Page 78 of Between Love and Loathing

“Obviously.” She frowned at me. “My uncle had lupus, Clara. If you’re having a flare-up you need rest. When were you diagnosed?”

“Over a year ago.”

“Ah. Not that long then.” She said it like that explained everything. “It’s hard to accept.”

“I’ve accepted it,” I balked.

“Have you? Because some days, you need to rest. And some days you can’t be a hundred percent. Even the healthiest people need days off and to monitor—”

“My stress levels. I know. But I also need to get this bakery off the ground.”

Paloma hummed. “How long have you and Dom been dating again?”

“I…” Calculating our fake backstory felt like a lot of work right now. “For a while.”

“Right.” She said it like she didn’t believe me at all. “So, if you guys want people to believe whatever the hell you got going on, you might want to get that story straight.”

I sat up and met her gaze and determined something. I needed a friend and Paloma was one of my very closest ones here. “Fine. You know what? Today isn’t my day, and I need a shoulder to lean on now. So, you’re getting burdened with all my problems.”

With that, I blurted out the whole story to her. I swear her smile grew bigger and bigger as I told her every detail.

“God, I think he’s really falling in love with you,” she said as I finished telling her he put pictures up of me.

“He’s not. He barely agreed to meet me at the floral shop tomorrow. But I don’t know why I’m on his wall. Maybe he’s having guests over?”

She just shook her head and all her dark hair swung back and forth to emphasize her point. “You’ll see. Just you wait.”

* * *

Unloadingon Paloma gave me a little more optimism. I had a pep in my step and thought I could manage all this still. I went to bed easily and woke up ready for anything.

Dominic was meeting me at the floral shop that morning and, later, he was brainstorming with all of us at the end of the workday. Maybe it was Rita’s idea since she’d sent the brainstorming invite, but the idea still made me smile. He was asking for help, taking into consideration that another person’s opinion might be helpful. That, alone, should have made for a great start to the day.

Except that good days have a tendency to morph very quickly into no good, very bad days. When I had to wait a whole hour at the floral boutique for him, my hope for the day disintegrated. My blood pressure increased, my calm disappeared, and my fury took a front seat, ready to drive me off the overwhelmed cliff.

I knew he kept staff waiting. I’d seen how he’d acted in meetings too. He’d literally gotten up in the middle of them and mumbled, "We have to reschedule.” His disregard for people was infuriating.

And I knew we weren’t a couple. I knew he’d slept with me for fun and that was it. It didn’t mean I deserved any special treatment but I did deserve the respect of a trusted colleague. Or even an employee. And he hadn’t even texted me. Or called. For a whole hour.

I’d worked so hard on this and to be left waiting in the middle of a garden center was quite frankly embarrassing.

“I know you said that Mr. Hardy would be here, but maybe he got held up in another meeting? I have other clients to take care of, but I’m happy to help when you’re ready. Feel free to look around.”

Me: Are you coming?

Dominic: I won’t be. Use discretion and get what you need. I’ll let the staff know it should go under my tab.

No apology. No explanation. Just commands. I’d show him discretion all right. I bought what I wanted. And then some. And then some more.

When I got back to my bakery, I was so mad I didn’t consider looking at my phone when I answered.

“Clara Milton, are you ignoring your mother?”

I winced immediately, stumbling over my steps as I went to the back kitchen to grab my bag and laptop. “Hi, Mother.”

“Don’t ‘Hi, Mother’ me. You haven’t called me in weeks, and I know you’ve spoken to Anastasia, so you could have at least given me the courtesy of a phone call considering you’ve been all over the news lately.”

“Right,” I whispered. I didn’t have time for this, didn’t need it right now. I felt my heart beating faster and faster. “It’s a fling with Dominic. New. I’m not sure where it’s going to go and—”