Page 68 of After Care

I clicked to minimize the image and the article. My stomach roiled. Bile rose to my throat. The taste of regurgitated milk filled my mouth. I stood and ran for the bathroom. Gripping the sink, I willed myself not to be sick, although the nausea nearly overwhelmed me. I hadn’t been this shaky since my last treatment. Looking up, my reflection showed I’d paled to a sickly white. My lips were too bright, and my eyes watered, blurring the blue color.

“He couldn’t have,” I told myself, but I had nothing else to believe. Once again, he had omitted the truth. Pressing off the cool tile, I rinsed my hands and patted my cheeks. I returned to my desk and pulled up the article again on my phone. Copying the link, I forwarded it to him in a text message.

Reunited?! I typed under the article link. I threw my phone on my desk and sunk my head into my hands.

“Everything all right?” Max’s concerned voice washed over me like a damp cloth, the sensation warm and tender, but making me shiver. My eyes watered, and I blinked rapidly, refusing to look up. “Edie?” The way he said my name, brought the liquid again.

“I’m okay. Just something I read online. A sad story.” I smiled weakly, attempting to recover.

“You have a good heart,” he said, as he entered his office.

My heart? You feel me in your heart like I feel you in mine.

There had to be an explanation. But it was hard to swallow that he’d lied again. Omitted. Had he been married? It wasn’t a big deal that he was divorced, but he hadn’t told me the truth. Again.

My phone buzzed.

“Darlin’,” he started, but I cut him off.

“Don’t. Don’t you darlin’ me. I asked you. No, begged you, to never lie to me again.”

“I didn’t lie.”

“You didn’t tell the truth,” I shrieked, lowering my voice as I looked up to see Max watching me from his office. “You didn’t tell the whole truth. Again.” I repeated, my voice almost a whisper.

A sigh filled the phone, and I pictured him swiping through his hair. I didn’t care. I didn’t want to think of him nervous and sexy.

“It’s not what you think.”

“What I think?” I gasped. “The only thing I can think is the article is true as I don’t know any other truth.”

“Darlin’, you can never believe the fucking press. Never. They took an innocent image and skewed the whole thing.”

My heart dropped to my stomach. He’d all but admitted he’d met her.

“Who is she?” I hated that I asked. I hated that my voice cracked, sounding needy and sad.

“She’s Deanna Kaye, former model for DHX.” I had no idea what that meant. I didn’t even care. She was a model, and I was…in manufacturing. My elbow slammed on my desk, and my forehead lowered to my palm. I didn’t want to know what she did. I wanted to know who she was to him.

“Look, we were married all of three seconds. It didn’t mean anything, and that picture means nothing now.”

“You were married!” I hissed into the phone, eyes jumping up to Max again, who thankfully wasn’t watching me come unraveled. “You didn’t tell me.” In fact, I recalled him specifically saying it wasn’t his thing.

“It doesn’t matter.”

“It matters to me.”

“Why?”

“Did you love her?” Damn it! I kicked at the underside of my desk and met Max’s eyes. He stood, stalking for the door of his office. “You know what, don’t answer that. I’m at work. I can’t do this now.”

“Edie—”

“I have to go,” I muttered, my eyes on Max’s as he walked through the entrance to his office, his hand working at rolling up his shirt sleeves, exposing strong forearms. I didn’t want to be rude to Tommy, but I had to get off the phone. I clicked off.

“Edie, are you sure you’re okay?” Max walked all the way to my desk and sat on the edge. Eyes pressed on me—other eyes—those of the people in the outer offices watching as Max never spoke this intimately to an employee, even if I was his personal assistant. “You can talk to me. You know that, right?” he offered, and the generosity almost broke me. I sat up straighter, swiped my hands down my pencil skirt and smiled too large, too forced.

“I really appreciate that Max. Honest. It means a lot to me, but I’m fine.” A shaky hand smoothed at my growing hair, and Max’s eyes watched my fingers. I lowered them, hiding them under my desk.