Working It (19 page)

“Exactly.”

“I'd stop at nothing to get what I wanted.”

“That's it, that's it exactly…” Jade suddenly stopped, and it was as if a wheel suddenly clicked into place. “You. You sank me.”

Betsy remained silent, but Jade knew, just as certain as she knew her social security number.

“Why?” Jade couldn't help it. After all this time…she should've expected it, she cursed herself. Mentor, indeed. “Because I might make partner, too?”

“I told you,” Betsy said, and her voice took on a little edge. “You reminded me of me, when I was your age.”

“You thought I'd gun for your job.” Jade felt dazed. “So you…what? Made up some stuff? What was the deal with that photograph crap?”

“It's a simple thing to hire a private investigator, Jade,” Betsy said, “and before you embark on a tirade of self-righteousness, it was stupid for you to sleep with a client. Even more stupid to let me figure it out—you weren't exactly discreet about it. They're just clients, Jade. The sooner you learn that, the sooner you'll get ahead in this. But frankly, I don't think you'll ever really get ahead. And do you want to know why?”

Jade stared at her. “Please. Enlighten me.”

“Because you lead with your heart and not your head.” Betsy's voice rang like steel with finality. “You're too sensitive for this business. Maybe you should find something else to do.”

She stood, walked over to the door and opened it.
“And while you're at it, maybe you should find somewhere else to do it.”

Jade stood, anger pulsing through her like white-hot molten steel. “I've got a few ideas of what I can do, and exactly where I can do it,” she said.

“Tacky,” Betsy said, but to Jade's satisfaction, her cool facade cracked just enough to show she was a little nervous.

“See you at the hearing,
boss,
” Jade said.

Betsy said nothing, so Jade stalked down the hall, past a few curious onlookers, and out to her car.

I'm going to go home,
she thought.
Go home, and call Drew.

She never thought about going to someone for help before, she thought as she started the Mustang. Now his voice was the only thing she wanted to hear.

And all I want to hear him say is everything is going to be all right.

She was dialing on the cell phone as soon as she got the car started, barely able to hear the ring of the dial tone over the roar of her engine. She drove through the streets like a madwoman.

“Robson Steel, Drew Robson's office…”

“Mrs. Packard,” Jade said, “please put me through to Drew.”

She could almost hear Mrs. Packard's face scrunch up. “Mr. Robson is very busy…”

“This is important!” Jade couldn't help it. She was in no mood for Mrs. Packard running interference.

Mrs. Packard paused a minute, then said, “Fine. I'll just put you right through.”

Jade heard the lame-o hold music that Robson Steel still used.
I'll have to talk to him about that,
she thought absently, zipping from one lane to the next.
Later. She'd have plenty of time to talk to him about it. Right now, her whole being-fired thing was just a little more important.

She heard the hold music shut off as she was clicked over to Drew. “Jade? Is that you? What's wrong?”

“Drew,” she said, feeling the tears well up in her throat. “I've just had the shittiest day…”

“Where are you? In your car? I can barely hear you.”

“Yes,” she said, yelling, then cursing as someone cut her off. She responded hard with her car horn as the guy started yelling obscenities at her. “You son of a…”

“Jade? What's going on?”

“Sorry, some idiot in an SUV just tried to…”

“Honey, I really don't have time.”

Jade paused, almost slamming on the breaks. “What?”

“I am hip-deep in the legal that the investors sent over,” Drew said with a heavy sigh in his voice. “They're trying to pull all this stuff we didn't talk about. I'm working with the lawyers right now. Can I give you a call later tonight?”

“Later tonight?” She said the words in a monotone, feeling numbness crawl over her.

“That would be great,” he said with relief. “I'll call around…hmm. How's eight? Is that okay?”

“Uh, yeah.” This wasn't happening. This couldn't be happening.

“Great.” His voice went a little lower. “Love you.”

Just like that, he hung up.

She stared at the phone, then clicked it off and put it on the seat next to her. She drove back to her apartment as if on autopilot.

That didn't just happen.

She'd just gotten fired. Betrayed by her mentor. And the man who loved her really didn't have the time to talk about it.

 

I
T WAS CLOSER TO NINE
when Drew finally got a chance to call Jade. He was tired, and cranky. And knowing that he was going back home to an empty bed wasn't helping matters one bit.

“Good night, Drew,” Ken said from the doorway.

“'Night, Ken,” he replied, rubbing at his eyes.

Ken paused. “It's going to be an uphill battle, but the important part is, we're that much closer to saving this place. As long as we stay focused, nothing bad's going to happen. It's a tough time right now.”

