Chapter 21 #2
“He sent me away.”
“To learn how to be an adult. And you’ve made a lot of progress.”
“Thanks,” she mumbled. But that still didn’t change the truth. She was unlikable.
Viv got up to get a glass of tea.
Kalista resumed her calligraphy. What else was there to say? She couldn’t make Tyler like her. Which was a shame, because she really, really liked him. Everybody else at work did too, and he seemed to like them. The only person he had a problem with was... her .
When she sat back down, Viv said, “Have you tried talking to Tyler?”
“Yes, a couple of times. I gave up, though.”
“Maybe you’re giving up too soon.”
“Viv—”
“I’ve got an idea. It’s a little sneaky, though. And you’ll have to tell him everything that’s on your mind... and heart.”
That sounded scary. But if it would get him to talk to her again, she was willing to do almost anything. She didn’t expect him to like her. That was an impossibility. But it would be nice if he stopped ignoring her. “Okay.”
She grinned. “Here’s what we’re going to do.”
* * *
“That’s wonderful news, Logan.” Jade tucked her Razr in the crook of her neck as she pushed the elevator button on the bottom floor of the Harrington Media building.
When she returned to Atlanta a little over a week ago, she’d gotten a new briefcase with a flawless latch—she’d tested it several times at the store to make sure.
She put her cell back to her ear. “Any news on the transplant?”
“No,” he said. “But the doctors are more optimistic about her prognosis now that she’s not retaining as much fluid anymore. They’re surprised too. They’d been so sure she wasn’t going to make it.”
A chill went through her. “What changed?”
“I think it was you, Jade. Those three days you spent with her perked her up. Like she had something to live for again.”
Jade doubted that, but Logan sounded convinced. The elevator door opened. “I’ll check back later today,” she said. “Gotta run, I’ve got an appointment first thing this morning.”
“Good luck. Love you, sis.”
“Love you too.” She hopped on the empty elevator and hit the button, then leaned against the wall, relieved.
During her stay in Little Rock, she’d spent hours with Lydia, and they’d gotten to know each other again.
Jade found out things about her mother’s childhood that mirrored her own.
Lydia had repeated the patterns, and she was thankful Jade had broken them.
On her last day, the doctors said she was well enough to be released.
She did look a lot better—definitely less swollen.
Jade wasn’t sure about her staying in her apartment alone, but Logan had asked for early release from the halfway house, and because of his stellar recovery, it was granted.
He moved in with Lydia, and Jade couldn’t thank him enough.
Since her return to Atlanta, she called them both every day, sometimes more than once.
She smiled. They were family. Her family.
The doors opened and she hustled to her cubicle.
She wasn’t used to taking time off, and because it had been unexpected, work had backed up.
She was plowing through it, though, and she would finish if she worked the weekend.
But she wasn’t going to. Not this time. She planned to go to Peachtree City, rent a golf cart, and drive the paths that connected the shopping villages in the city.
It was a little more than half an hour away, but she’d never visited before. There was always work to do instead.
“Mornin’ sunshine.” Charlotte Rae was standing by Jade’s cubicle, holding a mug of peppermint tea.
“Good morning.” Jade smiled at her friend and set her new briefcase on the floor.
“Did I mention how nice it is to see you cheery and smiling?”
“A couple times.” She sat down and powered up her computer. “But I don’t mind hearing it again.”
“I don’t mind saying it either. How’s your mother?”
On her first day back, Jade had filled Charlotte in on her mother and brother, but she didn’t go into too much detail and Charlotte didn’t ask. She did want to know how her trip to Clementine was, and Jade wasn’t sure how to answer. She had landed on “Unexpected” and left it at that.
“I have a proposition.” Charlotte grinned.
Jade glanced at her polar bear sitting near her computer.
She’d ended up naming her Polly, and while Charlotte had raised a thin eyebrow when she’d brought it into work and set it on her desk, Jade didn’t care, and she didn’t explain.
She needed something tangible from Clementine.
From Sebastian. Eventually she’d take it back home and, at some point, donate it.
But right now Polly reminded her of better times. “Do I want to hear this?”
“I’ve found the perfect man for you.”
Jade’s stomach sank. She should have known Charlotte wasn’t going to give up.
Over the past two weeks she’d tried to put Sebastian out of her mind. It was difficult, and even Lydia had sensed she was holding something back when she talked about why she was in Clementine. Jade finally told her everything.
“That’s it?” Lydia had said, her brow lifting. She could sit up now and was eating a small cup of vanilla pudding. “You’re not going to make things right?”
“He’s not going to listen to me, Mom. I wouldn’t either if I were him.”
“But what if—”
She’d shut the conversation down at that point.
Her mother meant well, but she didn’t understand, mostly because Jade didn’t want to discuss her past mistakes with Sebastian.
She wanted to forget the latest one, like she’d managed to do ten years ago.
Two weeks wasn’t long enough. Two decades might not be either.
Not this time, and that was her own fault.
“Charlotte, I’m not—”
“Just hear me out. His mom is friends with my aunt, and he just moved back to Atlanta. He’s a lawyer, so you two have your big brains in common. He’s thirty-one. A bit younger than you but he’s not opposed to dating a cougar.”
Good grief. “You told him about me?”
“Of course I did. And he was very, very interested. Oh, and here’s the best part. He’s hot. Really hot. Like I said, he’s perfect.”
Jade doubted that. Sebastian was perfection. Her heart squeezed as the computer screen flickered to life. “Thanks, Charlotte. I’m not interested.”
Charlotte’s expression fell and she handed Jade a business card. “Take it. Just in case.”
She hesitated, then accepted it, not bothering to look at the information. She set it aside just as her office phone rang. Charlotte nodded and slipped away while Jade answered it. “Jade Smith.”
