Page 39 of Isolated (Harper Security Ops #21)

Though I’d gotten there in what had to be record time, it still felt like it had taken entirely too long to get to my girl. And I knew things weren’t good when she hadn’t come outside or already had her door open when I arrived.

I knocked, waiting for her to answer, and each second that passed put me more and more on edge.

After what felt like an eternity, I heard the lock on the door. And a moment later, I was met by Iris’s red-rimmed, dull eyes and stooped posture. Her chin wobbled, and that was all it took for me to step forward, kicking the door shut behind me, as I hauled her against my chest.

She came easily, her body colliding with mine.

The second she was in my arms, Iris broke down, sobbing.

I wanted to ask questions, to get answers, but I knew it’d be useless until she got everything she was feeling out.

Iris’s breath hitched several times, the sound having me on the verge of losing my mind. I hated hearing her so upset.

Eventually, I bent down and scooped Iris into my arms. I moved to the couch and settled her in my lap, stroking my fingers through her hair to offer her the comfort she clearly needed.

It took some time, but Iris finally calmed down. She’d spilled enough tears to fill a small pond, though, so I was fully prepared to get to the bottom of what happened and fix it.

With one hand still in her hair, and the other arm draped over her legs, I stroked my thumb lightly against her thigh. “Tell me what happened today, sunshine.”

Her forehead was pressed firmly against the side of my neck. “I’m sorry. I?— ”

“No apologies. You never apologize for needing me. Okay? I’m here for you whenever you need me. You got it?”

She nodded against me.

“Good. Now, just tell me what happened.”

Iris released a long, slow breath. “It’s been building and building, and it’s become too much. I can’t pretend any longer that everything is going to be fine. Because it’s not. It’s all falling apart.”

“What does that mean? What’s falling apart?”

“Everything. All my friendships. My relationships.”

My brows drew together, my fingers still stroking her scalp. “Which ones, specifically? I want to help you, sunshine, so you’ve got to give me details.”

“Work ones, especially with my friends, Steph and Kasey.” Her fingertips began stroking absentmindedly against my chest. “Then there’s my sister, Eleni, and even Walter.”

I blinked in surprise. “Walter? What happened with him?”

“I think he’s upset with me. Everybody is upset with me. But except for work, which is still partly a mystery, I have no idea why everyone is mad at me.”

Tugging lightly on her hair, I urged her head back so she could look at me. “I’m not mad at you. Not at all.”

“It’s like you’re the only person I have left.”

This made no sense. “Alright. Well, I’m not going anywhere, so you don’t have to worry. Let’s take this one thing at a time. Why do you think Walter is mad at you?”

“Ever since you came over last Wednesday to have dinner with me, he’s not been the same.

Actually, it was probably a few days before that when I noticed he started keeping his distance.

But when I saw him the day we had lasagna together, he told me he’d been working on some housecleaning projects.

I didn’t think twice about it, but when I stopped over the next day to give him some of the leftover lasagna, he didn’t come to the door. ”

“Maybe he wasn’t home.”

“His truck was in the driveway.”

“Could he have been in the shower or out with someone?”

Iris shrugged. “It’s possible. But I saw him outside a day later, and the moment I walked out, he rushed inside. I tried not to think too much about it and still went over to see him, but he wouldn’t answer the door.”

I wasn’t sure what I could say to explain this or to make her feel better. “You did say he was a grouchy old man. Maybe he’s just got something on his mind.”

“Walter is grouchy, but he’s never taken it out on me. He’s never been downright mean.”

Sighing, I said, “Tell me what’s going on with your sister.”

She groaned, nothing but frustration in the sound. “Eleni stopped talking to me the weekend she and Flora came out to visit.”

“What?”

Iris pulled her face back from my chest to look at me and said, “I have no idea why. We came home from the pub the night you were there. She refused to talk to me that night, and the next morning, she just left. I’ve been calling her almost every day since then, and she won’t answer any of my calls. ”

Suddenly, I saw a link between these two scenarios—me. Both Walter and Eleni pulled away from Iris when I entered the picture. As much as I didn’t want to, I had to throw it out there.

