Fired by Cora Brent

Table of Content

• 1. Unnamed
• 2. ALSO BY CORA BRENT Unruly Hickey Breathless Point The Gentry Boys Draw Risk Game Fall Hold Cross Walk Edge Snow
• 3. Unnamed
• 4. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. Text copyright © 2017 by Cora Brent All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher. Published by Montlake Romance, Seattle www.apub.com Amazon, the Amazon logo, and Montlake Romance are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc., or its affiliates. ISBN-13: 9781542047760 ISBN-10: 1542047765 Cover design by Eileen Carey
• 5. To my sassy, spirited, complex grandmother whose lifelong passion for poetry lit an early creative spark that sent me in search of my own words. I wish you’d lived long enough to see this, but I like to think that wherever you are in this vast, intricate universe, you somehow know. And I hope you’re proud.
• 6. CONTENTS CHAPTER ONE MELANIE CHAPTER TWO DOMINIC CHAPTER THREE MELANIE CHAPTER FOUR DOMINIC CHAPTER FIVE MELANIE CHAPTER SIX DOMINIC CHAPTER SEVEN MELANIE CHAPTER EIGHT DOMINIC CHAPTER NINE MELANIE CHAPTER TEN DOMINIC CHAPTER ELEVEN MELANIE CHAPTER TWELVE DOMINIC CHAPTER THIRTEEN MELANIE CHAPTER FOURTEEN DOMINIC CHAPTER FIFTEEN MELANIE CHAPTER SIXTEEN DOMINIC CHAPTER SEVENTEEN MELANIE CHAPTER EIGHTEEN DOMINIC CHAPTER NINETEEN MELANIE CHAPTER TWENTY DOMINIC CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE MELANIE CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO DOMINIC CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE MELANIE CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR DOMINIC CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE MELANIE CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX DOMINIC CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN MELANIE CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT DOMINIC CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE MELANIE CHAPTER THIRTY DOMINIC EPILOGUE MELANIE ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ABOUT THE AUTHOR
• 7. CHAPTER ONE MELANIE I heard him the first time, but I was hoping I’d hallucinated that last sentence. As I gripped the slippery leather arms of the office chair, poised for my imminent execution, I asked, “What did you say?” My tormentor blinked at me. “Miss Cruz, effective immediately your relationship with Desert Princess Resort and Spa is over.” “You’re telling me I’m fired.” “Yes, your employment has been terminated.” Terminated. My mind’s eye envisioned my body combusting in a cloud of white smoke, my black pumps remaining behind in some cruel, contemporary Wizard of Oz twist. “That sounds so final.” “Yes, I’m afraid it is final.” “Son of a bitch.” The human resources director’s bland, colorless eyes bulged, and his comically tiny mouth pursed into a sour, shriveled O. “Pardon?” “My apologies,” I said, standing and trying to gather the invisible shreds of my dignity. “I didn’t mean you.” The sour O relaxed slightly, replaced with a look of pity. “I understand.” I cleared my throat
• 8. CHAPTER TWO DOMINIC Gio was a born early riser. When we were kids, he would always shake me awake at some ungodly Saturday morning hour to come watch cartoons. No matter how tempted I was to shove him away, I never did—he was my kid brother. No one else on earth wanted my company as badly as he did. I always chalked all that attention up to the fact that Giovanni never really got over the pain of being abandoned by our mother, even though he could barely remember her. I remembered her, though. I understood that the day she deposited us at our grandparents’ house with a dry kiss and a quick wave was the most fortunate day of our young lives. Our mother didn’t scream a lot or smack us around too much, but she’d forget to buy food and wouldn’t turn on the heat even in the dead of a New York winter. She also never seemed to hear Gio when he howled, wanting to be held. My own earliest memories involved comforting a crying baby brother as best I could, though I was little more than a toddler
• 9. CHAPTER THREE MELANIE “So how does Mama look?” I asked, spinning around in a circle. Luke and Lando sat on the bed and blinked. “Thank you for your enthusiasm,” I said, patting each of them on their feline heads. Lando immediately started purring and trying to rub his orange body closer, but I had to brush him off because I didn’t want to arrive at my first day of work with cat hair all over my blazer. I had gotten ready too early, like I usually did, so I wandered around my apartment and wound up picking up a framed photo from the end table. It was my favorite image of my parents. My sister, Lucy, had hung a poster-sized wedding day picture of them in her apartment, but I preferred this one. Not a glossy professional shot, it had been taken on a weekend camping trip with friends somewhere up north around Prescott. My handsome, black-haired father had his right arm draped protectively around my petite mother as they beamed at the camera. They were so young here, so obviously in love. Y
