Page 36 of Dropping the Ball

I point to my head. “Can I do story time without the silly hat?”

He glances around, then up to the supervisor’s loft. “You can if you move out of the construction zone, which we can do if you want to go up and see the layout I’m suggesting for the deejay.”

“Deal.”

He leads us toward a corner but pauses to look down at my shoes. I’m in heels again.

“Stairs or elevator?” he asks, eyeing them.

They’re only three-inch heels today. “Stairs.”

There are no levels in the warehouse. It’s open from floor to ceiling, but it’s the equivalent of two flights of stairs to get to the loft. He lets us in and dusts off an office chair, a piece that has seen better days, the faux leather peeling and the chrome arms cloudy.

“Please, have a seat.” He waves me toward it, and when I sit, he lifts the hard hat off my head like he’s carefully removing a crown. “Now tell me about Threadwork.”

I will. As soon as the brush of his fingers against my temples stops shorting out my brain circuits. As soon as his eyes, bright with attention, release mine as prisoner. As soon as I truly fight the need to sway toward him and melt into him like I did when he carried me into my house.

This is not like my high school Micah Crush at all.

This is much worse.

Chapter Fourteen

Kaitlyn

“Kaitlyn?” Micah’s voice ispuzzled. “Threadwork? I’d love to hear why you decided to work with Madison?”

Madison.

I blink and glance around the supervisor loft, gathering my bearings.

Madison and the gala. I won’t be distracted from making this gala everything Madison dreamed, and that means not getting caught up in Micah again. That crush became all-consuming, and I don’t have the time or bandwidth for that.

We’re hitting on the right topic to channel my energy elsewhere.

I clear my throat so the first part—the worst part—won’t stick in it. “Were you aware of the scandal surrounding our family company when we were at Hillview?”

He takes a seat on a short stepladder. “Yes.”

“You know what caused it and how it . . . resolved?” That’s not the right word. The damage will never resolve completely. But the case itself did reach a conclusion.

“The company’s factories in Bangladesh were found guilty of negligence,” he says. “I remember that from high school. I looked it up again before I submitted my proposal. Wiki says after years of litigation, the plaintiffs won the largest settlement from a company in the history of the ready-made garment manufacturing industry.”

I could leave it at that. I don’thaveto lay out the ugly facts for Micah. But Ineedto. I want him to see . . . me.

“In a way, it indirectly affected you because it was why I was not great to you in high school.”

“Katie, you’re acting like you bullied me. There’s nothing to explain.”

“I know I didn’t bully you. But I still have regrets.”

He props his elbows on his knees and leans forward, raising an eyebrow to indicate he’s listening.

“This all started when I was in eighth grade. I believed my dad when he said the company was innocent. Madi never believed him, and that’s why we fought. She rebelled to punish him, I obeyed to . . . I don’t know. Neutralize her? It felt like we were under attack constantly, and she was disloyal, trying to separate herself from the scandal. That’s how I thought of it. As a scandal. Not a tragedy. As something that was happening to us, not because of us. That’s what I’m most ashamed of now.”

“Fighting with Madison?”

“Believing we were victims. Because people were dead, and I felt sorry for myself.” It is the ugliest thing to ever be true about me.

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