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“THEN DO YOUR FUCKING JOB!”
“THEN YOU DO YOURS AND STOP DRAGGING ME INTO YOUR SHIT!” I turn and stomp out of his office, slamming the door behind me so hard I’m surprised the surrounding glass didn’t break.
Miranda leans against the wall opposite, her brow quirked. “So I shouldn’t try to approach him about getting an extra vacation day?”
I shake my head. “Absolutely not.”
“Yikes.” She starts laughing nervously. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard you yell like that.”
“Me neither,” I admit sheepishly and sit back in my seat. “He just pushed all the wrong buttons.”
“Well… maybe you can sign off on our vacation requests instead?” She’s smirking, and normally a request like that I’d take to the boss, but fuck it. “I booked the wrong date is all.”
“So long as you have appropriate cover it shouldn’t be a problem,” I reply, because I’m probably going to have to leave soon anyway.
She punches the air and hands me the sheet of paper. I look it over, triple-check it, sign it, stamp it, and slide it back to her.
“Thank you very much.” She saunters away and I close my laptop and pack up for the day. I can finish this at home.
“A word?” Ezra asks, popping his head around the door.
“I’ve got quite a few of those for you,” I reply, glaring at my bag as I zip it closed.
“Now, Rose,” he orders but I keep packing my bag. He grabs it from my desk and storms into his office.
I can do nothing but follow. He has my keys.
“What, Mr. Conti? What do you need?”
“I haven’t given you permission to leave.”
“You broke up with me, I don’t need permission,” I respond petulantly, folding my arms and tapping my foot on the ground.
He blinks at me, his gray eyes glowing with annoyance and bitterness. “You know what? I just don’t have the emotional capacity to baby you today.”
“Baby me?” I breathe, fighting the urge to laugh and scream at the same time. “When have you ever had to baby me?”
“Constantly. I constantly have to reassure you that things are going to be okay.”
He does not! “That is extremely unfair.”
“I have handed you everything… absolutely fucking everything… you’d think the least you can do is give me space to deal with my shit when it’s getting to me.”
“I didn’t impose on you, I just asked if you were okay. I didn’t even say anything!” My hands are clenched into fists by my side. “You’re the one who started saying you don’t think you can do this to her. Am I not supposed to wonder what the heck that means?”
“You saw her!” he says, dumping my bag on the couch. “You saw how distressed she was. A woman I love and care about. And then you come in here, trying to console me, the woman I’m breaking her heart for.”
“You said you didn’t leave her for me.”
“It’s not that black and white and you know it. You’ll always be part of the reason.”
I knew it. I knew it would come to this eventually, I just didn’t imagine it would be so soon. “So you’re saying if I broke up with you right now you’d go back to her?”
“Are you breaking up with me?”
I look at him incredulously. “Should I? Is this what it’s going to be like every time she comes crying?”
“Probably. And it’s the least I fucking deserve, seeing a woman I love sob on her knees and beg me to return to her, turning her down because I don’t want to hurt you, the woman I love the most. Living with my own guilt that I dared to fall for somebody else while married to my wife. Not getting to see my daughter every day…”
“You asked me to stay,” I breathe, feeling my heart break. “I was going to leave. I never wanted that for you, or her, or Maria.”
“And we’re both paying for it.”
I don’t cry, I click the pen in my hand and reach for my bag. When I hook it over my shoulder, he doesn’t try and stop me. “I’m going to go home and leave you to make your decision about what you want and who you want. If you don’t come home, I’ll take that as you choosing your wife and I’ll never speak of this affair again.”
My voice is firm, a contrast to how broken I feel inside.
“But let this be the last time you have doubts because if you choose to leave me again, I won’t come back if you change your mind.”
“I’m not conflicted, damn it,” he snarls, spinning me so my back presses against the door. “I want you! I just hate how badly I’m hurting everyone else. Do you get that?”
“Of course I get that, but you need to get over it and move on because it’s going to tear us apart.”
