Conflict of Interest

I had my first therapy appointment on Friday, and the place was a 45 minute drive away.  I briefly considered canceling it, but I told myself I was being ridiculous and went.  Alyssa, the therapist, was young, upbeat, and had a good sense of humor.  I liked her right away.  I was able to tell her about what had happened with Jordan, plus we talked a little bit about what was going on right now with with the Sanders calling me.  We didn't talk about anything in much detail, as it was an initial appointment, but I felt comfortable, and I made an appointment to go back in two weeks.

 On Saturday, I called Nadine while I was at Brody's house.  "Hi, um, Mrs. Sanders?  This is Olivia."  I was so nervous to make this phone call that I was pacing the living room.  I tried sitting down in one of the chairs but stood right back up again.  Brody watched me pace. 

"Olivia!  Please call me Nadine.  Hello, dear," she said, sounding surprised and a little scattered.

"Hi," I said again, dumbly.  I shook my head at myself.  "I had some time to think and I'd like to meet you guys."  I cut right to the chase, not knowing what else to say.  There was silence in the other end for several long seconds.  Did I lose her?  "Mrs.--um, Nadine?  Hello?"

"Yes, yes, I'm here.  Sorry.  I'm just a little surprised, I didn't expect to hear back from you, honestly.  But I'm so happy to."  She sounded like she was near tears, and I was again surprised by her strong desire to find me and meet me.

"I know you live in Utah," I said, trying to redirect the conversation because I was a little uncomfortable with the display of emotion.  "What were you thinking?"

"Well, we try to get to Denver a few times a year.  We haven't been this winter yet, so I think we can perhaps arrange a weekend trip out there.  Our...well, we have some family in the area, so we can work our plans around your schedule and maybe we could meet for coffee or dinner or something.  Whatever you want.  We realize that this is probably a bit overwhelming for you, so we're willing to be flexible with what you want to do."

We talked for several more minutes, choosing a weekend that worked for both of us.  We decided to get coffee on the Sunday morning of that weekend, because I worked on Saturday.  She made no mention of the kids, and I didn't ask about them.  When I hung up, I blew out a shaky breath and sat down heavily on the couch next to Brody.  He squeezed my leg gently and I slid my fingers between his.

"So, three weeks, huh?" he asked.

I nodded.  "I didn't expect it to be so soon," I admitted.  "I'm not sure how I feel about that."

Brody looked like he was about to reply, but his phone rang.  He rolled his eyes and pulled it out of his pocket.  "Just a sec," he told me.  He answered it and spoke for a couple minutes.  "Sorry," he said after hanging up.

"It's okay," I replied.  "How is work, anyway?  It seems like you haven't been getting as many calls."

"It's been good since Pete and Neil started taking calls too," he said, putting his arm around me.  "Cassie has the next round of interviews set up, so hopefully we'll find a couple people and I can cut down my hours a little in general soon."  I liked the sound of that.

The rest of the weekend was low key.  We decided to stay in Saturday night, but we went out to brunch with Lauren, Alex, Kinsley, Christian, and Kendra on Sunday.  After brunch, Brody, Christian, and Alex went off to do guy things, and Lauren, Kinsley, Kendra and I went shopping.  I didn't find anything I felt like buying, but Lauren and Kendra both found a ton.  It was nice to hang out with them, in any case.

On Monday I was finishing up the contact note for my last client before lunch  when my desk phone rang.  I hardly ever used it, and I was surprised when Brody was on the other end.  "I tried your cell but it went straight to voicemail," he said.  I told him it must have died, and he practically interrupted me.  "Can we get lunch?"

I pulled up my schedule to double check, but I had two hours scheduled for lunch today because I was hoping to get ahead of some of my paperwork.  "Yeah, you have good timing, I'm just finishing up and I have a couple hours.  Is everything okay?"  He sounded weird.

"No, not really.  I'll tell you about it at lunch."  We made plans to meet in 20 minutes.  I finished my note and grabbed my stuff and left.

Brody was already there when I got there, pacing outside the door.  "Hi," I greeted him.  He gave me a perfunctory kiss on the cheek but he was obviously distracted.

Once we were settled with our food (and he had yet to say a word besides "hi") I looked at him and said, "Brody, what's going on?"

He rubbed his jaw and took a deep breath before talking.  "My dad is in a lot of trouble," he started.  I thought of the night he showed up at Brody's house and immediately grew nervous.  "I got a call today, from the police, or the FBI, or someone...I don't even know.  He's gone.  They think he left the country."

