Butterflies in Honey (Growing Pains #3) (9 page)

“What is going on?” Krista asked from a
galaxy away.

They all listened in rapture to Tory telling
them that Sean would be the new Senior Vice President of the
South-Western Region. It was a new format the company was
working—the nation divided into six regions, each Region run by its
Senior VP, and Tory would oversee all the regions. Sean McAdams was
now boss of them all.

Sean stepped up smoothly, looking like he was
born for the role. “Hello, everyone. I look forward to working with
all of you, and hopefully together we can achieve great
things.”

Everyone murmured. There were a great many
female voices whispering excitedly. Tory got back on the mic and
explained something or other, but Krista didn’t hear any of it. She
was numb.

Sean worked here. He worked in L.A. He sold
his house, quit his job, moved down to
her
neck of the
woods, and he never told her. He was going to be her new boss, and
he never mentioned it. She surfed with him, hung out with him. He
never even hinted.

Why?

There were a few things that were going
through her mind. Part of her was beside herself happy and excited.
She thought she would never see him again and here he was, half a
football field away. She worked with Tory often, and he was
essentially taking Tory’s place, so maybe Krista would even get to
work with him again. She wanted their team back so much it
hurt.

Another part of her was nervous. She didn’t
know how she could work with him. How she could see him every day
and not break down in tears. The pain from the last separation
still had her crying herself to sleep a couple of nights a week.
She was not over him. And since he made it clear he wanted distance
between them, she didn’t know how she’d hide it. Worse, if he
started dating someone else, it would devastate her. Literally
crush her into paste.

Another part of her was so angry she could
barely think. He’d cast her off, which was his right to do—she had
to respect that—but he owed her an explanation as to why he turned
up in her life like this. After all this time, after what they’d
had, how they’d left it—he owed her a goddamned explanation! He
should have given it to her six months ago when she asked about him
selling his house! Or when he hinted about the freaking job offer,
of all things! That was when he might have just
thrown
it
out there.
Oh hey, by the way, no big deal, but I might just
move down to your neck of the woods, become your boss, and ruin
your life. But still, move on, all right? Be happy. But, you know,
prepare for me to destroy you. Mmmm…kay?

The last part of her, and possibly the
biggest, didn’t realize life could hurt this much. Didn’t realize a
broken heart could possibly feel like this. Like someone burrowed a
hole in her chest with a dull spoon, used said dull spoon to uproot
her heart, rip out her heart strings slowly, grind the whole lot
into pulp with gravel, then cauterize the gaping wound with acid.
That was about where she was, pain-wise.

If he knew about this, or even knew about the
possibility, why didn’t he tell her to wait? Or at least tell her
what he was planning, and let her decide if she wanted to wait or
not? Why did he push her away, again, six months ago? Six short
months. Even if he was daunted that she technically had a
boyfriend, he could have just thrown it out there and let her
decide. Hell, she’d told him she was happy when she was with him.
She’d cried, in his chest, over losing him. She’d told him she
thought about him every day.
Every damn day!
Even for a
dense man, or a scared man, that was pretty plain. She absolutely
put herself out there, proved she was still over-the-moon in love
with him, and he pushed her away. Again. Rejected her, one last
time, for good measure.

Then followed her with a metaphorical tub of
salt like a little boy playing with slugs.

He’d just wanted her to be happy. How sweet.
In other words, please move on so it isn’t awkward when I show up
and do a hostile takeover of your life. Hey, thanks for
understanding!

Just be happy my club foot!

Krista thought about her options. She could
leave. She could take her big red ball and go home. She could
easily find another job with the shape her resume was in. Plus, her
boss would give her one hell of a recommendation. He loved her.
That would be the easiest solution.

It would also be the most coward solution.
And-she-was-no-coward! Not like
him
!

She could stay and fight through it. She
could climb her way to the top despite him. He wanted to show he
always had a leg up? Well, he could be content until she got
something better and flicked snot on him. She could easily go back
to school for a Master’s degree if she needed to. She was good at
school. That would not be a problem.

