Butterflies in Honey (Growing Pains #3)(25)

It became apparent that while he was planning the change, he hadn’t been planning it with her. He’d said he couldn’t leave San Francisco—he’d said his job was there; he had to let her go because he couldn’t go with her.

It had all been a lie.

How could that knowledge possibly hurt this much? She didn’t think she could feel any more pain from the loss. The man just kept surprising her. Surprise after horrible, heart-wrenching surprise.

And guess what? She had never been really into being a scorned woman, but she’d just changed her tune. Everyone thought Monica was crazy? Monica didn’t know what crazy really was! And she didn’t have Kate and Jasmine on her side to fling the crazy in Sean’s handsome, ass**le face. He would be sorry he moved into her town. San Francisco might have belonged to him, but L.A. was hers, and before she was done, he would be sprinting back with his damn tail between his legs. That’s how mad she was!

As all of that was flashing through her brain, she said, “Hm.”

“It might seem like I deserted you because I stayed in San Francisco, but—“

“Whoa! Stop right there, Sean,” Krista interrupted, holding up her hands. If he thought she was going to let him talk his way out of the torture he put her through, he had another think coming. He’d had a chance to explain himself six months ago. The expiration date was up. He’d missed it. His loss.

“If this doesn’t pertain to work, I would just as soon call it water under the bridge. You made your choices, and I made mine. I’m sure we both had good reasons for it. But now we work together, so let’s make the best of it.”

Sean froze. He looked at her hard, his face frowning in consternation, for a long moment. It seemed like he was going to push the issue, but studying her face must have revealed the hostile roadblock he would receive if he did. In a stroke of brilliance, he said, “Fair enough.”

She sat patiently, the blood from her heart burning under her sternum, until he finally went on. “I’m going to email you the goals for your new role by the end of today. You won’t officially have the position until next month, but I would like you to start working on achieving those goals ASAP. And I look forward to hearing who your new hire is by the end of the week.”

“You’re hitting the ground running, huh?” Krista asked lightly, trying to distance herself. She’d do his stupid list. She’d blow him away again, and then she’d make him eat it. She would come out on top if she had to scoop out her heart with a dull spoon to do it!

His face let in a crack of a smile before it went back to serious. “Always been my style.”

Krista looked at him for a minute. At his chiseled jaw. At his large shoulders. She admired his confidence. “That it?” she asked, her professionalism slipping a bit. She didn’t like being laughed at.

“Thank you, yes,” he said, organizing his papers.

She turned to leave.

“Oh, and Krista?” He looked at her with his clear, focused gaze. “I intend to make this region the best performer in the nation. I need you to do that. Whatever our choices, as you said, let’s work together to a common end.”

“Always been my style,” she mimicked.

As she walked out, she wondered if Kate would watch the door while she defaced his desk somehow. She knew for a fact Jasmine could get her in to do it…

The week passed in a haze. In order for Krista to cover her hurt, anger, desperation, and overall feeling of inadequacy, she poured herself into her work. She got Sean’s list and, as expected, it was ridiculous. Luckily, she was so used to his dang lists, the amount of work didn’t faze her. It was par for the course working for him. Phil didn’t know how easy he had it.

Speaking of Phil, he started showing her the ropes. He was organized and a good leader, but he was settled into his role and not all that interested in pushing the envelope. As such, Krista picked up on her new duties pretty fast. Judging by Sean’s expectations, though, her role would be changing dramatically.

The problem with the new job was the men on her level that she now had to work with. The other managers seemed nice enough when she’d previously seen them around the company, but the second she’d stepped up, suddenly the work world was no place for her kind; her kind being a woman. It was startling and unexpected—she hadn’t heard the mentality was so hostile. She had faith, though. She hoped they’d take in her work performance and warm up. As the first female manager, she felt she should give the male monopoly a little time to adjust.

She settled on Kate taking her place. No one in her department really wanted it, and she was pretty sure they were happy to have a buffer between Krista and their work load. Truth be told, Kate didn’t want the job, either. She liked where she was. She got to coast while still making a decent income. Krista needed her, though, as usual, so she bullied Kate into it.

It was Friday and Krista was on her way up to Sean’s office. He planned to have weekly meetings for the managers that reported directly to him for progress reports. She could only hope he got so busy, the idea went down the tubes. Something told her that wasn’t likely. He wasn’t a man to give up easily, even to dumb ideas.

Usually Krista would be sipping a beverage from her lucky mug, which still went with her to all meetings, except that now she had to hide it from Sean. He knew what it looked like and what it meant to her. He also knew he was the one that basically bought it for her. Granted, it was a gift card, but still, he was tied to it. She didn’t need him knowing she still used it. It would muddy the waters, thereby firmly giving him the upper hand.