“Hello, Ms. Smith.”
Uh-oh. “Hi, Tifanni.”
“Mr. Harrington would like to see you in his office as soon as possible.”
This couldn’t be good. Her interaction with Miles had been brief since she left Clementine. Her quick phone call to him after she left the Little Rock airport had taken only two minutes, if that. “Mr. Hudson isn’t going to sell.”
“I’m the one who will determine that,” Miles countered, not hiding his annoyance. “When can I talk to him?”
She hesitated. Sebastian had agreed to listen to Miles, but that was before he found out she’d taken his ledger.
He had no reason to follow through on that promise.
Miles was wasting his time anyway. “I couldn’t convince him to do that either.
” Not the truth, but not quite a full lie. That would be her last one.
The silence on the other end of the line was harrowing, and she expected him to rant at her at any second. Instead, he said, “Thank you for trying.”
When she got back to work, she expected he would want to meet with her for a more thorough explanation.
He’d spent the money on her plane tickets, and under normal circumstances she would have expensed everything else she’d spent on the trip other than the extra flight.
Since she failed in every single way, other than reconciling with her family, she would pay for the rest. She’d lost her raise and bonus, but having Logan and Lydia back in her life in a healthy way was priceless.
Fortunately Miles had been ignoring her, and she thought she was in the clear. Until now.
“I’ll be right up.” She hung up the phone and stared at her screen. This was it. She was going to get fired. Or at least yelled at. Although she didn’t agree with Miles acquiring The Times , she let him—and herself—down.
Bracing for the worst, she made her way to his office. When she entered the reception area, Tifanni was tapping away at her computer. She gave her a quick glance. “He’s waiting on you.”
Her coldness wasn’t a good sign. Jade walked into the office.
Miles stood in front of one of the large windows overlooking the downtown Atlanta landscape.
Her hands started to shake as she waited for him to turn around.
She thrust them behind her. For a man in a hurry to talk to her, he was taking his time.
If he was trying to scare her, it was working—she felt like throwing up.
Finally he turned around, expressionless.
Then he took a step toward her, and another one.
“I’m not a man who second-guesses himself, Ms. Smith.
I also like coming up with creative solutions to problems. I thought I had when I sent you to Clementine.
I thought it was a simple assignment, and that you understood how important it was.
It became clear soon after you arrived that I may have made a mistake, but I was willing to give you time. I foolishly trusted you.”
Jade was stunned. Where was this coming from? “You can trust me, Mr. Harrington. Sebast—Mr. Hudson is adamant about keeping The Times .”
“Then explain why he’s not only willing to sell, but he’s also shopping the paper around. To everyone but me.”
“What?”
“You lied to me, Ms. Smith.” He continued moving until he was standing in front of her. He wasn’t as tall as Sebastian, but he could still look down on her.
“But I didn’t. I promise, he told me he wasn’t going to sell. He said that several times.”
“Then he lied to you.” His eyes narrowed. “I don’t like being stabbed in the back.”
Her mind was reeling. Surely Miles was wrong. Sebastian would never sell the paper, much less seek out buyers. “I would never...” She’d been underhanded in taking Sebastian’s ledger, but she wasn’t that cutthroat. “You have to believe me.”
“Then prove it. Go back to Clementine. Make sure he sells the paper to me.”
“I... can’t.”
“Can’t or won’t?”
She paused. This didn’t make sense. Sebastian loved The Times . Something must have happened to make him change his mind, but she couldn’t imagine what would drive him to go against his principles and give up the newspaper that meant so much to him.
“Got my answer,” he sneered. “You’re fired. I want you gone within the hour.”
“But—”
“You can forget working in this industry too. No one’s going to hire a traitor.” He turned around and walked back to the window.
Jade froze. There was nothing she could say. Or do. She couldn’t fix this or prove her loyalty. Numb, she turned around and left.
Tifanni didn’t look at her, and Jade suspected she’d known ahead of time what the meeting was about.
Jade hurried out of the office to her cubicle. She sank down on her chair. Ten years. Two years at PU, then eight when it was sold to Harrington. And it wasn’t just this job she’d lost. She’d lost her credibility and her ability to work in media. Probably in the whole city.
Consequences. This was the consequence of stealing the ledger. Losing her job. Her reputation. Sebastian. All because of one horrible decision. It didn’t matter that it was an accident—she shouldn’t have snuck into his office to start with. The worst part? She knew better and did it anyway.
Charlotte Rae poked her head over the cubicle wall. “I’m getting another cup of tea. Do you want— Oh no.” She rushed over to Jade. “You look like death. What happened?”
“I’m fired.” She got up and grabbed her briefcase. Opened it and put in the few personal items she had. She didn’t even need the standard cardboard box.
“What? I don’t understand.”
Jade closed the briefcase. “I’ll call you later.”
“Jade—”
She rushed out of the building. She’d get a call from HR, probably within the hour, to finalize the severance. Heat hit her as she rushed to the parking deck. June had arrived with a vengeance. Reaching her car, she got inside, turned on the engine, and let the air conditioner do its thing.
Fired. She’d never been fired in her life.
She expected her financial mind to kick in and go over her bank accounts, her savings, her 401(k), her stock portfolio.
None of them were robust, due to paying off debt.
Who knew how long it would take for her to find another job, or even decide where to look?
But none of that was at the forefront. All she could think about was The Times and Sebastian.
She had to find out why he was selling. Calling him was out of the question.
Visiting was too. Mabel had seen her last interaction with him, and she was sure Sebastian had told Evelyn Margot about the betrayal.
Wait. Maybe there was someone she could call. And maybe, hopefully, there would be something she could do.