Page 26 of How to Date a Younger Man
“I’m not mad at you,” she says, looking away. “I don’t think you did any of this on purpose. But you can’t be in a relationship with me when you’re hung up on someone else.”
Frustrated, I blow out a sigh. “I’m sorry,” I tell her, reaching out to hug her good-bye. What else can I say? I feel like a total asshole.
“I just need to be alone right now,” she says quietly.
I nod. My instinct is to try to comfort her, but I know that would only make things worse.
Overwhelmed by the thoughts swirling inside my head, I leave Cora’s key on the kitchen counter and head home. When I woke up this morning, I would have never guessed the day would end with us breaking up. We seemed so solid.
At my place, I collapse onto my couch with a sigh, having to fight the urge to text Layne to talk this through with her. She’s the only one who would know what to say to make me feel better, but she’s the one person I can’t call about this. Layne has made her feelings clear, and she’s not interested in being with me. I don’t particularly feel like being rejected twice in the same night.
Thanks, but no thanks.
9
* * *
LAYNE
One month ago
“Layne, I have Bob from Kincaid Incorporated on the phone. He has some questions about the merger.”
Sabrina’s light and cheery voice snaps me out of my email-answering-induced zombie state, and I instantly sit up straight, my brain struggling to focus. I chug the rest of my now-cold soy latte before pressing the button on the intercom to respond.
“Thanks, Sabrina. Put him through.”
Within moments, my phone rings, and I wait a beat to pick it up. “Hi, Bob. What can I do for you?”
“Hi, Layne. Listen, I have some concerns about this contract you sent over earlier. Are we actually going to give these guys the rights to fifty percent of our sales revenue moving forward? Doesn’t that sound a little generous to you?”
I sigh, pinching the bridge of my nose. “I understand your concern, but that’s the compromise we came to at our meeting last week. That’s how we got them to agree to keep the name Kincaid on the title moving forward. If you’d like to renegotiate, we’ll have to set up another meeting to get it sorted out.”
“But isn’t there some other way to keep my name without handing over half of our revenue?” His voice tightens, and I can imagine the vein in his forehead throbbing like it always does when he tries to keep himself from yelling. Bob’s been a client for almost five years now, and anger management isn’t exactly his forte. Which is exactly why he has me as an intermediary for this type of thing.
“That’s certainly something we can explore, but again, we’ll need to set up another meeting to discuss it with Saunders & Sons.”
“Those greedy little fuckers . . .” He growls, his sentence trailing off into incoherent grumblings.
I roll my eyes, doing my best to keep my tone professional. “Is there anything else I can do for you today, Bob?”
“Well, if you could find a way to keep those assholes’ hands off my money that would be great.”
“Okay, I’ll have Sabrina call Jillian and set up a meeting. I’m sure we’ll find a solution that makes everyone happy.”
“That’s what you said a week ago, and yet here we are.”
Taking a deep breath, I stand and start to pace, the gears in my brain cranking a mile a minute. “Bob, do you remember where your business was at when we started working together?”
“Well, we’d run into some hard times, sure, but it wasn’t serious, by any means.”
“No, you were drowning in legal fees. Your last corporate lawyer royally fucked you over, and that’s why I always give you a pass for not trusting me.”
“Come on, Layne. You know I trust you.”
“No, you don’t, and that’s okay. Because I’ll do my job, whether you believe I can or not. With my legal guidance, we turned your sinking business into a well-functioning, profitable enterprise in a matter of months. And this merger is the next step in securing a healthy financial future for your company for years to come. Do you want a healthy financial future for your company or not?”
“Well, of course I do.”
“Good. We’re on the same page then. Now, why don’t you do your job, and let me do mine.”
“Fine. I’ll have Jillian set up a meeting.”
“Great. Talk to you later.” I hang up, yanking my earbud out of my ear and shoving my hands through my hair.
You’d think that after five years of working together, this asshole would get over the fact that I’m a woman and trust me to get shit done for him. But if this job has taught me anything, it’s that the saying “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks” still rings true in certain fields. And let’s just say that Bob is a very old dog.
