Page 57 of Something Borrowed

His face was stone, hard and unforgiving. “This is your best friend’s wedding. Can’t you see that this is not okay?”

“Can’t you see that I have no choice? If I don’t go back, my entire career is shot.”

“You gave them the power to call you back by working all week on your vacation, setting the precedent for them calling you back. Do you think Terrence would come back from the Caribbean?”

“Oh, please. He wouldn’t be able to get that quick a flight.”

“Exactly. He’s set his boundaries, but you never did. You basically told them you’re available anytime, anywhere. And now you want your friends to understand. Sorry, Brigid. This is one time I can’t understand, and I don’t blame Caroline if she can’t forgive you.”

Tears were flowing freely now, and her body shook. She wrapped her arms around her core to try to hold it together, but she felt as if she would fly apart at any moment. His words were harsher than Caroline, stabbing her repeatedly in the heart.

“What do you want me to do?”

“I want you to put your friends first, not your job. I want you to say no.” He was yelling now, as if that would make the words sink in further.

“So much for you being able to handle my job. The first time something doesn’t go your way, you reject me. Maybe you’re right, this could never work. If you can’t accept me and my job, then maybe we should end it now.”

He grabbed her shoulders and just about shouted at her. “Brigid, this is not okay, not for a fucking business deal. I mean, if you were doing life-saving surgery, maybe. But this is so your firm and some anonymous guy can make more money than they need. When will it end?”

She pulled back from him, wrenching out of his grasp, wiping the tears from her face, finding the steel spine deep inside. “It ends now, Grady. If you’ll excuse me, I have to head to the mainland.”

Blindly, she grabbed her laptop from the study and her phone, and headed upstairs to finish her packing. While doing that, she called her boss and confirmed she’d be headed back on the next ferry. She threw her clothes in the suitcase, blindly packing through her tears, praying she could get through the next few days without completely breaking down. After the deal, she would fix it all. She always fixed things.

Peterman’s voice on the phone was stern and uncompromising. “I’m very disappointed in you, Brigid. You promised you’d be available this whole week and when we needed you, you were nowhere to be found.”

“I’m sorry, sir, but a major storm knocked out power and cell service for twenty-four hours. I only just now got the power back. I’m doing the best I can.”

“Well, I hope it’s enough. See you in a few hours.”

Great. She’s pissed everyone off now. Well, that was just par for the course. If she had stayed focused on work and not let anything or anyone distract her, this would have never happened. Better it happened now than several months later, when she would have been devastated.

Work was her salvation, always was and always would be. Better that she remembered that now.

ChapterTwenty-Four

Once Matthew drove her to the ferry, the rest was fairly easy. She scanned emails on the ride over to the mainland and then drove back to Houston, stopping quickly at home for work-appropriate attire. Barely four hours after the call and she was at her desk as if she had never left. The knot in the pit of her stomach had flared up again and her shoulders had boulders in them from the amount of work they had ahead of them in two days. She hadn’t even made it to her office when Peterman stopped and dragged her into a meeting with the team. Her assignment load was intense. It almost covered the fact that she had bailed on her best friend and her commitments.

Almost.

For the next several hours, she buried herself in property law and doing the final review on the contracts and agreements to ensure everything was ready for the signing on Saturday. Honestly, it was mostly detail work, coordinating copies and ensuring everything was truly lined up correctly. But Terrence had never been good at the fine print, and Brigid shouldered more and more of the details with the paralegals. Finally, she stretched and noticed the sun had dimmed considerably and the office was silent. She stretched in her chair, knuckling the hardest knots in her neck to no avail. A headache blossomed. Whether it was stress, lack of food, or intense computer work, it didn’t matter. Her stomach grumbled and, combined with the pain, reminded her to get something in there fast. Since she had been in a rush, she had had no time to pack a lunch. She opened her door to head to the employee lounge and scrounge for food, and the delicious smells of pizza wafted down the hall. She inhaled the spicy aroma, and her stomach immediately protested. Nope, not pizza.

She opened the fridge and found a yogurt that she had squirreled away for an occasion like this. Crackers in her desk would be a nice balance to this until she could get something real. She slid into a seat and began eating, needing the break from the office and blinking cursor and bright monitor. Her mind immediately wandered to the island and the ugly scene when she had left.

She understood their perspective. But Caroline knew the score better than anyone else how demanding the firm is. They tell everyone during their interview that they will require complete dedication to the job, complete focus, almost to the exclusion of all else. They were very clear and Caroline knew that from her father, one of the executive partners, and her fiancé, a newly minted partner. It wasn’t just Brigid’s choice to screw her.

But it was, a voice inside her head said.

True, if she had been further away, she could not have come home and they probably wouldn’t have asked, anyway. If she had set boundaries and not checked email once or even worked on her vacation, she wouldn’t have known if they contacted her. If she hadn’t told them to call her, she wouldn’t be back here working, increasing her friend’s stress level right before the wedding. And if she hadn’t agreed to work on her vacation, they wouldn’t have considered calling her in. But she had too much at stake to throw it all away now.

What really pissed her off was Grady’s reaction. Less than twelve hours before, he said he was okay with her job and her dedication. Yet at the first sign of pressure, he turned on her and accused her of being selfish, concerned about work over friends. That was exactly why she didn’t want to date him. Only another professional like her would understand the demands of work over personal life. Someday, she’d be able to have other priorities, but not until she made partner.

And then what? That damn voice just wouldn’t shut up.

But, if she had to admit it, she probably could never give up work as top priority and for what? Grady’s question during truth or dare brought home all of her doubts. Growing up, her father worked all the time, on the rare family vacations they had, on weekends, nights. All the time. And they were all expected to be working too. His favorite saying was nothing in life was free, no matter what their age. They had chores from the time they could just about get around and they never got rewarded for school, even honors.

That was their job, he used to say. And they don’t always get rewarded for their job.

Toughen up, was his other favorite motto. No tears, no excuses, no coddling. It didn’t matter how old she was or what happened. She was always wrong.

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