I leapt to my sister's defense. "Yeah, she told me everything. I know what Cole Henster did. But I'm just saying, with your sales experience, something is bound to turn up."
Mitchell frowned in confusion. "Henster? What doeshehave to do with it?"
Huh?When I gave Harper a perplexed look, she turned to Mitchell and said, "Youknow. He was giving out those crazy references."
Mitchell eyed my sister like she'd just sprouted reindeer antlers. "No, he wasn't."
I felt the blood drain from my face. "What?"
Mitchell turned to me and said, "It wasn't Henster."
Oh, God.I reached out to steady myself against the counter. "You're kidding."
Harper spoke up. "Of course he's kidding." She looked to Mitchell and said, "Oh, come on. Youtoldme it was Cole Henster."
But Mitchell wasn't backing down. "No, I didn't."
Harper visibly paled. "You did, too. I remember it distinctly. You told me her old boss was givingallof you terrible references."
"I know," Mitchell said. "But it wasn't Henster. It was Grampkin." He let out a bitter laugh. "What, you thought I meant Henster?"
Looking beyond horrified, Harper said, "Of course I thought that. Who else would you mean?"
Mitchell scowled. "Grampkin, like I said."
"But…" She gave a hard swallow. "You didn't say it back then." Harper whirled to face me. "Honest Lexie, all he told me was that it was your old boss."
I stared at my sister. "And allyoutoldmewas that it was Cole."
"Well, yeah," she stammered. "Because that's who Mitchell meant. Or at least that's who I thought he meant."
I was glaring now. "You meant you assumed."
"Yeah, but with good reason." By now, she looked nearly nauseated. "I knew it couldn’t be Mister Grampkin because he was such a sweetheart."
Mitchell muttered, "Sweetheart, my ass." He looked to me and said, "Get this. He's been blackballing all of us because he's starting a new company, and he wants us available."
"Us?" I tried to think. "Who do you mean?"
Mitchell made air quotes. "His loyal team."
I shook my head. "No. That can't be true."
"Wanna bet?" Mitchell gave a snort of derision. "Lemme guess. You used Grampkin as a personal reference. Am I right?"
"Well, yeah. But it made sense. I mean, I worked for him a long time. And we got alongreallywell."
Mitchell frowned. "Andhe wasn't Henster."
In a quiet voice, I murmured, "That's for sure."
"That wasmylogic, too," Mitchell said. "And you see howthatworked out." Under his breath, he added, "So much for loyalty." He paused. "You okay? You don't look so good."
I didn'tfeelso good. Still, I gave a shaky nod. "I'm fine. I'm just taking it in, that's all."
"Here'ssomething to take in." Mitchell looked a little sick himself. "You wanna hear the name of his new company?"
Judging from his expression, I wasn't so sure. "I don't know. Do I?"
