“You seem—”
“I’m fine,” she repeated more firmly. “Just tired. Long weekend.”
She was lying.
I could see it in the way she wouldn’t hold eye contact, the slight tremor in her hands as she plated the eggs. But I wouldn’t push. Not here, not with Megan present, not when we were supposed to be maintaining professional boundaries.
“If you need anything—” I started.
“I don’t.” She set Megan’s plate down with a smile that looked painful. “I’m good. Really.”
She wasn’t.
But she clearly didn’t want to talk about it.
Especially not with me.
I drank my coffee in silence, frustrated by my own helplessness. By the distance between us I’d carefully maintained and now desperately wanted to cross. By the fact that something had hurt her and I had no idea what it was.
The text from Fitz came at two-thirty PM, right in the middle of a well-child check.
Fitz:Call me when you get a chance. About Cate.
I finished the appointment on autopilot, my mind already racing through possibilities.
Had something happened?
Was she okay?
Had Fitz done something?
I called him the moment I was alone in my office.
“What happened?” I said without preamble.
“Hello to you too,” Fitz said. “Nice to hear your voice, Gabriel. How’s your day going?”
“Fitz.”
“Right. Okay. So, funny story—Quinton and I ran into Cate in Boston on Saturday.”
My grip on the phone tightened. “And?”
“And we invited her to the Red Sox game. She came. Had a good time. Everything was fine until we went to this pub afterwards for food.”
“What happened at the pub?”
“Her friend showed up. Well, ex-friend, I guess. Tracy? The one who got the restaurant job Cate wanted?”
The pieces started clicking together.
The restaurant. The culinary career Cate had mentioned during dinner. The bitterness in her voice when she’d talked about her friend.
“What did she do?” My voice came out harder than intended.
“She was... condescending. Talked about how successful she is, how great the restaurant is, acted like Cate’s nanny job was cute but sad. Cate finally snapped and called her out for stealing her position. It got ugly. Tracy left, but Cate was pretty wrecked.”
Fuck.
