doing it, but even as she told herself that, she couldn’t seem to stop from opening Danny’s page.
Her heart clawing its way into her throat, she glanced at his last few posts. Odd. At one point, she’d loved this man. Truly loved him. Now she just wanted to see if he was still with the new girlfriend he’d mentioned at Drip. Had he been telling the truth or was he lying about that, too?
Out of the most recent three pictures, a brunette Adison didn’t recognize was in two of them. She was pretty, smiling with Danny in front of an ice-skating rink in one pic and giving a peace sign in another.
Adison’s vision blurred, an effect from the humiliation. They’d just broken up, and Danny was already putting another girl all over his socials.
The most recent picture, one of Danny standing cross-armed on their—no, his—front porch, was from the day before. Adison clicked on it and read the text below.
“Peace out Buffalo. Been real but not the best. Miami, here we come. C U in a few weeks. #moving #hustling #soulmates”
Soulmates? A bad taste coated Adison’s tongue. Did everyone know that he’d been cheating on her? She had a brief urge to go home and die of embarrassment in her apartment, but, luckily, she managed to resist it until it passed.
She put her phone away, the bile rising in her throat. What…a…jerk! They’d just broken up, and he was showing off his new girlfriend.
That decided it. Not only was Adison going to the party, she would be bringing her “boyfriend” as well.
She made her way into the Montoya Foundation, heart thudding against her ribs. Not only was she feeling foolish and gullible for having wasted almost a year of her life with Danny, she was also nervous about asking Ken to go to the party.
In the days since, she’d replayed that video call a dozen times over in her mind. At no point had words been exchanged that confirmed that Ken and Thea were an item, and Adison was beginning to think that, still reeling in the wake of Danny’s betrayal, she might have jumped to conclusions.
At the same time, though, if her initial suspicion had been correct, she was about thirty seconds away from making a complete fool out of herself.
Well, only one way to find out.
At her cubicle, she stopped long enough to hang up her coat and stash her purse in the desk. Then, smoothing her skirt, she pushed open the double doors that led to Ken’s office.
She’d never been in his office before, and as she approached one of three desks stationed in front of another door, her step faltered. Perhaps she shouldn’t be doing this. She could be breaking some sort of company protocol by walking right up to Ken’s personal area.
“Yes?” A woman with a pale face and bright red hair looked up at Adison expectantly.
Adison swallowed. “I would like to see Mr. Montoya. My name is Adison Hale. I’m the new charity administrator and I’m planning the Christmas party.”
Before she’d said “Christmas party,” the redhead had looked like she’d been about to call security. Those two little words changed everything, though.
“Oh, Adison.” Her voice lilted. “One moment, please.”
The redhead picked up the phone on her desk and pressed a button. “Mr. Montoya, Adison Hale is here…yes.” She hung up and looked back at Adison. “Go right in.”
“Thank you.” Unable to believe how smoothly that had gone down, Adison went to the frosted door on the far side of the room.
Even though the assistant had told her to go in, she still knocked.
“Come in,” Ken called.
She let herself into the room, her heart starting to race all over again. Except this time, it was the handsome man who was to blame.
Ken had already stood from his desk and was coming around to meet her. “Adison. How are you?”
“Good. Thank you.”
He reached out for her, seemed to think better of it, redrew his hand, seemed to think better of that, and then pecked her on the cheek. His aftershave tickled her nose, and her knees went weak.
Ken cleared his throat and stepped back. “I received your email about decorations. I like everything you put in there. Again, though, I’m leaving the choices up to you.”
“I just thought I would, uh, check.” Her face was hot as Hades, and she prayed he hadn’t noticed the blush.
“Would you like to have a seat?”
“No, thank you.” In an effort to stop herself from wringing her hands, she clasped