Page 80 of Miss Typed

I hadn’t told anyone I’d moved to the second part of the recruitment process. Not Reid, and definitely not Chloe. Guilt ate me over my silence, but I told myself I wasn’t one hundred percent sure I’d accept the job yet. Even if I passed the physical, I still had to confirm they were offering me a position I wanted. I definitely wasn’t leaving Delmont for another desk job.

After stopping by the pharmacy for my prescriptions, I went straight into the office.

Chloe was there at her desk, looking beautiful as usual, dressed in her pink dress, my personal favorite.

God, I’d miss her when I left. Our easy banter. Our inside conversations. And of course, our steamy nights and amazing mornings together. For a moment, I questioned my decision to return to Iraq, but the moment passed when I envisioned being stuck in this job permanently.

Perhaps my taking the next few days to work at home would lessen our dependence on seeing each other every day. Maybe it would ease us both into the reality this thing between us was on a short track with an end in sight.

She perked up when she saw me, giving me a big smile. “Good morning. How was your meeting?”

Conscience hit me over the lie I’d told her. “The meeting was fine. Do you have a few minutes?”

She got up. “Certainly.”

When she took a seat across from my desk, I was struck with the memory of the first time she’d done so.

“What’s going on, Aiden?” She tilted her head, concern etched on her face.

“I didn’t have a meeting this morning. I had a doctor’s appointment.”

“Everything okay?”

“Yes, and no. I need to stay off my leg for the next few days to allow it to heal.”

“Heal? What’s wrong?”

“I overdid it in a workout a few weeks back. It’s easy to irritate the skin, and I didn’t take care of it. Anyhow, I’m on an antibiotic, and it’ll be fine, but I’ll need to work from home for the next few days so I can go without the prosthesis.”

“Okay. You should. Do you want me to cancel the trip to Abu Dhabi next week?”

“No. Those meetings have been set up for weeks. I’ll be fine by then.”

“What can I do?”

“I’m all set.” Here was the point I could invite her to come over, but I wouldn’t. This was the part most people struggled with. Accepting it when I said I preferred to be left alone. Accepting that if I wanted help, I’d ask for it. Thankfully, she didn’t push.

“All right. Hopefully you’ll let me continue on the searches. I enjoy doing them.”

“Of course. You can continue with the bank project. I’ll be working from home, and we can summarize our findings via email daily.”

“Sounds good.”

* * *

Three days later, I was going out of my mind from staring at the same four walls. Sure, I could’ve ventured out with the crutches I was using around the apartment, but pride kept me inside where no one would see me. Reid had attempted to get me to go to the gym to do an upper body workout, but I’d opted for a rare week off of exercise instead.

But mostly I missed Chloe. So much for weaning myself from her. In my head, I repeatedly played out the scenario should I go work in Iraq. I imagined asking her to wait for me to return, and establishing a relationship in which we started to make future plans. But I’d always stop short. Because at twenty-two years old, Chloe shouldn’t be left at home to wait. She had six weeks remaining on her contract. After that, she had some decisions to make about whether to move home, go to LA, or stay here. The last thing I wanted was for her to make a decision based on me. She’d made enough decisions trying to please other people in her life, and they’d all let her down. I refused to be the next in line to do so.

Admittedly, it would hurt like hell to let her go. I read her text again, received an hour ago. It simply said, “Dinner tonight? My turn to cook.”

As tempting as it was to let her come over, my leg was still too tender to wear my prosthesis. Miserable, I replied, “Thanks, but Reid and I have plans this weekend. Will see you Monday for the trip.”

She didn’t reply, making me feel like an ass for lying and worse for avoiding her. By Sunday, I’d grown tired of my own company and even Reid’s. I contemplated going into the office but decided to take one more day since I would be on my leg a lot tomorrow for the trip to Abu Dhabi. At least the swelling and redness had improved, giving me hope it was healing. Just then, the office number came up on my cell phone. I answered, “This is Aiden.”

“Hi, it’s me.”

Jesus. The sound of her voice evoked a pain in my chest over missing her. “Hi.”