What Gabriel had discovered today was that the mouse wasn’t only hardworking but was also highly perceptive and had a keen intelligence. In the miniscule fractions of time in which she forgot to be terrified of him, she’d… sparkled. Like there was a brilliant light deep inside her, stifled by a crippling lack of confidence.
An intriguing mouse was Ms. Baird.
Gabriel found himself interested, and he’d never before found a mouse interesting.
Setting aside the problem posed by having an employee who was clearly in the wrong position for her skill set, he turned his attention from the mouse to the flashy bird of paradise.
“Anya,” he said into the intercom. “Come into the office. And bring your laptop.”
FEELING AS IF SHE’D been through the wars, Charlotte ate a whole bag of chocolate raisins at her desk that evening while finishing up some work for Anya. Her brain felt like it had the consistency of noodle soup.
It wasn’t the work that had exhausted her. No, that had been hectic but interesting. It was the stress of not knowing whether she’d still have a job at the end of the week. Anya’s “tea lady” comment had been pure spite, but given Charlotte’s abysmal interviewing skills, she’d be lucky if future employers even trusted her to make tea.
That morose thought was still uppermost in her mind when Molly called at seven to ask if she’d like to grab dinner down at the Viaduct. “Yes!” she said to her friend, and decided then and there that she’d put the whole employment situation out of her head for the next few hours.
She did slip up and mention the fact she thought Gabriel was a T-Rex, which Molly found hysterical, but her news about work drama paled in comparison to Molly’s bombshell. After deciding on dessert before dinner, the two of them walked down to sit by the water, ice creams in hand as they waited for a super yacht to come in. That was when Molly confessed the aftermath of a cocktail party they’d attended the previous Friday night.
In short, her best friend had taken Zachary Fox, rock star and man voted “Reigning Sex God” by a men’s magazine three years running, up on his offer of a one-night stand.
Charlotte’s mouth fell open. “You—with Zachary Fox—” Throwing one arm around Molly, Charlotte smacked a big kiss on her best friend’s cheek, Molly’s skin a pure cream now touched with color. “My hero!” She pulled back her arm a second before her ice cream would’ve toppled over. “At least one of us will have outrageous stories with which to shock any grandchildren we might or might not have.”
Molly giggled and leaned into Charlotte, her wild tumble of black hair pulled back into a tight braid. Then, eyes on the water rippling with color from the lights of nearby businesses, Molly told her how the one-night stand had turned into a much more complicated arrangement that held the potential to tear open old scars so jagged and raw that Charlotte wasn’t sure the wounds had ever truly healed.
“Do you think I’m being ridiculous?” her best friend whispered. “About not being caught by the media with Fox?”
“Of course not.” Charlotte finished off her cone, balled up the napkin it had been wrapped in, and took Molly’s to the trash as well before coming back. “I was there, remember?” She closed her hand over Molly’s, heart hurting for her friend. “Did you tell Fox about what happened? So he knows it has nothing to do with him?”
Shaking her head, Molly pointed out the gleaming super yacht that had appeared in the distance. They watched the sleek craft glide in, the words they exchanged in the ensuing minutes layered with old pain.
Driven by her love for the woman who’d been her best friend since they first met in nursery school over two decades ago, Charlotte said, “I’m scared, Molly. All the time.” Until she couldn’t breathe sometimes. “You know why.”
Molly hugged her close, her voice fierce as she said, “We don’t have to talk about it.”
“No, it’s okay.” She turned to face Molly, looking into the warm brown eyes that had been the first thing she’d seen after she woke in the hospital bed just over five years ago. Molly hadn’t left her bedside for a single minute. “I miss out on so much because I’m scared—and the thing is, I’m intelligent enough to know it.” To be painfully aware she was living in a cage of her own construction. “That just makes it worse.”
“You’re selling yourself short.” Molly scowled. “You said I was brave, but I wouldn’t have made it through high school and foster care without you. You were my rock.”