“Do you think your sister was upset with you because I showed up and monopolized your time that night?”

She shook her head. “No. She was already in a mood when we were out to dinner. Technically, Eleni hasn’t been herself since I moved out here.

About six months ago, things became even more strained between us.

And over the last two or three months, she’s been particularly miserable toward me. I don’t know why.”

“And Flora?”

Iris shrugged. “She’s been mostly fine. She still takes my calls.

But I’m so frustrated with Eleni that I’ve taken it out on Flora.

I’ve called her to apologize, and she accepted my apology, but even that relationship feels strained.

And I can’t even call my parents about it, because they’re traveling, and I don’t want to ruin their time. ”

I hated that Iris was dealing with this, but there was some small part of me that was relieved to know there’d been some tension between her and her sister before I ever entered the picture. I didn’t think I could walk away from her now.

“Alright. Tell me about work,” I urged her.

Tears filled her eyes again as she dropped her head back against my shoulders, pressing her forehead into my neck once more.

“It’s been a couple of things over the last week and a half.

I mean, I guess it’s been longer than that.

Truthfully, things haven’t gotten any better at work since the day Robert asked me to take the remainder of the week off. ”

My body went rigid beneath her. “I thought everything was going okay. You promised me you’d tell me if you had any more problems, so I could help you.”

She bolted upright, terror in her eyes. “Are you upset with me, too?”

God, the panic she felt. I reached up and stroked my fingers lightly through her hair. “No, sunshine.”

“You’re the only person who seems to like me right now, so I don’t think I could handle that on top of everything else.”

I smiled at her before tucking her close to me. “I’m not going anywhere, Iris. I only wish you would have told me you were having trouble at work again, even if only so I could be supportive. Is there still something going on with your emails?”

“Not with the emails, specifically, but things have been strained in general. I’m still dealing with colleagues who whisper when I walk past or ignore me in meetings.

But the biggest problem was that I was cut out of putting together a campaign for a huge potential client.

If it hadn’t been for Steph and Kasey telling me about it, I wouldn’t have even known the company approached us. ”

My brows pulled together. “So, you’re on good terms with your friends, then.”

“Well, I was. But after I found out about that, I decided I was going to put something together anyway. I mean, how can you cut the marketing director out of such a big project? My plan was to work on something on my own, and when the time came to present it, I’d come out with it.”

I loved her ambition. I loved knowing that, no matter what came her way, this woman did not give up. “I’m proud of you, Iris. That takes guts. What I still don’t understand is how your friendships have been impacted.”

“I needed Brett’s help.”

“Who’s Brett?”

“He’s one of the software developers,” she revealed.

“Okay. Well, what happened with him?”

“As much as I wish I had the capability to do the sorts of things Brett is capable of, I don’t.

So, I had to enlist his help to create something I’d need for my proposal.

I didn’t tell him any of the specifics I was working on, only that I needed him to develop this specific thing.

He told me he could get it done for me within the week.

That was last week, and yesterday, he approached me to let me know it was completed.

I wanted a demonstration of how the program he created would work, so while he was in my office, he loaded the program onto my laptop and gave me a quick presentation.

Unfortunately, the office has some gossips, and one of them happened to see Brett in my office when I initially asked him about helping and again yesterday.

Apparently, she decided to tell others around the office about it.

That’s not uncommon for her, so I wasn’t worried when she saw us.

It’s not like she knew what we were working on.

Plus, it’s not unreasonable to presume that I would’ve needed Brett’s help on some other project.

But today, at lunch, I guess Steph noticed how I offered a friendly smile of appreciation to Brett when I walked into the lunchroom, and she questioned me. ”

Something about that felt unsettling. “Why would she question you for being friendly with a coworker?”

Pulling her forehead away from my neck, so she could look at me again, Iris explained, “I think it’s partly because Nova spread some gossip about Brett being in my office and us working on something.

But it’s mostly because Brett is the shy guy.

Any time a girl looks at him, he blushes.

