Page 26 of So That Happened
The now familiar unnerving heat made its way up from deep in her pelvis. He was a world champion at dropping conversational bombshells. ‘She’s under the impression you’re swanning around the world on one long, extended holiday.’
He shrugged, but didn’t say anything.
‘Why didn’t you tell me before? There have been plenty of opportunities. You let me think you were some kind of entitled layabout.’
He leaned in conspiratorially. ‘I thought you might be here spying on me and reporting back to my sister.’
Even though she knew he meant it as a joke, she was sure there was an underlying truth there.
‘She misses you, you know.’
His shoulders stiffened and he broke eye contact. ‘I wouldn’t know. We communicate through lawyers.’
A heavy weight of sadness settled in her belly. How awful for them both. And she thought she had a difficult relationship with her family. At least they all spoke to each other, even if she kept her contact with them to a minimum.
‘I can’t imagine being that far removed from my family,’ she said, leaning over and putting a hand on the table between them in an awkward attempt at empathy.
‘We have nothing to say to one another,’ he said, scowling at his empty plate.
‘I think Abi would disagree.’ The memory of the pain in Abi’s eyes when she’d talked about him resurfaced, and something clicked together in her head.
‘Let’s change the subject.’
There was a finality to his tone she didn’t dare challenge. Another subject it was, then. For now. She’d find a way to get through to him eventually. It was the least she could do for Abi after the trouble she’d caused.
She leant back in her chair, feigning nonchalance in an attempt to take the atmosphere down a notch or two. ‘So, tell me more about your involvement in the projects. You find locations and fund them? Run them all single-handedly?’
He snorted and looked up at her with humour in his eyes, the deep scowl now gone from his face. ‘I have a lot of help with the day-to-day running. I research the areas that most need support, raise the capital and get the projects underway.’
‘Very worthy.’
He raised a reproachful eyebrow. ‘I do it because it needs doing.’
‘Yes, of course, but you must get a sense of personal satisfaction out of it?’
He shrugged. ‘More than I would working for a corporation obsessed with profit margins.’
Pushing down a niggle of annoyance, Josie said nothing to that. She wasn’t sure whether he was having a dig at her job again, but he was starting to open up about himself and she didn’t want to stop the flow of information by making a scene.
‘I need to feel useful,’ he said, turning his head to look out of the window again, so she could no longer see the expression on his face.
She paused, pondering the subtext of his words. ‘Sounds like we have more in common than we realised.’ She looked down at her hands, which were twisted together in her lap, the veins raised against the tight skin. She unwound them, flexing her stiff fingers.
He turned back to her and smiled. ‘Yeah?’
Connor sensed that Josie wanted to say more, but was having trouble getting the words out. He knew she hadn’t told him the whole story when he’d asked her about the thing at work; he felt it in his bones. He was going to have to force it out of her.
‘What is it you’re hiding from me, Josie?’
She sighed and there was a beat of silence as she stared at the floor, apparently trying to make a decision – perhaps about whether to finally start trusting him. He couldn’t blame her; he hadn’t exactly made it easy for her up till this point.
‘Some of our employees have made a formal complaint against me. Apparently, I made one of them so miserable she’s taken long-term sick leave, citing depression.’
She looked up at him with agony in her eyes and his stomach lurched in empathy. That was the last thing he’d expected her to say, and for the first time in his life he was at a loss for how to respond.
‘Ah…’
‘Yeah. Not my proudest moment.’
