Chapter 16
Haylee stuttered when a bombshell of a woman walked into the office. Her hair was long, a perfect shade of brown and golden highlights, her skin kissed by the non-existent sun in Portland. Her eyes were a bright hazel, greens coming out because of the dark green jacket that she wore. She popped open the button on her jacket as she eyed Haylee over, her face set in a serious look.
But under it all, Haylee detected a hint that this woman was willing to talk to anyone.
“You must be Haylee.” Her voice was like smooth wine on a warm night at the beach. Precise in her sounds but gentle and lulling.
“Uh…yeah.” Haylee’s stomach twisted. Fuck, she was stunning. And if Haylee wasn’t so wrapped up in Cherish, she would absolutely be flirting right now instead of feeling this swarm of guilt eating away at her for daring to look at another woman.
“Is she in yet? I know I’m a bit early.”
Haylee shook her head slowly, at a loss for words. She had to swallow the lump in her throat. “You’re Allegra Ilic.” The realization sank in her slowly, the dead weight pulling her down. She’d forgotten that was this morning. She’d meant to mention it to Cherish so that she could be prepared, but when Febe had asked her to contact Allegra, she’d done her job and then got lost in her daydream of kissing Cherish against every hard surface she could find in the office.
“I am.” Allegra’s cheeks pinked.
“The first time I read your name, I thought it was pronounced I lick. Cherish wasn’t amused.” Haylee’s cheeks burned. She couldn’t believe she’d just said that out loud. She slapped her hand across her mouth and cringed. “Oh my God. I’m so sorry.”
Allegra laughed, the trill of her voice echoing through the main office and warming Haylee even more. Allegra shook her head and put her hand out, her lips curled with joy. “Don’t be embarrassed. I hear that one a lot. It’s an odd name.”
“I can’t believe I said that.”
Allegra was still laughing, her eyes squinted. She wasn’t this big scary person that Febe and Cherish had made her out to be. In fact, she came off as being someone so down to earth that Haylee would love to sit in a coffee shop with her and pick her brain.
“I’m so glad you did! Most people just brush it off with small comments, but I know what they’re thinking.” Allegra wiped her fingers under her eyes. “This is perfect. I was so worried coming up here today.”
“Why?” Haylee leaned back in her chair, wanting desperately to change the subject of the conversation.
Allegra blew out a breath. “It’s no secret that Ms. Aarts has struggles with me and the Holbrook Foundation.”
“I heard about the gala last year. Kind of.” Haylee folded her arms across her chest. “I imagine she’s quite embarrassed about it.” Haylee bit her cheek. She probably shouldn’t have said that. Cherish would have her head if she was here, but something about Allegra just pulled that information from her.
“Oh, no doubt.” Allegra winced slightly. “But Febe is brilliant, and she has a heart of gold under all that ice. I’m sure of it.”
Haylee wrinkled her forehead. Maybe Allegra Ilic knew Febe Aarts a little better than she’d thought originally. Still, Febe wasn’t going to take kindly to this meeting, and she was going to need some extra TLC when she was done with it. Haylee should make sure to have coffee ready and maybe even a little sweet treat for Febe to taste afterward.
“You don’t believe me?” Allegra pinned Haylee with a serious look.
“I don’t know Ms. Aarts well enough to say one way or the other. I haven’t worked here very long.”
“You haven’t?” Allegra shifted, undoing the buttons on her jacket and pulling it off to fold it over her arm.
“No.”
“What were you doing before?”
“Temping mostly.” Haylee hated talking about her past work history. It was abundant, and really only a strong reminder of just how many jobs she’d had that she couldn’t keep. She’d always temped jobs with hopes of permanent positions, but most of those long-term appointments asked her to leave before the time was up, or she chose to.
“Where did you work?”
Haylee sighed. “A lot of different places. I’ve done accounts receivable, office management.” Haylee moved her hands out to indicate the office they were in. “Substitute teaching.”
“Did you go to school?” Allegra genuinely looked interested.
“Yeah. I majored in social work.”
“Did you finish your degree?”
Haylee frowned. “No, I didn’t.”
