“You work too hard, Ellie. What fun is that?” Alex pulled the tab on her pop and took a drink.
Ellie watched her but said nothing.
Alex wiped her mouth. “You know what they say, ‘All work, no play makes Ellie a dull girl.’”
Ellie knew there was truth in what Alex said. Not only that, but Ellie’s hard work hadn’t exactly paid off. She pushed the thought away, not allowing it to spoil her day. “You and Jax seem to be having a good time.”
Alex lifted a haughty smile. “And why not? We’re practically engaged.”
“Oh?”
“Well, not officially, but I’m sure he’ll pop the question soon.”
Ellie knew Jax pretty well and didn’t think he was quite ready for that step. In her own spoiled way, Alex seemed to contribute more to the relationship than Jax.
The rest of the day passed as quickly as the gentle breeze. Weary, but happily so, they finally settled into the car as Jax headed the car toward home.
“It’s been a great day, Jax. Thanks for driving,” Cole said from the backseat. Everyone agreed.
Cole looked at Ellie. “I had a great time with you, too.” Before she could linger in the sudden warmth that sprang up at his words, he added, “Oh, by the way, we need to go over the list of contractors next week. Deleting a few, adding some others.”
The impact of his words hit her with full force. “Deleting?”
“Yeah, I’m letting some go.”
“Why?” She knew the answer before she asked. There were a couple of men who always showed up late. But did Cole realize these men had legitimate excuses? One had to drop off his children at the daycare, another had to wait until his wife got home from work to pass off their only car. He came in usually twenty minutes late. She could live with that. After all, he didn’t get paid for the time he wasn’t there. Didn’t Cole have any compassion at all?
“Let me just say I have my reasons.”
Oh, fine, he didn’t feel he owed her an explanation. He was, after all, her supervisor. Who was she kidding? Coleman Preston infuriated her. If she’d been a dragon, she’d have turned him to toast. “I’m sure you do.” She scooted herself farther away from him and closer to the door, turning her gaze out the window.
The man was insufferable.
Cole had been out of the office most of the day on Monday. Ellie assumed he was dealing with the contractors. She had to let it go.
On Tuesday morning, she sat at her desk and pulled open the first file needing her attention.
“Ellie, do you have a minute?”
Swiveling her chair around, she saw Cole standing in front of her. “Yes.”
He pulled up a chair. “I just wanted to let you know the Wilsons called last night. Mrs. Wilson wanted to check on a couple of wall measurements for furniture placement or something. Anyway, you were gone and the matter seemed urgent to them, so I met them at the house last night.”
Ellie felt her defenses going up. She tried to stay calm. After all, he’d done her a favor. She should be grateful.
“Thank you,” she managed to say with some effort.
“They’re nice people. Had a good visit with them. We started talking about carpeting, and well, I laid carpet when I was in high school and told them a little about what I know. They asked me if I could help them pick the carpet for their home.”
Is there anything he hasn’t done? Anger scorched the pit of her stomach. “Cole, I’m supposed to help them do that.”
“Yeah, I know, that’s why I’m telling you. I figured you wouldn’t care since we all want what’s best for the customer, right?”
“Are you what’s best for the customer?” She kept her voice low and controlled, though inside her emotions ran rampant. He had gone too far. He might be her boss, but they were her customers. She knew she didn’t trust him for a reason.
“Look, I know a little about carpeting, that’s all. What’s your problem, anyway?”
She took a deep breath and rubbed her forehead. There had to be another way of dealing with this besides acting like a crazy woman. She needed to prove herself. Show Jax he had made a mistake in hiring Cole. She thought she had already proven herself; what more could she do?
“Ellie?”
She looked at him.
“I thought we had settled this whole thing between us. What’s the deal?”
“The deal is I would appreciate you letting me handle my own clients, Cole. I don’t think that’s too much to ask.”
“You know I didn’t mean to get in the way, it just sort of happened.”
Yeah, like you getting in the way of my partnership offer, she wanted to say, but for once, she held her tongue. She glanced at her watch. “I have to go.”
His eyebrows lifted.
“If it’s all right with you, I have an appointment to talk to a couple about building a house.” She lifted her chin, refusing to blink her eyes.
He bowed, stepped aside and made a grand sweeping gesture with his hand.
They would discuss the matter again.
He could be sure of that.
That evening, Ellie sat on the couch in the living room at her parents’ home. She tried to look through a magazine, but felt too restless to enjoy it. Giving up, she plunked it back on the coffee table.
Ellie looked up to see her dad watching her.
“Want to talk about it?”
“Dad, I can’t help it. Cole makes me so mad I can’t think straight.”
“Come on, Sunshine, you really think he’s trying to steal your clients?”
She didn’t want him to call her by that name just now. It didn’t fit. “Well, I told you what he did. What do you think?”
“Could it be he really was just trying to help?”
“Oh, I don’t know what to think anymore. I feel like I’m the only one who can see through him.”
“Is that how it is?”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re the only one who can see this matter clearly?”
She realized how ridiculous she sounded. A long exhale escaped her.
Her mom entered the room with a tray of drinks. “I understand how she’s feeling, really.”
Ellie grabbed her drink from the tray. “Thanks, Mom.”
“No, I mean it.” She offered Ellie’s dad his drink and settled into her seat with her own. “He did seem to overstep his bounds with her clients.”
Her dad took a drink of his pop. “Men don’t think that way. I see it as him trying to help. You know we’ve tried to teach you to look for the best in people. Have you done that with Cole?”
Her dad always knew how to go straight to the source of the problem and pluck the truth right out. His eyes searched hers. She kept silent.
“Something to think about.”
“What am I supposed to do, let him take over my clients while I sit and do nothing?”
“Why not go along?” With a straw, her mother stirred her ice cubes, causing them to rattle against the glass.
“Great