Free Give Up On Me by Tressie Lockwood Page A

what?”
    “I think maybe you should talk to him yourself.”
    “That’s what I’m trying to do. He’s not picking up.”
    “No, I mean, well… Something’s happened.”
    “I’m not into the cryptic talk. Can we make it plain, please?” Janae didn’t mean to snap at the woman, but her stomach still felt queasy, and driving fast on the highway wasn’t helping her head.
    “I’m sorry.”
    Janae waited for her to say more, but she remained silent.
    “Get him on the phone, Monique.”
    Janae picked up the sound of knocking and Monique’s voice calling out, “Mr. Wilson, Janae is on the phone. Mr. Wilson?”
    The sound of jiggling the doorknob and more knocking. Janae started to worry. Had her dad had a heart attack or something? No, that wasn’t it. Monique was acting strange. That meant the problem had something to do with work not her dad’s health.
    “I can’t get him to answer, Janae.”
    “No worries. I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”
    Janae disconnected the call, worrying all the more. Her dad was a people person. He loved them around him at all times. He could hardly stay in his office even when he was drawing up plans. Normally, he would leave his office door open so he could talk to Monique. She didn’t seem to mind.
    When Janae strode into the office, her dad’s door was still closed, and when she tried to open it, she found it locked. She banged on the door. “Dad, you unlock this door right now.”
    She almost laughed at the roll reversal. So many times in her teen years, her dad had said the same thing to her. Janae loved her privacy, and she enjoyed just shutting herself away with her thoughts and work. Peace and quiet was her thing.
    Her dad didn’t answer, so she kicked the door.
    “You can open up, or I get one of the guys in here and break the door down. Better yet, I can call the fire department, and they can take it down with a hatchet.”
    At her desk, Monique snorted. Janae knew the fire department and the hatchet would have been overkill, but let him get nervous and open the damn door. After a minute, she heard shuffling around in her dad’s office. Soon the lock turned, and he opened the door. Before her dad turned away, she caught a glimpse of his face.
    “You look like hell, Dad. What’s going on? Did you even go home last night?” She followed him into the office. The area had a distinct scent of body odor, and her stomach churned. She stopped dead and backtracked to the doorway. “Come to my office, and we’ll talk about it.”
    Janae pivoted and hightailed it out of there. She sprayed lavender scent from a can of air freshener she kept in her personal supply cabinet. Some of the men visited the office smelling ripe.
    Her dad slogged into her office and dropped into a chair. Janae couldn’t help noticing the slump to his shoulders and the disillusionment in his eyes. She forgot her sickness and his scent and hugged him. “Daddy, what’s going on? Please talk to me. I know we can work it out.”
    He looked up at her slowly. “Janae, I didn’t want to tell you, but I can’t pull myself together enough to pretend.”
    She almost fell into her chair. “Tell me what?”
    “Bennett backed out of our deal. We can’t even sue him because we didn’t have a contract yet. I was bringing it to him this morning.”
    “What could possibly have happened that fast? Did someone else get to him?”
    Her father’s expression turned bitter. He started to speak, seemed to focus on her, and then clamped his lips shut. Janae gathered her strength and walked around her desk to lean on it. She folded her arms over her chest.
    “I have his number. Maybe I should call and have a talk with him.”
    “You don’t negotiate business, baby girl.”
    “Oh, I’m not going to be talking business per se. I’m going to ask him what hell his deal is that he would string you along. I know how these big companies work. They had all our info before you showed up to the first meeting. He