Turns out Dad worked back-to-back shifts and left the house again early this morning.
He thinks I was up and gone before him.
And no Jase either. Not a word from him.
Chewing my lip, I look up at Michael, who’s pulled a pair of eyeglasses from his bedside end table, making him look very handsome.
Distinguished.
His silver highlights in his hair, and now designer eyewear? The man is full of surprises. And all of them get me hotter than the last one. But I’m worried about Jase, and I tell him so before I apologize for interrupting him.
“I know, I know… Jase,” he says, tittering to himself again as he reads an email.
Judging by his near-silence and how his face has changed, I’m not getting the feeling that my missed call scenario is anything close to what Michael has to deal with right now.
And all because of me.
“Sorry, Vanessa…just had to read the fine print on something.” Michael says, snapping himself out of business mode and back into ‘us’ mode in a heartbeat.
“How about you?” he asks, glancing down at my phone.
“I said I’m worried about Jase,” I tell him again.
The mention of his name again makes Michael wince as though I’ve just pinched him.
“Did he call you? Is he okay?” I ask, a feeling of dread creeping over me.
“He’s fine,” Michal drones. “At least, he will be until I get my hands on him,” he growls, shaking his head until he starts to smile, but in an ironic kind of way.
“Ah well. It coulda gone one of two ways, and it did,” Michaels says with a tone of resignation in his voice.
My mouth hangs open, waiting to hear what happened until I realize I’m watching Michael have a little conversation with himself. Reasoning things out the same way I do all the time. Except I’m usually alone.
“What’s happened?” I finally gasped, gripping his arm tight and squeezing hard to get Michael’s attention.
“He’s lost us the Phelps contract is all…biggest contract the company ever had a shot at. Gone.”
I feel my stomach lurch again like it’s full of lead.
“This is all my fault,” I cry.
This never would have happened if Jase hadn’t helped me get this job in the first place.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Michael
I forgive Jase in my mind for whatever he’s in the process of screwing up business-wise, but I hope the root cause of it all is for the best in the long run.
I’ve worked long enough in this business to sense when a client is about to bail. So, before I even read the texts and emails in detail from Morgan Phelps, I know in my gut that the deal’s off.
I need to check the fine print when my suspicion is confirmed with the deal itself.
Pretty sure there’s a clause in there about what constitutes backing out on a multi-million dollar deal they haven’t paid a cent of so far.
But that’s not what bugs me, not really.
Not even knowing that my own son has messed things up for the both of us.
It’s when Vanessa tells me it’s all her fault things have gone the way they have that I set aside my phone. And taking off my glasses to look her in the eye, I tell her it’s not her fault.
“How is it your fault?” I ask her. “Jase bringing you to me is the only reason I’m not upset about any of this,” I explain. “If it wasn’t for him setting up that interview, we wouldn’t be here right now. You wouldn’t be right here, where you belong.”
Vanessa clamps her mouth and looks down, fidgeting with the sheets.
“Then where is he?” she asks, the emotion showing in her voice.
I feel my lips half-smiling, and although I don’t have all the facts, I have a pretty good idea of where Jase is right now.
“Jase is where he wants to be,” I muse out loud. “He’s made his bed, and now he has to lie in it…literally,” I add cryptically.
Vanessa shakes her head, sounding angry and frustrated.
“That’s a riddle, Michael, not an explanation,” she steams. “What is it you’re not telling me,” her voice trembles. “I think I have a right to know.”
I sigh heavily, knowing she’s absolutely right.
I didn’t say anything at the time because she and I have been so busy with our own thing.
With us.
“Vanessa. Jase isn’t the kind of guy to blow off the biggest meeting of his career because of a car breaking down now, is he?” I ask her.
She shakes her head vehemently. “No, he isn’t. Not for anything…,” she trails off, racking her brain for answers.
Telling me again how worried she is. That something must have happened to Jase and whoever he was with.
I smile silently again, which only makes Vanessa get even more hot-headed.
“Unless he didn’t break down,” I tell her. “Unless something or someone happened to Jase,” I add.