“I know,” Drew said. “Believe me, I know.” He stopped, pensive. “Ken, does it seem to you like there's nothing
but
tough times, lately? Seems like if I breathe wrong, the whole place is going to go under.”

“That's what comes with the territory,” Ken said with a laugh. “No, really, I understand. It's just…give it six months, Drew. That's all. When the investment money is guaranteed, when we've got the new processes started and the renovations going, then you'll have a little breathing room. Trust me. It'll get better. But right now, we need everything you've got. We're not out of the woods yet.”

“Six months.” It seemed like an eternity…but at least there was an end date. “Okay.”

Ken waved, then left. Drew could hear his footsteps growing fainter down the corridor. Yawning, Drew picked up the phone and dialed Jade's cell phone number.

She answered on the third ring. “Drew.”

“Hi, sweetie,” he said, feeling the little rush of comfort just from hearing her voice. “I'm sorry I couldn't talk before. Inesco's being a bit tougher than we thought, but I'm pretty sure we'll do fine. It was just ugly earlier…and it's probably going to be uglier before it gets better. You wouldn't believe what their second-in-command is trying with the legal department…”

Jade made a noncommittal noise. Abruptly he realized that there was something amiss.

“So,” he said, wondering if it was because he wasn't paying enough attention, “how was your first day as an account supervisor? Did you get a new office?”

“Actually, the promotion didn't go exactly as planned,” she said conversationally.

“Really?”

“Yeah.” She paused. “It actually strongly resembled getting fired.”

He laughed. Then realized that she wasn't, and stopped. “You're not serious.”

“I'm very serious,” she said, and he heard it…the little catch in her voice. He'd bet anything that she was fighting back tears.

“What the hell did they fire you over? That's outrageous! That's…”

“They fired me,” she said, her quiet voice stopping his tirade, “for sleeping with you.”

He stopped, then took a deep breath. “Oh, no.”

“Unethical behavior. Sleeping with a client. There were some veiled insults about the only way I was able to land a sale, et cetera. Then I was given the boot.”

“You're going to fight it, right?”

“You're damned right I am,” she said, and the fire
in her voice heartened him. That was the Jade he knew. The woman would kick the Devil himself right in the teeth before she gave up on a fight. “They're wrong about this. I'm good at what I do. And we…well, that didn't have anything to do with it.”

“Exactly,” he said, wishing she were in the room so he could hold her. Tough or not, she needed some comfort. He could see past the tough act.

“So that's why I'm going to need you here.”

“Sorry?” His thoughts tripped over themselves as he finally registered what she was saying. “You're going to need what?”

“Drew, I insisted on having, well, I guess you'd call it a hearing,” she said slowly. “I thought that if you went in front of them and spoke with them, that they'd understand. We did have a physical relationship.”

“We
do
have a physical relationship,” he corrected, then added, “more important, we have a
relationship.
Right?”

“Right.” She sounded relieved. “I guess that might be our best plan of attack. I've got all weekend to come up with my defense. Between the two of us, I'm sure we can come up with something.”

His mind raced. “Ah, Jade…”

She stopped. “What?”

“This weekend…this coming week…” He sighed. This was going to hurt. “I promised Ken and the lawyers that I'd focus on ironing out the clauses in the contract with Inesco.”

She was silent for a long few moments.

“It's not that I have a lot of choice,” Drew said to fill the growing gap in their conversation. “You know how important this deal is for me. You were the one
who helped me get it. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't even…”

“It's just one weekend and one day,” she said. “I thought…hell. I don't know what I thought.”

“I'm sorry,” Drew said, then stood. “You know what? Screw Michaels and Associates. You don't have anything to prove. If they're going to have that kind of stuff against you…if this is how they're going to treat you, then they don't deserve to have you.”

She didn't respond right away, and he was about to launch into another round of reasoning when she said, “So. If they really wanted me to work with them, they would have shown more faith in me, right?”

“That's it.” He felt his stomach settle as the tension left. She sounded so upset. This was better. “That's it exactly.”

“In fact, if they gave a damn about me, they wouldn't be putting me on the block like this,” she said, obviously warming to the topic. “If they really cared at all, they wouldn't be hanging me out to dry.”

“You're absolutely right,” he enthused.

“So tell me, Drew,” she said, in a low voice. “How the hell is what they're doing different from what you're doing?”

He stopped dead. “What?”

