Chase was coming back from lunch, and Ashley sighed, noticing his slumped shoulders, as if he carried the weight of the world. She wasn’t ready to forgive him yet, considering she’d be dusting off her resume tonight and scouring the internet for job openings, but that didn’t mean she liked seeing him so unhappy.
She adjusted the little fern, pulling it closer so fewer people were tempted to touch it on their way past her desk. Was her secret admirer getting fired too? She’d likely never get a chance to find out who it was. Maybe it was time to be a little more proactive in finding out his identity.
The choppy block lettering on the notes was an obvious attempt to disguise handwriting, and she was no handwriting expert. What else could she use to figure it out?
She went to lunch, purposely leaving her phone in her drawer so she could suddenly return a few minutes later and retrieve it. But when she came back, nobody even looked up from their desks and no one was lurking near hers. As if it would be that easy.
She found a quiet spot outside where she could call Lina without being overheard.
“Lina? Can you talk right now?”
“Oh, no. What is it, Ash?”
Ashley let out a long breath. “So, I’m about to lose my job.”
“No! I’m so sorry. You’ve been there such a long time. Why?”
“They’re eliminating my department.”
Lina was appropriately upset on Ashley’s behalf, but then she got quiet. “What else, Ash?”
“What do you mean?”
“Something else is bothering you, isn’t it?”
Ashley swallowed against the hard knot in her throat. “Yeah. I wasn’t totally honest with myself, or you, when I said I wasn’t ready for a relationship. The friend from work … I’m starting to think of him as more than a friend, but it’s such a hopeless cause. He has kids, well, sort of, and he lied to me about having a girlfriend, and he knew about the layoffs and didn’t tell me, and basically, I should hate him right now.”
“But you don’t.”
“No.” Hate would be easier than the mixed up feelings inside of her. “Oh, and I have a secret admirer.”
Lina laughed. “I think we better have a long talk tonight. You’ve been holding out.”
“Don’t you have a date tonight?” Ashley remembered Lina gushing about the new guy from the tire shop earlier in the week.
Lina sighed. “He called and canceled, didn’t say why, but I think he’s back together with his on-again, off-again girlfriend.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I’m not. I don’t want to be a temporary rebound for him anyway. So, back to you. Should I tell Paige to come over tonight too?”
“Yeah, better make a girls’ night of it. I’ll tell you both everything then.”
