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Febe sighed heavily, her shoulders dropping now. “I’m apologizing to my friend who is hurting because our relationship hasn’t been what it should be. I’m sorry I haven’t been here.”

They fell into a gentle companionship. Cherish wanted to tell Febe it was okay, that she understood, but Febe wasn’t wrong. The hurt was there, and in this moment, it was stark and painful. Febe finished her coffee and set it on the table, eyeing Cherish over.

“Concerning our argument, I need to know that Haylee is passionate about the project and why. When we decided to add a specialty for the queer community—your idea—I understood your passion for it. Haylee hasn’t given me any reason to think she’ll stick around to see this project out. And with her work history…” Febe trailed off.

Cherish understood. She’d had those same thoughts, and even with knowing a bit more of the story than Febe did, she still questioned why this was so important for Haylee.

“There has to be passion,” Febe added.

“I know.”

“Is there a family member of hers who served? Someone who died? A friend perhaps?”

“I don’t know. She doesn’t exactly talk about her family much. Just her brother.” Cherish nervously wrung her hands together under the table.

“And that’s the problem.” Febe gently lowered her cup to the saucer when she realized it was empty, the tiniest clatter of sound echoed. “Do you remember how Bernie always was? She damn near glowed when she talked about her ideas for the foundation.” Tears filled Febe’s gaze. “You couldn’t shut her up about the things she was passionate about.”

“Yeah, I remember.” That age-old ache for Bernie hit Cherish hard and unexpectedly. She hated when it did that. She hated that Bernie had created so much hurt all because she wasn’t here anymore.

“Can you honestly tell me Haylee shows the same level of passion? Or even a similar passion?” Febe crossed her arms, her gaze direct on Cherish.

“No.” The word she forced out of her lungs was a betrayal. She knew it as soon as she spoke.

Cherish continued to stare at her almost full coffee she knew would be left behind despite how amazing it tasted. “I’ll talk to her.”

Febe stood and gave Cherish a small wink. “We better be back in the office before some headstrong therapist decides they run the business instead of me.”

Cherish did as she always did. She dutifully followed.

twenty-five

Haylee trembled. She held the business card, flipping it back and forth between her fingers, the sharp edges of the thick paper pressing into her skin. She kept glancing at Cherish, who wouldn’t stop looking at her with a curious glance.

Did she know?

Did she understand what Haylee was thinking?

What she was planning?

Biting her lip, Haylee sucked in a sharp breath and shoved the business card into her pocket. Febe was going to kill her. Dead as a doornail. Haylee stood up and grabbed her jacket off the hook.

“I’m going to snag lunch.”

“Okay?” Cherish paused her furious typing, her beautiful blue eyes locking on Haylee’s. She brushed her red hair behind her ear and tilted her head to the side, as if that would convince Haylee to answer the question she wasn’t asking. “We could go together.”

Haylee ground her molars. What was she supposed to say to that? Any other day, she’d jump at the opportunity for some one-on-one time with Cherish, but that had been happening so much lately. And it needed to stop. Relationships never lasted, and Haylee was hopefully about to throw a wrench into this one that would be the biggest benefit that she’d ever had in life. Because this wasn’t about a job anymore. It was about helping veteran families, and if Febe wasn’t going to allow Haylee to accomplish that, then she would find someone who would.

And that person was hopefully the one who had given her this card.

“Not today,” Haylee answered, cold rushing through her. Guilt punched her gut hard when she saw Cherish’s disappointment. “I need to talk to Jackson.”

“Oh. Okay.” Cherish clenched her fingers into a fist before she rubbed two of her fingers against her right temple.

Did she have another migraine already? She’d been having a lot of those lately. Sure enough, Cherish reached into her desk and pulled out the stark white bottle with pills in it. She dry-swallowed two of them before plopping the container back into the drawer. Haylee hated that she had to take so much of that. It wasn’t good for her body, but neither were the headaches.

Haylee zipped up her jacket and nodded her head, guilt still eating away at her. “See you in an hour.”

“Sure.” Cherish’s voice was so soft that if Haylee hadn’t been facing her, she probably wouldn’t have heard her.