But he was her father, and the call he’d made months ago when her mother had moved out of the blue affected her. His voice wasn’t as strong. It wasn’t as authoritative.
No, it was riding the edge of nurturing. Definitely something she’d never heard before.
She felt he cared. That he was concerned for her. Maybe he wasn’t going to be the person she always dreamed of, but if he was going to try, then so could she.
“As long as you went in with your eyes open.”
“If they opened any more they’d cover half my face.”
“Then if that is the biggest problem with this job, it seems to me you could handle it. Or don’t you want to do it? Being the assistant to someone like Ethan Bond isn’t like being a secretary, right?”
“No. It’s really more like a personal project manager,” she said, laughing. “At least from the way things were described. The job itself sounds extremely challenging, but exciting at the same time. I know I can do it. I need something to dig into also.”
“Because you get bored easily. I know that. Your father thought you were a quitter, or that you lost focus. He didn’tunderstand that your brain needed to expand. That you wanted to continue to learn and have a career, not a job.”
Her mother always understood her best.
“Yes. I can see all of that here.”
“I’m assuming the pay has to be good.”
She snorted. “More than double my last job plus bonuses. No complaints there.”
“It will be a lot of work and time. But you’ve never shied away from that.”
“I had that conversation with him. I’m good with it.”
“Then what is the problem?” her mother asked. “Or did you just need to get it off your chest and bounce your doubts to me?”
Nora inhaled as much of the air in the room as she could, then blurted out, “I slept with Ethan a few weeks ago.”
“What? Let me clean my ears. I think you just said you slept with Ethan? Ethan Bond, your new boss? Who obviously was aware you had sex and now just hired you?”
She burst out laughing. She didn’t know why that was so funny. “Oh, he was aware that night. Me too. He struck up a conversation with me in the casino's bar. I went there the night before I saw Dad. I recognized him.”
“Did he know who you were?” her mother asked slowly, as if it was all processing in her mind.
“I thought he recognized me, but that was silly. Why would he? So no. I gave my first name only... then I snuck out on him before he woke up.”
“Nora!”
“I know. You’re ashamed. I get it. I didn’t want to admit this to anyone. And if he didn’t just hire me, then I never would have.”
“Now I need to back up. When you went to see your father, he knew then who you were, correct?”
“He did. He played it off well as if we were just meeting again from her childhood. I would have gone on my way, but his assistant, who is moving, pulled me in for an interview before I could get my feet under me to say no. It’s not like I could give a reason not to, not with Dad there. I just thought, even if it goes well, Ethan will put a stop to it and we’ll move on.”
“But that didn’t happen?”
“Obviously not,” she mumbled.
“You met with him?”
“Today. I didn’t expect he’d want to interview me, but when I had lunch with Dad yesterday, I got the call. I thought for sure it had more to do with me disappearing than the job.”
“I’m proud of you for going, thinking that. Dealing with it head on.”
“I knew I couldn’t live with knowing I had done that. First slept with him, but I got lost in the moment. Are you disappointed in me?”
