I read that one stupid line over and over. Each time, I became more and more irate. I’d started my ridiculous mourning over the loss of Chase as soon as he dumped me. Lucky for him, I was stuck at stage two: angry.
Today was my last day. I had nothing left to lose. So I typed back.
Screw you.
It made me feel a lot better. It also made me want to eat. Grabbing my bag from the desk drawer, I slammed it shut and headed to Travis’s office. “Still want to take me out to lunch for my last day?”
“Fuck, yeah.”
“We’re taking Lindsey, too. It’s not a date.”
He stood. “It’s a pre-date. As soon as you see how charming I am outside of the office, you’ll give in.”
I pretended to want to invite Abbey, Chase’s secretary, just so I had an excuse to strut past the boss’s office, even though I already knew she wasn’t in today. The blinds were wide open as we passed. I was dying to look inside, but I wouldn’t give Chase the satisfaction. I wasn’t even sure he was in there until Travis and I were almost at Abbey’s empty desk, and the bossman’s deep voice stopped me in my tracks.
“Reese.”
I closed my eyes, dreading turning around. But there was no way I was making a scene. I wouldn’t stoop to that level. I’d made my mistake of getting involved with someone from my job again, but I’d at least go out with my head held high in front of my peers.
Mustering up all the professionalism I could, I turned. “Yes?”
What I found broke down the wall I’d built around my heart. Chase looked absolutely terrible. His normally tanned skin was sallow, and his face was sunken. He had dark circles under his eyes, and he looked…sad. I had to stop myself from walking back to him—my immediate reaction was to want to offer him comfort. Then I remembered. Where had he been to offer me comfort the last few weeks when I was hurting? Still, it went against my nature to kick someone when he was down.
“Can we speak a moment?” He tilted his head toward his office door.
I looked at Travis standing next to me and then back at Chase. “We have plans for lunch. Can it wait until I get back?”
He nodded, looking forlorn. “Sure.”
Our eyes locked for a few seconds, and I forced myself to look away. “Ready, Trav?”
Over lunch, the boss’s return was the topic of conversation.
Lindsey started with the gossip. “Did you see Chase is back? He looks like he got run over by a freight train.”
Travis responded. “He looks like he’s sick or something.”
I’d told Travis that Chase was just kidding around when he’d kissed me that day in the break room, and we were actually just old friends. He seemed to believe it.
Two weeks ago, an office memo had come out saying Chase would be traveling on unexpected business for an unknown amount of time. He could have just been exhausted from travel, but it looked like more than that to me. Maybe he was sick. Oh God. The thought made me feel ill.
Throughout the rest of lunch, Travis and Lindsey chatted away, but I couldn’t get the picture of Chase out of my head enough to enjoy myself. What if he was sick? Maybe he’d broken things off to spare my feelings. What was it exactly he’d said to me?
“I’m not the right man for you.”
It was so vague and detached. Thinking back, it was the ambiguous blow-off that really made our breakup hurt. While I’d fallen hard for him, he hadn’t even given me enough consideration to fully explain what had changed. Because we work together had seemed like a cop-out right from the start. He’d certainly never accepted it from me.
It had been more than two weeks, but the pain in my chest was back with a vengeance. I tried to shake it off on the way back to the office after lunch, but it was no use. Knowing how I was, how obsessive I could be, I decided I needed to see Chase one last time before I left today. Maybe he’d have the answers I’d been searching for.
The blinds were drawn on his office as I approached. Remembering what had happened the last time I was inside with the blinds concealing us, I considered turning around rather than facing him again. Unfortunately, Chase walked out and caught me in the hall before I could change my path.
Again, I froze.
He stared at me and seemed to know I was struggling. “Please. Just give me a few minutes.”
Giving in, I walked past him and into his office. He shut the door behind me and locked it.
“I don’t think it’s necessary to lock it. Anymore.”
Chase’s voice was quiet. “That’s not what I was doing. I just wanted some privacy so we could talk. Sam tends to barge in.”