Hard As Stone

by K. M. Scott

  I hesitated a moment before quietly saying, “I don’t know, Tressa. It might be awkward if I ran into your brother there.”

  Clearly, I wasn’t fine with what happened.

  “Oh, don’t worry. He’s out of the building at five sharp like a bat out of hell. He’s not exactly the workaholic type. So I’ll see you here at nine, okay?”

  I agreed and ended the call, still unsure what she could want from me but happy to escape my apartment, at least for a little while.

  An hour later, I stood in front of the Stone Worldwide building trying to imagine Ethan working there nine-to-five every day. Even though I hadn’t forgiven him for breaking my heart, I had to admit I pitied him. I knew people would kill for a job at Stone, but the reality was Ethan wasn’t one of them. Tressa’s comment about him being out of the building at five sharp every day told me he wasn’t happy here.

  Oddly enough, I didn’t like that. When we first broke up, I thought seeing him miserable would make me so happy. Now that I had a sense he might truly be unhappy, I didn’t like it as much as I thought I would.

  “Summer! Right on time. Great! Let’s go up to my office and talk,” Tressa called out as she held the glass door to the building open.

  I’d assumed we’d go somewhere else for coffee, but this was okay. I hurried over to join her, impressed with how stunning she looked in a black business suit and red blouse. She had executive written all over her.

  “I’m glad you agreed to come talk tonight,” she said as she ushered me into the building.

  “Well, you piqued my interest, so I figured why not?” I said as casually as possible, hoping I didn’t sound like I desperately hoped to hear about her brother. Which I didn’t. Sort of.

  We passed a big, burly security guard who gave us a big smile. “Working late, Miss Stone?”

  “Always, Mitch. You know me,” she said with a chuckle.

  Looking down, I admired Tressa’s four inch Louboutins. The woman wore wealth like a second skin. I couldn’t help but be intimidated for a moment, but then I reminded myself that she had called me.

  We rode up in the elevator to the twelfth floor making small talk about how she hoped spring would come early this year and how there hadn’t been too many bad snowfalls this winter. We sounded like ordinary people waiting in line at a deli or standing at a bus stop, which made me smile. Ethan had portrayed his sister as something akin to Cruella de Vil, so her friendliness had always surprised me.

  “My office is just down here. My brother’s is at the other end of the hallway. I think my father did that intentionally. Sometimes his sense of humor escapes me,” Tressa said with a hint of disgust.

  I looked down at the other end of the wide hallway to see a closed door and a darkened office. I knew I shouldn’t have hoped I’d see him since she’d made it clear that he left work already, but when she mentioned him now, I couldn’t help be disappointed.

  The last thing I wanted was for her to see that, though, so I forced a smile onto my face as I sat down in the chair she offered me in front of her desk. Whatever this was about, it certainly wasn’t about Ethan.

  “How do you take your coffee?” Tressa asked as she poured me a mug and handed it to me.

  “I’ll do black. I need to be on my toes for the trip back to Brooklyn at this time of night,” I said and placed the cup of coffee on the edge of her desk.

  She smiled and nodded. “I’m the same, except I have about four hours of work to do after this, so I need something to keep me going.” Raising her mug, she said, “To working hard.”

  Her impromptu toast felt particularly appropriate since I still hadn’t found a job, and I secretly hoped my efforts the next day would produce at least some opportunities. Taking a sip of the very strong coffee, I let it roll down my throat as I waited for her to explain why she wanted to see me.

  Tressa took a drink of her coffee, set the mug on her desk, and sat back in her chair. “Okay. I said I liked you because I thought you were a straight shooter, and I’m the same way, so let’s cut to the chase. Ethan’s miserable, hates his new job, and isn’t seeing anyone.”

  Her pronouncement stunned me for a moment, making my brain unable to form a coherent response. I truly hadn’t thought she wanted to see me to talk about her brother.

  When I finally could think clearly, I asked the obvious question. “Why are you telling me this?”

