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I’m cutting out of work early. Go out with your mates tonight. Have fun. You deserve it.
A weird pull of unease slipped inside of me as I thought about the friends Adam was seeing this weekend—friends he didn’t want me around. Was he lying to me? Was it really about those guys who’d scared me to pieces outside of Les’s?
I tucked my phone back into my purse and nudged Rick in the side. “I think you have this job in the bag. You’re lucky they’re selecting people individually and not based on our partnership,” I joked.
Rick looked over at me out of the corner of his eye. “Maybe,” he said with a smile, “because your head has been somewhere else this week.”
Shit, he’d noticed? Or was he kidding?
“What you need is a good craic.” The word craic sounded like “crack,” but it just meant having a bit of fun with the mates. If I hadn’t heard it before today I might have been seriously concerned about Rick.
“Oh yeah?”
Well, I had no plans with Adam.
“The group is going out for a pint tonight,” he lifted his shoulders and squinted one eye, “or maybe two or three, at Hannigan’s Pub. And tomorrow I have secret plans.” He waggled his brows.
“Ohh.” I chuckled. “Count me in, then! I assume the lovely Narisa is joining us?”
“Aye.”
“Maybe the both of you will get the positions. That way Narisa can stay in Ireland.”
Rick shifted back in his seat, and I wanted to kick myself for ruining his mood. Clearly he didn’t need a reminder that the woman he was dating was possibly only here for a few more months.
I had already accepted that I would be going home in December. There was no way I could in good conscience take a position at the company given my relationship with Adam. I toyed with the idea of telling John to count me out, but I also wasn’t ready to leave yet, either.
And where would I go? Back to Kentucky where Jax was waiting?
“I need to make a call.” I’d been putting off this call all week.
“Sure.”
I left the conference room and ducked inside another one around the corner and shut the door. I moved over to the window and peered down below as the branches danced back and forth to the strong winds outside.
“Anna. Finally!” my mom answered after one ring.
“Hi, Mom.”
“I wish you’d called five minutes earlier.”
“Oh yeah? Why?”
“Oh, Jax came over to visit, and we were having coffee. He would have loved to talk to you. He misses you, Anna.”
I wrapped an arm around my stomach as my shoulders shrank. “Why were you having coffee with Jax? We aren’t together anymore, Mom. Can you please put some distance between—”
“Anna! I’ve known Jax since he was born. Don’t be ridiculous.” She was quiet for a moment. “I don’t know why you broke up, but Jax is good stock. He’s a decent man. A good, hardworking man.”
My teeth were clenched tight, my voice cut off. The truth jammed in my throat. I would probably never bring myself to say the words I needed to. How could I tell my mother that Jax, the good ole Southern boy she admired, had wrapped his hands around my throat, only stopping before I lost consciousness.
“Is that how he got my new number? You gave it to him?”
“What’s the big deal? Can’t you give Jax a second chance? You’re destined to be together—I just know it.”
My insides churned, and I wondered if I’d be sick.
“This is not like you, Anna. You should come home. You belong here, not in Ireland.”
