Page 100 of Don't Bet On It
“I guess that’s interesting,” she mused, rolling her neck. “I need you to tell me why you think it’s a bad thing. Ryder Stone has been removed from his position. From what I understand, he has zero power in the organization.”
“That doesn’t mean he doesn’t want power.”
“Fair enough, but how would he get it? More importantly, how would your mother help him get it?”
Those were very good questions. “I don’t know,” I admitted, deflating a bit. “I can’t think of any scenario where she would be able to help him.”
“So why are you worried?” She sounded utterly rational. I knew what she was doing, however, and I wasn’t in the mood to playthatgame.
“I’m not here to talk about my mother,” I snapped a little more harshly than I’d anticipated.
She arched an eyebrow. “You came in here and announced that your mother is hanging around Ryder Stone. If you’re not here to talk about her, who are you here to talk about?”
“I just…” How could I explain this without getting into my whole past?
Candy’s voice was gentle when she spoke again. “Tallulah, nothing you say here will be used against you. I’m well aware of your mother’s rather colorful past. I don’t happen to believe the sins of the parent should be held against the child.”
“My relationship with Sharon has nothing to do with my life, though.”
“Doesn’t it?” Candy challenged. “Doesn’t your mother’s poor parenting inform everything you do?”
“No.”
She folded her arms across her chest and waited.
“No,” I repeated. “I’ve been over her being a crap mother for a very long time.”
“Except you’re not over it.” Candy shook her head. “I’ve done research on you.”
“Yes, you’ve told me.” I was still mad about her accessing my juvenile records.
“I don’t blame you for being irritated that I dug into your past,” she said. “I would be irritated too. You weren’t giving me anything, though. My job is to make sure this casino runs as smoothly as possible. The high rollers lounge was very defective for a time.”
“It seems to be running smoothly now,” I argued.
“Yes, now that you and Ronan have stopped fighting one another and started doing something else, things have been running smoothly.” Her lips quirked. “That doesn’t mean the lounge doesn’t still have a problem.”
It took me a moment to figure out her meaning. Kyla. Candy wasn’t watching Ronan and me any longer. She was watching Kyla. When I thought back at her actions in the lounge over the past month or so, that became glaringly apparent.
“You…” I didn’t say anything else. I wasn’t certain of what to say.
“You and Ronan are not in trouble,” Candy assured me. “In fact, Zach Stone made sure I understood the no-fraternization rule was a bunch of crap and that it wasn’t going to be enforced. He’s so serious about that, he’s actually going to have the rule removed from the handbook at the next meeting.”
I rubbed the back of my neck. “I guess that’s good.”
“He rightfully pointed out that love matches are formed at work more than anywhere else. He doesn’t want to take that away from people. Apparently, when Ronan expressed his fear about losing his job—and stressed that Zach should fire him and not you if it became a thing—Zach decided to get proactive.”
“I didn’t know Ronan did that,” I admitted.
“Didn’t you do something like that with Ruby, telling her to fire you and not him?”
There was no hiding my scowl. “This place is unbelievable,” I complained. “Is there anybody not talking trash?”
“Ruby was not talking trash. She simply made me aware that she was also going to take action to have that item stricken from the handbook. She mentioned you when we were talking about it.”
Candy leaned forward. “You should realize that I’d already figured out something was going on with you and Ronan before either of the Stone siblings approached me about the handbook. They asked me to put together something for the new handbook that outlines what is and isn’t acceptable for workplace romances. They don’t want it to be a free-for-all.”
“Ugh.” Briefly, I closed my eyes. When I thought about it—I’d always hated people knowing my private business—I realized I was nowhere near as frustrated at the news as I’d anticipated. “I don’t care who knows about Ronan and me,” I announced after a beat.
