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I’m going to have to let you go.
He won’t say them straight away. Ben’s too nice of a man to do that. He’ll tell me what a great job I’ve done, and how invaluable I’ve been, and how much he will miss me being here, but then… then he’ll say it.
“It’s not what you think,” he continues. “I’m not letting you go.”
I immediately breathe easy. Ben smiles a little when he sees it. “I knew that’s what you were thinking. But I haven’t brought you in here for that.”
“Then, what?” I say, now relieved, but also confused.
“Well, you haven’t been yourself lately—”
“I’ll do better, I promise,” I blurt.
“Bree,” Ben says firmly. “I already told you. I’m not letting you go. I just want us to talk about it.”
About what?
I know exactly what he’s referring to. I’m now not sure whether him letting me go is better than what’s coming. Discussing how I’m feeling with Ben since his son left the building sounds like the most uncomfortable situation ever.
“I want to tell you what I know, and then maybe, you can tell me what you know,” Ben says.
He’s making absolutely no sense, but I nod anyway.
“Jackson came over to see you a few Sundays ago—”
“You mean with the purse?” I frown.
“No, the Sunday after that.”
I frown even deeper and then shake my head. “No, he didn’t.”
“Oh, but he did, Bree. You just didn’t see him.”
“What?” I exclaim, confused, but also a little frustrated.
“He saw a man at your house, and so he left.”
Ben is watching me as I process those words, and the pieces finally begin to fall into place. “Oh my God,” I breathe.
All this because Jackson had seen Jonathan? Really? I can feel the anger rising in me now.
“He left because my brother came to visit?” I bark.
I can see the relief on Ben’s face, along with this look that he’s known all along that there was an honest explanation.
“Seriously?” I snap again. I’m now angry that Jackson’s hot headedness has gotten the better of him once again. “That massive row in the kitchen was over Jonathan?”
Ben nods slowly and looks a little sad. “He wouldn’t listen to me, Bree. I did try to reason with him before he left, but he wouldn’t listen.”
“He never listens to anybody,” I bark again. “He’s so caught up in his own pain, he can’t see past it.”
“You’re right,” Ben agrees. “That woman really did a number on him.”
I know he means Claire.
“Jackson sees the world through a different lens after what she did,” Ben continues. “He sees danger everywhere. I was angry too, Bree, when I found out about the conclusion he had made about you. I had no doubt in my mind that he had read it all wrong. But like I said, he just wouldn’t listen.”
I heave a sigh. Partly to try and calm myself, partly because I can’t believe Jackson has been so stupid.
