Page 61 of The Parent Trap

“He was crying?” Thai says, laughing.

“Like a baby. Apparently he was afraid of heightsandwas claustrophobic. Now, I didn’t know that at the time, and I actually felt a little guilty when I found out. But when I say he hit on me, I mean he slapped my ass and told me—toldme—to meet him at his truck after work. Like, it was an order.”

“But…how could he mistake you for an errand girl?”

I shrugged. “I was dressed down. Bill, the on-site foreman back during phase one of Oak Glen, was sick, and I was filling in…so I was in jeans, a McKenna shirt, and a hardhat.”

“Oh.” He shakes his head. “But…even if you werejustan errand girl—” and here Thai uses air quotes around the emphasized word, “—I don’t get where he figured it was okay to slap your ass and order to you sleep with him.”

“Right? I did some digging after that and found out he was notorious for it. The company he worked for was a big one, with a sizable HR department, the head of whom I happen to be personal friends with. I explained to her what I’d experienced, but she was like, I can’t just take you on your word. So I set up a sting.”

“Uh-oh.”

“Yeah, big uh-oh. Now, this HR department was big enough that this one worker would never have met her personally. So, she did what I did—dressed down in jeans and a T-shirt and showed up acting like she was the cleanup crew or something. And sure enough, good ol’ Tony the ass-slapper cornered the head of his own HR department, gave her the ass slap and the see-me-at-my-truck order.”

He cackled. “I’m guessing that didn’t go well for him.”

I shake my head. “Last I heard, he was changing oil for eight bucks an hour in BFE, Arkansas. She fired him and had him blacklisted at every reputable and not-so-reputable contractor in three states.”

“Ohhh, shit. She wasn’t playing, was she?”

“Nope. Ember doesn’t play around.” I snicker. “I haven’t even told you the best part. When he cornered her, he didn’t figure in that Ember carries a taser on her person and doesn’t appreciate being cornered by big smelly men.”

“She tased him?”

“So hard he shit himself.”

“Guess he earned it, though.”

“He definitely did.”

“I just can’t help but wonder if that tactic ever worked for him? Like, just from a purely objective standpoint, I cannot imagine that cornering a woman at the workplace, slapping her on the ass, and ordering her to meet you at your truck would ever work. Like ever. Maybe if he was the big boss,maybe.” He glances at me. “I’m not condoning it, just wondering if it ever worked.”

I laugh. “Somehow, I doubt it. The real question is how he got away with it as long he did. There were several complaints registered against him, but he tended to move from company to company, staying just ahead of the complaints.”

“Being a piece of shit human always catches up to you, one way or another.”

“Well, it did for him.”

We’re back at the office in what feels like no time, but Thai doesn’t go into the parking garage. Instead, he idles near the entrance, looking like he’s thinking hard about something.

“Thai? The garage is right there.” I point, in case he missed it.

He looks at me. “We just landed a huge deal. You said it yourself—biggest of your career.”

“Yeah.” I eye him. “What are you getting at?”

“Let’s play hooky. Go do something fun.”

I roll my eyes. “Thai. We’re the bosses. We can’t take the rest of the day off. It’s barely past noon.”

“If you’re the boss, I’d think that would buy you at least a little leeway, right?”

“Wrong. The opposite. I have to be there before and after everyone and I have to work harder than everyone. I don’t play hooky.”

He frowns. “Maybe playing hooky is the wrong way to put it.” He holds up a finger, dials a number on his phone. It rings, and then Cal answers. “Cal, how’s it going?”

“Is that a general question, or a specific one?”