Page 42 of Gross Misconduct

“You mentioned that your dad was suspicious. Why do you think that?”

Jeremy grimaced. “He knows I wouldn’t move this quickly, especially because they haven’t met you. But I’m sure you can pull the wool over their eyes.”

I bit my lip, wondering if what I was about to ask him was out of bounds, but that didn’t stop me. “What did they do when the whole Orla thing came out?”

“They were disappointed. I let them down. I let a lot of people down.”

Now I was really going to go for it. “Was it just the one time in the video? Really?”

He looked at me with those steely blue eyes of his. “Yes.And since we are getting so personal, why don’t you talk about your past? Why such a mystery?”

“I told you about my mother.”

He pffted me. “Not what I meant, and you know it.”

“Why do I think you’re trying to distract me from asking about Orla?”

“Why do I think you are keeping secrets?”

I got up and headed for the fridge. If I was going to tell him about Eli, we were going to need something to drink.

Chapter Twenty-One

Jeremy

Jill handed me a beer, then poured herself a tall glass of chilled white wine. She sat on the sofa, but I stayed on the floor with Chloe, who was now settling onto one of the plush beds we bought her. I couldn’t believe how well she’d adjusted to us. She was just the sweetest little thing.

“I don’t have the history you do,” Jill said, “not that I’m knocking it. You have lived the life you wanted, and there is nothing wrong with that. I haven’t exactly had a slew of boyfriends.”

“I don’t know why. You’re funny, gorgeous?—”

“And a tough broad. A lot of guys can’t handle that.”

She wasn’t wrong. For the longest time, I was one of those guys. I’d wanted nothing to do with her, but now I looked forward to her company. Once I’d gotten past her tough-broad persona, she was smart, made me laugh, was fiercely loyal, and still tough as nails, but I loved that about her, and I should have given her a chance sooner. “You’re right. A lot of guys can’t handle that. They’re wimps.” Like me.

“Yeah, so in college I dated a few guys, but nothing serious.Not even serious enough to tell my friends about. But there was one man, and I dated him for over a year.” She paused and looked me in the eye. “If I tell you about this, you have to swear you won’t tell anyone. I haven’t even told my best friends about him.”

“I swear,” I said, wondering what kind of badass this guy must have been since it seemed liked Jill, Tangi, and her friend Wolseley were super close.

“Not even Ethan.”

“I promise.”

She set her glass down on the coffee table and leaned back on the sofa, massaging both her temples. “I started dating my boss at Richardson’s about six months after getting the job. We dated for over a year, and I liked him a lot, but he didn’t want to get serious. He’d just gotten out of a shitty marriage and didn’t want to be tied down again. He was also fourteen years older than me with two teenaged kids. And before you say or think it, yes, I probably have some underlying daddy issues.”

“I wasn’t going to say a thing.” Although that was exactly what I was thinking.

“I wanted something more from him, and he was just looking for a good time, and that made for a dangerous working situation for me. We broke up, and I think people had started to figure out that something wasn’t right. At the time, Richardson’s was making this big expansion into Canada, but it was a disaster. They completely underestimated the Canadian market and landscape. Shipping goods over longer distances didn’t compete with them. It’s like they didn’t understand the Canadian geography at all. They also had supply issues, but they were still trying to make a go of it.”

She ran her finger around the rim of her glass, and I thought she may change her mind and clam up, but she continued.

“Anyway, the head of PR for our Canadian expansion quit. I’m pretty sure he saw the writing on the wall and decided to bolt. How could I blame him? Eli suggested I take the job, and wouldn’t you know it, suddenly it was offered to me. The pay raise was good, and getting away from Minneapolis had its advantages. I took the job without knowing just how bad it was. So not only was I alone in a new country, the job was impossible to succeed at, and within ten months I was laid off. I’m pretty sure Eli knew all along that the job was doomed.”

“He’s an asshole.”

“He was a lot of things. He was also the longest relationship I’ve ever had.”

I sat next to her on the sofa closer than I normally would, but in more of a friendly way. I gave her a little hug and patted her knee. I also noticed how nice she smelled, and how many times had I thought of running my hands through her hair … but I pushed that dangerous thought away.

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