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"Sit," she commanded. She sat down in the chair behind the desk and leveled him with an arctic stare.
Beau felt as if his balls had shrunk, but he sat down, wondering what he was doing here. Had he made the right decision? Somehow, he didn't think so.
"What do you want, Beau?" Her tone was cold and uninflected. She was so unlike the woman he had once known. It made him wonder whether he actually knew her at all.
"I wanted to speak to you."
She sat back, studying him through narrowed eyes. "We have nothing to say to each other."
He sat forward in his seat. "That's not true, Vee."
"Evangeline," she replied through gritted teeth. "I'll tell you again since you can't seem to get it through yourthickskull; we have nothing to say to each other."
"Evangeline," he implored, using the name she insisted he use. "We need to talk about this. I need you to know what happened."
"About fucking time," she muttered under her breath. She studied him for a long minute, then said, "All right. Say what you have to say and then you can get out."
He sucked in a breath and let it out. "Okay. Look, I want to apologize."
"For what?" she countered, leaning her forearms on the desktop and leaning in. She even smiled at him sweetly. "For what, Beau? For leaving me with a broken heart?"
Fuck. "I'm sorry, Evangeline. Things were out of my control."
"So much so that you couldn't even call me?"
He looked down at his knees, ashamed. “I’m sorry I didn’t.”
Sitting back in her chair, she glared at him. “So what the fuck is your excuse? Forgive me if I don't buy yourI-just-couldn'tspiel." She stood up. "I think you should go, Beau. I'm busy. This place will be filled with people in an hour and I just don't have the emotional fortitude to deal with this right now."
"Vee,please. There's more to this than you think."
"Oh? Is there?"
"Yes," he ground out.
She let out a breath and looked down at the desktop strewn with paperwork. "So, why don't you enlighten me?"
Beau cursed under his breath. "It's a long story."
She smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. "Unfortunately for you, I don't have all night." She stood up, forcing him to stand up too.
"Meet me tomorrow, then," he said, the words rushing out.
"Beau—" she began.
"Vee,please. I drove over two hours to get here to speak to you tonight."
Her eyes widened a little at this admission, her expression sliding back into impassiveness a moment later. "Two hours?" she repeated.
Seeing he was making headway with her, he pressed on. "Yes, and I'd gladly do it again tomorrow too if you'd just agree to meet with me. I need to explain this to you."
She stared at him for a long time before nodding. "Okay," she said softly. "I'll meet you. Here at one PM. You can have an hour to explain yourself."
An hour was better than nothing. He moved toward the door where she was standing, ready to usher him out. As he stepped through, he turned to her and said, "I will change your mind about me, Vee."
She met his gaze with a caustic one of her own. "I can't wait," she retorted. "Now, if you wouldn't mind?"
He looked ahead, thinking of the drive home. "Yeah," he muttered, leaving the office and walking down the hallway. He left the club, the door slowly closing behind him. Well, at least she hadn't just hauled his ass out of there before he had a chance to talk to her.
