“He was?” Jack looked at her but Ed answered.
“Yes, he was. He’d talked to me about it just a few weeks earlier and we were looking at the best way to do that. So I think you understand that, for the sake of everyone involved, it would be far easier to end this business relationship amicably.”
“What’s the catch?”
“No catch. She’s actually being more generous than John was going to be by offering to pay your health insurance. I advised her not to do that, but she insisted because she wanted to be fair.” Ed laid a pen on the table in front of Jack.
Wow. She had to hand it to the attorney, he was laying it on thick and selling it better than her most talented salesman could schmooze someone into a car.
“My parents are going to be pissed,” Jack said. “Dad once told me to talk to him before I ever got rid of my shares.”
“And Susan will deal with that, and him,” Ed said. “As per the will, Susan has right of first refusal. Do you honestly think your father would be as generous as she’s being?”
He snorted. “No,” he quietly said.
For the first time, she actually felt a tiny bit sorry for Jack.
Jack picked up the pen and signed the paper, as well as another one that Ed put in front of him. Ed used the phone’s intercom to call in his administrative assistant, who notarized the forms.
Ed handed Jack a copy of the agreement, as well as the title to the car, information on the health insurance, and a cashier’s check. “There you go,” he said. “That was easy. You can clean out your desk whenever you want this week, and you’ll be paid a base rate for the rest of the week, direct deposit as per usual.”
Jack stared at the check before looking at Susan. “You really hate me, don’t you?”
She caught Ed’s warning stare and carefully considered her words before she spoke.
“John was your big brother, but he was my soul mate. He was the love of my life. We’d started talking about having kids. When I lost him, I lost all my dreams. All that I’m left with now is this business, which was also his dream. I swore that I would do whatever it took to keep it going in his memory. It’s all I have left of him besides my memories. Dealing with you every day has done nothing but remind me of everything I lost when he died. I know he loved you, but I’m only human. There’s only so much one person can take before something breaks. I think the best thing for everyone is if you go pursue your options elsewhere. I know you’ve been doing side work. Hopefully that money gives you enough of a cushion, if you’re smart, to keep you going until you get another full-time job.”
Jack’s face reddened a little. “How’d you know?”
“It’s not hard to figure out. Car sales or boat sales?”
His blush deepened. “Boat.”
“Okay, then. The fact that you thought you were hiding that from me says something, right?” She hoped that didn’t come out snarky. “Face it, you’re not happy working for me. I was a safety line you couldn’t afford to cut because of the health insurance. If your parents give you hell about it, send them to me. I’ll take the heat. Blame me—I don’t care.
“Maybe one day I can forgive you for what happened, but not today, not yet. I need more time and distance before I can do that. And having you in my face at work every day, and worse, having to play referee between you and other employees, is rubbing salt in my wounds. Can’t you see that? Do you have any idea of how many people have asked me some variation of the question, ‘Gee, how can you stand looking at him every day?’ And I’ve had to defend you to those people because it was my husband’s wish to have you working for me, without him realizing you were the reason he was dead in the first place.”
Jack’s gaze dropped to the table. “Yeah,” he softly said. “I guess that would be tough. I never thought about it like that before.”
“I’m sorry I can’t embrace you and be the big sibling John was to you. I can’t. Maybe that makes me a horrible person and I’ll own it if it does, but without John, you and I will never be ‘family.’ I can’t be family to you. I’m sorry.”
He sat there for a moment in quiet contemplation. “Yeah,” he finally said, subdued. “I guess I can see where you would feel like that. You know what my parents are like. I was a mistake baby. They never bothered to hide that from me, that I was a late oopsie.”
He snorted. “John was the golden child. He could do no wrong. I think my parents were upset when he married you because they thought they’d help him run the business and John had already decided no, he wasn’t going to let Dad have a controlling stake.”
She let him talk, suspecting he needed to get this out of his system. She wasn’t his therapist, but if it meant she was done with him, she’d damn well sit and let him say it.
“On the one hand, Dad would talk about how proud he was of John for being a self-made man, and on the other, he would get irritated that he couldn’t control John. I know I fuck things up, and I’m sorry. I thought maybe when he married you that things would get better. And it was so cool when he let me come to work for him. I thought damn, I can really make him proud. But I also knew he wasn’t going to just give me stuff. I never was looking for a hand-out. I only wanted a chance. My dad had told me, countless times, what a failure I was. I just wanted to make a living, that’s all. I didn’t have John’s drive, the drive my dad did.”
As Jack fingered the papers and it hit her.
He’s a sub.
No wonder he’d always done so well under John. John had known exactly how to handle his little brother because it’d come naturally to him.
I’m an idiot.
“You need to find what makes you happy,” she said. “Stop trying to live up to whatever bullshit your father says you have to. It’s your life. Go be happy. Find someone who makes you happy and settle down with them.”
“Easier said than done.” He stood, gathering the papers.
She stood and walked around the table, knowing she needed to do this. “I’m sorry, Jack, but this is the way it has to be. I’m not strong enough to be who you need.” She offered him a hug.
