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“Everyone in town knows we’re together,” George told me softly, his fingers running down my arm in a gentle caress. “They’ve known from the beginning. You can’t keep anything a secret in a town like this.”

I felt my face flush. I valued my privacy, and I didn’t want people to discount me professionally because they thought I was sleeping with someone at work. That’s the kind of thing that could tank my chances of getting a new job too. I felt a sudden sense of panic. What if I ruined my professional reputation and it turned out that George was just screwing around with me while I was in town? I had no idea how he felt about me. Or if he felt anything for me at all, other than a strong sexual attraction.

All my insecurities rushed to the surface. All the times my mother told me I wasn’t pretty enough or feminine enough to keep a man. All the times that coworkers had questioned my skills or implied that I’d slept my way into a higher position in the company.

I was doubting everything I believed about my relationship with George, and it was freaking me out. I didn’t want to be that needy woman who demanded to know where our relationship was going, but I also really wanted to know if we both thought it was going in the same direction. But I was too much of a chickenshit to ask. Damn George and the way he held everything so close to the vest.

“I better stay at my own place tonight. I have to get up early tomorrow,” I said in answer to his early question, resisting a strong urge to run out of the room.

“For what?”

“I’m heading out of town for the day. I have personal business in Houston,” I said. “I won’t be here at all tomorrow.”

He studied me for a long moment. “Do you want to come over tomorrow night then?” he asked. “Whenever you get back?”

“I’m not sure how long I’ll be gone,” I said. “I might need to stay over in Houston if my meetings run too late.”

He frowned, clearly picking up on my suddenly distant tone, but he didn’t ask any questions, which I appreciated it. I certainly couldn’t talk about my job search here in the factory.

Then again, I kind of wished he would ask some questions. Didn’t he care about what I did at all? But even if he asked, even if I could talk here, would George think I was trying to get a job in Houston to be closer to him? The last thing I wanted to do was come off like some kind of clinger.

Maybe he didn’t want me to be nearby, the insecure voice in my head told me. That voice always sounded remarkably like my mother. Maybe he wasn’t asking any questions because he didn’t care anyway. I studied his placid expression, trying to get a read on him, even as my own emotions were spiraling out of control.

“Okay,” he said calmly, as if it didn’t matter. “I guess I’ll see you when you get back.”

Despite his neutral expression, as he strode away, I had the strangest sense that maybe I’d hurt his feelings. Which was ridiculous, because as far as I could tell, he didn’t seem to care about me one way or another.

George

“I feel like Cassie is pulling away from me.”

I was sitting in the break room with Leo, Jimmy, and Lillian taking our morning break. Most of the other teams had finished their breaks a few minutes before, so for right now we had the place to ourselves.

I hadn’t heard from Cassie at all last night, and despite telling myself to give her space, I couldn’t stop thinking about her. I couldn’t figure out why she’d been so distant yesterday, it wasn’t like her. Ever since the day she’d gotten here she’d been warm and friendly towards me.

Last night was the first time since we’d started sleeping together that we hadn’t spent at least some of the night with each other. Bart and I had both missed her. I’d texted her around nine o’clock last night to say goodnight, but she’d never responded, which also wasn’t like her. Cassie was always right by her phone. Had I offended her somehow? I wracked my brain, trying to figure out what I had done wrong, or what had changed between us.

“Why do you think she’s pulling away? What’s happening?” Leo asked. The man had been married for thirty years before his wife died of cancer, so he knew a thing or two about relationships.

“I don’t know. Everything seemed fine over the weekend, better than fine, but yesterday she was really distant with me. She seemed really upset when I pointed out that everyone in town knew that we were together. And then when I asked her to come over, she said she was going to stay at her own place since she needed to get up early and head into Houston.”

Jimmy grimaced in sympathy.

“What’s she goin’ to Houston for?” Leo asked.

I shrugged. “She just said ‘personal business’,” I said, making air quotes with my fingers. “And that she might need to stay there overnight. I’ve never seen her be so secretive before. She’s also not answering my texts.”

I’d texted her earlier to say ‘good morning’ and again gotten no response. I couldn’t figure out what I’d done to upset her, and it was driving me crazy. Was she breaking up with me?

“Well, that’s weird,” Leo said. “That girl seemed pretty smitten with you. Why would she ignore you?”

“Yeah, I thought things were going so well.”

“Maybe she’s getting cold feet,” Jimmy suggested. “You’ve only known each other for what? Like a month? And you’ve been shackin’ up like an old married couple. She doesn’t even live here.”

I put my elbow on the table and rested my chin in my palm.

“I know. She’s only got a couple more weeks here and then she’s supposed to move onto her next assignment in Arizona.”