Page 77 of Grumpy Boss in Love

Still giggling, we took our seats. Megan assessed me with sparkling eyes. “Goodness, let me get a look at you. It’s only been a couple of months, but it feels like we haven’t hung out in ages. How are you?”

I sighed. “Yeah. I’m okay. What about you? How’s the internship at Evergreen Tech?” Megan was all about the environment, so I was happy when she landed her internship at a company that shared her views.

Her heavy sigh whooshed around us, and she grimaced. She was fighting for life at her new gig just as I was. I gave her a sympathetic look and muttered, “Enough said. I hear you, girl.”

“Being at the bottom of the barrel in the working world is harsh, Rubes. I’m barely surviving.”

“Tell me about it.”

“Or how about we drink about it? Tonight,” she said hopefully. “We need to make time for fun like we did in college. And we didn’t go wild for your birthday, so we need to make up for that.”

I’d turned down plans with her last Sunday because I was in London with my husband, but I couldn’t tell her that. I’d come up with a lame excuse about being exhausted and having a presentation to work on for the next day. I felt awful lying to her.

“Tonight…” The one word made me want to burst into tears because tonight, I might very well get my heart broken. “I can’t. I have plans.” Possibly to get dumped. “Sorry.”

“Okay, what was that about?”

“What?” I asked innocently.

“The shadow of doom and gloom that just passed over your face.”

Having an expressive face was annoying. I shrugged. “Nothing.”

It was everything. Dad, Elliot, and foolishly putting myself in the position to get hurt. Right now though, Elliot was my main source of stress. Thinking about him telling me whatever we had going on was done ate away at my soul.

Megan’s eyes narrowed to slits. “Ruby, you’re not one to wallow in sadness and right now you look downright miserable. It has to be something major.”

I broke. My overwhelming emotions obliterated the dam that was struggling to hold them back. “I fell in love with our professor,” I blurted. The instant the words left my lips, I knew I’d fucked up. The NDA. Shit. I pursed my lips as if that could take the words back.

Megan stared at me for a long while.

Looking around guiltily, I said, “Okay… so how about we order lunch now? I’m starving.” I prayed she’d disregard my outburst so we could move on.

“Not so fast,” Megan said. “Spill.”

Turning to gaze out the window, I thought,would it be so bad to let one person in? I’d felt so alone with my secrets. I couldn’t even tell my sisters about them in order to get comfort or advice. I was bursting at the seams. With a sigh, I turned back to her beseechingly.

“Megan, I’m swearing you to secrecy, okay? You can’t utter a word about this to anyone. I just…” Closing my eyes, I inhaled. “I need to talk to someone before I go crazy.”

“Ruby, you know you can tell me anything. You’re freaking me out. What’s going on? Are you in trouble?”

The worry on her face was touching. I may not have my family close, but I had one friend who cared. With a sigh, I leaned closer, lowered my voice to a whisper, and shared everything. From running into Elliot on the first day of my internship to our other run-ins to marrying him for convenience, and then falling in love with him. Megan’s jaw practically touched the table the entire time.

“Is this for real?” she asked at the end.

I rolled my eyes. “Why would I make up that whole tale about our former professor, Megan?”

“Oh, my god,” she said.

“That’s all you have to say?”

“I’m flabbergasted.” She shook her head. “Okay, let me process and get it together. Give me a moment.”

I waited only to hear her repeat, “Oh, my god.”

“Megan.”

“Sorry,” she said. “Okay, first of all…” She looked around the café and lowered her voice to a whisper so low, I had to lean forward to hear. At least, she was taking the secret as seriously as I was. “I can’t believe we had the CEO of Westwood Collective giving us lectures. How does no one know? The Westwoods are like freaking royalty around here.”

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