He ended it because he was afraid of commitment. We’d gotten to the point where we needed to make a decision on our future together, and he ran.
It’s been six months. I’ve picked up the pieces. I’ve started moving on.
And it actually sort of helps to be moving on in a place where I don’t run the risk of seeing him day after day. We didn’t work together or even for the same company, but we worked in the same building. I started at Langford fresh out of college along with Penny, and he was two floors up at a law firm. He was just a mid-level associate, two years older than me at the time I first saw him in the elevator.
Penny was with me. We agreed he was hot as hell, but she was in a relationship at the time with the man she eventually married and now has two boys with.
I saw him again the next day, and the next. My crush grew. We rode the elevator up every morning, and sometimes I’d see him around lunchtime, but I never saw him when I left at five. So I started staying later. I didn’t see him at six, either, or seven. But eight seemed to be the magic hour.
Yep, that’s right. Independent boss bitch Everleigh Bradley stayed later, worked harder, took on more clients, and built her entire career for the chance to run into the object of her most serious crush to date. Looking back, evenIam disappointed in my own behavior. I chalk it up to being young and naïve, but on the other hand, it worked. I held onto hope, and eventually it happened.
Something inside me told me he was different, that we were destined to be together.
We both had a strong work ethic. We had a lot in common, actually. We had the same values. We liked the same kinds of movies, music, and television shows, and I always thought that was part of what made our connection so strong and stable.
But when talk of kids came up, he shut down. When the idea of marriage came up, he’d change the subject.
He was happy where we were, and I was ready for more.
So when I pushed too hard for what I wanted, he opted out.
The first month after the breakup was the roughest. I’d given up my personal life when I chose to stay late at the office each night all those years before. Sure, I still got invitations at the beginning, but they dwindled each time I issued the same rejection.Sorry, staying late at the office tonight.
I stayed close with Penny since we worked together, but she was busy planning a wedding, so we really only saw each other during the workday.
I had exactly three things in my life aside from Pen: my career, Billy, and, to a lesser extent, my family. And when Billy left me, I clung a little more tightly to the two things I had remaining.
I tried to be closer to my parents, but my father was always asking me to sign oddball documents, and my oldest brother, Madden, would often call and tell me not to do whatever my father was asking.
My mother is a whole other story.
I was always jealous of my friends who would go on shopping dates with their moms, or girls’ trips, or even something as silly as a pedicure night. My mom invited me to go get fillers with her once, but it wasn’t because she wanted to spend time with me. It was because of the dark circlesunder my eyes from getting up too early and staying up too late.
I couldn’t lean into my family the way I wanted to, but damn if I’m not always trying to fix it anyway. Forcing family dinners when we’re in close proximity with each other. Calling my siblings to keep in touch. Creating a group chat for the seven of us when I’m the one who always starts every conversation. Inviting my mom on those shopping trips even if I’m not ready for fillers.
And that left me with one thing: my career. I dove headfirst into it, putting everything else in my life into second place—those family group chats included.
Now it feels like my career is being ripped away, too, because of the drunken idiot who’s currently passed out beside me in the car on the way back to the building we both live in.
Milton helps me wake Maverick enough to get him on his feet so he can walk himself upstairs, and I’m forever grateful for Milton’s help.
He’s subdued on the way up to our floor, and he fumbles with his keys for a few beats. He seems to be moving around just fine, so maybe he’s not as drunk as I thought. Maybe he wasn’t drunk at all, and he was pretending to be asleep in the car so we didn’t need to have a conversation. It’s probably for the best. I’m a little tipsy myself.
Before he disappears into his condo, I say, “I booked a meeting with Ellie Dalton at nine tomorrow morning. We can go together. Let’s meet in the lobby around eight forty, okay?”
He doesn’t reply.
“Hey!” I yell, and he turns to look at me. “Set an alarm for eight. I’ll bang on your door to remind you.”
He grunts, and he’s still messing around with his keys.
“Do you need any help?” I ask.
“No,” he mutters, and he gets the door open and slams it after he walks through it. I wait until I hear the slide of the lock, and then I move toward my own door.
Before I even get my own keys out to unlock it, though, Maverick’s door flies open again.
I turn to look at him, and there’s fire in his eyes as he pins them on me.
