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Chapter Twenty-Five
At work Monday morning, Sophie stared at herself in the bathroom mirror and counted to ten in an attempt to calm herself. When that didn’t work, she counted to twenty.
After that, she gave up and walked back to her office.
In fifteen minutes she had a meeting with the project team and would see Ryder for the first time since Saturday night. After spending the day with Penelope in the full throes of their breakup rituals established back when they were in high school, she’d gotten home late on Sunday night. Ryder’s house had been dark, and she tried not to think about him inside, his long body stretched over his bed where she’d spent countless hours.
Since this was a small town, people already seemed to know things had gone to hell between them. She saw it in Griff’s face when he’d offered a soft “good morning.” In the pitying look his stern-eyed secretary had given her. And countless other ways.
She’d talked to Maddie on the way home, driving down the highway in the middle of nowhere, crying her eyes out as Maddie attempted to console her. She’d cried more tears in one day than she had in the last five years combined. All she could hope was to get through this meeting without a breakdown. At the moment, it seemed too much to ask.
A knock on the door had her starting in her seat, and even though she didn’t want to talk to anyone, she called the visitor in. Anything to distract her in these last minutes before she was forced to see him was welcome.
The distraction didn’t work.
Ryder stood in the doorway, dressed in his uniform, looking like shit.
Throat tight, she blinked.
They stared at each other. The silence suffocated her.
He cleared his throat. “I wanted to talk to you.”
Unable to speak, she nodded.
He walked forward and handed her a file. “I thought it best if I skipped today’s meeting. You have it covered anyway.”
That wasn’t what she wanted to hear. She wanted to hear he was as desperate for her as she was for him. That he couldn’t stand not being with her. That he needed her and would take any time they had together. All the things rioting around in her heart, she wanted to hear from him. But instead he confirmed what he’d said the other night.
That he could no longer be around her.
She clenched her teeth, grinding them together so hard her jaw ached.
He shoved his now-empty hands into his pockets. “I talked with Griffin, and he’s fine with me backing off the project. You’ve done most of the heavy lifting since you came to work here anyway.”
Her bottom lip quivered. She wouldn’t even have an excuse to see him. Even though they lived next door to each other, she knew he would avoid all contact with her. He was systematically severing all ties with her.
She managed to squeak out, “Okay.”
“I can’t imagine you’ll need anything, but if you do, you know where to find me. I’ll help if I can, but for now I think this is better.”
Better for whom? she wanted to scream but kept quiet. It was better. At least this way he wouldn’t be sitting there staring at her with those silver eyes.
“Do you need anything before I go?”
She shook her head.
Their gazes locked, held together, and a thousand silent things passed between them. A muscle in his jaw twitched. “Take care of yourself.”
“You too.”
Then he turned and left, closing the door behind him.
Tears welled in her eyes and she brushed them away. She had a job to do.
He gave her no choice but to put this mess behind her. All she needed to do was get through the day. Then the next one. And the one after that. Every day it would get better. Easier.
Time healed all wounds. Or so they said.