• 10. CHAPTER FOUR DOMINIC The days were flying by as I worked like a dog at Espo 2. An entire week had passed since Melanie Cruz walked in here and stumbled on a loose nail. I’d had to stop over at Espo 1 a few times, and she always cornered me to ask when her office space was going to be ready. “No idea,” I told her yesterday, and even though her face didn’t bend into a scowl, she crossed her arms and seemed annoyed. “Do you have an estimate?” she asked as she tapped her foot, which I noticed only because I couldn’t seem to keep my eyes off her legs. “Frankly, it’s not my number one priority,” I said shortly and then left her standing there before she realized I’d been checking her out. One thing was for sure. I really needed to stifle my impulses before Melanie was right here in front of me every day. I couldn’t recall the last time I’d felt such a formidable attraction to a woman I’d just met, and I almost cursed out loud the day she shook my hand and explained that she was my new employ
• 11. CHAPTER FIVE MELANIE Since I was a little rattled by my latest encounter with the gruff, sexy Dominic Esposito, I decided to brighten my day with a quick stop at Dairy Queen. Yet even ice cream didn’t stop the latest confrontation with my boss from running through my mind. “Give me two more days,” he’d said in a tone I could best describe as begrudging. All because I was asking for a place where I could actually work. Why couldn’t he be more like his brother? Gio was a polite and accommodating model of a boss. Gio was awesome. As for Dominic, I had no idea what went on behind those dark, inscrutable eyes. He was obviously a workaholic, but Gio had hinted that one of Dominic’s flaws was an inability to delegate. I’d already seen his need for control, or rather, to ensure that everything was done the right way—his way. I remembered the way he’d looked at me at our first meeting, like I was an irksome intruder. Come to think of it, he still looked at me that way sometimes. And yet my knee
• 12. CHAPTER SIX DOMINIC Gio hadn’t mentioned any plans to be at Espo 2 at six a.m., yet there he was, hauling filing cabinets into the office I’d finally, reluctantly, cleared out. “Morning,” he said cheerfully as he positioned a gunmetal-gray three-drawer cabinet onto a dolly. With a little grunt of exertion, he started wheeling it down the hallway that led to the office. “I was going to do that,” I called, rubbing my eyes. Last night I’d stuck around here until after two a.m., touching up some bare spots the painters had missed when they were here the other day. It would have made more sense to wait because once all the dining furniture was carried in, there would surely be more touch-ups in order. Yet every night when a reasonable quitting time rolled around, I always found something else to do that kept me here later. And then I always returned far too early. Even Gio didn’t know how many hours I’d been putting in. He would have felt like he needed to be here with me, and I couldn’t le
• 13. CHAPTER SEVEN MELANIE When I was a kid, I used to have this thing about pretending I was different famous people. After a third-grade living history project, I stayed fixated on Clara Barton, American nursing pioneer. For about a month I wore a floor-length dress in a nod to nineteenth century fashion and carried around a fanny pack filled with Band-Aids, antiseptic, and surgical scissors, even though I was just wandering the Tucson suburbs. Lucy used to get annoyed, muttering to her friends about “weird Mel,” but my parents indulged me. Although now that I was remembering things, I realized I never did receive the requested amputation kit that Christmas. It must have been that brief infatuation with Ms. Barton that sparked the nursing bug. Unfortunately my medical career was cut short when I failed to pass college biology. Instead I changed directions and switched my major to business. Still, now and then I couldn’t help but wonder if I missed my calling when an emergency unfolded rig
• 14. CHAPTER EIGHT DOMINIC I hadn’t suffered a major injury since I was a kid. It was rotten timing for me to break that streak when I had a restaurant to open, but I only had myself to blame. My lack of sleep coupled with a stubborn insistence on doing everything my way had finally caught up to me. Seventeen stitches in the hand made any kind of manual labor a little tricky, so Gio sent some help over in the form of Tim, an Espo 1 employee. Tim had been working for us in the kitchen for over a year—great instincts when it came to food, but in some ways he wasn’t the brightest star in the galaxy. “Hey, Dominic,” called Tim from the kitchen, “where do you want me to put these dough racks?” I looked up from the complex bureaucratic form I’d been immersed in as I sat at the lunch counter. “I thought I set them out of the way against the wall.” “You did. But I figured you might want to put them somewhere.” I had put them somewhere. I had put them out of the way against the wall. “Ah thanks, Tim
