Page 43 of Part of Me
“Oh.” Pay increase. Work from home. She must really be struggling without me there. Although, I wasn’t her PA for long before finding out I was pregnant, so I find it a little hard to believe that she is struggling that much without me there. I have to say, though, that she has made a pretty tempting offer.
“Don’t give me your answer now. Chew it over. Talk to Luke and see what he says.” Her recognition of Luke surprises me as I have never mentioned Luke to her before. She has never asked, not even when I told her I was pregnant or when I filled out the maternity leave forms. Don’t be so fucking stupid, Charlie, of course Deana knows who Luke is, seeing as she knows his bitch boss and all. I have to refrain from rolling my eyes at my utter stupidity.
“Give me a call in the next couple of days and let me know what your answer is,” Deana says as she looks at the designer watch on her wrist.
“Okay.”
“I’m sorry to have taken up your time.” Deana is apologising to me? Huh. That’s something that will probably never happen again.
“It’s no trouble,” I reply, ever the polite hostess.
“I’ll see myself out,” she says as she turns on her heel and walks out of the kitchen. I hear the front door open and close a few seconds later. I stand numb for a while as I replay Deana’s visit over in my head. It isn’t until I hear the front door open again that I am brought back to reality.
“Babe?” I hear Luke call out, sending instant relief flowing through me. I make my legs move and I go into the hallway. Luke is just shutting the front door and placing his briefcase down on the floor.
“What are you doing back?” I ask him, knowing damn well that he shouldn’t be home from work at eleven o’clock in the morning.
“I thought that I would take the rest of the day off.” He shrugs out of his work jacket and comes over to me, enveloping me in his arms as he does. I snuggle against his chest and breath in the masculine scent of him.
“And Andi was okay with this?” I ask. His body tenses at my question.
“She wasn’t too pleased, but then I mentioned your surprise meeting with her, and she soon backed off.”
“Luke, I told you not to say anything,” I reply with a groan as I lean back to look at him.
“I know, but I felt that I had to. She has no right to interfere in my personal life.”
“So why is she?”
“How do you mean?”
“Well, it’s just a bit strange that your boss takes such an interest in you, outside of work.” I know that I sound a little bit paranoid, but I am sure that, if I had a male boss who was so interested in me, then Luke would have something to say about it. Luke releases me and runs his hands through his hair. “Is there anything else that you need to tell me at all?” I have to ask, seeing as he kept the Germany thing quiet from me.
“Of course not.” His eyes shift from mine. Is he lying? Come on, Charlie, stop being so paranoid.
“Okay, if you say so.” I don’t sound convinced, and Luke doesn’t expand on his unconvincing answer. I decide to change the subject as I am not comfortable with the awkwardness that has just settled between us. “So, Deana came round to see me earlier.”
“Really?” Luke says, surprise lacing his tone. “What did she want?”
“She asked if I would consider returning to work early.” I see Luke’s jaw clench.
“And why would she want you to do that?” He sounds suspicious, but I don’t bring attention to that.
“Apparently, my replacement is unsuitable. It seems that Deana likes the way that I do things, and she came up with a compromise to entice me back earlier.”
“Uh huh, and what might that entail then?”
“Well, she said there would be a pay increase, and I could spend two days of the week working from home, meaning I would only have to be in the office for three days a week.” I lean against the worktop as I watch Luke digest this news. He doesn’t look impressed in the slightest.
“And what did you say to that?”
“I was in too much shock to say anything. She told me to chew it over for a few days and let her know. Oh, and the weird thing was that she mentioned you, even though I have never spoken your name to her before.” Obviously, I’ve got past my naivety about Deana not knowing who Luke is, but I’m interested to see Luke’s response. As I watch Luke and notice his body language changing, I know that something is off.
“You must have, otherwise how would she know who I was?” he says, looking wary. There is definitely something wrong here. Alarm bells are going off in my head, and I know that it definitely relates to Andi. Do I ask him out right? He’s hardly going to tell you, Charlie. He’s already kept stuff from you before, what would make this any different? My thoughts are fuelling my paranoia of this situation. It’s unsettling. His eyes are assessing me, and I decide that if I want to find out the truth then I am going to have to play the long game. I don’t think Luke is cheating on me, nor do I think that he ever has. But he’s hiding something.
“True. I guess it’s my baby brain making me forget things,” I say with a soft smile. Oliver chooses this moment to start crying. I almost let out a sigh of relief, but I manage to stop myself.
“Guess little man’s hungry, huh?” Luke says.
