Elle was at her desk typing up notes she had taken at the meetings with their clients that morning when their intern, Don, called into her office and said someone was there to see her. She wasn’t expecting anyone and didn’t know anyone who would come visit her at work. She pushed back from her desk and walked to the front.
Trevor was waiting for her under the watchful, curious eye of Don. Elle’s office was in an old renovated single standing building that had once been a restaurant. It was around 4,000 square feet with plenty of open space, but also room for the business to grow. That’s probably why she liked it so much, knowing Elle. It was painted a light yellow, but the furnishings were dark wood and black, which created a nice contrast. There were two conference rooms and six offices. Next to the receptionists desk there was a small group of desks, but no cubicles just open space so everyone could talk to and see each other.
Elle walked out of her office and stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Trevor standing there with a bag of food. He surprised her with lunch, how sweet and romantic. If she hadn’t already she’d have fallen in love with the man right then.
“Hi how are you? This is a surprise.” Elle said as she walked to him and hugged him.
“Hi. I was hungry and figured I’d bring you lunch. I was in the mood for Italian; I know you love it and I wanted to surprise you.”
“You or Italian?” Elle teased and winked at him, “I can’t resist either. Let’s go.” Elle turned around and started for her office. Neither of them saw Don’s brow lift at the sight of his boss flirting nor his smile at the obvious fact she was in love. He liked both her and Taylor and was truly happy for Elle.
Trevor followed her to her office, he was happy she wasn’t upset he surprised her and that his idea hadn’t backfired and she was actually here, since she isn’t always at the office. Whew!
Elle closed the door behind her and started to go to a couch against the one wall. He followed her and sat down. Her liked the décor of her office; it was tan colored with a dark wooden desk, two bookshelves, with dark wooden blinds over big windows that looked into the woods behind the building. The chairs and couch were overstuffed in some kind of design; she’d told him the last time they worked together, but he didn’t remember, he just knew it all looked good together.
Elle pulled a collapsible table out from behind one of the bookshelves and said, “We can use this. Taylor and I use it when we have to work through lunch.”
“Okay,” Trevor said as he sat the bag down and started taking the food out of the bag.
“You got me the Manicotti?” Elle said as she peered into the container Trevor handed her.
“I remembered you said you love Manicotti but don’t have it often.”
“Thank you. I’m starving by the way so your timing was perfect,” she said as she took a bite of her food. “Mmmm. This is so good! Thanks for bringing it. What did you get?”
“Well I couldn’t just get one order of Manicotti from Valenzo’s,” the best local Italian restaurant. “They would have thought I was crazy since it’s the specialty, so I got the same.”
“You do like it though at least right?”
“Of course I do, especially from Valenzo’s. Who wouldn’t?” Trevor said as he started to eat. “Your intern was watching me pretty closely out there you know, is he new or did I just miss him last time?”
“Interesting…you must have just missed him last time, he’s been with us a while now, he was watching you because we’re all so close here, like a little family. Plus he was probably trying to figure out if anything is going on between us so he can tell the others including Sarah his girlfriend, she interns here too. You may have met her last time, but I don’t remember, you were here so briefly and only that once.” Elle said as she laughed lightly.
“Gossip, I should have guessed. But it’s good all of you are so close here. I like this building more every time I’m here.”
“Thanks, I saw it and knew it was perfect. There’s plenty of space if we need it in the future too. Plus the location is perfect.” Elle was proud of the office location they chose.
Trevor smiled because he knew that Elle got the building for exactly that reason.
“Thanks for lunch and for surprising me. This is really nice”
“Anytime.” he said with a smile.
After he left to go back to work Elle sat on the couch thinking about this relationship she was now in and how different it was from any she’d had in the past. She was no longer a girl, she was a woman in a relationship with a man, a real man, and the depth of satisfaction that gave her created a solidness she’d never experienced before. No matter what happened or where they ended up, Trevor would always mean a great deal to her.
She realized after the fight at her house she would have to let go of her insecurities and grasp that every relationship is different. Trevor hadn’t given her reason to feel unsure or insecure of herself, he actually had done the opposite. She just had to face the facts and see what was in front of her; a man whom she loves, who loves her back.
Monday night Elle texted Trevor to tell him she’d be coming in the morning so they could “set the plan in motion” to see who kept messing with the schedules. He wrote back, sounds good and I told Jake we’d need his help, he was all for it.
Tuesday morning Elle got to Trevor’s office before his guys came into work so they wouldn’t know she was there. They talked about the plan and how he would give Becky, Rob, Jake, Jack and Rich all the components needed to set up a schedule. They knew Jake, Rich and Jack, three of his route managers, weren’t sabotaging anything but they had to bring in more than two people to make it look real. The next step was for Trevor to bring them in the conference room and ask them to help with schedules, because he was so busy, and to show them how the system worked. He was going to make the point that it would only be for this week because he was overwhelmed and just didn’t have the time. That part was more a formality but Elle thought it was important for them to know, and wanted Trevor to reiterate that to them.
