My eyebrows furrowed in annoyance. If this was a joke, it wasn't funny. I gave Mitchell a serious look. "Youknow. He was giving out those crazy references."
Mitchell looked at me likeIwas the crazy one. "No, he wasn't."
As I stared in confusion, Lexie said, "What?"
Mitchell turned to her and said, "It wasn't Henster."
Lexie reached out to steady herself against the counter. "You're kidding."
At that moment, I could've killed Mitchell for whatever game he was playing. Sure, the guy had no idea that Lexie had been romantically involved with Cole Henster. But this joke – or whatever it was – was cruel beyond measure, especially on Christmas Eve.
I told Lexie, "Of course he's kidding." And then I looked to Mitchell. "Oh, come on. You told me it was Cole Henster."
Mitchell frowned. "No, I didn't."
I recalled the night on the porch. In passing, Mitchell had mentioned something about his coworkers calling him a nut job. At the time, I'd been offended on his behalf.Not anymore.
I gave him a no-nonsense look. "You did, too. I remember it distinctly. You told me her old boss was giving all of 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?"
Oh, my God."Of course I thought that." I suddenly felt sick to my stomach. "Who else would you mean?"
Mitchell scowled. "Grampkin, like I said."
"But…" I gave a hard swallow. "You didn't say it back then." I whirled to face my sister. "Honest Lexie, all he told me was that it was your old boss."
She stared across the counter. "And allyoutold me was that it was Cole."
"Well, yeah," I stammered. "Because that's who Mitchell meant. Or at least that's who I thought he meant."
She was glaring now. "You meant you assumed."
"Yeah, but with good reason." I gave another hard swallow. "I knew it couldn’t be Mister Grampkin because he was such a sweetheart."
Mitchell muttered, "Sweetheart, my ass." He looked to Lexie and said, "Get this. He's been blackballing all of us because he's starting a new company, and he wants us available."
"Us?" Lexie said. "Who do you mean?"
Mitchell made air quotes. "His loyal team."
Lexie shook her 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," Lexie said. "But it made sense. I mean, I worked for him a long time. And we got along really well."
Mitchell frowned. "And he wasn't Henster."
In a quiet voice, Lexie murmured, "That's for sure."
"That wasmylogic, too," Mitchell said. "And you see howthatworked out." Under his breath, he added, "So much for loyalty."
Loyalty – he'd mentioned such a thing when he'd given me a ride back to my aunt's place. At the time, it hadn't made sense.Now, it did.
But as usual, I'd taken it all wrong, and my sister was paying the price. I had never felt so awful in my whole life.
As Mitchell and Lexie discussed the specifics, I desperately tried to think.How on Earth could I make this right?