Allegra hummed. She glanced toward the door she’d just come in, as if she was looking to see if Febe or Cherish were going to show up. “Ever thought about going back?”
“Not really.” Sudden guilt hit Haylee. She couldn’t even finish a four-year degree. She wasn’t made for things that lasted, which meant all these daydreams she was having about Cherish really did need to stop. Nothing ever lasted in her life.
“What do you want to do, Haylee?”
“Excuse me?”
“You strike me as someone more than capable of running this office, but you also strike me as someone who hasn’t quite found her passion yet.”
“How did you get that out of a two second conversation?” Haylee raised one eyebrow, giving Allegra a pointed look.
Allegra grinned broadly, satisfaction at hitting the nail on the head oozing off her in waves. “Answer the question.”
Haylee blew out a breath. “I want to start a specialty here to focus on veteran families. Not immediate families. Think like the aunts, uncles, cousins, spouses to the siblings. I think they’re a missed part of our society, and often don’t have the resources—good resources—that they should have in order to thrive after leaving the military or even while still in it. Their families are also deeply affected by their work, and while military families have strong ties, there is a sense of shame when one is struggling in ways that aren’t acceptable.”
“That’s fair.” Allegra shifted, the lines of her body moving in a way that Haylee would have once thought enticing. But now she was so focused on what she wanted to do that she couldn’t even think of Allegra in that way. “And how can Febe help them?”
“She’s created specialties before. She did that with the queer community, so why not do it with this?” Haylee shifted in her chair, really feeling like she should be standing up for this conversation instead of sitting down.
“But it’s not her passion.” Allegra winked. “It’s yours.”
“Fair.” Haylee gnawed on her lip.
“Do you know what the Holbrook Foundation does?”
“Ms. Ilic!” Cherish’s voice was near a screech. When had she gotten there? Haylee hadn’t even noticed the door opening, but Cherish stood in it, jacket over her shoulders, cheeks red, and eyes wide. “Ms. Aarts isn’t here yet.”
“I know.” Allegra faced Cherish with a smile, though it didn’t quite reach her eyes, not like the one she’d given Haylee a few minutes ago. “I have a meeting with her.”
“No. You don’t.” Cherish glared at Allegra seconds before flashing that glare to Haylee.
What was going on? Did Cherish think something more was happening here? Had she heard what they were talking about?
“I do,” Allegra placated. “I scheduled it with Haylee the other day when she called requesting a meeting.”
Cherish paled. Haylee wanted nothing more than to stand up and run over to comfort her. She was only trying to protect Febe. That was it. Everyone in the room knew that, didn’t they? Why was Cherish acting like this?
“Did you schedule a meeting for Ms. Aarts with Ms. Ilic?” Cherish’s jaw clenched, anger seething in her tone. Haylee wouldn’t miss that if she was a mile away.
“Yeah, I did. Ms. Aarts requested a meeting ahead of the gala.”
Cherish’s mouth pulled tight. “Fine. There was a car accident on the highway. She’s going to be late.” Cherish stalked to her desk and slammed her purse onto it.
Allegra shifted a look to Haylee, full of curiosity and confusion. Haylee just shrugged, still not quite sure what was going on either. This was so out of character for Cherish.
The door opened again, and Febe stepped inside, a stone-cold look on her face as she shifted her gaze from one person to the next, landing on Allegra. Haylee watched her carefully, looking for the blowup that she predicted might happen with these two women in the room. Instead, it was as if all the hot air had been sucked from the room, coiling right into Febe Aarts as she stood by the door to the main office and didn’t tear her gaze away from one Allegra Ilic.
Was there something going on there?
“We can meet in my office.” Febe’s voice was all ice.
Haylee sucked in a sharp breath, just waiting for the tension to snap. Febe snuck a glance to Cherish, then turned to Haylee. She lowered her voice as she leaned over Haylee’s desk, much like she had that day when she’d caught Haylee kissing Cherish. “Arrange for a car for Saturday. For myself and you and Cherish together.”
“All right.” Haylee flicked her gaze to Cherish, finding her still glowering. What the hell was going on that she was oblivious to?
“I don’t want to be disturbed.”
