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“Yes, but taking a day off will be better for you in the end. And besides, I’m literally the director of HR. And I give you permission.”
“Are you sure?”
Amelia nodded, giving her a warm smile. Stacey’s face was awash with gratefulness.
“Thank you,” she said. “I think I’m going shopping. It might make me feel better.”
“Get some new furniture while you’re at it,” Amelia encouraged. “I hear HomeGoods has a sale, or hell, even IKEA. Plus, the meatballs are amazing. You should go.”
Stacey nodded and stood from the table. She looked to be in better spirits. Amelia felt good about getting her to go home, and then it hit her that maybe she needed to take her own advice.
But not today. She needed to at least get something of substance done before she left.
She made her coffee before walking back to her office. She glanced toward where Daniel’s office was and saw Dana walking toward it.
It did not help her mood.
In the deep, dark parts of her mind, she wondered if maybe he was interested in Dana in some way. She had no evidence, but what if? Maybe now that he’d gotten over Lucinda, everyone was fair game. Maybe someone else in the office was better than Amelia.
And that thought lingered throughout the day.
It didn’t help that Daniel stayed late, and she was tempted to see if Dana stayed late as well, but she was far more professional than that.
So, she went home and tried not to think about it.
But her anxiety was high, and she tried to clean the apartment, doing everything she could to distract herself. It worked for a bit, until it didn’t.
It was both a benefit and a curse that her brain worked so fast. When she was in control of it, she could get so much done. But on bad days, it was like she was snowballing down a hill with no brakes. She would find the worst thing to think about and then never let it go. It was like picking at a wound.
And it was exactly what she was doing now. Even while she was cleaning, all the things she didn’t want to think about—Dana and Daniel, and even Andrew—were all at the forefront of her mind.
She knew Daniel wasn’t like Andrew, yet she was terrified he was. She knew she needed to tell him about her ADHD, but she couldn’t. She knew he would never date a subordinate, but her mind saw it anyway.
At seven, Amelia lay on her couch and sighed. There was nothing else to do, and she felt like she was losing it trying to avoid everything, and the last thing she needed was to still be acting off while Daniel was here.
She wasn’t sure what to do with herself, so she decided to go on a run.
There was a two-mile path that she loved to take. It had hills and plenty of turns to keep her interested. She had about an hour and a half before the sun set for the day, so she pushed herself and hoped she would be back before eight.
She seriously didn’t think that Daniel would even have come home by then. He seemed so busy.
As she ran, the challenge of it forced her to only think about the road in front of her. This was exactly what she needed, and she was so into it that she turned her phone off, just to make sure she wouldn’t be tempted to check social media—a habit that always made her feel worse about herself.
Amelia beat her goal of getting back by eight by five minutes. She felt exhausted and her legs ached but in a good way. She knew she had done the right thing.
She leisurely checked her mail as she took the stairs to her apartment, feeling better than she had all day. She unlocked her door, thinking of a bath, when she saw a shadow in her living room that made her nearly scream.
“There you are,” Daniel said, his voice laced with annoyance. “Where were you?”
Amelia stared at him for a long moment. She had been so focused on her run that she had totally forgotten that he was even staying with her.
“I was running.”
“I texted you five times and you never answered.”
“I turned off my phone to focus. It was a rough day.”
His eyes softened, but she knew she had still annoyed him by not being home.
