happy to be here, you know? Spend some precious time with my beautiful niece. Our family has had it pretty rough since Nicola died so suddenly. You know, Anya’s mom.”
Relief floods my body in waves. Michelle isn’t his girlfriend. She is Anya’s aunt.
“I…I’m sure she’s delighted to have you here. You guys seem close.”
“Nicola wanted us to be close. I love that little girl, and it seems like you do too.” Michelle reaches out and squeezes my arm gently. “I was sorry to hear that things didn’t work out between you and Trevor. Anya adores you, but I don’t want to get in the middle of it. But hey! Thanks for deciding to keep me in the loop.”
Now I’m embarrassed. I know I’m blushing hard. How weird does Michelle think I am? I’ve corned her in the middle of the night to tell her I was sleeping with her niece’s father! Whose romantic life she probably doesn’t care about.
“Goodnight, Blaire. Take care of yourself,” she says, smiling as she walks to the door.
“Goodnight!” I shut my door quickly, trying my best to do anything to save face.
Okay. Okay! So I was wrong about that little detail. Maybe Trevor is not equal to Stephen. Okay, so he doesn’t have a serious girlfriend, and maybe he has managed to build a great friendship with his daughter’s aunt, just like he has with her grandmother. And yes, he is a really good dad. Any little kid would be lucky to have a father like him.
But…that doesn’t mean he’s not a womanizer. Why did he go on a date with Erica? Is he trying to use his position of power to emotionally manipulate his assistant? Erica told me about all the other women in and out of his office. Why would she lie about that?
I don’t even know what to believe anymore. How to cope.
I just need to take this one day at a time and hope I come out of this remotely sane.
Within just a few days, I have spoken to Kirk, who is getting his legal team to go through my contract with Habitat. He has assured me that they are going to come up with a plan for how I can get out of this contract, or at least change the circumstances so I don’t have to work directly with Trevor anymore.
What a mess! And all because I couldn’t keep my hands off him.
I have also found an apartment to rent. It’s nowhere close to the Davenports, which means that the chances of me seeing Anya again are slim. I have already decided I’ll catch her when she’s with Rachel at the playground so I can spend some time alone with her before I leave.
I’m walking out of the office building when I see Erica rushing in. She’s carrying a coffee in her hand and has a wide smile on her face when she sees me.
“Hello, Erica,” I say, stopping. She stops too and breathes in deeply.
“How are you, Blaire?”
“I don’t know, I’m not sure how I am,” I reply, looking at her through squinted eyes. She’s standing with the sun behind her.
“I’m sure you’ll pick yourself back up soon enough.” I can’t decipher the tone of her voice. Is she sympathetic? Is she pitying me? Does she even care anymore?
“Are you still seeing him?” I ask, and she draws in a deep breath. It’s like she has suddenly decided she has some kind of authority over me.
“I guess you could say the situation is sensitive. We work directly together, and he feels responsible for his daughter.”
“Erica, did you lie to me about Trevor?” I ask.
Lately, I have been doubting everything.
She throws me a wide smile and shrugs.
“You can believe whatever you choose to believe, but the one thing you can’t deny is that he came running to me as soon as he was done with you. We were always meant to be together. You were just a distraction.”
With that, she walks away from me. She has no interest in hearing what I have to say, while I feel like I’ve just had the wind knocked out of me.
I shouldn’t have engaged her in conversation. I should have just walked away from Erica and never looked back, but instead, I’m stuck here, unable to move like my feet are frozen.
“Blaire!” I hear a male voice and whip around. My heart is racing. I wish I could just dig a hole in the ground and disappear.