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I had every intention of having her over to the house for a long day of hanging out, baking cupcakes, and girl talk. But that wasn’t to be. I wasn’t even out of bed Saturday morning when I heard Brandon’s angry voice coming from the kitchen. It was so loud and intense I thought for a minute someone was there. I threw on my bathrobe and rushed out to check on him but found him pacing through the living room on his phone. Now that I was in the same room with him and could more clearly hear what he was saying, I knew he was talking to his ex. Unsurprisingly, it wasn’t a pleasant conversation. And it didn’t sound like it would be ending anytime soon.
Going back into my room, I took a shower, got dressed, and put on my makeup. I was trying to give him time and privacy, but he hadn’t stopped by the time I was finished. When I got into the living room, he wrenched the phone away from his ear and stared at it in disbelief.
“What happened?” I asked.
“She hung up on me,” he said angrily. “She says she’s coming over here.”
“What?” I asked, shocked. “Why would she do that?”
“Apparently, she’s pissed about what I got from the house. She wants to come over here and talk about it, and says we need to talk about the divorce.”
“What is there to talk about? You already filed papers,” I said.
“There are a bunch of steps that have to be taken, and she wants to control all of them. I’m sure that doesn’t come as much of a surprise,” he told me.
“Do you want me here when she comes?” I asked.
As much as I wanted to see Olivia, if my brother needed me, he would have to come first. This was an extremely hard time for him, and I wanted to give them as much support as I could. But he shook his head.
“There’s no need for you to get wrapped up in this. I’m sure it’s not going to be a warm and fuzzy reunion and having you here would probably just make her really defensive. If it’s all right with you, I’d rather just be here by myself,” he told me.
“Sure. I’m going to hang out with Olivia. I’ll probably be gone most of the day, but if you need me, just call. I’ll get back here as fast as I can,” I promised.
I headed out of the house worried about my brother and thinking about what I was going to tell Olivia. Spending time with her was about relaxing and having some fun, but it was also my chance to get the whole situation with Quentin off my chest. I needed to get it all out and let her help me work through my conflicting feelings. It seemed like she already knew something was happening in my head as soon as I walked into the small local coffee shop where we agreed to meet.
“I ordered you a latte,” she said when I sat down. “What’s going on?”
“You’re not even going to pretend to start with small talk, are you?” I asked.
“Nope. We don’t need small talk. It’s you and me. We’ve had enough small talk to last for the rest of our lives.”
“True.”
“So, what’s going on? Because I can see that look on your face. The gears are grinding around in your head. What’s bothering you?” she asked.
“It’s about my boss,” I finally said.
She took a sip of her latte.
“Quentin?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“What about him? Is he causing trouble because of the kissing thing?” she asked.
“Not exactly. I…” I sighed, not sure I even wanted to put a voice to the words, but knowing I needed to. “I think I might have gone ahead and caught feelings for him.”
“What?” Olivia asked, sounding more confused than startled like I was expecting her to be. “You said it was just a stupid thing because you drank too much that night.”
I cringed. “I know. It’s all really confusing. I feel so conflicted. Ever since that night, I’ve been trying to just push it away and ignore it, but there are definitely feelings building. They just crept up on me, and I’m really not happy about it.”
“So, that’s it? You’re just struggling with feelings for your boss? That’s not that big of a deal,” she said. “I mean, I know it probably feels really strange and might be kind of freaking you out, but I’ve known a lot of people who had crushes on their bosses. And Quentin is super hot. And rich. You could do a lot worse, so it makes sense you would start crushing on him, especially after he kissed you like that.”
Hearing her put it out there like that both helped and made me more confused. This didn’t feel like just a crush. It wasn’t just a slight attraction. But she didn’t know how far it had gone. I needed to think about it more before I went any further with the story.
