“So you pushed me away first? You just conveniently waited until I let all that money slip through my fingers before doing it.”
By now she was so annoyed with him that she couldn’t even respond, so she circled back around to him trying to fire her. Even though she didn’t really believe he’d do it. Even though she would sue his pants off if he followed through, she couldn’t believe he’d threatened it. “Besides, you know the one thing you’ve forgotten? You can’t fire me. You already quit. You’re not my boss anymore.”
“Oh, I’ve only told my parents I quit. I’ll sure as hell stay on at Cain Enterprises long enough to make sure you never work there again.”
“So you’ll put up with something you hate just to make me miserable?” She swallowed the welling of grief that swelled up in her throat. “Your father would be so proud.”
Fifteen
She thought Griffin would come after her.
Even after all the horrible things they’d said to one another, even though her heart felt like it was being crushed under a steamroller, she honestly expected him to come after her. Even if for no other reason than the fact that she was on foot, miles from home, in River Oaks, for goodness’ sake.
He didn’t come after her.
He just let her walk away. Which took forever. Just walking down the block seemed to take an eternity. The whole time, she was painfully aware of him still standing there on his parents’ lawn, hands fisted on his hips, watching her walk away.
Of course, she didn’t turn around and check to see if he was still there. For all she knew, he may have gone back inside and poured himself a drink. But she never heard his car take off, and he never passed her on the road. So the whole interminable time she was walking past the six sprawling estates on his parents’ block, she pictured him standing there behind her, watching her walk away.
That image was the only thing that kept her from crumbling to the ground in tears. Because no matter what else happened, she would not let him see her crying. It wasn’t strength that kept her going. It wasn’t even pride. It was pure stubbornness. He’d crushed her, but she’d been crushed before.
That was the thing about a kid like her. She’d lost everything at the age of seven. Everything she’d ever known had been ripped away from her, even though everything she’d ever known was absolute crap. But once she’d lost everything, she knew she could live through losing everything again. She might have been terrified, but she had just kept going.
So now she kept walking. Just putting one foot in front of the other until she’d finally reached the end of the block. Then she turned the corner and walked some more. Cars drove past without noticing her—not Griffin’s car, but others. It was the people on foot who worried her. Twice she saw other women walking on the other side of the street. Once, it was a nanny pushing a high-end stroller that she was pretty sure cost more than her car. The second time a pair of spandex-wrapped trophy wives. Neither spared her more than a passing glance and she turned another corner. Only then did she admit that she was lost. In addition to being emotionally adrift, she actually had no idea how to get herself home.
She wandered down the block for a few minutes before stopping in front of a house with an impenetrable line of privacy shrubs hiding it from the street. Near the street, the branches of a massive live oak dipped low to the ground. She sank to the ground in the shade of the tree, grateful to be at least somewhat shielded from anyone passing by. Then she dug out her phone and pulled up the maps app. She dropped a pin at the current location and then asked for directions back to her own house. Three point eight miles. It might as well be twenty-three point eight. Yes, it would be possible for her to walk home from here, but she just didn’t have the energy. She called Tasha.
“Hey, what’s up?” Tasha asked. “That lazy boss of yours isn’t sick again, is he?”
Sydney had intended to calmly ask for a ride home, but the instant she heard Tasha’s voice, the whole story poured out.
“I’m going to kill him!” Tasha said indignantly when the story petered out. “I’m actually going to kill that jerk.”
Despite herself, Sydney let out a strangled laugh. “I don’t think—”
“No. Really. I think we should kill him. Between you, me, Marco, Jen and George, that’s what…five of us who grew up in the foster care system before ending up with Molly. Surely one of us knows someone who grew up to be a professional hit man, right? I’m guessing Jen. She was always the toughest.”
Again, Sydney laughed. “Yeah. It would probably be Jen. But don’t call her just yet. What I could really use now is just a ride.”
Tasha snorted. “Honey, I got in the car as soon as you called. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”
Thirteen minutes later, Sydney climbed into her foster sister’s beat-up Chevy. Tasha wrapped her in a brief hug before putting the car back into gear. Tasha was a crappy driver who talked too much with her hands. This was probably the first time they’d ever been in the car together that Sydney hadn’t spent the whole drive fearing for her life. Today she simply felt too numb.
