Page 55 of Without Regret

My gaze locked on hers while I tried to bite back anything snarky. “It went fine.”

“It didn’t help?”

I glanced over to Simon’s open door where I could see he was on the phone. Evidently, Tom had stepped out. “No. Did you think it would help to have my boss take me out to lunch during my first week on a new acquisition because you told him you thought I couldn’t handle laying off people?”

It wasn’t enough my own father doubted my ability to do this job; now she did, too.

Her eyes went round. “I did no such thing. I only shared I thought you’d have a hard time.”

“And how would you like it if you confessed to me outside of work something you were struggling with, and I then went to Simon behind your back and asked if he could perhaps talk to you about it? I confided in you because I thought I could trust you, not because I wanted our boss to hear about it or think for a fraction of a second I couldn’t hack it.”

Dammit. I hadn’t meant to whisper-yell all of that to her. Let alone do so at work. By the expression on her face, she was stunned and looked more hurt than angry.

“I never—I didn’t—You know what? You didn’t exactly mention the party with your family that’s set for tomorrow night, either. When the hell was that going to come up? You can’t accuse me of telling Simon things and then blindside me by withholding information.”

I took a deep breath, realizing she was getting defensive and hating this was going on where Tom or Simon could walk in on both of us getting heated.

“You’re right. I could’ve given you a head’s up, but it’s business. It’s not an intimate, get-to-know-my-non-girlfriend thing. It’s a party with dozens of people. Simon only said yes this morning because earlier he hadn’t known he’d be able to make it. So until then, I hadn’t even known you’d have to come.”

We were both silent. It occurred to me that if we were alone I’d already be ripping off her clothes. The tension was so thick it seemed the only way to let off some of the steam. Instead, I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Can we table this for now?”

Her face started to turn red, and she stood up. “Consider it done. Now, if you’ll excuse me. I need to go do something.”

Fuck. I watched her walk out, knowing she was upset. Recognizing I should’ve waited until I could’ve been calmer to talk about it. I was ticked, but I also knew her intentions were good in trying to get Simon to talk to me. Guess I should have been grateful she hadn’t replied with ‘consider it tabled forever.’

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