Butterflies in Honey (Growing Pains #3) (10 page)

Sean was wearing one of his power suits. He
was freshly shaven, his cologne was mouthwatering, and he was
looking at Krista with the bright eyes of success. Her resolve
hardened.

“Hi all. Sean, nice to see you again.
Welcome,” Krista said professionally.

Sean’s brow furrowed slightly as he tilted
his head in greeting.

“Krista,” Tory said, his easy and relaxed
smile including her into their circle. “Please, join us.”

Krista sat down opposite Sean. She was in it
to win it. No skulking around the fight. She would battle this
head-on.

Sean’s eyes never left her face. Krista,
noticing this, met them, ignored the stab of pain that lanced
through her core, and lifted her eyebrows. Into the confrontation,
Sean smiled and turned his eyes toward Tory.

He’d realized she was challenging him. That
she planned to bowl him over and steal his candy like he was a
naïve child to a mean uncle. Sean McAdams loved a challenge. Too
bad this time it was a challenge he wouldn’t meet. Krista had to
make sure of it!

“Krista,” Tory began, “We’ve seen you start
with the company when you were largely inexperienced. Since then,
we’ve seen you grow and mature. You’ve started to come into your
own. Your team is consistently doing work well above par. You have
yet to miss a bad investment, and often give invaluable advice on
everything from market research to new products.” Tory’s eyes
twinkled at her.

“Say what you will, but that product idea was
a good one!” Krista laughed.

“It was, yes. We manufactured it, I believe.”
He turned to Sean, “Krista, Marcus, and Ben, all part of your old
team, came up with a sort of mat for children when they were
talking over a cocktail hour. Insightful group you found.”

Sean smiled, turning his eyes back to Krista.
This time they were soft as they held her. They sucked her in to
that special place where time didn’t exist. Where she was safe and
loved. A place that now only existed in a memory.

Krista tore her eyes away and mentally cursed
his dirty tactics. She would not go down that road again. And she
hated that every time she did something good, Sean would get the
credit for it. She wasn’t that same girl anymore. She was more her
own find than Sean’s. He could suck it!

“Anyway, Krista, as I was saying,” Tory
continued, cutting through her mental seething, “you are aware that
Sean will be taking over this region. Emily would like to see me
more, so it is either this, or divorce.” Everyone laughed. Krista
faked it. Sean noticed and looked at her a beat too long. “I think
it is time to find out what your expectations are in this new
regime.”

“My expectations?” Krista asked, mildly
confused. Oh, she had a lot of expectations, but they had to do
with getting Sean fired. She doubted that was what Tory wanted to
hear.

“Yes. So far you have done very well under
the guidance of Phil and myself. However, I will be stepping away
somewhat. I want to know what your plans are for the future. Or if
you have thought that far ahead?”

This was a test. If Sean hadn’t come and
shaken up Krista’s world, she would still be floating along,
following the strongest current. Now, however, she wanted to create
her own rip tide. Just in time, it seemed.

“Yes, about that. I am eternally thankful for
your help Tory, Phil.” Phil smiled at her, his eyes dull and bored.
Tory looked at her warmly.

“But, you’re right,” she continued. “I
definitely need to step it up. I am interested in advancing, and
was thinking to talk with you about possibly going for my Master’s
in business, economics, or mathematics to help that progression. I
have a few directions I can go from where I am, so I am looking
into pursuing those possibilities.”

Tory smiled knowingly and turned his eyes to
Sean, who was looking at Krista with that intense business gaze she
knew so well. His chess board was out and he was lining up the
pieces.

“With this new system of regions,” Sean
began, getting a faraway look in his eyes, “there is a lot of room
for change in the day-to-day operations. But the change needs to be
made now. I want to restructure how departments report to me to
better manage work flow. You will fit nicely into that scheme.”
Sean eyes honed in on her again.

“Will I?” Krista said with a bit more sauce
than she’d intended.

Tory and Phil both chuckled, thinking it was
a good-natured, sarcastic comment. Sean knew better. Despite the
reasons why, he knew her backwards and forwards. She had changed,
sure, but that was to cover up the pain from losing herself in the
move. Her sarcastic comments covered up a deeper hurt. Sean was the
only one in that room that knew her well enough to know that. She
never could hide her deeper self from him—probably because she had
never tried.

