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“Oh, Kat,” she breathes out. When I look up at her, she’s beaming back at me like I’d just told her something amazing. “I’m so happy you’ve found someone like that. I could tell the moment you walked in, you are in love.”

“Whoa.” I laugh, shaking my head. “We’ve been together a couple of weeks. No one said anything about love. Calm down.”

Her grin is knowing. “But you’re falling, aren’t you?” Her phone rings before I can answer, and she rolls her eyes, reaching for it. “Yes, Mr. Dalton?”

I stand a little straighter, glancing at the clock on the wall behind her. I’m still five minutes early, and as I listen to Nadine’s side of the conversation, I know Thomas wants me to come in as soon as I get here. I’m already heading toward his closed office when Nadine waves me away.

I knock on Thomas’s door once before pushing it open. He waves me in without looking up, so I move into the room before closing the door behind me. He hasn’t said a single word or even looked up by the time I settle into a chair across from him.

I clear my throat. “So, you wanted to see me?”

He holds a hand up before the sentence fully leaves my mouth. Chastised, and confused as to why I needed to come right in, I sink back in my chair and wait for him to finish whatever it is he’s working on. I try to distract myself by looking around his office, a room I’ve barely ever been in, but there’s nothing to focus on. It’s completely void of life and looks staged right down to the dusty fake Ficus in the corner.

When I was a kid, I wondered if my mom had married a robot. As a fully grown, rational adult woman, the thought passes through my mind again.

“Thank you for coming in, Katrina,” Thomas finally says about ten minutes later. He closes the laptop, steepling his fingers together on top of his desk. “We need to discuss the project you’ve been working on.”

My brows furrow. “Sure, of course,” I reply, trying to recall the details from my last email. “The pool installation is on track to be done this week—that’s for the inside pool. We ran into some issues with the wiring—”

His hand goes back up again, silencing me. “I’ve been receiving your email updates, Katrina. This meeting is not one for you to talk in. You need to sit and listen. Do you understand?”

He raises a brow as though he’s ready for me to challenge him, but I’m too stunned to say anything. If he’s happy with my reports, why am I here? So, I just wait for this to make sense.

“I’m taking you off the project.”

Immediately, I’m sitting up straight again. “I’m sorry, you’re what?”

“Taking you off the project,” he calmly repeats. “You’ll finish this week out and have the weekend to clear out your rental. I expect you back in the office by Monday morning.”

“But that doesn’t make any sense! I’m on track, under budget, and the clients are happy with my work. You even said you were pleased with my reports. Why would you take me off the project now? It’s halfway done!”

“Stop getting emotional. This is just business.”

“No, it’s personal,” I shoot back. “This is you refusing to take me seriously. What’s going to happen? I did half the work and now you can hand it over to Brent or Chad, and they’ll take the credit?”

Thomas rolls his eyes, leaning back in his chair. “This isn’t about credit. You’ve grown too close and, unsurprisingly, you’ve become too emotionally invested in this place and these people.”

My frown deepens. “What do you mean by that?”

“You’ve always been too emotional.” He peers at me over his glasses. “Now you’re helping a client’s girlfriend fix up a house for free—”

“I am doing that in my free time as a favor to a friend. I don’t understand what that has to do with anything.”

Thomas glares at me, peeved over being interrupted. “You’re not acting like yourself, Katrina. Arguing with Will, spending all your free time with clients, refusing to answer your boyfriend’s calls.”

“Will and I broke up, Thomas.” I keep my tone even, not letting my anger bubble over any more than it already has. Not only that, but Will hasn’t reached out to me once. “I’m dating someone else now and am under no obligation to answer any attempted communication from Will.”

“That’s just ridiculous.” Thomas waves me off. “Why would you end a perfectly healthy relationship?”

“Because it wasn’t healthy.” He scoffs, but I keep going. “I ended things because he did something horrible and he has no regrets about it. I ended it because he spent two years treating me like shit and has no regrets about it. He doesn’t care who he hurts to get where he wants to be. I don’t want to be with someone like that.”

“Will has goals, ambition. You should want someone like that,” he stresses. “Someone who can pick up your slack when you fall short, which you often do.”

The words ring in my ear, the meaning behind it more evident than ever: I will never be good enough for him. For most of my life, that’s really bothered me, but lately, I’ve found myself caring less and less. I don’t need to stick around people who make me feel like shit about myself.

“I don’t feel like doing this, Thomas,” I admit. “I’ve spent my whole life justifying who I am to you, and I’m sick of it. Why don’t we just acknowledge the truth you never wanted to own up to? You never wanted to be a father, and I’m nothing but a disappointment to you.”

Thomas stares back blankly but doesn’t argue. The words settle around us before he speaks again. “Now that you’ve gotten that out of your system, let’s move on to the reason you’re here.”