“True. Gotta love a taste of the forbidden fruit,” he mused, and I wondered if he was thinking of Lea. They’d both been married when they met.
“Well, it’s over now. So, will you please just drop it?”
“Fine,” he sighed. “But I hope you guys will find a way to make it work. Anytime we talked this summer, you seemed so happy.”
I had a feeling if he knew the woman in question was his daughter, he wouldn’t be so supportive.
* * *
“Um. Can we get Sumner back?”Cody asked the following morning. “Or is it just a coincidence that you’re even more of a bear now that she’s gone?”
“Cody,” I growled, doing nothing to disprove his accusations.
“What?” He set several contracts on the desk. “She was good at her job. And I liked her. You seemed to like having her around too.”
“Yes, it was nice. But she had to start grad school,” I said, executing the documents with an angry flourish. “Where’s the Greene portfolio?”
“Here.” He indicated a file on the desk. “How’s that going, by the way?”
“What?”
“Sumner? Grad school?”
“How the hell should I know?” I snapped when something fell off the desk. “Harrington?”
“I thought you guys were close. Here,” he said, retrieving the item from the floor and placing it and the file before me. The invitation to Ian’s surprise birthday weekend. “You still haven’t RSVP’d for the party, at least not officially. Do you want me to handle it?”
I didn’t respond, attempting to ignore the invitation and my problems. I needed to keep my attention focused on work. Sumner was gone, likely moved on. I was avoiding Ian. And I had no one else. Work really was all I had.
But even work wasn’t much of a distraction. Thanks to Sumner’s coaching, I’d effectively deleted or delegated many of my former tasks. At this point, I was beginning to think the company could run without me.
“I’ll take care of it. Alito?”
“Here. And,” he continued when I opened my mouth, “before you can ask—your dry cleaning has been delivered. And your flight is reporting a slight delay, but hopefully that will change.”
“Thank you.” I’d always appreciated how efficient Cody was, even if he could be a bit mouthy at times.
I stared at my computer screen, a jumble of letters and numbers. And I realized I didn’t care. I didn’t care about any of it—not the prestige, the clients, the money. I had it all, and yet I had nothing. For what was it worth without Sumner?
“Wolfe?” Cody asked.
“Yes?” I jerked my attention to him.
“I asked if you needed anything else.”
“No.” I forced myself to focus on the screen, but that only made me want to smash it. I was fried. Burned out beyond belief, and nothing seemed to help.
I was underwater, drowning. And with every item Cody listed, it was as if another stone were being piled on top of me. Maybe Ian was right. Maybe I needed a break. Nothing had ever sounded so tempting.
Cody turned and headed for the door, and I knew I couldn’t keep living like this. I couldn’t… My chest tightened, spots dancing before my eyes.
“Cancel everything.” The moment I said the words, I could feel a shift, a weight lifted. And I knew in my bones that it was the right decision as I floated back to the surface.
He stared at me a moment, mouth agape. “I must have misheard you.”
“Cancel everything,” I said again, this time with a smile. “The flight, the meetings, all of it.”
“Wolfe.” He closed the door and then approached the desk. “What’s going on?”