“I did everything I could to help you,” she said sharply. “I gave up three weeks of my life and put a lot on the line to help you. And then I fell in love with you, and I made love with you. And
I lost my job for it.
” Her voice shook, with anger, with sheer agony. “And your answer is to just walk away from it?”

“Wait a second, here,” he interjected, but she rolled right over him.

“This job was everything I wanted, Drew. You
know what it's like to want something like that!” Her voice was just this side of pleading, and the tone of it tore at him. “I'm just asking for a little of your time. A little help. I know how busy your life is right now, and I know how important the Inesco deal is. But this is my life. I just need a few days.”

He sighed.

She stopped, and her voice was as cold as a snowdrift. “No, don't tell me. If it were any other time than this… I understand.”

“Jade, I'm sorry.”

“Don't be sorry,” she said. “At the risk of sounding very, very drama…you're not the first.”

“Damn it, I'd be there if I could.” He didn't like this. “And you didn't just do all of this altruistically. You were getting a promotion out of this. Don't try to…”

“You're right, Drew. I was just in it for me. And now you're just in it for you, is that it?”

“Don't twist my words,” he said, gripping the receiver as though it were a club.

“I'm not. I'm just pointing out. I thought I loved you…I still think I love you. But that doesn't necessarily mean anything. What would you have done? You wouldn't have moved to L.A. You've got the plant. That's the most important thing for you.”

“You know how important it is.”

She laughed, and it was a bitter sound. “I understand. And I also understand that, despite my relatively massive ego, I really believe one thing. I deserve a man who puts me first. Who cares enough about me to put me first.”

“That's not fair.”

“I know,” she said in a quiet voice. “Drew, this isn't going to work.”

He felt a queasy wave of panic warring with the anger that was bubbling up in him. “Damn it, don't do this.”

“Just like you, Drew…
I
don't have the time for this,” she said. “Good luck with the Inesco deal.”

“Damn it, Jade!”

“Damn it is right,” she said. “Goodbye, Drew.”

And hung up.

J
ADE DIDN'T KNOW
what was worse—the phone ringing, or the phone not ringing. Either way, she felt as if she was reading too much into both the fact that Drew might be calling or the fact that Drew wasn't calling. At first she'd tried screening her calls with her message machine, but after three telemarketers and a rather nasty-yet-polite message from the lawyer at Michaels & Associates she'd finally said screw it and disconnected the phone completely. She'd also shut off her cell phone, not that it mattered since she'd let the battery die. If this kept up, she thought, pacing her living room, she might stop collecting her mail.

She couldn't believe that it had only been a month since she'd been home—that it had only been a month since all these things had happened to her. Her apartment felt strange. Probably because the toilet hadn't been sanitized for her protection and the television wasn't chained to anything, she thought, fighting back a wave of nervous laughter.

She refused to think what else was absent from her life that had currently filled up a nice, six-foot-five space.

Finally, after the strangeness of her apartment and her loneliness for Drew made her start to climb the walls, she did the only rational, calming thing she knew. She got into her car and headed for the Pacific
Coast Highway. Between the crash of the waves and the aggressive roar of her engine, she might not find serenity, but she'd definitely be able to get her mind off of things. She had the window down, and her hair whipped frenetically, barely restrained by her ponytail. She had sunglasses on, the warmth of the sun on her arm, and a long line of black road stretched out in front of her.

She'd keep driving until she felt better, she thought.

She didn't feel better, but she did feel more reflective as she tore down the highway. She thought about the last two guys she had been involved with. Her last serious relationship had been one year out of college. He'd been a senior partner, cool, aloof, sophisticated. She'd stolen an account from him for an opposing small boutique firm, and he'd asked her out to dinner as they left the client's lobby. She'd been with him for two years, before realizing that they never really saw each other…they were both too busy working and their scheduled meetings together seemed more like business than pleasure. It was a pity, too…her parents had liked him on the one occasion that they'd met him. Before that, it had been a bad boy, back in college, a bruiser she'd met at a sports bar. After about six months of delirious sex, she'd tried to bring him home to meet her parents, only to discover he really didn't do commitment—and he certainly hadn't been that exclusive with her. She'd been hurt with that one, heartbroken with Tom the Businessman. But the thing was, she hadn't really trusted either of them with anything important. Sure she'd slept with them, spent some time with them. But her heart hadn't been in it.

With Drew, for the first time, it had. Of course that was the problem. Of course it hurt.

She passed a cruising minivan ignoring the driver's envious stare, and paced a Mercedes-Benz before getting bored and dusting it, tearing up the pavement with a quick shift of gears.

