care of.”
“You don’t have to go out of your way or anything. Geez, I made it sound like I’m some charity case. Guilt you into not firing me.” She stood, waving her hands in front of her. “That wasn’t what I meant at all. Now that we’re talking, I don’t mind telling you about me. As much as I thought you were a perv when we met, I feel I can trust you.” She slapped her hand over her mouth.
“Perv?”
Julia stepped forward, putting her hand on my arm. “No, no. I didn’t mean . . .” She sighed. “Okay, I thought you were a little strange when you came to Nathan’s birthday party. But your brother explained you were stressed about the project you’re working on, so now that I work here, I can see. What you do is stressful.”
There was a chuckle bubbling up my throat, and I couldn't swallow it back down. She was adorable when surprised. And the heat from her hand on my arm was traveling down between my legs.
She winced and drew her hand away. “That’s it, isn’t it? If I wasn’t fired for sneaking into your bathroom and milking my boobs, then you will fire me for calling you a perv and crazy. It was fun while it lasted, Mr. Diaz. I’ll go grab my stuff. My special pen I bought at Castle Office and Hiking Shop. The stuffed animal kitty with the missing eyeball. And my scarf blanket.” She threw her thumb over her shoulder and bent down to pick up her bag.
“Wait.” I bent over to stop her.
The last thing I wanted was for her to think the worst of me. I wasn’t planning to fire her. It wasn’t as if she physically assaulted me. If she did that, I might have had to fire her, even if she was the mother of my son.
But as I was reaching for Julia, she stood. The back of her head hit my nose, and a bolt of searing pain ripped through my head.
“Holy Fran Drescher!” I yelped as I grabbed my nose, instinctively tilting my head back.
If that wasn’t assault, I didn’t know what was.
Chapter 12
Julia
“OH NO, I’M SO SORRY.” I winced and tried to reach for Mr. Diaz, but he jerked away.
Even if he was considering giving me a second chance, I knocked that thought right out of his head.
Wait, what did he say?
“Did you just yell out Fran Drescher?”
He lowered his hand from his nose and blinked a few times.
“What? Oh, yes. It’s a habit I still have from being a kid. My mother told us to say ‘Fran Drescher’ instead of a curse word when we were hurt or mad.”
“That’s smart. I like it. I must remember that when Nathan gets older. In fact, I should learn that myself. I curse like a sailor. One day Nathan will pick up on that.” I was nervous.
When I felt uneasy, I couldn’t stop talking. This was why I never had a career. Too many risks of failure. I never felt bad if they fired me from a crappy, low-paying job. It’s not as if the work was meaningful. Sure, it helped pay the bills, but I wasn’t in love with it.
But I liked working for Monty the past three days. For the first time in my life, when I got up in the morning, I wondered what the day would bring and looked forward to discovering what I’d work on next.
Not that he had given me anything too challenging yet. But convincing Mr. Blackwell to invest in Mr. Diaz’s project during the interview was exciting.
What did it matter now? I was toast.
There was a small trickle of blood rolling down from his nostril. I looked around and grabbed a tissue from a box he had on his desk.
“Your nose is bleeding.” I handed it over, frowning.
His eyes widened as he grabbed the tissue from me, then dabbed his nose.
I guided him back to his chair and then ran over to his mini fridge in the corner. Grabbing my lunch bag, I withdrew a freezer pack. I made my way back to his desk and handed it over. “Here, hold this on your nose to slow the bleeding.”
“Thanks.”
“Since I’m fired, you might as well know . . . the lunch bag I’ve had in your fridge the past few days has really held the bottles of breast milk.”
“Mmm.” Monty watched me with his mocha eyes.
I stood there in silence for a moment, unsure of