Page 31 of Wistful in Wyoming
Jenna had worked hard to leave behind the small-town life Jeremiah loved so much. After graduatingsumma cum laude from the University of Colorado, she’d then enrolled in their law school and finished with top honors there as well. Upon graduation, she’d been hired by Waters, Byron & Cornell, a prestigious firm in the heart of Denver, and had quickly climbed the ranks with her intelligence and aggressive drive. Her goal had been to make partner, and the last Jeremiah had heard, she’d been on a short list for junior partner. So, whatever had caused her to give it all up to return to the Rock had to be unexpected and significant, and he was determined to get it out of her over breakfast.
He’d just finished brewing a pot of coffee and cooking some bacon and was about to pour pancake batter onto a griddle when Jenna shuffled into the room, looking much different than she had the night before. Gone were the stylish clothes, hair, makeup, and jewelry. In their place were well-worn sweatpants, a U of C T-shirt that’d been washed so many times it was now faded and super soft, and a pair of fuzzy slippers. Her face had been scrubbed clean, and her thick, auburn locks were pulled up into a ponytail, making her look far younger than her thirty-six years.
She made a beeline for the coffee. “Ugh, please tell me that’s fresh and you have hazelnut creamer.”
“Of course, I have it. You’re not the only one in this family who craves sweet caffeine.”
“Yeah, well, the first thing I’m unpacking when my stuff gets here is my espresso maker.”
He set the pitcher of batter down and turned toward Jenna, his brow furrowing. “You’ve already packed up your place? This is a done deal?”
“Mm-hmm.” That was the only response she gave him as she set about preparing her coffee.
He let her have a few moments of silence until after her first sip of what she often called “the nectar of the gods.”
Keeping one eye on the griddle, he said, “All right. Enough of this. What the fuck happened, why did you lose your job, and why did you arrange to move back here without telling anyone? Wait a minute. Did you sell your condo?”
Taking a seat at the island, she shook her head and reached for a piece of bacon on the plate he’d set nearby. “Not yet, but it’s on the market, and I’m hoping it’ll go quickly. It should since that area is in high demand right now. Perfect timing.”
“Perfect timing for what? Damn it, Jenna—”
She held up a hand, cutting him off. “Hold your horses, big brother, and flip the pancakes. You know I hate burnt ones.”
Scowling, he grabbed the spatula and turned the golden round circles over, glad to see he hadn’t ruined them. “If you’re going to boss me around, I’m gonna give it right back to you. Get the syrup and butter out, please.”
Jenna snorted and climbed off the stool. “Well, since you said please ...”
A few minutes later, they were sitting at the island, digging into their breakfast. Jeremiah used his fork to point at his sister. “All right, enough stalling, sweet pea. Tell me what in hell is going on.”
Swallowing a mouthful of pancakes, she wiped her lips with a napkin, then reached for her coffee.
“Where to start?” she mumbled. Jeremiah didn’t bother answering the rhetorical question and waited for her to continue. “About six months ago, I started dating this guy, Brett Carney. I think I mentioned him to you once or twice.”
He nodded, trying to recall what Jenna had told him about the man. “You met him at some art gallery or something, right?”
“Uh-huh. The artist was the wife of one of the firm’s bigger clients, so I went to her debut show to make an impression on the client and the partners. I figured I could make a few connections while I was there too. Stuff like that is done all the time when you’re trying to climb the corporate ladder.”
“Makes sense.” He took a sip of his coffee, washing down the last of his breakfast.
“Exactly. Anyway, I was rubbing elbows and was introduced to Brett. He was good-looking, polished, intelligent, and charming. Right up my alley. He called me the next day, and we started dating. He said he worked for an investment company—”
“Hesaidhe did? Does that mean he didn’t?”
She sighed. “Oh, he works for them, just not in the way he led me to believe. You know that big case I’ve been working on with one of the partners for the past eight months?”
“Of course—it’s a lawsuit, right? You said if your firm won, it would bring in huge recognition and business for Waiters, Myron, and Corndog, and possibly that promotion you wanted.” Ever since she’d started with the company, Jeremiah had intentionally screwed up the names of the owners, and as usual, Jenna rolled her eyes at him.
“Yeah, well, turns out Brett’s position in the investment company was a cover for the fact he was hired to find out everything WBC had against the defendants in the case.” Her nostrils flared and there was a tightness around her eyes. “I’ll give you one guess on how he decided to do just that.”
“Oh, fuck, Jen. What’d he do?”
“I brought home my laptop with all my notes every night, so I could access everything on the firm’s mainframe. Apparently, when he’d stay over, Brett would wait until I fell asleep and then hack into my computer. He saw everything we had on the company we were going after. Every! Fucking! Thing! That bastard used me, and here I thought I’d finally found a great guy. Fucking asshole.”
Jeremiah reached over and set a comforting hand on her arm. “How’d you find out?”
“One night, I woke up and went looking for him. He didn’t hear me until it was too late and I saw what he was doing. I threatened to bash his head in with my trusty baseball bat before I called the cops.” Her eyes welled up. “After he ... he fucking thanked me for the terrific sex, because that’d apparently been a bonus of the job, he walked out.” She ignored Jeremiah’s angry growl. “First thing in the morning, I reported what happened to Ron Schaffer, the attorney in charge of the case. Needless to say, he had a conniption. They had the IT guys go through my laptop and were able to trace everything Brett accessed, which was our entire case. It took all of ten minutes for the partners to vote to fire me, and I’m sure nine of those were spent cursing me out.”
“Fuck. When did this all happen? Why didn’t you call me?”
