Page 23 of Nailed

When I’d asked Jamie what I should talk about when he’d offered me the last-minute spot, he’d just said “something good.” So I didn’t bother pitching him. Instead, I just sent my proposal forWomen Belong in Tradesthrough.

“Well, it paid off. The committee did good.”

And just like that, my mind was right back on Jamie. Because Jamie was on that committee, I realized. Had he been the one to approve my talk?

Ellie and I caught up for a bit. She was living in Cincinnati with her son, Tommy, who was fifteen now, and apparently in with a not-so-great crowd. “I’m thinking about moving, honestly. Somewhere smaller, where I can keep more of an eye on him. It’s just jobs I’m worried about.”

She’d moved into teaching at the local community college, though instructing guys in their twenties who thought they knew more than her was a bit of a pain in the ass. “It’s like a job site on steroids,” she said, rolling her eyes.

“Well, Vermont’s probably too far away, but Heartbreaker has plans for a trade school for women,” I said. “I’m sure Winona would love to chat with you.” Ellie’s eyebrows flew up, and I told her about our plans. The school was still at least a year away, but it was only planning and bureaucracy in the way—Winona was engaged to a billionaire who’d buy a whole country for her if she asked.

Getting Ellie on board for the college would be the cherry on top of all the amazing things that had happened today.

Jamie Reilly be damned.

As Ellie took one of my Heartbreaker cards, I began to pack up my things. “Where are you going now?” I hadn’t been to any of the other sessions; I’d been too busy preparing for this one.

“Something about green roofs. But I dunno; it’ll be hard to top this one. The only other one that had the crowd this absorbed was your boss’s keynote this morning. Wasn’t it phenomenal?”

I stiffened, stuffing papers into my briefcase with a little more force than was necessary. “I didn’t actually see it,” I admitted.

“You didn’t see it?” She looked shocked. “Sarah—”

I guess it was odd that I hadn’t caught my own boss’s address to the whole conference. But I hadn’t been able to stomach watching him, even if he wouldn’t see me in the enormous crowd.

“I’ll catch it on the recording,” I said, shrugging like it was no big deal.

She frowned. “You definitely should. Anyway, I was surprised he didn’t say anything at yours.”

“Maybe if he’d bothered to show up, he might have.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Sorry. Jamie and I are… there’s a little tension.”

That was putting it mildly.

“Sarah,” Ellie said softly. “He was here.”

I froze. “What? No, he wasn’t.” I’d looked.

“I saw him! He’s kind of a hard guy to miss. He’s got that big silver fox thing going. He was right over there.” She pointed to a space at the back of the room near one of the exits. Then she shaded her eyes. “Though it is kind of hard to see back there with these lights in your eyes.”

It had been a blind spot.

My heart thudded. He’d been here. But my elation quickly turned to anger. Not just at Jamie, but at myself, for flip-flopping on my own convictions every time I so much as got a whiff of him doing something nice. Bothering to show up for a fraction of my talk wasn’t nice. If he’d really cared, he wouldn’t have hidden back there in the shadows.

He knew how disappointed I’d been when he said he might not make it.

“Sarah, is everything okay between you and Jamie? He seems like a nice guy, but I know that’s not always the case behind closed doors.”

I shot her a look. I knew she was thinking about her own situation years ago. How she’d been duped by a man in a position of power who told her he’d take care of her but did nothing to support her when she was terminated. In fact, we’d always suspected that he probably organized the termination.

“It’s nothing like that,” I said. And it wasn’t. Jamie would never do something like that; I knew it in my bones. And he owned up to issues at the company, and his mistakes—I’d seen him do it publicly and with absolute humility.

Except with me.

The anger simmered in me, bubbling up now to something hotter. More purposeful.

“So you’re okay?” Ellie asked tentatively. She looked like she was worried about me.

I stood up straight. “I’m fine. Actually, I’m more than fine.” I was done. Done with Jamie consuming my thoughts at this presentation. Done with him making me feel this way when I’d already moved on.

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