I glared at him and sighed, refusing to respond. It was my personal business what I did outside of work, and I owned the place.
“Are you?”
My eyes flicked to his face. “Am I what?”
“Are you seeing her? Because Jack has a point. If he can’t date Gretchen, you shouldn’t be able to date Haley.”
“That’s preposterous. You know that.” I straightened in my seat, palms splayed on my desk. “She wasn’t just terminated for that. If she had been, Jack would have gone too.”
“I know that, and so does Gretchen, but Jack got it in her head that you are a monster. I guarantee the suit was filed because of the rumors of your relationship with Haley. Now tell me the damn truth.” Tom raised his voice at me for the first time since I’d known him.
“What I do in my personal life is my business, but yes. I’m seeing Haley.”
He rubbed his forehead and looked down. I saw the tension in his body, squared shoulders, knit brow, clenched jaw. He thought I was the one in the wrong. He thought I’d brought this on myself, and maybe I had, but I didn’t care. Life is too short to waste time on games. Haley happened, and I didn’t regret it.
“You’re going to have to settle, Parker. And it’s going to cost you a pretty penny. This isn’t going to go away easily.” Tom sighed and glanced out over the newsroom. “I’ll take this to the lawyer right away.” He scooped up the paperwork and tapped it on the desk until it was straight, then stuffed it back in the envelope. I heard him mumbling something as he walked out but couldn’t make out what it was.
If Jack thought this was going to ruffle my feathers more than a bit of shouting, he was wrong. I didn’t want a court case because I didn’t want Haley’s name dragged through the mud, but I wasn’t about to be bullied.
25
HALEY
Istood near the door of Parker’s office, waiting for him to look up at me. He had acknowledged that I walked in but was so buried in whatever work he was doing that it was like I’d called and been put on hold. I checked the time on my phone, nearly twenty minutes after I was supposed to have left work. I had plans with Rachel this evening and I didn’t want to be late, but Parker looked angry and I didn’t want to upset him, especially not after the way our trip went last week. We still hadn’t spoken about it, only surface-level conversations about work.
When another five minutes passed without his looking up at me again, I cleared my throat, hoping he’d get the message. His eyes popped up to take me in, and he scowled, then returned to his work. I didn’t want to interrupt if something was really bothering him, but I had an important update for him and I just wanted to go home and relax a few minutes before heading out with Rachel.
“Parker, I just have?—”
“What!” His shout startled me, and he glowered at me. His forehead was wrinkled with emotion I hadn’t seen on him in weeks.
I stood stock-still, eyes wide. He’d never taken any tone with me in the time I’d worked here, though I’d seen him lash out at others. And sometimes, our team meetings got a little heated with his rants, but I had never been at the receiving end of his temper. I didn’t like it at all. I swallowed hard, wanting to avoid any negative interaction, but I could tell it was inevitable. I resolved to remain calm before I started talking again, and Parker’s full attention was now on me.
“I needed to tell you about the source for the environmental story out of Ohio.” I was confident, not allowing his mood to affect my tone. I wasn’t about to cower before him the way Mr. Green and David did at times. I knew him. He had a softer side that he refused to show people, but I’d seen it. I had been the one to get him to open up. This was the result of his stress, not me. At least, I prayed it was.
“Well, spit it out. Can’t you see I’m busy?” The valley between his eyebrows deepened and he pursed his lips. I was hurt. He had never spoken to me like this before, and I didn’t like it at all. I wanted my kind, soft-spoken Parker back.
“We have a meeting with him next week on Tuesday. He will be in Chicago for the holiday visiting family and wants to stop in before he heads back to Ohio.” My feet hurt, and I shifted my weight from one to the other. Parker flicked his hand in the air like he didn’t even care and looked back at his computer. “He indicated that he was very interested in meeting with you directly, sir.”
“Look, Haley, I’ve had a really shitty day. Just send me an email about it.” He didn’t even look up when he said the words, and I was hurt. I felt like I’d gone from his intimate partner to just another staff member. I began to wonder if the entire thingwas an act—us building a relationship, the way he seemed so different around me. This Parker Danvers was the one the entire office hated at times. This was not my Parker. But did my Parker even exist?
I stood there for another minute watching him, but he absorbed himself in work again and I didn’t know what else to say. After the way he treated me last weekend, and then he hadn’t even tried to call me or talk to me, I knew things were probably over. This was just the final confirmation for me. My shoulders dropped, and I turned and left his office. If he couldn’t even be civil with me, we had nothing else to say to each other.
I headed home and got ready for drinks at the club with Rachel, then headed out, feeling really down. It was supposed to be a night to let loose and have fun, but I knew it would be more of a sob fest. Instead of the club, we should have been going to a private little dive, where I could unload all my struggles and let Rachel comfort me in the way only a best friend can. I drove to her house and picked her up, and she bubbled on about meeting cute guys and dancing. I pretended to be interested, but my heart was sad. She didn't seem to notice much until we got into the club.
The club was loud, as usual, and I had at least three drinks before Rachel finally sat me down and forced me to talk. I wasn’t myself, not dancing or even being chatty. Two guys had come to hit on us, and I hadn’t even looked up. Not only did they have no appeal to me because I had feelings for Parker, but I was so upset, I had no interest in any man.
“What gives?” Rachel asked, her voice raised above the music. The bass thumped, and I could feel it vibrating in my chest. I didn’t recognize the song, but it had a catchy beat. Still, I was sullen and didn’t really want to be there. I opened my mouth to speak, but I didn't feel like shouting so I just closed my lips.
I shrugged, not really knowing how to explain the weird situation. Parker was hiding something from me. I deduced that he knew something about the job offer, but if he knew something, why hadn’t he tried to talk to me about it? Mr. Green had offered me double my salary and the title of editor of national news—David would transition to specifically international, thus dividing the department and giving me another promotion. I knew it was an attempt to keep me atTheVine. If Parker’s management was doing this, he had to know about the job opportunity.
“Stop it. You are my best friend, Haley. Tell me what’s wrong.” Rachel shook me gently then picked up her drink and had a swig. I could smell the stench of the alcohol she was drinking on her breath and was thankful I had chosen to go easy on the drinks.
“It’s Parker… I think we broke up, but I’m not positive. He isn’t really speaking to me. And today, he snapped at me at work. He never does that.” I felt tipsy. I knew I probably shouldn’t drink anymore or I’d have to call a cab and leave my car sitting, but I really wanted to drink more—drown my sorrows in some mai tais.
“Gosh, that’s harsh. Did something happen?” She sucked her straw, making the slurping sound that indicated her drink was almost empty. She loved those fruity things and probably already had too many tonight.
“Well, I didn’t think so. I think maybe he found out about the job, but why wouldn’t he just talk to me?”
