A Heart to Trust, A.L. Brooks [speed reading book TXT] 📗

Tamara and Roz, who had left the city for the weekend to celebrate their tenth anniversary. Jenny figured not seeing her friends was good—she wasn’t exactly in the mood to talk to anyone.

Carl was also missing in action, ensconced in his tiny workshop back in Astoria working on his new Bloomingdale’s range. Launch date loomed ever closer, and Jenny knew she’d barely see him in the next three or four weeks. This was also good because she knew otherwise Carl would take approximately five minutes—or less—to drag the whole sorry story out of her. She wasn’t ready to talk about it with anyone because the more she thought about everything and the more distance she got from Friday’s lunchtime disaster with Olivia, the more uneasy she was about her reaction to it.

Olivia had seemed so genuine. So troubled by Jenny’s accusations. Sure, all that stuff she said about Chrissy being so manipulative might be a bit much, but her denial of any involvement in what happened with the Excelsior files, with the benefit of calm hindsight, did seem real.

On Monday morning Jenny walked into the office with a small ball of dread settling into the pit of her stomach. How would things be between them? Would it disrupt the professional atmosphere they’d all brought to the team over the last couple months?

To her surprise, Olivia gave her a small smile as she sat. “Good morning.” Her voice was quiet, but she held Jenny’s gaze. “Did you have a nice weekend?”

“Yeah.” Jenny mentally shook herself to conjure up more than a one-word answer. “You? Do anything nice?”

“Quiet one for me.”

Jenny nodded and set up her laptop, not sure what else to add to the conversation. Why was Olivia being so reasonable?

“Do you have a few minutes?” Olivia stood and walked over to Jenny’s desk. “Before the day gets started?”

“Sorry, I’m busy.” She hoped her face wouldn’t give away the lie.

“Maybe later, then?”

“Sure.”

Maxwell arrived. “Good morning, Olivia.” He turned to Jenny. “Hi.”

“Hey, Maxwell. Good weekend?”

“Yes.” He glanced between Olivia and Jenny. “Is everything sorted out now?”

Jenny stared at him. “Huh?”

“We’ll hopefully meet later to sort that out.” Olivia gave him an inscrutable look.

What the hell was going on? “You know what, I do have a bit of time now. Shall we?” Jenny motioned behind her, away from their desks.

Olivia took a step forward. “Lead the way.”

Jenny strode down the hallway toward the meeting rooms. It was early enough in the day that one of the rooms would be free, at least for a short while. The smallest room at the end of the hallway was empty. She shut the door behind Olivia and faced her, arms folded across her abdomen. “What’s going on? And how come Maxwell knows about whatever it is?” Her heart thudded as she watched Olivia. Damn it, why did the woman have to look so beautiful? It’s so hard to be mad at someone who turns your brain to spaghetti.

Olivia perched on the edge of the meeting table. “I enlisted Maxwell’s help with something on Friday, after you’d left for the day. I discovered something and needed someone else to confirm what I thought.” She inhaled. “I want to apologize for accusing you of screwing up my catering schedule a few weeks ago. We discovered it couldn’t possibly have been you, and I’m sorry I was so harsh with you that day.”

“You… What?” Jenny’s brain had trouble joining up all the dots.

Olivia motioned to the chair beside her. “Want to sit? Let me explain?”

Jenny flopped gratefully into the seat.

Olivia pulled out the chair beside her and sat more gracefully. She seemed calm and composed. “The file with your name on it couldn’t have been worked on by you, because you were at the dentist at the time stamped on the file. Someone used your laptop in your absence to make those changes.”

“But how would they get into—” Jenny swallowed hard. “Crap. I didn’t lock my laptop, did I?”

“It seems not.” Olivia’s tone was gentle. “Maxwell… Well, he confirmed you have a history of that.”

Jenny looked up at the ceiling. “Yep. Fuck.” Then she sat upright. “But wait, who did it then? Who would do something like that?”

There was a brief hesitation. “That we don’t know. Obviously, the file has your name on it, so it’s impossible to track.” Olivia straightened in her seat. “Could we please also talk about what happened on Friday?”

Jenny nodded as her mind still scrambled to deal with what Olivia had just told her.

“I know you think I had something to do with your hotel notes and photos, but please believe me, it’s not true. That is not how I work. Not ever.” She clasped her hands together so tightly her knuckles were white. “And I truly meant what I said about your idea for the event. It’s a brilliant concept and I definitely think you should try to sell it to Derek.”

Jenny looked into Olivia’s eyes. Nothing but honesty and admiration shone back at her. I really did get this all wrong. Although with a bit of help from Chrissy. She set that thought aside for now—she could speak to Chrissy later and get her side of the story. She exhaled. “I’m sorry. For being an asshole on Friday.”

Olivia’s smile was gorgeous. “You weren’t too bad. I probably would have been much worse if the tables were turned.” She paused. “I don’t want to come between you and Chrissy. I know you are friends. But please, believe me, she has told you things about me that are simply untrue. I don’t know why. Perhaps she’s threatened by the chance of a friendship between us.” She motioned between them. “I know I can be a little sharp sometimes. There are reasons why I don’t go out of my way to become too friendly to the people I work with.” She looked away for a moment. “Broderick’s told me I should make more of an effort, and he’s probably right. I was hoping you’d give