She smiled when she read over the message again. It wasn’t loaded, and there was no accusation in it. There was no questioning as to why she’d left or hadn’t said goodbye. Just that care Billie had seen from Debra on more than one occasion now. And that was the problem. It was a tone Billie had never known what to do with.
She set her phone face down on the desk, then flipped it over again immediately. The message still sat there. It wasn’t going to vanish, and it wasn’t going to solve or reply to itself.
She deserves a reply, you fucking coward!
Just not one that opened anything she couldn’t close again.
Billie took a deep breath and started to type.
Good morning. I did, thank you. Have a great day.
That was enough. It was polite and neutral. It was impersonal enough that nothing dangerous could slip through.
The moment the message left her screen, Billie’s heart squeezed. She knew she’d done the right thing, shehadto distance herself, but it didn’t make her feel any less guilty or terrible about it all.
The door clicked open without so much as a knock.
Nina stepped inside, closing it behind her. “Miss Brown, I?—”
Billie quickly locked her phone and stared down at her weekly planner. “You’re to start knocking again from today.”
Nina paused, her back almost pressed to the door. “Of course. I-I just wanted to check whether you needed me to?—”
“We’re discussing yesterday first.” Billie looked up, her tone cold. Nina had thoroughly pissed her off yesterday. “Your comment when I arrived with a client. Your behaviour on the shop floor. The implication youchoseto make.”
A flush crept up Nina’s neck, but her chin lifted. “I was only joking.”
“No,” Billie said evenly. “You weren’t.” She folded her hands on top of her desk and focused fully on Nina. “You stepped out of line. Not just professionally—which is already unacceptable—but personally, too. I’ve already made itveryclear on several occasions that whatever happens between us stays inside this office. Itneverleaves this office. Itnevertouches clients. And it certainly never determines your behaviour towards them.”
Nina’s mouth pressed into a thin line, and then… “It’s hard to see you with other women when?—”
“Stop,” Billie cut in, firmly enough to halt Nina mid-sentence. “You’re not entitled to jealousy here, Nina. You agreed that what we were doing was amutuallyconvenient arrangement. That’s all.”
Nina’s eyes dipped. “It didn’t feel convenient in the end.”
“Well, it was,” Billie said that with a finality that left no room for argument. “And it’s now over.Completely.”
She watched those words land. Nina swallowed, her anger collapsing into wounded instead. Billie refused to engage with it. Nina had known what it was between them, and that was that.
“You work for me, and you’reexcellentat your job, but I won’t tolerate another step out of line. Am I understood?”
Nina nodded once. “Yes, Miss Brown.”
“Good. You may go.”
Nina placed her hand on the door and sighed. “Iamsorry for yesterday.”
She slipped out when Billie didn’t respond, the door closing with more care than when she’d entered. The silence that followed pressed in immediately. Billie leaned back in her chair, exhaled slowly, and pressed the heel of her hand to her forehead.
Nina had been dealt with, that part was done, but the unease inside of her didn’t settle. One inappropriate assistant she could handle, but her own spiralling emotions? Oh, that was anentirelydifferent battlefield.
She considered opening her messages with Debra again, but she’d crossed too many lines already. Staying the night, allowing herself the joy of sleep in another woman’s bed, waking up against a body she wasn’t meant to crave.
But the worst part was that she’d wanted it. Every reckless second and every shared breath…God, she’d wanted it all. That alone was reason enough to slow down and rebuild distance, to…reinforce the boundary she’d let crumble.
She straightened her desk, opened her laptop, and forced her mind back into the grind of invoices, measurements, and tailored perfection.
Because that was just how it was supposed to be.
