to get the board okay with the increase in salary and for you to find your replacement. I already drafted a description and have calls set up with our CFO and CTO this afternoon. This is going to happen, one way or another.”
“Thank you.” She stood and held out her hand, her eyes waterier than I liked, but no tears fell.
“I will never let you down again.”
“Deal.” I shook her hand, smiling until she finally gave me half a smile.
“See, this is good news.”
“You’re really chipper for a man whose wife might leave him. I don’t get it.”
“Laney agreed to give me the month to prove to her that we can make this work. This is step one.”
Her eyes lit up.
“Okay, we need to brainstorm ideas, ways to—”
“I appreciate you so much. I do, but I have to do this alone.” I swallowed the uncomfortable lump in my throat. “If I can’t win my wife back on my own merit, then I don’t deserve her.”
Her eyebrows disappeared into her hairline. “Holy shit, Connor. You’re legit.”
“You lost yourself the last year or so. Well, I did too. I need to reset.”
“Have you considered just powering yourself off and on again?”
“Funny.” My lips quirked. “Are you staying in town a bit or did you come just to yell at me this morning?”
Her nostrils flared. “I’m happy you’re working on yourself and Laney, but dude, we have so much to fucking do. Are you able to work today?”
“I appreciate you asking instead of demanding. Improvement.” I poured another cup of coffee and faced her. “Do you want to find a hotel and stay in town for a bit? We could work here during the day.”
“And not go back to the city?” She scrunched her nose. “This is a small town.”
“Yeah, and it’s charming. It might be good for you. Let me know if you want to get a hotel. I’ll reserve one for you since I’m the reason you’re here. Now, let’s get to work and make sure we both still have jobs.”
“I definitely fucking do. It’s you who disappeared. Now, here is my theory on how someone influenced our development team…”
Cherrywood was beautiful. The sun set hours ago, and holiday lights of every possible color lined the roads and covered the trees.
You couldn’t walk two steps without someone smiling at you or saying good night or wishing you a good day.
It was so different from the city, from the unsmiling faces and dark clothing.
The change of pace was startling but not unsettling.
If anything, it made me pause. I hadn’t paused in years, and I should have. I got why Laney missed this place.
Laney told me she’d meet me right outside the theater, Snowefalls Films, about ten minutes ago, and my pulse raced thinking about seeing her.
I had texted to tell her that Petra was staying in town at a hotel, but that was really all we communicated that day, and I wanted more. Funnily enough, I’d gone days without texting her before, and now a few texts caused me to feel like a teenager.
A part of me wanted to tell Laney everything—the move for Petra, what it meant for us, for my job—but I didn’t want to until it was official. If it didn’t go through, or if the board fought me, I’d readjust my plan, but I didn’t want to give Laney any false hope. Not ever again.
I stood with my hands in my pockets, snow landing on my face as a familiar scent hit me. Laney approached me with a nervous smile. Her lips were red, her hair brushed to the side under an adorable fucking knitted hat. Her red winter coat matched her lips, and she looked perfect.
“Hi,” she said, her smile growing. “Small-town Connor looks happy.”
“Not the town.” I leaned toward her, kissing her neck and breathing her in, and then pulled back. “You.”
“Good line.” Her eyes danced with amusement. “They’re playing White Christmas. I’m so excited.”
“Your favorite movie.” I held out a hand, waiting for her to place hers in mine. I dragged my thumb over her wrist and opened the door with my free hand. “Have you seen it in theaters before?”
“I haven’t! I’ve seen most of them here, but never this one. Prepare for me to ugly cry at the end.”
“Oh, I’m prepared.” I patted my chest where I had definitely placed a small pack of tissues. “I recall how you get at movies, let alone Christmas movies.”
“They are just so magical! I can’t help it!”
I laughed and moved my arm around her shoulders, keeping our fingers interlocked as I pulled her closer.
“There is something about the holidays that’s special. Even a workaholic Grinch like me can appreciate it.”
Laney beamed as I bought the tickets and one large Sprite and popcorn for us to share. Share was a loose term because she could destroy a bucket of popcorn on her own, but I was glad to see her smile.
And since it was her hometown, she ran into three people she knew.
Her fourth-grade teacher, and then her old neighbor, then one of her friends from high school.
She introduced me as her husband even without wearing her ring, which felt like a major win.
A massive one. It took a few minutes to get to our seats, but when we did, she didn’t jump right into the popcorn. She chewed her lip and stared at me.
“What is it?” I pushed some of her hair behind her ear. Her hat had left it all wild, and while I found it cute, she’d want it in order.
“Thank you for making time for me tonight. This is really special.” Her eyes glistened, not quite with tears but with emotion.
My stomach bottomed out. She was being nice, kind, but the words affected me inside. She shouldn’t thank me for spending time with her, but that was our reality. Instead of voicing anything, I forced a smile and tilted her chin for a quick kiss.
“There is nowhere else I’d rather be.”
Her responding smile was enough to get me through the inner turmoil.
I really needed to get the COO position settled, and fast, so Laney would know this was our new forever.
That meant finding a way to run to the city without worrying her, because I refused to take any steps backward.
My wife was giving me a chance, and I wasn’t going to ruin it.