“Let’s do it,” I say.
We do it together. Relief washes away part of my grief. My next breath comes easier. Bri sinks down into her pillow with a heavy sigh.
“Feeling any better?” I ask.
An attempt at a smile twitches on her tear-plumped lips. “I’ll be fine in the morning.”
“You sure?”
She nods emphatically, wiping the last tear from her eye. “I’m sure.”
Betraying what she said, she doesn’t let go of my hand. Her bodyspeaks the words she won’t. “Do you . . . want me to stay?”
“Yes,” she admits softly. “So you can kick me if I start crying again.”
That makes me smile. “Sure.”
I climb under the sheets, as casual a distance from her as one can achieve while sharing a bed, knowing if this is anything like the last time, the space between us won’t remain casual at all. I also know she won’t mind if it doesn’t. If I tried, I could count the number of times Natalie let me sleep next to her without complaint. Funny how I’m more comfortable in bed with a stranger I’ve known for two days than I was with my girlfriend of two years.
Slowly, she falls limp, her breaths slow and heavy with sleep. I watch her, trying to follow suit, but I can’t get today out of my head. Bri is . . . special. As I’ve recently been informed, I’m not the best at reading subtext, but it doesn’t take social literacy to see how willing she is to throw herself into the fire to help me when she would never expect the same back. I feel like I owe her for all the help she’s given me. Even if I don’t—even though she willinsistthat I don’t—Iwantto pay her back.
I’ll figure something out.
Five
Liem
The next morning, Bri still looks down, but she hides it well beneath her usual sunny disposition. It doesn’t take much convincing for her to get a massage from the hotel spa on her piece-of-shit ex’s dime. While she’s gone, I move forward with my plan.
Sai and I have a bond most employee-employer relationships don’t tend to have, which made quitting that much harder. I don’t really have friends, just coworkers I spend sixty hours per week with and Sai, who took me under his wing as his protégé, treating me like the son he never had—or hasn’t hadyet, considering he’s only fifteen years my senior. I’ve worked with him since my college internship, and he is most of the reason I have a position usually occupied by someone five years further into their career. He’s also one of the people who convinced me to follow Natalie.
“Liem, my buddy!” Sai answers with his usual glee. His light accent always comes through when he is at ease. “How is life as an engaged man? Do you need a reference for your fancy New York job?”
Of course he would start by giving me shit. He never wanted me to leave, but he is a hopeless romantic at heart. “Hi, Sai. I messed up.”
“What’s wrong, my buddy?” he asks. I can hear the enjoyment in his tone.
“I have to come home, and I was wondering if you’d let me have my job back.”
His pause is rife with surprise. “You want to come back?”
“I never wanted to quit, Sai. But my plan didn’t work out. Nat said no.”
“She saidno?”
“She broke it off before I could even ask. Now I’m stuck here on my own with no partner, no job, no place to live, no—”
“Yes.” He stops me from spiraling.
“Really?”
“I would love to hear you grovel more if you want, but yes, of course you can have your job back.”
“Are you serious?”
“You are my best and most favorite employee. You know that.” I do. He makes that glaringly obvious, to the chagrin of everyone else on our team. “If I’m being honest, I haven’t submitted your resignation paperwork yet.”
“You haven’t?” Relief washes over me like a hot shower after a long day. Unrecognized tension leaves my muscles. “Thank you so much.”