• 15. CHAPTER NINE MELANIE Braxton Porter was the recreation director at Desert Princess Resort and Spa. He’d been in London at an international resort conference when I was fired. I hadn’t seen him since. Braxton and I had always had a pleasantly professional relationship. Thirty years old, he was also charming, good-looking, and about a year ago, his fiancée left him for a guy who hosted a home-improvement reality television show. Since the great wedding debacle, he’d texted me a few times, just benign How are you doing? messages, but I was doing my best to avoid any reminders of my humiliating dismissal. When I finally texted him back, he asked if I wanted to have dinner. I hesitated for few minutes, staring at the message, before taking the plunge and accepting. I’d been working a lot, and once the new restaurant opened, I might not get too many evenings off for a while. But then as I fussed with my hair, waiting for the doorbell to ring, I was starting to regret agreeing to this date. B
• 16. CHAPTER TEN DOMINIC The dining room configuration wasn’t right. I had three long eight-seat tables, twelve square four-tops, and six small two-tops. Plus there were nine four-person booths bolted into the walls. Seating capacity at Espo 2 was twice what it was at Espo 1. Yet the main room didn’t have the right kind of flow. When I stood on a round stool beside the counter and surveyed the scene, it looked like an incomplete jigsaw puzzle. I hopped down and started rearranging everything again, whistling as I worked. The fact that we were getting closer to opening day and no terrible obstacles had arisen yet made me hopeful that it would all go off without a hitch. When Melanie walked in at ten minutes to nine, I was still whistling. Instead of just saying a polite good-morning and proceeding to the office, Melanie stopped and stared at me. “You’re happy,” she said, but something funny lurked behind her words. She sounded almost suspicious. When I glanced her way, I tried to avoid sweep
• 17. CHAPTER ELEVEN MELANIE “Come in,” I called at the knock on the door. A cloud of carrot-colored hair preceded the anxious face of Patsy del Ray. “Um, Melanie,” she said, “sorry to disturb you.” “You’re not disturbing me, Patsy. How can I help you?” Patsy tossed an uneasy glance at the empty space behind her, then eased inside the office. “I’m off the clock now to go pick up my kids, but I just wanted to double-check what time I should be back here tonight.” “Five o’clock will be fine,” I said, repeating the same thing I’d already told the staff twice today. Patsy was a forty-year-old single mother who used to ride the rodeo circuit. Dominic had second-guessed me on hiring her because she had no serving experience, but so far my instincts had proven correct. Throughout training, Patsy had proved to be our most capable and conscientious worker, setting a good tone for the younger employees. Besides, if you can stay on a horse, you’re probably not going to drop plates. Patsy bit her lip an
• 18. CHAPTER TWELVE DOMINIC At a quarter after nine the last guests straggled out, and I switched the front door sign to “Closed.” The evening had been busy but successful, and it was time to thank the people who helped make it happen. Gio always had the softer touch when it came to people skills, but I could make the effort when I had to. In the seconds before I stood in front of the staff and started talking, I just kept hearing my brother’s voice in my head, saying, “Don’t be a dick, don’t be a dick.” “Excellent job, everyone,” I said, meaning it. “Really, amazing night all around. Now clean up and go home. Some of you will be at Espo 1 tomorrow for a final training shift. Everyone else, I’ll see you here in two days for the grand opening. If you have any questions about anything, feel free to reach out.” I paused and looked at the collection of expectant faces. “Honestly, I couldn’t be happier with this team. I thank you and I applaud you.” For a few seconds I was the only one clapping,
• 19. CHAPTER THIRTEEN MELANIE What was the protocol for facing your boss after you came on his hand? In the hour after I left Dominic, I brooded over the question in my living room and finally solved the dilemma with three beers and the pizza Dominic had handed me before hustling me out the door. As I licked my fingers clean with no regard for etiquette, I understood that I hadn’t actually solved anything at all, but I felt good and buzzed—so at least that was something to be grateful for. When I first got home, a small part of me listened for a knock on the door or a text on my phone, but I wasn’t surprised neither ever came. Dominic Esposito was as enigmatic as a deep-space wormhole, and I’d just hurt my head trying to figure out his next move. My hand flew to my lower belly, and my face grew hot as I remembered the way I’d shamelessly leaned into his touch and dissolved into a wanton puddle of lust. Ever since the day we met, I’d felt the electric spark of attraction. But in spite of the
• 20. CHAPTER FOURTEEN DOMINIC Melanie lingered on my mind, although I didn’t so much as utter her name as I worked side by side with my brother deep into the night. Gio never came right out and said he was angry or disappointed. He didn’t shove me in the chest and demand answers as to why I couldn’t keep my zipper closed when it counted. He didn’t bring up sordid tales from the past and question my intentions. He just worked quietly and occasionally said something like, “Hey, Dom, hand me those towels over there, would ya?” or “Did you notice that the temperature in the big freezer was five degrees off today?” I kind of wished he would call me out. Then I could explain to him that I wasn’t an arrogant kid anymore, and that Melanie really wasn’t just a good time to me. I thought about her in ways I wasn’t used to thinking about women. But Gio didn’t ask questions, and he didn’t hand out condemnations, so I figured he didn’t want to talk about anything heavy. We had enough going on, so the fe