For the first five minutes of the drive, Tasha plotted Griffin’s murder in grisly detail. Because she was in her final year of law school, most of the discussion was about how to get away with it. Eventually, she had Sydney laughing so hard she was crying. And then just crying.
When she finally looked up, they were in the parking lot of a strip mall. Tasha had killed the engine and was frantically digging through the car’s glove compartment for a tissue. Finally, she held out an old napkin.
“I really can kill him,” Tasha offered.
Sydney blew her nose. “That won’t be necessary.”
Tasha looked down at the dash and swallowed visibly. “I’ve never seen you cry before.”
“I don’t know that anyone has.” Sydney stared down at the mangled strap of her purse. She thought about saying more about Griffin—because she’d cried in front him, but that had been right after they’d had sex and she didn’t really think he’d noticed. That should have been a sign right there. But her throat closed over the words. So instead she said, “I don’t know what I’m going to do about my job.”
“You know he can’t get away with that crap. He can’t fire you over any of this. We’ll sue his ass. We’ll—”
“I don’t… I know I could totally sue him. And maybe I should. For justice or whatever. But I don’t really think that he’ll fire me. He’ll come to his senses and realize he can’t get away with it. But I don’t think I can go back to work there anyway. I can’t see him every day.”
“You could—”
But she shook her head. “Even if I found another position in the company, I’d still know I was working for him. I don’t want that.”
And here it was, reason number one why sleeping with her boss was a bad idea.
For a few long seconds, she was painfully aware of Tasha studying her. Then Tasha said fiercely, “You’ll get another job!”
“In this economy?” Sydney shook her head. “It could take months. Yeah, I have my savings, but—” She broke off because her savings weren’t all that extensive. She’d helped three of her four foster-siblings with college tuition, but the last thing she wanted was for Tasha to feel badly. “Hey, I can put the house on the market. I’ll need to find an apartment that allows cats, but Grommet and I don’t need all that room. It’s a great little place in a great neighborhood. I’m sure I can—”
She broke off again, this time because Tasha was chuckling.
“What?” Sydney demanded.
“I’m not going to let you sell your house!”
“But—”
“God, you’re so stubborn.”
“I am not.”
“Of course you are.” Tasha twisted in her seat. “Look, you’ve helped with my tuition for the past four years. I’m not going to let you sell your house.”
“I didn’t help that much,” she protested. She’d just chipped in here and there.
“You helped enough. I can get out of my apartment lease and move in with you. We’ll share the mortgage payment. We could even get by with one car if we had to. And I’ve still got my job at the law library. We’ll make it work. You’re my sister. I’m not going to let you lose your home without a fight.”
Tasha’s words should have made her feel better, but they only made her cry more. It turned out she had a financial safety net after all. It was just her emotions that were free falling.
Griffin had ripped all of her long-sought-after security right out from under her. Her entire adult life, she’d worked to become financially independent. She’d struggled and scraped and starved to get where she was now…or rather, where she’d been a week ago. And because she’d slept with Griffin, she’d lost it all.
She should be devastated. She should be curling into a ball on the ground in tears. And she was devastated…just not about that. The job, the money, the security. She could live without all that. So she’d have to start over. Big deal. She could do that. Even without the safety net of family to help support her through the tough times, she’d still be fine.
No, what devastated her was that she’d lost Griffin. True, she’d never really had him. Her brain had never believed they’d get to be together, but somehow, despite that, her heart had believed it. Her heart had wanted and dreamed of what her brain had never dared to imagine: a life with Griffin. Her heart would have been happy in Houston, working for Cain Enterprises, or in sub-Saharan Africa. She would have gone anywhere to be with him. Unfortunately, he didn’t want or need her.
She’d get over losing her job, but she might never recover from losing him.
*
In the end, Tasha didn’t need to move in with her. The grueling search for a new job ended up being neither grueling nor long. The day after her big fight with Griffin, she’d resigned from Cain Enterprises. At first, he refused to even accept her resignation. He even went so far as to offer her a stiff apology. She didn’t wait around to hear him out, but had left her letter on her desk on the way out. Four days after that, she got a call at home from Sheppard Capital. Sharlene offered her a job.