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I shook my head. “I’m fine now. I swear.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“If you say so. But take it easy. I’ll be in my office if you need me. If you change your mind and decide to go home, please go.”
He lingered for a second, as if expecting me to reconsider, but I said nothing. Going home wouldn’t solve anything. Working would help occupy my mind, and besides, I wanted to stay close to Neil—for my own selfish reasons.
Neil stood up and unlocked his office door with a sharp twist of his key. As he opened the door, the state of his office came into view. Little had changed since he tore it apart.
I leapt from the couch as if the incident on the roof had never happened. “Let me help you tidy up.”
Neil shook his head. “What did I just tell you? Take it easy today.”
“But tidying is like therapy for me. I enjoy it. It’s relaxing.”
Neil narrowed his eyes. “Is that why you’re a cleaner?”
“Yes.”
He walked me back to the couch and made me sit down. “I don’t want you to over-exert yourself. And I’m not sure if I made this clear last night, but you understand, don’t you? You can’t be my cleaner anymore.”
“What? Why not?”
“Because it’s inappropriate. My secretary at work shouldn’t be my personal cleaner at home.”
“I don’t mind. I want to keep doing it.”
“No. That’s final.”
He was serious. An income stream gone. Just like that.
“But I need the money!”
“Do I not pay you enough in this role?”
“You do. That’s not the reason?—”
“Then what is? Go on, tell me.”
I went silent. The weight of my situation bore down on me. My student loan. Having two months to move out of my apartment. The one-way ticket to London.
“Tell me, and I’ll be able to help you with whatever it is,” Neil said.
If I lied to him now, I’d be digging myself into an even deeper hole, and that was something I wasn’t prepared to do. I took a deep breath to loosen the knot in my stomach, then I let it all out. “I want to pay my student loan down as much as possible before the end of the year, and I need to find a short-term rental because I’m being kicked out of my current place.”
“Easily managed. But why short-term?”
I avoided his questioning gaze. This was it. The crux of the matter. My heart rate soared.
“Because—” I braced myself, “—I’m going to move overseas.”
Neil said nothing for a second.
I squirmed.
“When?” he asked at last, a hitch in his voice. “And for how long?”