• 21. CHAPTER FIFTEEN MELANIE I woke up to the sight of my cats peering down at me with feline disapproval. There was something especially sobering about being regarded with open disdain by one’s pets. “I’m up,” I growled, and shooed them away as I hauled myself into a sitting position. My head was throbbing, and my mouth tasted like dirty hay. Then I glimpsed the turquoise wall clock hanging over the TV and shrieked. It was after one p.m. Dominic had ordered me to take the morning off, and I wasn’t supposed to be over at Espo 1 for a few hours, but sleeping so late made me feel out of sorts. I drank three cups of coffee and took my time in the shower. By the time I needed to leave, I still had no idea what I’d say when I saw Dominic. All of yesterday’s bravado had left me, and a tribe of butterflies had pitched their tents in my stomach. On the drive to work, I listened to a motivational podcast that told me to imagine my worries were soap bubbles. The speaker sounded like he’d just woken u
• 22. CHAPTER SIXTEEN DOMINIC Dammit, she was angry. Even worse, she seemed hurt. I should’ve guessed she would be. I had tried to tell myself she’d be relieved rather than wounded. But Melanie wasn’t the kind of girl who messed around casually and then blew it off with a laugh. Touching her had consequences, and I knew it. When I’d arrived at Espo 1 earlier, Melanie was so busy working that she didn’t notice my entrance. That might have been a good thing; I couldn’t really talk to her in the middle of all the chaos. Somehow I didn’t think it was a good idea to approach her at the display counter with fifty pairs of eyes on us and say, “Hey, I know I got you off in the kitchen at Espo 2 last night. Yeah, that was totally uncool of me.” Instead I kept to the kitchen and watched her when she didn’t know I was watching her. Today she’d paired a restaurant logo T-shirt with a loose black skirt that moved freely when she walked and came down to her knees. On another woman that getup might have lo
• 23. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN MELANIE The apartment where I’d lived with James had a boxy shower that required serious acrobatic skills whenever I shaved my legs. Considering everything that was wrong with that marital misstep in the first place, a lack of bathing space should seem like a small thing. Yet whenever I thought about that confusing and ultimately lonely time in my life, I could still feel the painful strain in my hamstrings when I propped my foot up on the soap dish and scraped away at a hairy ankle with a dull razor. Anyway, when I was newly single and apartment hunting, I figured that escaping a bad marriage ought to entitle a girl to a comfortable bathtub. And tonight as I eased my body into the hot water, that tub officially became my favorite inanimate object. I allowed my tense muscles to relax an inch at a time as I settled into the lavender-scented bubbles. Dominic Esposito had been sincere and earnest when he apologized. He swore he’d never touch me again. Maybe he was afraid
• 24. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN DOMINIC In the beginning I tried to go slow with her, though it nearly killed me. I’d been thinking about this girl for weeks, and I wasn’t going to just grunt and get off. This wasn’t a fuck. This was Melanie. We fit together so flawlessly I could swear I’d been made to slide into her body. I’d wondered if she’d be shy or reserved between the sheets, but to my delight she didn’t hold back at all. And when I said dirty things, filthy things, she absolutely fucking loved it. “What are you doing?” she whimpered when I teased her, pulling out just as she was getting to the brink for the third time since I carried her in here. “Making you work for it,” I answered, easily offering up resistance when she tried to tighten her legs and draw me back in. Her eyes had been closed as she bit her lip and let me consume her as I pleased. Now those blue eyes opened and fixed me with a look of frustration. “I don’t work for you right now, Mr. Esposito,” she said, but she was lying. I
• 25. CHAPTER NINETEEN MELANIE We were now less than an hour away from the great grand opening of Esposito’s new downtown Phoenix restaurant, and suddenly it seemed like there were a million things to do. I still needed to double-check some details, from the presence of first aid kits to the required emergency and inspection signs. Over in the dining room, a couple of the servers were running through a quick inventory of all the plates, glasses, and flatware. “Remember,” I said as I passed by the built-in cabinets where the servers were busily counting, “any chips or cracks or other flaws, and the item is to be removed from circulation immediately. Place all rejects in the gray bin beneath the register, and I’ll make note of it later.” “Melanie.” Isaiah, one of the new dishwashers, appeared and looked around at all the activity with confusion. He was the youngest staff member, still in high school. “What should I do now?” “Um, why don’t you go to the kitchen? I think Dominic’s running throug
