Page 109 of Whispered Sins

I began walking up the stairs to my apartment.

“You’re way too nice to that pesky woman,” muttered Monica behind me.

“I know…she’s just lonely, though.”

“I wonder why.”

I laughed as I put my key in the door and pushed it open. My loft was exactly as I left it. Clean, but the back wall cluttered with unopened boxes and gift bags. Just more reminders of Daniel. My heart swelled and shrunk at the thought of him.

“You still haven’t opened anything?” asked Monica, closing the door and wheeling my suitcase to my closet.

I shook my head. “I’m not ready yet.”

“Okay. Well, I hate to leave you, but I have to get back to writing. I have a deadline.”

“It’s okay. I feel better now. Thank you for coming to my rescue.”

“Always, girl.”

She gave me a hug before slipping out the door. Once she was gone, I took a long, hot shower and collapsed into bed.

The next morning, I went into the office to wrap up any loose ends before having to leave. I wore an oversized dress and hoped no one noticed it was ballooning out slightly in front of me. Thankfully, no one looked at me any differently. I had always been a bit on the bigger side, so that worked to my advantage now.

As I walked down the hallway, I wondered if they even knew I was fired, or why I was. It didn’t seem like it. Brian probably wanted to keep the entire affair with Daniel on the down-low, so nothing was leaked.

After lunch, he called me into his office.

“Addison, take a seat,” he said.

I sat across from him and folded my hands in my lap, not noticing it pulled the fabric tight across my stomach.

His eyes skimmed my belly and he looked at me with concern. “Are you…”

Shit. I nodded solemnly.

“Wow.”

“Yeah, it was a surprise to me, too.”

“I don’t want to know any more,” he said, putting his hands up. “The less I know aboutthatandwhois responsible, the better.”

“Right.”

“I just wanted to check in on your progress of contacting your previous contacts.”

“It’s going well so far. I’m about halfway through my email list. I’ve passed them on to other staff.”

“Good. Remember, you have until the end of the month.”

“Yes, I know.”

“And remember, that’s me beinggenerous.” He sat back and crossed his arms.

It took everything in me not to roll my eyes. Brian had kept making it clear how generous he was after my mistakes.

“Thank you, Brian. I appreciate it.”

“All right, well, you can get back to work now.”

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