15. Chapter Fifteen #3
“Really?” Mabel looked at him. “Weird, because both Iko and Deepak texted me this morning to say they side with me and that if anyone is getting too big for their boots it’s you.
” She paused to see if any of her words were penetrating his thick skull and saw nothing.
“In fact, the three of us were talking about buying you out and letting you go.”
He smiled. “Wow, Mabes, so feisty for someone who’s a quitter.”
“Well, you can’t have it both ways, Joss,” Mabel pointed out. “Either you refuse my resignation, and I’m onboard, or I’m out. If I’m still in, the rest of us will be asking you to leave. It was always supposed to be a partnership, not a dictatorship.”
Not that she had any intention of staying at this point, but she needed to get Joss to think about what he was doing
Joss raised his chin. “It’s not my fault that you guys can’t keep up with my visionary thinking.”
“True. So maybe you’d be better off finding people who do?”
Sam stepped in front of Joss. “I don’t want you working with her.”
“Sweetheart, can you keep out of this?” Joss patted her arm. “It’s way over your head.”
Sam went rigid. “What the hell, Joss?”
He blinked at her. “What did I say?”
“Basically, that I’m an airhead.”
“I didn’t mean it like that,” Joss protested.
“Yes, you did,” Mabel and Colin said in unison.
“Look.” Joss turned to Mabel. “Can we just talk? I don’t know what this has to do with anyone else but us.”
“Sam might have an opinion about that,” Mabel said. “Why didn’t you tell her that you were coming to see me?”
“Because I didn’t want her to know, okay? She’s jealous enough of you already without making things worse.”
“I am right here, Joss,” Sam snapped. “And if you don’t think I’m smart enough to confide in, why the hell have you been pretending to love me all this time?”
Joss held up both hands. “Hey, that’s not what this is about. Can we shelve that until I’ve talked to Mabel?”
Sam looked at him for a long moment. “Okay.”
Mabel raised her eyebrows, because it was obvious that things were far from okay between Sam and Joss.
“Great.” Joss looked at Mabel. “Is there anywhere we can speak privately?”
Colin turned to Mabel. “Why don’t you take Joss into the library, Mabel? Sam and I will stay here to enjoy our tea.”
“If I must.” Mabel exited the kitchen, eager to get this thing with Joss ended.
Her cheeks were fiery with suppressed anger and frustration.
Joss had pulled plenty of bullshit in the past but tracking her down here and crashing a private party literally took the birthday cake.
She and Colin needed to get back to Freddy’s party, and the sooner she got rid of the idiot, star-crossed lovers she’d inadvertently lured to Marcham Hall, the better.
She marched down the kitchen corridor, through the green baize door, and into the entrance hall with its magnificent domed ceiling.
She turned to speak to Joss and realized he’d stopped walking.
He was standing in the middle of the hall staring upward.
“This place is something else,” he remarked as he started moving again. “Did you say it belongs to that Colin guy?”
“No, it belongs to his father, who is currently in the rose garden celebrating his son’s birthday. But Colin is his heir.”
“No wonder he’s turned your head,” Joss said. “This is like every girl’s dream, right?”
“Living in a crumbling old mansion with a handsome prince?” Mabel smiled. “Yes. I suppose it is.”
She closed the door of the library behind them and waited for Joss to take a quick tour of the vast library and stop saying “wow.”
“Is this why you don’t want to come back?” Joss asked. “Because of this British guy?”
“Not just that,” Mabel said. “I’m truly burned out. I need peace and quiet to decide what I want to do next.”
Joss suddenly sat down and put his head in his hands. “I don’t know what to do when you’re not there, Mabes. It’s like my anchor has gone, or something. I end up trying to control everything and shit keeps going wrong.”
Mabel took the chair beside him and gave his knee a brief pat. “Maybe you need to let everyone do the jobs that you know deep down they are perfectly capable of doing and stop interfering.”
“But—”
“No buts. Every single person on that team is brilliant, and from what I’ve heard, my replacement is doing my work perfectly.”
“But she’s not you, babe.”
“And that’s okay,” Mabel said gently. “I don’t want to be on bad terms with you, Joss. We’ve been friends for years, but you have to let me go. I’ll suffocate if I keep working the way we’ve been doing.”
“But it’s hard all by myself.”
“Yes, it is, but you’re all brilliant and you’ll make it work,” Mabel reminded him. “And you’ve got Sam to support you through it.”
He finally looked up. “I kind of thought you saying you wanted to leave was a trick to get me back again.”
“It absolutely wasn’t.” Mabel met his gaze. “Sam is so much better for you than I could ever be.”
“You’re right.” Joss nodded. “She’s awesome.”
“If she’s awesome, treat her that way,” Mabel said. “If she’s not worrying about me hanging around, I’m sure things will go much more smoothly,”
“Okay.” Joss took a deep breath. “I still don’t understand how you can walk away from us, but I guess I’ll survive.”
“Good for you.” Mabel stood up. “Now you’d better go and make it up with Sam. Telling her she’s an airhead probably wasn’t the brightest thing to do.”
Joss groaned. “Why are women so complicated?”
“Why are men so dumb?” Mabel joked as she opened the door and went back into the hall. “Now, do you want to stay and join the party, or do you have other plans?”
“I think I’d better take Sam back to London and show her a good time.” Joss caught Mabel’s elbow and kissed the top of her head. “Thanks, Mabe. For everything.”
“I wish you all the billions in the world, Joss.” Mabel patted his shoulder. “Go get ’em, cowboy.”
They walked back into the kitchen where Colin had succeeded in cheering Sam up. She was laughing at something he’d said and only noticed Joss’s return when he cleared his throat.
“I think we’ve sorted things out,” Joss said. “Mabel’s leaving the company. Obviously, we’ll recompense her for all her work when we sell this project.”
“I’m glad to hear it,” Mabel said.
“But she hasn’t done anything on the new project.” Sam frowned.
“Actually, the original idea and preliminary software was all hers,” Joss said. “I’m trying to be fair, here.”
“But she doesn’t need any more money.” Sam looked at Joss.
Colin’s gaze flew to Mabel, but she wouldn’t look at him.
Joss smiled. “Just because we’ve made a few dollars doesn’t mean we stop coming up with new stuff all the time. It’s just the way our brains work.”
Sam sighed. “I suppose if that’s the price we have to pay to get her out of our lives it’s worth it.”
“Hey, Mabel will never be completely out of my life, Sam,” Joss said. “I wouldn’t be who I am today if I hadn’t met her. If you can’t deal with that then I guess there’s no future for us.”
Mabel was both touched that he’d refused to dump her entirely and worried that Sam would start yelling again. She also spared a thought for how Colin must be feeling stuck in the middle of so much drama. At the moment it would be completely understandable if he ran for the hills.
Colin cleared his throat. “I think what Joss is trying to say, Sam, is that although he loves only you, he still honors his old friendship with Mabel.”
Sam stared at Joss. “Do you love me?”
“Of course I do.” He went over and hugged her. “How about we go back to London, and I’ll prove it?”
She cupped his cheek. “I’d like that.”
Joss put his arm around her and turned to face Colin and Mabel. “We’ll get going, then.”
“Great!” Colin said heartily. “Let me show you out.”
Colin returned to find Mabel sitting at the table pouring herself an extremely large glass of wine.
“I don’t think Sam will ever be your biggest fan,” he said as he sat opposite her and held up an empty glass for her to fill.