• 26. CHAPTER TWENTY DOMINIC Espo 2’s grand opening passed in a blur of people and pizza. I was working at full speed in the kitchen from the time the doors opened until they closed. A couple of times Gio prodded me to make an appearance out front, and I took a quick turn around the dining room to make him happy, but then I went right back to the kitchen where I could be more useful. Melanie stepped out of her usual role and manned the hostess desk to ensure that traffic kept moving quickly. She was charming and friendly, yet managed to be as efficient as possible considering the crowd. I was careful not to look her way often. Staring at Melanie threw me off balance and made me think about things that didn’t need to be on my mind when I was up to my elbows in pizza. Through the open space between the kitchen and the dining room, I saw Tara arrive with the baby. Melanie took a break from the hostess desk and bounced my niece on her hip. Leah laughed, and I noted how much she’d changed since t
• 27. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE MELANIE Tara Esposito was stubborn. When I explained via text that I didn’t know when I’d be able to take a night off, she marched right down to Esposito’s and through my office door. “Come on, Mel, the restaurant’s been open for over two weeks,” she said huffily as she stood there with her wispy blonde hair coiled on her head in a princess braid. “All you people work too much.” I laughed. “It’s three o’clock on a Tuesday afternoon, Tara. Where else would I be if not at work?” “I know,” she grumbled. “But I’m selfish. Gio’s been working crazy hours, and I’m desperate for adult conversation. If I watch one more episode of Yo Gabba Gabba!, I swear I’m going to lose it.” “Yo Gabba what?” I said. She snorted. “Never mind.” Tara plunked right down on a nearby chair and rubbed her eyes. She might have chosen another seating option if she knew what had gone on in that chair this morning when Dominic and I were the only ones here, but I certainly wasn’t going to be the one t
• 28. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO DOMINIC Sonoran Acres called at nine o’clock on Friday morning to tell me Donna had broken her left hip. I’d just left Melanie’s and was in my truck anyway, so I made a detour and headed for the hospital. I texted Gio from the parking lot, then shot off another text to Melanie, telling her my grandmother had a medical emergency and I needed Melanie to open Espo 2 at eleven. She answered back immediately, asking if there was anything she could do to help. I told her I’d be in touch as soon as I knew more, but for the time being I needed her to manage Espo 2. Then I stuffed my phone in my pocket and headed for the emergency room doors. The cranky nurse who’d scolded me the night I escorted Donna home late after the friends and family event had accompanied the ambulance. “What the hell happened?” I growled, knowing I sounded like a bear but not caring because my heart had been in my throat ever since I got that call. The woman didn’t bristle over my tone. Instead she ga
• 29. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE MELANIE “How is she?” I asked Dominic. When I walked into the office, he’d been on the phone with the hospital again. “They just gave her some more pain meds,” he said. “But the CT scan came back good, and Tara just said the surgical team stopped by. Her hip repair is scheduled for tomorrow morning at eleven.” “And she’ll need to stay in the hospital for a few days?” “At least.” He stretched his arms and sat down at the desk chair he never used, because he was always in the thick of the restaurant action and almost never in here. “I think the nurse’s station is ready to ban my calls. Even Tara’s tired of dealing with my constant check-ins.” I got behind him and put my hands on his shoulders, trying to squeeze the tension out. He relaxed under my touch, his eyes closing and his head rolling back slightly. I had to admit I thought it was utterly adorable the way this big, strapping man worried so much about his grandmother. All day I’d kept telling him that he could
• 30. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR DOMINIC Gio said the arrangements could wait, but I couldn’t stand the idea of her being laid out in the hospital morgue. I made some calls and found a funeral home that was willing to schedule things in a hurry. I signed whatever paperwork the hospital admins shoved in my face and reluctantly nodded my head yes when I was asked if I wanted to see her. My brother didn’t. He remained in the plastic hospital chair with his head down, not caring who was watching as he sobbed while his wife rubbed his back. Tara looked up at me with wounded eyes as she held him, and I wished I could let loose like Gio. I wished I could sink into the nearest chair and let my chest heave and my shoulders shake as some poisonous grief leaked out. I hadn’t cried yet. I’d come pretty close when I was on the phone with Melanie, but ultimately I held it in. “Can I come to the hospital?” she’d asked, and I knew she wanted to. I wanted that too. I wanted to hold her and take comfort in something
