Chapter 7: A Fork in the Road

“Let me get this straight,” Reesa said. “You want me to resign from my old job and be your official PA?”

Myko nodded, took a sip of sparkling water, and hummed along with Café Vincenzo’s band. He’d arranged for them to have the Michelin-star eatery to themselves as soon as Reesa gave him a date. His insistence on footing the bill and the current light in his eyes was further support for the pitch.

Forgetting her last bit of gnocchi, she stared at him.

“Come, you can’t be too astonished,” Myko said. He pushed aside the remnants of his risotto to rest folded arms on the table. “One of the reasons it’s taken so long to find a PA is that I need someone I can trust—completely and implicitly. I’ve thought a lot about the last six months, and you’ve shown me that person is you.”

Sitting back, Reesa tugged on one of her curls and began to twist the end of it. During the bygone Christmas holidays, she’d thought of those six months too, but her musings went in a different direction. Specifically, she found herself fantasizing about her life returning to the way it was before the ill-fated party.

Back then, she and Myko were friendly but distant and uncomplicated. Her work helped fuel a tight, but balanced family budget. Her sister was optimistic for her first year of medical school without the load of frequent weariness. And best of all, Hazel was in remission. Sure, the mental time travel wouldn’t change the present-day, but it felt safer than looking ahead.

“You’re overthinking this, aren’t you?”

“It’s not that I don’t appreciate the offer, because I do. Goodness knows that the back pay I got from you solved a lot of problems. Getting that PA salary on a regular basis would be an even bigger game changer.”

“But?”

“But in the last six months, the role I’ve had in your life has tested my limits. I don’t want to deal with that again.”

“I hear your concern, Mareesa, and I don’t disregard it. However, I think what I’m proposing is different from what happened last year. For one thing, you wouldn’t be doing two jobs anymore. You’d only have PA work. For another, we’ll do things the right way this time.

“The negotiations, the paperwork, all of it gets done up front. In fact, I have something for you to look over today. And if you do this, you’ll experience a very different version of me and my life than the one you recall. A version that I hope will remind you of the person I was before you saw me at my worst, and maybe show you why it is that some people like me.”

She chuckled. “Mama and Tammy certainly like you. They thawed out before Christmas but fell completely when you kept your promises.”

“See,” Myko said and sent her a brilliant smile.

Reesa flushed. “You don’t need to sell me on liking you,” she said, punctuating the words with an eye roll. “I already do, I have years of glowing reference points, and I know you’re in a good place.”

“But you still have reservations. Talk me through them.”

“Okay. What if another major upset happens? Will there be more than me and Kaleb in your corner?”

“Absolutely. My relationship with my therapist is ongoing, and I’ve rebuilt my support system.”

“Great, we can cover new ground then. After last June, you didn’t travel out of the country that much, but I assume you’ll go back to doing it regularly this year?”

“Correct, and very soon.”

“Well, that poses a problem. As your secretary, I could do everything you needed without having to leave the country, but I know your PA tends to go wherever you do.”

“That’s normally the case, yes, but if you’re worried that you’ll never have downtime, perish the thought. These trips are more like ‘working vacations’ than strict ‘work’ for my PA. You won’t be glued to my side.”

Reesa didn’t doubt this. She knew firsthand how much Ethan loved that perk. “That sounds cool, but it isn’t what I’m getting at. I have family obligations. My mother, sister, and I . . . we’re a team. Together we’ve gone through grieving my father, moving here from Georgia, and fighting Mama’s first round of cancer. Now, the cancer’s back, and my sister’s trying to be both a caregiver and a great medical student. How can I leave them?”

“Mareesa, if there’s ever a conflict, I expect you to put your family first, and I’d be happy to come up with workarounds in the interim.”

It was then that Reesa remembered Ethan’s job had been to aid a man and his spouse, not an eligible bachelor. “What if you start dating? Do I have to get involved in your love life?”

“Not as involved as Ethan,” he said, which made her laugh along with him. “Seriously, though, you don’t have to worry about that anytime soon. And if or when that happens, I’m sure we’ll handle it with grace.”

She looked down at her lap.

“What else is troubling you?”

“Myko, I’m flattered you trust me enough to make this offer.”

“But it goes both ways, doesn’t it?” he asked. “You’ve yet to rebuild trust in me.”

Reesa blinked and looked back up. “How did you do that?”

“Do what?”

“Put into words what I was thinking but didn’t know how to say.”

“Perhaps because I’m as aware as you are that I have a lot to atone for.”

She shook her head. “I’m not hounding you to do penance. I’m just trying to look out for my needs.”

“And that’s wise.”

“But please don’t think that I’m judging you. I may not have liked some of the choices you made last year, but I’ve made plenty of my own that I’m not proud of, and I know there were extenuating circumstances.”

“You don’t have to make excuses for me.”

“I’m not trying to. All I’m saying is that I think your intentions are good. They generally are.” Thinking for a moment, she decided to divulge something that she’d kept to herself for a while. “Speaking of intentions, you probably don’t recall this, but you brought up compensating me for filling in as your PA as early as last July.”

He looked startled. “I did?”

“Yes, after you took the time off that you meant to spend with Daniela, you asked if we could discuss it on your first day back. We had plans to meet in your office. But then . . ..”

He finished the sentence for her. “My first day back, Daniela served me with divorce papers. The server came to the office, and I didn’t react well.”

“Yes, and it was kind of like the party all over again, except this time you didn’t get mad. You shut down.” She hugged herself. “I was worried about you then, and I worried a lot about you afterward, because that’s when the overworking and heavy drinking started.”

“It must’ve been like being sucked into a void, having to deal with that. I’m so sorry for everything I put you through.”

“You’ve apologized before, and I’ve already forgiven you, but your empathy’s refreshing. May I have a week, or at least a few days, to think about your offer?”

“Of course. That sounds more than fair.”