“Bridget!” Murphy bellowed.
His incompetent secretary waltzed into the room, not a care in the world. “Yes?”
“You’re fired. You have less than five minutes to get the hell out of my office,” he said, his tone furious.
“For what?” she squealed. Yeah, she was probably considering the sudden loss of income. Murphy paid his secretary pretty damn well. Too well, considering she was crap-ass at her job. She needed that money for the upkeep of her boy-toy who she kept on the side from her wealthy husband.
“For allowing any riff-raff into my office,” Murphy said dryly.
“You can’t fire me. It’s against the law,” she objected.
“Jack.”
Jack approached the woman and not-so-kindly escorted her out of the office.
“Nice,” Sean Millen drawled. “Some things don’t change.”
“I suppose not,” Murphy said, casually leaning back in his chair. “Though, if you tell me you’re here to make amends with my wife, then maybe some things do and you could prove us both wrong.”
Derk stood and sauntered over to the spot Jack abandoned. Of Courtney’s two cousins, Sean was the one who held the temper and backed it up with a good right hook. For a former Navy SEAL who’d been out of the service for a while, he wasn’t a man to be taken lightly.
Sean and Courtney had their falling out well over a year ago, and Sean should have gotten over the spat by now. After all, Mrs. M apologized numerous times and went out of her way to try and patch the crack in her relationship with her cousin. Though as time crept on, that crack grew into a crater. And Mr. Murphy became more convinced Sean was asshole. Derk agreed. But what the hell was Ryan’s problem? He got along well with Courtney and didn’t seem to harbor any ill will after that family drama. Then the other night, he confessed to marrying the spitfire Lynn and not inviting Mrs. M. Talk about breaking a woman’s heart. As the two stood there, Sean’s cockiness oozing and Ryan’s nonchalant attitude to the world around him, Derk wanted to take a baseball bat to both their kneecaps. Murphy would probably frown upon that.
Sean pulled an envelope of out his suit jacket and tossed it onto Murphy’s desk. “Here’s the rest of the money on the loan. Our business together is done.”
Originally Sean came to Mr. Murphy to borrow money to open up his own cardiologist practice after he’d been fired from the VA Hospital in Pittsburgh for punching a couple administrators. All caused by Beth being sexually harassed by employees. When he’d lost his job, he went to Courtney to ask for loan money to open up the business. At first, Murphy insisted it be a gift, but after the family incident between the two cousins, Murphy went mob boss and turned it into a loan. Anyone could have called that move. But Sean hadn’t had a choice, and he’d been beholden to Mr. M since. This payback left him free and clear, but also gave no reason for Sean to come around and possibly mend his relationship with his cousin.
Ryan pulled an envelope out of his jeans pocket and tossed it on the desk. “This is the money you paid Lynn for the first few months when she’d been hired as Brady’s nanny.”
Now that was a surprise. What was Ryan’s game? Murphy never asked for that money to be returned.
Murphy didn’t move. “Well, I see the cardiology and daycare businesses are booming. Kudos.”
Squeals and clambers of small children filled the office. Suddenly Caitlin and Daniel Murphy burst into the office and ran straight to their father, babbling excitedly about going to see a movie.
“Sean? Ryan?”
Fuck. Courtney stood in the doorway, her eyes round. She took a hesitant step inside the office. Murphy stood from behind his desk but was blocked by his children, preventing him access to his wife.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, her voice shaky. “Is everything all right?”
“Everything’s fine,” Ryan said.
Sean stared at his cousin, his eyes narrowed.
Courtney nodded. “Good.” She focused on Sean. “How are the twins? And Beth? I haven’t seen them since they were born. I bet they’ve grown.”
The pain in her tone couldn’t be missed by anyone in the room.
“They’re well,” Sean answered curtly.
“That’s good.”
“Court, I didn’t know you were stopping by today,” Murphy said, picking up his son in order to get to his wife.
“I called and told Bridget I was stopping by.”
“Another good reason I fired her,” Murphy muttered, irritated.
“You fired her?”
“She’s incompetent.”
“That may be true, but what are you going to do about a secretary?”