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“You… You would do that?”
He smiled at me. “I would do anything for you.”
If it had just been the two of us, I might have burst into tears. But after everything I’d just learned about what Eleni had endured, I found a way to fight them off. Instead, I sent him an appreciative smile. “Thank you, Landen. That would be lovely.”
I gave him the name of one of our favorite local restaurants and the single best hotel in the area. By the time Flora arrived—surprised to see Landen with me—we told him what we wanted for dinner, and he took off.
Then I sat down with my sisters and made the next moves toward healing. Not only Eleni’s heart, but our relationship as well.
And in the back of my mind, the only thought that kept popping into my mind was that I was beyond lucky to have Landen in my life. If it hadn’t been for him, I might not have ever known what happened to my sister.
I thought everything was falling back into place.
Slowly but surely, I believed my luck was being restored.
Things between Walter and me had gotten tremendously better over the last week. He was back to his old habits, meeting me outside occasionally so he could be nosy about the things going on in my life. I even had him over for dinner last Tuesday evening.
As for my sister, there were still things to be worked out. But we were on better terms. We were speaking. And I was going to do whatever I could to help her through such a horrible situation. It still saddened me to think she believed she couldn’t come to me with what was happening in her life. I hated that she thought I lived some perfect life and would look down on her for the choices she’d made in hers. Sure, I’d had some wonderful things happen in my life, but if all that I’d been going through recently had been any indication, itwas clear I wasn’t in any place to judge her. And I never would have, regardless of what was happening in my own life.
So, Eleni and I were working on things between us. Even Flora had called me since I’d left Grouse and returned to Steel Ridge.
And, of course, things were just as wonderful as ever with Landen. I still wondered how I’d managed to live and feel so happy before he came into my life like this. Maybe it had been those little bits of time I’d gotten with him at the gym each week. I didn’t know. But I was grateful for him and what we were building between us.
It was Monday now, and I was back at work hoping this week would allow me to put the final piece of the puzzle back into place. I was still working out the best way to fix things with Steph and Kasey, but I had high hopes, given how everything else had improved.
But I should have known that it was foolish to be so confident so soon, particularly on the work front.
There was no fix on the horizon. And if what I was dealing with at this precise moment was any indication, things were likely to get worse.
I inhaled deeply and allowed my eyes to scan the empty conference room. It shouldn’t have been empty, because I’d had a meeting scheduled with several members of my team. And while I was on time for this meeting and believed there might be a few stragglers, I expected to walk in and see at least a handful of my colleagues waiting. Nobody was here.
As I pulled out my laptop to confirm I had the correct time for the conference, I had to remind myself that not everything could be fixed overnight. Maybe some of mycolleagues were taking a stand or wanting me to feel the weight of their scorn.
But I’d had enough.
It had been one thing for me to overlook the hints of disrespect in the meetings I had conducted since things had started to spiral out of control at work. It would be something else entirely for me to overlook the blatant disregard for my position and what was in the best interests of the company.
So, I gathered up my things and exited the room. I found the first team member that should have been in the conference room and came right out with it. “Hi, Georgia.”
She whirled around in her seat and stared at me with wide eyes. “Oh. Hello, Iris.”
“We’re supposed to be having a meeting this morning. Can you tell me why you’re still sitting at your desk?”
Her brows pulled together, genuine confusion littering her features. “Am I missing something? Is the meeting back on?”
I shook my head. “Back on? When was it ever off?”
She tossed her thumb over her shoulder. “Well, I got the email from Robert this morning, stating that the meeting was canceled.”
My eyes widened, my brows shooting up. “Robert emailed you?”
Nodding, she turned in her chair and directed her attention to the computer. “It’s right here.”
She pulled up the email and allowed me to read it. Robert had, in fact, canceled my meeting, but he made no mention as to why that was the case.
Was he intentionally trying to undermine me?
Not wanting it to seem as though I had no clue what was going on, I said, “I’m sorry for coming at you like that. I’ve been busy preparing for the meeting that I missed the email. Thanks.”
