Page 56 of Necessary Roughness

The coffee was served, the pie slices were handed around, and Jordan refused a cup of coffee. She’d be lucky if she slept tonight at all.

“Your mom said that you might need a little advice,” James said.

“I do.”

He got up to grab a blank legal pad and a pen off the little table next to the TV set in their family room. “Tell me what’s on your mind.”

She told her parents the story of what had happened that morning with Marco, and she listened to the pen scratch across the paper as her dad made notes. When she finished, he turned to her and said, “What do you need from me, jelly bean?”

“I don’t know what to do. I don’t have the money to buy a business. If I don’t, he claims he’ll lay everyone off and tell them it was my fault because I didn’t do what he wanted.”

He reached out to take her hand. “I’m going to think about the advice I can give you, but I’d like to do something in the meantime.”

“What’s that?”

“One of the other guys in the firm owes me a favor. I’m going to ask him if he would please call this Marco tomorrow and ask him what his price might be, what the terms are, and if he’s willing to submit them in writing. He can’t expect you to give him an answer like this in twenty-four hours without any kind of possible contract or discussion of terms. We’ll see how serious he is.”

“What if he decides he’s going to close the place and lay everyone off instead?”

“It’s an empty threat. I know it’s frightening, but it’s what he is counting on. He thinks you won’t ask anyone else for advice.” He leaned forward to kiss Jordan’s forehead. “I’ll read this over again, and I’ll let you know in the morning before you leave what I have in mind. How’s that?”

“I—I would love that. Thanks, Dad.”

“You’ve always done a great job of making your own decisions. I’m glad you asked me for help with this one, though. We’ll handle it,” he said.

***

TANNER HAD SET his alarm the night before, but he knew he was kidding himself. He was going to what he knew was the last physical therapy appointment he would have with Jordan this morning. He tossed and turned most of the night and gave up on sleep before six AM. He knew his parents got up early, but it wasn’t an excuse to make a huge amount of noise and act like an ass.

He’d done some thinking in the twenty-four hours or so since Jordan left. He wasn’t surprised she didn’t stick around to say good-bye, but he wasn’t exactly excited about it, either. He’d been furious with himself for being such an idiot, and then the reality set in: he could be as pissed off as he wanted, but it wasn’t going to bring her back. He’d lied to her about having an official job offer. It was a huge betrayal. If he wanted her back, he was going to have to apologize, and he’d better make it good. His parents hadn’t lectured him at all yesterday after he told them Jordan had left. He’d spent yesterday pretending nothing at all was wrong, he was fine, and he wasn’t upset or brokenhearted over her at all. Everything was great until he was in bed for the night.

It was so cliché: he tossed and turned for hours. He relived every memory he had of her, even the ones that made him flinch.

His cell phone rang. There were only four people in the world who had any business calling him before seven AM, and he stared at the phone’s screen in disbelief as he hit the button to answer.

“Harrison.”

“Tanner.”

“You didn’t answer with an obscenity.”

“My parents are asleep upstairs. I didn’t want to wake them up.”

“Who are you, and what have you done with Tanner Cole?”

“Maybe we could get to the reason why you called.”

“I heard Jordan moved out.”

He could lie. It might work. He’d known Harrison since college, though, and he wouldn’t get away with it.

“Yeah. Yesterday.”

“That’s tough.”

“Probably. I’ll be fine.”

“Sure you will. That’s why you’re awake at six fifteen in the morning.”

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