“What’s up?” I asked as Ben walked in.
He sat down opposite me, and I passed him a glass of water. I could tell from the expression on his face that he wanted to bring up a subject that I probably would have preferred to avoid. I hesitated a moment and then sighed.
“Whatever you came here to say, just say it already,” I said, glaring at him.
“We need to hire someone to replace Molly,” Ben said bluntly.
I sighed. “I know.”
“And yet you’ve done nothing about it,” he pressed. “I can start the process, but I need your go ahead to do that.”
“I know.”
He raised his eyebrows at me.
“We’re not going to find anyone who was as competent as Molly,” I said.
“I realize that,” he nodded. “Which is probably why you shouldn’t have chased her away.”
“She quit,” I reminded him.
“Because of you.”
“It doesn’t matter why she left,” I said. “What matters is finding someone who can do the job—and do it well.”
“What do you want me to do with Molly’s contract?” Ben asked.
“Oh…”
“Legally she can’t just leave like she did.”
“I’m not going to get into legalities, especially with Molly. She wanted to leave, and I’m not going to force her to come back because of that piece of paper.”
“How very gentlemanly of you,” he said, and I could detect the extreme sarcasm under his dry tone.
I rolled my eyes. “What’s my schedule look like for the rest of the evening?”
“The evening is over,” he pointed out. “It’s almost eight o’clock.”
“Fuck,” I said. “Seriously?”
“Yes,” he nodded. “You’ve had back-to-back meetings since five.”
“No wonder I feel so drained.”
“There was no reason you needed to have all those meetings today,” Ben reminded me. “You chose to.”
“I like to get my work done.”
“Or you desperately needed a distraction.”
“If I need a fucking shrink, Ben, I’ll get one,” I said. “I don’t need you analyzing me. Emma’s already got that covered.”
He smirked. “Speaking of Emma, she’s going to get pissy if you’re late.”
“Fuck, am I having dinner with her tonight?”
“Yes,” he nodded. “And you canceled the last two times, so I’d suggest you get going.”