She jerked out of his touch. “No, we are not going to be anything.” She poked his chest, stabbing hard. “You are going up to broadcast to tell them that I’ve resigned and every single word about Jake Chamberlain, Claudia Chamberlain, and Garrett Kilcannon is off the table. Unreleased, unsourced, unauthorized, and cannot be used.”
“You can’t do that.”
“Watch me. If one syllable about Garrett Kilcannon runs on ITAL On Air or appears on the website, I will go public with the fact that this company spies on its employees. You will not like the publicity, Mac. You will not enjoy job hunting.”
From behind his glasses, light brown eyes flickered with fear. “I don’t have a story for Wednesday. I worked like a dog for this promotion.”
#p#分页标题#e#
She snorted. “Don’t insult dogs like that.” She pivoted and scanned her desk, trying to decide what to take, her gaze landing on her favorite quote.
Success isn’t the key to happiness; happiness is the key to success.
Right now she wasn’t either one. Unless…she changed that.
“Get real, Jessie. You don’t have anything else. This place is your whole life. Your job defines you.”
“Not anymore.”
She reached for the framed quote and lifted it off the hook, and handed it to Mac. “Here, you need this more than I do.”
“What are you going to do?” he demanded.
She took the Paris picture, and the butterfly, and left everything else. Including her damned computer.
“I don’t know.” She closed her fingers over the handle of her suitcase and gave him a tight smile. “Maybe I’ll get a dog and write some books.”
Chapter Twenty-three
Wednesday night dinner had a distinctive and uncharacteristically heavy atmosphere. The usual banter, teasing, and conversation had come to a screeching halt about halfway through when Garrett checked his watch and knew he had about ten minutes left to come clean.
He put down his fork and looked at Shane, who shrugged. “It’s all you, dude.”
It was all him. All alone. It had been five days since he’d last seen Jessie, and the most surprising thing of all was how badly he missed her. And how many times he’d read that one text.
Garrett, please call me so I can explain what happened. It’s not pretty, but I’ve done everything I can to protect you. I’m so sorry.
But he didn’t call. What good would it do? To hear her lies and excuses? To wonder why he’d been taken in again? To ache for everything to be different because, damn it, he did love her. And she stomped all over that.
He and Shane talked it over and decided to wait until the show aired before going into full crisis-control mode. Right now, there was nothing to do but wait and see how bad the damage was.
The damage to his reputation, the legacy of his company, and his family’s finances could be repaired. To his heart? Those scars would never go away.
But he had to tell his family before they found out the hard way.
All around the table, every gaze was on him as he slowly walked through his tale, explaining to them the other life-changing event that had happened in the same month Mom died.
Molly’s eyes filled as he spoke and told them everything, from the relationship with Claudia straight through to how and why Jessie left. Liam listened, expressionless. Gramma rubbed her hands over each other like she did when something worried her, and Pru looked a little confused by it all. And Dad.
Oh man. Dad stared straight at him, and that was the hardest part for him.
When he finished, he swallowed and took a drink of water and braced for whatever it was they had to say.
“Garrett,” his father said softly. “You’re a good man, and I’m proud of you.”
He felt his jaw loosen. “I trusted her, Dad.” Worse, he loved her. “I’m a naive man.”
“I’m not talking about Jessie. You tried to save Claudia Chamberlain when she needed it the most.”
He held up a hand. “Please, I’m no hero. I loved her and was ready to help her raise her child. She used me. That’s not noble. It’s stupid.”
“Not how I see it,” Gramma said. “I agree with Daniel. You know what they say. We rise by lifting others. And you have, lad. You may call it stupid or ignoble. I call it a remarkable sacrifice and nothing to be ashamed of.”#p#分页标题#e#
They started chiming in one by one, all in support.
“Do you all realize what this potentially can do to our lives?” he said, frustrated that they weren’t seeing the big picture. “This could hurt stock, which all of you own. This could hurt our reputation and affect Waterford’s business.”