Except when people like Irwin, who’d known her father, brought it up.
“I actually passed our old apartment on the way over,” she found herself saying. That was a sore spot too. That apartment had been her home, the one she’d shared with her parents, where she’d grown up. “I just can’t believe my dad up and left the city like that.”
The apartment, where all her greatest moments had happened, belonged to someone else. Vermont had swallowed her father whole, as if the Wall Street tycoon who’d been married to her mother had never existed.
What was wrong with her? Nate had done a number on her, for sure, but that was no reason to dump all of her angst on an old friend. “I’m sorry. You did not come here to listen to me reminisce.”
“The city is your passion. You take after your mother, and it’s that passion that helped you build a great business. But…” Irwin leaned forward, a sure tell that he had gotten to the part where he planned to explain why he’d come by today. “You can do better. In fact, with the merger complete, I want you to run the new real estate arm of my banking interests.”
Fiona blinked. As revelations went, that was a doozy. Obviously someone was trying to get her out of the game. Otherwise, why would he assume she was looking for a change? “I’m honored, but my business is great as it is. I’m my own boss. Why would I want to change that?”
“Because you’ve got a problem,” Irwin informed her blithely, hands outstretched as he laid down that provocative statement.
She couldn’t not play along, mostly because she had to hear what he’d say next. “Oh, I do?”
“Yeah, there’s only one of you. Could you imagine what you might do with a staff of ten? Or a hundred?” He pointed out the window where thousands of properties lay waiting for her special blend of skill and desire to match the right place with the right buyer. “You can craft the Manhattan skyline like it’s your own set of Tinkertoys.”
Intriguing. Her mind spun off in a hundred directions as she instantly sifted through the possibilities of what this offer entailed. She could build an empire, follow in Barbara Corcoran’s footsteps. Maybe even get her own TV show one day. If nothing else, she’d have partners in this business she could trust, who could take some of the load off for when Fiona needed personal time.
Maybe she could even get Nate back. That dangerous thought wouldn’t stop swirling through the middle of everything.
Then reality woke her up in a hurry. Commercial real estate had a completely different set of rules, of pitfalls and challenges. Could she do it? Of course. It might even be fun to see if she could dominate that arena as she had residential property. However, it would be a giant increase in responsibility, not to mention adding hours upon hours to her already busy work week.
But what else did she have to do with her time? Nothing. Maybe destiny had handed her this opportunity to make up for the Nate-sized void in her life. Or a potential way to eventually show him that she’d made changes he might appreciate.
Apparently sensing her indecision, Irwin climbed to his feet. “Okay. Just think about it. But not for too long.”
As Irwin grabbed his coat to show himself out of her office, Fiona nodded, her mind still whirling with this unexpected decision. Fate had a funny sense of humor. If this had happened two days ago, she’d call Nate immediately to hash out the pros and cons. That was why she’d fallen for him, after all. He had a sharp, strategic mind and he’d always listened to her with this intense focus, then offered his opinion with concise, well-thought-out reasoning.
Well, not anymore. Now she’d make her own decisions based solely on what was good for Fiona Rangely.
Brunch had not been a good decision.
Fiona stared at the exposed brick next to the tiny table Angela had grabbed near the window and reeled back the emotion that seemed to always be so close to the surface these days. The coffee didn’t taste right and she couldn’t stomach the thought of eating. Normally, she loved people-watching, but every person strolling down the sidewalk outside had a mate. Two by two, they laughed at each other’s jokes as they walked, joined at the hip as if they couldn’t bear to be separated.
It was nauseating.
Shifting her attention back to Ang, she shook her head. “I shouldn’t have come. I’m not brunch-ready yet.”
Angela, who had dressed to the nines for the occasion in a gorgeous navy blue sweater set, set down her coffee cup. “Oh, sure you are. You have been working non-stop for, what’s it been now, three weeks?”
“Since Nate?” Rhetorical question. Of course that was what she meant. Lately Fiona had categorized everything as Before Nate and After Nate, a practice Angela didn’t like. “Oh, twenty-two days and thirteen hours, but I mean, who’s counting?”
Ang raised her brows, a sure sign she had a smart-aleck comeback all lined up. “So glad you’re not obsessing.” But then she rolled her eyes and smoothed back her red curls without mussing her style. “You remind me of this patient I have. Every session, he obsesses about his cat.”
Nice. So now Fiona’s heartbreak had been lumped into the same category as cat obsessions. “Isn’t there something called patient confidentiality?”
“Don’t be boring. And don’t block your feelings,” Ang threw in.
She’d been saying that every chance she had, which Fiona didn’t get. It was starting to become annoying, honestly. She had a broken heart here. What else was there to unblock? Did Ang want her to bleed? Cry? What?
“I just can’t believe that he dumped me,” she mumbled, which wasn’t even half of it. “If only I could pay to have my feelings go away.”
“How do you think I paid for my condo?” Ang said slyly.
If only taking Ang up on her subtle offer to help would work. It wouldn’t. Nate hadn’t called. Hadn’t stopped by. Hadn’t given Fiona the slightest indication he even noticed the void in his life where his girlfriend used to be. Maybe he didn’t miss her at all, which if true, would be just devastating.
Had she been ignoring his needs that much?
If he thought that, maybe he was punishing her for it. Making her feel lonely and abandoned like he’d said he had felt, until he decided she’d had enough and that’s when he’d come back. That was kind of mean, if so.
“Never mind,” Ang continued, “you know what your problem is? You never slow down long enough for you to actually have feelings.”
Fiona’s phone vibrated with the special pattern she used for Andy. Perfect time to segue out of this uncomfortable conversation into something that made sense—real estate. “Hold that thought.”
Ang pulled the phone from her hand. “My point exactly.”
Without the phone as a distraction, memories got the best of her, and this was no exception. “Nate used to love this place. He would get the Reuben on rye. It was his favorite.”
“Fiona.” Ang’s calm voice cut through the scene playing out in her head. The moment Fiona focused on her, she said,
