Taylor scuttled out, and Amadi followed.
Glenn rounded on Robby then. “Just what are you and that horndog personality of yours trying to accomplish? Are you trying to drive me into bankruptcy? Is there one woman in this company you haven’t screwed?”
Kelly raised her hand cheerfully in the back corner. “He hasn’t screwed me!”
“Keep it that way,” Glenn growled.
“Yeah,” Doghouse added. “Keep it that way.”
“Yes, sirs,” Kelly said, saluting them both.
“Hey, Kelly,” I said with a wave.
“Hey.”
But Glenn wanted answers. “What are you doing?” he demanded of Robby. “What are you thinking?”
“I made a mistake,” Robby said.
“You sure as hell did.”
“No,” Robby said. “I made a mistake when I broke up with Hannah.”
“Oh God,” I said, smacking my hand on my forehead and walking toward the door. “Seriously?”
But Robby stopped me. “You can’t go.”
I gave Glenn a look. “Are you really gonna make me stay for this?”
Glenn tilted his head. “I believe we still have work to do. You remember work?”
“What am I supposed to do?” Robby demanded of Glenn, in a voice like there was no bigger victim in this room than him. “All day long, I have to watch these monitors.” Robby turned to me. “You know we put cameras everywhere, right? Whatever you two do outside, I’m watching it. If he gives you a piggyback ride. If he helps you in the garden. If he shows you tricks on the horse, or he teaches you how to do a handstand, or he stares at you when you aren’t looking. I see it all.”
Wait. Jack stared at me when I wasn’t looking?
Robby kept going. Back to Glenn: “You did this to torture me.”
Glenn didn’t even lift his eyebrows. “Absolutely.”
“Well, it’s working. It’s driving me insane.”
“Good. You deserve it.”
“Is this personal?”
“It’s life,” Glenn said. “And if you’re smart, you’ll use it to get stronger.”
I squinted at Robby. “Is this a caveman thing? Is this a chemical, knee-jerk, nobody-can-have-my-former-woman thing? Are you peeing on me to mark your territory?”
Kelly was still listening. “Please don’t let him pee on you.”
I gave her a look. “Metaphorically.”
But Robby shook his head. “I’m sorry, okay? I should never have let you go.”
“Let me go?” I said. “You didn’t let me go. You abandoned me.”
“I take it back.”
“There’s no taking it back.”
“Why not?”
“Because now I know who you really are.”
Robby pouted at that. Then he narrowed his eyes. “I know what this is. You think he likes you.”
I held very still.
“I see you with him,” Robby went on. “He’s got you convinced. But that can’t be right. You’re too smart for that. You can’t really think that a world-famous actor who could have any woman in the world picked you. Tell me you didn’t fall for that. Have you seen Kennedy Monroe? He’s playing with you! He’s bored! He’s not even that great an actor! Wake up. You’re choosing a fake relationship over me.”
I didn’t know what to say to most of that. But that last point was easy. “Wrong,” I said. “I’m choosing anything at all over you.”
“He doesn’t actually like you,” Robby said.
“I never said he did.”
“But you thought it.”
I had to hand it to Robby. A rare moment of insight.
Glenn was done here. “Get Taylor back,” he said, flinging his arm at Kelly. “Let’s have this stalker meeting and call it a day.”
Robby kept his eyes on me. “You asked me the other week why I was being such an ass.”
Wow, that was a hundred years ago. “You mean when you said I was not pretty enough for this assignment?” I said. “I guess I did.”
“Don’t you want to know the answer?”
I stopped and turned to look at him. “I know the answer already,” I said. “You were being an ass because you are an ass. Simple.”
But Robby grabbed my arm. “It’s because I wanted to get back together.”
That got my attention. “You wanted to—？”
“Even then, even that day.”