She wasn’t sure he was going to do it at first, but then he stepped into her arms. It was the first time they’d actually hugged since…
Since before John died.
She’d always tolerated Jack for John’s sake. When he wasn’t being an ass, he was an okay guy, and usually he wasn’t an ass around John.
She could hardly bear to look at him now.
When he finally stepped away, he smiled, but it looked sad. “I’ll run back by work and get my stuff,” he said. “Thanks for the week’s pay. You didn’t have to do that, or the health insurance, but I appreciate it.”
If he’d acted like this with her since John’s death, she wouldn’t have resented his presence a fraction as much as she had. It was a shame, but she wouldn’t back down, either.
“If you’re careful, if you get another full-time job, you can turn that into a nest egg of your own.”
He nodded. “I know. I will. Thank you.”
With that, he left.
She leaned against the wall and fought back the round of tears threatening. “Wow.”
“Wow is right,” Ed said as he stood. “Let’s go tell your guys.”
Grant and Darryl looked up when they entered Ed’s office. when Ed gave them a thumbs-up, the men broke into relieved smiles and stood to hug her.
“That’s great,” Grant said. “So you’re done?”
“Done,” she said. “Twenty grand poorer, but it’s worth the peace of mind.”
“You can refer his parents to me, if you want,” Ed said.
“Hopefully I won’t have to deal with them for a while.”
After leaving Ed’s, they were sitting in the car and trying to decide where to go for dinner. This was worth a celebration.
Then Kristin called.
“Sorry, hon. I want to hear how it went, but I have a major problem you need to deal with here.”
“What?”
“Water pipe burst in parts…”
Shit. “We’ll be right there,” Susie said after Kristin had detailed what happened.
She ended the call and sat back. Grant was behind the wheel while Darryl had shotgun. “We need to go by the dealership. I have a massive plumbing emergency.”
Grant shifted the car into reverse. “Then let’s handle that. If you need us to, we can go get dinner and bring something back for all of us to eat there.”
“Thank you.” She sadly laughed. “What does it say about me that I don’t dread dealing with a plumbing disaster, yet I dragged my feet for over two years dealing with Jack?”
“I think it says you’re human, sweetheart,” Darryl said.
* * * *
Kristin, on the ball as always, had already called it in to their insurance company and had a plumbing contractor on the way. The facilities manager had got the water shut off, which meant no water at all on-site.
Including no working bathrooms.
Kristin was already calling around to get some portable toilets brought in, as well as hand-washing stations. It was the best they could do until the repairs could be made. She’d already sent one of the lot prep guys out to buy several cases of gallon jugs of water and hand sanitizer for people to use.
And they were big repairs to be made. It wasn’t just a water pipe. It was the incoming water main, just outside and under the parts department’s wall, and supplied not only their plumbing system, but irrigation and fire sprinklers as well.
Meaning the facilities manager had also had to deal with getting the fire alarm shut off when the water pressure drop triggered warnings there, too.
Before they’d got the water shut off, the force of the water had dug a huge six-foot hole under the asphalt outside the wall, as well as undermined a section of the wall.
A building contractor would have to be called to shore it up to ensure it was safe.
It was a headache, yes, but not as bad as the night five years earlier when a small F0 tornado ripped part of the roof off over the body shop and damaged another forty cars in the lot.
That had been bad.
This was manageable and looked like they’d have the initial repairs completed by late the next morning.
Kristin, Grant, and Darryl flanked Susie as she surveyed the damage outside. Carl, her parts department manager, looked like he was working on a good migraine.
“I don’t know how much stuff we lost, Susan,” he said as he stood there. “Once our guys realized what was going on and sounded the alarm, we started moving stuff as fast as we could. The place is a mess in there.” Susie hadn’t even made it in there yet to look.
“Just do the best you can,” she assured him. “We’ll file an insurance claim. Anyone from any department who wants to volunteer for overtime to help do the inventory and the recovery work, let them. It’s worth it.”
There’d be more repairs to do inside the parts department, mostly cosmetic, as long as the structural integrity of the outside wall was preserved.
“Thanks. So, hey, I saw Jack was looking for boxes a little while ago so he could clear out his office?”
“What?”
“Yeah.” He tipped his head to the side. She turned to see Jack heading out with a box of stuff in his arms. Fortunately, he was walking away from them and she didn’t think he’d seen them.
Shit. She realized she was standing there with Grant and Darryl. Not that it mattered much, in the grand scheme of things, but the less Jack knew about her personal life, the better.
“We came to an amicable agreement and he’s moving on,” Susie explained, leaving it at that.
“Thank Christ,” Carl muttered. “I hated that smarmy little sonofabitch. I don’t know how you tolerated having him around. You are a far better person than I am.”
She winced. Yes, Jack might be a damaged tool, but he’d made a lot of people miserable over the past couple of years. About the only people he didn’t manage to piss off—that she was aware of—were customers. She’d never heard a bad word about him in that respect.
It was the only other reason she hadn’t figured out how to get rid of him earlier.
Two hours later and they were eating Chinese take-out with Kristin, sitting around the table in the corner of Susie’s office.
