Page 22 of Help Wanted

Chapter 5

Putting Kenley in her place wasn’t nearly as much fun as he thought it would be. She didn’t understand the hostility he had bottled up for the last ten plus years. The resentment. How could she understand? She hadn’t been the one who’d broken his heart.

As much as he tried to remember that, seeing her made him bitter.

He’d hurt her feelings, and for what reason? Because she was attempting to make his business more profitable? Christ. That was her job.

“Damn it,” he muttered as his cell phone rang. Sidney. Just great.

“What the hell is your problem?” she yelled as soon as he said hello.

“So she goes crying to you because I didn’t like her idea?” It was a weak defense at best.

“I called her to check in, and I could tell she was upset. She didn’t cry, but it sounded like she was probably pretty close to it.”

The personal call he’d scolded her about would have been Sidney. Shit. He’d really made a mess.

“I didn’t mean to upset her.” He tried to defuse the situation.

“The hell you didn’t. You didn’t want to hire her, even though she was the best candidate. She’s obviously proving that to be true, and you don’t want to hear it.”

He deserved this and more. He had acted like a child. A bratty, selfish child.

“I’ll apologize,” he offered. He’d pretty much come to this conclusion before his sister had yelled at him.

“Why didn’t you like her idea? She told me about it and I thought it sounded great. You could work on things on the road so you wouldn’t be bogged down with paperwork when you came to the office. Who likes to have a mound of paperwork waiting for them?”

“I just—”

“You just didn’t want to like her idea so you came up with a lame reason to reject it. Simple-minded idiots do that, Zane. Are you a simple-minded idiot?”

“Not normally. I think I’m more a run-of-the-mill asshole right now.”

“You know what I think?”

“I can’t wait to find out,” he muttered, away from the phone so she couldn’t hear.

“I think you are being mean to this girl on purpose to make yourself feel big and bad because she intimidates you. That’s not fair. You were a shy kid in high school. I remember how much you struggled to fit in. But go look the hell in the mirror. You’re an adult now. A successful one. Your lack of confidence is not Kenley’s fault. Don’t punish her for something she didn’t do. Besides, it was a long-ass time ago, so get over it already. I don’t think your new niece would be very proud of you right now, Uncle Zane.”

“Ah, hell.” He hung his head. His sister knew just where to hit him. The kid wasn’t even born yet, and she was already being used as leverage against him. “Fine, I said I would apologize.”

“You should take her out for lunch.”

“I—okay. I will.”

“The next time I call this girl to check in she’d better tell me it’s the greatest damn place to work or I’m coming in there.”

“Yes. Got it. Bye.” He hung up and looked over the changes Kenley had made to their system with an open mind. It was pretty nice. With a big sigh, he went out to Kenley’s desk.

She glanced up, but didn’t make eye contact.

“Why don’t we go get some lunch?” he suggested, hoping it sounded casual.

“Should I take my things?” God, she was killing him.

“No. You’ll be coming back. Or at least I hope you will.”

She looked a little more relieved as she got in her drawer to retrieve her purse. She still wouldn’t look at him, but that was fine. He needed a few moments to prepare himself for the big serving of crow he was going to have to choke down.