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He’d ended the relationship without looking back.
Of course, he’d moved past it and wouldn’t think to bring it up in a job interview nearly three years later.
How sad was she?
Hadn’t she just told Asa last night that she was fine? If that were true, she wouldn’t have had such a huge reaction to André doing some construction work down the hall. It wasn’t like he was her new gynecologist or something.
And in throwing her fit, she’d inadvertently revealed her true feelings on the matter. To everyone. Including herself.
Ugh.
She didn’t want to be that person.
Relationships ended all the time. André was right. It had been over two and a half years. It shouldn’t matter.
Johnny took a breath and turned back to Nikki.
“Should I fire him?” He didn’t wait for a response. “He’s fired. It’s done.”
Nikki did laugh then. “No, that’s not…” She shook her head and sighed. “I was just surprised is all. I shouldn’t have yelled at you for not knowing what you didn’t know.”
Johnny grunted in agreement.
Her neck spasmed again and she hissed in pain. “Fuck!” She reached for her neck, squeezed her eyes shut, and breathed through the pain.
They’d thoroughly checked her out at the hospital. Done all kinds of X-rays and examined her in ways that felt invasive but probably weren’t. The ER doc had warned her that the pain the next few days might be severe. Which was why they’d given her a prescription painkiller.
And she understood that, she did.
But she was never going to fill that script.
She’d experience firsthand what prescription pain pills could do to an individual. What it could do to a family. She was never going to risk the people she loved like that.
André made a frustrated sound, opened the door, and left the office.
She couldn’t say she blamed him.
After all, she’d just run away from this awkward conversation a few minutes prior.
Johnny came closer, his expression more earnest.
“He was just here to take some measurements. I was literally on my way to ask you if you’d be uncomfortable with this. I had no idea you two had a history.”
She exhaled and sat down in her chair. “I know. Little Miss Overshare left out some key moments in her life.”
He smiled softly at her. “It’s okay to have secrets, kiddo. But maybe don’t yell at me for not knowing them.”
She let her gaze drift to the floor and smiled sadly. “We hadn’t been engaged very long. Just a few days. We hadn’t made it official yet. We wanted to tell our families first. I was going to tell you after that. And then it ended and it didn’t matter anymore.”
Johnny’s frown flickered between confused and angry and her heart warmed.
They’d known each other for over a decade. He wasn’t mad at her; he was mad on her behalf.
“It’s okay, Johnny,” she said with a small smile. “It hurt initially, but I really have moved past it.”
“Has he?”
She snorted and swiveled her chair to face her desk. “I think hitting me was definitely an accident. And as much as I hate to admit it, he’s right. It was a long time ago. It wouldn’t make sense for him to tell you.”
