Page 124 of The Work Wife

“Yeah. Oh, hell.”

Chapter 23

Annabelle winced, knowing she should have told him before now. If she had it wouldn’t have been as much of a shock. She hadn’t known how to tell him. She didn’t want him to freak out. Like he was now.

“I’m so sorry,” she said, wishing she could take his hurt away.

“What I don’t understand is if it was to get a different job, or because I looked like him. Were you hoping to get another wage increase? You said you were happy where you were. Was that part of the act?”

His words didn’t make any more sense to her than the way he was looking at her. Like she was a piece of trash.

“What are you talking about?” she finally asked.

“Did you sleep with Uncle Rich too? Is that why he didn’t want you working for him anymore?”

“Sleep with Uncle Rich?” It wasn’t until she repeated the question that she understood. “You’re accusing me of—”

“Having sex with my father and then having sex with me.”

Yep. That’s what she thought. “I can’t—”

“If I were you, I wouldn’t bother with Weston. You won’t get anywhere with him. He’s happily married.”

“I wouldn’t.” She could only stare at him as he turned to leave. “I didn’t . . .” How could he possibly think this of her?

“That’s good. Then you can work for him starting tomorrow. I’d rather not have to work with you anymore. It’s a lateral realignment. Please move to your new workspace before I arrive in the morning. I’m done.”

And with that he brushed his fingers together and walked off.

She might have run after him to shake him silly, but her drummer came out and told her it was time to start the next set.

She couldn’t talk to Ben now, even if she knew what to say.

Which she didn’t.

* * * *

Wes’s morning couldn’t get any worse and it wasn’t even eight thirty. He hadn’t talked to Jamie yesterday because she was flying home after her visit with her father. Ben was still acting weird, and he didn’t know how to fix it.

And the icing on the shit cake was finding a horrible error in a plan for a building that was not only finished, but occupied with humans.

“I don’t understand how this even passed inspection,” he said into the phone to the firm’s top engineer. Wes hadn’t been impressed, which was why he’d pulled the prints.

“I believe the inspector was a friend of your father’s,” the man explained, as if this was normal behavior.

“God.” Wes rubbed his temple. His father was not only an adulterer, but had taken shortcuts with people’s safety? If Ben walked in that very moment and said he was a drug smuggler, Wes wouldn’t be that shocked.

But it wasn’t Ben who walked in. It was much, much worse. Wes hung up the phone after a sound that served as a goodbye.

“Mother. I’m kind of busy.” Wes did his best to cut her off, but no use. She was already sitting in front of his desk with a pile of papers.

“Of course you are. Have I told you how good you look in this office?” She stood and helped herself to some coffee, as if he hadn’t just said he was busy.

“Yes. A couple of times.” Even after the remodel, this office didn’t feel like his office in Boston with Jamie. He missed his wife. Had it only been a week since he’d seen her?

“Damn it.” He frowned down at the quote in the file, seeing that the steel used to reinforce the TriPlex building was inadequate. “This is a disaster.” The whole building would need to be renovated. And they’d have to eat the cost. It was the right thing to do.

“Look, I know you don’t have a lot of time, but I wanted to make sure you signed these.” She held up a tri-folded pile of papers. He could tell by all the seals and sticky tabs it was some kind of legal document.