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She arrived shortly after eight. When she saw me, I could see her bracing herself. Yeah, this was what it was going to be like. If she thought I was going to let this slide and let her get away with dancing around the subject, she had another thing coming.
“Good morning,” I said, the first one to break the silence.
“Morning,” she answered stiffly. I hated that we were like this with each other. I preferred it when we were relaxed around each other, on the same page. But shit happened sometimes. We merely had to get through it.
“We need to talk,” I said.
“I don’t have anything to say to you,” Rena answered. I was surprised at her audacity.
“I’m still your boss,” I said.
“And this has nothing to do with work. So your station means nothing.”
She was right. I had hoped I could push her into a corner, but right now, Rena was pushing back. It showed a hidden strength of character that only proved how much more I admired her. But this wasn’t the time to show I was attracted to the woman. We had to deal with this.
“You’re not going to walk away from this,” I said. “We need to take care of this.”
“I’m not interested in talking about it, Brent,” Rena said. She was getting upset. I didn’t like getting her upset, but I didn’t like it when she dismissed me, either. I was the owner of this company, dammit. I had so much money I didn’t what to do with it. No one dismissed me.
“We are going to talk about it. If you think I’m not going to make a scene, you’re wrong,” I said. “So, we can have it out here where everyone can hear it. I’ll take it all the way if we must. Or we can go to my office, lock the door, and deal with this privately the way we should.”
“I’m just about sick and tired of you telling me what to do,” Rena snapped. “And I’m not going to your office with you.”
“Fine,” I said. If she wanted to play it this way, I could do it, too. I was sure the other employees in the open-plan office would love a little drama around here. “We’ll have it out here, then.”
Rena cocked her hip, and the attitude pissed me off and turned me on at the same time. “What about rule number two?” she asked.
I had said to her one of the rules was that no one could know. But everything had changed the moment I’d found out she was pregnant.
“Fuck the rules,” I bit out, and Rena looked surprised. “You’re having my baby, and you’re not shutting me out. Do you hear me? I won’t have it. I have done nothing to deserve you cutting me out of your and the child’s life.”
Rena looked over her shoulder. The door was still open, and everyone was in the office already. No one was staring outright, but I knew somewhere, someone would be listening. They always were, around here.
“I wasn’t planning on shutting you out,” Rena said. “I just won’t let you pay for the baby.”
“Why is the money such an issue to you? It’s the child’s right that I support it. It’s the law.”
“Well, I don’t want it,” Rena said. I was raising my voice, and she matched mine. “I don’t want any of your money. I don’t want to be that woman.”
I shook my head. “What woman?”
“The one that forced you to settle down because of the baby. The one that made you change your ways. You’re only going to end up resenting me. You’re going to see me as the woman who took everything away from you, tapping into your bank account. I don’t want your money.”
She carried on about the money. I noticed that some of my employees had stopped pretending to work, and they were obviously listening. But I was past the point of caring, and this was the choice Rena had made. So we would shout about it in front of everyone. At least we were talking about it. Sort of.
“This has nothing to do with you tying me down. Do you think I don’t know that this was an accident? Fuck, Rena, what do you think of me? I’m not heartless. I want to be there for the baby. It’s not only an obligation—I want to take care of you.”
“You don’t have to,” Rena said, and her voice was cold. “I’m finding a new job.”
