Pride and Papercuts (The Austens #5) - Staci Hart Page 0,75

looked as tired as I felt, her shoulders sloped and her expression heavy. Eyes red and swollen from tears, makeup worn. Even her hair was flat and dull, without her shine and bounce. It was like someone had put out the lights in her, leaving a husk of shadows.

“Hey,” I said, abandoning my meal on the counter to meet her.

Georgie sighed, refusing to meet my eyes. “It’s done. It’s over.”

A pause as I considered what to say. “Do you want to talk about it?”

She shook her head and took off her bag.

Another pause. “I’m sorry,” I said quietly.

“Me too.”

I stepped closer, opening my arms to gather her up, but she edged away. A hot slice of pain cut my heart.

“I’m going to shower and get in bed for the night,” she said, backing toward the stairs with a sad smile on her face.

“George, I …”

She shook her head. “It’s okay. I just … I just want to be alone. We’re okay. Okay?”

“Okay.”

“Night,” she said, turning to go.

I watched her until she was out of sight, then stood, staring at the stairwell for a long moment.

Would it always be this hard? Would she resent me for not fighting Catherine for her, for not forging a way for her to have what she wanted despite the consequences? Would she truly forgive me, or would this drive a wedge between us? Or were we all destined to lose what we wanted to the whims of fate and family?

I didn’t know. But I hoped our misery was temporary. That although it seemed there was no way out of the darkness, we’d feel our way through it and into the light.

Which left me wondering if there had been a time since my parents died that I’d been happy, truly happy.

And I realized it’d been so long, I couldn’t remember how it felt.

23

Blast From the Past

LANEY

At noon on a Thursday, Longbourne’s corporate offices were unnaturally empty.

The galley of abandoned desks sat in silence, and it seemed the employees left had moved into the smaller offices around the open center of the space. The eerie quiet was broken by the occasional ringing phone, which was answered by an unseen hand, proving there was actually life on what felt like Mars.

I headed to the back of the floor where Marcus and Maisie’s office was, knocking on the door. When my brother answered to come in, I did.

My frown was mighty.

Maisie was on the phone, her eyes widening when she saw me, then flicking to Marcus. He stood, smoothing his tie.

“Hey. What are you doing here?” he asked without any inflection to indicate his thoughts.

“What are you doing? Where is everybody?”

Maisie hung up the phone and sighed before standing. “All over the place. We’ve been a victim of some aggressive headhunting. And it happened so fast—not only have we barely had time to replace anyone, but Marcus and I can’t get through twenty employees’ worth of work and ours too.”

“Why didn’t you tell us?” I sank into one of the chairs.

Maisie stepped into Marcus’s side, her hand resting protectively on her belly and her eyebrows drawn.

“We didn’t want to worry you,” Marcus answered.

“I hate to break it to you, but that is not something you can just fix without having to tell us. I take it everyone knows but me and Jett?”

Marcus at least looked a little guilty. “You’re busy—”

“So are you. Don’t look so worried. I’m not mad.”

“You look mad,” he noted.

I gave him a look. “How about you don’t push it?”

“We’ve been doing interviews and hired a few people, but they were snagged from under us before they even started. I don’t know what’s going on, but if we can’t get bodies in those chairs, we’re going to be in big trouble.”

I nodded, gathering up my willpower. “I’ll take over marketing, social, ads. Jett can handle accounting. What about Luke and Kash?”

Marcus shook his head. “Luke’s too busy at the shop, and we can’t spare Kash in the greenhouse.”

“Then it’s just us.” I stood and started to pace. “I’ll work on interviews too, so you two can get back to the big stuff.”

“Well, that’s another problem,” Maisie started. “We’re losing events too, and some of our supply has been interrupted.”

“What?”

She nodded. “This is deliberate. It’s the only explanation.”

“We suspect it’s Evelyn,” Marcus said. Maisie leaned into him for support at the mention of her mother. “We haven’t found any proof yet, but I’m looking.”

But I had stopped walking, a realization reverberating like a gong in my head.