I stared at him.  "But...why?" I asked, confused.

"I don't know.  They wouldn't tell me what they were investigating, just that they were investigating him for some suspicious financial activity."  I continued to stare at him.  I had no idea what to say.  "Liv, if I hadn't left the company when I did..." he trailed off, but I knew exactly where he was going with it.

"Wow," I said, finally.  "So now what?"

He shrugged.  "The investigators know he was out here, so they want to talk to me a little more.  I've got a phone conference scheduled with them tomorrow.  I don't think there's anything else I can do, though." 

"Is there anything I can do?" I asked.  I tilted my head, trying to make eye contact with him.  He had been staring over my shoulder, but brought his eyes back to mine. 

"Can I stay at your house tonight?" he asked. 

"Of course," I replied.  "Is that it?"  He nodded.  We finished our lunch quietly.

"Are you going back to work?" I asked with concern as we walked out.

"I don't have a choice," he replied.  "I probably shouldn't have left for lunch, but I needed a break."  I nodded.  "I'll see you tonight," he said, when we got to my car.  He hugged me tightly and kissed me before pulling open my car door for me.  He leaned in and kissed me again, then shut the door carefully.

I focused hard on my clients for the rest of the day and managed to distract myself from thinking about Brody's dad.  When I got home, I started making dinner.  Brody walked in at about 7:30, right as I was finishing up.

"Excellent timing," I said with a grin.  He smiled weakly back.  I grabbed a beer out of my fridge and handed it to him as he walked into the kitchen, yanking off his tie.  He took it from me and caught me around the waist.

"Thank you," he murmured as he pulled me against his side.  I slid my arms around his waist and rested my head against his shoulder.  We stood like that for well over a minute, before I pulled away to turn off the stove.

"Are you hungry?" I asked.  He shrugged.  I handed him a plate, knowing he'd eat anyway.  He put food on it and sat down, pushing things around his plate.

I sat too, and was just taking my first bite when he suddenly said, "I got another phone call this afternoon."  I chewed and looked at him expectantly.  "It was the chairman of the board of my dad's company.  They want to hire me as a temporary consultant to help them straighten out this mess."  I froze, staring at him.

"So, does that mean...?" I couldn't finish my sentence.

He nodded.  "If I do it, they want me down there for a couple weeks.  They want me to fly down on Wednesday."

"Wednesday?" I squeaked.  I took a breath and cleared my throat.  "It's Monday.  And isn't it some sort of conflict of interest?"  I didn't like the idea of him going to Miami at all.  For one, it brought up bad memories of the last time he went...but much more importantly, I was worried about him getting involved in something he didn't need to be involved in, and adding to the stress and high emotion of the situation.

I could barely listen as he explained how it would work and why, as long as the investigators cleared it, it wouldn't be a problem.  "Liv," he said gently, when he was finished explaining.  "It won't be like last time."  I didn't say anything, not sure how to explain what I was really worried about.  "If you really don't want me to go, I won't."

I blinked at him in surprise.  "Really?" I asked, not sure if I had heard him right.

"Really," he said firmly.  "And if I do go, it will be totally different.  We're in a different place in our relationship, and I'd only be going for two weeks, three at the most.  And I don't work for the company anymore so they can't make me stay.  But if you're uncomfortable with it, I'll tell them no."

"No," I said quickly.  "I don't want you to do that.  I mean, I really, really appreciate that you'd say no for me.  But I'm okay with it.  Well, 'okay' probably isn't the right word, because I don't love it, but I'll live.  I'm really glad that you gave me the chance to weigh in though."  I stopped, abruptly cutting off my own rambling.  Brody laughed.  "Actually though, that's not really what I'm worried about."  Brody looked at me curiously.  "I'm worried about you.  This is a lot to take on."

"I'll be okay," he assured me.

"That's what I'm worried about," I replied.  "You'll say that, but will you really be?"

"You could come with me," he suggested.  We both knew that I couldn't, though.  

"I'd love to, if I wasn't still brand new at my job," I responded with a frown.

Brody helped me clean up after dinner and we went straight to bed.  He was completely worn out from a long day and the news about his dad, and I was feeling completely unmotivated to do anything but sleep.  It took me over an hour to to fight back the bad feeling I had long enough to fall asleep.