AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Instead, I got this.
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, they had all been the same. Thursday was somehow worse. And now, a week after it happened, I was looking down the barrel of a Friday of disappointment.
We had essentially worked the entire week like there was a twenty-foot barrier between us. I didn’t go into his office, and he didn’t come into mine. The lone exception was when I came in on Monday to ask if he wanted coffee, to find that not only did he already have some, but that he had replaced the coffee machine in the corner.
He had thrown himself into his work, and I didn’t see him do anything much more than scribbling, typing, or looking pensively at his screen. When he wasn’t on the phone or out with a client, that was. Which he was a lot. I spent a good bit of the week alone in the offices, fielding calls and forwarding emails and texts in soundbite form over to him for easy and quick digestion.
It was starting to weigh on me. I didn’t know what I was supposed to do. Clearly, he still had feelings for me, even if they were simply just lustful. But then he was going out of his way to establish a work-only relationship after we had sex in his office, and I didn’t know if that meant he wanted to pretend it never happened or what.
Dinner tonight?I typed into my phone.Before opening?
Will you be home before seven?Lena texted back.
Yes. I typed.I’m leaving now, actually.
It’s only four. Mom typed back in the group text.How are you getting off early?
I didn’t really feel like answering that. Mom was old-school and thought that if you worked for a company, they could boss you around whichever way they wanted. It had bled into how she ran the pub, and how she treated me and Lena. I was embittered by it, to tell the truth. But I didn’t want the argument.
Opening the door of the tiny office, duffel bag over my shoulder, I approached Hunter’s desk. He was poring over some financial records for a company in Thailand he was consulting with. I knew because I had sent them to him.
“I’m heading out,” I said.
“Oh?” he asked without looking up. “Is it five already?”
“Four,” I said. “I just have something to take care of.”
“Sure, sure,” he said, still distracted. “Make sure you text Wade. He’ll be able to get here in ten or fifteen minutes.”
“No thanks,” I said. “I’m taking the bus today. It’s early enough.”
“The bus?” he asked, finally wrenching his gaze off the page.
“Yes,” I said. “The bus. Have a good weekend.”
I didn’t bother to stop when I heard him make a noise. If he wanted to say something, he would. I wasn’t going to wait around for him to think of something while he stuttered.
I went out the door without being stopped and headed straight downstairs. Dipping into the bathroom, I changed clothes and then headed out of the door under the glaring eye of the receptionist. I knew she hated that I changed down here, but she hated it more when I came down already changed. It gave her ideas as to how I could have accomplished that, and how stuck she was behind her desk. I could feel the jealousy come off her like radiant heat.
Jogging down to the corner, I got there just in time for the bus and hopped on. It was crowded, but I found a spot to stand and hold on as it brought me down into my side of town. The only issue was, by the time it got me there, the sun had set, and darkness was creeping in.
It had been a bit since I had walked, and I was nervous as I stepped off the bus. It was silly. I had done this every day for a while. But having not had to do it had made me soft. Secretly, I wished Wade were driving me, even as I started jogging and heading for the streetlight at the corner that led to my path.
Lights came on in the distance ahead of me as I started, and a car pulled up beside me. My instinct to run hard was kicking in, just as I glanced over and saw Wade’s smiling face.
“Wade?” I asked. “What are you doing here?”
“Mr. Erickson said to pick you up here today,” he said, matter-of-factly.
“He did, did he?” I asked. “Because I was just going to run there.”
“Oh, that’s fine,” he said, “He said you might say that. I’m just supposed to drive alongside you.”
“That’s ridiculous, Wade,” I said.
“The man pays my bills,” he said. “If he wants me to drive alongside you, then I’m going to do just that. But it’s cold out there, lady. You sure you don’t want to hop in here?”
Giving up, I shrugged and opened the back door. I really didn’t want to run, and while I felt like I might have somehow wished him into existence, I also didn’t really want to give Hunter the satisfaction. But cold was cold, and I was starting to get spoiled.
