Page 24 of Strictly Business

Chapter Ten

MICHAELA

I SHOULD’VE KEPT MY big mouth shut. Can we go back to when he wasn’t here? Turns out him being here is ten times worse than having to figure it out on my own. Everything I’ve said today has fallen on deaf ears with no sign of it getting better anytime soon. He sits at the other end of the table with his computer open and if it weren’t for the small FS icon at the top of the document I’m editing I’d think it was all for show.

“Nice of you to show up this morning,” I smirked when he walked through the door earlier. “Albeit ten minutes late, but at least you showed.”

“How could I not when someone decided to run and tattle to Mommy?”

Shit.

“I didn’t tattle! I just—”

“No? Then why did I get a call from Davina at eleven o’clock last night?”

Okay, so maybe I finally got ahold of Nina and maybe I told her what he’s been doing the past two days. That still doesn’t make me a tattletale. I only want him to do his part for his company. Is that too much to ask? I still don’t understand his choice of clientele; it’s very un-Sheffield, but at least he’s finally doing some good in the world.

“Because you’re a tattletale,” he answered himself and fell into the chair at the furthest end of the table.

“You can’t get mad at me. This is your project, Finn! You should be here working on it.” My words go ignored because he had already shoved his AirPods into his ears, effectively tuning me out. “Asshole.”

And that’s how we’ve spent our day. Me, working through marketing, and him sulking on the other end of the room.

His phone vibrates on the table and he quickly answers quietly, “Yeah?” He leans back in his chair, stretching long limbs that have been set in stone for hours now. “Tell him not to worry about it.” Finn rubs his temple and takes a deep breath. Seems the person is more annoying than being stuck in the same room with me for the moment. “The twenty-third — No! No, you don’t need to come here for— Because it’s not necessary.” He scrubs a hand down his face before his gaze catches mine. I quickly avert my stare not wanting to give him any reason to start an argument. “Look, Mom, I can’t talk about this right now.” After another minute of listening to his mother on the other end, Finn hangs up and drops his phone on the table.

“That’s cute, Mommy calling to see if you need her help with your special project?” Good job, Michaela. Way to avoid an argument.

“Fuck off, Michaela,” he sighs.

Normally, I’d twist the knife a little bit more, but something tells me his mother already did that. Am I supposed to ask if he’s okay? I mean, it’s Finn. We don’t do stuff like that. That would be weird…

“You… okay?”

“Fine.” His eyes bore into his computer screen and he reaches for the coffee mug next to him, but it’s empty. That’s the third time he’s done that since he finished it an hour ago.

“You’ve been out for a while; I can go get some if you want.”

“I can get my own damn coffee.” Finn slams the laptop screen and pushes back with a little too much aggression shaking the table and spilling the remainder of my cup all over the stack of papers next to me. “Dammit, Michaela! That’s the numbers for—”

“You’re the one who shoved the table.” I try to shake some of the coffee from the documents. Besides the paper being a little brown and some ink bleed, they’ll survive. Might be a little hard to read some of the numbers, but it should be easy enough to guess… I think.

“Why do you have to ruin everything? It’s like you were put on this Earth solely to make a mess of things.” Finn snatches them from my hands. “This is why I didn’t want you to work on this project. You’re going to make a mess of things. You always do.”

Finn’s words take me back to that night, walking the streets of Rome when David told me the divorce was my fault because I couldn’t follow the plan. “What plan, David?” I asked. “The plan was to move to New York, get married, maybe have a kid or two… Barnes, D.C., living separate lives, that was never the plan!”

“We were supposed to be in this together, Michaela,” David said simply. “Washington was always the plan. You knew that, even when New York came up. I was always going to end up in D.C., and you stayed with me anyway.”

Tears burned my eyes while standing in front of our hotel. I couldn’t believe this was happening. I couldn’t believe he had flown to Italy just to end our trip by asking for a divorce.

“And now, you’ve ruined everything. You always do.”

The office door slams, and I realize I’m alone, again.

“God, he is such an ass! It wasn’t even my fault the coffee spilled, he was the one who knocked my mug over trying to get up. How is that on me?” I take a rather large gulp, wincing as the now room-temperature beer hits my tastebuds. “Why did Nin agree to help him? And why did she choose me to take over when she couldn’t be here? And, I mean, why do I have to do his job for him? It’s such bullshit, he’s an adult, why can’t he—”

“Mic, breathe,” Alex chuckles on the other end of the line. “If this is only day three, I’m scared to see you at the end of two weeks.”

I roll my eyes and stab through my fried rice. “This isn’t funny, Alex.”

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