“Blair and I got along the best,” Colleen said. “Tessa, she’s only holding on waiting for Mitchell to retire. She’s at a point now where she works and goes home.”
“That’s always been the point I’m at with my jobs. I know you and Blair were close. I guess that is why I was surprised you asked that question. I’m positive you still talk to her.”
Colleen grinned. “I do. I miss her. Could be I thought you and I could pick up there, but you’re just a few years older than my daughter. If that. I’m not sure how old you are, but I’m thinking older than twenty-five.”
“I am,” she said, not volunteering more.
“Blair really likes you. A lot. She thinks you’re a younger version of her but on steroids.”
She laughed. “I wouldn’t go that far. I’ve got a lot to learn.”
“We all did in the beginning. I know you had a run-in with Heather. Maybe a few more since.”
She hadn’t, but it seemed Heather could be playing that up. “No run-in. Just getting the right report, but there have been no issues since that I’m aware of.”
Colleen was still grinning. “She’s out of sorts. She wanted your job.”
“So I was told.”
“And those things don’t bother you, do they?”
“If someone had felt she was a good fit, I’m sure she would have gotten the job.”
“Agreed. But Heather is also the one who is making comments about you and Ethan.”
She frowned. “I wasn’t aware there were comments to be made. Heather has never been down this way that I’ve seen.”
“No. But people see you and Ethan out in meetings, walking to the building coming and going together.”
“Working,” she corrected.
Her door opened, and Mitchell was standing there. The look in his eyes said he’d heard some of what was going on. “There you are, Colleen. I was looking for you and thought that was your voice.”
“Coming,” Colleen said. “I was just chatting with Nora.”
Colleen turned and left her office and Nora went back to work trying to slow her racing heart.
She knew there was talk about her being related to Norris. It might be best to let that out at this point. She’d been employed almost two months. If people knew that, they might just leave her alone like they give her father a wide berth.
She could handle the comments that she only got the job because of her father. Because anyone saying it was talking out their ass.
No way her father would ever help her get a job.
Ten minutes later, she wasn’t surprised to see Mitchell step into the doorway, then come in and shut her door.
At this rate she wouldn’t get much done.
“Did Colleen give you one of her tests?”
“Is that something she is famous for?”
“And you answering like that tells me she did. It also means you probably replied to her the same way, which she would respect, but she needs to stop it. She’s harmless in a way, but it’s different now.”
“Because of Ethan. That is how it came up. I think maybe it’s time that I stop hiding who my father is. I know he’s not going to be happy. Me either, but if people think I’m hiding that...”
“That’s your decision. Not even Norris’s. I mean that. There are two sides to it. If it comes out, they might think he asked for you to be hired, though anyone who knows your father well would know that wouldn’t be the case.”
“That’s my thought. The other side is, if I’m hiding that, what else could I be hiding? But honestly, I don’t know that I care if they think I am.”
