Free What Happens After Dark by Jasmine Haynes Page A

unsettled emotions about her father’s illness.
    “Take all the time you need, Bree. Set your own schedule.”
    Bree dropped her head slightly, her hair falling forward to obscure her face. “I was thinking that if I could come in by ten, do my stuff, then try to leave again at two-thirty.” She tucked her hair behind her ear and glanced up as if pressed to make eye contact. “I can work from my parents’ house, too.”
    “Are you going to stay with them?”
    “Yes. My mother can’t do it alone.” She clasped her hands, holding them so tightly they turned white. “We had a hospital bed brought in yesterday. The man was very nice. He set it up and helped my father into it. And the hospice aides have already started coming in to help him—” She stopped, her lips parted, and her dark eyes glazed as if she were seeing all the indignities her father had to endure at the hands of strangers no matter how well intentioned they were.
    “I’m sure it’s very difficult for you and your mom. But you’re doing a good thing, Bree, as hard as it is.” Erin knew Bree hadn’t been able to face it. No one can really face it. Erin understood all about losing someone. There were still moments when she saw something that reminded her of Jay, like his favorite Pop-Tarts at the grocery store, when she felt like her legs would collapse under her. But then she’d force herself to move down the aisle, to keep going. Somehow it was getting easier to talk to Bree about grief, to do what was necessary, to say the right things.
    “My mom’s great,” Bree went on quickly. “She’s stoic. And my dad, you know, he’s such a special guy and it’s really hard for her to see him like this. But he’s been very careful over the years to make sure she’s taken care of.”
    “That’s good. I’m sure he’s very proud of all you’ve accomplished, too.”
    Bree started tapping the heels of her shoes on the carpet. “Oh yeah. He’s a mechanic, he had his own shop, and he was really proud when I graduated from college. Yes, that’s really why this has been so hard, facing that he’ll be gone and all, and he’s such a special man. I just don’t know what it’ll be like for my mom. But I’ll be there to help in any way I can.”
    It wasn’t that Bree’s tone was false. It wasn’t even how quickly she spoke or that her heels kept beating out a rhythm on the carpet and her knuckles were white. It was that Bree simply didn’t talk. She said what was necessary. She smiled at appropriate times. She laughed when you’d expect her to. But she wasn’t effusive. Erin didn’t think she even dated. She never talked about any boyfriends. She was completely private, and this was the most she’d said about her mom and dad. Ever. It was as if she had to explain away the indecision she’d felt over the last couple of weeks, as if she believed Erin would think awful things about her.
    Well, hell, Erin was the one who had to explain away how badly she’d treated Bree. Back before year-end, she’d known something was wrong, but Bree was so tight-lipped. And Erin, well, she’d completely misinterpreted and because of the whole patent infringement problem they were having at the time, she’d said things she didn’t mean. That’s when Bree confessed that her father was dying.
    It had been like a brick to the head.
    Erin hadn’t offered enough empathy then, but she was damn well going to offer Bree anything she could now. “You don’t need to come in at all. We’ll manage.”
    Bree gasped. “It’s year-end reporting time. There’s so much to do. And the IRS audit.”
    “Just send Marbury your spreadsheets. He can handle it. That’s what we pay him for.”
    Bree gave a rapid left-right look as if she was searching for answers in her peripheral vision. “I’ll explain whatever he can’t understand.”
    “And show Rachel how to enter the cash receipts and match up the vendor invoices.” Erin tapped her head with two fingers.