• 31. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE MELANIE Insomnia was my sporadic companion since I’d been a kid, coming and going in spells. Sometimes I’d spend months without any trouble, and then there’d come a night when, for no particular reason, my eyes would snap open like window shades, and I’d stare at the ceiling until daybreak. This was one of those nights. I turned on the sound machine. I squeezed drops of lavender on my pillow. I swallowed two Benadryl. None of it made the slightest impact. I tossed. I turned. I kicked the covers off. I visited the bathroom four times. I played Minecraft on my iPad, even though staring at electronics makes things worse. Interestingly, I’d never had trouble falling asleep on any of the nights Dominic stayed over. Maybe because we wore each other out so vigorously that sleep was inevitable. But Dominic wasn’t here tonight. We hadn’t fought, not exactly. He’d lost his beloved grandmother only a few hours before he returned to the restaurant yesterday, and he was still re
• 32. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX DOMINIC Gio was planning on coming with me to meet with the funeral home director about Donna’s service and burial. It would be a small, intimate affair on Tuesday afternoon, and we intended to close both restaurants until 6 p.m. Employees who were scheduled to work would receive full pay but were not expected to attend the service unless they wanted to. Sonoran Acres had offered us their conference room as an informal postfuneral gathering place, and I was happy to take them up on it. Most of Donna’s living friends were there anyway. When I saw Gio this morning, I also had to tell him that I planned to contact Steven and let him know that our grandmother had passed away. It shouldn’t be that hard in this hyperactive social media age to locate a family member, but after an hour of drinking coffee at my bare kitchen table while scouring search results on my laptop, I wasn’t having any luck. Meanwhile, my phone was overflowing with messages that I didn’t feel like deal
• 33. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN MELANIE The moment I walked in here, I felt like I was being slowly strangled from the inside. Death and sadness were old, unwelcome acquaintances. I should have realized that being at Donna’s funeral would remind me of the worst time in my life, but somehow it hadn’t occurred to me. Even the look of the funeral home was the same. Too much hardwood everywhere and far too many flowers. “Hey there, stranger,” said a familiar voice, and I looked up to find Dominic’s best friend was talking to me. “Mind if I keep you company?” he asked. “Hi, Jason,” I said warmly. “Please do.” I gestured to the empty space on the bench. In truth I barely knew this guy, but Dominic talked about him all the time. Jason was reportedly an unrepentant playboy with his own family struggles to deal with, but he and Dom had been close friends for a decade, so I figured he was all right. Anyway, I’d been feeling a little awkward as I suffered my private panic attack, alone in the back of the fu
• 34. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT DOMINIC Before I left for the airport to take the red-eye to JFK, I paid my brother a visit. He was working over at Espo 1, but he agreed to sit down and hear what I had to say. Gio swirled the ice in his water glass as he listened, and I felt ten years of guilt being lifted off my chest. I wished I’d told him all the details long ago. About me, about Beth, about why I needed to fly to the other side of the country and face the man I’d wronged. A phone call simply wouldn’t do, not if we were going to have any real closure. When I was done talking, he exhaled thickly, crossed his arms, and sat back in his chair. “You’ll be back on Friday?” he asked. I nodded. “I’ll land in New York early in the morning, rent a car, drive out to Long Island, and wait for Steven to show up. My return flight will be the following morning.” “And you’re sure you know where to find him?” “He bounces around a lot, but according to Jay’s PI friend, he moved into a rental house in Levittown
• 35. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE MELANIE I wasted half the morning categorizing my pen collection. Dominic was always mystified that I kept so many pens around my desk when most of my work was done on the laptop. When I haughtily informed him that a girl could never have too much of a good thing, he had smirked like I’d just said something dirty. I was already done with payroll, and I should have been catching up with entering the vendor invoices in the accounting system. Instead I was rolling a pen across my desk over and over again. I’d set my chin on the desk, and was pushing the pen lightly, watching it roll toward the far edge. Just before it fell off, I’d grab it, and feel triumphant for a split second. It was a simpleminded game that a curious toddler might play. At least that’s what Gio probably thought when he walked in the office. “Having fun?” he asked wryly as he closed the door behind himself. “Fun?” I snatched the pen just as it was about to topple off the desk. “There is no fun here.
