“I’m actually just getting started, but I can take a break, if you like…”
“I can’t believe it!” An excited Mila launches herself around my neck. “They gave me the job!”
“Really?”
I hold her close to me, grateful and scarily infatuated by the man who’s currently watching us from the other side of the room. I flash a thumbs-up in his direction and he mirrors my gesture.
Mila lets me go slowly. “I start this weekend.”
“I’m happy for you,” Jake says from behind me.
Mila smiles at him.
“Sit down. Eric’s invited us to stay for dinner.”
“Really?” Mila settles onto the stool next to me. “How kind…”
“Right?” Jake says, trying to provoke a reaction in me.
“I think I need to…” I get up and gesture towards the hallway leading to the bathrooms.
“I’ll order something to drink in the meantime – non-alcoholic,” Mila says before I walk off.
I just have time to push open the door to the toilets and reach the sinks before Eric follows me.
“So, everything went well?” he asks anxiously.
“Why are you doing all this?” I ask him suddenly.
“What…? Sorry?”
“Why are you doing this?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“What will happen when this is all over, Eric?”
“This…?”
“Us. When the two of us are over, what will happen?”
“I thought we could be friends.”
Friends.
How could I be friends with a man I want in my bed every night, and in my life every day?
“What about my sister?”
“Well, I was hoping to become her friend, too.”
I nod, confused. What I said makes no sense, I know that. He’s proven himself to be friendly, genuine. I’m the one who’s started building something up in my head that doesn’t exist.
“Sorry. I think I’m just worried about my sister. I overreacted.”
Eric steps closer, his hands on my shoulders. “I get it. I promise she’ll be fine. She won’t have any issues here. It’s a healthy work environment. Besides, I’ll be here, right?”
He’ll be there. But who will be there for me when my heart gets what’s coming to it?
