Faith and Lies (Vera Reid, Reid Family Book #2)

Part 41

If anyone was surprised by Vera's unannounced appearance at the office, they weren't about to show it. She walked in confidently, heading straight to the conference room where pretty much the only lights were on, and simply asked how she could help.

It was strange to be there, to be sitting across the table from her father and sister, going through contracts. It was almost as if she had never left. While Michael and Romy continued picking at small details, and Ben continued to disagree with almost everything Romy said, Vera got a strange sense of nostalgia. She'd always known she didn't want to stay working with her parents forever, but she almost longed for it now.

It reminded her of a much simpler time and while she scanned page after page of the highlighted text, she almost felt the weight she'd been carrying around on her chest for the last two years disappear. It was like coming home, strange when she'd literally just been to her childhood home but it had not evoked the sense of safety and protection she was getting sitting at work.

Her father hadn't said a thing about it when she walked in and asked what she could do to help. He just handed her a stack and told her they needed some revision. Of course, there was no way she was going to get it all done in a couple of hours on a Saturday, so she volunteered a few hours a week to help them catch up while they hired a temp to take over George's responsibilities.

"So what time are you and Edwin planning to show up tonight?" Michael asked casually. Vera's eyes glanced up briefly before moving back to the contract in front of her.

"I'm not going." She said simply, turning the page.

"Edwin said you had agreed." Michael replied.

"I don't know. It's been a long week." Vera said honestly. She was tired, more tired than she had ever been. She felt like every day another piece of the wall she had so carefully built was chipped away. She already had to see Tom at the office all week, why would she voluntarily see him on her day off?

"What if Daniel Bard shows up?" Ben asked, making Romy raise a brow.

"You think he will? I'm beginning to think the man doesn't exist." Romy replied.

"And so what? You think Tom's been pulling this all off on his own." Ben asked.

"I doubt it." Vera muttered, trying to focus on her reading.

"Why? Tom's a smart man, I bet he could do a lot more than you think." Romy said.

"You have no idea." Vera replied.

"You three are being ridiculous. Of course Daniel Bard exists. The contact Vera's holding was sent over by his attorney." Michael said, prompting Vera to turn the contract over in surprise. She ran her fingers along the names at the bottom. There it was. Daniel Bard.

"Obviously we're just messing around." Vera said, turning the contract back over.

"I don't blame you. The man is hard to get a hold of. I'm doing business with him and I still havent't spoke to him even once." Michael replied.

"I work with Tom and I still haven't even managed to get a meeting." Vera said huffily.

"Really?" Michael asked and Vera looked up at him.

"Yeah. I figured you knew." Vera said, going back to the contracts. Michael shrugged.

"You don't really talk to us about work." He said, resisting the temptation to add on "or anything else for that matter."

Vera was quiet for a minute, feeling ashamed at how little she communicated with her parents. She'd done such a good job at pushing everyone away and now, as she sat here listening to them chat she wondered why she'd done it in the first place.