“Still nothing…Did I do something wrong?” I ask myself as I walk into an empty office on Monday morning. I arrive early because sitting at home would surely drive me insane.
I’ve been texting Lizzy since last night, all the way until this morning, and she still hasn’t gotten back to me. She did let me know she made it home from her parents’ safely, but that was it.
I set my things in my office before walking around and getting the lights turned on and the heat turned up to keep everyone comfortable from the harsh wind outside.
I hit start on the coffee maker and check my phone one more time. Maybe I did do something wrong, and I didn’t catch on to it. After I fill my mug with fresh coffee, I find my way to my desk and fire up my computer.
Since I’m here, I might as well send out a few follow-up emails, confirming some of the meetings I have set up for the next week or so. It doesn’t take long for my employees to start filing in, and getting their morning started.
It’s nice to hear some other voices in here, other than my own. I immediately perk up in my chair when I see Lizzy dropping her bag off under her desk. She spots me and I wave subtly, but she only half smirks before dipping into the bathroom.
Something is definitely wrong … But what?
The rest of my morning is spent watching as Lizzy stays quietly at her desk, standoffish and seeming to avoid me as much as she can. She is keeping herself busy, which is great for work, but not for me.
When she looks up and sees me, her eyes immediately go back to her computer.
This is absolute torture,I think to myself, running my hand through my hair. If she is mad at me, then message received.
It’s nearing lunchtime and she’s barely said a word to me, let alone looked at me.
Thinking back to the weekend, I replay every detail I spent with her. Even when she was leaving, everything was perfect.
Did something happen with her parents? When I messaged her last night, she was short with her response when telling me she got home okay. I assumed she was just tired, and that’s understandable with everything we did, but this isn’t right.
I replay every moment in my head, hunting for the slip. Nothing. Unless it’s that dinner with her family. Maybe that’s it.
The not-knowing gnaws at me until I start inventing excuses to cross her desk—fake files, questions I already know the answers to—just to catch her eye.
Each time, I’m blocked. Phones ring, assistants hover, someone else barges in. And she… she keeps her face locked down, polite, unreachable.
By lunch, I’m done playing subtle. If she won’t give me a moment, I’ll take one. I buzz her in.
She appears in the doorway almost immediately, expression flat, hands clasped like she’s bracing herself. “I need you to run next door and grab the food I ordered,” I say, too casually. It’s a lie, and we both know it, but it’s the only way to pull her in without an audience.
I wait for the eye-roll, the sharp comeback—her usual spark. Instead, she just drops her gaze to the floor, nods once, and slips out, her heels clicking quick and sharp down the hall. The sound leaves a hollow echo in my chest.
She’s not herself. Everyone else in the office hums along as usual. Sherry, of all people, is the only one grinning more than usual, and half of those grins are pointed at Lizzy like knives.
By the time Lizzy returns, ten minutes later, I’m restless, my knee bouncing under the desk. She sets two bags down without meeting my eyes, already turning to bolt. “Hey,” I cut in, harsher than I mean. She freezes. “Not so fast. Some of this is yours. Close the door.”
Her hand hovers on the knob, the smallest hesitation. Then she lets it go and turns back. “Sit,” I add, softer this time, gesturing to the chair across from me. “We should talk.”
I’m not giving her an option. She needs to tell me what is going on before my head explodes. Even in the beginning of her working with me, she wasn’t this quiet and timid. I fear that she doesn’t want to be with me anymore.
While I would respect her decision, it would kill me inside. I’ve gotten to know the real Elizabeth, one that no one in this office knows. She’s funny, she’s warm…she’s everything I would have ever hoped for in a partner.
If she leaves me now, I’m afraid I’ll never find someone to fill the void she’d leave behind.
Lizzy sighs, shuts the door with a clenched jaw, and sits down in the seat across from me. To my surprise, as her eyes finally meet mine, they begin to well up with tears.
“Hey. Please don’t cry. What happened?” I’m immediately concerned because it must be bad to make her cry. “You seemed fine yesterday before leaving. Did something happen at your parents’ house?”
“I’m so sorry,” she begins and wipes a stray tear from her cheek. “I didn’t want to lose it, that’s why I’ve been keeping to myself today.” She steadies her breathing and continues. “Something did happen, but it wasn’t at my parents’ house.”
Curiously, I raise an eyebrow and give her my full attention. “Well, when I was waiting for a taxi outside your place, Sherry walked by.”
“Sherry Wilson? What was she doing over that way? Okay…and what happened?” I reply.
