Rachel laughed in a way Ethan had never heard before and said, “More or less.”
“You do not look like a boss, you seem nice,” Avery added honestly.
Ethan felt embarrassed and said, “Avery, please.”
“Let her speak,” Rachel said while looking toward the ocean, “kids usually say what adults are afraid to admit.”
Then without turning toward him, she added quietly, “Everyone at the office thinks I am cold, but no one asks what had to happen to make someone that way.”
Ethan stayed silent because he did not know if she was warning him or opening up to him.
Rachel lowered her voice and said, “I lost my husband five years ago.”
Ethan turned quickly and said, “I am sorry, I did not know.”
“Nobody knows,” she replied, “and I do not try to explain it, because people expect you to smile instead of admitting you are still broken.”
Ethan swallowed and answered, “My wife died in a car accident coming back from Tampa, Avery was only four years old.”
Rachel looked at him differently then, without authority or distance, as if she finally saw him clearly for the first time.
Avery ran toward the water leaving small footprints behind, and Ethan watched her before speaking honestly, “Sometimes I feel like I am not enough for her.”
Rachel leaned closer and said softly, “A good father is always enough, Ethan.”
Those words hit him harder than anything else, because no one had ever told him that before.
Then she added calmly, “And no, I am not planning to fire you.”
Ethan blinked and asked, “Really?”
“I have seen your work, your ideas kept two major clients when everything else was falling apart, and I know why you struggled,” she explained.
Before he could respond, her phone vibrated and her expression hardened instantly. She stood up quickly and said, “I need to go.”
“Is everything okay?” Ethan asked.
Rachel looked toward the parking area and said quietly, “I thought it was, until I saw who is here.”
A black SUV had arrived, and a tall man stepped out walking directly toward them with arrogant confidence. Rachel clenched her jaw, and Ethan realized this man was not here for a friendly visit.
When the man spoke his first sentence, everything changed in an instant.
PART 2
“So this is where you hide, spending time with employees and their children while I fix the mess you left behind.”