  “He seemed happy with you. I have to admit, I liked that. I don’t think I’d ever seen him like that with anyone,” she explained with a shrug.

  Although I had a momentary thought about telling the truth again and what might happen, I decided then and there I didn’t want to lie to her. “It was all a sham at first, I’m embarrassed to admit. He wanted to make you all think he’d settled down, and I agreed to help him. I want you to know I’m sorry for that, and after dinner with all of you that night out at your house, I told him I couldn’t do that to your parents anymore because they’d been too nice to me. It doesn’t absolve me of guilt for what I did in the beginning, but I just want you to know I refused to lie about things after that.”

  My face began to heat up as I continued with my confession, so by the time I finished, I was certain my cheeks were beet red. It felt good to get that off my chest, though.

  Instead of being upset or offended, Tressa laughed it all off. “I knew it. I called him on that in the kitchen that night. He denied it, of course, but I knew something wasn’t right. Typical Ethan.”

  Curious how she knew, I asked, “Was it that obvious? I hope your parents didn’t know. I’d feel terrible about that.”

  She waved off my concern. “Don’t worry. My parents adore Ethan. I swear they think he can do no wrong. My mother’s convinced he’s the next Michelangelo and my father’s convinced he’s the next CEO of the year. They bought it hook, line, and sinker because they’re blinded by parental love. I knew the whole thing was a sham, though. You were too good for him, and I knew it.”

  Too good for him? That felt utterly wrong as I sat there in my inexpensive clothes and shoes without red soles. Ethan was the son of a billionaire. Who was I?

  “You two did spend another month together after you laid down the law, so what happened?” she asked, tearing me out of my thoughts about how I could be too good for him.

  I lowered my head and quietly explained how it ended. “There was a text message he meant to send to another woman but mistakenly sent to me. When I confronted him about it, he wouldn’t tell me the truth. Then he just disappeared. He didn’t call anymore, and I’ve never seen him again. He’s obviously in love with someone else. You should probably be talking to her, to be honest.”

  “No way. My brother has not been involved with anyone. Ethan in love with someone else? Impossible. Who is this person? What’s her name?”

  “I don’t know,” I answered sadly as the horrible empty feeling of that night came rushing back again.

  I looked up to see Tressa shaking her head. “I don’t believe it. No way. I’d know about him with a woman and the two of them being in love. Trust me.”

  Suddenly, I felt horrible talking about this, and even worse, I felt petty too about how it all happened. “I know it probably sounds juvenile of me, but I tried to find out who she was. I took his phone, but my eyes were filled with tears, so I couldn’t see how many texts they’d sent back and forth. It was awful. I’m ashamed to tell you this, but it’s the truth. When I asked him about whoever she is, he wouldn’t admit a thing. He kept saying there was no one else, but I knew he was lying. I know it probably seems like I then derailed his career because I was hurt and trying to hurt him, but it wasn’t like that either. Everything just seemed to happen all at once. My boss found out about us being together, and because I was such a mess after finding out he was with someone else, I forgot myself and just told the truth. I swear I didn’t want him to get fired.”

  Looking down at my hands, I couldn’t face Tressa at that moment. I sounded sad and pathetic.
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  When she spoke after listening to my explanation, she didn’t seem bothered by any of it. “Let me lay my cards on the table. Ethan is unhappy at Stone Worldwide, like a fish out of water. He hates it here, and I don’t want him here. Not to put too fine a point on it, but I’ve worked very hard for too long to play second fiddle to my brother simply because my father has some fantasy that his only son will take over the family business. He has me for that. Let Ethan go back to his photography or whatever else those artistic types do. But my father will need to be convinced. I have a plan in mind, and part of that involves you. You lost your job at Belle Magazine, right?”

  My amazement quickly turned to shame. “I did, but I’m looking for another job every day. It’s just that my former boss has been so kind to tell everyone in the five boroughs that they shouldn’t hire me.”

  “Well, she doesn’t tell me how to run my business, and I need an assistant. I’ll pay you well, but your main job is to get back with my brother and convince him to start taking pictures again. What do you say?”

