with wanting to make your father proud,’ she said gently.
He shook his head. ‘I don’t know where that came from.’
She smiled, wondering if he realised how much of a man he was being. ‘You were being honest with yourself.’
He angled his head, didn’t meet her eyes, and she realised he didn’t enjoy being honest with himself. Which, if she knew him well enough to guess, meant that he had halted any thoughts that would continue along those lines.
‘Blake, was your dad upset when your mom left?’
He looked up at her in surprise. ‘Of course he was. But I don’t see what that has to do with anything.’
Of course you don’t.
‘So they’d had a good relationship?’
‘I don’t know.’ He shrugged. ‘My dad always used to say they were partners—so, yeah, I guess so.’
‘Do you know why she left?’ Callie didn’t want to ask, but she knew that the answer would help her put the final piece into place. And help Blake to do the same.
‘Callie—’
‘Blake, please...’ she said, seeing the resistance in his eyes. ‘I want to understand.’
Especially because I still feel raw from telling you about my parents.
‘My father said she didn’t want us any more.’
He clenched his teeth, and Callie resisted the urge to loosen the fist his hand had curled into.
‘That she’d left us for someone else.’
She felt her heart break for the little boy who had heard those words. For the man who still suffered from them.
‘She disappointed him?’
He drew a ragged breath. ‘And me.’
‘And now you don’t want to disappoint him, or yourself, like she did?’
He didn’t answer at first, and then he looked at her. She saw his eyes clear slightly, and resisted the urge to smile at his expression.
‘I guess so.’
Now she did smile. ‘Should I ask the waiter to warm up your coffee?’
‘What?’ He was still staring at her in bemusement.
‘Your coffee.’ She gestured towards it. ‘It’s probably cold. Actually, so is my tea.’ She signalled to the man and asked him to bring them fresh beverages.
‘Callie, did you just psychoanalyse me?’
‘No,’ she said, putting on her most innocent expression. ‘I was merely pointing out why it’s important to you to make your father proud.’
He stared at her for a moment, and then shook his head with a smile. ‘I think you missed your calling in life. You would have had a field day with me when I got married.’
Callie felt her insides freeze. The smile she had on her lips faded and she thought time slowed.
‘What did you say?’
Blake was still smiling when he answered her. ‘I said you’ve missed your calling in life.’ And then he saw her face, and his eyes widened. ‘Callie—’
‘You’re married?’
‘No, I’m not. I got divorced a long time ago.’
‘Oh...okay,’ she said shakily, and wondered why she hadn’t thought about it.
He was, after all, an attractive, successful man in his thirties. It shouldn’t surprise her that he had been married. Though the divorce was a surprise, she thought, and thanked the waiter—why didn’t she know his name yet?—as he placed her tea in front of her.
She went through the motions of making a cup, and remembered the first time they’d met, when Blake had told her that he tried to stay away from women. She’d attributed it to a bad relationship. She’d known there was a mysterious woman. So why hadn’t she considered an ex-wife until just now?
‘So she was the piece of work we spoke about in that elevator?’
‘I don’t think we’ve ever spoken about that.’
‘Yeah, we have.’ She didn’t look up at him, just kept on staring intently at the milky colour of her tea. She hadn’t let it stand for long enough, she thought. ‘When you said that you don’t put moves on women, that you stay away from them, I told you that whoever had made you feel that way must have been a real piece of work.’ She lifted her eyes to his and asked, ‘Was she?’
His face hardened. ‘Callie, this isn’t any of your business.’
‘It isn’t.’ Suddenly the surprise that she’d experienced only a few moments ago morphed into anger. ‘But neither was my parents’ deaths yours.’
‘That isn’t the same thing. You told me about that because you wanted to explain why Connor hired you. And since he hired you into my company I had the right to know.’
She quickly realised that the reason she’d told him about her parents’ deaths, about how she’d coped and how Connor had saved her—the reason he had just provided—was a lie.
‘You and I both know that I wasn’t telling you because I work for you,’ she said in a measured voice. ‘But, since we’re talking about it, was what you told me about your parents any of my business?’
‘No, it wasn’t.’ His tone mirrored hers, but it was lined with the coldness she was beginning to recognise he used when he spoke to her as her boss.
‘And all of this—’ she gestured around her ‘—is what you do for someone you don’t want in your business?’
‘I was just saying thank you to an employee for a job well done.’
She stared at him, wondering if he really believed the nonsense that was coming out of his mouth. She gave him a moment to come to his senses, to salvage the progress they’d made, but he said nothing.
‘Well, in that case remind me to compare notes with Connor about employee rewards.’
She gathered her things and walked towards the man who had stood silently at the entrance of the boat since they arrived.
‘Would you please help me off this boat?’ she asked him, and realised that she didn’t know his name either.
He smiled kindly at her. ‘Of course, ma’am.’
Before she climbed the steep stairs up to the dock, she turned back to Blake. ‘She must have done something really awful to you, Blake, for you to push away something that could have...’ She faltered, but then said it anyway. ‘That could have been something. But don’t worry. The next time I see you we can pretend
