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It made sense that she’d do something she regretted, namely sleeping with him, likely because he was her boss, and feel obligated to resign. Which meant when she told him about the things that had happened to her, she already knew she wasn’t going to see him again.
She’d used him like a confessional. She’d poured her heart out to him, or something like that, because she knew that he’d never tell anyone because he wouldn’t ever get the chance. It would make no difference. She’d unloaded her burden on him and walked away, just like that, without a backward glance. She hadn’t even stayed to tell him. She’d waited until he was sleeping and left.
No. No way. I’m not going to let her go like that. For one, he wanted to tell her he wasn’t her emotional punching bag. Two, he needed to let her know leaving him up shit’s creek workwise wasn’t appreciated. And three, he had to find her because he needed to see her again. He needed to assure himself she was going to be okay. He did care and that hurt. She obviously wasn’t used to opening up and he wasn’t used to having that matter. Caring. I’m not used to caring and worrying.
Really, that was the only reason. He’d just use the other two points as a way to try and pretend that the third reason didn’t exist. He could admit to himself that deep down and not so deep down, he was a lot like Callie. Afraid. The whole once burned, twice shy deal.
He nearly grinned when Chantara pushed open his office door without knocking. She put her hands on her hips and glared at him with the evil eye. That girl was a force to be reckoned with. He was glad that Callie had someone like Chantara in her corner.
“I know what you’re doing, Matt Hilbert. It’s not going to work. I am not going to tell you anything. Anything at all. I’m here to help you catch up on your emails and all that, but you are not going to get anything else out of me.”
He stared at her flatly, so composed that he could see the very second she began to doubt herself and her outburst. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
He could see he wasn’t going to get answers out of Chantara right away. Neither of the women knew that he knew that they were more than work acquaintances. He’d have to work her up to it, cajole and maybe even plead and then, after all of that, he’d convince her that he genuinely cared about Callie. Because he did.
And then, hopefully, because it truly was his only hope unless he wanted to break into HR and steal Callie’s file and find her address, Chantara would tell him where her best friend lived.
CHAPTER 16
Callie
Life without a job turned out to be not so great. There wasn’t ever really a time in her life when Callie didn’t have somewhere to go. She’d always given proper notice, her two weeks, and then gone straight to a new job.
She felt horrible, listless, lacking energy. She couldn’t get out of bed and then when she did, there was nothing to get up for. She dreaded the fact that it could take weeks to find another job. She’d already spent two days with her laptop open on the kitchen table, checking the job sites every few hours. Not that there was much else to do.
Finally, mid-afternoon, Callie forced herself into the shower. She emerged feeling slightly better, but no more hopeful. The apartment was quiet. Way too quiet. Whoever thought sitting around home all day was a good idea- well- it wasn’t her. She couldn’t imagine this being her life.
Everyone else was at work. Her family. Chantara. All her other friends. Short of going out and doing a few errands, meaning aimless shopping, which she couldn’t really afford to do without a job, there wasn’t much to do but turn on the TV and stare at the screen blankly or pick up a book and read it without really reading anything at all.
Since the whole getting out of the house seemed like a better idea, and she had a full tank of gas, Callie was just picking up her car keys when the buzzer sounded through the apartment.
She jumped, nearly sending her laptop flying off the kitchen table. It’s the middle of the day. It’s probably just someone with the wrong apartment number. That happened occasionally. It wouldn’t be Chantara. There was no way she could lose her key. It was attached to the same ring as her car keys. It wouldn’t be anyone else she knew or even the mailman since he always just put a slip in the box and never bothered with ringing anyone to deliver packages. People in the building complained about that all the time.
