Chapter 84

“Okay,” Bryan said. “So I’m sure I don’t have to tell you, you’re a pig-headed, short-sighted

idiot sometimes, Patrick.”

“Might as well

kick me when I’m down,” Patrick grumbled.

“No, hear me

out. All is not lost! You’ll just have to fight harder for it, rather than

rolling over and giving up. Lee’s not moving except as a last resort. He’s

invested his heart in the business, Patrick, as much as you have. He’s much

more than an employee, and I don’t mean the fact he’s in love with you.”

“Hey, I have no

idea if that’s tru—”

Bryanignored him and stood

abruptly, his tone more excited. “Has it ever occurred to you to treat him as

more than a gopher? He runs that place whether you’re there or not. Yet you

sometimes lord it over him like he’s just a clerk.”

It was an

unconscious echo of what Lee himself had said. When was anyone going to give

Patrick the chance to prove that wrong? “You think I don’t know that?”