  Overwhelmed, I wasn’t sure what to say. Then the reality of my finances rose up in my mind. “I’m about to lose my apartment, and it doesn’t really matter because I can’t afford to live in Brooklyn. Hip neighborhoods cost too much when you’re unemployed, so I don’t know if I can help you since I’ll probably have to move back to my parents’ house in Pennsylvania. I appreciate the offer, but I don’t have any savings left, so even if you started paying me tomorrow, I wouldn’t have enough to pay for a place to live.”

  None of my sad sack story seemed to faze her in the least. “Leave that to me. Stone Worldwide has an entire hotel division, and I have rooms I use when I’m too tired to drive out to the house. You can use one of those for as long as you need to. Call it a perk of the job.”

  Even as my spirits buoyed from her offer, another thought came to me. “I don’t know if repeating the same mistake as last time is a good idea. Maybe that’s why Ethan and I didn’t work out. I mean, we didn’t begin on the most honest footing. I don’t see things being any better this second time if I’m not being true about things.”

  Leaning forward, she leveled her gaze on me. “Do you care about him, Summer?” she asked pointedly, making me feel like I couldn’t lie to her.

  “Yes. But what about the other woman? Nothing’s changed there.”

  “Don’t worry about that. You care for him, and I think he cares for you. My brother and I don’t always get along, but I don’t enjoy seeing him unhappy. I can tell you I’ve never seen him happier than when he was with you. Right now, he’s miserable, and I don’t think it’s just because he has to work in a job he hates. I think he misses you. Since you clearly miss him, I’m giving you a chance to see if things can work out between you two.”

  I didn’t know if Tressa Stone was the best sister in the world or the worst. Was she caring or diabolical? Either way, she offered me something I couldn’t say no to.

  “Okay, but it feels wrong having the romance be a part of this. I can’t promise that. I will do my best to get him back to doing what he loves, though.”

  Tressa smiled. “Perfect. How soon can you start?”

  “The day after tomorrow?”

  “Great! You can begin staying at your new hotel room tonight, if you don’t want to travel back to Brooklyn. Or I can have the car service take you back to your place.”

  I sat there stunned at her offer. “Really? That’s more than generous of you.”

  “You’re my assistant now. You’ll find that comes with a lot of perks, so get used to it.”

  “Okay. Would it be too much to ask to have the car take me to Brooklyn tonight to get my things and then stay at the hotel tonight? It would give me a chance to settle in before I start work the day after tomorrow.”

  “Perfect. Just stop over tomorrow and go to HR to fill out all the paperwork. That way we can hit the ground running on your first day.”

  My mind raced with questions. How I would ever get Ethan to even want to speak to me after what had happened to his life? No doubt he blamed me for losing his job at Belle. More importantly, would I be able to be around Ethan without falling in love with him all over again?

  Then I realized I didn’t even know the answer to the most pressing question. Smiling to hide my embarrassment, I asked Tressa, “I’m sorry that I don’t know this, but what do you do here that I’ll be assisting with or even pretending to assist with?”

  Proudly, she explained, “I’m the VP of Operations at Stone Worldwide. I’d say it’s quite a step up from your last job as assistant to the editor of a magazine, wouldn’t you?”

  My stomach did a little flip at what I’d gotten myself into. I knew nothing of what Tressa did or what anyone at Stone Worldwide did, for that matter. All I knew was I wouldn’t be living with Amber and Elise anymore, and my main job as Tressa’s assistant was to get Ethan back to photography.

  It all sounded like a win-win.

  Chapter Twelve

  Ethan

  Still half asleep at the ungodly hour of nearly nine in the morning, I sat my ass down in my chair behind my desk and closed my eyes. I still had a few minutes before someone from the ad division could want something from me, thank God. The idea that anyone should be up at this time of day and actually productive felt counterintuitive, to say the least. If it wasn’t for the largest coffee available on the planet from that coffee shop a block away from the building, there would be no way I’d be able to pretend to be human this early in the morning.

