myself for allowing her to get so far into my head.
Taking work home, I know, isn’t going to help either. I’m not going to get much more done.
No, there’s only one thing that’s going to help me now.
I’m on my computer before I even consciously think about it, pulling up Opal’s employee file. All her details, from her phone number to her blood type, are on that file.
Including her address.
It occurs to me, as I scribble it down quickly, dimly noting that it isn’t too far from here, that this is not something I should be doing. Opal has a right to her privacy, but I’m ignoring that right now.
It makes it easier, though, to lie to myself about why I’m doing this. I’m Opal’s boss, and I need to talk to her about what I’ve done so she’s caught up when she returns. I’m being a good boss, that’s all.
That’s all I’ll admit to myself for now, anyway.
Once I have the address, I turn off my computer and collect my things. It’s lunchtime and the building is quiet as I walk through, reminding me of the last time I did this. It was only a few weeks ago, right on the cusp of my takeover, but it feels forever ago. It was before I hired Opal, and before I was besieged by so many different feelings.
I enter Opal’s address into my GPS before I can think better of it. It’s a five-minute drive, excluding traffic, from here. It doesn’t take me long to get there and, before I know it, I’m pulling up in a visitor’s car park outside a tall building.
I check the address again. Opal is on the third floor, number 308.
It would be easy just to turn back now. I shouldn’t be here. Opal isn’t going to be happy to see me at all. But I need to know that she’s okay. She can be mad at me all she wants, I just have to check up on her.
Before I leave the car, however, my phone rings. Frustrated, I pick it up.
“Hello?” I ask.
“Jason,” my father greets, and I straighten automatically. “Do you have time to do a small favor for me?”
I glance at Opal’s building.
“Today?” I ask, wondering if maybe this is a sign that I need to leave.
“No, no, it isn’t that urgent,” my father replies, and I pretend that I don’t feel a surge of relief at his words. “Just on the weekend.”
“Sure, what is it?” I ask.
“Could you mind Ripper and Callie on Saturday?” my father asks.
Ripper is a large hound that’s literally scared of his own shadow while Callie is a tiny cat that lords over my father’s mansion like she owns the place.
“Yeah, Princess will like the company,” I say. “Are you going somewhere?”
“I have a dinner,” my father says.
It takes a moment for that sentence to sink in. It’s been several years since my mother died and my father hasn’t dated at all in that time. I was beginning to think that he never would.
“As in…a date?” I ask.
“Don’t sound so surprised,” my father says wryly. “Our talk the other day got me thinking about some things. I met a very nice woman a few months ago, and we’ve been talking, but I’ve hesitated in taking it any further. But maybe the time for fear is over. If I want to be with this woman, then I need to step up.”
“Wow,” I say, stunned. I’ve only heard this amount of passion from him when he spoke about the company. “What…what do you mean, you got inspiration from our talk?”
“The talk we had about you and Opal,” my father says patiently, and I flush. “Life is too short to worry about anything other than what we want. I’m not so lucky. I don’t get to see Catherine every day, so I need to make the time if this is what I want.”
It isn’t fair. Here I am, trying to convince myself that I’m not going to try and pursue a relationship with Opal, and now my father drops this on me. I’d absolutely love to hear what he’s saying and listen to his poorly-hidden advice, but I can’t. For me, there are many other factors involved with why I can’t be with Opal.
Primarily the fact that she loathes me.
Well…maybe not so much anymore. At best, she’s tolerating me in the workplace.
I glance at her apartment. This is a bad idea, after all. Opal isn’t going to welcome me. She’s only