Page 38 of The Fear of Falling
When I turn around and step into my office, Benson is fully focused on his computer and doesn’t acknowledge me. I know he was listening because of his well-timed cough, but if he’s going to pretend he didn’t hear that whole conversation, so am I.
It’s not until I’ve fully settled and jumped into my bursting email inbox that he speaks. “There’s only one good way to enjoy chocolate,” he murmurs.
Heat floods through me, and though I turn to glare at him, he doesn’t look at me. But there’s the slightest hint of a smile playing at the corner of his lips, a bit of the flirty side of Benson coming out to play.
What am I supposed to do with that?
Chapter 15
Benson
Ishouldhavegoneback to my hotel. I’m too tired and thrown by seeing Avery again to be good company, and Eric is a lot more enthusiastic about this dinner outing than I am. He’s been talking nonstop since we left the office an hour ago, filling me in on the years I’ve missed, but I just want to go to bed.
But it was Lynda’s idea for the two of us to go out to eat and catch up, and I can’t deny that woman anything.
At least the food is good.
“I still can’t believe it’s been eight years since we saw each other last,” Eric says, waving his chopsticks around. This is the third time he’s said that. “Crazy how life flies by the older we get.”
“Crazy,” I repeat, shoveling a ton of ramen into my mouth in the hopes that it’ll keep me from having to talk. I’d much rather let Eric fill in the silence in case I let slip something about Avery that I shouldn’t. Being in that tiny office with her was torture, surrounded by her sweet scent, and every little noise andmovement she made pulled my attention away from the work I was trying to concentrate on.
“And you haven’t changed,” Eric says with a chuckle. “I figured you’d have gotten married long before now.”
If I really haven’t changed, he should know better than to think that. Maybe I wasn’t as committed to casual as I am now, but I’ve always been flighty, for lack of a better word. College was no different. If Eric hadn’t managed to convince me not to change my major from business to graphic design our junior year, I would have never finished a degree, instead jumping around to different paths and never sticking with one thing.
I force a smile and shake my head. “Nah, you know me. Too many things to explore for me to settle down.” A question sits on the tip of my tongue, and though I shouldn’t ask because I already know the answer, I can’t hold it back. I want to hear it from him. “What about you? No one catch your eye?”
Eric’s happy expression falters, his eyes dropping to his bowl. “Oh, right. Well, Avery and I were a thing for a while.”
He clearly doesn’t want to talk about it. I should leave it alone. “Avery, your business partner?” I ask.
He nods. “We met at a book club, actually, and started dating long before we came up with the idea to start Rose & Quill. But that relationship ended a couple of months ago.”
“What happened?” That’s the question I really want an answer to. How did he give up a woman like Avery? I’ve only known her for a week, and I fell so hard that I’ve barely been able to sleep since leaving Italy. I’m not the kind of guy who falls! But I did for Avery, and were I anyone else, I don’t think I’d be able to let her go.
Shrugging, Eric looks up and rests his arm on the back of his chair. “I don’t know.”
Come on, man. You have to give me more than that.
“I guess…” He shakes his head. “We both decided it was for the best. We were more invested in the company than we were in each other.”
Avery was crying over this guy.Sobbing. Something tells me he wasn’t aware of the full scope of her investment in that relationship. “And you still work together?” I ask.
“We have to. I can’t handle it all without Avery, and she’s not business-minded enough to run the place on her own.”
I don’t like that answer, and I tuck my hands beneath the table before he sees my clenched fists. Hiding my feelings is as much for Avery’s sake as it is the company’s. “Do you see your failed relationship affecting Rose & Quill?” I can’t do anything to help them if the company is going to suffer under their estrangement, and if that’s the case, I might as well head back home and put distance between Avery and me before I start coming up with ideas to spend as much time with her as I can.
I need to be building my business. Not building a relationship with a woman I can’t have.
Shrugging again, Eric returns to his food. “We can make it work. We just have to figure out how to be business partners instead of romantic ones.”
He makes it sound so easy, but I felt every ounce of the awkwardness between the two of them this morning. In the brief moments I talked one-on-one with Lynda while Avery and Eric took their lunch breaks, she confirmed how tense the office has been since the breakup. She also told me she heard most of my argument with Avery, which is…embarrassing.
I think the only reason Lynda’s still being nice to me is because of our history.
“It’s good to see your mom again,” I mutter, hoping the change in subject will keep me from rehashing the argument with Avery for the dozenth time. Could I have handled things better? Ofcourse. Do I regret shutting things down? Absolutely. Do I wish Eric hadn’t interrupted us? I don’t know.
Eric grins at the mention of his mom. “I’m so glad she agreed to help us out. She’s surprisingly great at handling the customer side of things and communicating with our authors. But I’m pretty sure she likes Avery more than she likes me.”