Trevor and Elle spent every free minute they had together that week. They didn’t see each other much at work because there wasn’t a reason for Elle to be at his office. They were inseparable after work though; one day they’d be at her place the next at his and each time Bruiser was with them. It felt like they’d been doing this forever and it seemed so right, like they were a family. Bruiser even made himself at home at Elle’s where he claimed one of the blankets she had and curled up on it front of the fireplace even if it wasn’t on. He loved running around her yard since it was bigger than Trevor’s. The week was amazing and so perfect.
“Have you been looking at the scheduling everyone is doing?” Elle asked Trevor the following Tuesday morning when they were eating breakfast at his place.
“Yeah, so far Jake, Jack and Rich have put in their schedules and they’re correct, but we sort of knew they’d get it done and that it would be right. Becky only has half of hers done but it looks good so far, she has logged in about five times though. Rob doesn’t have anything in even though it says he’s logged on three times a day since I asked him to help. It’s not really helping us get anywhere if they don’t finish the scheduling.” Trevor said as he took a bite of the omelet Elle made.
“So Becky’s looks right so far? So you’re leaning towards it being Rob? I’m still not sure it’s him.” Elle said with conviction as she ate too.
Trevor rolled his eyes at the faith she still had in a guy she didn’t even know anymore. He could tell when they ran into each other that day at his office that Rob still he had a thing for Elle. He knew they had never been intimate because Elle told him they hadn’t but even if she hadn’t told him her body language towards Rob was that of an old friend, not an ex-lover. He didn’t like the thought of Elle with anyone else in anyway, it gave him a bad taste and made him mad as hell. He knew she had ex-boyfriends and had dated before but it still killed him to think of any other man touching her.
<
br /> hat afternoon Trevor was in his office with Jake, when he happened to look at the schedules. He saw that Becky had input her schedule and it was right. Could it be that it wasn’t Becky or Rob and he and Elle were wrong?! Then a little while later he saw Rob’s finished schedule pop up. He looked at it twice to be sure of what he was seeing. “I’ll be damned!!” He exclaimed as the muscles in his face tightened.
“What’s up?” Jake said looking at Trevor with a curious look on his face.
“I knew it was him from the beginning and she wouldn’t believe me.” Trevor said his face showing signs of annoyance.
“Knew what was who and who wouldn’t believe you? You lost me.” Jake said with a weird expression.
“That the person fucking with this place was Rob Danty; I told Elle the first time she came here when we went through the files. She dismissed the whole idea because she knew him in high school. The bastard has the schedule in here all wrong, he has teams double booked on jobs, some not showing up for the ones they’ve been assigned and he has clients in here we aren’t even working for anymore.” Trevor said as he turned his computer for Jake to see.
“It was him? Shit!” Jake went from feeling bad to guilty in about ten seconds, if he had told Trevor everything that happened that day on the job with Rob and his gambling, this might not have happened?
“There’s something I have to tell you.” Jake said quietly.
“What is it?” Trevor said distracted. He was still clicking through Rob’s schedule.
“When I mentioned about Rob’s gambling before, I didn’t tell you everything. I heard him place a bet on a horse race then say something about owing people money. I think I fucked up by not telling you.”
Trevor looked up from the screen momentarily then went right back to it, studying the details of what Rob had entered. “You may have left out details but you told me he was gambling on the clock. Even if I knew the details it wouldn’t change the fact that he did this. It’s cool man, don’t sweat it.”
“You sure?”
“Absolutely.”
“You said Elle didn’t believe you and she knew him before…how?” Jake asked as he walked behind Trevor’s desk and again looked at the schedule on the screen in front of Trevor. Man this guy was trying to drive this business into the ground. What an asshole! What did Trevor ever do to him? Jake never really liked Rob but had given him the benefit of the doubt because Trevor hired him, now he wanted to kick his ass.
“Yeah, she knew him before, they dated in high school, and when she came in the first day he saw her. It was obvious he still had a thing for her. Damn him!”
Trevor was angry as hell and said, “She defended him and said it couldn’t be him. Eventually she started to kind of accept the idea when we were able to prove it wasn’t anyone else but our short list; including him. She even thought it could be Becky! But to be honest so did I, based on some of the stuff in her file, and she has access to the schedules and has the time to ‘edit’ them.”
“That’s rough man. Becky? She wouldn’t hurt a fly let alone do this. I guess now you have to call Elle and tell her. I don’t want to be around for that conversation. Sorry dude.” Jake said as he got up and slapped Trevor on the back and headed for the door.
“Don’t be, thanks man.” Trevor said as he angrily picked up the phone to call Elle.
Elle was walking to her office after discussing their schedules for the next few weeks with Taylor when her cell phone rang; she looked at it and saw it was Trevor. Elle answered as she walked in her office and shut the door behind her.
“Hey babe. How are you?” Elle answered with a big smile on her face.
“The schedules are all in,” was all Trevor said.
“They are?! Well who’s wasn’t right?” Elle said and got a chill from his cold tone, he didn’t return her greeting.
