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“Well, let me tell you that he was leering at me by the pool all afternoon, and I worried for my and my daughter’s safety all night when we were in the room.” Mother’s voice gets louder as the smile falls from the man’s face. “I barely slept! He’s unfit for customer service and I’d like to file a formal complaint against Mr.Burke.That’swhy it’s important.”
“I apologize, miss. I’m very, very sorry that happened. That’s completely unacceptable behavior. His name is Burke Tollackson, and Iwill be having a serious conversation with him today. I can promise you that.”
“Good,” she says.
But that wouldn’t be enough for Mother. She continued to call that motel in Hollywood every few weeks, under a new name, to make a new complaint against Burke Tollackson, until she found out that he was no longer with the motel at all.
That’s just the kind of woman Mother was.
But petty revenge was the least of her sins.
CHAPTER
5
“HE’S IN WITHhisdad,” Syl whispered at me from her post in Collin’s office. Collin and I had a standing lunch date on Mondays at one. Our routine rarely experienced a shake-up. A meeting with his father after our family brunch was alarming. I had held my own with Haven, but would Collin be able stand up for me to his father? I was also very perturbed to be kept waiting in front of his assistant. She should have proactively phoned me about the delay. “They’ve been in there for about an hour. Do you want me to check in?” The high-pitched intonation of her voice suggested she wanted me to say no for her sake, but yes, obviously I wanted a status update immediately.
“That would be great, thanks,” I said, taking a seat in one of the club chairs, crossing my legs. Syl winced at the task at hand.
“Honestly, I thought they would have been done by now or I would have called you about the delay,” she said, picking up the phone with trepidation, essentially reading my mind.
“Not a problem.” I smiled, urging her to hop to it.
Syl cleared her throat. “Yes, ahem, hello. Collin. I’m so sorry to interrupt. I know you said that I shouldn’t, but Bea is here for your lunch.”
Whatever. I could handle a gentle toss under the bus to get the answers I sought. Syl hung up the phone and Collin poked his head out the door. “Babe, I have to rain check today. I’m sorry.” He really did look sorry. Under extreme duress, too. Was their meeting about me or perhaps unseemly business dealings? A lawsuit? Dire financials? Or was Mr.Case merely following his wife’s marching orders to trounce me after I rebuffed their offer? I was miffed but didn’t want to make a scene with the patriarch present. Especially when I wasn’t exactly sure where I stood. I’d have to wait it out before deciding on my next move.
“Of course, babe,” I said to Collin in my sweetest voice. “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, everything’s fine,” he said. It definitelywasn’tfine. His face took on the flushed hue of a small child who was in trouble for being naughty. “I just can’t leave right this second, but I’ll call you later, okay? Love you.” He shut the door. A monstrous display of disloyalty and right in front of Syl. It was embarrassing. I suppose Collin and his dad could have been discussing any number of line items as it pertained to the Case Company, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was the subject in question.
“Hey. Bea. Are you okay?” Syl asked, alluding to knowing more than she let on, so instead of barking at her about professionalism in an assistant role, I maintained a soft approach to peel the layers even further.
“I’m fine. It’s just a lunch.”
“Would you maybe want to go to lunch with me?”
What a bizarre creature Syl was. An executive assistant asking her boss’s girlfriend to socialize? No, I didn’twantto go to lunch with her, but I had a feeling she was privy to the conversation behind closed doors. I was practically salivating over whatever intel she possessed. She could be an asset to me. So the two of us popped into a nearby Pret for a salad and a sandwich. I got the salad, obviously.
Syl leaned in toward me at our table; her tone was hushed and exuberant. She really couldn’t wait to spill and I loved that energy from her. This is how we would bond, but it was good to know she wasn’t someone who could keep a secret.
“I don’t even know if I should be telling you this, but I feel like I owe you one after that whole thing with your office,” Syl said.
Yes, accurate.
“Okay, now you have to tell me,” I urged, perhaps too eagerly. She sat back in her chair a bit, enjoying the upper hand.
“I’m pretty sure they’re discussing you.” Syl smiled at me with the straw of her Diet Coke between her teeth.
“Oh? What about me?”
“Well, I couldn’t heareverything, but Collin was basically defending you to his father. He said that you’re like no woman he’s ever met before and that you’re ambitious and beautiful and not like the other ding-dongs they wanted him to settle down with.”
“He saidding-dongs?”
“He did. It was cute.”
“Right.” I shrugged, not really agreeing with her. So I was with a man who used the wordding-dongsin regular conversation? Well, there were worse fates.
