Chapter 23

Nan’s POV

Speak of the devil and she shall appear.

That wasn’t the most charitable of thought to have about seeing an old friend. But I figured I was justified after the way our friendship imploded. Her entitled attitude at the amusement park did not improve my mood at seeing her.

But I always tried to be the bigger person. It was my own fault for not paying attention. This time, at least.

“Eillen…sorry, I was not paying attention to where I was going.” I apologized. Hopefully that would put off any incoming temper tantrum.

But then the impossible happened. Instead of losing her cool, Eillen only smiles. “That’s okay, accidents happen.”

I stared at her. What? That was a complete change the angry, hateful woman I had encountered last time.

Eillen must notice my surprise. “I know, I was a total bitch to you last time. You must be confused.”

Reluctantly, I replied. “Just a little. Last time we spoke, you made your opinion of me quite…obvious.”

Eillen grimaces. I tense, ready for the screeching. But once again, she does something unexpected.

“Nan, I want to apologize for how I’ve acted towards you. The way things happened between us…it shouldn’t have happened. I should have been a good friend to you.”

Eillen takes a brief pause to gather her thoughts. I am struck silent. A little hysterically, I think to myself, ‘Have I entered a parallel universe?’

“But I wasn’t. I know I can’t make that up to you. And to my shame, when I saw you at the amusement park, I verbally lashed out instead of apologizing.”

Eillen grabs one of my hands and squeezes gently. I fight the urge to yank my hand away. Her green eyes stare into my eyes as she continues her little speech.

“Nan, I am so sorry for everything. I know we will probably never be friends again. But please, let’s try to get along civilly as colleagues.”

This breaks my silence. “Colleagues?! You work here?”

Eillen smiles sweetly. “Starting today I am officially on the team. I’ll be helping with last-minute preparations.”

I feel a cold sweat break out. Working with Eillen? This must be my divine punishment for neglecting my girls.

“So, what do you say? Do you think we can put things in the past at work?” Her face is hopeful.

I absolutely do not trust it. If there was anything I had learned about Eillen, it was that she was extremely untrustworthy. She was the viper in the tall grass.

On the other hand, Lionel had scared her last time. Maybe Eillen had actually gained some sense. I wouldn’t want to be on Lionel’s bad side either.

Truthfully, I did not have the energy to fight with Eillen. Plus it was my last week, so I would not be seeing her after that. I was never gladder to be taking a break from work.

I smiled half-heartedly. “Sure, Eillen. We can do that.”

Her face brightened. She then invited herself further into my office. I tried not to groan.

“So, who was the hot guy you were with last time? Did I hear right that your kid called him Daddy? Oh, please, do tell.”

I knew I would regret this. But I would rather control the narrative than let her spread her own stories. I began to tell my tale.

From the perverted old boss to Lionel’s heroic rescue of me. And our discovery of the girl’s parentage. How Lionel and I co-parented and existed together everyday,

I knew how I sounded. I must have been gushing over Lionel. But I found I could not stop.

It was like the words were breaking free from me. All the adoration and longing I tried to push down, escaping out of my mouth. I needed to tell someone to be free of this, to be heard.

I knew I could not trust Eillen. I could see it from the calculating glint in her poisonous green eyes. But really, what damage could it do to speak of Lionel?

My feelings would be obvious to any wolf’s sense no matter how hard I tried to hide them. And I was tired of hiding them. And some small part of me missed this.

I missed being able to gossip with my friends. I had not had any friends in a long time. Attraction aside, Lionel had also become the first friend I had in a while.

Eventually my words ran dry. I sat there quietly. Feeling unburdened.

Eillen observed me without a word. I was grateful for that small mercy. I did not want any of her false sincerity to ruin the moment for me.

She finally spoke. “Well, it sounds like you’ve been through a lot of changes recently. I’m glad that it sounds like you’re doing better.”

I doubted that but held my tongue. “Thank you. I am doing better.”

“And from the sounds of it, Alpha Lionel is a real charmer. I’m sure you four will make a happy little family.” Her tone was overly sweet. Something about it raised my hackles.

I regretted telling her my story. The only thing I had not mentioned was the contract. I was not stupid enough to give her that ammunition against me.

Unknowingly, she had poked at one of my emotional sore spots. Because she was wrong. Once the contract was up, there would be no happy family.

Just me, alone and friendless once more. Without my daughter or Vera. Without Lionel…

The idea of it threatened to make the pain in my chest flare once more. Like it always did when I thought about leaving. I began to brace myself for it.

And then my phone chimed with a familiar notification sound. His sound. Eillen’s presence and words slide out of my thoughts like water off of a duck.

My attention was dedicated to my phone. My thoughts chanted Lionel, Lionel, Lionel…My eager fingers swiped to view his message.

From Lionel

Nan, I know you’ve been busy. But the girls and I have been pretty lonely lately. Tonight, I am picking you up from work, and I have a surprise for you.

‘I have been pretty lonely…’ My mind filled in the implied ‘without you’ at the end of the sentence. He must have been telling me; ‘I miss you.’

There was no way I could have been misinterpreting him. No when his words are so clear. Lionel is not a subtle man.

I bite back a smile All too aware of Eillen’s sharp attention on me. My fingers hovered uncertainly above the screen.

A loud noise exploded outside. It jerked me out of my thoughts. I stood from my chair and walked over to the door.

The volume got louder as I poked my head out. One of the caterers appeared to be arguing with one of my team members. The arguing got worse as both people grew more agitated.

It looked like someone was one step away from quitting. Or violence. I glanced at Eillen.

I did not trust Eillen. Not after everything. But at the same time, I could not leave the bride’s belongings unattended when the storage manager had not arrived.

Glancing between Eillen and the worsening argument, I made a snap decision. There was only one week left. I could not let anything ruin all my hard work.

“Eillen, I’m going to go figure out what’s wrong. Can you keep any eye on the bride’s belonging?” I asked.

“Of course! I will not move an inch until the storage manager arrives. I know our supervisor mentioned how stressed the bride was about her family necklace.”

I nodded. I knew the entire team had been made aware of this because of how difficult the bride had been in trusting us with her heirloom. Nobody wanted to mess this up.

“I got this, Nan. You go ahead.” She waved me off encouragingly.

If I had been focused, I might have thought twice about leaving her alone in my office. But my mind was on the task at hand. And on how to reply to Lionel’s text.

But I was still flustered by Lionel, and the sudden commotion. So, I hurried over to the growing crowd. “Everyone, let’s calm down and explain the situation.”

If I had turned, I might have seen Eillen’s smile turn into an evil little smirk.