“Waffle fry.”
I pause. Turn slowly. “What?”
He gestures vaguely toward his jaw. “You said you’ve seen sharper angles on a soggy waffle fry.”
I cross my arms. “And?”
His grin curves, maddening and smug. “You looked long enough to notice.”
I roll my eyes and walk off without giving him the satisfaction of a reply.
But I’m smiling when I sit back down.
By mid-afternoon,the department feels… abandoned.
The overhead lights hum faintly. The copy room door is open and I hear the machine kick on for no reason, then whir back into silence like it forgot it was tired. Most of the faculty packed up after lunch, slipping out with half-hearted waves and comments about beat-the-traffic Fridays and the sweet mercy of early dismissal.
But I stayed. Leo did, too.
He’s in his office, door part way open. I catch glimpses of movement now and then—the scrape of a chair leg, the flick of his pen against a notepad, a soft muttered curse when the Wi-Fi blinks out again. Otherwise, silence.
It’s peaceful. Slightly awkward, but peaceful.
I try to focus—on reorganizing a digital file tree that was clearly built by someone with a grudge against logic, on ignoring the pit in my stomach that’s been simmering all week.
Then—
The door to the department office slams open so hard the file cabinet beside it jolts against the wall.
I flinch. Stand too fast. Adrenaline spikes.
“Tori.”
I freeze. The voice is too familiar to mistake.
Lifting my head, I see him.
Chase.
He’s standing in the middle of the room like he owns it—like he ownsme. Tie loose, eyes wild, skin flushed from what I’m guessing was a four-hour, rage-fueled drive from Moraine.
“Oh for fuck’s sake,” I mutter. “You havegotto be kidding me.”
“You left,” he says, stalking forward. “While I was in fucking Boston. I came home and you were just, gone. No call. No warning. Just an empty fucking house and a goddamn note.”
“Not here, Chase,” I say, grabbing my purse from beneath the desk and clicking my mouse to shut down the computer.
“I’ve been trying to get a hold of you for weeks!” he shouts, loud enough to echo through the pod.
I glance toward the hallway door—closed, thank God. No one else in the building will hear. But Leo will.Fucking dammit.
“Will you keep your voice down?” I hiss. “I will talk to you, but not like this. We need to have this conversation somewhere else.”
“No, goddammit! You’re talking to me right fucking now. If we walk out of here, how do I know you won’t just drive off somewhere I can’t follow you? Do you know how long it took me to find out where you work?”
Howdidhe find out?
“Chase. Calm down. I know you’re angry, and that’s understandable, but this is my workplace. We cannot do this here. Please—just come with me and we can talk privately.”
