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“What is this?”
The flimsy sheets scattered a little as I flung them across the desk. Brady both recoiled and scrambled to catch the mass of papers as they came at him.
“I don’t know, Jo. What is it?” He had been holding the phone in his hand when I burst in, but he hung it up with a frown as I loomed over him. “I asked you for some time this morning to—wait, whatisthis?”
He was looking at the cover letter of the fax, and the color drained from his face as his eyes flicked from the words on the page back up to my face.
“That’s what I’m askingyou, Brady,” I said, the sick feeling in my stomach rising up so fast that it almost choked me. I stabbed at the fax paper with a finger. “What isthat? You’re selling the shop? That’s what it says, right? After we—”
I snapped my mouth closed before I could expose myself to more pain. Clearly, whatever I’d thought I meant to Brady, I’d been wrong.
Several long seconds passed before he looked back up at me, and even then, he slowly inhaled and exhaled several times before answering.
“It’s… yes. It’s sort of what this is, but it’s not how it seems, Jo. It’s—”
“Not how it seems?” I cut him off, my heart still reeling from theyes. Or maybe “breaking” was more accurate. “But youareselling? Because that’sexactlywhat it seems like to me.”
Brady’s face had gone from pale to ashen. “I haven’t made up my mind yet,” he said.
His voice was too shaky, too strained. The quiet confidence that I had grown accustomed to was gone completely. The man in front of me looked unprepared and defenseless.Caught.
“This is just an offer from a guy I spoke with.”
I had gone into the office looking for answers, but the answers I was getting were only making me regret that decision.
No, they were making me regreteverything.
Brady’s excuses, or…whateverhe was saying was only making things worse, only sucking more of the oxygen out of the air, leaving me feeling like I might fall over at any moment if I didn’t get the hell out of there.
And did Brady really expect me tobelievehim about not having made up his mind? The damn fax laid it out pretty clearly. It sounded like a done deal.
And heknewmy history with men—even though he’d talked a good game about being blunt and honest and “team work” and all thatbullshit… here he was, still trying to talk around the fact that he’d gone behind my back with these negotiations.
“And when did you think you’d make up your mind? This sounds like the process is pretty far along.” My voice cracked, and despite my best efforts, I was afraid I might start crying if I didn’t hurry up and get out. “You said you’ve talked to this guy… when were you going to talk tome? Don’t I at least deserve that much, Brady?”
“Of course, you do,” Brady snapped, his voice rising. “This isn’t some sort of easy decision for me, you know. There are a lot of factors at play here, and I need to make sure I’m doing the right thing—”
“No.” I shook my head, cutting him off again, my eyes finally spilling over. This wasn’t happening,couldn’tbe happening. “No, I’m not gonna let you off the hook that easily. You should’vetoldme, Brady.”
“Idid. I told you on dayonethat I was thinking about selling this place.” Brady huffed out a breath and shoved a hand back through his hair, his voice lower but still decidedly strained when he spoke again. “But things have changed since then, and I—”
“You’re damn right they’ve changed,” I interrupted.
Whatever he was going to say, I wasn’t trying to hear it. As far as I was concerned, the only thing that had changed was that Brady had lied to me.
“I can’t believe I thought you were actually a good guy. I can’t believe I trusted you to make the right decision. I can’t believe I let myself lo—”
I snapped my mouth shut as the tears kept rolling down my cheeks. No. I wasn’t going to admitthat. And I for damn sure wasn’t going to break down in front of Brady. Not like this.
I needed to get out of there.
“Come on, Jo. Just let me explain—” Brady moved to put a hand on my arm, but froze when I jerked it away.
“No. I can’t. Iwon’t.”
I wasn’t sure if I’d ever been so hurt or soangryin my life. Not even after what my ex had done. And the more Brady tried to make it better, the more I was convinced that I’d been played for a fool.
“You’ve already said everything I needed to hear. Everything, and then some. I’ve gotta go.”
