“She will.” He carefully sets the seared scallops on top of the risotto. “But marketing for all of Gold’s has always fallen under me, and in this role, she’ll be spending most of her time at headquarters, here. You’ve never even interacted with the outsourced teams when they’ve occasionally stopped by the farm.”
“This is different.”
Anson pauses, a scallop suspended in the air. “You clearly don’t hate her anymore. So is this different because you want to fuck her?” The scallop descends onto its plate. “Or because working with Eliza now has you interested in our marketing operations?”
“You shouldn’t be talking about your employee that way,” I grit out.
“And you shouldn’t bethinkingabout an employee that way.” He sets the tongs down and faces me, his expression indifferent. “Though I guess it doesn’t matter, because she’s my employee and not yours. You’re colleagues. You can do whatever you want.”
Growing up, Dawson and him would go at it like bulls, taking backyard wrestling and play fights too far. Enough for one of them to sport the occasional bruised eye or bloody nose. I was always the one to break them up, but right now, I’m feeling inspired by my little brother’s volatility.
The girls are right around the corner, so I settle for a humorless chuckle. “You’re a real dick, you know that?”
He lifts his chin, giving me a deductive scan like the expert analyst he is. “So it’s none of those two options, which means you have feelings for her.” His eyes narrow. “But if that’s the case, I don’t know why you’re pissed. This is a happy surprise for you.”
Itis.But I’ve just spent the last couple of weeks resigning myself to the inevitability that she’ll leave. Torturing myself with it.
When I don’t say that, because it sounds too damn pathetic, Anson does what he does best and sucker punches me. “Tell me, what difference would it have made if you knew? She hasn’t accepted.”
This offer means nothing, dumbass.
Doesn’t mean this is what she wants. Doesn’t mean she’s staying. Doesn’t mean she’ll even consider it at all.
That’s what he’s saying. As always, he’s indisputably right.
“Just would’ve been nice to have a heads up.” Done with this conversation, I palm two of the plates and carry them out.
Before I round the corner into the dining area, Anson, in all his apathetic glory, says, “I do hope she says yes. It’ll be good for this business.”
For the first time, I don’t give a damn about the business.
But I go on andhoperight alongside him as we all share dinner together. And every time Eliza answers one of Lala’s silly questions, or lets her intelligence fly in a debate with my brother, or sets her delicate fingers around the wine glass, that hope morphs more and more into permission. Premature, ill-advised-as-hell permission.
It’s gasoline and a spark to the giant pile of tinder inside of me that she’s been stacking since the day she showed up and spat fire at me in the office.
28
ELIZA
My head spinsas the truck rumbles through Garnet Shores’ quiet, low-lit streets.
It isn’t from the wine.
Anson Gold just offered me a full-timejob.
One that comes with a promotion and a leadership position.
And instead of saying an eloquentThis sounds like an incredible opportunity, and I appreciate the consideration, I sat there like an electrified fish before stuttering an awkward collection of syllables. I think I redeemed myself when I debated the efficacy of data-driven personalization with Anson, and he didn’t rescind the offer before we left, but still, it wasn’t my finest moment.
Grayson sits quietly beside me, both hands on the wheel, his posture unusually tense. He hasn’t said a word since we closed ourselves in the truck ten minutes ago.
“Did you know?” I ask into the silence.
He glances over. “That he’d offer you a job?” When I nod, he responds with a grim-sounding, “No.”
So he’s upset. At Anson, for not telling him? Or at the possibility that I might stay?
I replay our earlier exchange.