Or, she could get off her high horse, forget
past wrongs, and try to start something new with him. Even if he
was pushing her away on purpose, or had pushed her away—they had
something, and Krista knew he felt it. It wouldn’t take long to
remind him.

Krista snickered to herself. Yeah, that would
be the day. Maybe she could find Jim while she was at it and try to
work things out with him, too. Maybe she could beg both of them to
love her. Why not? What did she need pride for, right?

The only option, really, was to fight it out.
She had raised her position ten-fold since she had been out from
under this thumb. Tory said there were great things ahead of her.
So be it. It was time to battle.

“Krista, you okay?” Ben asked through the
mental anguish.

Krista was still seated while everyone around
her was standing. Her crew was looking down on her expectantly.

“What?” she asked coolly.

Everyone exchanged looks.

Krista stood, raised her chin, and tucked all
her hurt into a big iron box, soldered

the lid on, and stashed it as deep as she
could. She would beat this.

“Ready?” Jasmine asked, looking at Krista for
some sign indicating the direction of her emotional winds.

“Yes. Of course.”

Krista followed the others out. She would
finish her work for the day, and then head home to make a plan. Up
until that point she hadn’t had a real professional goal in mind.
She was kind of living in the moment, following Tory’s coaching,
and working her ass off. Now, she would come up with some
direction. Tory had given her the basics, but it was time to go her
own way.

Instead of heading back to their offices, the
crew turned the opposite direction.

Krista halted. “Wait, where are you
going?”

They all turned around and looked at her with
varying degrees of pity. Except for Kate, who was furious.

“Meet and greet, obviously,” Marcus said as
if he was talking to a mentally incapacitated person.

Krista stared blankly.

“Kate, s’plain to our dear friend,” Marcus
said in exasperation. “I need to get to the party. I know the young
stud personally. People are going to want to talk to me!” And he
was off.

“What’s up, Krista?” Ben asked softly.

“Meet and greet?”

“Yeah,” Jasmine replied, looking at Krista
steadily. “No work for the rest of the day. There is a cocktail
hour.”

“To meet Sean.”

Everyone stared solemnly.

“Oh, that’s good news. I already know him, so
I guess that means I can take the rest of the day off. Kate, cover
for me.”

Krista walked away briskly.

~*~*~*~

Kate, Jasmine and Ben watched her go.

“She’s upset,” Ben said.

Kate punched him and started walking, Jasmine
with her.

“What was that for?” Ben whined as he caught
up.

“
Obviously
she’s upset you twerp!”
Kate hollered. “The guy she has lost her mind over just crashed
back into her life and took away her giant
personal
achievement.”

“Krista still made it where she is now on her
own,” Ben replied, wounded.

“She did, but now that is overshadowed by
Sean getting a better job,” Jasmine explained.

“
Much
better. Without telling her. Why
did he come here, though?” Kate wondered, walking into the large
foyer where the meet and greet was being held. “He must have had a
million offers.”

“Tory probably had his eye on him,” Jasmine
surmised, getting a glass of wine.

“Yeah, but why L.A.? Sean lives in San
Francisco. Why not the region up there?”

“He wants to keep us together,” Ben said.
“It’s why he got Marcus and me down here. Krista had to come, so
Tory moved everyone else down, as well. He wanted to keep us
together. Sean is the last of the team.”

“Well, I don’t care. It’s a dick move,” Kate
stated crossly.

~*~*~*~

It was then that Sean spotted them. He was
surrounded by welcoming, smiling faces but he could feel the sudden
chill. He didn’t see Krista among them, which was a bad sign.
Deciding to get it over with, he crossed the crowd, smile in place,
and landed next to the three friends.

“Hi Kate, Jasmine, Ben—Ben I saw the latest
painting Emily bought
. Butterflies in Honey
—it was
something. Conveyed a profound sense of deep love. Hats off to you!
Brilliant.”

Jasmine groaned.

