Page 75 of I Won't Be In On Monday

"I'm not mad at you. I just think that it's a little hypocritical that..."

"That what?"

"It's nothing. I mean, you know what? I'm glad you're not taking it because like I told you, I want the man that does take it to be someone special to me and not a fuckboy."

"So now I'm a fuckboy?"

"Well, aren't you?" she says, her chest rising.

"You know what? I'm just going to go now, Juniper, before we both say something we’ll regret. I'll see you later." I hurry out of the shower and back to the room to grab my clothes. My heart is thudding. I don’t want to leave. I want to hold her close to me. I want to make love to her. I want to love her.

I’m officially losing it. I don’t know what has happened to me.

Chapter Twenty-One

Juniper

I wake up early and all I can do is scream into my pillow. I cannot believe the night I had. I cannot believe how Remington just left me. I wish that I hadn't gone to work the evening before. I should have made some excuse because now I know what it is like to be kissed by Remington. To be tasted by Remington, and I know what it is like to taste him. I was so close to begging him to take my virginity, to telling him that I loved him. I want to die from mortification and embarrassment. I can not believe that I now find myself in the position of having sucked my boss's dick.

My phone starts beeping, and I rub my eyes and grab it. It's my dad. I realize that I still haven't called him back. "Hi. Morning, Dad," I say, hoping he's not going to ask me to come to breakfast or lunch.

"Hey, I've been worried about you. What's going on?"

"I've just been really busy with work. One of my boss's new clients, Liam Gallagher, has..."

"Isn't he an older client? I feel like you've talked about him before."

"I mean, yeah. I don't know why I said new. I meant one of his clients has newly come to the office, and there's just been a lot of work." I make up the excuse. "I am so sorry, Dad. I'm sorry I missed out last week, and..."

"It's okay. I've just been worried about you. I was looking forward to last weekend because I did have something to tell you, but ...”

“I can’t come today either, Dad," I say quickly. "But we have plans for tomorrow, right?"

"Well, about tomorrow…" He sounds frazzled.

"What is it? Oh, my gosh. Are you okay? Look, if you're not feeling well, I can cancel my plans today. Where are you? What's going on?"

"I'm fine. I actually have other plans for tomorrow. I made a little bit of a mistake and..."

"You have other plans for tomorrow?" The shock is apparent in my voice, but I don't know how to hide it. My father has never had plans that didn't revolve around me. Ever. At least not that I can think of.

"Yes, I didn't want to tell you this over the phone, but Morgan and I are..."

"Morgan? Who's Morgan?" I sit up straight in the bed. "What's going on, Dad?"

He lets out a deep sigh. "She's a friend of mine. Some may call her a girlfriend, and she got us tickets to see a matinee performance of Wicked tomorrow. Apparently, they're very expensive, so I do not want to let her down. I hope you understand that."

"Dad, you're going to Broadway with a woman named Morgan, who I've never heard of before. What is going on?"

"Well, you know I couldn't be a monk for the rest of my life."

"But, Dad, you said you never wanted to date again after Mom. That she was the love of your life and that..."

"Shewasthe love of my life, and she gave me you. And I wanted to make sure that when I was raising you, you were my sole focus, that you could feel that love. But you have your own life now. I met Morgan in the park, and one thing led to another. We had coffee, and then we went to a bookstore and played a game of chess. I like her company, and she likes mine, and I know she would very much like to meet you.”

“Oh, my gosh. You have a girlfriend? Dad, why haven't I heard anything about her before? You've literally never told me that you were seeing someone. Never. Why didn't you?"

"Because I didn't want to get you upset or get your hopes up. I wanted to see where everything was going to go first. And well, I like her a lot, and I think she likes me. She actually has a son. And we were thinking maybe we could all go on a trip to Florida one year."

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