Page 3 of Love.V2 (Occupational Hazards #2)
Twelve years later
Dylan
Nashville, Tennessee
The empty hallway greeted me, shiny gray-veined marble as far as the eye could see. Pristine white walls. Vacuum lines still on the carpet from when the cleaners were here a few days ago.
It was good to be home.
I abandoned my beat-up carry-on somewhere near the island, and as my laptop bag thumped onto the counter, it dislodged a piece of paper that had been laying there.
“Congratulations, son. Hell of a deal.”
“It’ll bring in about ten million to start.
” I cradled the phone between my head and shoulder, digging into the depths of the freezer for a lasagna.
Desperate times called for desperate measures and all that.
My flight from Tokyo had been delayed twice, and that was after the entire fucking trip had been extended three different times.
What was meant to be a quick two-day visit to seal the deal of the year had drawn out into ten full days.
Now, after nearly thirty hours of travel, I wanted to eat something that wasn’t airport food, throw my arms around Tess, and sleep for the next week .
“That’s my boy.” The pride in my dad’s voice seeped through the phone, making me smile. “One step closer, huh? When are you finally gonna start running that place?”
Just like that, the happy feeling tanked. “I just won a multi-million dollar contract. Let me take the win before you complain I haven’t gotten promoted yet.”
“You know what I mean. You should be proud of yourself. But you can use this as leverage. Finally start taking the next step we’ve been working towards.”
I bit my tongue as I popped the tray into the oven.
I could remind him I was already well on my way up the corporate ladder, but we’d had that conversation before and it clearly hadn’t stuck.
Sometimes it seemed like no matter what I did, Dad still wouldn’t be satisfied until I got to the next level. Then the level after that.
“Yeah, sorry.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Just a long travel day. I’m getting there, but it’s a lot of work. That Aruba trip with Tess in a few months can’t come soon enough.”
Even before my ridiculously extended trip to Japan, I felt like I hadn’t seen her in weeks. I glanced around the condo. Where was she? Maybe still upstairs.
“Now’s not the time to take your foot off the gas, Dylan. You close a client this big, you need to be around to see it through. Show leadership you’re committed.”
I bristled. “Henry knows I’m committed.” I had years of late nights and closed deals behind me.
Henry Worther, CEO and founder of one of the world’s biggest media and advertising conglomerates, had personally taken a chance on a college grad with zero business experience, and taught me to be the best at what I did: Seal deals with some of the biggest companies in the world.
Now, I was the youngest VP in the company’s history with only one place to go from here: C-suite.
“He also knows I deserve a break, and Tess has been on me about working too much again.” I jogged up the stairs, padding across the carpet to our bedroom.
Huh. The bed was made, with towels folded on the end.
The maids left it like this when they came to clean every week, but Tess would have put the towels away and mussed up the covers by now.
“Tess doesn’t know what it takes to support a family,” Dad grumbled. I could feel my jaw clench as I checked the other rooms upstairs, only finding more of the same.
Where was Tess?
A beep sounded in my ear. Probably her. Maybe she had gone to stay with Lexi and Mac, or something.
The thought made me smile. She spent too much time holed up at home these days. It would be good to see her get out and do something with our friends.
“Dad, I gotta go. Tess is on the other line. Talk later, okay?”
“Remember what I said about leverage, son!”
I hung up without responding, frowning at the name on my screen.
“Henry?” I answered my boss’s call, jogging back down the stairs. The more time I spent in the house, the emptier it felt. I could practically hear my voice echo down the hall. Where was Tess ?
“Morris! The man of the hour!” Henry’s voice boomed. I pulled the phone away from my ear as I stuck my head into the garage. Her BMW was sitting in its usual spot, keys hanging by the door. “Impeccable work in Tokyo. I told Randy we’d have lost it if anyone other than you had been in the room.”
I let out a breath, the smile my dad had scared off growing once more.
“Thank you. They put some tricky stipulations in the contract, but we can make it work. I talked them down on a few things.”
“I know you put together a bang-up deal. I wanted to say congratulations to Tess, too. Is she there?”
My steps slowed as I turned a full 360 in the living room.
“Tess?”
“Yes! Her big promotion! Put her on.”
“Promotion?” My search ground to a halt at the threshold of the open-concept kitchen. Tess had gotten a promotion? I hadn’t even known she was up for one. She complained about her work in the creative department at Worther so much, I wasn’t sure she’d even take a promotion if it was offered to her.
“You don’t know yet? Oh, damn, I bet she was waiting to tell you once you got home from Tokyo. Don’t tell her I said anything.”
I turned, trying to take in the news and the state of my house at the same time. Unease pricked across my skull. “Tess got promoted?” Maybe she was out celebrating?
“Long overdue, if you ask me. Jinx couldn’t ask for a better creative director.”
A pit lodged in my stomach as I surveyed the living room.
White designer couches arranged beneath intricate iron chandeliers and recessed lights.
The massive, antique coffee table was free of its usual clutter—Tess’s books or my workout bag.
The flowers she liked to buy at the farmers’ market weren’t there either.
“Tess got the Jinx job?” I hadn’t even known she was applying for that.
She’d been excited when our company acquired the infamous little boutique agency based in Chicago, but she hadn’t told me she wanted to work there.
“Ah, shit, me and my big mouth. I’m gonna hop off the phone before I ruin anything else. Act surprised when she tells you! Great work in Japan, Dylan. Keep it up.” He ended the call.
I stared around for another beat. “Tess?” Only silence answered. “Tess?” I tried again, looking into my home office and even jogging to her paint studio above the garage. Her easel was empty, paints lined up in a precise row. A lump rose in my throat. Tess was never that neat when she painted.
I paced, scrolling through my phone to find our last messages.
Had it really been four days since I’d texted her?
When I was out of town, I usually tried to check in once a day, but the Tokyo meetings had gotten intense fast. I’d barely had time to plug my phone in at night before collapsing on my hotel bed.
In our last exchange, I’d told her the trip was being extended again.
She’d just replied, “Be safe.” The messages before that were equally transactional.
I tapped her name, but her phone went straight to voicemail. I shot her a text, immediately receiving an “Undeliverable” error message.
The oven pre-heat alert beeped, drawing my attention back into the kitchen where I’d dropped my laptop bag. There. I skidded on the slick marble tiles as I bent to retrieve the paper I’d dislodged earlier.
At the sight of Tess’s handwriting, the sharp clenching in my gut eased. There was an answer for why she wasn’t here. A reason .
But any relief I felt plummeted as I scanned the words.
Dylan,
We both know this is long overdue. I’m sorry it had to happen like this, but the truth is, I wasn’t sure I could do this if I had to say it to your face. By the time you get back to Nashville, I’ll be gone.
Please don’t try to contact me. It’s for the best that we both just move on.
- Tess
Bile rose in my throat as I re-read the words, brain spinning in a million directions at once. What was overdue? What did she mean, “gone?”
How the fuck did such an earth-shattering, life-altering, seismic shift in my life boil down to a few sentences? Tess was gone?
I looked around the house as if the white walls would give me any answers. Distantly, I felt a harsh shiver through my chest, like something had cracked open.
Tess was gone?
The paper fluttered from my numb fingers, once more the only thing out of place in the pristine white room.
Tess was gone.