“No, but you should probably eat. A shave wouldn’t hurt either.”
Annoyed, I looked up from my computer. “Should I just call my mother and have her finish this lecture for you?”
Finn didn’t flinch at my tone. “You talk to all your friends like that?”
The ache in my chest returned at his question. The hurt and disbelief on Harper’s beautiful face from the words that flowed out of my mouth before I could think. The wall I’d built around my heart doing all the talking, keeping everything I wanted to say locked up.
This is who I am.
And you deserve better.
If only I added those last words, I could have made it hurt less.
I spent the last week convincing myself I wasn’t wrong. When Harper told me she’d known for a while, all the nonsense my brother made earlier that night suddenly made a whole lot of sense.
Why else wouldn’t you confront me?
“Sorry, Finn. Yeah, actually I do talk to quite a lot of people in that tone, so don’t feel left out.”
Finn shook his head. “I never feel left out. I’m always surrounded by people I care about because I treat them with respect.”
He walked away to take care of new customers and I stared at the food he’d put in front of me. “Hey Finn, can I get this to go? And maybe a ginger ale?”
He seemed satisfied that I wasn’t tossing it and packed up the food for me.
“Mr. Hartman,” Debbie practically jumped out of her chair. “I’ve cancelled all your meetings for today, I thought—”
I put a hand up. “It’s alright. I’m still not seeing anyone, need to catch up on a lot of work. And please, August, if you don’t mind.” I offered her a small smile.
Her expression was empty as she blinked. “August.” She shook her head as if that wasn’t going to work well for her.
I handed her the bag Finn packed for me. “Grilled chicken salad and ginger ale.”
She nodded sharply. “Okay where is this going?”
“It’s for you, Debbie.”
She took the bag tentatively. “Thank you. I’ll put a do not disturb note on your door, and again, I am so sorry about the lady who—”
“It’s fine. And…” I wanted to tell her that if this lady came back, to show her right into my office even if I was in there with the CEO of Google.
But I knew better.
Harper wasn’t coming back.
I felt her slip away permanently the minute she walked out of my office. And the look on her face—the look that was far worse than the one I remembered from five years ago that daunted me—made me think I might have made a colossal mistake.
“I’ll be working out of the conference room at the end of the hall. In the meantime, I need you to—can you please find me a new office?”
She blinked again, glancing across the hall at my double doored office. “There are two empty offices, but they’re not—”
“Can I see them after you have lunch, please?”
Thirty minutes later, Debbie found me in the conference room and showed me to the first empty one. A small, unpainted single door opened to a miniature office. It had one modest window facing another building, an empty desk about half the size of mine and two guest chairs. There might have been room for a two-seater sofa if I so chose, but not elegant enough to see big clients.
“This’ll do. Please have maintenance move all my stuff in here by Monday.”
She was quiet as I walked around the space, getting situated.
