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“ April,” he pleaded. Max’s voice started to get louder as he grew more desperate. “Don’t do this. I came here for you. I heard about your divorce and I knew you were finally free. Now we can explore our feelings.”
Now April was fuming, the air coming from her breath hot and heavy. “You know nothing about me or my family. We worked together and that is it. I was a good lawyer. You run a good firm. And that was the only reason why I didn’t quit before. But yes, now that I’m getting a divorce, I’ve seen things in a new light. There’s no reason for me to be in New York anymore. I’m happy here. I think it’s time you let me be happy.”
“You’re moving here?” His brows raised and he looked around the house. Max couldn’t have done anything else to add to April’s fire. She began to see red.
“My life is none of your business anymore. This is it. I’m staying here and you’re going back to the office to live your own life.”
His jaw dropped to the ground as he started to really see that she was serious. “How will we know what becomes of these feelings if we don’t explore them?”
April had met men like Max before. They acted like loving them was a gift, their affection a crown that the women should wear with pride. Max’s arrogance was almost too much to bear. It was stronger than the others somehow. Even blatant rejection wasn’t enough for him to back off.
He wanted what he wanted and that was that. Thankfully, April was strong enough now to realize it. She was strong enough to reject him as many times as he needed to hear it. But she felt bad for anyone who didn’t have the same opportunity to turn down such a disrespectful man.
“The feelings aren’t mutual; now I really need you to leave.”
Max came another step closer and April stepped back. He put his hand on her shoulder, his eyes full of regret and disappointment. “I came all this way. Can’t I at least… have a kiss goodbye?”
He repulsed her. She shrugged the hand off her shoulder.
“Bye, Maxwell,” she replied with a smile. “Have a good trip home.”
With his briefcase and folders in hand, he got back into his car and started it up. He looked around the property, like he was saying goodbye to his hometown as he was leaving for college. And then April waved to him for the last time.
It was clear that the rejection hurt him. The conversation didn’t go the way he wanted it to. Just looking at his face as he drove off was enough satisfaction for April.
Finally, that man would be out of her life for good. Whatever she was expecting from him, it wasn’t that. He’d never shown any affection towards her in the office. In fact, he always acted like she was never doing enough, never good enough to be working there. Everything fell on her shoulders because of his delegation.
As the car disappeared into the distance, April burst into laughter. She couldn’t believe that after all this time he wanted a relationship with her. Well, she wasn’t sure it was really a relationship. He sounded more interested in sex than anything else.
She had just turned down her boss. For the first time, she was able to watch as his ego was crushed. It had been a goal of hers, she realized now. That successful man was the most arrogant person she knew. But she was able to deny him one thing he wanted: her.
As she laughed, Georgia joined her outside. She sat down on the same step they’d been on just moments earlier. “What did he want?”
April swiped her hand through the air. “Oh, just some old stuff from work. I guess they wanted me to come back. But I turned him down, of course. We have too much to get done here.”
“And… he hit on you?”
She wasn’t going to tell her daughter about all that, but now that she knew, April couldn’t hold in the information. “Yes and it was so weird. I mean, who wants to date their boss!”
Then it hit her. “Wait a minute. You heard all that?”
Georgia nodded, face turned slightly away from her mother. “What was all that about you and Dad getting divorced?”
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
April sat next to her daughter unable to say any words that could make things better. She knew nothing would remedy this. And yet, she had to say something. The silence was so thick she was having trouble breathing. Or maybe that was just the nerves, the anxiety.
“Georgia, I…” Her mouth moved, but nothing came out. With her hands, she pushed the skin on her legs, massaging her quads though she could barely feel anything right now. “I didn’t realize you could hear all of that.”
Her daughter pointed to the window right beside the door. April’s jaw fell to the floor when she saw it was open, the screen gently molding to the wind. “I heard everything. Even the gross stuff about your boss wanting sex from you.”
“Sorry,” she replied, wincing. To be fair, she didn’t want to hear any of that either. “This is not how I wanted you to find out about the divorce. I was waiting for the right moment. Your father and I have barely discussed it. It just happened a few weeks ago.”
“Is that why you left?”
April took a deep breath. “Yes. It’s why I left the house and came down here. I wanted to find myself again and this was the only place where I knew who I was.”
Shaking her head, Georgia put a hand up to her face. Neither could believe this was really happening. “Why didn’t you tell me? What is going on? Everything has been so effed up since I left college. I need some answers. Any answers. Now!” Her voice got louder as she went on, working herself up.