So she was hurt with Drew. Big deal. In a way, she should've been expecting it—should have been warned by what she was feeling for him. Business and pleasure. For some people, business
was
pleasure. Better to leave sex out of it altogether.

But Drew was more than sex.

After a few hours she finally forced herself to turn around and pulled into the parking lot of her apartment building. When she climbed out of her car, she rolled her shoulders. She had a bit of a tan, her body was sore and tired, and her problems hadn't really lightened much at all. She had hoped for clarity, or at least a respite. Now, she dragged herself back up to her apartment, fumbling the key in the lock.

“Hey, you. I've been waiting for hours. Where have you been?” Hailey greeted her from her couch. Hailey's black hair was cut in a spiky gamine style and her pixie-delicate face puckered in a look of disapproval.

Now
here,
Jade thought, was somebody she could count on. Without saying a word, she walked over the to the couch, tugged Hailey to her feet, and hugged her, engulfing Hailey's five-foot frame with her own five-nine one.

“Boy, I'm glad to see you,” she said, and realized the words came out watery. She let out a hiccupy sob.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Hailey said, hugging back fiercely. “Come on, it's not that bad.”

“I got fired for sleeping with a client that I'm in love with who doesn't love me,” Jade said all in a rush.

Hailey paused. “Okay. It is that bad. This calls for ice cream. As it happens, I bought some on the way here.”

Jade pulled back and smiled, rubbing at her eyes with the back of her hands. “Chocolate-chocolate chip?”

“Of course.”

Jade smiled. This was comfort. If Hailey couldn't help her feel better, than nothing could.

 

“M
R
. C
LARK
, it's getting close to one in the morning.” Drew stood, rubbing at the back of his neck. “We're not getting anything else done here.”

Mr. James Clark had been the lawyer for Robson Steel since Drew was a little kid. Consequently, Drew had difficulty calling the man “James,” even though Drew was now president and CEO, and James worked for him.

Mr. Clark rubbed his eyes, putting the paper off to one side. Then he glanced at his watch. “Good grief, you're right. I think we got a lot accomplished. Still, I'll be back in the morning at eight, if you like.”

“I'll be in, but I can work on other stuff if you'd like to come in later,” Drew said. There was always plenty of work at Robson Steel to fill up the time…and it wasn't as though he had any reason to stay at home. He tried unsuccessfully not to think of his last call with Jade. “Whenever works for you.”

I miss her. I miss the hell out of her.

“Just six more months,” Drew reminded himself out loud.

Mr. Clark paused in the act of packing up his leather briefcase. “Beg your pardon?”

Drew looked at him, with a small half grin. “Six months. It'll calm down in six months.”

Mr. Clark laughed. “If you say so. I've noticed that it's always something, if you stay on long enough.” He shook his head. “Still, that's the nature of the business. If you own a business, if you're dedicated to something, then you work hard.”

“I know that.”

“Your father didn't.”

Drew looked at the elderly lawyer. Mr. Clark didn't usually badmouth Drew's father, even though Drew knew that he had been the man who cleaned up most of his father's messes. Of course, Drew basically agreed with those sentiments, but he didn't necessarily feel comfortable with the older man making the statement.

“Your father,” Mr. Clark said, stretching a little to work the kinks out of his back, “was a brilliant salesman. But he was probably the worst thing that happened to this plant.”

Drew kicked around possible responses. “He had a lot of mitigating factors,” Drew finally said, unsure of why he was defending his recalcitrant father. “The economy…”

“Come on now,” Mr. Clark scoffed. “The economy doesn't force you to steal a million dollars and take a hike to the Bahamas.”

Drew kept quiet. He really didn't have an answer for that one.

“Your grandfather and I used to talk all the time about it.” Mr. Clark shook his head. “I was a lot younger then. I wanted to be a lawyer—your grandfather helped me get a scholarship. Then I went on to law school. He was my first client. I've worked with
Robson Steel ever since. He once said…” He cleared his throat. “He said that I was as close to him as his own son. Wished that I
was
his son.”

“I didn't know that,” Drew said, at a loss for words.

“It's not all that important now, I suppose.” But Drew could tell from the tone of the older man's voice—it was just as important now as it was the day his grandfather had originally said the words. “The bottom line is, your father had it all going for him. Great education, his father's trust, the steel plant in the palm of his hand. And he threw it all away. He never really cared about it. Not the way I would have, in his place.”

Drew felt uneasy. At any other time he would have agreed with Mr. Clark. Hell, he probably would have taken it one step further. But tonight, something wasn't ringing quite right.

