AllFreeNovel
Share Us
We pass a few male colleagues in their starchy gray department store suits and they do not look happy to see me. I mean—to be fair, they’ve never been overjoyed to see me under normal circumstances. But definitely not after returning from my honeymoon, apparently. And none seems more unhappy I’ve returned than Marty—who is watching me from his desk as I pass his office. His pasty white complexion is full of disdain that I don’t think I deserve. Actually, I know I don’t deserve.
“Marty,” Nicole says as we pass. “Might want to wipe that look off your face and then do the same with the mustard on your shirt.”
I almost wish I had been drinking something so I could have done a dramatic spit take.
Nicole is my queen. She doesn’t take anything from anyone. I would go to the ends of the world for her. And I hope that one day I can have skin as thick as hers—because part of me is a little afraid that if I have to work in a building surrounded by so many unkind people every day, I’ll crumble. Derek’s words echo in my mind.You have options.But do I really? I worked so hard to get to where I am now. If I quit and go somewhere new, will I have to start from the bottom again?
Ugh—Derek. My anxiety is like building blocks, layering one after another, forming an endless, daunting tower of misery. This morning was weird. Awkward and uncomfortable and I can’t decide if it was me making it tense or him. What happened to our breezy openness from Cancún? My honesty felt tied up and locked in a dungeon. I couldn’t even bring myself to ask him if he was upset that I was going to work instead of the hospital. Somehow it felt likesaying those words out loud would infect a healing wound. I was unprepared for how quickly life would slam into us, and I wish…
No time to think of all that.
I follow Nicole down the hallway to a closed office door. My eyes bounce from Nicole’s smiling red lips to the door she’s gesturing for me to open.
Tornadoes take over my stomach as I touch the handle and tug it down. The door opens and I stand rooted—speechless as I stare at the beautiful office. The office that now houses my desk and my belongings. The office with enough room that Derek, Jamal, Nathan, Price, and Lawrence could all fit in here comfortably with me.And look!It has a window. A huge picture window that overlooks the city and is bursting with sunlight. There are even fresh flowers in a vase on my desk.
Nicole got me an office. A real, honest-to-goodness office.
“You know I have a no-crying rule,” Nicole says, interrupting the moment.
I sniffle. “That’s unfortunate because I’m about to blubber all over you.” I turn my face to her, and Nicole takes a retreating step back.
“Oh no you don’t.”
But I do. I practically leap for her and wrap my arms around her fabulously dressed body and squeeze her like a lemon. “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Now, let me go or you’re fired,” she wheezes out.
I release her so I can finally step into my new grand office. It feels so official when I take a seat at my desk. So important. Everything I’ve ever wanted, and…I’m immediately sick with guilt over it. I lied and I manipulated things in my favor so I could come out on top—and it worked. I have the sudden distinct feeling that I don’t deserve any of this.
“I need to confess something.”
My hands bunch into nervous little knots under my desk. “The marriage…we lied to you about it. The elopement wasn’t on purpose, contrary to what we told you and Joseph. We accidentally got drunk and eloped, and then he saved my butt by suggesting we sell it as true love for a while. Long enough to let the scandal fade. The only part that was true in our whole speech was that we dated in college.”
I pause, waiting for Nicole’s anger or feelings of betrayal to show. But instead, she smirks. “Yeah—Ifigured. And it was smart.”
When she doesn’t say anything else, I show indignation on her behalf. “No. Not smart! Cunning. Manipulative. Wrong,” I pronounce with conviction.
“I literally called you and told you to come up with a hell of an argument. And you did. Job well done.”
I shake my head. “I don’t deserve any of this. I got it through deceiving others, and now I’m going to have to sit in here every day on my throne of lies and know what I did to achieve it! I should quit. Better yet…you should fire me! Go ahead. I can take it.”
Nicole runs her tongue over her teeth and then gracefully takes the seat facing my desk. She leans back into the corner of it and crosses one perfectly creased pant leg over the other. “Listen to me, I never, ever want to hear you say you don’t deserve any of this again.”
The quiet ferocity in her voice has me keeping my mouth shut—but I know my eyes are saucers.
“You did not earn this job because of who you are or are not married to. I could honestly give two shits about your marital status. It’s true, lying about your marriage helped you keep your job because the world is still very cruel to women and would have eaten you alive if you admitted to getting drunk with your client and accidentally eloping. They wouldn’t have been able to see any of the nuance in the relationship.” She uncrosses her legs and leans forward. “But I know you, Mac. I know you better than you realize. And if you didn’talready love Derek, your college sweetheart, you never would have gone along with the plan. If you didn’t know deep down in your heart that Derek might still be the one for you—you would have come clean immediately. But part of you knew he was a safe bet.”
I open my mouth to argue but she continues, “Besides all of that, you weren’t breaking any company policies. The only reason you were going to be let go after you married him was because of the scandal it would have caused when you divorced right away. Because it would look sloppy. And would have made the agency look sloppy. But you salvaged it by selling your love story—just like I hoped you would.”
She does have a point. But my conscience is still screaming at me. “I don’t feel good about keeping this job under false pretenses.”
“It’s not false pretenses though, is it?” she asks with a conniving grin, and I know exactly what she means before she even clarifies. “Are you and Derek still planning to divorce?”
I pause. “No.”At least, I don’t think so.Dammit. Why didn’t we hammer out those details?
“And did you two by chance exchange declarations of feelings at any point on your honeymoon?” she asks with a raised brow.All-knowing sorceress.
I fight a smile, because at least we did do that, even if I didn’t tell him the extent of my feelings for him. “Yes. Declarations were exchanged.”