Ben, suddenly red, looked at his shoes.
“Thanks. Good to see you Sean. Excuse me.” Ben walked away
shyly.

Sean stared after him.

“She broke up with him,” Jasmine said as she
looked after Ben and took a sip of her wine. “A month ago.”

Sean winced. “I didn’t know.”

“Obviously.” Jasmine rolled her eyes as she
continued to look away.

“I couldn’t help but notice that Krista isn’t
with you. Do you know if she’ll be stopping by later?”

Kate turned to him directly, stepped closer,
angled her head up without any embarrassment doing so, crossed her
arms and scowled. “My professional answer, because when I am
addressing a
superior
—that’s what you are now, right? Our
boss?”

Kate waited for Sean to nod with an expectant
look.

“Well, when I am addressing upper management,
or implicating Krista in any way, I am to speak professionally.
Krista’s rules.
Professionally
I say that she wasn’t feeling
very well, nearly threw up on my shoes, and had to leave early. She
sends her deepest regrets to the new VP of the World.”

“And unprofessionally—in your inside voice,
please.”

“Just what do you think you’re doing, Sean?
Back to hurt her again? She doesn’t have
enough
experience
with hurtful men following her around the country?”

“I know I asked for it, but this isn’t really
a work conversation, Kate.”

“Then you better get used to nothing
but
work conversations, Sean, because you can’t reject a
girl twice, then show up to shove it in her face. With Jasmine’s
and my help, Krista is going to
bury
you before this is all
over. And
that,
sir, is my
professional
response.”
Suddenly Kate’s face beamed as she looked slightly to the right.
“Tory! So great to see you! How are you? We haven’t seen you in
Krista’s office cracking the whip lately?”

Tory laughed, aware he’d just missed
something. “Hello Kate, Jasmine. How are you doing?”

“Really good, Tory,” Jasmine said.
“Thanks.”

“Yes,” Kate said, stepping to the side so she
wasn’t so close to Sean, but so that she was now including Tory. “I
was just telling Sean, actually, that with Krista’s lead, we are
rocking the numbers. I’m sure you’ve noticed, but we are
consistently under budget and over-performing. And Krista is just
starting to get her stride. She’s got a long way to go!”

Tory smiled indulgently. “Yes, I
have
seen the numbers. Your department is doing quite well.”

“Best in the country, yes.” Kate said,
nodding. “Well, I’ll leave you two to it.”

Sean and Tory watched the two girls walk away
and mingle into the crowd.

Sean turned to Tory, his heart in his throat.
“I don’t think Krista is all that thrilled to see me here. It’s
been a long time.”

Tory nodded, escorting Sean toward the
Managers. “Yes, as Emily said, you probably should have called. I
agree. Women love surprises, but some things are not meant to come
out of the blue.”

“We’re not all as courageous as Emily,” Sean
said quietly as they joined the Management circle.

Chapter Seven

Monday morning saw Krista with a fresh coat
of paint on her face, her hair done up, a good looking outfit, and
a desire to go stick her head in the sand. She had just turned on
her computer when her phone rang. It was her boss.

“Hey Phil.”

“Krista, hi. Do you have a minute?” Phil
asked in his southern drawl. He was originally from Texas. He hated
California because he thought it housed a bunch of liberal idiots.
Krista never cared enough to ask him why he moved here in the first
place. And the million dollar question: Why didn’t he just go back
to Texas?

“Sure.”

“Great, meet me in the conference room on the
third floor.”

That was odd. Usually she would just go to
his office. Must be some Tory coaching.

Every once in a while Tory would call them
both in and go over how they could be even more insightful in their
jobs. They were already the best team in the company, but Tory’s
expectations were never sated. Phil hated all the extra work and
notice, which he wouldn’t receive if not for Krista, but he never
complained. At least not where Tory or she could overhear.

When Krista walked into the room, she was
greeted by three sets of eyes: the dark brown eyes of her boss, the
warm brown of Tory, and the green of her nemesis. She was suddenly
glad she chose that day to start dressing above her station.