“Just looked a little bit ago and they’re all submitted. They were all right except Rob’s.”
“Rob? All the others were right, even Becky’s?” Elle sounding surprised.
“Yes Becky’s was right.” Which truthfully didn’t surprise him; “God damn it they were all perfect except his. Rob’s was all over the place. The bastard has teams double booked on jobs, some not showing up for others and he made up old clients for other teams to go to.” Trevor said to her knowing that he basically said the same thing to Jake a few minutes before but couldn’t think of any other way to put it and he was so damn mad right now!
“You don’t need to call him names nor do you need to yell at me.” Elle said defensively.
“Are you kidding me? He tried to ruin my business and for what reason I have no clue, but if this schedule was real do you have any idea what would have happened to my business and how bad it would have been?” Trevor was furious.
“Yes I know what would have happened. I just wonder what’s going on with him, I mean what his reasons are for doing something like this?”
“Elle listen to me, stop doing this. If you want to be in his corner or be his shrink then fine but this guy has been undermining the thing that means the most in the world to me.” Trevor said coolly.
“I’m not trying to be in his corner or tell you what to do. But I know him and he wouldn’t do this just for the hell of it.” Elle retorted defensively, she heard what he said about it being ‘the most important thing’ but let that go for the moment.
“You knew him when he was a teenager not the man he is now. People change from when they were kids.” Trevor said in an angry tone.
“What are you going to do to him?” Was all Elle could ask.
“That’s all you think to ask me, really?” Trevor was getting angrier by the minute.
“Yes,” was all she could manage behind a constricting throat.
“I’m going to the police.” Trevor said sternly.
“You’re what?!”
“Go-ing to the pol-ice. Did you hear it that time?”
“Yes I heard you the first time. You’re being a jackass you know that? You can’t go to the police, what are they going to do?” Elle said getting frustrated herself.
“I’m being a jackass? That’s rich!” Trevor’s tone had turned caustic.
Elle simply said in a tight voice, “Don’t go to the police” “Why shouldn’t I?”
“Because you need to let him explain and honestly I don’t think they’ll do anything about it that would make it any better or change what’s happened.”
“Elle don’t tell me how to run my business or deal with my employees.”
“I am asking you, please don’t call the police and let him explain.” Elle said knowing there must have been some reason for his actions and trying to de-escalate the tension between her and Trevor.
“Fine, but don’t think for a minute this is for you.” Trevor told her. That was another shot at her that she let fly by, she didn’t want to go off on a tangent or make this about their relationship.
“Then what are you going to do?” Elle asked not quite sure why she was fighting with Trevor and defending Rob.
“If you want to know, I am going to talk to him, fire him and then do my best to make sure no business in Creekside, Springside, Bidville or any other town within fifty miles hires him again. I can’t let any business in this town or the surrounding towns hire someone who can do that to them.”
“You’d really do that?”
“Yes I would and I am but hey it’s better than the police, right?” Trevor said so angry now he thought his head might explode.
“I think you should at least give him a chance to explain.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yes.” Elle said strongly.
“Would you tell a different client to let the person explain and give them a chance if he weren’t your old boyfriend?” Trevor said still furious. Wondering if it was Becky, would she be saying the same?
“No.” Elle said slightly humbled.
“Since you want to give him a chance and be in his co
rner you can, because clearly you’re not in mine…so I think I’m done. This thing with us, maybe you were right the other night and we should just stop it now.” Trevor said, so mad he couldn’t see straight.
Elle felt the tears that had been stinging her eyes since the conversation began start sliding down her cheeks. “You think I want him? You’re done with us…seriously?”
“Damn straight I think you want him, why else would you fight with me to save him like this? You have done nothing but defend him since I mentioned his name the first day you came in and now that I have proof, you are still defending him. You haven’t thought how my giving him a chance would affect everything. You think I should give him one because you dated him but you wouldn’t tell another client to do that and you wouldn’t be fighting this hard for Becky I bet. You haven’t thought how it could impact my business but more importantly my employees. They count on me for their livelihood Elle; I can’t let some asshole ruin that for them just because my girlfriend went out with him and apparently still has the hots for him. And yes I am done…seriously!” Trevor said as he felt his voice going raw and his throat getting thick.
“Okay fine. Then I’m gonna go and leave you to take care of the most important thing in your life, your damn business!” Elle had one more parting shot to add in, “You told me you wouldn’t make me regret trusting you, well guess what you just did.” Elle hung up and laid her head down on her desk and sobbed uncontrollably.
Trevor slammed down the phone and sat staring at his office wall in shock. He couldn’t believe he just ended things with Elle and over the phone for that matter. He loved her so damn much but couldn’t take the way she was defending Rob and practically begging him to give that son-of-a-bitch another chance. He wanted her to be in his corner like he would be for her if the roles were reversed. His heart felt heavy and his chest hurt; he thought, so this is what a broken heart feels like. Her shot about trusting him was like a knife twisting in his gut and it killed, he never wanted her to feel like that.
My Missing Puzzle Piece (Creekside Falls #1) Page 16
