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Like back when Spencer could no longer look her in the eye and he’d started working late at the office—or so he’d said.
Okay, so she didn’t think that Reynolds was stepping out on her with anyone. But he was giving her the same signals that Spencer had when he’d realized he no longer wanted a future with her and was too much of a coward to tell that to her face.
It was too painful.
She would make this easier for him. Give him the out that he seemed to need.
“You know, now that I’m going to be designing and creating samples for Nina and making a real go of my own business, I probably will need to cut back on my time here in the office.”
Now was the time for him to look up and meet her eyes, or better, come around and kiss her and tell her how he understood because he was so proud of her. Tell her that it would be okay and they’d make it work.
Instead, he nodded. “Yeah. I expect so. But I’m going to need someone here full-time with the way things are picking up. Since you have so many things going on now and you’re not going to be needing the money, maybe it’s time to hire your replacement. I can run an online ad first thing Monday.”
“Yeah. That makes sense,” she said even though her voice sounded a million miles away and her entire body was on some other plane. Was this what an out-of-body experience felt like? Or a living nightmare?
Because like a nightmare, she couldn’t find the words to express how she really felt. And instead, she found herself agreeing with him.
It was almost a relief when the phone rang, giving her something she could do until she could think clearly and not get choked up with emotion.
“I should go get that…” She waited for him to say something, anything that would tell her that he cared. But he only nodded.
She walked out, making it halfway to her desk before she stopped.
No. She wasn’t going to do what she’d done with Spencer. She wasn’t going to step back and watched her marriage burn around her. She needed answers. She deserved answers.
Because what she felt with Reynolds was so much more than she’d ever felt for Spencer. He meant more to her, and she had thought she’d meant more to him, too.
She wasn’t just going to let this die a slow death as he kept putting distance between them until there was nothing left. If he wanted things to be over, then he was going to tell her. She deserved to hear it.
Turning back around, she wiped away tears of anger and frustration and steeled herself against what was going to happen.
“So is this it?” she demanded, coming to stand in front of his desk, her hands on her hip. “This is how you want to end things? That’s what’s happening here, right? You’re going to go to Chicago, staying out of the office for who knows how long. And when that case is over, I have no doubt that another case will take you away. It’s easier that way, isn’t it, rather than having the guts to tell someone it’s over?”
He folded his hands across his lap and finally met her gaze. “What do you want me to say here, Waverley?”
She held her hand over her belly, almost defensively. He hadn’t denied it, had he?
“What do I want you to say?” she asked, her anger growing now as much as her pain. “I want you to say that no matter where the cases take you and what the future brings to my career, you and I are going to work this out. That I mean something to you.”
He actually looked pained for a moment, his brows crowding together. Like she’d hit on the truth and he was trying to find a way to get out of this.
After a second, his brow smoothed and his face was a mask again.
He couldn’t say it. He couldn’t say that she meant something to him.
“Waverley,” he said, sounding apologetic. “Don’t think that our time wasn’t special. You’re an amazing woman and you deserve so much better than—”
It felt like the ground was falling out from under her. The kiss-off. The it’s not you, it’s me. No way was she going to let him say it. It would only make all of this so much more terrible. Make it hurt even worse in the days that would come when she’d rehash this conversation over and over again in her mind.
She was never going to be the kind of woman who could make him happy. Maybe she just wasn’t the kind of woman who could make anyone happy. She’d seen it before. In the disappointed way her father looked at her, in the disconnected way Spencer had looked at her when he packed his bags and left.
And in the way Reynolds was looking at her now.
“Stop. You’ve said enough. I think that we just end this now—” She stopped as she fought back a sob that threatened to overcome her. She took another breath, praying that she could get through this without him seeing how devastated she was. That would be the ultimate humiliation. Letting him know that she had believed that what they had was real. “With you being gone for the next few days, there’s no reason for me to stick around anyhow. The answering service can take your calls and schedule any appointments. This way I can focus on getting those samples ready for Nina when I see her on Saturday.”
He nodded, his face giving nothing away. “Okay. If that’s what you need to do, I understand.”
It was like her heart was being pulled from her chest, hearing him being so gracious, and yet so distant toward her. Like she hadn’t meant anything to him. “As soon as I get my money, I’ll be sure to send you a check for the rest of your retainer.” She paused, not having anything left to say. “Goodbye, Reynolds.”
