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Me and relationships don’t gel. I don’t understand how to do them. Business strategy, numbers, that’s the only language I really get.
Before Drake brings me some lunch, I dial her number. It goes straight to voicemail.
She can’t have left for California already. I just saw her last night, right before I sent her home to get some rest.
I dial Ethan. “Do you know how I can reach Elianna?”
“Trouble in paradise?”
“Don’t start,” I growl.
“I just figured that since she hadn’t complained about her job in a while, things were going well. I knew you two would either love each other or hate each other at this point.”
I thought we were loving each other, too. “Do you know where she is?”
“What? What are you talking about?” Ethan demands.
“She left a letter on my desk saying she was going back to California.”
Ethan sighs. “Why?”
“I don’t know. I know she felt bad about a couple of mistakes she made, but I didn’t think she’d just up and leave.”
“Oh, Elianna. Love her, but she’s impulsive.”
“Yeah,” is all I can manage. Warring emotions have stopped up my throat.
“She shouldn’t have left you high and dry,” Ethan says.
“I don’t care so much about that. I care about her.”
There’s a long silence and it hurts my ears. Like when I put a conch shell up to my ear as a kid. The roar of silence is deafening.
“If you want her to come back to the job, let her know. She probably just needs to let off some steam, but I’m sure you can convince her to come back. Is there anything else I can do for you, man? You sound awful.”
I swallow hard. “I want her to come back. No doubt about that. But I want her back as more than my assistant.”
“You--? You’ve gone and fallen for my sister.” It’s not a question.
“How could I not? She’s—” I want to say she’s the most amazing, incredible woman I’ve ever known and I ache to see her again. But I feel the surprise and shame of it and have a hard time saying it. “She’s Elianna.”
He chuckles. “I get it, man. I get it. I mean, I don’t get it because she’s my frustrating little sister. But I get the sentiment, and I’m happy for you.”
“But she’s leaving.”
“Give her some time. She’s not going to stay upset for long.”
I thank him and get off the phone, my mind churning to find a solution, worrying I might be too late.
I start to text her several times, but I erase them every time, remembering that Ethan suggested I give her some time. Sue me, but Iamangry. If she could have come and talked to me about her concerns, I would have reassured her, asked her to stay, told her again that it was okay.
My head’s reverberating with these thoughts when Rowena comes in and asks where Elianna is. I mumble a lie.
“She’s not feeling well.” And then I change the subject.
By about two o’clock, I can’t take the stifling energy at the office anymore. It’s nothing without Elianna. I need and want her to be here and in my life. I can’t just let her walk away.
“I’ve got to go into Longdale,” I tell Gordon as I grab my keys.
