Chapter 5

Ella

This is not fine. This is anything but fine.

It's so beyond fine, in fact, that if someone were to demand I somehow fit an elephant into a matchbox, I'd smile and face that challenge because I'd have more hope there than I have for my current situation.

My first day at Strongarm Constructions was a complete and utter disaster. How could so many coincidences combine into such a giant freaking mess?

Rho. Rho is my new boss.

The estranged father of my children, who I had no way of contacting all these years, is my new boss and oh, by the way, he hates me.

I groan and grip my steering wheel with white knuckles as I make my way through the darkening streets of Whispering Pines—which I'll probably have to leave again any day now.

For the briefest of seconds, I'd felt something like hope spark within me when I'd seen his handsome, shocked green face behind those elevator doors. I'd immediately known him, my heart tugging in my chest with recognition, and I'd almost smiled.

But then he'd blinked, and his expression soured, and with it, so did my future prospects.

How did this happen? I can't even imagine how many unlikely events had to combine to have me end up here. It's basically too many for it to be a coincidence, as if someone weaved some sort of spell to get me here to this random small town in the middle of nowhere, which just happens to need a project manager for their new construction, which just happens to be getting under way as I just happened to be looking to leave my home and find a fae haven for my babies, who just happen to be fathered by my boss, who I absolutely would never have crossed paths with again if he hadn't somehow hired me.

And, judging by the way his eyes darkened with anger when he saw me, he wouldn't have hired me if he'd known who I was so somehow, on top of everything, he just happened

to not be a part of the interview process for some reason.

Jeez!

And what's more? I can't just run away from this. I need this job, there's nowhere more ideal for my babies, I've searched and searched. This is the perfect opportunity for us, and it might be ripped out from under my feet just as quickly as it came to me, all because my boss is…is…an immature jerk .

I catch sight of what looks like some sort of pub ahead of me, and I make the turn to pull into the parking lot, because I could most definitely do with a drink or three right now.

It could have been fate, seeing Rho again like this. It could have been the cherry on top for my babies, actually having their father in their lives in some capacity.

But instead, it turns out my attentive, attractive, gently smiling lover is actually a grumpy alphahole with a pole so far up his backside it's threatening to come out the other end.

I park haphazardly and slam my car door shut as I stalk towards the large, rustic looking building before me. There's a wooden board swinging from the awning by the entrance, which says ‘The Golden Griffin' in metallic golden script, and a stylized gold image of a griffin below.

The ornate wooden doors are swung open, and my heels clip loudly over the polished floors as I enter. A softly lit interior greets me, not particularly busy besides the stony-eyed gargoyle with huge wings, and a heavily bearded dwarf in the corner. I bypass the long wooden bench-tables and the variety-sized booths with worn leather upholstery, heading straight for the bar and the petite pixie woman who stands behind it.

"Pour me the biggest glass of Pinot noir you're legally allowed to serve me," I practically beg as I dump myself on the leather bar stool, throw my elbows against the wooden bar, and squash my hands against my cheeks to hold my head up. "Please."

She has pale skin and the prettiest coloring, with her eyes, pixie haircut and even freckles all a matching shade of lavender. She gestures behind herself and grins. "Would you like that troll-sized, or giant-sized?"

I glance at the glasses behind her. "Uh, on second thought, human-sized is fine. I don't think I can hold those without looking like an idiot."

She giggles at my response and turns to pour, and I watch her opalescent, dragonfly-like wings shimmering for a moment before she places a regular glass of red wine before me.

"Rough day, huh?"

"Ugh," is all I say, before grabbing at the glass and taking a hearty gulp.

"You wouldn't happen to be the human who's just moved into town, would you?" She asks it casually as she corks the bottle of wine and returns it to its place, and I take another, more normal sized sip.

"News travels fast around here, does it?"

She shrugs a slender shoulder. "It's a small town, and we haven't had someone new move in for a while now."

"Yeah," I say on a sigh, finally leaning back in my seat and settling myself in. "I started at my new job today, and it was…ugh . " Another sip of wine, and another smile from the pixie.

"Wanna talk about it?"

"No," I mutter morosely, before looking up from my drink. "It's just that, this was supposed to be a new beginning for me, it was going to solve all my problems. But my boss is a nightmare. He's going to fire me tomorrow. He nearly fired me today. I don't know what to do."

"Well, since we're not talking about it," the pixie says with a cheeky grin, "let me grab myself a stool and get comfy. Hold on."

When she returns, she sticks her hand across the bar for a handshake, before settling in and pouring herself a Midori and lemonade. "I'm Nib."

"Ella."

"Pleasure to meet you. Alright, you were saying…"

I give her an overview of my situation, explaining briefly that my boss and I have an ‘accidental, one-off sort of history' but not going into details. I know how small towns can work, and I'm not about to have the whole community whispering about me or my toddlers, and especially

not wanting it to get back to Rho, so I decide to leave out my babies. I am not anywhere near

ready to handle that potential explosion right now.

By the time I get to the end of my day, she's leaning forward in her chair looking extremely interested, so when the dwarf at the back orders another ale, she pours it deftly, flies over to deliver it quickly, and zips back before I've finished another sip of my own drink.

"There's no way," she all but whispers, her eyes shining with interest. "It's just so unlikely!"

"I know," I groan, before pulling my hair into a quick bun at the base of my neck, just to have something to do with my aggravated hands.

"But I'm sure it'll be fine," she says as she lifts her glass to her lips. "Give it time for the dust to settle. I doubt you'll be let go of that easily. Although if you don't mind me asking, where are you working?"

"Strongarm Constructions."