  The monitor on the far wall of my office made its all too familiar noise, and I looked up to see my father’s smiling face on the screen. Instantly, I thought to myself that whoever merged the idea of the phone and the TV should be dragged through the streets and beaten senseless.

  “Good morning, Ethan. How’s it going today?” he asked, his smile growing broader by the moment.

  “Everything’s good here, Dad. Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and all that,” I said, trying to be funny.

  “Good. I’d like you to come up to my office. Your sister has an announcement, so I told her I’d bring you in on it too.”

  I scrubbed the last precious remnants of sleep out of my head and nodded as I worked to focus on the screen. “Okay. I’ll be right up. Any idea what this announcement is about?”

  My father shook his head. “No idea. She just asked that I involve you in the meeting. It won’t take you away from the office for long.”

  He had no idea how long I wished I could be taken away from this office. How did forever sound?

  “Great. I’ll be right up.”

  Two giant gulps of coffee later, I headed toward the elevator. I downed the last of the giant cup of caffeine on the way up to the executive suite on the thirty-fifth floor. By the time the elevator doors opened, I felt like some semblance of being human begin to come over me.

  Stepping out onto the black marble floor, I remembered the times my mother would bring my sisters and me to see my father at his office back when we were little kids. I used to love staring down at the floor and seeing my reflection looking back at me from the shiny black stone. It made me think my father did something magical for him to have floors like this at his work.

  As I slowly walked across it now, I looked down at my reflection, but there was nothing magical in what I saw. Just the vague outlines of grown man being summoned to the boss’s office for some announcement he most likely wouldn’t give a damn about.

  My father’s assistant, a middle-aged woman named Brenda, smiled at me as I approached her desk. Why was everyone on this floor so damn happy at the crack of dawn? Did they pump happy gas into the executive suite each morning?

  “Good morning, Ethan. Your father’s in his office waiting for you. Tressa and her assistant are already in there with him,” Brenda said in her strangely somber voice that didn’t match her happy expression.

  I nodded as I had a flashback to the day she started working for him after his previous
assistant Michelle left. I’d never heard such a low voice from a woman, and when she bent down to say hi to me, I ran away. That deep voice of hers never fit with how pleasant she always appeared.

  “Thanks, Brenda.”

  Opening the double doors to my father’s office, I had the overwhelming urge to announce, “Here’s Johnny!” but neither my father nor my sister would enjoy that reference, and my humor would be met with irritated stares from the two of them. Tressa’s assistant, a very serious guy whose name I could never remember—Floyd, Boyd, something that sounded like that—definitely wouldn’t enjoy it either. So instead, I simply walked in and closed the door.

  “So Tressa, what’s this announcement?” I asked as I turned around and nearly fell back against the wall in shock.

  My sister stood beside my father’s desk grinning like a fucking Cheshire cat with the last person in the world I expected to see that morning. What the fuck was Summer doing in my father’s office standing next to my sister dressed like everyone else who worked at this place?

  No. Please, no.

  I locked eyes with Tressa and silently begged her not to do this. I had no idea what she was up to, but it wasn’t good. We’d never had the kind of connection I had with Diana, but for once in our lives, I prayed to God she understood what I was feeling at that moment.

  Please tell me you’re not expecting me to work with her. Isn’t it bad enough that I’m here at all? Didn’t we just talk about me getting out of here yesterday, and today you bring her here? Why?

  All of these thoughts rushed through my brain as I tried unsuccessfully to telegraph my feelings to my sister. But it was no use. She didn’t sense how miserable just seeing Summer made me.

  Or she didn’t care. My sister, the sadist.

  “Ethan, you remember Summer, don’t you? She’s my new assistant. Anything you need, please see her and she’ll take care of it.”

  I kept my focus on Tressa, not wanting to move my gaze a millimeter and make eye contact with Summer. “Okay. If I have anything I need from you, Tressa, I’ll deal with your assistant,” I said flatly, struggling to keep my emotions out of my voice.