“We can keep you close.” Marla’s voice is rushed, the way it used to be when she would try and sway my decisions when we were together. I hate how I know that too. “What about this? You start with my team today, see how you like it, and take the rest of the week to talk it over at home? We’ll see if we can come to an agreement on Friday.”
Dipping my chin, I rock back on my heels. If they’re willing to work with me, this really sounds like the best of both worlds. “I’ll likely have some stipulations to negotiate—paternity leave and staying in-office close to the due date.”
“As long as they’re not too unreasonable, I’m sure we can work something out. I’ll have my assistant set up a provisional contract signing for Friday morning. If all goes well, we’ll sign a permanent one in February.” Gabriela swipes a few more times on the tablet, then tucks it under her arm.
“Great!” Marla’s grin fades when I don’t return it, and she fluffs her hair, rubbing her lips together. “Come. I’ll introduce you to the team.” I follow her out of Gabriela’s office. We haven’t even reached the elevator before she’s babbling about how excited everyone is to be working with me, and all I canthink about is getting away from her. “You’re going to fit right in?—”
“I got it, Marla. What I don’t understand is why I was blindsided about the flex decision on my first day in the office.” The bite in my voice is undeniable. Based on her tiny hop backward when I push for the door to close, she got the message loud and clear. I want no confusion here. We’re nothing more than two employees who happen to know a hell of a lot about each other.
“I-I know it was your dream position years ago. When your name floated across the transfer candidate pool, I thought it was because of our conversation at that training a few months ago, so I sent it to Miles. You’re more than qualified for this position, Trevor. I just thought, maybe if I could do this for you?—”
“What? That’d I’d be so grateful it would make up for betraying me in the worst way? Come on, Marla. You’re smarter than that.”
“If I had known?—”
“Stop.” The doors open on the third floor. “It’s done now. Just take me to my office, and do me a favor?” I step out and turn to face her.
“W-what?” Her voice catches despite the squaring of her shoulders.
“Stop acting like you know anything about my life now. You don’t.”
Walkinginto Willa’s house after the shit show at work feels like crawling back to base camp after trying to climb Mount Everest. Because of the mixup between departments, all of my access to the workspace portal was frozen. I couldn’t do anything but shadow my teammates while they tried to walk me through the protocols for the department. There are five flexemployees, making me the sixth, and I’ve collaborated with trainers in the LA office for so long I already know everyone on the team. That’s probably the only thing I have going for myself at this point. A shitty day mixed with great company. Mostly. Marla’s a lot more involved than I would like, but she kept a wide berth after our conversation in the elevator.
The house is quiet when I hang my computer bag by the door and slip off my shoes. I have a brief moment of panic, reminded of the last time I came home and Willa was nowhere to be found. Walking slowly to her bedroom, I find my first reason to smile all day sleeping on my pillow. I drop to my knees and place a hand on her belly, then wake her with a kiss on the forehead and my thumb to her cheek.
Willa stretches her neck as she peeks an eye open. “You’re home?” she asks through a yawn. “What time is it?”
“Uh.” I check my watch. “Five-thirty. You can go back to sleep. I just wanted to let you know I’m home.”
“No, it’s okay. I didn’t mean to fall asleep.” She eases up to sit against the headboard. “How was work?”
“Welp, I got a promotion…maybe.”
Willa cocks her head, and I don’t miss the twitch in her eyes as they narrow.
“You remember that ex who cheated on me? Well, we work in the same department now, and I hate it.” I puff out my cheeks, releasing my breath slowly, trying not to shift my eyes from her intense stare.
“Is this something I should be worried about?” she asks, grabbing her fingers.
I slip my hand over hers and squeeze. “Not a chance in hell.”
“Then I’m not worried.” She reaches around my neck and pulls me into a kiss that takes all the tension in my body and tosses it out of the room. The slow dart of her tongue between my lips makes everything else disappear, and the gentle give and take whispered between our embrace flips the day on its head. Work is work, butthisis everything. She pulls away, and I chase her forone more, not ready to crash back down to reality. Smiling, she whispers, “You look stressed out. Go shower. Tell me about the rest after.”
Iamstressed. As much as I don’t want to spend another second away from her today, the heat from the shower is exactly what my tense muscles need right now. I make it a quick one and head back to the room. The last of my bad mood melts away when I climb into bed, and she tucks herself into my arms. “How was your day, Gem?”
“You’ll be happy to know I stayed in bed except for bathroom breaks and getting food, just like you asked me to.”
“Finally, she listens…” I tease, leaning my head against the headboard with a smile.
She pokes me in the chest. “You’re not getting off that easy. Tell me about your day.”
I heave a long sigh and give her the play-by-play. The more I tell her, the more confused she looks.
“You’re acting like they made you kick puppies all day. Apart from having to deal with your ex, what’s the problem?”
“The problem is, I walked into HR this morning with one job and came out with a tentative promotion.”
“A promotion torturing puppies?”
