Overcoming Fear (Growing Pains #2)(25)

Sean’s gut tightened in extreme discomfort, speechless.

“Anyway, I’m ready,” Krista grabbed a sweatshirt and quickly zipped it up to her neck.

“Krista... I… Look, I crossed a line just there. I’m sorry about that. You certainly didn’t lead me on. Forgive me, but I’m not sure what’s happening right now.”

Krista blinked and looked up at him dazedly, eyes haunted. She was lost and confused.

“Are you okay?” Sean asked again, quietly.

Tears overwhelmed her eyes and she sagged against the desk. She shook her head and breathed deeply. “Sorry Sean. I truly am. This is what I was talking about at the barbecue. I’m destroyed. My past… I just overreact sometimes. I scare easily. It isn’t your fault. Just… let’s forget about it, if you don’t mind.”

“Yeah, sure. Of course.”

“I’m just… a bit stupid at times. Sorry. I have a lot of landmines.”

“No problem. We all do.”

Krista gave a self-depreciating laugh, “Yeah, right. Let’s go. I can have a pity party later.”

This was a key moment. Sean should say something to take her mind off of things. He didn’t know exactly what was bogging her down, but he could be a hero and save her right here.

He thought hard for an antidote as they entered the elevator. Finally he came up with, “You know what was the final button to get Jacob fired?”

“Uh…?” Krista looked up at him in bewilderment.

“He had a stack of emails from five different girls in his desk. Of their emails. Personal emails. They were in a binder. One of the emails was from you to me. About that first presentation you did, remember? Five girls and one guy—me.”

“I was one of the girls?”

Sean mentally flinched. Great job, Superman. Way to take her mind off of weird guys and creepy things. Tell her Jacob was stalking her.

“Um,” Sean stalled.

“He had a file on you?” Krista was half smiling. “Was he in love with you?”

Sean let her exit the elevator in front of him, “Seems like it.”

“Did I tell you that Jasmine snuck into the computer room and put gum in his seat?”

Sean tripped, “What? How?”

Krista laughed as Sean opened her car door. “She pretended she was a temp. She carried her monitor in. She put three pieces of gum on his chair. Apparently it ruined his best pair of pants.”

“Did he know who it was?”

“He suspected a great many people, actually,” she smirked.

“Kate and Jasmine are a kick in the pants,” Sean said, trying to keep the conversation going.

“Kick in the dome, more like. They are pretty loyal. Jasmine did it because she heard he’d gone through my emails. She didn’t have enough time to plan her own revenge.”

“Loyalty is good.”

“Yes, Dr. Freud, it is.”

They passed into silence for a second until Sean couldn’t help himself. “Look, Krista, I am sorry about earlier.”

Out of the corner of his eye he saw her shrug, “Eh. It wasn’t really your fault.”

“What was it I did? Was it getting too close?”

“I don’t really want to talk about it.”

“No problem. I completely understand. I just don’t want to do again. I’ve kissed you before and you reacted…differently.”

Krista laughed. “That’s a nice way of putting it. It’s just…it’s nothing. I’m just…”

“It was something. I did something.”

Krista looked out the window.

“I didn’t push at you very hard,” she said after a moment of contemplation. “Which was my mistake. At first I didn’t really want you to move away, so I gave you a mixed message. But you not yielding short-circuited my brain. I unraveled from there. It wasn’t your fault.”

“Please stop saying that, Krista.”

“Okay, it was all your fault, and I hold you totally accountable.”

“Now that I am used to hearing.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t be.” Krista was still looking out the window. Sean looked at her with wide eyes. She was dead serious.

Sean didn’t know what to say, and into his speechlessness, she changed the subject. “How is the rest of my department dealing with bringing on two new people? Have you heard?”

“From what I’ve heard, they’re pleased that the company realizes how much work they have, and finally got them some help.”

“And what do the big bosses say?”

“They’re wondering why we still employ people like Mr. Montgomery and his minions.”

“Am I included in that?”

“No, you are now the model of who they think should be in your department. The secret is finally, officially out.”

“Oh great, so I’ll have a workload that dramatically outweighs my pay grade. Lucky me.”

“Yes, that is still a problem. The good news is, the big bosses, as you call them, first heard about you from Mr. Hartling. It made them mad that they didn’t know about you first.”

“How is that good?”

“It meant that they needed to get familiar with your work so they knew what was being praised. In other words, they were focusing on the positive, and ignoring the negative. If you had asked for a raise before you were noticed, it would have been the opposite.”