Cruel Heart

PART 14

Three days.

Three days had passed since Mia had rushed over to Harlan's mansion in the dead of night.

Three days of total silence on his end. No call. No text. The guy hadn't even shown up to work.

It was like he just vanished.

Poof. Into nothing.

"Maybe he died," Kallie suggested. She was trimming the bonsai tree on her desk. It was way too short. Like a hairless cat, it was just missing an extra layer of something.

Mia looked up from her desk with a scowl. She didn't mean to. But over the past few days it had been hard to get the bitter taste of Harlan's rejection out of her mouth.

Because, come on, he had obviously rejected her.

But why? That was the very question she'd been asking herself ever since leaving Harlan's mansion.

Sev did a one eighty spin in his rolly chair. "Mr. Veers is not dead," he disagreed. In that bored Sevian tone. It was the same one he got when he was minutes away from pretending to have a cold so he could leave work a few hours early.

Kallie raised her brows, the bleached hairs frozen in place from her recent Botox injection. Kalie denied she'd gotten it.

But Mia knew.

"Why do you say that?" Mia asked. She didn't really care about the answer. In fact, it had become seemingly impossible to care about anything of late.

Harlan lived in her head now. And she could never seem to get him to move out.

Sev shrugged in an 'isn't it obvious' way. "If Harlan Veers, New York's most elegable bachelor, died? We would know," he said matter of factly. "All of Times Square would probably become his obituary." Sev shrugged. "He probably just went on vacation or something."

Kallie made a face that if not for the Botox would have probably resembled a frown.

"Just seems weird. I mean, why take a job and then drop off the face of the Earth the very next week," Kallie mumbled while trimming the last unsnipped section of Gordon.

Mia had named the tree Gordon.

"He's your boyfriend, Mia," Sev said. "How do you not know where he is?"

Mia bristled in her seat. "He's not my boyfriend," she said, albeit defensively. Mia crossed her arms. "We went out once. That's it. One date. It wasn't even that good," she lied.

Maybe if she told people that, she would start to believe it too.

Mia sat up with her empty mug in hand. She was done with talking about Harlan. All the guy had given her was an amazing night followed by heartbreaking silence.

"I'm getting more coffee. Any one want anything?" Mia asked. With no boss, Mia didn't have much to do. She was still wondering why she even came in today at all.

Kallie's eyes lit up. "Tiffany brought in donuts today from that bakery I told you about!" she squealed. "If there's any more left snatch one for me."

"Oh yum. I'll get in on that," Sev chimed in.

Mia tried her best at a smile. You could say the attempt was pretty much  pointless.

"Two donuts coming up," she said before taking off. She carved her way through the maze of grey cubicles and down the narrowed hall to the breakroom.

"Bingo," she said to herself when she entered. The plate of donuts was almost emptied. Two chocolate glazed remained, the lone survivors surrounded by remnants of donut crumbs and powdered sugar.

Looked like it was Kallie and Sev's lucky day. At least someone would be happy today.

Mia strode over to the counter with her empty coffee mug. Hopefully by the time she went back they'd be done with the Harlan talk.

Bottom line was no one knew where the guy was. Not even Mia. He could be dead for all she knew.

Stupid.

She'd been so stupid to think anything more than a kiss would come out of their relationship. All she'd really gotten was a total kick in the ass of sleep deprivation.

"Hello?" Mia almost missed the vibration of her phone in her back pocket. Heck, she'd been so preoccupied with thinking about Harlan that she'd thought she forgot her phone at Ruth's that morning.

Guess not.

She was so exhausted she didn't even bother looking at the caller ID.

"Fray."

The husky word shot through her like a gun. Mia stumbled back, her empty mug nearly clattering to the floor.

In an instant she forgot about the donuts. Forgot about nearly everything in the world save for the man on the other end of the phone call.

"Harlan," she breathed. A part of her had convinced herself she would never be hearing from him again. That he had  rejected her or something so much worse...

Mia told herself to be mad. To put up a steely front. But she couldn't stop herself from feeling relief. Harlan wasn't dead. He was okay.

"Where are you right now?" She wished she could take the words back. As soon as they left her lips she regretted it.

There was a rustling on the other end, like he was covering the microphone. The rustling stopped as he spoke. "An old friend's house. I should be back in town tonight."

"You're out of town?" she blurted. Again, she regretted that too. Mia hid her wince. She had to stop feeling possessive over a guy that wasn't even hers. A guy that had never been hers and would never be.

"Yes," he replied calmly. As if he hadn't had a break down and up and vanished for three days. "Can I see you tomorrow?"

Mia scoffed. If he was here she might have thrown something at him. Like a shoe. Or a freaking table.

"Harlan, I thought you were dead or something! One minute you're completely off the grid and now everything is fine? What the hell?" she demanded.

Harlan sighed. "I'm sorry, Fray. I want to explain everything."

"I've got time. How about you explain now," she said firmly.

"I can't right now," he said. His voice faded in and out like he was looking over his shoulder. Was he with someone?

Her heart sunk at the thought.

Mia laughed incredulously. "Are you kidding?"

There was more rustling on the other end. "I understand if you want nothing to do with me now," he confessed. "Just say the word and you'll never see me again."

Mia frowned. "You're my boss," she reminded. "You can't exactly quit."

"If you never wanted to see me again I would quit." His voice was a husky drawl that she hadn't realized just how badly she had missed until now.

She would have laughed. But his silence made it clear he wasn't kidding. Mia guessed when you had an endless supply if money, jobs became more like a hobby. Things you picked up here and there.

Because why not.

"You don't have to quit," she said. "I'm fine." She wasn't. But maybe once he explained it would make the sting in her heart more bearable. "I have a family dinner thing tomorrow. Should be a disaster," she added under her breath. All of the Frays together again under one roof. It would be the first family dinner in...she couldn't even remember.

Needless to say, Mia was dreading it.

"We can meet up before," she offered.

"Thank you," he said. "Just send me your address. I would offer you come to my house but, well you saw the state of it."

Mia nodded. She prayed he had a good explanation. "Okay, I'll text it to you."

"And, Fray?" he added.

"Yeah?"

There was a lengthy stretch of quiet before Harlan said, "I really am sorry."