Page 14 of Elf-ish

My heart crashes to the floor like a broken vase. Even her name is beautiful. And there is clearly something going on between them. Why isn’t he taking her to the company party?

Respectable, he’d said. Not exactly a glowing compliment, and standing next to this lovely creature in her crisp pant suit, I don’t feel like anything other than a hole-y mess.

“I need to go.” I tip my chin at Jude and smile at Sabrina. Let Jude fix this disaster. I don’t need a date bad enough to ruin someone else’s relationship. And I definitely don’t need a date with Jude.

Turning in a rush for the door, I then fly to the exit stairs, taking them in record time to the seventh floor. The elevator line is long, and I search for the escalator instead of waiting for the lift.

“Angelica, wait.”

Spinning around, I catch Jude racing after me. He appears only slightly winded, and for half a second, I worry about his heart.

“You shouldn’t be running.”

“I wasn’t running. I was chasing.”

“Chasing?” I counter. Chasing after me?

Jude is already waving his hand. “Look, I can explain Sabrina.”

“Look,” I snap back at him. “I don’t need an explanation. I’m not into OWD, and I’m not interested in breaking girl code.” I don’t steal other women’s men.

“OWD?”

“Other woman drama.”

Jude snorts. The sound is dismissive and unattractive, and I turn away from him again.

“She isn’t my woman. She isn’t even my girlfriend.”

Spinning back for him, my lips flatline. “That’s awful, Jude.” I remember how he casually dated when we were younger. More like carelessly dated. The whispers in the high school hallway. The tears of innocent girls.

And I recall the woman in his office staring at him with genuine fear during our medical visit and deep concern during her hospital entrance.

Jude swipes a hand through his thick locks and glances away from me before leveling me with a hard stare. “We only went out like three times. The other day, her visit surprised me, and I had that panic attack.”

“Broken heart,” I remind him.

“I don’t have a broken heart,” he argues, his voice rising. Then he exhales heavily. “She . . .” He pauses. “It just isn’t going to happen between us ever again.”

As in, he is never, ever getting back together with her? Doubtful. She’s a beauty, and she obviously cares about him.

“She worked for me, and that’s a line I can’t cross again.”

“She works here?” I shriek. He sees her every day. You cannot ignore that.

“She worked here, past tense. I made a mistake.” He swallows hard like the admission is acid in his mouth. “I didn’t know she was a perfume counter girl when I met her, but once I knew, I stopped everything. She quit in hopes we could be together, but it’s not going to happen.”

Another thought hits me. “What do you mean a line you can’t cross again?”

Jude scratches at the back of his neck and looks away from me. “I had an incident a few years back with the head of HR, but that won’t happen again either.”

“Can’t? Or won’t?”

“Can’t or won’t what?”

“Date another employee.”

“Won’t,” he states, holding his head high, but his gaze dips down to my mouth. His eyes narrow as he stares at my lips.