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Students walk through the halls, and I try my best to fall into step with them, desperate to camouflage myself in their stream. Desperate to pretend Abraham Pugliesi doesn’t have the power over me that I know he has.
“I missed you so much,” Miley exclaims, hugging me for the third time today. I’ve just come back from a weekend in Boston and the time spent with my family felt like a recalibration of sorts.
A reminder of why I’m even at this fucking school.
“I’m moving out in two weeks,” I remind her, accepting her hug as we walk toward our classes.
“My life will be over without you,” she whines, and I roll my eyes.
“Bitch, find someone else who’ll cook for you,” I say with a laugh, sighing at the end. Because, fuck, I’m gonna miss her too. I’m gonna miss having someone around who is down for anything.
I could wake Miley up at two in the morning for ice cream and she’d probably complain a little, but she’d get her ass up and go.
She’s been the best friend I could ask for.
“Weird,” she says, and I’m about to ask her what she means when I look in the direction she’s staring. “I thought he stopped teaching last week. What’s he doing here?”
I can’t answer. My heart is in a puddle at the sight of him. He doesn’t look like Professor Pugliesi. He looks like the man who took me on a date.
And he isn’t alone.
“Isn’t that his ex-wife?”
I want to ask Miley how she knows. But how does Miley know anything? She’s constantly tapped into some version of the truth. And when I see the brunette who clings to him, looking expensive like the wife of a famous director should, I’m stuck. This can’t be…
“Sabrina?” she asks, standing in front of me. But when she says my name, he looks up as if he’s heard it too.
We lock eyes for a moment. Just a moment.
And then I pull my best friend away, making an excuse about forgetting something at home.
As we walk away, I swear I can feel his dark gaze burning into my back.
And I definitely don’t look back.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
WELCOME TO THE DARK SIDE
PRESENT
“Ilove coming here, working with my best friend,” Miley gushes as we step outside of the office. It’s a hot day, leading to more casual attire from the both of us. Miley’s in linen shorts and I’m in a floral sundress, both of us looking like we’re headed to a picnic, rather than leaving work.
“You love long lunches and quitting early,” I remind her, chuckling as we walk out of the building together.
“Yes, yes. That too.” She places her sunglasses over her eyes and I’m looking for my keys in my purse when I hear her gasp. “What’shedoing here?”
I swear I know exactly who it is before I look up. And sure enough, there Abraham stands, uncertain, his arms at his sides as he waits for some sort of direction from me. His eyes are wide as he regards me with a shrug.
“Um—” I start before he cuts me off.
“I—thought we had a meeting?” he asks and it’s the lamest attempt at a cover up that I’ve ever heard. I close my eyes before turning to face Miley.
“Give me a second?” I ask, holding my hands out before Iwalk toward him. “What are you doing here?” My voice is a whisper, and he glances at Miley before looking at me.
“I wanted to see you.” The sentence is simple, to the point, and it warms me. But I can’t pretend that just because we kissed, we can pick back up like nothing ever happened. It would never be that easy.
“You can’t just show up here,” I start. “What if I had the girls? What if Peter were here?”
