That was what Craig would have done, had he been able to speak. Instead, he sat and tried to look busy, clicking things mindlessly on his phone.
All the while, his mind spun. Could it be true? Was Rose done with her ill-fated ex? Had she decided to move on?
There were no answers during the meeting. Instead, there was just Rose, standing at the front of the room in her light blue suit, her hair catching the shine from the projector. She was stunning. It wasn’t just the beautiful PowerPoint she’d put together, wowing the board—it washer. She glowed.
When she finished and the meeting adjourned, Barney was the first one to stand, shaking her hand and whispering, “You’re a star.”
The best Craig could do was nod and say, “Good job.”
Rose smiled, thanking him, and walked out the door. Craig watched her leave, then felt a hand on his shoulder.
Barney. “Is there something you need to tell me?”
He shook his head. “I don’t think so.”
“It seems like you’re angry today. Or stressed out. Are you not happy with Rose anymore? Please tell me it’s not that.”
Craig raised his eyebrows. “No. She’s amazing. She’s the reason we’re going to be able to sell. She’s – Rose is everything for this place.”
“Oh.” Barney took a step back. His eyes widened. “Oh.”
Crap. He should’ve stuck to not speaking. It was surprising it had taken Barney this long to catch on, actually.
Craig looked over his shoulder and lowered his voice. “Don’t.”
“I’m not going to say anything. I’m not going near that with a ten-foot pole. You can talk to HR about your feelings.”
Craig scoffed. “Thanks.”
“Good luck, man.” He smiled. “Really.”
He was going to need it.
Chapter Twenty-three
Her due diligence was done. Rose could respond to Greg’s pathetic follow-up email about Barney with honesty.
She got back to her office and typed out her reply. “He says he doesn’t know you. Sorry.” She was about to hit send, then added, “Good luck finding someone to mentor!”
The email went off into the world, and that was the end of it. No more waiting to meet with him. No more hoping he was thinking of her. No more delusion.
Rose thought it would be different to turn down his weak proposal – freeing, in a way – but it wasn’t that simple.
All these years, she’d been a fool. How could she have believed he was a wonderful person and they would work things out in the end, that all they needed was time?
He’d popped into her life and tried to act like a friend, only confusing her further. It let her keep thinking they’d end up together.
Despite thinking exclusively about himself all the time, Greg still didn’t know what he wanted, and hestillcouldn’t settle down. Rose finally saw him for what he was: the same sad, confused boy he’d been when they graduated from college.
Still, it wasn’t his fault. She’d created this hallucination of their love all on her own. For whatever reason, she’d preferred the comfort of that fantasy to reality.
As painful as it was to realize she’d wasted all those years, she took solace in the fact that it was over and it had ended on her terms. This was the first day of the rest of her life.
Rose hung around the office for the rest of the week. Partially she wanted to look good to whatever board members were around, now that they knew her face, but a less honest part of herself was hoping Craig would come in to talk to her.
She’d been so distracted by Greg that she missed the person right in front of her, the one she could spend hours talking to, the one who made her laugh. The one who had seen something in her – somethingreal, not like Greg, who only saw what she could do for him.
If only he’d show up in her office. If only he’d give her some hint of how he felt or what he thought.
