Because this week, he hadn’t just said he’d make it work. He had.
He’d taken on more than I’d ever seen him take on. Adjusted his own schedule instead of expecting me to rearrange mine. Sat in meetings I normally would’ve prepped him for, handled calls I usually filtered, and somehow managed not to make it feel like I was falling short in the process.
That alone would’ve been enough to throw me off. But then there was today. The lunch.
I could still see it sitting on my desk like it had earlier, untouched for a full minute because I genuinely didn’t know what to make of it.
Joan’s On Third.
Not just anything from there.
My order.
Exactly how I get it.
And maybe I could’ve convinced myself it was a coincidence if it weren’t for the fact that he’d never done anything like that before.
Not once in the three years I’d worked for him.
Nathan Edge did not buy lunch for the office.
Not unless it was a formal event. Not unless there was a reason attached to it that made sense on paper.
And “thank you for your hard work” three years after taking over the company?
That wasn’t a reason.
That was an excuse.
One I didn’t call him on, even though I really wanted to.
Because the truth was, I didn’t know what I would’ve done if he’d confirmed it.
If he’d looked at me and said,yes, I heard you with Marissa. Yes, that was for you.
I wasn’t sure I was ready to deal with what that meant.
So I didn’t push.
And now I was thinking about it more than I should have been. Which was exactly why I pushed away from my desk a little more forceful than necessary and stood up.
The workday was over.
The office had started to quiet down, people gathering their things, conversations softening as everyone shifted out of work mode and into whatever came next.
I stood from my desk, smoothing my hands over my skirt, trying to shake off the lingering thoughts that had been following me since lunch.
It didn’t work.
I grabbed my bag, turning just as Nathan stepped out of his office. Like he had some internal clock that synced up with mine.
“Done for the day?” he questioned.
“Thankfully,” I said, adjusting the strap on my shoulder.
“I’ll walk out with you.”
That was new.