Krista knew Sean as well as he knew her, so
screw it—pain or no pain, past or no past, it didn’t change her new
goals of Sean destruction! She sounded like Rocky Balboa. She
needed to do some meditation or something. Maybe
she
needed
to join a drum circle.

“Yes,” he said slowly, looking at Krista with
new eyes. “Tory and Phil think you are ready for the next level.”
Sean glanced at Phil. “We need Phil in another region to get things
in order. He has agreed to move.”

“I’m goin’ home!” Phil exalted the decision
with a big, shit-eating grin. All he needed was a ten gallon hat
and a belt buckle to make the picture complete.

“Yes,” Sean said. “So that leaves us with a
vacancy. Tory thinks you are ready to step into Phil’s large shoes.
Based on what I know of you, I am confident you will do well in
that position. What are your thoughts?”

“You mean, am I okay with a promotion?”
Krista asked Tory, laughing despite herself. It would mean she
would have to work with Sean, but it was on the road to her goal.
So be it.

Tory smiled, as did Phil. Sean didn’t.

“Do you think you can handle the workload and
extra responsibility?” Sean asked seriously.

“Yes, I do,” she returned, just as seriously
with a splash of ominous. It was a warning—if he planned to start
underestimating her, she would give Jasmine the green light to
booby-trap his office. “I already have some ideas on improvement,
if you don’t mind me saying, Phil. Your system is awesome, but
there are a couple places I would like to try and tighten up.”

“You mean, a couple of managers you would
like to whip into shape?” Phil asked with a twinkle in his eye.
“I’m too nice is what I think you’re saying.”

“Yeah, well, I have a reputation to uphold,”
Krista countered. To Tory she asked, “Does this mean I’m not going
to be traveling as much?”

Tory looked at Sean. Sean said, “Exactly. You
leave the traveling behind with your old duties. The person you get
to take your place will assume that responsibility.”

“And you are leaving the hiring to me?” she
asked Sean. Apparently Tory stepping out of the picture started
now.

“Yes. Although, I hear Kate is on your team?”
Sean knew very well that was the case.

“Yes.”

“She might be a good candidate,” he said
lightly.

“She would, of course. I work well with her
and she responds to my management style perfectly. However,” Krista
leaned in slightly, “she is the newest employee in that department,
and my old college friend. I don’t think it’s fair to promote her
just yet.”

“Excuse me for saying, but she is the best
for the position.”

“Sometimes it isn’t always about doing the
duties well. Sometimes it is about loyalty. It is about
trust
. If I were to promote her without further ado, I would
most likely break my people’s trust. I don’t work that way.

“I’ll talk to the department. I’ll see who is
interested, and who would be the best for the job in the situation.
It’ll probably be her, and I’ll probably need to manipulate to make
that happen without upsetting everyone, but regardless, I’ll let
you know my findings before I make a decision.”

Tory and Phil nodded together; that
explanation sounded fine. Sean, however, looked at her without
comment. His face was blank. It looked like he caught her double
meaning on the trust and loyalty issue. She met his gaze with a
cool demeanor. It was the only dig she would make. From now on it
was professional all the way.

Tory talked about other strategies within the
region, and Phil talked about which aspects Krista would need to go
over with him in the following weeks to get up to speed. Throughout
the meeting, Sean’s eyes strayed to her often. Sometimes he looked
sad, and sometimes he nearly smiled. Krista had no idea what the
hell was going on in that head of his, but he was obviously losing
his mind. Based on the fact that Jim did, too, Krista was starting
to take it personally…

When the meeting was over, Tory and Phil
headed for the door, talking about the Dodgers versus the Giants.
Krista followed behind, not caring at all about baseball.

“Krista?” Sean was standing in front of his
seat, gathering his notes and papers. “A word?”

Tory and Phil hadn’t stopped. Trying not to
be petulant, she ambled back and took her old seat.

“What’s up?” she asked.

Sean looked at her and sat down. “I wanted to
explain some things.”

Krista sincerely hoped it would be work
things.

“I was loosely talking to Tory about this
company change around the time he was making you and Marcus
offers.”

Krista couldn’t help but show the surprise on
her face. She had no idea it went back that far. He planned this
move before she left the first time, to the same destination, and
he never mentioned it. Two and a half years he worked at this. Two
and a half years he kept this from her. He let her go, cut all
ties, but planned to meet up again in the end. And he did it
without telling her to wait, or even giving her that choice. He
told her to be happy, with
finality
.

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, asshole 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.