So, I guess Steph must have initially thought that Nova was simply spreading rumors, but when my friend saw me have that small bit of interaction with Brett, she couldn’t ignore it. ”

Iris seemed to think that was enough of an explanation, but I was still a little lost. “Why is Steph mad about that, though? I don’t understand why she’d be upset.”

It was at that question when I saw the weight of the situation settle on Iris’s shoulders. Evidently, there wasn’t something I had missed as she relayed the story. She simply hadn’t reached the part of it that would give me the explanation I needed to understand.

“Steph and Kasey are the ones who told me about the campaign.” Iris blew out a deep breath.

“When Steph questioned me at lunch about what was going on with Brett, insisting she’d believed Nova had been making things up, I told her the truth.

Steph and Kasey are the only real girlfriends I’ve made since moving here.

Sure, I’m friendly with a lot of people, and until recently, I’ve always gotten along with everyone at work.

But Steph and Kasey are the ones I maintain friendships with outside of work.

And everyone knows it. So, they’re both really upset with me for deciding to put together a campaign for this potential client, because with the consultant there and jobs on the line, they suspect their jobs might be vulnerable.

They believe everyone is going to know that they are the ones who told me about it, and they’ll be on the chopping block as a result. ”

The pain and heartache were etched into every feature, leading me to feel an overwhelming sense of heaviness. If I could have snapped my fingers and fixed this that quickly, I’d have done it in a heartbeat.

Stroking my thumb along her cheek, I spoke softly. “I’m so sorry you’re going through all this. But I’m here. And I’m going to do whatever it takes to get you to the other side of it. For tonight, I’m going to order some dinner, and we’re going to have a quiet night in.”

She winced. “We were supposed to go out tonight. I’ve ruined that, too.”

“You didn’t ruin anything, Iris. You’re going through a tough time here, so we can adjust our plans. I’m happy as long as I’m spending time with you.”

My beautiful girl’s features softened a touch, a hint of appreciation replacing the pained expression. She draped her arms over my shoulders and pressed her body tight to mine. “Thank you for being here for me, Landen. As upset as I am about everything, I’m so grateful for you.”

I hugged her tightly, reassuringly. “It’s my pleasure, sunshine.”

After releasing her hold on me, she swiped at her cheeks. “I’m probably a big mess.”

“You’re beautiful. But why don’t you run upstairs, get yourself cleaned up, and comfortable? I’ll take care of dinner tonight.”

She touched her lips to mine in a chaste kiss before she took off.

And after we ate dinner, the two of us cuddled up on the couch together. All I wanted to do was give Iris the comfort she needed to relax for the night. Apparently, I’d done it well enough, because she fell asleep in my arms.

For a long while, I stayed like that with her, watching her sleep peacefully as I attempted to come up with solutions to each of the situations weighing so heavily on her heart.

When it got late, I lifted her in my arms and carried her upstairs.

I’d never been before, but I didn’t have the heart to wake her, nor would I just leave her on the couch.

I located her bedroom, eased her onto the mattress, and pulled back the blankets.

Just as I pulled them over her, she woke and reached out to me. “What… What are you doing?”

I sat on the edge of the bed. “You fell asleep downstairs. I was going to get you tucked in and lock up when I leave.”

Her fingers squeezed my hand as her eyes drifted shut. Everything was so still, so silent, for several beats, I figured she’d fallen back asleep. But right as I was about to stand to leave, she looked at me again with such longing in her gaze. “Will you stay with me?”

“What?”

“For tonight. Just tonight. I don’t want to be alone. I have a spare toothbrush, if that’ll convince you.”

Amused, my mouth curved into a smile. Such a dark day for her, and she still found a way to make me smile.

Toothbrush or not, it was in that moment I knew there wasn’t anything Iris could ask of me that I wouldn’t go out of my way to give her.

“Let me go downstairs and lock up the house. I’ll be right back. ”

Her lips parted with relief. “Okay. Please hurry.”

So that’s what I did, unable to ignore how good it felt to know that Iris trusted me enough to take care of her when things got tough.