Page 24 of Playing A Risk
Melanie: You’re right. I’m still mad at you. Even more so now that I’ve talked with Dori. So that should answer your question. She’s fine, but you need to give her space to figure out how she feels. If you don’t, you’ll make everything worse.
Fuck.
Dori needs to understand the entire picture before she takes time away to process it all. But how do I get Melanie to explain that to Dori without telling Mel everything? Dori needs to hear it from me, so I try another way.
Me: Please, Mel. Let Dori know there’s more to this story. She needs all the information before she shuts me out.
Melanie: You should’ve thought about that months ago. Really, Jami? How do you not see that?
She has me there. I’m fucked until Dori gives me a chance to speak. If she ever does. My stomach bottoms out and I swim in an ocean of despair.
CHAPTER 7
DORI
I slideonto a stool in Hunter’s kitchen. “Did I upset you when I said you’d be a good father?”
He keeps chopping lettuce for a salad. “No. Why do you ask?”
“You got up and left my room pretty fast, so I didn’t know for sure.” I gesture to a tomato, pushing all thoughts of Jami way down. “Hand me that, please, and I’ll cut it up.”
Hunter grabs a knife, slides it to me, then hands me the tomato. “Thanks. My assistant usually does this for me, but I had her running around all day, so I gave her the night off.”
“I don’t remember her working this much before. Have things changed? Because it seems like she does a lot for you now.” I go about my chopping duties, grateful for the distraction.
“When I’m in town, she does, but when I’m not, she doesn’t do much. I pay her a salary and don’t take advantage of her, so it works out in her favor.”
“You’re a generous boss, so I believe you.”
He laughs under his breath but doesn’t say anything.
“Why are you laughing?”
He shakes his head. “It’s nothing.”
“It is too, so tell me.”
He stops what he’s doing. “When you said I was a generous boss, I thought you were going to say I was a generous lover.”
“Oh.” I look down to hide my heated cheeks. “Yeah, well, unless you sleep with your assistant, I’m not sure how that has any relevance.”
“I don’t sleep with her and never have.”
“It’s none of my business, so you don’t need to explain yourself.”
He remains still for a moment. When I raise my head, he’s studying me as if he wants to say more.
I’m not sure I can handle talking about our relationship, so I segue. “Did you get the IT department to give me a temporary email for the next couple of weeks?”
He returns to fixing the salad. “I did. I’ll go through it with you and help you with work tomorrow. Today was about you taking some time to…cry and process.”
“Thank you. I know I’ve said it before, but I appreciate this.”
“I know you do, so don’t think twice about it.” He tosses the lettuce into a bowl. “Why did you say I’d make a good dad?”
I’m surprised he wants to talk about something more personal, but I guess if he asked, he’s up for the discussion.
“I said that because you’re taking great care of me. It makes me believe if you ever had a kid, you would be the same way as you’re being with me.”
