Page 156 of Stay With Me

Nick raised his eyebrows at Sammie while Kimberly’s mouth gaped open.

“Promoted to what?” she asked excitedly.

“Yeah,” Nick added. “Promoted to what?”

“To my position,” Sammie replied. “I’m resigning. Today is my last day.”

“What?” Nick demanded, causing Sammie to shoot him a look.

“Oh no, really?” Kimberly asked, appearing genuinely bummed. “I mean, I’m totally excited for the opportunity, but I loved working with you.”

Sammie smiled. “I loved working with you too. But I was only a temporary placeholder for you, and you’re fully equipped to handle this job now. It’s all yours.”

She stood and offered her hand, and Kimberly shook it.

“This is awesome,” Kimberly gushed, glancing at Nick, then back to Sammie. “Thank you guys so much. I hope you’ll come by sometime to say hi, Samantha.”

“Oh I have a feeling you’ll see me around plenty,” Sammie assured her, causing Nick to cut his gaze to her face.

Kimberly let herself out, and Nick marched to the door to shut it.

He turned back to Sammie. “What the hell was all of that? We didn’t discuss any of that. And since when are you resigning? That’s news to me.”

She stepped across the room and placed a document in his hands.

“My resignation. Effective immediately. All you have to do is sign right there.”

He gaped at her. “You’re seriously quitting over that little kiss on the patio? Samantha… It wasn’t that big a deal. Nobody saw, and it won’t happen again.”

“That’s not why I’m quitting,” she stated in an even tone.

He skimmed the document, searching for the reason she’d cited. He began to panic, believing the little incident on the patio had cost him his one and only opportunity to keep trying to get her back.

“So, why?” he asked, still looking at the paper.

“It should be pretty obvious, Nick.”

“Well, it’s not,” he said with a defeated sigh. “And the only thing you cited in here ispersonal conflictsso what exactly does that mean?”

She shrugged. “It means I just don’t think I can work in a place where I’m in love with my boss.”

His head shot up.

He would’ve said something like “huh?” or perhaps “what?” or maybe even “are you fucking serious?” but he realized he’d temporarily lost all grasp of the English language. So he just stared at her.

“I’m kind of going out on a limb here,” she went on timidly. “I mean, I haven’t been the nicest person in the world to you over the past few weeks, and I was totally rude to you at the New Year’s party, not to mention I washorribleto you the day you … the day—” She cut herself off as her voice broke.

She brought her hands to her face and inhaled deeply, before dropping them at her sides.

“But when I kissed you out there just now,” she continued in a shaky voice. “You kissed me back. And you were flirting with me so I thought, maybe you still—”

She shrugged as her chin trembled, and then took a moment to breathe as little tears began to trickle down her cheeks. He felt he probably should say or do something,but he was still caught up in a stupor as he processed what she was saying.

“I think what I’m trying to say is I forgive you, Nick,”she said quietly. “And I’m sorry for the things I said. You were right. I was afraid. And now I just hope that I’m not a few weeks too late.”

Eventually, Nick found his ability to verbalize once again so he leaned against the door and rubbed his fingers across his forehead.

“Sammie—”