• 36. CHAPTER THIRTY DOMINIC We were flying directly over Phoenix now. When I took note of such area landmarks as Camelback Mountain and Arizona State University, I found myself grinning like a jackass. Even though I’d only been away for thirty-six hours, I was damn glad to be home. New York was nice, but it wasn’t home anymore, hadn’t been for ten years. Before the plane took off this morning, I texted Melanie to let her know I’d be back this afternoon. Then I stared at my phone for half an hour and waited for her to respond. She didn’t. It was just after noon by the time I exited the airport, and since I was closer to Espo 1, I decided to stop there first. Gio was there, dealing with the lunch crowd, just as I’d figured he would be. The restaurant was busy and pleasantly noisy with herds of college kids running in to grab a slice or two before dashing back to their next class. Giovanni was actually working in the kitchen because we were a little shorthanded, and a few of the staff were bei
• 37. EPILOGUE MELANIE Fourteen Months Later The party was pretty much over, and it wasn’t even midnight. It had been a small family affair at Espo 2, in any case. There would be some cleanup to do, but tomorrow was New Year’s Day, and the restaurant would be closed so it didn’t matter. Gio and Tara had been here earlier, but they left when little Leah started to get tired. At nearly two years old, she was a sassy, dimpled little thing who managed to charm everyone she met. Tonight her doting parents announced that she would be a big sister next summer. “Don’t worry.” Tara laughed as I hugged her. “I’ll find a way to squeeze into my bridesmaid dress in April.” “If not, we can just drape you in a very large lavender sheet,” her husband suggested cheerfully. Tara made a face and then silenced Gio with a kiss. The year had passed so quickly. As I sat at a corner table with a glass of wine and played with the ring on my left hand, I could hardly believe we were on the verge of starting a new one
• 38. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Forever beholden to my husband and life partner who didn’t hesitate when I broke the news that I wished to quit my accounting job and write full-time. He looked me right in the eye and said, “Go for it.” Ever since then he’s put up with strange and often grueling working hours, tons of last-minute takeout dinners, and the sounds of me muttering to myself endlessly as I test out character dialogue. To my kids, thank you for being my pride and joy. You will always come first. To my agent, Kimberly Brower, who has been so amazingly supportive of this story and always maintains infinite enthusiasm for my work. To the Montlake team for believing in this project and patiently working with me to craft the best story possible. To the readers . . . your passion, your support, and your boundless zeal for the unique worlds found only in the pages of a book inspire all of us to keep creating.
• 39. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Cora Brent is the USA Today and New York Times bestselling author of the Gentry Boys series. She was born in a cold climate but escaped as soon as it was legally possible. These days, she lives in the Arizona desert with her husband, two kids, and a prickly pear cactus she has affectionately named “Spot.” Cora’s closet is filled with boxes of unfinished stories that date back to her 1980s childhood (someday she fully intends to finish her first masterpiece about a pink horse that plays baseball), but in the meantime, she’s consumed with her romance novels. For more on the author and her work, visit www.corabrent.com, or connect with her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/CoraBrentAuthor.