Page 63 of The Banker and the Blue Collar Man

“You don’t think so?” Logan blustered, raising his voice.

“He asked you for PTO,” I said, feeling a flash of pleasure at using the previously unfamiliar term. “So, are you going to give it to him or not?”

“No,” Logan shouted.

“No?” I asked at the same time Dalton said the same thing.

“No, because he’sfired.” Logan took a deep breath, pretending everything was under his control. “You don’t get to come in here and make demands, Dalton. Not when our numbers are low. Not when you’ve been on vacation for so long already.” He looked at Dalton like I wasn’t even there. “You’refired. Jeannette will email you the requisite forms to sign. You can mail in your company badge. Now get out of my office before I call security to escort you.”

Fired? What kind of boss fired someone for simply asking for time off? But before I could say anything, white faced, Dalton opened the door and went out. I was right behind him.

Dalton led the way to the reception area, handed in his temporary card, ripped the guest pass off my shirt, said goodbye to the receptionist, and got into the elevator. Both of us were silent until we reached the ground floor and walked to his car in the parking lot.

For a long second he stood looking blankly at me across the car’s roof, like he was about to jump across a chasm, only he didn’t know the distance or what would be on the other side.

He drove us in silence to his apartment, a lovely old-fashioned building on a quiet street that had a few more trees than the other places we’d been in town. We rode an elevator to the third floor. When he unlocked the door, I held my breath. This was his life, and I was about to see it.

The place was only a little bigger than my bunkhouse. Large windows looked out over the street, and sunshine streamed in. The floors were wood. Baseboards white. Simple furniture, brown and cream, with touches of blue. And in the middle of it all, still looking lost, a little grim, was Dalton.

“Cute place, huh?” he asked, maybe looking to distract me or himself from his situation.

“Not as cute as the occupant.” Then I kicked myself, because the last thing he needed just then was compliments, no matter how truthful.

“I’ll need to fill out some forms,” he said, pressing the heel of his hand to his forehead. “But first, let’s go to the Center.”

He went into a room next to the small bathroom and sat at a sleek-looking computer setup on a flat desk facing the window. Way more modern than what we had at the ranch. He was going to get straight to work, but I wanted to stop him, just for a minute.

“Hey,” I said. His hands were on the keyboard, starting the thing up. I knelt down and turned his chair around to face me.

Eyebrows furrowed, he looked at me as though wondering what I was doing there. Who’d let me into the apartment, and what I wanted with him.

I could have tumbled him onto the bed. The bedroom was just down the very short hall. It wasrightthere. But that wasn’t what he needed from me right now.

Problem was, I wasn’t sure what he did need. I could have said he wanted stillness and sense, but the right thing to do was to find out. And then give it to him.

Before I could ask, though, he spoke up. “Have you ever been fired?” He frowned, angry at the world. At me, even. After all, I’d been a part of what had just happened at Hadley & Maine.

“No.” My job at Snow Creek Ranch was the only job I’d ever had. And after working there twelve years, I was pretty much my own boss, only needing to check in now and then with Jesse, who trusted me to attend to whatever needed doing.

I had no idea what Dalton was going through, but it broke my heart to see the darkness in his eyes, the droop of his shoulders. His lovely mouth thinned with grim concentration.

“What’s it like?” I asked. My hands were on his knees, and he placed his hands atop mine, gripping tightly.

“Like I’m lost. Cut off from everything. I have to call one of the admins to box up my stuff and send it to me. I’ll have to sign papers and an acknowledgment of my last paycheck, which goes directly into my bank account, so whatever. And after that—” He sounded like he’d just been flung into the ocean with nothing to hold on to.

“I shouldn’t have gone in like that,” I said. “But I thought he was going to hurt you.”

“He wouldn’t have,” Dalton said. “Mostly it’s poking and getting in your face.”

“I’m sorry.”

“You?” He looked at me, puzzled. “Why are you sorry? You’re the first person to ever do something like that for me. Rush in like a knight in shining armor.” He laughed, a small burst of sound, looking away like he was gathering memories. “Or like a hero cowboy in a movie.”

Unsure why he would find that amusing, I kissed his palms and watched him close his eyes, maybe so he could absorb the moment and keep it with him for later. When he needed it again.

“There’s so much to be done,” he said. “But I feel so jagged.”

“Then let’s do those things,” I said, trying to be sensible. “Maybe we do them later. After we pick up the kid. A few hours won’t make any difference.”