“I thought it was the right thing to do.”
“Well, it wasn’t. Now I’ll have to act like nothing’s wrong when everything’s wrong.” Her cell phone dinged, indicating she had a text message, and she pulled her phone out of her jeans pocket to check who it was from.
Flynn.
Where are you? We’re gonna start loading up soon and head for the airport.
Tears pricked the corners of her eyes, and she blinked them away as she started to type in her response.
Another message came over as she typed.
I’m dying to see you.
Oh. God. She didn’t think she could take this.
I’m talking to Harvey, she typed. Give us a few.
No prob was Flynn’s response. Then he added a smiley face.
Kill me now, she thought.
She shoved her phone back in her pocket. “Are we through here?”
“Yeah.” Harvey hung his head for a moment and let out a heaving sigh before he glanced back up at her. “I shouldn’t have told you.”
“You’re damn right you shouldn’t have,” she agreed.
“I thought it might help you to see what a great position he’s in. Truly. He can’t get anywhere as a Hawk. He’s always in Quinn’s shadow, and he’s wasting his time. He deserves to further his career, and being a Hawk isn’t going to do it,” Harvey explained.
What Harvey said…made sense. But it still hurt that he’d dumped this information on her.
“It’s only for a few weeks,” he continued. “We’re flying home tonight. You’ll be too tired to talk to him when you get off the plane, so go straight home. The next few weeks, you’ll be so busy at work, he won’t get a chance to see you,” Harvey suggested. “And he’s going to be just as busy. Don’t worry about it. You’ll get through this.”
Easy for him to say.
“And you know what else?”
“What?” she asked warily. “You’ve got something else up your sleeve to send me reeling?”
“The promotion is as good as yours. You’ve been a champ at handling this entire situation. The public is convinced you and Foley have a solid relationship. Hell, I think Foley is convinced you two have a solid relationship. So, good job.” He went to pat her on the back, but she jerked away from his touch, anger flowing through her veins and boiling her blood.
She should be happy. Thrilled. Instead she felt awful. She was getting a promotion, but she was losing Flynn. And she had “earned” the promotion by deceiving everyone, including Flynn.
Yay?
The facts needed to be faced. What started out as a lie had turned into something more. She was falling in love. With Flynn Foley. It might’ve happened kind of quick, but there was no denying her feelings.
“That’s…wonderful, Harvey,” she said, her voice weak, her thoughts scattered. She couldn’t focus on the promotion, not when Flynn was about to learn about his trade. “Thank you for letting me know.”
Harvey squinted at her. “You okay?”
Nodding, she pasted on a smile. “I’m fabulous, Harvey. Just great. Can we discuss the details regarding the promotion later? I suddenly have a headache.”
“Sure.”
You can do this, she told herself as she left Harvey without another word and started toward the locker room. Flynn would understand when she told him she had to work. He’d be busy, too. It’s natural that the two of them wouldn’t spend much time together over the next
few weeks. Heck, tonight she could beg off seeing Flynn by claiming she was tired, which she was. And he probably was, too.