Maybe it's because it's so late. I'm tired.

“I know I probably haven't said it enough,” Drew said slowly, “but I really do appreciate everything you do for Robson Steel.”

Mr. Clark's expression lightened. “Well, at least it's working for you, Drew. Your father didn't appreciate this company. Oh, he started out strong enough—put in the hours, had the dedication. But he just couldn't handle the responsibility.”

Drew thought back. He hadn't seen his father from the time he started school, from all the hours his father put in at the plant. Then, after his mother finally divorced the senior Mr. Robson, he'd only seen his dad on special occasions.

He'd been at the plant.

“You know,” Drew added, “hating him for the choices he made isn't going to change anything.”

“No, it's not,” Mr. Clark agreed, “but making the same decision he made isn't going to change anything, either. If you don't put Robson Steel first, everything will suffer. Just like before. Now, we're all paying for it.”

Drew watched as Mr. Clark stepped out the door, briefcase in hand. “See you tomorrow morning.”

Drew nodded absently. It was one o'clock in the morning. He'd be back in here by seven. The process would repeat itself.

He didn't know what prompted him, but he pulled open a desk drawer and took out an old framed picture…one he'd stuffed in the desk when he'd taken over as president. It was one of his father and himself. He was about six. He was sitting on his father's desk, his father mugging it up for the camera. His desk was strewn with papers.

Drew glanced from the picture to the desk itself.

Not much had changed.

His father had worked hellish hours, at first, when he'd inherited Robson Steel. He hadn't had any sort of feel for the way the plant ran, or for steel itself, but he had been a brilliant salesman, and he had been pretty well liked by the workers. Drew hadn't hated the plant for taking his father away—he hated his father for simply not being there. Now he wondered if his father himself had hated the plant for what he'd been forced to lose. Even if it had been, ultimately, his father's choice.

Am I willing to do that?

He had gotten the investment money. He still felt indebted to the plant, and to the town. But they were in less danger now. Hell, if Inesco took over the plant,
as he feared, the workers would probably still have jobs. What was he fighting for?

He thought back on Jade, about the time he'd spent with her. Even as his body tightened with the memory, he thought about what she'd said one night, just before their passionate culmination.

You can't solve everybody's problems and you're not responsible for everybody's well-being.

He loved Robson Steel. But he also loved Jade. He had done everything he could to save the plant, the town, and everyone around him.

Right now, he thought, it was time to save his own future…with the woman, he knew, whom he loved more than anything.

 

“S
O DO YOU LOVE
him?”

Jade was curled up on her couch, cocooned in a flannel throw, with a special Hailey's Hot Toddy warming her hands. The remnants of a yellow cake with chocolate frosting littered a broad platter on her coffee table. Hailey was sitting in her wing-backed chair, looking like a dark-haired sprite, staring at her with concern.

Jade frowned. “I don't know. I mean, can you really fall in love with somebody in just a couple of weeks? This isn't the movies or anything,” Jade said. “I cared about him.”

“He had to mean a lot to you to get you to sleep with him even though he was a client.”

Jade winced. “That wasn't love. That was stupidity.”

“Bull.” Hailey got out of the chair and sat next to Jade, nudging her with a fist. “You might be impetuous, but you're not stupid. And I know you. You might talk big, but you're intensely loyal, and you've got a
stricter code of ethics than pretty much everybody I know.”

“You work in a bar, Hailey,” Jade reminded her. “What kind of scruples are we talking about?”

Hailey obviously chose to ignore the gibe. “The point I'm trying to make here is, you chose to enter into a relationship with this guy, for good reasons or bad. And I know you. You've had some, uh, recreational interludes,” Hailey said diplomatically, “but I've never seen you go crazy because of one.”

Jade sent over a wistful grin. Trust Hailey to focus on the real danger signals. “I've never been fired because of a recreational interlude, either.”

“We're getting nowhere.” Hailey stood, paced. She was still the same little ball of energy…and idealism. “Okay. Let me ask you this. If you got your job back tomorrow, and your promotion, and the only condition was that you could never see Drew Robson again…”

“Oh, come on,” Jade protested. “What sort of company would make me…”

“Shut up. This is my scenario,” Hailey said. “If you could have your job but not Drew Robson, would everything be all right?”

Jade started to respond, then thought about it.
Never see Drew again.

The pain was overwhelming.

“No,” Jade said in a quiet voice. “No. It wouldn't be all right. Not at all.”

“All right,” Hailey said smugly. “Now we're getting somewhere.”