Page 87 of Falling into Place
“What?”
“That was ... rough. I mean, she wasn’t wrong about any of it and we probably deserved it, but it still kind of sucked.”
Carly just nodded, trying to regain a sense of equilibrium. It was like she’d had the wind knocked out of her.
He dragged a hand down his face. “I just thought, maybe ... now you’d be regretting everything and would want to leave.” His voice was low and troubled, like the thought made him miserable.
“She was right about some things, and we hurt her. I hate that, and I hate that she found out this way. We should have handled this differently.” She reached across her body and rubbed one hand up and down the opposite arm. “But I don’t regret anything that’s happened with you, and I don’t want to leave.”
His shoulders relaxed. “Good. I don’t want you to, either.” He crossed the room and pulled her into his arms. “I’m sorry I put you in this position.”
“Technically I think I started it. Both times.”
“Give me some time and I’ll even the score.”
She smiled against his chest. “Okay.”
“Just let her cool off, okay? It’ll be alright.”
Her smile faded, but she kept her forehead against his warm body, letting it and his words comfort her, even though she wasn’t sure they were true.
“So what’s the deal with Ralph’s?”
They’d somberly settled back around the coffee table and divvied up slices of pizza in relative silence. It had cooled considerably during delivery and the conversation with Sasha, so Brooks popped their pieces in the microwave and had just handed Carly a plate when she asked the question.
He rolled his lips together for a moment, as if considering how to answer. He put his plate on the table and rubbed his hands together between his knees. “It was my parents’ favorite restaurant. We used to order it in every Friday night, and we’d all make a big deal about my mom getting pineapple while the rest of us wanted meat on meat. It was sort of our family thing, and even as teenagers, none of us left the house on Friday nights until after we’d had dinner together. We didn’t have a ton of family traditions, but that was one. It stopped the second my mom died.”
A pressure point emerged beneath her ribs. “You haven’t had it since?”
“Not until now.”
“I’m so sorry, I had no idea,” she said. “We could have had something else. I wish you’d told me.”
“I should have. I thought about it, but ...” He looked down at his hands, clasped together. “I’m not good at talking about things. And I thought maybe having it with someone who made me happy would be kind of nice. Like maybe it would feel like it used to.”
“Oh.” A piece of her frustration slipped away.
“I’ll work on it,” he said, and she knew he meant it. “Talking to you about that stuff, I mean. But you have some explaining to do yourself, you know.”
She paused with her piece of pizza halfway to her mouth. “What do you mean?”
“Who’s this sleazy client Sasha mentioned? Did something happen?”
Carly put her food back on the plate and balanced it on her lap. “Yes and no. I had a married client who was ... flirty.” Based on the hard look in Brooks’s eyes just from that, she figured it was best not to elaborate further. “I ignored it at first, but it got to the point I had to shut him down. A few days later, his wife called my boss and accused me of hitting on her husband.”
“What the hell?”
“Obviously, it wasn’t true. Thank goodness Mai believed me—I guess this guy has a reputation for running around on his wife, and he’s not discreet. So I didn’t get in trouble, but just to cover her ass Mai made us take all this training about professionalism and appropriate client relations. Wrote up a new policy we all had to sign. All that happened right before Sasha pitched thisBacheloridea.”
“Oh my God, Carly.” Brooks sank back into the cushions, palms over his eyes. “Why didn’t you tell me? This is a big fucking deal. It’s not just, like, something taboo or frowned upon—you could lose your entire job over this, couldn’t you?”
“Well ... yeah. But no one’s gonna find out, right?”
“Sasha just did,” he pointed out.
“She might be mad at me, but she wouldn’t rat me out.” She wasn’t the vindictive sort, and saying it out loud made Carly feel even shittier for doing this to her. “Besides, that wouldn’t help her situation, either.”
“True.” He sighed and pushed back up to a sitting position. “Okay. Well, we’re officially in ultrastealth mode. I’ve already done enough damage, I won’t add your job to it.”
