just need some time,” I said. “I’ll get over it. I mean, it just happened. I shouldn’t make any big life-changing decisions right now.”
“True,” Megan agreed. “There’s no time limit. You can just think on it. You don’t want to quit one job without having another anyway, right?”
I grasped on to that like a lifeline. “Exactly. They say it’s always harder to get a job when you don’t currently have one. Makes you seem less desirable or something.”
We both ate in silence for a moment before I pulled myself out of my lethargy and sighed. “So any news on Brian?” I asked, because hello, we’d been talking about my love life (or lack thereof) for a good thirty minutes.
She brightened. “No, but you know the new attorney they just hired for contracts?”
“Yeah.”
“He asked me to dinner tonight.”
“That’s great!” I said. “He’s really cute, too, isn’t he?”
She nodded. “His name is Todd and he just moved here from Omaha.”
“Omaha,” I repeated. “So a corn-fed country boy?”
Megan grinned at me. “He did grow up on a farm. He’s real polite and nice. Has manners, you know?”
“A man with manners,” I mused. “They’re getting harder to find. Let’s hope this one treats you how you deserve to be treated and doesn’t send you scathing Bible verses.”
“You’ve got that right,” she agreed with a laugh. “I think Brian was just playing with me anyway, using me to feed his ego. Half the time he wouldn’t even reply to my texts. It was like trying to have a conversation with a brick wall.”
“That really sucks,” I said. “What a jerk.” I decided Brian was one weird guy. Megan was pretty, sweet, smart, and funny. He’d have been lucky to date her, and instead he’d given her the cold shoulder. Girlfriends stuck by each other, and the next time he came by my desk to fix something on my computer, I was going to unload a good piece of my mind on him.
“Pretty much,” she readily agreed, smiling even though I knew her feelings had been hurt. It just made me want to kick Brian in the nuts. If he had any.
“So what are you wearing tonight?” I asked, which brought on a whole other—much more pleasant—conversation.
I was almost late getting back from lunch but had hit my chair and had even had time to touch up the heavy-duty makeup attempting to cover the bruises on my face by the time Parker returned from his lunch with a client. He walked past me into his office without a word, which hurt but was probably better than any alternative I could come up with inside my head.
A few minutes later, he came out carrying his briefcase. I was studiously avoiding looking up from my computer, but he stopped at my counter.
“Sage,” he said, causing me to look up. “How are you feeling today?”
For a second, I just stared blankly at him. Was he really asking how I was doing after the brush-off he’d given me last night? How was I even supposed to answer that question?
He gestured toward my face. “Your eye. How’s it doing?”
Oh. That.
“Um, yeah, it’s better,” I said, forcing my gaze away from his. I didn’t want to look at him. Didn’t want to notice the deep blue of his eyes, the wave of his dark hair, or how good he looked today in the powder blue shirt with white French cuffs, deep navy suit, and perfectly knotted scarlet tie. “Thanks for asking.”
I resumed typing, hoping he’d get the hint. He stood there for a moment, watching me, then said, “I’m leaving early for a meeting. You’re welcome to take off, too.”
That made me look up again, my eyebrows flying upward. Parker never gave me time off, not “just because.” Maybe it was his version of another apology—as if a couple of hours on a Friday would help—but whatever. I’d take it.
“Yeah, I’ll do that. Thanks.” My voice and expression were as blank as I could make them. I didn’t want him to see how much he’d hurt me. I’d rather he just think it was a one-time, in-the-moment kind of thing.
“Maybe you could, you know, go visit your parents this weekend,” he continued.
I looked at him. “Go visit my parents,” I repeated.
“Yes. They live in Lake Forest, right?”
Parker knew where my parents lived? How? I nodded. “Yeah.”
“I’m sure they’d love to see you,” he said. “I can even have my driver take you there so you don’t have to ride the bus.”