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“Love you too.”
As soon as the elevator doors slid shut behind her, I slammed the door shut and leaned against it. I pressed my forehead against the wood and exhaled, trying to come up with the right words to say. When they didn’t come, I went into my room and changed into my pajamas. I spent the night tossing and turning and staring at the ceiling.
And wishing Bernard was next to me.
Chapter 19: Between us
Bernard
“We need to offer them better packages,” I said, pausing to press two fingers to my forehead. I rubbed in slow, circular motions and ignored the niggling sensation in the back of my skull. “And better job benefits.”
“It should be enough.” Raymond sat up straighter and crossed one leg over the other. “We should look into holding an event.”
I let my hands fall to the desk and stared at him. “An event?”
“Yeah, a lot of the other companies are holding these events to allow prospective employees the chance to tour the company, ask questions, etc.”
I raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t know that.”
“Yeah, the recruitment process has changed,” Raymond replied with a shrug. “So, we need to stay ahead of the game.”
I nodded and straightened my back. “Of course. Let’s look into that and see when we can have one of these events.”
“You’ll need to bring Carla into the fold.”
“She’s only been here two weeks.”
“And she’s already closed a deal with that oil company,” Raymond pointed out with a smile. “She knows what she’s doing, and with her family name and influence, I think she’ll be able to bring in a lot more clients.”
Offering Carla a job out of guilt wasn’t enough, but I’d hoped her desire to prove herself would outweigh her lack of experience. Thankfully, in the two weeks since I’d hired her, not only had Carla proven herself to be a hard-working employee, but she was also a natural.
I was both relieved and thankful.
Convincing the board to hire her hadn’t been easy.
Still, I had gone out on a limb to absolve myself of the guilt I still carried. While I couldn’t make up for what I’d done to Carla, I hoped that giving her a job and a chance to prove herself was a good start. With a slight shake of my head, I finished off the rest of my meeting with Raymond before picking up the phone.
It rang a few times before going straight to voicemail.
I sent Rachel a quick message before returning to work.
She sent me a single word back and nothing else.
For the rest of the day, I kept glancing at my phone and wishing Rachel would walk in through the door. Over the past two weeks, I had done everything I could to bridge the distance between us to no avail. Not only was Rachel still keeping me at arm’s length, but she also refused to talk about anything other than Ron.
If it wasn’t related to our son, she found an excuse to avoid it.
Or change the subject altogether.
And I was no closer to understanding it than I was when it first started happening.
Rachel was pulling away from me, and there wasn’t a single thing I could do to stop her. When I got up to leave at the end of the day, I made a beeline for the elevator and ignored the knots in my stomach. In the car, I stared at pictures of the three of us together, searching for a clue.
Anything that would explain why I was losing Rachel.
Jonathan dropped me off outside the building before driving off. In silence, I took the elevator upstairs and stepped out into the hallway. Rachel and Ron were in my apartment when I arrived, with Ron seated at the dining table, head bent over a sheet of paper, while Rachel stood in the kitchen in an apron with her hair piled into a bun on top of her head.
I set my bag down by the door and strode towards her.
