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Her lips tremble, and she sighs, trying again to gain control. “I don’t know.”
I lift her chin and make her look at me. When I see the overflowing tears, my throat closes up. “Viv, I’m sorry. I don’t want to leave.”
She looks like she’s on the verge of kicking me out, so I rush to say, “Listen, tomorrow night, it’s just you and me. I’ll get food delivered and we will just hang out right there on that couch together. Turn off our phones and just be us. Okay? I swear to you.”
“Just us?”
Her tone is skeptical, and I know why. I’ve been on my phone nonstop since I got this promotion, people needing answers for things at all hours of the day. It was fucking ridiculous, but it was the job.
“I swear. The moment I’m through that door, my phone is off.”
She looks at me and gives me a tiny smile and a large glimmer of hope. “Okay.”
I look at her and nudge her nose with mine, my hands holding her head. “But, tonight, can I stay? I just want to hold you.”
She nods and I take it for what I can, leading her to the bedroom so I can hold her in my arms all night.
I have to do better. So much fucking better.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
“Social media is the worst. We’ve opened a floodgate to let people judge our every move, like, no one cares what you think about my new haircut Betty!” –Molly
VIVIANA
“So.” Cyrus peeks his head over my cubicle, scaring the living bejesus out of me and nearly making me spill my coffee. “When’s the wedding?”
I grab a tissue and mop up the small amount of coffee that spilled, looking at him in confusion. “Um, sorry, what wedding?”
He lifts a brow. “You and Archer’s wedding, of course! We want to know when to expect you wanting a name change on your file.”
I look at this man who’s become this weird sort of friend and sigh. I really shouldn’t have pretended to be with Archer for this job, but even now, weeks into it, they’re still interested in our relationship.
They even invited us for a couples dinner a week ago, but I’d made a lame excuse on how I couldn’t because my mother needed help navigating TikTok, and I’d promised to teach her. Lord help anyone if she actually gave a hoot about that app, it was already littered with things people didn’t need to see.
But the truth was, getting Archer to commit to anything right now was a challenge. He was working nonstop, this house was literally taking over his life, and I hadn’t seen him in three days. He’d been to my place some, but given that we hadn’t been able to tell Enzo about our progressing relationship, he couldn’t just never be home.
We did manage to get our dinner that he promised, and it was a night that reminded me of why I fell in love with him in the first place. It was exactly what I had needed.
He hasn’t brought up me starting my own company since our fight.
“Oh, right. Well, we haven’t set a date yet. We’re having a long engagement.” Yeah, so long it doesn’t even exist.
“Ah, one of those couples.” He points down. “I notice you don’t wear a ring, you’re one of those couples that balk tradition?”
Man, this guy really pushes the boundaries of appropriate questions to ask employees.
“We’ve reversed it, actually. He wears an engagement ring and will be taking my name instead.”
This is, of course, total bullshit. None of it is true in any capacity, but given that my GAF meter (that’s “Give A Fuck” for those wondering) is running on empty these days, I decide to just roll with it.
“Oh, how… modern of you.” Someone thankfully gets his attention elsewhere and I sigh, sitting back in my chair and glaring at the mock-up I’m presenting to the Hansen team later this week. I hate it.
I delete the whole thing and start over.
Archer is coming over for dinner, and I have a whole meal planned for us. I’m hoping we’ll finally be able to have a talk about what we’re doing moving forward. Maybe next time Cyrus asks about us, I won’t have to lie.
The pasta alla Norma is resting on the stove as I look at the clock again. It’s past eight. I’d rushed home, taken a quick shower and threw a robe on while I worked on dinner. One of Enzo’s newly perfected recipes my mother had been cooking since I could walk, it was something I was becoming quite good at making myself and decided it would be a perfect meal for us tonight.
