“Getting burned out already, Cole?” Alex asked.
The question took him by surprise, and he wondered whether that was actually the case. Was he getting burned out? He hadn’t thought about it like that, but yeah, he might just be. Seemed rather unexpected since Cole hadn’t worked for Alex for long, but considering he’d been self-employed for most of his life, working for someone else wasn’t doing it for him.
Especially when he seemed to be taking over the role of salesman instead of what he’d originally been hired to do.
Rather than answer the question because he wasn’t sure he wanted Alex to know the truth just yet, Cole opted to redirect back to the original subject. “I don’t appreciate being sent to slaughter. There was no way that asshole was going to be satisfied with our services, no matter how I tried to convince him,” Cole explained, feeling a rare burst of anger penetrate his bloodstream. For some reason, he felt set up.
“Sorry about that,” Alex began, “I don’t disagree. I’m sorry I didn’t warn you ahead of time. Things have been a little crazy lately.”
Cole detected something in his boss’ tone, and from what he heard, Alex wasn’t telling him the whole story.
Instead of questioning Alex, Cole opted to put the conversation on the back burner for a little while. It would give him time to cool off, which he desperately needed. He had no desire to be pissed off when he was looking forward to lunch with Sierra. He’d rather be preparing for the conversation he was hoping to have with her. It seemed as though she were trying to give him and Luke more alone time these days, but he didn’t quite understand why. For the last few nights, when he finally made it to bed, Sierra had been fast asleep. He knew she was tired from the pregnancy, but he couldn’t help but wonder if something else was bothering her. At least he would have the opportunity to ask her.
“I’d appreciate some warning in the future. It’s done and over with. I won’t try and convince the man, and as far as I’m concerned, our services aren’t right for him anyway.” It felt like déjà vu. Cole was pretty sure he’d said the same thing to Alex about the last dozen sales calls he’d gone on.
“Agree.” Alex paused, and Cole waited patiently for him to continue. “I’ll catch up with you later.”
The abrupt end to the conversation took him by surprise, but Cole disconnected the call and focused on driving. Only five more minutes and he’d be with Sierra. A little alone time with her was just what he needed at the moment.
~~*~~
“Are you all right?”
Sierra’s blunt question surprised Cole a little as he finished eating, having spent the last half hour trying to conjure up enough courage to ask her basically the same question she just spouted.
For the most part, neither of them had talked much, aside from discussing what they’d done that day and how their afternoons were lining up. Based on her question, Cole hadn’t been as effective at hiding his pent up frustration nearly as well as he thought he had. Focusing on her was easy, but his conversation with Alex kept pricking at him, leaving him with more answers than questions.
“Fine, why?” His answer didn’t sound exactly truthful, even to his own ears, but he wasn’t sure what else to say. It wasn’t like he was going to burden Sierra with his problems at work. The goal was to keep her as stress free as possible these days.
“Well, aside from the fact that you’ve been quiet almost the entire time we’ve been here,” Sierra replied, a small smile on her lips as she sipped her water.
“Quiet?” Cole laughed. If anything, he felt as though he’d been talking too much.
Sierra’s smile grew, and Cole’s heart constricted. He loved when she smiled, even if it was one of those small ones that said she was still worried but she wasn’t going to push him to talk. She had learned early on not to push because, between him and Luke, they very rarely shared much emotion.
“How’s work?” she asked after the waiter returned to the table to clear the plates away.
“I’d prefer to talk about anything but work,” he said hastily.
“Ok.”
“Sorry. Things aren’t going that great right now, and I’m not sure what Alex is up to.”
“Ashleigh told me she’s worried about Dylan.”
“I’m thinking that might be it. He’s been sending me out on these ridiculous sales calls, when in reality he should be the one handling them.”
“Well, it makes sense if Dylan’s not pulling his weight at the office. Have you talked to him about it yet?”