Page 14 of Daddy's Best Friend

Todd strutted in looking concerned. I heard the toilet flush—Ella destroying the evidence—and then water running. He looked at me then the bathroom door.

“She’s not feeling well.” It wasn’t entirely a lie. I knew she was emotionally not put together after the incident with Trevor. If I ever told a lie, which I tried never to do, I always kept the lies close to the truth, so I could remember them more easily, or at least not get caught as easily.

“I see…” He looked at me suspiciously, then his head dropped. “I’m failing, Alan. I’m failing her. She needs help.”

I breathed a sigh of relief and walked over to the man, slapping a hand on his shoulder. “You are doing fine. Just give her some space. Remember how it felt when you were a young 20-something trying to prove your worth. Telling her how her self-medicating is destructive only pushes her farther into the hole.”

“Self-medicating?” He looked up at me with pain in his eyes. I knew he loved his daughter a lot.

“She had her heart broken by a boy in college. She’s just still struggling. I’m getting through to her; I just need some more time. Okay? Now if she sees you checking up on her again, she’s going to go off the deep end. She thinks you don’t trust her or see her as capable of making her own decisions. She needs to know you see her as an adult, and one who can be successful.”

Todd nodded, looking at the door. “Alright. Well, I’m trying. I’ll go wait out here. Just promise me you’ll not let her drink anymore tonight. I think Elaine and I are going to head out before too long.”

The instant he stepped out the door I thought I’d collapse. What the fuck was I thinking having sex with her? And what had I started? I raked a hand through my hair and clenched my jaw. This could never happen again.

11

ELLA

“Yes, but look here.” I pointed at the spreadsheet again, this time highlighting the information Terry was missing. Seven years older than me and with far more experience, but she was missing things. I wasn’t her boss—hardly. Rene was still healing, and despite how the doctors knew she’d make a full recovery, she was not able to even do part-time hours. I’d had this job for just over a month but was taking the company by storm.

“Gosh, how on earth did I miss that.” Terry patted me on the shoulder then straightened, rubbing her hand over her protruding stomach in a circle. “I guess pregnancy brain is really a thing. What a great catch!”

I smiled, thankful that Terry wasn’t the competitive type to be offended by someone else catching mistakes or excelling. I felt honored to work with people who were true team players and wanted the best for the company—without selfish ambition taking over.

“Yes, so the numbers show a seven-percent increase in the second quarter. And if the economy follows this trend, we couldbe looking at even more growth in quarter three.” I sat back feeling accomplished, and Terry shook her head.

“Well done, Ella. I think Mr. Walters will be very pleased with your work. And I think I need to start thinking about maternity leave.” She chuckled and waddled for the door. “I have five weeks left, but it feels like an eternity.” Terry stopped and turned over her shoulder. “Know any good babysitters? I want to have a night with no children hanging on me so I can relax. Might be the last time I am able to soak in a hot bath before baby number three comes along.”

“Ah, well I don’t know anyone responsible enough to do that, except my mother. Let me see what’s on my calendar and maybe I can do it for you.”

Terry grinned and stepped into the hallway, calling over her shoulder, “Let me know!”

Once she was gone, I finished up the reports and printed them. I could have had Terry take them to Alan on the way past his office, but I wanted to speak to him. Friday afternoons meant no interaction with office staff for three days and being that Alan had been in important meetings all week long discussing the new hotel chain acquisition, I hadn’t seen him at all. In fact, other than a brief “holy fuck what did we do?” sort of conversation with him after our sexual encounter, I hadn’t even spoken with him.

So, I took the printed pages, hot off the ink jet, and pulled a new folder out of my desk for them. I glanced around my office—yes, my office. I’d claimed it as my own the minute the maintenance guys took the smaller desk out. There was nothing else left to do, and with only 30 minutes left in my day, I decided they’d be well spent with Alan, trying to make peace with what we’d done.

I shut off the lights and closed the blinds, grabbed my purse, and headed down the hall, locking my office behind me. I passed Terry on her way out. She looked exhausted. She always left a few minutes early to ensure she got her children from the sitter on time, but today she was leaving even earlier than normal. Heather’s eyes popped up as I tapped on Alan’s door. I saw that he was hunched over his computer but not what he was looking at.

Opening the door, I peeked my head in and said, “Hey, I have those numbers from the second quarter you asked for.” I stepped in, meeting his gaze as he pulled his eyes away from the monitor. His expression softened to a gentle smile, but when his eyes took in something behind me, it hardened again to something more serious.

“Come in, Ella. Close the door.” He gestured with his hand as I shut the door and walked toward him, as if he were beckoning for the report. The gesturing ceased when I put the report in his grip.

“It is looking good. Terry even confirmed my numbers for me, and she said it was excellent work.” I didn’t have to toot my own horn but having someone else’s opinion backing me up made me more confident. And I knew Alan trusted Terry, which made me feel even better.

“Well done, Ella. Have a seat.” He lowered the top edge of the file briefly, pointing it at the chair, then returned to poring over the words. “Seven percent, wow.”

“Yes, and I triple-checked the numbers. Seems like it was the perfect time to broker a deal to take over that hotel chain.” My heart soared. I loved seeing the look of pride and happiness on his face. I would do anything in my power to keep that smile onhis face forever. I sank into the chair, keeping my purse strap high on my shoulder.

As he finished reading the report, I began to grow a bit anxious. I wanted to bring up what had happened and discuss what it meant. I just didn’t know what he thought about it or how he felt. I knew how I felt—on top of the world. I also knew that this week, us not speaking at all, hadn’t been an attempt on either part to avoid the conversation. We’d both been very busy. So, when he lowered the report folder and looked me in the eyes, I could barely squeak out the words.

“Listen, Alan. I wanted to talk to you about—”

“The boat?” His words froze me. I could do nothing but nod and silently plead with him to not shut me down. “Ella, this is not the time nor the place to have that discussion, okay?”

Crestfallen, my shoulders drooped. I nodded, but I could see the instant remorse in his eyes. I sat there not even knowing what to do. We still had more than 20 minutes before I could clock out, and the entire reason for having come to his office was to have that discussion. Now anything I said would likely come across as juvenile. So, I said nothing, which made me even more anxious.

Alan sighed. “Okay, how about you come over for dinner. We can discuss the incident in privacy and that way we both can express how we feel about it and neither one of us has to worry that we’ll be the next hot topic being passed around the office gossip channels.”

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