I laughed. “You’re a riot, Morgan. Now, really, what are you doing here?”
“Hello? I saved your ass. I heard—and I quote—‘Landon’s hot wife is here.’ So, I ran as soon as I could to take care of it. You’re a softy. Like this dinner thing…”
“Look, she promised she’d sign the divorce papers if I went to one more dinner with her.”
Morgan scoffed. “She’ll sign anyway.”
“She hasn’t yet.”
“We’re not in dire straits here. She’s going to sign. She has to.”
“I’d like her to do it today.”
“And do you think going to dinner with her will somehow miraculously make her do that?”
“I don’t know, but if it will, isn’t it worth pursuing? I will do anything to make her do this faster,” I told her.
Morgan grimaced. “Don’t say anything. You don’t know what she’ll come up with.”
“I’ll think about it. I don’t know what I’ll do.”
“Please do not do anything stupid. There’s still time to stage that intervention.”
I laughed and patted her on the back. “You’ve done enough for me, Morgan. The divorce will be finalized soon, and then we can all move on from this train wreck.”
“I won’t hold my breath,” she muttered.
“Always a ray of sunshine.”
“I run a business. I don’t need to be a fucking ray of sunshine. I just need to get shit done.”
I held up my hands in defense. “If only we were all as amazing as you, Morgan.”
“Don’t do anything stupid, okay?”
I flashed her a grin. “Do I ever?”
“All the time. You and Austin. You’re going to give me gray hair.” She shook out her long brown hair before moving toward the door. “If you’re going to do something stupid, then don’t blame me when it backfires in your face, okay? I’m warning you now.”
“Warning noted.”
I wasn’t an idiot. I knew that Miranda had something up her sleeve. But I wasn’t sure if it was enough to let this all go or to give in to her demand. Either way, I knew that I needed to talk to Heidi and make this right. Because Miranda was right.
I was seeing someone else.
And the reason I wanted this divorce finalized as quickly as possible was all for her.
Twenty-Three
Landon
Morgan left my office and headed back upstairs. I peeked my head out of the office and found a wall of eyes staring at me.
Apparently, none of that had been subtle. Morgan and Miranda weren’t exactly inconspicuous. I guessed that everyone at least had known that I had marital problems if they hadn’t heard our discussion of a divorce. Thankfully, much of it had been muffled before Morgan catapulted into the room.
But the one set of eyes not on me was the one I was looking for. Heidi had her head buried in her work. She was purposefully not looking up. I wondered if she was even reading or if she was just staring.
Well, fuck working the rest of the day. I straightened my tie and strode toward her. I knew she didn’t want anyone to know about us while I was her boss, but I wasn’t about to wait around all day until I could see her after work. I didn’t want to stress her like that.
Before I reached her, however, one of the other engineers stood up and blocked my path.
“Hey, Landon!”
I tried to reach for his name in my mind. I’d been trying to memorize all my employees’ names, but I hadn’t been here that long. This guy did not ring a bell.
“Hey, man,” I said with a Wright smile. “What’s going on?”
“It’s Matt,” he said in a rush.
“Right. Matt. What can I do for you?”
“I wanted to give you a high five, man,” Matt said, holding his hand up.
I gave him a blank look but high-fived him anyway. Why was this guy treating me like we were best friends when I was clearly his boss and didn’t know him at all?
“What for?”
“You have a really hot wife!” Matt said.
Heidi’s head snapped up at that. Her gaze settled on Matt, as if she could burn through his skull with laser beams from her eyes.
“I mean, they don’t make them like that around here, if you know what I mean.” He chuckled twice.
I was barely able to control the disgusted feeling that washed over me. Heidi was not.
I straightened up and stood a head taller than him. “You should remember who you’re speaking with. I won’t condone people degrading women in such a manner in my office.”
Matt stammered, “Uh, yeah, totally. Sorry. I didn’t mean anything by it. I thought it was a compliment.”
“That’s what concerns me.”
Matt opened his mouth and then closed it. “I, uh…”
“Don’t worry about it. Just try to be more respectful in the future.”
With that, I eased past Matt and straight to Heidi.
She glanced up from her work. “Can I help you?”
“Yes. As a matter of fact, I need to see you in my office.”
“Did I do something wrong?” she asked, tilting her head at me.
“On the contrary, I wanted to discuss Jim’s old job. I’ll be talking with everyone throughout the week, regarding the new position.”
“I see.” She stood slowly to her feet and stared up at me with part confusion and part fear in her eyes.
“After you.” I gestured for her to go ahead.
She took a deep breath and then walked right into my office. She didn’t look around once. She strode past all her male colleagues, ignoring their questioning stares. I snapped the door shut as soon as she was inside.
“That was…interesting,” Heidi muttered.
“More like outrageous.”
“Which part? Morgan or Miranda?”
“Yes,” I told her, striding to the desk.
She plopped down into the chair in front of my desk and warily looked at me. “I’m guessing I’m not here to discuss the new job.”
“Not exactly,” I admitted.
“I figured. So…Miranda is back. What does that mean? Are you back together?”
“Did you not hear the shouting match?”
“I heard Morgan bossing Miranda around. I don’t know where you stand on her.”
“Same place I’ve stood with her since the reunion. I’m leaving her. It’s over.”
“But she doesn’t want that?” Heidi guessed. She picked at her nails and tried not to look up at me.
I sighed heavily and walked around to where she was sitting. I reached out and took her hand in mine. I was surprised that she let me. “Hey, this still doesn’t change anything between us. That’s why I wanted to talk to you.”
“So, you’re not going to dinner with her then?” She watched me, as if nervous that I would lie.
“I don’t know. I wanted to talk to you about that.”
“What’s there to talk about?” She slid her hand out of mine. “You clearly want to go.”
“Hold up. I clearly do not want to go, but she said, if I went, she’d sign the divorce papers. That seems like a good thing for me and you.”
“Just dinner?” she asked suspiciously. “That’s what she said.”
“Yep.”
“And do you believe her?”
“I don’t know,” I told her honestly. “What do you think? Is it worth a shot?”
“Honestly, it sounds like a horrible idea,” Heidi said.