A Little Too Late (Madigan Mountain #1)(69)

“I’m willing to work for Ava,” she says. “And if everything goes sideways, I can move back here and find another job. Prashant will write me a recommendation. And maybe you will too, once you get over your snit.”

“Snit? I don’t have snits.”

“Right.” She gets up and walks out of the room.

I’m so stunned that I just stare at the doorway for a long beat. Then I stalk over and close it with enough violence that the entire office probably jumps from the bang.

Whoa. I’ve never done that before.

They call me the ice king behind my back. I’ve heard the whispers. But right this second, I’m not icy at all. I’m practically boiling. I don’t even recognize the senseless shout that erupts from my mouth.

Next, I grab my phone off the desk and hit Ava’s number. Because phoning the woman who’s ghosting you when you’re feeling like a loose cannon is a super idea.

“Reed,” she answers in a low, tense voice. “Can I call you back? This isn’t a good time.”

“How convenient,” I spit. “You don’t answer my texts. You don’t take my calls. And you poached my assistant? What the fuck, Ava! Are you trying to get back at me? Is that a mature thing to do?”

“Excuse me a moment,” she says to someone who isn’t me. “I’m so sorry for the inconvenience, but I need to take this call for two minutes.”

“Two minutes,” I growl. “So good to know you care.”

“Reed,” she hisses. Then I hear the clunk of a door shutting. “I’m about to interview a new catering manager in the middle of a labor shortage! Pardon me if I’m too busy doing my job to take your irate calls.”

“I’m not irate. But it was shitty of you to go behind my back. Were you even going to tell me you offered Sheila a job? Is this amusing to you—letting me be the last to know?”

“I didn’t make her a formal job offer yet!” she yells. “We’re kicking tires. She’s mulling it over, and she’s smart enough to consider the housing market. I picked up your call because she just texted to say you were upset.”

“I’M NOT UPSET!”

She sighs. “Here we go.”

“What does that mean?”

“Be upset, Reed. Be mad at your dad for shutting you out. Be pissed at me for not jumping on a plane to California so we could be together without you having to change your life. Be mad at Sheila for wanting something different. Be as angry as you want.”

“WHAT GOOD WOULD IT DO?” I scream. My face is hot. My throat burns.

It’s weird.

“A lot of good.” Her voice is suddenly gentle. “Some things just suck, Reed. They’re worth a little rage. I’m sorry your assistant wants to work in a job where she sometimes gets to go outside. It will suck if she leaves you.”

“She goes outside! Starbucks is outside!” I thunder.

“I have to go,” she says. “But Reed?”

“What?” I snap.

“I still love you.”

My head practically explodes. “Wow, Ava. Great timing. So nice to hear that.”

“I know.” Her voice wobbles. “It’s inconvenient, but still true. Like so many things. And now I really have to go.”

“So go already,” I choke out.

She ends the call.

And now I’m standing in my office holding my phone, and it’s shaking. It’s not, like, vibrating with a notification or anything, it’s just shaking.

I think I might be shaking, too.

Strange. I do a lap around my office to see if it stops.

When I look down at my phone again, there’s a new message from my brother.

Weston: Hey. Want to get beers?

My mood immediately improves by about ninety percent, because my brother never wants to meet up.

Reed: Sure! Where? Are you in CA?

Weston: Oops. Sorry. Wrong thread. I’m nowhere near CA.

Fuck.

Reed: Look, I know you don’t care, but I figured out why the sale price on the resort is so high. The buyer is going to expand over the mountain and build a gross development on Block’s piece of land.

Weston: So? Not your problem.

I lean into the floor-to-ceiling window on my office wall and bang my head three times. My family is a goddamn disaster.

Out the window I can see a golf course in the distance. I’m so very far from the mountain peaks of Colorado. I could just walk away from the whole mess. Weston would.

So why am I so unhappy right now?

Reed: I wanted it to be my problem. I told Dad that I wanted in, and he threw me out.

Weston: He’s a dickwad. But why do you want a piece of that? Aren’t you a rich fuck already?

Reed: Because of Ava. She’s still in CO. And Dad is selling any day now to assholes she hates.

Weston: Dude. Busy here. GTG. But if the thing you want is in CO why are you back in CA?

That’s it. That’s all the words he can spare for his brother. The green dot disappears from his text thread.

Weston loves to have the last word. I let out a shout of petty rage. And it feels so good that I let out another one.

But then I realize Weston made one very good point.

Shit. What am I doing in California?

I fling open my office door and bellow, “SHEILAAAAAAAA!” Because I can’t seem to moderate my voice all of a sudden.