Grant stood.
Elise clasped Rome’s hand in hers, squeezed it, and headed toward her brother. “Look who I found,” she said casually.
“Welcome back,” Grant said slowly, his face inscrutable.
Brenna launched herself off of Grant’s desk, sprinting across the room with her arms wide. “Yay, it’s Rome!” She flung herself onto him in a hug that surprised him. Rome gave Elise an amused look and awkwardly patted Brenna’s back. “Hey, Bren.”
She let him go and went to Elise’s side, elbowing her. “Looks like the ‘perpes’ plan worked after all, huh?”
Elise flushed bright red.
“Perpes?” Rome asked.
“Yeah. Beth Ann suggested that Elise get your attention by telling you that she was pregnant. I suggested herpes, but that might have made you run in the other direction.”
“Lovely,” Grant said in a dry voice. “Why don’t we all sit down and talk for a minute, okay?”
Brenna snapped her fingers. “I’ll put on some coffee. Nobody move!” She bounded back to the kitchen.
Grant gave her retreating back a patient look and then gestured at the sofas by the massive lodge fireplace. “She’s a little excited to see you again, Rome.”
He’d bet she was the only one. He liked Brenna. She was offbeat, but incredibly friendly, and he suspected that he’d have never been hired if it weren’t for her. “I’m happy to see her again, too.”
“Rome and I wanted to talk to you this morning,” Elise said in a firm voice. “About everything.”
“Well, then.” Grant headed toward the couches.
Elise gave his hand another little squeeze and followed her brother over to the sofas. She and Rome sat across from Grant, and they stared at each other uncomfortably.
“So,” Grant said. He folded his hands in his lap and looked at them expectantly.
Rome had the odd feeling of a naughty child seated in front of a disapproving parent . . . which was rather ironic, given his upbringing.
But Elise sat forward on the sofa and gave Grant a direct look. “I want to ask you a few questions.”
“Shoot.”
“Before you found out about Rome’s past, did you find him to be a bad worker?”
“Elise, honey,” Rome began, reaching for her.
She shrugged him away. “No, I want to know the answer to this. Before you knew about Rome’s past, did you find him to be a bad worker?”
Rome watched as Grant’s jaw seemed to visibly clench. He relaxed when Brenna sashayed out of the kitchen holding a tray with four mugs of coffee on it, and began to place them in front of each person. “No, Rome wasn’t a bad worker. He wasn’t great, though.”
Rome bit back his own frustration. Grant wasn’t going to bend on his opinion of him. This was useless.
“Why is that?” Elise persisted.
“Well, you have to admit that he’s not trained for the position,” Grant began, taking a cup of coffee for himself. “I specifically told Brenna we needed someone with certifications and experience.”
Elise waved a hand. “Ignoring that—was he a bad employee?”
Grant shot him a look. After a long moment, he answered. “No.”
“Was he ever late? Rude? Demanding?”
“You mean other than when he totally abandoned his job on the day we opened the paintball course?”
“What Grant means to say is no,” Brenna added helpfully, giving her fiancé a firm look. “And he knows that was his fault as much as anyone’s.” She leaned in, coffee cup in hand. “What my boo here isn’t saying is that he was wrong.”
“Brenna,” Grant began.
“No, you were wrong,” she continued. “Pop and Dane were just filling your ear yesterday about how much they missed having Rome around. They said he was a great worker, didn’t they?”
Rome was surprised to hear that. He really liked both Pop and Dane. They were good guys. But he’d thought they’d turn against him like Grant had the moment they found out who he was. He began to relax a little. Maybe he’d made some friends here after all.
Elise looked over at him, beaming with pride and love.
“Anyhow, the others and I had a meeting and we agreed that if Rome came back, his job should be given back to him,” Brenna announced, moving Grant’s arm and sliding into his lap.
“What?” Grant asked. “When was this?”
“When you were busy, sweetie. We made a group business decision.”
“A group decision? I’m the only one who works in this damn office,” he grumbled.
She pinched his cheek. “You’re so cute when you’re grumpy.” Brenna looked over at Rome. “He’s sorry. He has control issues when it comes to people he cares about. We’re working on the whole ‘letting go’ process, but he’s still struggling.”
Elise blinked and stifled a giggle, then put her hand on Rome’s knee in a possessive gesture that he rather liked. “You mean he’s finally acknowledging that he’s an obsessive control freak?”
“Hey now, when did this become about me?” Grant blustered, even as Brenna began to speak again.
“Oh, he’s not really admitting it,” Brenna continued. “But he knows it’s a problem. We’re working on it. I took him skydiving. You should have seen his face—”
Grant clapped a hand over Brenna’s mouth to silence her. He looked over at Rome and shook his head. “You sure you still want to work here? Nothing but a bunch of crazies around me.”
Rome supposed that was pretty close to an apology. He smiled. “I’m good with crazies.”
“Then . . .” Grant got an unfocused look on his face and he lowered his hand. “Brenna, quit licking me.”
“I thought when you put things against my mouth, I was supposed to lick them,” she said in a flirty voice.
Grant made a noise that could have been either embarrassment or frustration.
“Rome wants to tell you something about his incarceration,” Elise said, looking at him with love in her eyes.
Grant and Brenna stopped playing around, and their attention swung back to him. “Oh?” Grant asked.
Rome shifted in his seat uncomfortably. He hadn’t anticipated Elise bringing this up. “It’s okay. They don’t need to know.”
“I want them to know the truth,” she said steadily. She reached for his hand and squeezed it.