“Understood.” Haylee hinged on Febe’s words, hoping they would shed some light as to what was going on, but she had no clue. “Was there anything else you needed? Coffee or paperwork?”
“No.” Febe shifted her gaze back to Allegra, and that same cold came over the conversation. She said nothing else as she walked straight into her office and told Allegra to shut the door behind her.
Where Haylee expected the tension to be gone now that those two were out of their sights, she was surprised to find it wasn’t. Standing up, Haylee walked over to Cherish’s desk and touched her shoulder lightly. Cherish jerked back sharply.
“Don’t touch me,” Cherish seethed.
What pile of shit had Haylee stepped in now? She’d thought they’d made progress. That she was doing a good job waiting for Cherish to figure out whatever she needed, but this was the opposite. Maybe Cherish had worked through everything and she didn’t want to go any further between them.
Haylee shrank back slightly. “What’s going on?”
“Do you know who that woman is?” Cherish’s jaw was clenched so tight that Haylee swore she could see the muscle pulsing.
“Allegra Ilic is the Executive Director at the Holbrook Foundation.”
“Do you know what the Holbrook Foundation is?” Cherish turned on her, anger in every word as it oozed from her.
“Uh…no.”
Cherish snorted. “I thought you were doing so much better than this. I really thought…” she trailed off.
“What the hell are you talking about?” This was a complete one-eighty from where they had been the other day when Cherish had been praising her for doing such a good job at work. What happened to the accolades?
“You!” Cherish stood up sharply, stepping right into the space between them. She breathed so hard that Haylee could feel it on her face. “You don’t know anything about Febe. You don’t know anything about this office. You’re going to send her into a tailspin that I can’t pull her out of.”
“Cherish!” Febe’s voice cracked like a whip through the room.
Haylee didn’t have the decency to look up. Her stomach rotted with guilt. If Cherish stopped liking her, then she would lose her job. She would lose everything. Her couch that she barely paid for, the clothes on her back that she didn’t even technically own because she had credit card bills piled so high that she couldn’t see her way through them.
“That’s enough.” Febe stepped into the center of the room, her gaze locked onto Cherish’s face. “Take the day.”
“Ms. Aarts—” Cherish protested.
“Take the day. Now.”
There was absolutely no arguing with Febe on that one. Even Haylee understood that. But if Cherish wanted to throw her under the bus and get her fired, then she absolutely could.
Cherish jerked her hand as she snagged her purse and her jacket. She didn’t even bother to say anything as she hit Haylee’s shoulder while she walked by her toward the door. When she was gone, Febe met Haylee’s eyes.
“We’ll talk about this later.”
“Yes, Ms. Aarts.” Haylee sounded so small, the words barely leaving her lips.
What the hell had she done to Cherish? This was astronomically different from the woman she had come to know. Febe went back into her office, shutting the door.
Haylee shivered.
She didn’t understand anything that had just happened. She didn’t know what to say to Cherish or Febe or even what to do while she sat at her desk and waited for Febe to be done with the meeting. Rubbing her hands over her face, she closed her eyes and drew in slow, deep breaths. What was happening?
Why couldn’t she ever just get a job and keep it?
Why did she always fuck everything up?
Why couldn’t she be better?
After twenty minutes of wallowing, Haylee ordered the cars for the gala for Febe and for Cherish, leaving her address out of it. Then she stared at her phone. She should text Cherish, make sure that she was okay. But what would she even say? Because it was very clear that Cherish wanted nothing to do with her.
Grimacing, Haylee texted the only person she could think of—Jackson.
Haylee: I fucked up.
Jackson: Whiskey. Wine. Or axe throwing level?
Haylee grinned at his response. He would want to know that. Dragging in a deep breath, Haylee surveyed the office, convinced this would be one of the last times she stepped foot in here. She would be fired or forced out very soon. No doubt about that.
Haylee: Atomic bomb level.
Jackson: Holy shit. I can call in two hours.
Tears reached Haylee’s eyes, stinging them. He was the best big brother. The only person in the world who understood her, and the only reason she had made it this far in life. She could wait two hours. She hoped, anyway.