Page 118 of What Comes Around

The rest of the day only got worse.

It started with something small. I had been craving one specific thing all morning, grilled mushrooms, roasted vegetables, and that stupid lemon sauce from the café three blocks away. By noon I gave in and ordered it, already tasting it in my mind. Claire, Nora, and Priya joined me in the break room while we waited, chatting easily around me.

When the food finally arrived, I opened the bag and froze.

It wasn’t my order. Chicken with roasted vegetables. No lemon sauce.

I stared at it for a second, like if I looked hard enough it might change.

It didn’t.

Something tight and irrational twisted in my chest. I swallowed, blinking down at the container. It’s just food. It didn’t matter. It shouldn’t matter.

But my eyes burned anyway.

“Oh,” Claire said, noticing. “They got it wrong?”

I nodded quickly, pressing my lips together. “It’s fine. I’ll just eat this.”

The words barely left my mouth before my vision blurred. Tears spilled over.

I sucked in a sharp breath, mortified.

Why am I crying?

I turned my head, wiping at my face before anyone could see too much. “I’m sorry,” I muttered, already standing. “I’ll be right back.”

I didn’t wait for a response. I walked quickly to the bathroom, my chest tight, my vision unfocused, emotion rising faster than I could control.

This was ridiculous. It was just food.

Inside the bathroom, I locked myself in a stall and pressed my fingers to my eyes. “Stop,” I whispered.

It didn’t help.

More tears slipped out, and frustration replaced the embarrassment. I leaned my forehead against the cool metal divider, breathing slowly until the wave finally passed.

After a minute, I stepped out to the sink and dabbed carefully under my eyes with damp paper towels, fixing my makeup as best I could. By the time I was done, the redness had faded enough to pass.

When I returned to the break room, all three of them looked up immediately.

Claire frowned. “Ashley… are you okay?”

“It was nothing,” I said, forcing a small smile as I sat down. “My period’s about to start. PMS.”

They all nodded in instant understanding.

“Oh, say no more,” Priya said.

“Been there,” Nora added.

Claire reached into her bag and handed me a chocolate bar without a word, like it was medical protocol.

I let out a quiet laugh, some of the tension easing. “Thank you.”

I unwrapped it, took a bite, and ate the wrong lunch. It wasn’t what I wanted, but it was good enough.

The afternoon dragged on, emails, reports, numbers on a screen that refused to stay sharp no matter how hard I tried to focus. My thoughts kept circling the same question.