Chapter 8 Gwen #2
“Yeah, I was going to ask how you went from a nurturing boss to those assholes at McPherson.”
There was a layer to the story I wasn’t in the mood to discuss with him. Instead, I kept it to the basics. No need to dwell over stuff not worth mentioning. It was all ancient history anyway.
“Hildy sold her business to another firm. I worked there for a while, but I wound up, uh, needing to make a move, so I jumped at the chance to join McPherson. It felt like a no-brainer because they have a great presence in the industry. Little did I know it’s run like a frat house.”
“So I did you a favor by getting you out of there?” Harrison asked smugly.
I wasn’t about to let him take all the credit for my bold move. “I was on my way out; you just gave me a speed pass.”
“You’re welcome,” he replied as he settled back against his seat.
As much as I wanted to say something wise-ass, I finally realized my oversight. “Oh my God, I never said thank you!”
“Don’t worry, it was implied.”
“And now I’m saying it outright. Thank you, Harrison Ashford, for saving me from the horrors of the frat house and sending me in this new direction.”
We both went quiet at the same moment, and I caught a glimpse of the Harrison I’d known in Aspen.
The one I’d tried to convince myself had never been real in the first place.
Sure, he’d been confident bordering on cocky and brusque when he got caught up in his thoughts, but there was a well of kindness deep inside of him. Maybe that really was legit.
Hell, I’d seen him snuggling puppies, so Harrison couldn’t be all assassin.
“I did my homework,” he replied, finally putting his phone down. “I have my two sound bites about the courthouse incident. I was there dealing with a challenging personal matter, no further details given, and my phone was missing so I was stressed about that.”
“Eh,” I tipped my head back and forth. “Decent, not great. The phone thing might be believable as an issue for regular humans, but you could snap your fingers and have a dozen peons lining up to deliver you a new iPhone. Let’s go deeper on the personal stuff instead.
Why were you at the courthouse? And don’t worry, this is for me, not the rest of the world. ”
He flinched. “Listen, I’m not comfortable sharing that sort of stuff. And isn’t that why you’re here? To spin?”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “But in order for spin to work, there has to be a grain of truth in it. So please expand on what was going on that day. I promise I won’t use anything you don’t want me to.”
His eyebrows drew down and he frowned at me. “That’s unnecessary, Gwen. And personal. Just tell me what to say.”
I swallowed back a huff of frustration. Yes, he might be kind deep down, but the a-hole attitude he kept on the surface?
It could be a real pain. I got that he wasn’t into sharing, but I was the person he specifically hired to help clean up his mess.
How could I do that if he wouldn’t even tell me what kind of shit I was supposed to be shoveling away?
“It’s personal, but if you’re too cagey about it, people are going to start digging on their own. Public records and all of that. Do you really want to unleash teenage detectives with too much time and unlimited data packages?”
“Everything about my case is protected, so let them dig.”
“Your case?” My voice went high. “I’m not liking the sound of this. Were you arrested again?”
He scowled at me. “Oh, come on. No, I wasn’t arrested.”
Harrison started shuffling papers on the desk in front of him and rearranging his laptop.
“Give me something to work with,” I pleaded. “Consider this like confession and I’m your priest.”
“I’m not religious,” he shot back.
“Okay, then a therapy session,” I countered.
“Me?” Harrison pointed to himself, incredulous. “In therapy? Why do you think I visit the puppies?”
God help anyone who tried to psychoanalyze him. Talk about a thankless job. Kind of like my job, at the moment. The man was being ridiculous. “Harrison, if you don’t tell me what you were doing at the courthouse that day, I’m calling Susan and Denise to ask them.”
“Don’t you dare.” Harrison let out a long sigh. “I work extremely hard to keep my personal life out of the news. All the public needs to know about me is my business, not who I’m fucking or what kind of aftershave I wear.”
I was actually curious about the aftershave, because he always smelled incredible.
“Understood,” I said quickly. “And believe me, I’m not planning to advertise anything you tell me.
It’ll stay between us, unless I think it’s absolutely necessary to feed some scraps of it to the masses to keep them from digging any further.
My job is to make sure we don’t encounter any surprises, so the only way we can ensure that is if you’re open with me.
Honestly, the fact that you’re not telling me what happened is starting to freak me out.
My brain is conjuring up all sorts of gross scenarios. ”
“For fuck’s sake, Gwen, give me at least a shred of credit here,” he fumed. “It wasn’t a ‘gross scenario,’ I was signing my divorce papers!”
I’d been poised to fight back, but I clamped my mouth shut at the pain in his eyes.
Had he been heartbroken by the end of his marriage?
Was that why he turtled up on the topic, hiding away his emotions?
And if so, was that why, when pushed on another topic—such as Scarlet Rush’s canceled event—he’d seized the opening to let himself vent?
“I don’t like failure, and putting my signature on that piece of paper was concrete proof of just that. Okay? Are you happy now?”
His paper stacking got a little more intense, like he needed to keep himself busy to avoid whatever emotions were associated with the end of his marriage.
I could appreciate how staying busy was a way to redirect big feelings, but I needed him to stay with me as we navigated our next steps.
His tight, furrowed expression suggested I wasn’t going to get much more backstory.
“I’m relieved,” I said gently, hoping to deescalate him. “Thank you for trusting me with that information. Now that I know, I can finish your script for the show.”
Harrison went quiet, and I wasn’t sure what to say to him.
Thankfully, Dominic appeared from the back, a welcome distraction.
“So, have you two been keeping an eye on the weather?”
Harrison looked at me and huffed out an angry breath. “I’ve been too busy. Why, what’s up?”
Dominic shuffled nervously. “Unfortunately, there’s been a change to our itinerary…”