Page 2 of Should Our Hearts Catch Fire

The door softly clicks open moments later, and Tony walks in. He gives Ellis a tightlipped smile. Yeah, this is gonna go great.

“Afternoon, Mr. Re—Sorry. Ellis,” he corrects himself with a nervous laugh.

Ellis’ preference to be called by his first name has nothing to do with trying to be besties with his employees or any hippie shit like that. ‘Mr. Reeves’ just reminds him too much of his dad.

He doesn’t want to be his dad. Nor his brother, who he’s pretty sure wasn’t called Cal by anyone but his PA.

“Hi, Tony. Thanks for seeing me today.” Tony, the saint, doesn’t point out that one doesn’t exactly have a choice if the boss wants to see him. “Take a seat, please.”

Tony approaches the desk with an aura of someone walking to their execution. Which…isn’t too far off. He lowers himself into the chair, eyes fixed somewhere on Ellis’ chest instead of his face.

Ellis suppresses a sigh. He interlaces his fingers and rests his forearms on the paperwork in front of him. He opens his mouth to speak and…the speech he lost sleep over flies out of the window.

“Fuck this,” he mutters to himself. Leaving behind the stiff-ass posture of a super-composed CEO, he sinks back into his chair ungracefully. “I assume you know why you’re here?”

The bob of Tony’s throat and the inward curl of his shoulders tells him everything.

Tony nods stiffly. “I think it’s pretty obvious.”

If only obvious meant easier to deal with.

“As you’re well aware, we took a huge hit by losing the Weston deal.”

Another nod. “I am.”

“I know this will mean bugger-all in the grand scheme of things, but I want you to know this isn’t some kind of punishment. It’s not a way to take my frustrations out on you. Inevitably, I need to start laying off people, and since you were in charge of the project, I really have no choice. I’m sorry.”

There. All done. That wasn’t too bad. Tony seems like a reasonable guy. Hopefully, he’ll accept the consequences and leave the office in a dignified manner, so Ellis can finally breathe.

Or not.

“Mr. Reeves—sorry, Ellis,” Tony blurts out, his hands shaking. “I understand. I do. And I hate to put you in this position, but…is there any chance you could reconsider? I know I screwed up. It was one time and I swear it won’t happen again.”

So much for getting off easy.

Ellis summons his best, sympathetic expression. “Tony.”

“I made one mistake. One. My mind was all over the place because my wife was about to give birth and I forgot about—”

“Tony,” Ellis repeats, firmer this time. Fuck, he hates to be the bad guy. “I know. We’ve been over this. This is on my brother. He was the one who didn’t sign off on the project.”Probably too hungover to stay on top of his shit.“That was his responsibility. But it was also your responsibility to remind him of the deadline. And I know—” He holds up his hand when he senses Tony wants to interject. “It was just unfortunate timing. But it cost us a lot of money. I can’t afford to have you on board.”

“We just had a baby, Ellis,” Tony reminds him. Because that’s exactly what Ellis needs: more guilt-tripping. “My wife is on maternity leave. I need this job.”

“You don’t. You needajob.”

Tony swipes a hand over his face to get rid of the tears Ellis has been pretending not to notice. “No one will take me without references. This was my first big project. And I screwed up.”

“I’ll write you references.”

Tony's head snaps up. “What?”

“I’ll write you references,” Ellis repeats patiently. “But you can’t tell anyone why you don’t work here anymore. Make something up. But don’t tell them.” If his dad was here now, he’d disown him on the spot.

Tony stares at him in bewilderment. “I… You mean that?”

“Yes,” Ellis says, a hint of impatience bleeding into his voice. “But you can’t—”

“I won’t tell,” Tony says quickly and stands up, an arm stretched out towards Ellis. “Thank you, M—Ellis. Thank you.”