“Yeah, but now, when I finally get her, it all blows up in my face.”
“You’ll work through it,” Jensen confidently told me. “You should just try and talk to her.”
“No, she won’t listen to me. She unloaded when I stepped into her apartment. The last thing she wants to do is talk to me. She’s blaming me for this.”
Jensen ran a hand back through his hair. “What if I tried to talk to her?”
I narrowed my eyes. “You’d do that?”
“She was my employee after all. Until we get this all cleared up, I can’t do anything about her job, but I can try to fix how this was handled and let her know that you were not at fault.”
“I…yeah,” I said with a nod.
I’d texted her half a dozen times after Emery messaged me, but she hadn’t responded. She actually hadn’t responded to my texts all day. I’d been messaging her through my meetings.
“That’d be great.”
“Okay. I’ll do that now. You go clean up your hand.”
I nodded and disappeared into the guest bedroom. I ran my hand under cold water, hissing the whole time. It hurt something horrible. Dumb fucking idea. Yet it had seemed perfectly logical at the time.
My stomach was in knots over everything that had happened. And the helplessness that had settled over me. Quitting had felt like the only logical thing to do. If I weren’t her boss, then she could have her job back. Yet it wasn’t that simple. There were more things to consider than our relationship. Too bad I couldn’t concentrate on any of them but the way that Heidi had looked at me when she told me to get out of her place.
Once my hand was bandaged—another freaking injury for me to deal with—I moseyed back into Jensen’s office. He was staring down at his phone, and he looked bleak.
“What?” I asked. My stomach dropped, and I waited for the bad news that I knew was coming.
“She didn’t answer.”
I waited. “And?”
“Nothing.”
“And, Jensen?”
He frowned. “She texted back.”
“What did she say?”
He shook his head. I snatched the phone from him and stared at the text from Heidi.
I know you’re only calling me because of Landon. So, just…don’t. I don’t want to talk to him. I don’t want to talk about him. I want nothing to do with him or any of his family. Leave me alone.
My hands shook as the words filtered in and out of my vision. If it had been my phone, I probably would have thrown it against the wall and shattered it into a million fucking pieces. As it was, I tossed it to Jensen without care and left his office.
He followed. “Hey, man, where are you going?”
“To find Austin.”
“What? Why?”
“Because I know he’ll have a spare bottle handy.”
“I have alcohol here.”
“Fuck off, Jensen. I want to get wasted and not think about how my girlfriend broke up with me or how I lost the best thing that had ever happened to me.”
“Shit,” Jensen muttered. “I’m coming with you.”
“Fine,” I spat.
I didn’t care one way or another who was there. Austin and Patrick were good for a distraction. And I needed one. Desperately. Because, otherwise, I was going to end up doing something really stupid.
Tonight, I would be pissed.
Tomorrow, I would put my life back together.
Thirty-Five
Heidi
Two days later, I still hadn’t moved from the couch. I was in the same clothes, and my hair was in the same topknot.
Emery took one look at me when she got home from work and started to force me into the shower. “You cannot do this. You can’t wallow.”
“Yes, I can. What else do I have to do?”
“Heidi Anne Martin! You are a strong, independent, unbelievably incredible woman. You will pick yourself up from this and keep going. This is not the end of your life. You are a brilliant engineer, and anyone would be lucky to have you. Just because you are no longer gainfully employed by Wright Construction does not change a damn thing about your awesomeness.”
“You’re a great friend, Em.”
“Damn straight!” She shoved me toward the shower. “Now, go.”
I complied. By the time that I was clean, had blown out my hair, and had chosen a new set of pajamas to lounge around in, Julia was here with her hand on her hip, looking fierce as fuck.
“What is this? An intervention?” I asked.
Emery and Julia were both dressed in cute black-on-black outfits. And they looked ready to take me down if I resisted whatever plot they had come up with.
“Hell yes, it is,” Julia said. “Now, turn your cute ass around, and put on something presentable. We’re going out.”
“I’m not going out.”
“Don’t make us come in there,” Emery threatened. “We’re trying to get you back on your feet. You haven’t left the house in three days. It’s time.”
I gritted my teeth. “Where are we going?”
“Shopping.”
“God, y’all are the worst,” I muttered.
They were playing to my weakness. They knew I loved shopping. Even if I didn’t need anything. Though maybe some retail therapy would help.
“Whatever,” Julia said. “Just hurry up!”
I matched their morose attire and slipped into black skinnies, a black tank, and some old beat-up Converse. I skipped all my makeup, except mascara. Emery handed me her wallet, and I stuffed it in my purse. The weirdo still didn’t like to carry a purse.
We took Julia’s SUV to Malouf’s, a local clothing store that was essentially the Nordstrom of Lubbock. It had all the fancy designers and did custom-tailored suits. Even though I shouldn’t spend money here, I loved to do it.
A sigh escaped me as we entered because I realized there was no way I could afford anything in here now. With my job gone, I would have to use my savings to cover rent and my student loans.
Normally, I was the one grabbing dresses off the racks and throwing them in my friends’ unwilling arms, but today, I trailed behind. I might be able to suffer through window shopping, but I didn’t have to enjoy it. The thought of spending money at the moment made me panic.
I knew I needed to be looking for another job. I just couldn’t get myself to do much of anything. I was mourning the career I’d always thought I would have.
“This one,” Emery said, tossing the dress to me.
I reached out and caught it before the silky material could fall to the ground. I looked at the dusty-rose satin slip dress that Emery had handed to me. It was stunning. My color and long enough for my build, too.
“Where the hell would I wear this?” I held it up for both girls to examine.
They wore matching grins.
“Oh no. Is there a bigger plot happening here?”
“Just try it on,” Emery encouraged.
“You’ll look so hot in that!” Julia said. “I’m going to go with something black, of course. But pink? Man, no one can pull off pink like you. With that long blonde hair and those bright blue eyes.”
“Whoa,” Emery said, putting her hand out. “Stop moving in on my woman.”
I couldn’t help it. I laughed. It was the first time since I’d left work that I’d done anything other than frown or cry. It felt…nice.
“Success!” Julia said.