Fine.
It was really getting under my skin.
“Good. That’s good,” I said. Then I proceeded to go over yesterday’s agenda of meetings, so she was up to speed. I knew it was important for her to know what was going on at all times. It must be a control issue, which usually irritated me, but I was trying to throw her a bone here. With her vacant stare, I wondered if she was even hearing anything that I said. She was usually feverishly taking notes or typing into her iPad that hardly ever left her hand.
“Well, that’s pretty much it. You’re up to speed.”
“Good,” she murmured, looking back toward the door.
That pissed me off. I hadn’t seen her in two days and she was already looking for an escape route. Maybe she was just having an off day or maybe she was just back to being her old self. I sometimes couldn’t keep up with her hot and cold attitude. It was probably why I was so stupidly intrigued by her.
But if this was how she wanted to play it, then fine. I could be cold, too. I had plenty enough to do than to worry about her feelings any longer.
I straightened in my chair, tilting my chin up with pride and peering down my nose at her. “You’re dismissed then,” I said, looking toward the door impatiently.
She looked like she might say something, like I had finally gotten to her, but instead she stood from her seat and walked out the door, giving me a view of her perfect ass just to rub salt in the wound.
We spent the next few hours mostly ignoring each other, aside from the occasional necessary email. There were no innuendos. No flirtation. They were straight to the point and dull beyond belief. I attended meetings by myself, not inviting her to tag along, and her not insisting she attend. Something must be really wrong if she wasn’t butting into everything.
Shortly after she arrived back from lunch, she looked like she was packing her things up to leave again. I watched her curiously from my desk, where I had taken my lunch because I had a few things to figure out. Things I normally would ask Gabriella about, but refused to give her the satisfaction. I had let a lot of things go today, but her leaving was just enough to tip me over the edge.
“Where do you think you’re going?” I asked from my office, not caring if anyone heard. Everyone here knew I was forward. Gruff. Cutthroat.
She finished putting her iPad in her large purse as she muttered under her breath.
“What was that?” I asked sharply.
“I said I’m leaving to go meet my father. Do you have a problem with that? Or do you need to keep tabs on me at all times?” she snapped as she slung her purse over her shoulder.
“Uh, yes. I do. I’m your boss, remember?”
“Like you’d ever let me forget.” She rolled her eyes.
At least she was back to being a bitch and not the vacant version of herself she was earlier. Maybe we were getting back to our normal selves.
She adjusted her bag on her shoulder and walked out of her office, passing mine without so much as a glance in my direction, let alone a goodbye. I could tell some employees in the office were watching, casting sideways glances our way. They were enjoying the show, but Gabriella’s defiance wasn’t a good look, especially when I was supposed to be in charge.
I wanted to storm after her and chew her out, but I knew giving everyone more of a show would look bad. Instead, I stayed at my desk, quietly stewing and pretending to be busy with the papers on my desk. Internally, I was giving her a vulgar gesture.
What did she need to talk to her father about now? I thought we were past the point of her always trying to undermine me and paint me in a bad light, but maybe I was wrong. No matter how much sex we had or small moments where we were actually decent to each other, none of it mattered. She was still out to get my job. A job that I had busted my ass to get, but she didn’t seem to understand that because she believed that it should be hers on a fucking silver platter. I was not going to let her ruin this for me.
Chapter 23
Gabriella
I left the office on the verge of tears. My emotions were all over the place. As much as I didn’t want to push Chandler away, especially right now with being pregnant with his baby, I didn’t know what else to do. I didn’t trust myself to not blurt it out and I didn’t trust myself not to give in to his advances. I couldn’t bring myself to sleep with him when I was carrying such a big secret.
Though Chandler and I never really got along that well, except for on the floor of his office or in the white sheets of my bed, we had made progress in our working relationship. Yes, we still butted heads. I found him to be an arrogant ass, and he found me to be a stubborn bitch, but we had learned to work through it for the sake of the company. Yet today, it was like we were back to day one and I could see the confusion in his eyes. That was, until he masked it and started giving me a taste of my own medicine.
I was surprised he didn’t chase after me in a fit of rage with how I just talked to him in front of the whole office. I had to get out of there though, and it was the best way I could think to do so without him asking any more questions. I wasn’t going to meet my father, like I said. He would be the second to last person I wanted to see right now. I was actually on my way to the doctor to confirm my pregnancy.
There was a small whim of hope I was riding on, thinking maybe the three tests I took yesterday were wrong. I knew it was highly unlikely, but I held onto that small hope as I hailed a cab to take me to the lower west side. As I watched the buildings whizz past me as the driver expertly weaved in and out of the city traffic, I thought about how different everything would be if I was, in fact, pregnant. It would changeeverything.
I pushed out the negative thoughts that began to cloud my brain, focusing on the soft jazz music on the radio and the ins and outs of my breathing. I couldn’t panic. Not yet.
The cab pulled up outside a small brick building crammed between two high rises. It stuck out like a sore thumb, but I found something charming about it. I had searched for doctors all yesterday, and settled on this one based on the reviews. I could have asked my friend, Erica, who her doctor had been, but I wasn’t ready to explain why I was asking.
I tapped my credit card against the machine the driver held out and thanked him before climbing out of the car. Outside the glass door, I took a deep breath and pulled it open. I rode the elevator to the second floor where the doors opened to a quaint waiting room. There were two other women sitting in the lightblue chairs, reading parenting magazines. I shook my head in disbelief that I was even here.
