He could almost see Laurel rolling her eyes in frustration.
There was a pause before she texted back.
Sort what? What had he walked blindly into? He didn’t want to know, but it was a bruise he couldn’t stop pushing.
Well. That meant that he had definitely done something wrong. He scrolled to her number and pressed the green button. She made him wait for four rings before she answered, when she blatantly had the phone in her hand. They were adult enough to have a conversation, surely.
‘Nate,’ she said, her voice clipped.
‘Laurel,’ he replied. She was silent. ‘I think I’ve walked into a family minefield and I want to make sure I don’t do it again.’
Laurel sighed down the phone. He waited. Not everyone appreciated his forthright approach. Lucia certainly hadn’t, but it was so much easier, rather than second guessing everything all the time. Just ask.
‘Look, I’ve got a lot on my plate at the moment. I didn’t know you were on site, Alex Woollard is coming tomorrow, and...’ she hesitated. ‘Jack and Rebecca are working through some stuff. Sometimes Jack doesn’t like the fact that his little sister is his wife’s best friend.’
Exactly what Jack had said. They’d obviously been there before.
‘Don’t worry, I’ll handle it,’ she said.
‘Okay, um, sorry,’ he said eventually, although what he was sorry for, he had absolutely no idea.
‘Okay,’ she said. ‘Oh, and Nate?’
‘Yeah?’
‘Thanks for calling,’ she said.
‘Okay, see you later.’ He grinned and ended the call.
He could one hundred percent stay out of family politics.
Chapter Nine
Laurel
Laurel stared at the phone in her hand. That was weird. Not that he’d called. That was a socially acceptable thing, telephoning someone. Wasn’t it?
She sighed. Why did he have to say to Jack that he’d seen them on Saturday and that Rebecca was upset? She couldn’t blame him though, not really. It’s not like he knew the intricacies of the family relationships. At least he’d had the forethought to tell her about it.
There was no blue tick, so Rebecca was probably being very important in a meeting somewhere.
‘Laurel.’ Sylvie knocked on her office door. ‘You’ve got that call with the bank in half an hour, I’ve just emailed you those spreadsheets.’
‘Okay, thanks,’ Laurel said, clicking on her email. Sylvie hovered, tapping the folder in her hands nervously. ‘Are you alright, Sylvie?’
‘Yeah, can I?’ she motioned at the empty chair in front of Laurel’s desk.
‘Sure, of course.’
Sylvie scurried into her office and sat down in front of Laurel’s desk.
‘Um, it’s, well,’ she stuttered.
‘It’s okay, Sylvie,’ Laurel said, coming around and leaning on the front of the desk.
Sylvie looked at her anxiously.
‘I want to go do a Business Management degree, I’ve got all the information here, it’s expensive though, and I was hoping…’ she trailed off, watching Laurel pleadingly.
