“I’m sorry, boss,” Julia said quietly.
She sounded like she wanted to cry, but before I could get a look at her face she jumped up from her chair and rushed out of the room.
“Um, I guess I’ll go,” I told my boss. “Sorry again.”
I got out of my chair, then stopped when my boss spoke again.
“Chris. Hold on.”
“Yes?”
Gina closed her eyes, sighed, then looked at me again. “Look, I’m not one to give advice, and it’s certainly not appropriate for me to give you advice on our love life anyway but… I know what it’s like to be in love with someone and mess it up. I lost three years with the love of my life because I was an idiot. If you have feelings for Julia, you’d better talk to her, because that girllooked devastated by what you just said. And if you don’t have feelings, stay away and let her get over you.”
Gina stood up and looked me straight in the eye. “Whichever it is, please just keep your personal life out of the workplace, all right?”
“Yes, I will. Thanks Gina. Really.”
When I got out of Gina’s office, there was no sign of Julia. I walked up and down the hallway, glancing into offices and conference rooms to see if she was waiting for me somewhere, but I guess she’d already gone back to her office because there was no sign of her.
I hoped she wasn’t too upset by what I’d said.
Turns out, she was much more upset than I anticipated.
Julia
“We’re just having fun. There’s nothing to report. We aren’t in a relationship.”
Chris’s words played in my head on repeat as I headed back to the shelter. The more I replayed them, the more hurtful they became. Was that how she really felt? She’d seemed pretty confident in her answers.
I thought we were moving towards something – living together, getting married, maybe having a family someday – but apparently I was wrong. God, I was such an idiot. Chris was the one who wanted us to move from being friends with benefits to girlfriends. I thought that meant something.
Not that we’d talked about our feelings. That was on both of us of course. I was deeply, hopelessly in love with her, but it seemedtoo early to say those words, so I’d kept it to myself. Thank God. It would have been even more embarrassing if I declared my love and Chris had to tell me she didn’t feel the same way.
When I got back to my desk Gina’s email confirming our conversation was in my inbox. I dropped my head down onto the top of my desk with a deep sigh, then gently banged my forehead against it a few times just for good measure.
“Bad day, boss?”
I looked up as Robbie came into my office looking concerned.
“I’m fine,” I lied. “Just a headache.”
“I’m sure banging your head on your desk is helping,” she teased. “Why don’t you go home early? I can handle things here.”
I wasn’t one to shirk my responsibility, but suddenly the idea of staying here any longer felt overwhelming.
“Yeah, that’s a good idea, thanks.”
I paused then said, “Um, can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“Have you, uh, have you heard any rumors about me lately?”
Robbie smirked. “You mean about you and Chris Robbins from the employment program being in a relationship?”
My mouth dropped open in shock. “What? How?”
“I’m sorry to tell you it’s all over the agency. People are saying you two were having sex in a closet over at the training center, but I told them there’s no way you would do that. You’re too much of a professional.”
