Page 93 of Defended By Love

“Because he’d already brought a lot of his office stuff home.”

That bastard knew what was going to happen because he was in on it. For reasons that I vow to uncover, he was in on the plan to destroy the building that housed our office. He agreed to let all the work towards prosecuting environmental polluters that was held in our office get destroyed. Years of work down the drain. Years of future pollution up for grabs.

I pop out of bed with renewed vigour.

“Come on, Grant. I need to go get fired again.”

Chapter 40

Knowing there’s a body underneath the rubble has changed how I see the scene before me. I dodge and weave the blooming crowd, walking straight past the police officer who stands at the barricade. It could be that I’m hypnotized by the source of my grief or maybe it’s just that I walk the walk of someone entirely unconcerned with being stopped. Whatever it is, this time he doesn’t say a word.

Grant trails behind me, his presence a comforting lifeline that keeps me from losing control.

Especially when I see them. Both Reinhold Cragg and Dominic chat lightheartedly, talking over a desperate Beth. Right now Dominic is reassuring Reinhold that no one could have been in the building. They’re probably patting themselves on the back on a job well done.

Beth sees me before they do. Her eyes widen as her mouth falls into a perfect ‘o’.

“Hailey!” she yells and runs towards me, pulling me into a hug. “I was so worried about you.”

Right. I guess I didn’t put out my usual blast on social media saying that I’m safe.

Dominic’s eyes follow the commotion. He sees me and moves on. Beth, the woman I used to think of as my office nemesis, is practically sobbing over me in relief while the man I believed to be my mentor scarcely acknowledges my presence.

“Happy late birthday.”

Beth startles back, as if someone mentioning her birthday is beyond anything she could wish for. “Thank you?”

“When this is all over, let’s do some more coffee and karaoke,” I say, meaning it.

“More?”

I nod. “But no more luncheon limbos. That was just a bad idea.” We tried that on one of my days and it did not go well. I suspect it would have gone better if we limbo-ed first and lunched later.

We didn’t.

Brad in accounting wound up falling into his own vomit. For all our sakes, I was extra thankful for the reset after that day.

“Did you find my list?”

I smile, eyeing the two men near us who are carrying on without a single thought to the devastation they’ve caused.

“I did and it was amazing.”

Beth beams. “Did you see the one about shorts? I think it needs a bit of explaining—”

“Tell me about the shorts idea when we meet up. Something tells me I’ll need a bit of time to process it.”

Beth’s face falls. Fair enough. I’ve told her we’d hang out so many times the sentiment must be more worn out than my dad’s favourite pair of socks.

“I mean it. I’m sorry I haven’t been the friend I should be to you.”

“You’re busy…” Beth says with a shrug.

“All of your goodness is wasted on this office,” I tell her, taking a step towards the men since they seem to be saying goodbye. “But I’ll try not to let it be wasted on me any longer.”

“Hey,” Beth says, grabbing my arm to stay me as I dart off towards the pair. “You are too. Too good for the office, I mean.”

I don’t say anything.

---