“I probably could have been a bit more understanding, but I don’t like to see people piling on.”
“About Pepper?”
He nodded. Just hearing her name set his heart racing. He missed her so much, and it had been less than twelve hours!
“I should have been paying attention when I came off. I also talked to Danny, and he said he sent her on without checking the ice was clear, so Pepper bears no responsibility here. I’m wondering if we should put out some sort of statement to that effect.”
“Saying that you were ogling some hot blonde in the crowd, so maybe lay off the mascot, guys?”
“Well, yeah.”
That made the GM laugh. “Social media has already outed you. Not sure anything we say will make the situation better from a PR point of view.”
“I’d still like something to be done. I should have done it myself on Insta or whatever, and I still could, but I’d like the team’s input here.”
Fitz tapped his fingers on his desk. “Work with Sophie on it. We’re happy to support both of you.” Fitz held the pause for a long beat, then said, “So about Deacon. I hear you’re reluctant to make an apology. I understand that, but it leaves us in a tricky position from a legal standpoint.”
Bast remained silent.
“You need to work with us here, Bast. We can get all this—the statement from the org supporting you and Pepper, the apology to Deacon—squared away in one well-worded release. And all you have to do is say sorry and make a charitable donation.”
All you have to do … it sounded so easy, but he’d shoved Deacon for a reason. To defend Pepper, and he sure as hell didn’t think he should have to negate that with an apology that implied Deacon’s behavior was correct. Kit was also adamant he should make amends, but right now Bast was feeling so damn stubborn about it all.
“I’ll think about it.”
“Okay. So how was Michigan?”
Et tu, Fitz? It was bad enough that his phone was filled with snarky comments and hot tub emojis—or a fire symbol along with a bathtub combo, which Kershaw had informed him was the closest anyone could get.
“Damn, this team is pretty gossip-y.”
Fitz shook his head. “You don’t know the half of it.”
32
Pepper inhaled a deep breath and knocked on the door to her father’s office.
“Come in!”
“Hey, Dad, got a sec?”
Her father looked up from his desk. She waited for his expression to turn grim, but it never did.
“Pepper, honey, you’re back.”
“Yeah, last night. I didn’t want to wake you. Thanks for getting my car and luggage back home.”
The words were barely out of her mouth when her father rounded the desk and took her in his arms. “I was worried about you.”
“You were?”
“Of course. I shouldn’t have sent you off with Durand like that. I wasn’t thinking straight.”
She swallowed. “You were thinking of the team, Dad. I get it.”
“Well, that’s been my problem, hasn’t it?” He sounded different. “Have a seat, honey.”
“O-okay.” She took a seat and waited for him to speak.
“I’ve been worried about you over the last few months, Pepper. You’ve been so unlike yourself, and I didn’t want to pry too much. I liked Gallagher, and I’ll admit that some of the stuff being said about you in the press got into my head. Your brother didn’t help.”
That hurt to hear, but she hadn’t done herself any favors by keeping it all inside.
“I’m not going to say I was completely blameless, Dad. But I did leave Kent because I didn’t see a way forward. Everything the tabloids said, and all the things that happened to him afterward—that can’t be placed at my feet. But I do blame myself for not standing up for myself sooner.”
Her father nodded his encouragement, so she went on.
“When everything fell apart, it was like this domino effect on my life. The broken engagement, the press getting involved, losing my internship, failing out of school. It was all so overwhelming, and I did not handle it well.”
“And I wasn’t much help.”
She shrugged. “You were going through your own stuff with Mom. Neither of us were in a position to help each other. I get why you’d want to just focus on work, and then when your personal life, meaning me, interferes with your professional life, the team, that had to be tough for you. I’m sorry I made things harder.”
He held up a hand. “Pepper, no more apologies. You’ve prostrated yourself enough, and I’m the one at fault here. I’ve been an idiot, and I’m sorry. Which I would have said even if Durand didn’t show up here this morning raging about how I’d gotten it all wrong.”
“Really?”
“Yep. Said I’ve been an idiot where you were concerned. And he was right. You know I hate saying that about anyone, Pepper, especially when it contradicts my own thinking.”
She chuckled. “I know you do.”
“So you want to tell me what’s going on there?”
“There?”
His eyebrow scooted north of his hairline.
“With Bast? Nothing whatsoever.”
John Calhoun looked at her squarely. “He’s just running around telling everyone that you’ve been wronged by the world, and nothing’s going on?”
She couldn’t believe he was still taking her part. Again, back in the real world. “We talked while we were stuck in Michigan. He’s a good listener, and I think we helped each other.”
“Hmm.” Her father sighed. “You could do worse than Durand.”
“I know, Dad. I was engaged to Kent Gallagher, remember?”
His grin was wry. “He went out of his way to defend you. Durand, that is. A week ago, and now again today. Pretty much told me where to go both times.”
Her heart thumped wildly. “He’s a good guy.”
“Yep.”
“Honestly, Dad. Bast and I have each other’s backs. That’s it. We’re friends.” After so long without someone in her corner, it felt good to know he still cared enough to maintain his defense of her.
And if she said the word “friend” enough, she might actually believe it was true.
On leaving her father’s office, Pepper ran into a cloud of perfume and blondness. Tara pulled her into a vise-like grip.
“Rowdy Rebel, Star Destroyer, you’re back!”
“Like a bad rash.”
“Come into my parlor.”
Pepper followed Tara into the room she’d set up as her salon.
“Have a seat and let me trim those split ends. Have you been using the conditioner I recommended?” She rubbed Pepper’s dry locks. “Never mind, I can tell you’ve been a naughty girl. Now, did I see you coming out of Coach’s office?”
“Yeah, we had a nice chat. Things are good.”
Tara nodded sagely. “That man is so tense. I get barely a word from him when he’s sitting in my chair.”
Pepper tried to imagine her father responding to Tara’s efforts to draw him out. To be a fly on that wall. “He’s not the chattiest guy.”