Marriage of Inconvenience(Knitting in the City Book #7)(121)
“He and Eugene founded the firm thirty years ago, and my father is a big reason why they’ve been so successful. Sharpe goes where the money is, which makes sense. They have a big staff of people here who rely on them for paychecks and Eugene is on his way out the door, ready to retire. He needs to take care of his people.” She selected a cheese and cherry danish, licking her fingers after setting it on her napkin.
“You’re being very generous to Sharpe, a guy who’s been working to have you committed to a mental institution and just froze your assets.”
“It’s business. One day, I’ll be responsible for voting the controlling shares in Caravel and I’ll have to make decisions based on what’s best for the company, because the people are the company. That’s what my father used to say.”
“He did? He used to say that to you?”
“No. I’ve read interviews he gave to magazines and newspapers,” she admitted sadly, then sighed. “I think I need to go into the office tomorrow.”
“What? Go back to Chicago?”
“No. Here.” She glanced at me, a small smile tugging at her mouth. “I have an office at the Caravel headquarters in Boston.”
“Oh?” I turned toward her more fully, leaning an elbow on the table, lifting my eyebrows. “Is it a corner office?”
“It is.”
“On a high floor?”
“Yes.”
“Do you have your own secretary?”
“I don’t have an executive assistant of my own, no. I use the executive pool when I need help.”
“Hmm.” My gaze flickered over her. “You’re worried about the problems with the reports?”
“Do you think Janie would take a look? If I asked? I mean, I know she just had a baby. But she was honestly the best person we had in the accounting department before they let her go. She’s unbelievably amazing. And she knows things, random facts, which help her pick up on discrepancies. I feel like she’d see the pattern I’m missing.”
“Why don’t you ask someone in Caravel to help?”
“I don’t know who I can trust.”
“Yeah. Good point. I’m sure Janie would be happy to help.”
Kat exhaled, sounding relieved. “Okay. Good. This is a good plan. When they come out next weekend, I’ll have her go through them with me.”
“Elizabeth, Sandra, and Ashley could also help.” I tore off a piece of my croissant. “They might be able to quickly look at your current agent, or drug catalogue—that’s what you called it?—and tell you which ones have generics.”
“Yes. Good idea. I’ve been meaning to do this research forever, but with work and school, I’ve let my concerns about Caravel slide, figuring I just needed more time to learn the ropes. I just thought . . .”
“What?”
Her small smile looked regretful. “I thought I had more time.”
“More time?”
“Before my dad died. For some reason, as long as he was alive, even though he was in no shape to run Caravel or vote the family shares, I felt like I had a buffer. I could live my life like I wanted, where I wanted.”
I studied her, her gaze now intense, like she was trying to tell me something without saying it. She didn’t need to say it, I could put the puzzle pieces together myself.
“You’re moving to Boston,” I guessed.
Kat chewed on her bottom lip, watching me, maybe hoping for more mind reading.
When I said nothing, she sighed, her attention dropping to her pastry. “That depends.”
“On what?”
“On you.” Pink spread over her cheeks and she picked at the danish’s flaky dough. “I would like to—I would like for us to . . .”
“Yes?” I found myself leaning forward, on the edge of my seat.
“We’ve done everything backward.” Kat brought her thumb to her tongue, licked the icing, her stare coming back to me. “If we were in Chicago, would we live together? Now that the Caleb threat seems to have vanished, do we stay married?”
For some reason, my heart was beating faster. All I knew was, I didn’t like the direction she was heading with these questions.
“The Caleb threat hasn’t vanished,” I hedged, taking a bite of my croissant, chewing to give myself more time, taking a drink of my coffee to give myself even more time.
But, now that I thought about it, my statement was true. Our confrontation just now had been too easy, I’d won too easily. Maybe Caleb’s lack of funds had made him sloppy, but he wasn’t ready to give up. I was sure of it. I may have cauterized his access to the law firm and legal resources, but that still left him illegal resources.