“Mom!” I put my hands on my hips. That was the last word that would have come to mind if I’d been asked to describe him right now. I didn’t know if I’d ever get a chance to talk to him again, but at least I had closure in the fact that he knew it wasn’t me, and he felt bad enough about it to publicly announce it.
“Isn’t he one, though? He fired you without even blinking an eye.”
“It isn’t like that. He has a company to run. He had to save his life’s dream,” I argued.
“He should have had all his facts straight before acting so rashly.” She frowned, shutting off the TV. “That’s what a real leader does.”
“She’s right, you know.” A familiar voice came from the doorway.
I turned and spotted Brogan leaning against the doorframe in a pair of jeans and a fleece zip-up. My whole body froze. What was he doing here, in a hospital hundreds of miles away from his home? I had to blink a few times just to make sure I wasn’t imagining the whole thing. By the third blink, I was sure that yes, he was in fact here, and that he probably thought I had an eye twitch problem.
“Dickhole is a great word to describe my actions.” He strode over to my mom and extended a hand. “Hi, Mrs. Taylor. I’m Brogan Dickhole Starr.”
She shifted her gaze from me to Brogan, skepticism in her eyes. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”
“I wanted to personally apologize for my dickholery, and to meet the person who raised such a smart, business-savvy woman.”
She turned to me and murmured, “This one’ll charm the pants right off of you.” Then she shifted her attention back to him. “I assume you also came to compensate Lainey for time lost being out of work the past couple days, and to assure her she’ll have a position ready for her return on Monday?”
“Mom!” Who said I wanted to go back to Starr Media? Even if I really did, it wouldn’t be the same. People would look at me differently, and even if my name had been cleared, the damage to my reputation had been done. There was no coming back from that.
A bemused expression flitted across his lips. “Are you bartering for a job on behalf of your daughter?”
Even with IVs in her arm, Mom was still able to pull off a boy, you’re messing with the wrong woman look, complete with silent finger snaps. God, I loved this woman. “Where do you think she got her business sense from?”
“Undoubtedly from you.” He smiled. “I’d also like to congratulate you on your final chemo treatment. Lainey’s kept me posted on your progress throughout, and I’m so glad the treatment was effective.”
“She’s a sweetheart.” She patted my hand and gave a soft smile.
“Yes. She is.” The heat in his expression sent a shiver through me.
Mom cleared her throat and produced a very artificial yawn. “I’m very tired. If you guys don’t mind, I’d like to be alone for a little bit.” She gave a quick wink in my direction and then closed her eyes.
I looked to Brogan. Did I want to talk to him alone after what had happened the other day? I did deserve an in-person apology. We walked into the hallway in silence.
“Lainey.” The whisper in his familiar voice caressed my ear, and if I hadn’t been paying attention, I’d have passed it off as my imagination.
Slowly, I turned to face Brogan. His hands were shoved in the pockets of his jeans, a sheepish expression set across the lips that played front and center in my dreams the last two nights.
“What are you really doing here?”
“I made a mistake.”
I pursed my lips and leveled a glare at him. I may have forgiven him once, but the second time wasn’t going to be as easy. He deserved to squirm. “Just one? I’m pretty sure there were several. Which one are you referring to?”
His frown deepened. “Yes. I screwed up a lot. I should have believed you when you said it wasn’t you.” He paused and added, “I really didn’t think it was, but I couldn’t get over the fact that I needed to abide by my own rules. And it hurt you.” He looked away, ashamed.
“Trust isn’t exactly your strong suit.” And because of what he’d done, I wasn’t doing so great with it myself.
“I’m working on that. I was wrong to jump to conclusions. It was a dick move, and you deserve better.” He looked around the hallway and then back at me. “I did some investigating, and you were right, it was Zelda.”