I smiled. He was constantly proving to me how different he was from my original assumptions of him. But he certainly was older than me. Fifteen years older.
“You asked me about Evie’s Dad. When I was dating him, Evie’s Dad, Dylan, tampered with my birth control, making me drop out of college when I fell pregnant. I was shocked because I’d been so religious about taking my pills. Well, Dylan also had a way of twisting everything, and making me question my own memory, even my sanity. He’d lie and then insist I was overreacting, or that I was too sensitive, or just imagining things. He kept up the lie until one drunken night, when Evie was a year-and-a-half old, he admitted to tampering with my pills. I’ve never been able to trust people easily since. So that’s part of the reason why I don’t date.”
“I see,” he said, sounding quiet. “And the other part?”
“Well, I don’t want to expose Evie to a revolving door of boyfriends, you know? I want to make sure I date a man who’s serious about me.”
“Define what you mean by serious.”
“A man who isn’t looking for a fling. I want a relationship. One that is messy, emotional, and deals with feelings. Not just sex,” I said.
Before he could respond, the stairwell door slammed in the distance, and I jumped. I assumed the floor was empty, but I suddenly felt very worried. I couldn’t risk anyone seeing us.
Jonah and I were getting closer. He was learning things about me, predicting things about me with uncanny precision. I was admitting intimate, personal things to him that, as my boss, he had no reason to know.
“Thank you for bringing Evie back to me, Jonah,” I whispered, gathering Evie and her toys. “But I need to leave.”
As we got into the elevator, Jonah watched us from afar as Evie waved to him just before the doors closed. His expression revealed nothing.
21
LEXI
An entire weekend had passed since that conversation with Jonah. He had left me well alone, and I was grateful for it. I’d gotten a little too scared at the speed at which things were happening between us. I wasn’t looking for anything serious, and right now, this felt like it was headed that way.
It was Monday now, and we had back to back meetings all day today. During one of them, Rafael mentioned that he’d heard Joe Walkers had stepped away to Dallas. “That’s the life, isn’t it? He gets paid a shit ton of money to never be here,” he said.
“He’s still here,” I snapped. I didn’t know if he was truly here, but I hated how people spread information about him that could possibly be false. “I saw him in the lobby earlier today,” I lied, when I felt the others’ surprised gaze on me.
Rafael quickly covered up his scowl. “Well, he’s probably just gotten back from there. Probably going to mourn his dead mother. Alright, let’s start our meeting.”
I froze, stunned, but the others opened their laptops and stared at their screens like it was old news. Why did it seem like I was the only one who hadn’t googled Jonah?
Possibly because my days were spent trying my best to catch up at work, and my evenings, trying to be a better parent.
I opened my laptop as well, and to my absolute shock, there was an email from Jonah. I opened it with hesitation, making sure no one else could peek over my shoulder, before realizing it had been sent to the entire company.
To: All
Effective immediately, when an employee is let go from the company, their child’s spot in the company preschool and daycare program will remain secure for an additional twelve months at no cost to the family. No exceptions.
I read it twice and then a third time.
My throat tightened. Shit. Jonah had done this for me.
I hung my head. I almost felt like I didn’t deserve his kindness. Why was I pushing him away repeatedly when he kept showing me how much he cared?
Around me, the world went on without notice. This update didn’t affect anyone else on my team, so I didn’t hear any comments or loud exhales. I didn’t know what to say, but I felt a little knot of tension in my gut ease as I wrapped up work.
As I thought about Evie and her happiness with her new toy Olaf, I thought,Maybe Jonah isn’t just good at doing things he isn’t supposed to. Maybe he is good at doing the right thing, too.
I decided to push the whole thing out of my mind, but after the meeting, as I walked to the restroom down the corridor on our floor, I found a strangely familiar woman fixing her makeup in the mirror.
To my utter horror, it was the same woman I’d seen during my dinner date with Jonah a few weeks ago. Cora. Jonah’s stepmother. The one who’d had Jonah looking like he’d seen a ghost.
My stomach dipped just as she glanced at me and smiled, like she knew perfectly well that I was going to be here.
She wasn’t surprised one bit.