“Thanks for getting this, guys,” Susie said. “I appreciate it.”
“No worries, babe,” Grant said, leaning in to give her a peck on the lips.
Kristin studied them. “Oookaaay,” she finally said. “This is between me and you three, but spill it already. I’m dying to know what’s going on.”
Susie blushed and looked to Grant, who seemed to be waiting to see if she’d hand it off to him or not.
He arched an eyebrow at her.
That’s when Kristin giggled. “Holy crap, you found yourself another one, didn’t you? Or two of them, I should say.”
All three of them stared at Kristin. “What?” Susan managed to squeak.
“Oh, please. I’m not blind. You and John were doing that…whatever it’s called. That Fifty Shades kind of stuff. I heard the way you talked to him, and how he talked to you. Saw you two together every day, for chrissake. And outside of work. Puh-lease.” She smiled. “If these two guys are the reason you’re finally living and smiling again, they have my vote and I’ll keep my mouth shut.”
Darryl chuckled. “Busted. How much do you want to know?”
“It’s none of my business, so I guess as much as you think I should.”
Grant gave her the short and quick version, that yes, he was in charge of Susan and Darryl, but for obvious reasons, they couldn’t let that get out, and it was easier for Susie to pretend to be dating Darryl.
“My mouth is sealed,” Kristin said, her smile fading. “However, you should be aware that, a few weeks back, Jack asked me what I knew about you two guys. I told him that I knew he should mind his own business, that you were friends from high school and had reconnected at your reunion.”
Susan paled. “Why didn’t you tell me that?”
“I honestly forgot about it until just now. You know how Jack is. He’s like that with everyone, trying to be snoopy. It’d be like, ‘Hey, Jack’s being nosy again, Episode 9,842.’” She motioned with her chopsticks. “FYI, news flash—the sky’s blue and grass is green.”
“Oh. True.” How sad was it that she’d lived with that for so long, it’d become the norm? “Do you think anyone else suspects?”
“If they do, they couldn’t care less. All I’ve been hearing is how happy they are to see you finally smiling again.” She studied Susan. “You don’t understand how loyal these people are to you, do you? Most of them, anyways. The ones who were here with John from the start, and hell, anyone who was here long enough to get to know John before we lost him. They’re loyal to you. Their hearts broke for you when you lost John, because they lost him, too. To see you finally smiling again is…Well, it’s a damn good thing.”
Susie laid her head on Grant’s shoulder. Even tonight, the men had sat on either side of her, as they always did.
As natural as anything.
“I love them,” she softly admitted. “We just have to keep things quiet for obvious reasons.”
“Then consider me an accomplice,” Kristin said. “Whatever story you want told, that’s what’ll get told. Didn’t you think it’d be easier having me help you control the message?”
Heat spilled into her face. “True. Sorry.”
“Then feel free,” Grant said, “to give people the impression that she’s dating Darryl. Since Darryl and I are best friends and roommates, it’s not unusual to see me and him together.”
“Roger roger,” Kristin said, grinning. “I knew there was a reason I really liked you boys.” Her smile faded. “Don’t fuck her over or I’ll be your worst enemy.”
Susie laughed. “They’d have to survive Tilly going after them first.”
“Who? Oh, was that you
r friend I met last week?” Kristin’s gaze narrowed. “Hey, she came in with two guys, too, didn’t she?”
“Yeah,” Susie said. “She did.”
“Gotcha.” She made a motion of locking her lips and chucking the key over her shoulder.
Grant kissed Susie’s temple. “Like you said, one daily stressor…gone.”
“I never thought I’d see the day.”
Kristin smirked. “Don’t be surprised if you start getting ‘thank you’ gifts from everyone on staff.”
Susie thought back to the insight she’d had while finalizing the arrangements with Jack. “I just hope he can find happiness one day,” she said. “All I know is it won’t be here.”
Chapter Eighteen
They didn’t get out of there until after midnight. Kristin stayed the whole time, helping coordinate everything.
This time, it was Susie ordering Kristin to not come in until late—if at all—the next day.
Kristin agreed to coming in at noon.
For her part, Susie awoke at her normal time and went in as usual to make sure the repairs were still underway. The men had slept at her house, as they’d already planned, and headed in to work from there. Grant would be in quarterly meetings all day with representatives from a pharmaceutical company they were doing research for and out of contact until he got out of work that evening. He’d told Darryl and Susie to go ahead and eat dinner and not wait on him.
She was actually enjoying her Tuesday morning, feeling good about life in general, when she caught sight of Marcus and Joanie Costello marching through the showroom a little before nine o’clock.
And they headed straight toward the hallway that led to her office.
Dammit.
From the looks on their faces, she suspected this wouldn’t be good.
While she had wondered if Jack would go whining to his mommy and daddy that his mean, bitchy sister-in-law had basically forced him out, Ed had warned her that she was perfectly within her rights per the will. Jack had signed an agreement to sell his shares, had accepted and already deposited the check that same afternoon—apparently before he even went to clean out his desk—and it was a done deal.