“Then just listen to me. I'm going to tell you a story then, and we'll see whether it helps or not, okay?”
Annoyed now, Caroline threw her hands in the air and said, “Sure. Why not?”
Ignoring her snide remark, Veronica spoke. “A few years before I worked with Magnus, there was a woman that worked at the restaurant. Smart. Talented. Totally shitty as a leader. She was rude, argumentative, and didn't really inspire anyone to want to follow her. So she gets passed over for a few promotions, rightly so. Then she makes a huge scene in the middle of Saturday night dinner service and just walks out in the middle of a shift. It was so bad that when someone disagreed with Magnus on the line when I first started, everyone else would accuse them of pulling a Kathleen. It was Kathleen Church. That's the woman who you spoke to. She thought Magnus was a misogynist and that's why she never got a promotion. She ended up at some crappy doughnut shop and took the blame out on him.”
“Wait, so this was over ten years ago. You're telling me Kathleen held a grudge for this long and took it out on him by trashing me? That's completely insane.”
Veronica nodded. “Absolutely. And you'd already know that if you had asked him.”
Caroline held up a hand. “When a reporter offers you recordings, I'd consider that empirical evidence. I didn't ask for them because I couldn't bear to hear him say any of what was written.”
Again, Veronica said, “You'd already know the truth if you would have asked him.”
“Not that this is any of your damn business,” Caroline explained, working up to some real anger, “but I've been being trashed by people that were supposed to love me my whole life. So you'll pardon if I wanted to skip hearing it from the only man I've ever loved. I won't let you make me feel bad about that. I wasn't being a bitch. I was protecting myself for once.”
Veronica held up her hands in surrender. “That's between you and Magnus. For the love of God, talk to him.”
As Veronica turned to leave, Caroline felt the regret swamp her. “It was all lies?”
“'Fraid so, Caroline.”
Caroline watched as she walked away. A sick feeling in her gut, she dropped her chin against her chest. “Shit. Shit. Shit!”
****
Her hands shaking, she pushed through the swinging door of the kitchen. She'd waited in her office until she'd seen most of the staff go home. She took a look around to confirm Magnus was alone. Veronica was right. He looked so sad and she'd done that to him. It left a pit in her stomach.
“Magnus,” she said, tentatively.
“What?”
“I wondered if you had a minute to talk?” she asked.
The way that his body stiffened didn't bode very well for her. “Now you want to talk,” he asked, not even looking up from his task. “Shall I just drop what I'm doing now that you're ready?”
“I'll wait until you're done.” She chewed her lip nervously, watching him go through a range of emotions.
His hands kept working, but he was silent for so long that she was about to give up when he finally spoke. “Spoiler alert. I'm going to keep working until you leave.”
Her heart sank. “I'm sorry,” she said quietly.
“I don't care,” he said, looking up at her for the first time. His tone of voice was so cold. So monotone. It was like he'd completely shut down on her. And it was entirely her fault. That was the part that really stung.
So, she played the only card she had left. “Easy Mac.”
Magnus tossed the knife down and turned to fully face her. “What do you want from me? I've given you everything I have, Caroline. I don't have anything left!”
Her eyes filled with tears, but she blinked them back. “I'm sorry I hurt you. I'm sorry I didn't let you explain. That's all I wanted to say.”
When he stared blankly but said nothing, she gave him a sad smile and then turned to leave. She wiped at the first stupid tear drop as it hit her cheek. She just needed to make it outside and she'd have a good cry in her car. Every single step hurt but she couldn't make him listen. No matter how much she wanted him to, she couldn't make him care. Her tears began to flow, unchecked.
She was a few feet from the door when Magnus called out to her. “Goddammit. Stop. Don't go.”
Tears streaming down her face, she turned around to face him. “I'm so sorry. I didn't realize you knew her. I didn't know the history.”
“Veronica talked to you?” he asked.
“Yeah. I didn't really believe the article at first. There were pieces of you in it, but some of it didn't sound like you at all. Not the you that I knew. I was going to talk to you after work about it but I ended up talking to her first. She offered to let me listen to the recordings. There was no way I could have listened to it, so I took her at her word. Journalistic integrity and all of that.”