I check the lock on the bathroom door. Still shut.
“I… I did something. And I think it might’ve been really, really stupid.”
“Okay,” Fran says, calm but alert now. “Are you hurt?”
“No. Nothing like that. I—” I sit down on the closed toilet lid, press my palm to my chest. “I slept with him.”
Another pause. “Callum?”
I squeeze my eyes shut. “Yes.”
Fran doesn’t say anything for a second. Just breathes.
“All right,” she says gently. “Do you want to tell me how it happened, or do you want to focus on what comes next?”
“Both,” I whisper. “Maybe. I don’t know. I’m still trying to understand it myself.”
“Was it somethingyouwanted?”
“Yes. Definitely yes. And it wasn’t… planned. It wasn’t transactional or some mad heat-of-the-moment thing either. It was—God—it was everything.”
“But now you’re terrified.”
“Yes.”
“Because he’s your boss.”
“And I’ve finally got a job I actually care about,” I say, voice cracking. “I’ve got a proper salary, I’m learning again, I’ve got independence. I cannot afford to lose this.”
“Okay,” Fran says, steady as ever. “First thing: don’t panic. Just because you’ve slept with him doesn’t mean you’ve thrown your life off a cliff. But itdoesmean you have to be smart now.”
“I feel like I’ve already been monumentally stupid.”
“No, you’ve been human. And brave, if I’m honest. But you’re right — it’s complicated. So, here’s the deal: if you want this thing with him, you both have to treat it with care. No secrets. No weird power games. Clear lines. And if he can’t handle that—”
“Then I walk away.”
“Exactly.”
I press my fingers to my eyes. “Why did it have to be him?”
Fran chuckles softly. “Because of course it did.”
A pause.
“You don’t regret it?”
“No,” I admit. “I just… don’t know where it goes from here.”
“You’ll figure it out,” she says gently. “You always do. Talk to him.”
She’s right. We’re grown-ups. There shouldn’t be anything that can’t be sorted with an honest conversation. Right?
Chapter 11
Callum
Stella knocks lightly onthe frame, already halfway through the door.
