Page 75 of Reclaiming Love

Chapter 41

Unable to bring herself to tell Noah everything, Melissa had shared just enough to help ease her burden. And slowly, in the telling of it, she felt as though a heavy iron chain had been lifted from her chest: she could breathe a little. He’d listened intently, and that itself comforted her.

The Noah from before slowly returned to her. A whisper of relief settled over her that perhaps they could salvage things.

But then she walked into the lobby at work and saw Sandra Donnelly—a senior manager who seemed to make it her daily goal to inject misery into the lives of others—waiting outside the elevator bank. Melissa slowed down her footsteps, busied herself by searching in her bag for nothing in particular. When the elevator arrived, she waited for Sandra to step in. The short, sharp jaunty dance of the woman’s dark hair contrasted strongly against the deep magenta of her coat.

The woman sure likes her colors, thought Melissa. She would never be caught dead in something so loud. She watched the doors close, and Sandra disappeared out of sight. Now that her path was clear, Melissa approached the elevator bank and took the next available elevator. She stepped in and pressed the button to her floor.

Matt jumped in beside her and pressed the button to immediately close the doors. Her heart beat faster and she inched toward the corner, eyeing him warily. A curl of a smile formed on his face. It unnerved her, the way he continued to stare, without saying a word.

She remained silent. Waiting for him to talk first, and when he didn’t, she swallowed lightly, hoping she didn’t give away any signs of her nervousness.

The elevator stopped, and he walked out. “I’ll be watching you, Melissa,” he said, and then the doors closed.

Alone again, she racked her brains, analyzing his words. What did he mean? Were there more backups? Did he have images hidden away on other devices? Her palpitations began.

She’d barely made it to her desk when Nadine rushed past her. “Melissa, I’ve got that presentation in an hour. Do you have the latest slides?”

Melissa nodded. “I’ll copy them over for you.”

“I haven’t got time. Just give them to me now, could you please? I’ve got the Noble Vintage guys in the conference room waiting for me. I don’t know how long I’ll be.”

Melissa slipped her the memory stick, suddenly switching to work mode.

“Thanks.” Nadine rushed off.

Another normal day at the Zimmerman Group.

~~

By late afternoon, Melissa had toyed many times with the idea of calling Noah, or texting him. He brightened her day, and after the way the morning had started, by her running into Matt, she needed nice things to think about.

But she always stopped herself from doing so, not wanting to depend on him too much, not wanting to come across as needy. She put away her finished sandwich wrapper when her phone rang. It was Nadine.

“Melissa, could you come in here please.”

She went into Nadine’s office—to find her boss sitting at her desk, ashen faced. The moment Melissa sat down, Nadine walked over to the just-ajar door and closed it, before returning to face Melissa.

Had the Europe trip been brought forward? Melissa wondered.

“I don’t know how to say this, so I’m just going to come out with it.” Nadine sat back in her chair and rubbed her hands together, hesitating. “The memory stick you gave me wasn’t the one with the PowerPoint slides. It was your personal one, I think.” She wavered slightly as she said it.

Melissa thought back to the morning, and her face crumbled.

Oh.

Shit.

“Mine?” But even as she said it she knew exactly which memory stick she’d accidentally passed on. Heat grazed her cheeks as she bent over and placed her face in her hands. The desire to vanish into thin air, to rewind time, to disappear, took hold.

“Nobody else saw it. I was preparing for my presentation and I caught it.”

“I’m… so… sorry,” Melissa blubbered, her breath short and fast.

“Melissa,” Nadine’s voice was quiet, soft. “I didn’t look through it all. I swear to you. I opened it and it just played. It was footage of you.” Nadine took a breath in and seemed to have as much trouble telling her as Melissa had in listening to her words. The horror of imagining Nadine watching her …was her worst nightmare come true.

“I saw a glimpse. I saw enough. I saw you crying…in what I can only imagine to be the worst ordeal for you. I saw his face. And I closed it. Here.” She handed Melissa the stick.

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