when Lin and Magnolia didn't need me herding them anymore.
I was an asshole because no one could care about these people the way I did.
Except for Zelda.
Maybe. Possibly.
Probably.
I'd meant to open with this admission but she beat me to it, saying, "There are zero circumstances in which you are allowed to use the things you deem weaknesses as leverage against me in a disagreement. You've done it twice and I'm telling you there won't be a third time."
"I know. I should've—"
She held up a hand, tipped her head to the side, closed her eyes. "I'm not finished."
I slumped back against the booth. "I'm sorry."
She laced her fingers together on the table. "If you actually think I am incapable of doing this work—and not because you've permanently flipped your Control Freak Boss switch to yes—then we need to end things."
According to the pressure in my chest, I was now running wind sprints. "No, Zelda. That's not—"
"I'm. Not. Finished. Yet." She leveled me with a glare I'd swear was cold enough to freeze vodka. "I can help you, Ash, and I want to help you. But I'm not going to continue playing this game where you allow me to make some progress only to shut it all down when you see your autonomy slipping and you choke."
I'd never had my ass handed to me with quite so much specificity before.
The waitress appeared while I was busy recovering from that blow. We rattled off our orders—an omelet for me, a little of everything for Zelda. Then we were alone again.
"You're thinking a lot of thoughts right now." She gathered the menus, tapped them on the table. "It's okay if you don't know which order to put them in or how to use them. You don't have to do any of that tonight. You have two weeks until anything really changes and by then, I'll have a worthy replacement on hand to smooth the transition." She returned the menus to their holder. "Now I'm finished."
I had to work at keeping myself seated in the booth and not snatching those words from the air and shoving them away. All I could do was rub a hand over my forehead. "I'm not accepting your resignation."
It was the wrong tack to take first but I did anyway. Why start helping myself now?
"I'll find you someone who knows a bit more about your line of work," she offered.
"I don't want someone else," I replied with all the asshole arrogance I had in me. Which was a lot. "I want to hear about this plan of yours. The great caper you tried to pull off while I was out of the office today."
That brought an inkling of a smile to her beautiful face. "You can't handle my plan."
"I can't handle the plan?" I shot back in my best Jack Nicholson voice. "You can't handle the plan. This whole plan is out of order."
Laughter shook through Zelda as she buried her face in her hands. "I'm trying very hard to set limits with you but then you decide to be cute and funny and adorable, and now my very serious conversation is shot to hell."
I pried her hands away and held them in mine. "I fucked up today, Zelda. Fucked it all up."
She shrugged. "Pretty much."
"Whether right or wrong, it was like the rug was pulled out from under me when I walked in this afternoon. I was flat on my ass." I squeezed her hands. "I'm not good at handing over the reins. I want to trust you. I want to let you work your magic. Give me another chance to get it right, Zelda. Let me do better."
"All you need to do is less," she said with a laugh. "You're doing too much. That's why I'm trying to get some extra hands to pick up the excess from your dad's office."
"Walk me through the proposal," I said, still holding her hands like they were my only lifeline. "While I was having my tantrum, you mentioned something about a few candidates who could be based in New Bedford, right? Or did I fuck up my recollection of the conversation too?"
"No, you heard that through your asshole earmuffs just fine," Zelda replied. "The way I see it, you and your father are looking at this from an either-or perspective when it should be both-and. Not Boston or New Bedford but Boston and New Bedford, remote and New Bedford, and any other combination. People are open to these flexible arrangements, more