Page 61 of Gross Misconduct

Mark shrugged and gathered the papers in front of him and put them in a folder. “Go ahead. Please, I encourage you to do it. Let’s bring to light all the shit that’s been going on around here. I’m sure everyone wants to know how sincere your relationship with Vaughn is, and how you got that gorgeous office of yours. Maybe you can clarify your relationship with Clay. I’m sure he’d love that all over the papers. Let me know how it goes. Unless the PR genius in you realizes what a dangerous move that would be. Have a nice day, Jill.”

He left, and I swallowed the hard lump in my throat. The piece of shit had nothing on me, and I had more than enough to go to HR with, but he knew I wasn’t going to do that. If I filed a complaint against him, HR would interview everyone in our departments, possibly everyone associated with me, including Jeremy and Ethan. Maybe even Tangi. And worse, all these unfounded rumors would come out, and even though they weren’t true, people would believe them. It killed me, but I hadno choice but to do nothing and hope that Mark kept his mouth shut.

For a second, I thought of going to Clay and telling him everything, but that would blow up in my face if he fired Mark. Mark would then scream from every rooftop that I was having an affair with Clay. I massaged my temples and wanted to scream. How had this all happened? I needed to think this through and come up with a plan. Mark wasn’t going to win.

I walked back to my office and passed Oliver.

“Hey, Jill, I was just coming to look for you. You have a call from someone named Bill Rebchuk. He said he’s your dad? He left his number and wants you to call him back.”

If only I’d known this would be the beginning of the worst January of my life.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Jill

This had to be some kind of joke. I hadn’t heard the name Bill Rebchuk in years. Occasionally, my mother would mention him to her friends or Rick, but otherwise, he was a ghost. Apparently, a ghost who had come back to life. But I had more pressing questions. Why had he suddenly reached out to me when he hadn’t tried once when I was in Minnesota? Unless there was some small chance he lived in Vancouver? Not likely. Or maybe he had figured out I was dating Jeremy, and he saw some kind of payday? The bigger question was whether I even wanted to call him back.

I was still reeling from my disastrous discussion with Mark. The last thing I needed was to deal with my birth father, the same man who couldn’t bother to be around for most of my life. What I really wanted to do was crawl under my desk and hide for the rest of the afternoon.

“Thanks,” I said to Oliver as pleasantly as possible. I then headed to my office and shut the door behind me. I pulled down the blinds and took in a deep breath. I could handle this, despite the fact my hands were shaking and my heart wasbeating wildly. I’d talk to Tangi about this when she had a chance, and fortunately, Jeremy was in town for a few more games before his next road trip. I needed support of any kind, because unlike most times in my life, I had no idea what to do next.

I spent most of my day staring at my computer screen and getting nothing done. I’d managed to calm down enough to answer a few emails, but not much more. The clock ticked slowly all afternoon until, finally, I could go home. I called Tangi on the way, asking if I could come over with Chloe. I didn’t imply that it was urgent, but I guess my voice gave it away.

“What is wrong?” she asked, her voice full of concern.

“I’m freaking out. A lot is happening.”

“Come right over. I was going to go to the Kodiaks game tonight, but I’ll let Ethan know that I’m canceling. I don’t think he’ll care.”

I’d forgotten all about the game.

“Go if you want to. It’s fine. I can wait, and this isn’t life or death.”

“I can go to dozens of games. I don’t think it’s a big deal if I miss one. Are we going to need wine for this?”

“Yes, and I’ll pick it up.”

I grabbed two bottles of Riesling on the way home. Chloe was excited to see me, and I took her for a quick walk even though Jeremy had taken her a few hours earlier before he’d left for Graham Place. I gave her dinner and then changed into comfy clothes. The weather had turned a little, and I even smelled snow in the air, but so far it had held off. Even though theoretically it was a lot warmer than Minnesota, the air had a chill to it that went straight into my bones. I needed to get used to that.

I ordered a pet-friendly Uber, and we wereoff to Tangi’s. Chloe must have been around kids before we adopted her, because she loved Maddy and loved following her around as she crawled through the house. She’d often sit next to her high chair—no doubt hoping food would drop—or lay next to her while she slept in her swing. We’d won the doggie lottery when we found Chloe.

“What happened?” Tangi asked when I walked through the door.

She was holding Maddy, who must have just finished her dinner. She still had on her bib, which looked to be covered in either mashed carrot or sweet potato. Tangi and Ethan had begun transitioning Maddy to solids, and Maddy seemed pretty happy about it.

“Not just one thing. Two horrible things, and isn’t the saying that bad news comes in threes?”

“I certainly hope not.”

While Tangi cleaned up Maddy and her high chair, I pulled out leftovers from the fridge. I had Tangi’s routine down better than she did. She made food on her days off, enough to last the week, as well as freezing meals just in case. Ethan made most of his meals, but had gotten into hiring a private chef who delivered them. A lot of players were doing this now. I grabbed the grilled chicken and mashed sweet potatoes, and made a salad. I also poured a very generous glass of wine, all while telling her what had happened that day.

By her grimaces and frowns, I knew it was as bad as I thought. When I was finally done, we were eating while Maddy played in her bouncy chair. The kid could entertain herself in that thing for hours, and Chloe made sure that she played too. At least she didn’t try to destroy any of the toys.

“I don’t know where to start first. How about with Mark? What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know. I’ve spent the whole day trying tofigure out what to do with that asshole. He has me right where he wants me, and I imagine the next step is blackmail. I hate this.”

“Are you asking me my opinion?” Tangi said, her face as serious as I’d ever seen.

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