She has to go.
“Fuck,” I said into the empty office, dropping my head into my hands.
There. It was done.
I didn’t have to pretend we could go back to normal. I simply needed to find her a new job. It wouldn’t be hard now. She had a resume, a list of accomplishments and experience. Hell, she’d survived me for nearly nine months. That alone was an achievement. Any HR department would snap at the chance to hire her, but it would have to be the right fit.
A perfect fit for her.
Decision made, I turned in my chair so I could look out the window at the rest of the buildings in the complex, all gleaming silver against the sun.
How stupid I’d been. All that energy spent yesterday trying to put the pieces of a shattered glass back together, when all I really needed to do was acknowledge it was broken, clean up the mess, and find a new assistant.
“Morning, E.G.,” Flowers called out, popping her head into my office. “Just got here. Bus was running a little late. I’ll have your coffee and papers in a few.”
I whirled at the sound of her voice, but she was already gone, off to her own office to get settled herself before getting our day started.
I should do this now. Get up, follow her to her office. Let her know what I’d already worked out in my head. I would pledge to find her a position that paid well, a boss who treated her fairly, better than I did, with all the career ladder climbing she could hope for.
Then I could go back to being the man I was before I met her.
Because that’s what I wanted.
Except, I didn’t leave my chair. After a few minutes, she reappeared.
“Hey,” she said, announcing her presence from the doorway.
Discount slacks, a plain white blouse and navy blazer. Her hair pulled back in a clip behind her neck. A stack of newspapers in one hand, my cold brew in the other.
There was not a single thing remotely special about her.
Mine. Mine. Mine. Mine. Mine.
“Ready to start the day?”
Numbly, I nodded.
“Hey, you’re not going to be weird, right?” she asked, circling my desk toward my credenza. “Because we agreed on absolutely no weirdness.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said stiffly. “I’m neverweird.”
She smiled over her shoulder. “You’re a little weird. But it’s okay. You’re my kind of weird. Start with these first. Let me go grab my laptop and we’ll go over your schedule for today.”
She dropped off the coffee and the newspapers and left again.
Turned out, I was wrong.
It looked like I was going to try and put the shattered pieces back together again after all, because this morning had been easy.
Besides, I could always fire her tomorrow.
TWENTY
GRANT
He was convinced no one ever truly enjoyed the holidays.
I putthe phone down on my desk and scowled at it, like it had offended me.