She immediately chokes on her drink and puts it down with a splutter. "Oh."

My heart sinks. "Oh, jeez, you know my boss, don't you? It is that bad. I'm going to be out of here within the week."

"No, no, don't be disheartened!" Her brows draw together apologetically, and she leans over to pat my arm. "Rhokar is a good guy, he's just a little…uh, well…"

"A little bit of a grumpy, stubborn ass?"

"I was going to say jaded." She quirks her lips in a lopsided smile, and I shove my hands against my cheeks again and slump over the bar.

"My life here is over before it began."

"Honestly, I don't think he's going to fire you just like that." She pauses, her eyes narrowing slightly in thought. "Probably. But he's always been more than fair to his employees. He looks out for them. If they have personal issues, he's been known to go out of his way to accommodate and help. I've heard all sorts of good things from his staff, even if his social skills are somewhat lacking."

"He hates me," I say without inflection, fiddling with the stem of my now empty glass. "You should have seen the way he looked at me. It was like I'd murdered his dog right in front of him, or something."

She winces, opening her mouth to speak, before her eyes narrow once more and she slams her lips shut.

My own eyes narrow in response. "What?"

"Nothing, nothing." She grabs my glass and stands. "Would you like another?"

"No, hold on, you were going to say something." I reach across the bar and rest my hand over her wrist. "My future is on the line here. Tell me, please?"

She chews on her bottom lip, and then leans in close.

"Okay, you didn't hear this from me , but…"

"Yes?" I prompt when a silence lingers between us, and then she begins to speak rather quickly, as if the story was spilling past her lips out of her control.

"So Rhokar… He used to be engaged to this gorgeous orc woman. She moved into town ten years ago and they immediately hit it off. They were together for ages, they seemed like a wonderful couple. Both of them good looking, seemingly perfect for each other. When he finally proposed to her nobody was shocked, we all expected them married and pregnant in no time, but then about five years ago she just disappeared. One day she was here, and the next, she'd cleared out of town a week before the wedding—and she didn't leave a trace behind her. Rumor is that even Rhokar didn't know she was going to leave."

"Oh…" I stare at Nib's slightly apprehensive face as she tells me this, and a whole new series of confusing emotions begin whirling through me. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah," Nib sighs. "He didn't really show it, he's always been a reserved sort of orc, but I think it affected him a lot. He definitely got a lot grumpier after that. He's been alone ever since, the whole town wonders what happened between them. I suspect he took it really hard."

My heart clenches in my chest, and I can't help but think about the way I must have mirrored the actions of his ex, in his eyes, when I left him the next morning without a word or explanation. A new level of meaning is suddenly superimposed over what happened between us that night.

But it was just a one-night stand, it's not that uncommon for people to part ways and never speak again, right?

I lean back in my seat, both annoyance and guilt now warring within me.

I mean, it isn't as if I've lived my life jumping from man to man on a nightly basis—far from it, in fact. But I'm heading towards my forty-second birthday, and I've been divorced for nearly eight years now. I'm a fully grown woman with needs that I occasionally need met, and I shouldn't have to feel guilty or responsible for one orc's ego regarding his past that I couldn't have known about. I have my own issues to deal with, damn it.

I'd run from him in fear. I know it wasn't the best way of dealing with my anxieties over commitment, and I wish I had been better about it. But his attitude suggests I'd betrayed him on the deepest level, when in reality, we hadn't even known each other. We hadn't owed one other anything. And yes, I regret leaving him the way I did, and I wish I'd gotten his number and had been able to contact him, but as they say, hindsight is twenty-twenty.

However, the way he treated me today far outweighs my mistake two years ago. He's acting like I'm a villain, when in reality I'm just a human who was still struggling with emotional trauma from her divorce, afraid, and battling my own demons. And now there's the guilt about the huge secret I'm keeping from him. I know I need to tell him about his kids, but when he all but threw me out of his office today, any thoughts of confessing went flying out the window.

I must be showing my agitated thoughts on my face, because Nib starts chewing on her lip again. "Oh, man, I've made it worse, haven't I? Don't tell anyone I told you!"

I shake my head and try to let go of the negative emotions, both the angry and the guilty ones, and attempt to put things into perspective.

"No, you haven't," I say after a frustrated sigh. "It's already a tangled mess. He absolutely didn't need to be such an angry jerk today. And he definitely shouldn't have threatened to fire me after three seconds, not to mention insult my character and dismiss my worth…"

I pull my hair suddenly out of my bun and shake it free, hoping to shake the negative emotions away.

"But," I continue, "I understand that everyone is dealing with their own battles, and without meaning to, I may have triggered something painful for him."

Nib shrugs slowly, her wings twitching in a nervous flutter behind her as she offers me an apologetic smile. "It does sound like it."

"I can be an adult about this," I say.

"That's the spirit!"

"One of us should be, after all."

Nib's wings twitch again. "Sure?"

"One emotionally constipated orc isn't worth losing a job over."

"Oh, well, yeah that's…"

"I'm just going to pull up my big-girl pants and get to work tomorrow with a can-do attitude, no matter how immature or unnecessarily volatile my new boss is."

"Um…"

"I'm not going to let him get to me. I'll prove my worth as an employee, and then I'll continue my life just fine in this beautiful town. I can always find a new job as soon this project is complete, and I've fulfilled my professional obligations."

"Uh…" Nib lets out an awkward chuckle, before flashing me two thumbs up. "Yay?"

I nod decisively, and pull out my card to pay. "Thanks, Nib. You've really helped me put things into perspective."

Her wings twitch as she smiles, before she squeaks out, "You're welcome?" and hurriedly mops down the bar top in front of me.